Fishery sector committed to combating IUU fishing

Over the past four years, the Vietnamese Government, associations and businesses in the fishery sector have made efforts to carry out recommendations of the European Commission (EC) and have its "yellow card" warning against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing lifted, heard a conference on October 23.



Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) and head of the VASEP Marine Product Committee, said Vietnams aquatic product exports reach nearly 9 billion USD a year.

Border guards in Quang Binh province examine a fishing boat and disseminate legal regulations to fishermen. (Photo: VNA)





She, however, pointed out limitations in the management and exploitation of aquatic resources, which have yet to fully meet relevant legal regulations.



Fishery sector committed to combating IUU fishing hinh anh 2

Vietnam's fishing boats (Photo: VNA)

Violations in fishing regulations should be quickly handled to remove the yellow card issued by the EC in 2017, Sac said, adding that such violations would be threats to the fishery sectors sustainable and responsible development.



She also warned that once the EC imposes a red card, Vietnamese seafood will not be allowed to enter the EU market, and the sector would loose around 387 million USD each year.



VASEP Deputy Secretary General Nguyen Hoai Nam said VASEP's IUU control board will work to maintain results recorded over the past four years, and deal with the limitations.



The communication work will be stepped up to raise public awareness of fishing regulations, he said, stressing the aim of ending violations in foreign waters at the end of this year, and have the yellow card removed in 2022.
Rio de Janeiro (dpa) - Kuwait shooter Fehaid Aldeehani captured the gold medal in Wednesdays mens double trap albeit with the title going to the Independent Olympic Athletes team.



Aldeehani held off Italian Marco Innocenti 26-24 in the final to win the gold medal in his sixth Olympics. Briton Steven Scott grabbed the bronze.



The 49-year-old Aldeehani had collected two shooting medals in previous Games - bronze in the double trap in 2000 for the countrys first medal ever, and trap bronze in 2012.



Those two medals were credited to Kuwait but Aldeehani and eight other Kuwaitis are competing in Rio for the Independent Olympic Athletes team after the International Olympic Committee suspended Kuwait for government interference in sport.




Emphasis on Yellow River environment highlights Xi's vision for ecological civilization

Xinhua) 09:07, October 24, 2021

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, checks the Yellow River's waterways and learns about the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin at a dock as he inspects the estuary of the Yellow River in the city of Dongying, east China's Shandong Province, Oct. 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up his inspection tour on the downstream of China's second-longest river with a symposium dedicated to it on Friday. Throughout the three-day trip in eastern Shandong Province, Xi stressed the importance of ecological protection of the Yellow River basin, again highlighting his vision for ecological civilization in China.

The Yellow River is an example of Xi's persistent emphasis on promoting ecological civilization. An important part of Xi's governance in China, ecological civilization centers on protecting the environment. As he said earlier this month, "we need to solve the problems brought by industrial civilization, keep human activities within the limits of the ecology and environment, and carry out holistic conservation and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands and deserts."

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi has made many instructions on matters related to the Yellow River. This week, by visiting Dongying, Shandong Province, he checked out the upper, middle, and lower streams of the 5,464-kilometer Yellow River.

In the symposium, Xi asked to make protection "the key task" in the Yellow River basin, underlining the priority he has consistently put on ecological civilization. "We should protect the environment like we protect our eyes, and treat the environment like we treat our lives," he said.

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 12, 2020 shows a view of the Yellow River in Jiyuan City, central China's Henan Province. (Xinhua/Hao Yuan)

His quote, "Green mountains are gold mountains," has become well-known worldwide and has rich connotations. A sound ecology and environment is not just a natural asset but also an economic asset, and it affects the potential and momentum of economic and social development.

Xi's far-sightedness on ecological civilization - more specifically, climate change - was also evident on Friday. He asked to pay "great attention to the complex and profound impact of global climate change, actively respond from a security perspective, comprehensively improve the level of disaster prevention and control, and guard people's lives."

Aerial photo taken on Aug. 14, 2019 shows the Qiankun Bay of the Yellow River on the border between Yanchuan County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and Yonghe County, north China's Shanxi Province. (Xinhua/Tao Ming)

Last year, Xi announced that China aims to reach the carbon peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, a milestone for China's and the world's ongoing battle against climate change.

Ecological civilization is a long-running strategy in China, not some short-term fancy idea, and it is for the good of the people. The CPC has always put the Yellow River high on the agenda. Shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong called for efforts to manage the Yellow River's affairs well.

The reason is, despite being affectionately called China's Mother River, it has brought great challenges to the Chinese nation with soil erosion, sand and silt invasion, floods, river course changes, and bank collapses for millennia.

The people are the state, and the state is the people. Xi's consistency also tells the story of staying true to the CPC's original aspiration.

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Sheng Chuyi)
Washington's "diplomacy by deception" only sabotages world peace

Xinhua) 09:27, October 24, 2021

BEIJING, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- In the U.S. Senate's confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Nicholas Burns, the nominee for the post of U.S. ambassador to China, appeared as a China hardliner by throwing dirt on the country.

His testimony, to some extent, was seen as posturing in the face of pressure from Republican senators. Given the politics of deception prevailing in Washington, it is comprehensible why an experienced career diplomat has to smear his future host country to get an official appointment.

Obviously, that political tradition has steered U.S. foreign policies into a wrong direction -- the "diplomacy of deception."

SABOTEUR DISGUISED AS SAVIOR

Burns' testimony involved issues regarding China's Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Calling China "the greatest threat to the security of our country," he urged to "maintain the American military position" in the Asia-Pacific, referring to the U.S. presence as an "effective deterrent to keep the peace."

However, as the biggest arms exporter, military spender and regime changer of the world, the United States itself was widely regarded as the biggest threat to world peace, according to polls conducted by WIN/Gallup International and Pew Research Center.

Iraqi protesters take part in a demonstration against the presence of U.S. troops in the country in Baghdad, capital of Iraq, Jan. 24, 2020. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

In 2003, then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who died of COVID-19 complications earlier this week, lied to the world that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, and paved the way for the Iraq War.

Actually, intelligence officials repeatedly cautioned the war was based on conjecture, since a British inquiry disclosed that one report's description of Iraqi chemical weapons was excerpted from "The Rock," an action movie directed by Michael Bay.

To justify its rising belligerence and imperialism, Washington has woven numerous embarrassing narratives.

In mid-June, for example, the United States financed anti-Cuba forces to incite demonstrations by spreading the rumor that the spike of COVID-19 infections had led to a medical collapse in Cuba, whereas the United States is actually the worst-affected by the pandemic in terms of cases and deaths.

Should the current U.S. administration continue to accumulate more lies and atrocities, "it will not be able to regain the world's respect for American leadership, nor will it win the American public's support for its foreign policy," wrote Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink, a U.S. anti-war group, and Nicholas Davis, a researcher with the group, in an article.

CHINA'S COMMITMENT TO PEACE

China has committed itself to be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, a defender of the international order and a provider of public goods, making Washington's accusations sound ridiculous.

Since 1949, China has upheld "a national defense policy that is defensive in nature." "Never seeking hegemony, expansion, or spheres of influence" is the distinctive feature of China's national defense, said a white paper released by the Chinese government.

While building its defense strength for national security, China is also championing global peace through multilateral mechanisms. Over the past 30 years, some 40,000 Chinese peacekeepers have been dispatched to conflict-affected countries and areas in 25 UN operations.

Echoing the zeitgeist that all nations, no matter big or small, enjoy equal rights, the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has set an example that a big nation like China can cooperate with "nations across Southeast Asia, South America, Africa, and treat them as equal partners, because the process is win-win," said Richard A. Black, the Schiller Institute's representative at the UN.

The Maritime Silk Road, one of the two arms of the initiative that connected continents and brought development opportunities, is extremely important for world peace, Black told Xinhua in August.

Aerial photo taken on July 24, 2020 shows the China-Laos Railway's Ban Ladhan Mekong River Super Major Bridge in Laos. (Photo by Pan Longzhu/Xinhua)

At the Cambridge Forum in 2018, when asked about his views on China's investment projects overseas, former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said that China is "far more humanistic than the United States ever was," as the Asian country, which is "non-interventionist in a way that Europeans, the West, have never managed to fathom," has no "military ambitions."

HARD TIMES DEMAND COOPERATION

Given the haunting common challenges facing humankind, such as climate change, sustainable development and recovery from a once-in-a-century pandemic, Washington's ambiguous stance towards the U.S.-China relationship is worrisome.

The approach to deal with the different issues with China separately, or "compartmentalization," only blew the lid off of Washington's arrogance and insincerity. Never can practical cooperation take place in parallel with competition or confrontation.

For the two largest economies, their cooperation will lead to benefits in both countries and beyond, while their confrontation will cause suffering worldwide.

A container ship of China's COSCO Shipping docks at a new container terminal of the Port of Long Beach in California, the United States, Aug. 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Gao Shan)

In response to Burns' remarks, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, on Thursday urged him to "be keenly aware of the overall trend of world development and people's aspiration, learn the real situation of China objectively, (and) view China and China-U.S. ties in a rational manner."

"We hope he will speak and act in a more constructive manner, and play a constructive part in promoting China-U.S. relations and the friendship between the two peoples," Wang said.

Meanwhile, Wang reiterated that "we oppose defining China-U.S. ties as competitive. Even when there is competition between the two sides in such pragmatic areas as economy and trade, it is healthy competition with each other for excellence."

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Bianji)
China's top legislature adopts multiple laws as standing committee session concludes

Xinhua) 09:32, October 24, 2021

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, speaks at the closing meeting of the 31st session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee, in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 23, 2021. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

BEIJING, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, adopted multiple laws including laws on family education promotion and land borders, and an amendment to the Audit Law, as it wrapped up a session on Saturday.

President Xi Jinping signed presidential orders to promulgate the laws.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, presided over the closing meeting of the 31st session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee, which ran from Tuesday to Saturday.

Lawmakers passed a 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.

They adopted a decision to authorize the State Council to pilot property tax reforms in certain regions.

Legislators passed a decision to temporarily adjust the application of relevant statutory provisions during the reform of the national defense mobilization system.

They also adopted decisions 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.

Lawmakers passed a report on deputy qualifications and personnel-related bills, among others.

It was the first time the session deliberated a special report on the management of state-owned assets of natural resources, Li said while addressing the closing meeting.

He called for efforts to improve the national system for the management of natural resource assets and enhance the national capability of safeguarding resource safety.

The session set at the top of its agenda the study of the important speech delivered by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, at a central conference on work related to people's congresses, Li said.

Calling on the people's congresses at all levels and their standing committees to have thorough study into Xi's speech, Li urged them to uphold the overall leadership of the Party, adhere to the political development path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, ensure that the people enjoy extensive democratic rights according to the law, and improve the quality of the work of people's congresses.

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Bianji)
China strongly opposes British official's irresponsible remarks on HK affairs: embassy

Xinhua) 09:34, October 24, 2021

LONDON, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Britain on Friday voiced strong opposition to the "irresponsible remarks" recently made by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Hong Kong affairs.

The spokesperson made the remarks while responding to a question concerning a statement made by Truss on Thursday when he expressed concerns over the disqualification or resignation of some District Councilors in Hong Kong, which interfered in China's internal affairs.

Improving the electoral system in the Hong Kong SAR, implementing relevant decisions and observing the principle of "patriots governing Hong Kong" are conducive to upholding "one country, two systems," promoting the healthy development of the democratic political system in the Hong Kong SAR, safeguarding the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents, and ensuring the long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong, the spokesperson said.

These measures have won the full recognition and support of Hong Kong residents and the international community, the spokesperson noted.

Since China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, Hong Kong affairs have been purely China's internal affairs and brook no external interference, the spokesperson added.

"China urges the UK side to stop political manipulation on Hong Kong-related issues and stop interfering in China's internal affairs in any way," the spokesperson said.

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Bianji)
Seeking talent -- the ancient and modern stories

Xinhua) 10:54, October 24, 2021

CHANGSHA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Talent has long been valued and respected in China. Many stories illustrate how people discovered and wooed "winged steeds," a phrase referring to people of great talent.

"San Gu Mao Lu," which means three visits to a thatched cottage, is among the most famous ones. It tells how Liu Bei, founder of the Shu state during the Three Kingdom Period (220-280), whole-heartedly invited renowned military strategist Zhuge Liang to assist him.

During Liu's first visit, Zhuge, who lived in seclusion, was not at home. Liu returned discouraged at a time without telegraphs and phones.

Soon Liu and his generals came again. But, again, they failed to see Zhuge. This time, Liu left a note expressing his intention.

Regardless of objections from his generals, Liu decided to visit Zhuge for the third time. This time, Zhuge was at home, but he was sleeping when Liu arrived.

Liu and his generals stood outside the house, waiting quietly for hours. When Zhuge woke up, he was moved by Liu's sincerity and agreed to serve as his military counselor. With the help of Zhuge, Liu finally founded the Shu state.

The idiom "San Gu Mao Lu" implies inviting someone to take up a task or position with sincerity and respect. The modern versions of this story are repeating about 1,800 years later. China has been fostering a culture of respecting talents and making great efforts to nurture and gather more skilled professionals amid its national rejuvenation drive.

In Changsha, the capital city of central China's Hunan Province, the human resources director Yu Bin finally hired an influential talent in the automobile mold industry after 15 years of continuous visits and invitations.

The Sunrise auto mold company Yu works with produces mainly molds and fixtures of large and medium-sized automobile covering parts. As products and techniques in this industry are updated and replaced frequently, management and technical talents are regarded as treasures.

"Taking 15 years to woo a talent is tortuous but beneficial for our company's long-term development," Yu said.

China now has many well-trained professionals who play an increasingly prominent role in the country's development. By the end of 2020, there were more than 200 million skilled workers and more than 50 million highly skilled workers in China.

"We have set up a talent mechanism in the company, aiming to train 60 to 100 skilled personnel in three batches every year," Yu said. "In the future, we plan to train and introduce more management and technical personnel, hoping to make them the biggest driving force for the company's development."

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Sheng Chuyi)
For Xi, environment in Yellow River basin comes first

Xinhua) 13:28, October 24, 2021

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, checks the Yellow River's waterways and learns about the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin at a dock as he inspects the estuary of the Yellow River in the city of Dongying, east China's Shandong Province, Oct. 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Pinglu Yellow River Wetland at the junction of Shanxi and Henan provinces welcomed another batch of guests in the latter part of October -- 13 swans that have migrated to spend winter.

With a pleasant climate and abundant food, the 6,000-hectare wetland is one of China's major winter habitats for white swans, attracting tens of thousands of the birds from Russia's Siberian region.

To better protect the bird, Shanxi's Pinglu County has shut down polluting firms around the wetland and invested hundreds of millions of yuan to improve the surrounding ecological environment. A protection team of more than 100 people has been formed and a remote video surveillance system is in operation. The county government has also spent 400,000 yuan (about 62,640 U.S. dollars) annually over the past decade compensating residents for returning their farmland to the wetland.

"Besides favorable policies and investment, China's continuous efforts in improving the ecological environment in the Yellow River have contributed most to the migratory white swans," said Zhang Jin, head of the wildlife protection station under Pinglu County's forestry bureau.

The Yellow River is the second longest in China, measuring 5,464 km, and runs through nine provincial regions, including Shanxi, Henan and Shandong.

For more than 3,000 years, the Yellow River basin had been the political, economic, and cultural center of the country. It witnessed the birth of four era-defining inventions in ancient China -- printing techniques, papermaking, gunpowder and the compass. It is also the place where the Book of Songs and other ancient Chinese classics were written.

Today, more than 400 million people live in the basin, which plays a crucial role in the nation's ecological and food supply systems.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who pays high attention to the protection of the Yellow River, has visited all provincial regions the Yellow River runs through, and has been to river banks on multiple occasions.

"The protection of the Yellow River is critical to the great rejuvenation and sustainable development of the Chinese nation," said Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, while chairing a symposium on ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin in Zhengzhou, provincial capital of Henan in September 2019.

Chairing a symposium on furthering ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province on Friday, Xi urged notable progress in ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

Provincial-level regions along the Yellow River should stick to putting the environment first and being committed to green development, said Xi. He visited the river's estuary and the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve in Dongying City, Shandong on Wednesday.

Swans rest on a lake near the Yellow River in Pinglu, north China's Shanxi Province, Oct. 27, 2020. (Xinhua/Ma Yimin)

Thanks to wetlands restoration efforts, the number of bird species in the delta nature reserve has doubled from 187 in 1992 to 371 this year. The city has restored over 20,000 hectares of wetlands since 2017 and is building a 108-km-long ecological corridor along the Yellow River, according to Dongying Mayor Chen Bichang.

Measures for high-quality development have also been adopted in provinces and autonomous regions in the Yellow River basin.

In April, the State Council approved a plan to build a start-up area to replace old growth drivers with new ones in Jinan. The area also serves as a demonstration zone in promoting ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin.

Covering an area of 798 square km, the start-up area is expected to include future industries such as brain-like artificial intelligence, future network and 4D manufacturing, and realize an output of more than 60 billion yuan in 2025.

In early October, the central authorities issued an outline document on the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin. The document will guide the country's ecological conservation and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin through to 2030 and beyond, and serve as an important basis for formulating and implementing relevant planning schemes, policies and measures, as well as building engineering projects.

High-quality development in the Yellow River basin also facilitates common prosperity. Lishi Village in mountainous Xihaigu, an area in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, used to be one of China's most impoverished due to drought and a fragile ecology.

As more Chinese consumers prefer traditional food, Lishi Village has set up collectively-operated vinegar workshops, oil workshops and other factories to promote industries with local characteristics in recent years.

Its quality products such as vinegar, oil and flour have been well-received. Last year, the collective economic income of Lishi Village had reached about 640,000 yuan, and dividends had been paid to villagers for three consecutive years.

"A few years ago, I had to do odd jobs in big cities for several months every year. Now, with skills in manual oil press, I can make more than 30,000 yuan a year without having to work elsewhere," said villager Qi Guoxi. "It's more stable and convenient."

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Sheng Chuyi)
Some U.S. media outlets selectively blind to China's human rights progress

Xinhua) 10:34, October 24, 2021

BEIJING, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- For a long time, some U.S. media outlets have been accusing the Chinese government of human rights violations, turning a blind eye to Beijing's continued efforts in respecting, protecting and developing human rights over the past decades.

The latest Xinhua data analysis of approximately 300 U.S. media outlets' reportage concerning China's human rights over the past months has found that they are generally negative. Also, they are partial in terms of the definition of human rights, totally ignoring the fact that human rights are a multi-dimensional concept.

The analysis showed that American media's reporting over China's human rights are frequently related to politics and localities of Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet, smearing China with politically-driven distortion and disinformation. They, however, rarely mention the all-round development of the country's human rights, including rights of ethnic minorities, women, children, the elderly and the disabled.

According to the United Nations' definition, human rights range from the most fundamental -- the right to life -- to those that make life worth living.

In China, overall progress in all rights is a major principle of the human rights development. China endeavors to achieve a balanced development of economic, social and cultural rights, including eliminating absolute poverty, protecting the environment, safeguarding workers' rights and guaranteeing equal access to education for all.

For instance, China's reduction of poverty, the biggest obstacle to human rights, has rarely been reported by the U.S. media as a human rights story with a positive narrative. In fact, China realized its poverty reduction goal from the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule. Since the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, 770 million of the rural population living below China's poverty line have been lifted out of poverty.

As the world's largest developing country, China always believes that people's sense of gain, happiness and security is an important criterion for evaluating human rights.

In the latest case of fighting against the COVID-19 epidemic, China has regarded protecting people's lives, which it believes is a fundamental human right, as its top priority. While the United States was witnessing a persistently high level of infections and deaths, some U.S. media outlets purposely attacked China's anti-epidemic strategy.

Science-based and proven highly effective in practice, China's epidemic prevention and control measures have helped curb the virus from further spreading on a large scale.

But the measures it has taken, such as lockdowns, massive screening, contact tracing are frequently headlined as human rights violations by some U.S. media outlets, who accuse China of being a "surveillance" state that abuse personal data.

Smearing China cannot discredit the country's remarkable achievements in its human rights development. Since 2009, China has formulated and implemented several action plans on human rights.

In September, China released the Human Rights Action Plan of China (2021-2025). This document includes nearly 200 objectives and tasks, ranging from rights to basic standard of living, public participation in environmental decision-making, to rights of ethnic minority groups.

Every country has room for improvement in terms of protecting human rights. There is no universally applicable model, and human rights can only advance in the context of national conditions and people's needs. China will hold fast to its people-centered approach, and exert itself to meet the people's growing expectations for human rights protection.

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Sheng Chuyi)
First joint naval patrol by China, Russia in West Pacific is of vital significance: military experts

(Global Times) 11:21, October 24, 2021

Chinese PLA navys destroyer Kunming sails with Russias large anti-submarine ship Admiral Tributs in the West Pacific on October 19, 2021. Photo: Li Tang

Chinese and Russian naval forces have carried out their first joint sea patrol in waters in the West Pacific between October 17 to 23, Chinese Ministry of Defense said on Saturday, which experts said is of vital significance in sending a clear signal and practicing real world drills.

A China-Russia joint naval ships formation which included a total of 10 warships and six carrier-based helicopters carried out the joint maritime patrol in the Sea of Japan, the West Pacific and the East China Sea, during which they organized exercises over joint sailing and joint maneuvers and conducted live-fire drills.

The patrol was held right after China and Russia wrapped up a joint naval exercise in the Sea of Japan from October 14 to 17.

A China-Russia joint naval ships formation sails in the West Pacific on October 19, 2021. Photo: Li Tang

Immediate exercises including crossing, joint mobility and live fire after the joint naval drill is closer to the situation of actual combat and able to test and improve the forces' capacity of continuous operation and capacity to remain combat ready in open seas. It could also improve Chinese and Russian navies' capacity to deal with maritime security threats, Zhang Junshe, a senior research fellow at the Naval Research Academy of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), told the Global Times on Saturday.

He noted that the first China-Russia joint sea patrol in waters in the West Pacific is of vital significance in sending a clear signal and practicing real world drills.

China and Russia are two permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and shoulder the responsibility to sustain world peace. "The arrangement would enhance bilateral trust between China and Russia, develop comprehensive strategic partnership of the two countries in the new era, as well as safeguard international and regional stability," Zhang noted.

A China-Russia joint naval ships formation passes through the Tsugaru Strait on October 18, 2021. Photo: Li Tang

Military expert Song Zhongping told the Global Times that the latest joint sea patrol showed high degree of actual combat. Immediately transformation from drill to patrol is a mechanism transforming from peacetime to wartime status. "The formation of such mechanism indicates that the capacity of China and Russia to make quick reaction in military cooperation is improving fast," Song noted.

In the future, joint air patrol and joint naval patrol between China and Russia will become increasingly common, Song said. Air-sea joint patrol would also follow, which demonstrate deeper China-Russia friendship and improved China-Russia joint operation capacity, as well as stronger actual combat capacity.

"The formation of China-Russia joint combat capacity would bring about attacking measures at multiple layers and improve the forces' abilities to perform military tasks. It will provide more options to deal with regional conflicts such as terrorist attacks," Song said.

A China-Russia joint naval ships formation is about to enter the Osumi Strait on October 22, 2021. Photo: Li Tang

A statement from Russian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday during the practical actions, the battle ships sailed more than 1,700 nautical miles in total.

During the mission, the joint formation has strictly abided by international law and did not enter territorial waters of other countries, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said.

Previously, Japanese media had hyped up the joint formation's passage through of the Tsugaru Strait, but Chinese military experts noted that the Tsugaru Strait is no territorial water, and warships from any country have the right to transit, which means the transit of the Chinese and Russian vessels were in line with the international law and well within the bounds of standard naval practices.

A China-Russia joint naval ships formation sails in the East China Sea on October 23, 2021. Photo: Li Tang

The joint maritime patrol is aimed at further developing the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era, elevating the joint action capabilities of both nations and jointly maintaining international and regional strategic stability. It's a part of the annual cooperation plan between the two nations and is not targeted at any third parties, the Chinese Ministry of Defense stated.

Since 2019, air forces from China and Russia have conducted annual joint strategic air patrols over the East China Sea and Sea of Japan. The joint sea patrol for the first time has built on enhanced military cooperation between the two strategic partners, Chinese military experts said.

A China-Russia joint naval ships formation sails in the East China Sea on October 23, 2021. Photo: Li Tang

A China-Russia joint naval ships formation sails in the East China Sea on October 23, 2021. Photo: Li Tang

A China-Russia joint naval ships formation conducts joint exercise in the West Pacific. Photo: Li Tang

A China-Russia joint naval ships formation conducts joint exercise in the West Pacific. Photo: Li Tang

A China-Russia joint naval ships formation conducts joint exercise in the West Pacific. Photo: Li Tang

A China-Russia joint naval ships formation conducts joint exercise in the West Pacific. Photo: Li Tang

Officers and soldiers on Chinas guided-missile destroyer Nanchang closely monitor the air and sea conditions. Photo: Li Tang

Chinese guided-missile destroyer Nanchang sails alongside a Russian frigate. Photo: Li Tang

Chinas guided-missile destroyer Nanchang sails alongside Russias command ship Marshal Krylov in the West Pacific on October 19, 2021. Photo: Li Tang

Chinas guided-missile destroyer Nanchang sails in the West Pacific. Photo: Li Tang

Chinas guided-missile destroyer Nanchang sails in the West Pacific. Photo: Li Tang

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Sheng Chuyi)
We Are China

China launches Shijian-21 satellite

Xinhua) 11:29, October 24, 2021

XICHANG, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- China successfully launched a new satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province Sunday.

The satellite, Shijian-21, was launched at 9:27 a.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-3B carrier rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully.

The satellite will be mainly used to test and verify space debris mitigation technologies.

This launch marked the 393rd mission for the Long March series carrier rockets.

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Sheng Chuyi)
Xi Jinping -- Committed to advancing UN cause for better world

14:15, October 24, 2021 By Shi Xiaomeng ( Xinhua

Chinese peacekeepers march during a medal ceremony in Hanniyah village, southern Lebanon, April 3, 2019. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- "It falls on each and every responsible statesman to answer the questions of our times and make a historical choice with confidence, courage and a sense of mission."

As the leader of a major country that is playing an ever more significant role in today's increasingly interconnected and profoundly changing world, Chinese President Xi Jinping, who made the call at the UN General Assembly in September, has already given his answer.

Committed to his flagship vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, Xi has, among other efforts, been leading China, the world's most populous and largest developing country, to continuously deepen and expand cooperation with the United Nations, the world's most universal, representative and authoritative international organization.

Upon the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the lawful seat of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations, Xi is set to reaffirm Beijing's support for the UN cause, redouble China's efforts for international cooperation, and reinvigorate global action for a better world.

Photo taken on Sept. 14, 2020 shows the outside view of the United Nations headquarters in New York, the United States. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

FUTURE-ORIENTED VISION

In the eyes of former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Xi is "a man of a future-oriented vision."

During his tenure as the UN chief, Ban interacted with Xi on many occasions. One of the most unforgettable, he told Xinhua in a recent interview, was how Xi went to great lengths to promote the ratification of the hard-won Paris Agreement on climate change, a grave threat to humanity that had long been at the top of the UN agenda.

A major breakthrough came when Xi invited Ban and then U.S. President Barack Obama to visit China's eastern city of Hangzhou on Sept. 3, 2016, one day ahead of the opening of the G20 Hangzhou summit.

At a "very unexpected event," Ban recalled, Xi and Obama both presented him with the instrument of ratification of the Paris accord.

"That was historic," said Ban, explaining that such a joint move by China and the United States was "vital" as it galvanized other parties into accelerating the ratifying process. Two months after the Hangzhou event, the deal officially came into effect.

"Had (there) not been President Xi Jinping's initiative, we would not have the Paris climate change agreement even now. Then I really sighed with a deep relief," Ban told Xinhua. "The world was saved."

From then on, China has further intensified its painstaking transformation towards green development. Now Xi has announced that China aims to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, which means the developing country will complete the world's largest reduction in carbon emission intensity in the shortest time in global history.

"There is only one Earth in the universe and we mankind have only one homeland," Xi said at the UN Office at Geneva in 2017. "We should not only think about our own generation, but also take responsibility for future ones."

Aerial photo taken on Feb. 24, 2021 shows a molten-salt solar thermal power plant in Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province. (Xinhua/Ma Xiping)

RESULTS-ORIENTED ACTIONS

"Action speaks louder than words," Xi told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a phone conversation in May. "The Chinese always keep their words and do what they say."

When the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by UN member states in 2015, Xi called it a "high-standard checklist" as its top goal demands ending all poverty.

"No single poor area or individual shall be left behind," Xi once pledged. Under his strong leadership, only five years later, China eliminated absolute poverty, achieving the goal 10 years ahead of schedule.

China's anti-poverty success has greatly contributed to global development, one of the three pillars of UN work. Guterres congratulated Xi on the achievement in person, saying "this extraordinary result is a reason of hope and inspiration to the entire community of nations."

Indeed, with Xi at the helm, China has become an ever stronger powerhouse for common development, providing more assistance and generating more opportunities for other countries.

Students have China-aided rice for lunch at Toyoyome primary school at suburb of Cotonou, Benin, Oct. 17, 2019. (Photo by Seraphin Zounyekpe/Xinhua)

Its contribution to global growth has remained the highest for 15 years running. China has provided 63 billion U.S. dollars of development assistance to 166 countries and international organizations. The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi, has become the world's largest platform for international cooperation.

In view of the current circumstances, particularly the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Xi, in his address to the UN General Assembly in September, put forth a Global Development Initiative in a bid to steer global development towards a new stage of balanced, coordinated and inclusive growth.

"We need to foster global development partnerships that are more equal and balanced, forge greater synergy among multilateral development cooperation processes, and speed up the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Xi said.

Addressing the Second United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conference earlier this month, Xi reiterated China's dedication to common global development.

"We will contribute more to global development while pursuing our own development," he said.

Chinese medical team experts and Italian doctors pose for a photo during the COVID-19 pandemic in Padua, Italy, March 18, 2020. (Xinhua)

UN-CENTERED MULTILATERALISM

To beat global challenges and build a better future for humanity demands concerted international cooperation, which would not be possible without a genuine commitment to and effective practice of multilateralism.

In Xi's eyes, the United Nations, as a banner of multilateralism, is "the core institution for addressing international affairs through cooperation." Under his leadership, China has stepped up support for the world body to play a bigger role in promoting global peace and development.

At his debut at the UN General Assembly in September 2015, Xi announced China's decision to establish a China-UN Peace and Development Fund. To date, China has provided 120 million U.S. dollars to the fund and launched 112 cooperation projects.

Now China is the second largest funding contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, and has contributed more peacekeepers than any other permanent members of the UN Security Council.

It firmly opposes the willful threat or use of force in international affairs, and has taken an active part in seeking political solutions to major regional and global disputes on the basis of justice and equity.

In the face of various forms of pseudo-multilateralism emerging from the combined impact of profound global changes and an unprecedented pandemic, Xi has stood up to the challenge and made a strong push for true multilateralism.

Photo taken on Sept. 14, 2020 shows the United Nations (UN) flag flying outside the UN headquarters in New York, the United States. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

"In the world, there is only one international system, i.e. the international system with the United Nations at its core. There is only one international order, i.e. the international order underpinned by international law. And there is only one set of rules, i.e. the basic norms governing international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter," Xi stressed.

All countries should act in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and refrain from pursuing unilateralism and hegemony, and should not use multilateralism as a pretext to form small circles or stir up ideological confrontation, he has said.

The United Nations, he has suggested, "should hold high the banner of true multilateralism and serve as the central platform for countries to jointly safeguard universal security, share development achievements and chart the course for the future of the world."

Citing the 50th anniversary of the restoration of China's lawful seat in the United Nations, Xi told the UN General Assembly in September that China will "continue our active efforts to take China's cooperation with the United Nations to a new level."

"China is always a builder of world peace, contributor to global development, defender of the international order and provider of public goods," he said. "China will continue to bring the world new opportunities through its new development." Enditem

(Xinhua correspondents Du Baiyu, Lu Rui and Zhou Siyu in Seoul also contributed to the story.)

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Sheng Chuyi)
Interview: Restoration of PRC's lawful seat in UN opens new chapter in global governance, says UN assistant secretary-general

14:55, October 24, 2021 By Wang Jiangang ( Xinhua

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Fifty years ago, the People's Republic of China (PRC) restored its lawful seat at the United Nations. "This historical event, in keeping with the times, marked the beginning of a new era in global governance," UN Assistant Secretary-General Xu Haoliang told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Having been UN assistant secretary-general since 2013 and also serving as assistant administrator and director of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Xu highly appreciated China's contribution to global development over the past 50 years.

In the past over 70 years since the founding of the PRC, around 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the country, Xu said, adding that "China has been lifting more than 10 million people each year out of poverty over the last eight years."

He called this "a major milestone" in human progress.

"As the only major economy in the world to achieve positive growth in 2020, China made great achievements in fighting COVID-19 and organized active resumption of work and production. This is of great importance for stabilizing the world economy and enhancing its confidence," he said.

China plays an "exceptionally important role" in global affairs, such as the Paris climate pact and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, according to Xu.

He described the establishment of the China International Development Cooperation Agency in April 2018 as "another wonderful event that China has accomplished in the development sphere."

From a recipient country to an important partner in global governance, China has achieved a "great leap," said the assistant secretary-general.

The UNDP became the first international organization to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with the Chinese government in September 2016.

Xu suggested that the initiative should be more closely integrated with the relevant Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

"Building a community with a shared future for mankind," which is in line with the common goal of the international community, embodies China's position and wisdom and expresses the good wishes and values of humanity, he said.

"China is still developing, but it is already the world's second largest economy and a member of the G20. Every move it makes impacts the world," said Xu.

"There is no doubt that China's impact on global governance will be far-reaching in the next 50 years," he stressed.

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Sheng Chuyi)
Int'l firms eye opportunities in China's consumption market

Xinhua) 15:33, October 24, 2021

TIANJIN, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- From introducing imported products to China in the early years, adjusting the product formulation to meet Chinese consumers' needs, to the current export of goods made in Chinese factories, P&G's change has witnessed the development of China's consumption market.

The potential of China's consumption market has created unlimited opportunities for the enterprise, said Jasmine Xu, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of P&G Greater China, at a summit in north China's Tianjin Municipality on Thursday.

The Haihe International Consumption Summit highlighted new opportunities for international consumption under the "dual circulation" development pattern, as China is building a new development paradigm where domestic and overseas markets reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay.

In July, the State Council approved Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing to take the lead in building international consumption center cities. The five cities recently unveiled a series of measures and will carry out specific projects to build themselves into international consumption center cities.

Ian McGarrigle, founder and chairman of the World Retail Congress, said via video, "I believe China will be able to leverage the fundamental role of domestic consumption in economic development and foster a more robust and domestic market to boost growth at home and create more room for global growth."

A population of over 1.4 billion, including a middle-income group of over 400 million people that keeps expanding, China offers a supersized market and will create more new opportunities for global consumption markets, said Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce, at the summit.

Currently, Chinese consumption market features high-quality, putting more emphasis on individuality and the shopping experience. The consumption upgrade trend is obvious.

"China is one of the largest and most sophisticated consumer markets in the world, and we are very committed to China and to Chinese consumers. We are investing to improve and expand our operations and we are investing in innovative new products and services. All with a view to meeting Chinese consumers' desire to have a better life," said David Taylor, chairman of the board, president and CEO of P&G.

Bestseller Fashion Group China, in the Chinese market for nearly 25 years, continues to seize more market opportunities. It has participated in the "Double 11" (Nov. 11, indicating Singles' Day) buying spree, and opened livestreaming workshops on popular Chinese video-sharing app Douyin to embrace China's livestreaming economy.

"We had 100 percent localization since 1998. We spent all the time in the Chinese consumption market to understand Chinese consumers. There have been so many opportunities in China all these years," said Dan Friis, co-founder of the Bestseller Fashion Group China.

Liu Hui, director of the JD Research Institute for Consumption and Industrial Development, said the number of international brands and products on JD.com has continued to grow in recent years. They research the clear needs of Chinese consumers, and even tailor products and services for them.

"It represents the promotion of China's consumption market in the world, and also shows the importance of Chinese market to these international brands," Liu said.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, China's retail sales of consumer goods totaled around 31.8 trillion yuan (about 4.98 trillion U.S. dollars), up 16.4 percent year on year in the first three quarters of this year.

Wang Wei, director general and senior research fellow of Institute of Market Economy, Development Research Center of the State Council, said building Chinese cities to be international consumption centers is conducive to fostering new growth poles in promoting stable economic growth, and leading the new momentum of global consumption.

Wang also suggests it is necessary to accelerate the cultivation of a diversified and multi-level consumer industry system, combining digitalization, intelligence and experience-oriented development trend of the retail industry, to further innovate consumption patterns and product services.

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Sheng Chuyi)
UK records another 44,985 new coronavirus cases

Xinhua) 15:35, October 24, 2021

A man wearing a face mask walks on a street in London, Britain, on Oct. 23, 2021. Another 44,985 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 8,734,934, according to official figures released Saturday. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

LONDON, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Another 44,985 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 8,734,934, according to official figures released Saturday.

The country also reported a further 135 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 139,461. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

There are currently 8,238 patients in hospital with COVID-19.

The latest data came as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the vaccine alone will not be enough to lift the world out of the pandemic.

Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the WHO, said: "We really have to do other measures" to recover from COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Professor Stephen Reicher of the University of St Andrews warned that Britain risks "dilly-dallying into lockdown" if it does not act soon.

Speaking to Sky News, he warned that vaccines are "not quite enough" on their own, and "other protections" are needed to curb the pandemic.

Professor Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), told the BBC that he fears another "lockdown Christmas" when asked what people can expect from the holiday if government policy does not change.

However, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted the current "high levels" of infection in the country are "fully in line" with predictions made earlier this year. But he said the government will "keep all measures under constant review".

The prime minister said there is "absolutely nothing to indicate" the country will enter a new lockdown this winter, although he added the government would "do whatever we have to do to protect the public".

Speaking at a Downing Street news conference on Wednesday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid cautioned that the coronavirus pandemic "is not over". Javid has even predicted there could be as many as 100,000 COVID cases a day heading into winter.

More than 86 percent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 79 percent have received both doses, the latest figures showed.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Sheng Chuyi)
Zambian ex-envoy calls restoration of China's lawful seat in UN major moment in his career

Xinhua) 16:14, October 24, 2021

Vernon Mwaanga, Zambia's ambassador to the UN from 1968 to 1972, receives an interview with Xinhua in Lusaka, Zambia, Sept. 27, 2021. (Photo by Martin Mbangweta/Xinhua)

LUSAKA, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- The restoration of China's lawful seat in the United Nations in 1971 was "one of the major achievements" in his career, said a former envoy of Zambia to the global agency.

In an interview with Xinhua ahead of the 50th anniversary of the milestone event, which falls on Oct. 25, Vernon Mwaanga, Zambia's ambassador to the UN from 1968 to 1972, reminisced about how Africa supported China's return to the UN.

Mwaanga said the African representatives felt obliged to change the situation because they believed there was no way that Taiwan, which is part of China, could represent China.

Pushing for the adoption of a resolution over the matter was not easy, as some Western countries, including the United States, were determined to maintain the status quo, the former diplomat said.

"You can imagine how frustrating it was for us, because we first sponsored the resolution in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 and finally succeeded in 1971," Mwaanga said.

Zambia is one of the 23 countries that had earlier jointly submitted a draft resolution supporting the restoration of China's lawful seat in the UN.

To counter the move of the United States, the African group sought support from other countries and asked them to be co-sponsors of the resolution, which needed a two-thirds majority to get passed, Mwaanga said.

"So by the time we were finishing with voting, it was quite late at night and when it was announced, we were all very happy," he said.

Mwaanga, who was asked to speak on behalf of the African group in welcoming the Chinese delegation's debut in the UN General Assembly on Nov. 15, 1971, described that the atmosphere was joyful during that historic moment.

He stressed that China has, no doubt, played a major role in the UN system during the last 50 years in such aspects as safeguarding global peace and security.

Mwaanga, who also served as Zambia's foreign minister, said that Zambia will always be grateful to China for financing and constructing the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority rail line because many other countries refused to render assistance.

China-Africa relations, he said, have been strong in the last 50 years, during which China has helped African countries fight poverty, and improve health care, education, and infrastructure.

He believes that the China-Africa relations have a bright future because the growth prospect of the ties has been further cemented by the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative, which have both been embraced by African countries.

Referring to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Mwaanga observed that there has been a global disparity in terms of COVID-19 vaccines, a situation that has led to Africa falling behind in terms of vaccinating its population.

He thanked China for providing African countries with vaccines and other medical supplies, and further commended China for its response to the pandemic, saying that the rest of the world should learn from China's handling of the public health crisis.

(Web editor: Xue Yanyan, Sheng Chuyi)
Turkey is facing diplomatic pushback after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the expulsion of 10 ambassadors, including U.S. Ambassador David M. Satterfield, after they called for the release of a jailed civil society leader.

The Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway all issued statements saying they remained committed to defending human rights in Turkey, while the United States and Germany said they were seeking clarification. The countries are among 10 whose ambassadors Erdogan Saturday declared persona non grata, a diplomatic term used to expel a person.

The Turkish president condemned the ambassadors for their rare joint statement calling for the release of the Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala, a move Erdogan condemned as interference in Turkey's affairs.

Erdogan said, "They will know and understand Turkey. The day they do not know and understand Turkey, they will leave."
The number has continued to surge in recent days, with the agency receiving nearly 20,000 such requests as of Friday, more than 10 times the number of humanitarian applications submitted from around the world in a typical year, according to a USCIS official.

"I want to say that again: 14,000 humanitarian parole applications with just six officers," Langevin said. "That is completely and utterly unacceptable, and I call on USCIS to address the shortcoming immediately."

That's what the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services told congressional staff, Congressman Jim Langevin, a Democrat from Rhode Island, said Thursday during a House Homeland Security Committee meeting.

As recently as last week, the U.S. immigration service was using six officers to process about 14,000 humanitarian requests for Afghans seeking relocation to the United States following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August.

 Emergency Permission

Humanitarian parole is special permission given to foreigners to enter the United States under emergency circumstances. While it does not automatically lead to permanent residence, "parolees" can apply for legal status once they're in the U.S.

The majority of the humanitarian requests have been filed by Afghan Americans on behalf of relatives seeking to flee Taliban rule. The U.S. led the evacuation of more than 124,000 civilians, mostly vulnerable Afghans, in August, but tens of thousands of others were left behind. For many at-risk Afghan civilians with no direct ties to the U.S. military or government, humanitarian parole is the only option of finding safety in the United States.

A spokesman for Langevin told VOA that the information about the USCIS humanitarian parole backlog came during an Oct. 12 agency briefing for congressional staff.

Asked about Langevin's criticism of the backlog, the USCIS official said the agency is assigning additional staff to address the workload. "USCIS issued an agencywide request for volunteers to help process applications for humanitarian and significant public benefit parole and the agency will have significantly more staff assigned to this workload in the coming weeks," the official said.

The deluge of applications has nonetheless overwhelmed the immigration service. Afghan American lawyer Wogai Mohmand said the number of Afghan humanitarian parole requests could reach as high as 150,000 in a year. "Their systems are not equipped to deal with that kind of volume," Mohmand said during a recent webinar hosted by several advocacy organizations. "Frankly, they don't have enough staff to look at all those applications."

Assigning more officers to the humanitarian parole cases alone can't help anyone get out of Afghanistan, according to Sunil Varghese, policy director for the International Refugee Assistance Project. Before parolees are admitted into the U.S., Varghese said, their fingerprints must be taken, identifies verified and travel documents issued by the U.S. embassy.

But the U.S. embassy in Kabul shut down at the end of August and moved to Doha, Qatar. This means that although Afghans can apply for humanitarian parole while still in the country, once they receive pre-approval, they're required to travel to a third country for vetting at a U.S. consulate. If they do make it through the process, "the Department of State issues a boarding letter for the applicant to take a commercial carrier, at their own expense, to the United States," the official explained.

With foreign visas hard to come by and regular commercial flights yet to resume, traveling to a third country for screening is not an option for most Afghans, according to advocates.

Even in the best of circumstances, the difficulty many Afghans face in reaching a U.S. consulate abroad has had undesirable consequences. Take the case of Fatima Khashee. As security deteriorated in July, the 61-year-old's son, a U.S. permanent resident, filed a humanitarian parole request on her behalf. In her case, USCIS acted fairly quickly, approving her application within 20 days on Aug. 24, according to her son, who requested that he not be identified by name.

But by then the Taliban had overrun the country. The embassy, having relocated to the Kabul international airport, transferred her case to Turkey. And by the time she made it to Istanbul 30 days later, her parole authorization had expired.

"It wasn't my mother's fault that her parole was expired," the son said in a message to VOA. "She paid triple of regular price to get [the] first flights [that] became available out of Afghanistan. She tried every possible channel to get out sooner, but all land borders and airlines were closed."

One month later, Khashee remains stuck at an Istanbul hotel, waiting for what her son describes as a long overdue, updated parole reauthorization. "That is unbelievable and very disappointing," he said of the six officers adjudicating 14,000 applications.

It costs $575 to apply for humanitarian parole, a figure that adds up to several thousand dollars for a family of six and that some members of Congress want to see waived.

Despite the cost and uncertainty over their approval, however, humanitarian parole requests for Afghan citizens continue to flood in. "First, they don't have any other options available," Khashee's son said. "Secondly, they are all still hopeful that the USCIS approves their cases considering the situation in Afghanistan. Most of them are not aware how hard it is to be approved for humanitarian parole."

The USCIS official did not respond to questions about whether the agency has approved any Afghan humanitarian parole requests and how long it would take the agency to clear the backlog.


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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE: HUBS), the customer relationship management (CRM) platform for scaling companies, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021. The company also announced that Brian Halligan will step into the role of Executive Chairman of HubSpot's Board of Directors as of September 7, 2021. The Board has appointed Yamini Rangan, HubSpot's current Chief Customer Officer, to succeed him.
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The latest coronavirus data comes on the heels of health officials announcing the availability of the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna booster shots.

Data shows the rate at which Hoosiers are getting vaccine booster shots continues to outweigh the rate of newly recorded vaccinated residents.

As of Friday, the total amount of Hoosiers to receive the booster shots currently totals to 260,870, compared to 220,275 reported seven days ago.

In a 24-hour period, 7,192 booster doses were administered in Indiana, compared to 2,487 people who received their second dose, thus becoming fully vaccinated, according to data updated Friday. The number of those who received a one-dose vaccine were 264 within that same period.

Locally, data on booster shots for specific counties is not yet available on the state website.

As of Friday, a total of 3,349,221 people in Indiana have been fully vaccinated, up from 3,329,239 recorded seven days ago.

Currently, a total of 57% of Indiana's total population, ages 12 and older, is vaccinated.

State data showed county vaccination rates for those ages 12 and older in the Region were 55.8% in Lake County; 61.5% in Porter County; 55.9% in LaPorte County; 45.9% in Jasper County; and 40.8% in Newton County.

Currently, the booster shot is available to fully vaccinated individuals who are either 65 or older, or are 18 or older and have underlying medical conditions or live or work in high-risk settings, such as health care, public safety or grocery store employees.

Moderna and Johnson & Johnson booster shots are now available for those eligible in Indiana, health officials announced Friday. The Pfizer booster shot has been available since late September.

CDC recommendations now allow for people to receive a different brand of booster shot than the one they were initially vaccinated with and individuals can choose which booster dose they receive.

Officials said that after someone is vaccinated against coronavirus, protection against the virus may decrease over time and be less effective against the Delta variant.

Infection and death data

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Another 29 people in the Region were reported dead from COVID-19 over the past seven days, according to updated statistics Friday from the Indiana Department of Health.

In the past week, Lake County saw 15 additional deaths; Porter County recorded three more deaths; LaPorte County had one more; and 10 more people died from the illness in Jasper County, since data reported on Oct. 15.

A total of 15,930 Hoosiers have died from the respiratory disease since the start of the pandemic, including 1,166 in Lake County; 365 in Porter County; 250 in LaPorte County; 79 in Jasper County; and 48 in Newton County, according to ISDH data updated Friday afternoon.

Statewide, 1,897 new positive cases were reported Friday, compared to the 2,303 recorded a week ago. This brings the state's total number of positive tests to 1,007,681.

The statewide seven-day positivity rate for all tests decreased from 17.4% to 16.8% in the last week. All data were provisional and subject to change as more data is reported to the state.

Across the state line, Calumet City reported 4,655 cases, and Lansing reported 4,108 cases on Friday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Seven-day positivity rates in Northwest Indiana were 7.5% in Lake County; 7.8% in Porter County; 6.8% in LaPorte County; 12.1% in Jasper County; and 8.5% in Newton County.

Currently Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties are in the moderate yellow designation, on the state's COVID-19 advisory map, which is updated every Wednesday.

Jasper and Newton counties are in the orange category on the state's COVID-19 advisory map, which means the community's spread is approaching high levels of COVID-19 as measured by weekly cases per 100,000 residents and the testing positivity rate.

No counties are in the best possible blue rating, with the majority of the counties being in the orange zone.

Vaccination appointments can be scheduled at any of 55 hospitals and 91 local health departments across the state, with each site setting its own hours and days of service. All 92 Indiana counties have at least one vaccination site.

To learn more or schedule a booster dose, individuals can visit www.ourshot.in.gov or call "211" for assistance. When people arrive at the location for their shot, they will be asked to confirm that they meet eligibility requirements.
The Moroccan Jewish community in Argentina commemorated, in Buenos Aires, the first anniversary of the Abraham Accords which marked the resumption of relations between Israel and several Arab States, namely Bahrain, Morocco, the UAE, and Sudan.

The ceremony, which took place in the headquarters of the Association of the Latin Jewish Community of Buenos Aires (ACILBA), was attended by several personalities from the world of art, culture and business.

On this occasion, Diana Mercedes Serfaty, president of ACILBA, recalled with emotion how the Moroccan Jewish community of Argentina had lived the conclusion of the agreement to restore relations between Morocco and Israel.

The Jewish community in Argentina maintains with Morocco permanent and indissoluble fraternal relations, insisted Mrs. Serfaty.

The Chief Rabbi of the Moroccan Jewish communities, Shimon Wahnish, recalled on this occasion the teachings of the Prophet Abraham, ancestor of the Jews and Muslims, marked by kindness, empathy, altruism, hope and sensitivity for others.

For Rabbi Wahnish, the agreements reached a year ago between Israel and Arab countries are an accurate reflection of Abrahams teachings for peace and tranquility for all human beings, in a context marked by the maturity of our societies.

The Israeli ambassador to Argentina, Galit Ronen, expressed her countrys hope that the Abraham Accords would be extended to other countries in the region so that peace and coexistence could be perpetuated.

Iman Dryef, Charge dAffaires at the Moroccan embassy in Argentina, stressed that Morocco is extremely proud of its large Jewish diaspora, which perpetuates its ancestral ties with the Kingdom through culture, hospitality, attachment to the family, gastronomy and music.

Morocco has tirelessly worked for peace in the Middle East, and remained faithful to its commitment towards its Jewish community and the unbreakable ties that have bound its members to the kings of Morocco throughout history.
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It was a feel-good night all around for Mayhem Hanover, who captured the Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society's (OSAS) 25th Anniversary Pace at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday (Oct. 23).

Owned by long-time OSAS supporters Clay and Scott Horner, the four-year-old son of Sportswriter stepped to an early lead, posting a :27.4 opening quarter before relinquishing control to Wheels On Fire and Doug McNair as they neared the half. Then, utilizing the pocket trip through a middle-half clip of :55.4 and 1:24.1, pilot Sylvain Filion waited patiently for the pylon lane to open late before skimming through to capture the $30,000 race.

Finishing second was Wheels On Fire, while Sweet Diesel was third.

Mayhem Hanover won the 11th race of his career and paid $8.20 to win.

On hand to present the winning connections with a commemorative blanket was OSAS administrator Joanne Colville and wonderful OSAS volunteers Emma Christoforou, Jean and Tom Posthuma, Mary Christopher, Lindsay Jones, Dave Edwards, Deb O'Brien Moran, and proud adopters of retired standardbreds Kwik Mac and Howdy Partner Beth Mackin and Ian Crewe.

Every Standardbred track in Ontario has celebrated OSAS's 25th anniversary with a special race with the final event scheduled at Rideau Carleton on Oct. 28.

To learn more or to donate, visit osas.ca.

(OSAS)

To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
First Vice-President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva has posted photos from the visit to Zangilan with President Ilham Aliyev on her official Instagram page.








By Azernews





By Vafa Ismayilova

On September 27, 2020, in response to a large-scale provocation of the Armenian armed forces along the frontline, the Azerbaijani army launched a counter-offensive operation, later called the "Iron Fist".

The 44-day war put an end to nearly 30 years of occupation, ensured the liberation of Azerbaijan's lands and the restoration of the country's territorial integrity.

Chronicle of 44-day Second Karabakh War: October 24, 2021:

- President Ilham Aliyev was interviewed by the French Figaro newspaper.

- The stockpiles of weapons, ammunition and fuel of Armenian armed forces were destroyed, and Armenian UAVs were neutralized.

- The Armenian armed forces shelled Azerbaijani settlements.

- Video of the destruction of Armenian military equipment during the night was published. An Armenian fighter jet was destroyed.

- Azerbaijan's Gubadli district was shelled using artillery from the territory of Armenia.

- Azerbaijani artillery units continued to inflict crushing blows on the Armenian armed forces.

- Armenian armed forces attempt to attack Azerbaijani units was prevented. The Azerbaijani Air Force destroyed Armenian military equipment and infrastructure, as well as combat equipment.

A Moscow-brokered ceasefire deal that Baku and Yerevan signed on November 10, 2020, brought an end to six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.

The peace agreement stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Armenian-occupied Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions and urged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s. Before the signing of the deal, the Azerbaijani army had liberated around 300 villages, settlements, city centres, and historic Shusha city.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has given an interview to the French Le Figaro newspaper on October 24, 2020.

Trend presents the interview.

-My first question would be Mr. President, why did you launch an offensive on September 27 against Nagorno-Karabakh? What are the political objectives of this military attack?

-We did not launch military attack on Nagorno-Karabakh on September 27th. It was Armenia who launched a military attack on Azerbaijan, and in the first hours of this military attack we had victims, among civilians and among our military servicemen. This was the 3rd military provocation by Armenia against Azerbaijan, within 3 months. First, they attacked us on the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, far away from the Karabakh region. And by unanimous opinion of international observers it was Armenia who launched an attack on us. They wanted to occupy new territories. they wanted to take control over the strategic energy infrastructure which situated several kilometres from our state border with Armenia. As you probably know, Trans Adriatic Pipeline is almost completed. And the Southern Gas Corridor project is not only a project of energy security of Azerbaijan but also of Europe. We think that one of the goals of Armenia was to take control of that pipelines and to blackmail us, and maybe European consumers. They got a serious response. We pushed them back. But unfortunately, next month, in August, they send the sabotage group, which planned to commit acts of terror against Azerbaijanis. The head of the sabotage group was detected by our military people, military servicemen, and he gives evidence. So, it is a deliberate attempt to disrupt negotiations and to attack Azerbaijan. As far as political goals of Armenia, which they pursued launching the attack, was to keep the status quo unchanged, to put the blame for this escalation on us, to disrupt negotiations completely, and to involve third countries and to internationalize the conflict. We only gave them adequate response, as a result of that we liberated and continue to liberate part of the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.

-Azerbaijan has the mission to be a hub not only on energy pipelines but also on internet, fiberglass cables. And there is Azerbaijani company called Neqsol who want to be the connection between Europe and Central Asia, for internet. Do you think that this project is still possible or not to have directly through Azerbaijan in Internet from Europe, to Central Asia?

-We as you correctly mentioned became already the regional hub for not only for energy, but also for transportation. We are now providing important transportation network for our partners across the Caspian in the eastern part of the Caspian Sea and Europe. Our investments in infrastructure resulted in creation of a very broad international cooperation format on transportation. Of course, everything started with the energy infrastructure, oil and gas pipelines going through Azerbaijan already became very important source of energy security. And with respect to the oil pipelines we already transit oil from Central Asia, through Azerbaijan to Europe. With respect to the internet connection, we invest largely into IT sector, internet penetration in Azerbaijan is about 80 percent. 80 percent of our population are internet users. And we have very developed private companies in this area. Therefore, the company which you mentioned as far as I know is a private company, which has its own agenda, and which invested in the region. And I think their target is to implement commercially viable project. And definitely, Azerbaijan from geographical point of view and point of view of infrastructure today is very important regional actor.

-My question now is can you describe us what is after more than one month of war? where is the front? How are the current military operations?

-It is less than one month, and during this one month as a result of a very successful counter-attack, Azerbaijan managed to liberate part of the occupied territories, cities and villages and every day we report about new cities and villages which have been operated. It was not easy, because during the 30 years of occupation Armenia built on the occupied territories very solid engineering constructions. So, it was not easy to cross the line of contact. But we did it in different directions, in the north, in the south. And this demonstrates the high level of capacity, capability of Azerbaijani Army, and we defeat Armenia on the battlefield. And they have to run away from us. So, we already restored the international border with Iran. More than 130 km of this border was under occupation. So, we did a lot on the battlefield and this continues. Armenia two times violated the ceasefire. If they didnt violate the ceasefire, first on the 10th of October brutally violated it launching a ballistic missile on the sleeping city of Ganja and second time on the 17th of October, today the clashes would have stopped and political solution would have prevailed. Thats our position. If they dont stop, we will continue to liberate our lands.

-They bombed Ganja because there was a couple of Turkish F-16 fighters and one of these Turkish f-16 fighters shut down Armenian plane. Thats why they said they bombed Ganja.

-This is fake news. I think that everybody now understands that was fake news by Armenia. Turkish F-16 are here because they were participating in the joint military training just before the clashes started. And they are on the ground. They are not in the air. Armenian SU-25 hit the mountain. They tried to pretend as if it was hit by the Turkish F-16. But that was in the first days of the conflict. It was in September. But they launched an attack on Ganja with ballistic missile on the 10th of October, first. Second, ballistic missiles launch was made from the territory of Armenia. And you know, big countries can monitor it clearly. They know from where it is launched and what is a task for the missile? The task was to hit civilians. They hit the area of Ganja where people live. So, that was an act of international terror, that was another reflection of the war crime policy of Armenia. These attacks on Ganja, cannot be justified. And they will be responsible for that.

-By accepting the intervention of Turkey and the arrival of Syrian fighters from Turkey, arent you afraid of turning local conflict into a regional war?

-First of all, Turkey is not involved in the conflict at all. There is not a single evidence of Turkish involvement. From the first hours of Armenian attack on Azerbaijan Turkey, Turkish president and other high-ranking officials expressed and continue to express strong political support to Azerbaijan, support to the norms and principles of international law, support to the implementation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions which demand immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from our territories. So, this is first. Second, there are no foreign fighters on Azerbaijani soil. This is another fake news. It was spread by some officials, in some countries. But so far, more than 20 days after the clashes started we didnt get any single evidence neither from France nor from Russia. Because the French and then Russian officials made this statement and we asked for evidence. We asked for proofs. Only words, no evidence, no proofs. And another thing is that we dont need any foreigners to fight with us. Because we have a regular army of 100 thousand people. We have modern equipment. We have motivated people who were suffering from occupation for 30 years. We did not even announce full mobilization. If we need additional people on the ground we will recruit more. Therefore, this is another attempt to present Azerbaijan as an aggressor, and also attempt by Armenia to diminish the capacity of Azerbaijani army which is beating them on the ground.

-Mr President, you said you have very modern equipment, it is true. You have all kinds of drones some coming from Turkey but also efficient kamikaze drones coming from Israel Harop. So, is the help of Israeli military equipment very important for you, and allow you to make military breakthrough?

-We buy military equipment from many countries. And our biggest supplier of military equipment is not Turkey and Israel, it is Russia. But unlike Armenia, from Russia we buy weapons, we pay for them. Armenia gets weapons from Russia free of charge. We also buy weapons from Iran, from Ukraine, from Belarus, and of course, we can afford to buy modern weapons which today help our army to restore our territorial integrity. Our territorial integrity is being restored by us. But any country in our region is buying weapons. Not many countries in the world can supply themselves 100% with military equipment. So, there is nothing strange about that. And of course, we pay for the weapons. We buy good ones and of course they help us on the ground. But liberation of territories is not by drones. Liberation of territories is by soldiers. By people who there on the ground are doing their job.

-Iran has complained that fighting during a military operation took on the border. Did you settle this dispute with Iran? Did you talk to the Iranian leaders?

-Yes, we did. And as far as I know, Iranian leaders also talk to Armenian side. Because the clashes were taking place just by the river Araz, close to the border with Iran, and by accident, some of the weapons crossed the border. But today we announced that we cleaned completely the Azerbaijani-Iranian border from Armenian occupants. Therefore, no more clashes take place there, and there will be no more inconvenience for our brothers across the river of Araz in Iran.

-What is the best possible mediator to bring out to this war? Is it Russia? Is it the best possible mediator?

-We have three mediators. They have a mandate from OSCE-Russia, France and United States. For 28 years they are trying to mediate. And trying to help parties to find the solution without any success. These three countries are at the same time members of the UN Security Council, permanent members. These three countries adopted those resolutions which I referred to, which demand withdrawal of Armenian troops. But unfortunately, they did not put enough international pressure on Armenia to liberate the occupied territories and to comply with the United Nations Security Council resolutions. Therefore, after the Armenian military attack, we had to defend ourselves, and had to restore justice by force, what we are successfully doing. And among these three mediators, each of them is important and I observe, and I see and I know that on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh they have very rare unanimous approach. It is probably the only issue where their interests coincide.

-What kind of land you want to take back and then be ready to stop this war Mr. President?

-We are ready to stop today. I was telling that since the 10th of October, when in Moscow both sides agreed on ceasefire. And I said: "the sooner the military part of the solution of the problem is over the better." We want to move on negotiation table. But unfortunately, Armenia brutally violated ceasefire and launched an attack on Ganja. And on the 17th of October they violated ceasefire two minutes after ceasefire was efficient. Therefore, if they stop today we will stop and then, the rest will be done by diplomats. If they do not stop, we will go until the end to liberate all the occupied territories.

-So this is your plan. This is Azerbaijans plan to get out of the conflict.

-Yes. If they stop now and behave in a constructive way, if they publicly commit to the basic principles elaborated by France, Russia and the United States which Azerbaijan is committed to, then, of course everything will stop and we will go back on negotiation table. By the way, I am in this process for 17 years. I worked with two former Armenian presidents and we made not a big progress, but we made progress. We were meeting regularly. There have been regular meetings in Moscow, in Paris, in Washington. But after Mr. Pashinyan came to power, he actually did everything in order to destroy negotiation process not only by his statements, but by his military provocations. And since he came to power for already two years or more, there is no process. Therefore, I think the political settlement is possible. But Armenian government should understand that they are not now in a position to dictate, because status quo no more exists, line of contact no more exists. We created a new reality on the ground. And they have to take that into account.

-What is your vision about the future of Karabakh?

-I expressed it many times publicly. And I can tell you now. Also, I delivered certain messages through mediators, through Minsk Group co-chairs to previous Armenian government how we see the future. We see Karabakh as a prosperous, safe, secure area of Azerbaijan where people live in peace and dignity, where Azerbaijani and Armenian communities live side by side. The area which we plan to develop as we did in all other parts of Azerbaijan. I can tell you that we have very substantial economic achievements. We have very low level of poverty, it is about five percent. In Armenia it is close to 50 percent. Also very low level of unemployment. Before the pandemic it was around 5 percent, now it is seven. But in comparison with Nagorno-Karabakh which is endemic, it is day and night. So, we can provide much better life, for Armenians who live there, for Azerbaijanis who will return there. And I am sure that the two nations, two peoples will reconcile, because in the 21st century it is not possible to isolate yourself to commit ethnic cleansing and try to transform de facto situation into secession. It is not possible. No one recognized Nagorno-Karabakh so far, including Armenia itself. I am sure no one will recognize it. Therefore, the best way for the future of Karabakh, not only Nagorno-Karabakh, but all the Karabakh is a big region of Azerbaijan, is to live in peace in harmony, and to try to become good neighbors again-Armenians and Azerbaijanis. This is my plan.

- I remember that in the beginning of 1990s there was an anti-Armenian pogrom in Baku. Thats why Armenians do not trust they can live, they are afraid for their lives to live in Azerbaijani territory.

-Conflict started after separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh, sponsored by nationalists in Armenia launched a secession plan to secede from Azerbaijan. And they could not do it from legal point of view at the time of the Soviet Union. So, they started pogroms in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and in the territory of Armenia. The first victims of the war and clashes were Azerbaijanis from Nagorno-Karabakh. There have been 40 thousand Azerbaijanis who lived in Nagorno-Karabakh, primarily in Shusha and also in the capital Khankandi who were ethnically cleansed completely. Then, 250 thousand Azerbaijanis who lived in Armenia, many of them were killed and all of them were ethnically cleansed, expelled. What happened in Baku, in those time which you mentioned is a dark page of our history. But, those clashes were taking place everywhere-in Erevan, in other Armenian cities, in Nagorno-Karabakh. Therefore, this should not be a kind of a reason why people cannot reconcile. In Europe how many times France and Germany had wars? How many times you know other countries had wars? We had World War II which costed lives of 30 or 40 million people. But after twenty years, western Germany and Soviet Union became on good terms. And now nobody remembers that. This is how it should happen in the civilized world. The problem is in Armenia, they cultivate hatred. They cultivate historical hatred against Turkey, against Azerbaijan. Former president of Armenia Kocharyan publicly said that Azerbaijanis and Armenians cannot live together. But look. How they live together for instance, in Georgia? In some Georgian villages Azerbaijanis and Armenians live side by side. In Russia it is the same. In Azerbaijan we have thousands of Armenians who live in our country. Why it is not possible in Nagorno-Karabakh. I think that the wounds of the war must be healed by political wisdom, by political will. And after this active, hot phase of the conflict stops, both sides need to invest largely in order to do everything to heal these wounds.

-This is my last question. Arent you afraid Mr. President that after a while President Erdogan of Turkey will stop his support and his policy in Caucasus to focus on Northern Cyprus?

-Turkey and Azerbaijan are brotherly countries. And our brotherhood have been tested in many circumstances. And in this particular case, Turkish President expressed publicly strong support to Azerbaijan. He said that Azerbaijan is not alone. Turkey is side by side. So, this is a very strong political support and we are very grateful for that. This is first thing. Second, what I want to say that what we are doing on the battlefield we do ourselves. Yes, with modern weapons, with modern equipment but it is Azerbaijani soldiers and officers who liberate our motherland. Our relations with Turkey have a great history but even brighter future. Turkey as a country which is the only country in the world having a border with all the three republics or countries of Southern Caucasus- Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia, has, I think, a legitimate right to be involved in this process. Because as a neighbor, as a country which can provide and provides stability, predictability for the region and as a country whose agenda is very clear they defend international law. International law says that our territories are under occupation. So, what wrong do they do? They just demand international law to be implied. Armenia doesnt want to do it. They want to keep our lands for more than thirty years under occupation by illegal settlement of Armenians from Lebanon, by military operations against Azerbaijanis, by destroying our historical and religious heritage. Turkeys role is very positive. And after the war with Armenia stops, and political settlement is enforced, I am sure the role of Turkey will be very important and very positive.

-So, you dont think that Turkey has a plan to erase Armenia in order to have a direct connection to the Turkish people of Central Asia.

-No, this is again, Armenian phobias, and Armenian provocations. In the peaceful plan which I was discussing with leaders of Armenia before Pashinyan came to power, there was a clear reference to communications. After the peace agreement is signed, all communications are opening, including communication between Nakhchivan Autonomus Republic of Azerbaijan and the mainland of Azerbaijan. And thus, Turkey and Azerbaijan and Central Asia will have a land connection. Today we dont have it. But Turkey still has connections through Azerbaijan. We built couple of years ago Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad. So, Turkish goods through Georgia, Azerbaijan, Caspian go to central Asia and backwards. But the road from Turkey, Nakhchivan, Armenia and Azerbaijan is shorter. So, it is not the fact that Turkey does not have this connection. And as you say, somebody thinks that they will erase Armenia to have it. They have it. We have it. We will have another one. But it is again part of the peace plan. All communications will be open. And I think that Armenian government should not try to frighten its population with Turkey. And should stop this hatred towards the Turkish and Azerbaijani people.

-How is your relationship currently with Georgia, who is another Christian nation in the Caucasus region?

-Yes, with Georgia our relations are excellent. We call each other strategic partners. Azerbaijan is the first or second largest investor in Georgia, and the first or second largest taxpayer. I am saying first or second because one year it is Turkey, another year it is Azerbaijan. And we have a trilateral format of cooperation between Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. We had presidential summits, ministerial meetings, including defense ministers, foreign ministers, economy ministers. We have all our major transportation and energy communication going through Georgia. We have a big Azerbaijani community in Georgia close to 300 thousand people. Therefore, relations are excellent. And I think it could be a good example, like our relations with Turkey, our relations with Georgia are good examples of good neighborhood. By the way, the fact that Georgia is Christian and Azerbaijan is Muslim does not make any difference. We do not look at this region from this point of view.

-You dont take religion into account when you do projects.

-No, religion is separated from the state. According to our constitution, Azerbaijan is a secular country. We respect our religion, we respect religions of all other nationalities who live in Azerbaijan. And I think the best indicator of religious harmony in Azerbaijan would be the words of His Holiness, head of the Roman Catholic Church Pope Francis. When he was in Baku several years ago, he made a public statement highly praising Azerbaijans role in intercultural and interreligious dialogue. All the representatives of different religions in Azerbaijan live in peace and harmony, including Armenians. In the center of Baku, there is an Armenian church which has been restored by us and protected by our government. But our mosques on the occupied territories have been destroyed. And Armenians keep pigs in our mosques. Just recent videos were on internet. In Zangilan region, after liberation of one village, it was on internet how pigs walk in our mosque. So, Azerbaijan is a tolerant and a secular country and will continue to be like that in the future.

-Thank you. It was a very good interview Mr. President.

-Thank you.




By Trend The Kremlin will communicate in due course if the agreement on the conduct of the Russia-Armenia-Azerbaijan summit is reached, Dmitry Peskov spokesperson for Russian president said on Oct.23,Trend reports referring to "Vestnik Kavkaza".

Peskov made the remark commenting on reports in the media that on November 9, Armenia and Azerbaijan will sign two new documents in Moscow.

The first document concerns the demarcation and delimitation of the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in accordance with which Yerevan and Baku will recognize the borders and territorial integrity of each other.

The second document covers the opening of communications in the region, especially the details of the creation of "corridor roads", including those ones between Azerbaijan and its exclave Nakhchivan.
By Trend





Arayik Harutyunyan's visit to Russia is exclusively private, said the statement of the Azerbaijani embassy in Moscow, Trend reports.

The embassy informs that on October 23 of this year, news about Arayik Harutyunyan's stay in Moscow and his meetings with officials of the Russian Federation, during which the regional situation was discussed, was disseminated in some social networks.

"Recently, the Armenian media have been spreading false information about "working visits" to Russia of persons posing as "officials" of Karabakh, and their allegedly official meetings with the political circles of Russia," embassy said.

The Embassy once again draws attention to the fact that these persons cross the border of the Russian Federation with the passports of citizens of the Republic of Armenia and, as a rule, meet with representatives of the Armenian diaspora, as well as their lobbyists, such trips are exclusively private and are not considered official, any political consultations between government agencies and the Russian diplomatic service are not carried out with them.

"Often, such news is fake, is not supported by any facts, is of a provocative nature, is intended to mislead public opinion and cast a shadow on the successfully developing Azerbaijani-Russian cooperation."
By Trend





Georgia and Ukraine have chosen to aspire to the Euro-Atlantic space, First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture Giorgi Khanishvili said, Trend reports via Georgian media.

He made the remarks on the sidelines of the tenth meeting of the Georgian-Ukrainian Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, with Natia Turnava (Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia) and Oleh Nemchinov (Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and Chairman of the Ukrainian side of the Commission) taking part in it.

"Both countries recognize all the normative and legal frameworks that are acceptable to Europe under the DCFTI Treaty. We must be able to use the success we have achieved - in the agriculture sector of Georgia, in the development of technology in Ukraine, and as a result - try to increase the trade turnover" he said.

"On the other hand, we should try to work and find additional investment opportunities, which in turn will help Georgia increase production in the country," he said.

Meanwhile, Turnava and Nemchinov at the meeting discussed issues of cooperation between Georgia and Ukraine in the fields of trade economy, energy, transport, communications, information technology and innovation, tourism, agriculture and intellectual property protection;

They also discussed the direction of cooperation within the European integration.
By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

Culture Minister Anar Karimov has met members of the martyred cultural workers? families at the International Mugham Center.

Opening the event, Head of the Media and Communication Department Maryam Gafarzade stressed the importance of the "From Stage to Trench" project dedicated to the martyred cultural workers.

In his speech, Culture Minister Anar Karimov said that the families of martyrs and veterans are always in the spotlight.

He pointed out that the Culture Ministry carries out many projects in this direction.

Anar Karimov also addressed the parents of the martyrs.

"This meeting is also valuable for us because you are the legacy of our martyrs. It is you who instilled in them the highest, most sacred feelings, and sowed the seeds of courage and love in their hearts," he said.

The videos about the life and work of the martyred cultural workers were showcased as part of the event.

The event was followed by the presentation of Honorary Diplomas to the relatives of the martyrs.

The clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan resumed after Armenia launched large-scale attacks on Azerbaijani forces and civilians on September 27.

The 44 days of war ended with the Russian brokered peace deal signed on November 10 by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders.

The peace agreement ended the 30-years-old conflict between Baku and Yerevan over Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region that along with the seven adjacent districts came under the occupation of Armenian armed forces in the war in the early 1990s.

For about three decades, Armenia failed to implement the UN Security Council resolutions demanding the withdrawal of the Armenian troops, which was the main obstacle to the resolution of the conflict.
Businesses and government leaders from the European Union and the GCC came together at the 5th EU-GCC Business Forum that focused on how to drive the post-pandemic recovery in the EU and the GCC towards a green and digital transition.



The event took place at Expo2020, Dubai, UAE on October 23 with panel discussions that covered different topics as part of Accelerating GCC Economic Diversification After the Crisis  The Way Forward.



Our well-established EU-GCC cooperation provides the right framework to advance together towards a sustainable economic model. As we move on, we should learn lessons from the pandemic and use the opportunity to do things better, said Margaritas Schinas, Vice-President of the European Union



The forum involved sessions that covered topics such as Enhancing EU-GCC Trade & Investment, Innovation & Economic Acceleration, and Trade & Investment Opportunities in the GCC with speakers from Europe and the GCC region that discussed the potentials for each segment and future plans.



The possibilities are huge for more EU-GCC economic cooperation, trade and investment in an increasingly green and digitalised global economy. We should tap on the full potential of this emerging new dimension of cooperation between our regions. I am sure that todays impressive EU-GCC Business Forum will contribute to this objective in a significant and tangible way, said Stefan Schleuning, Head of Unit, FPI.4-Industrial Countries and Foreign Policy Support.



Session 1 covered Enhancing EU-GCC Trade and Investment Opportunities that highlighted the importance of Innovation labs for women to prepare them for highly paid roles with extraordinary skills; eliminate gender and social gaps; in addition to promoting business opportunities arising from the transition.



The points covered:



 In Digital and green: very significant challenges regarding climate change; it takes visionaries to seize these opportunities to fund smart agriculture and export to the rest of the world.

 Chemicals, machinery, manufacturing, transport  can take a greener and more digital framework. Smart mobility is an area for investment; waste energy plants provide additional opportunities for private sector to invest; smart cities combine green and digital areas and there are many opportunities for knowledge exchange and business partnerships.

 How to make sure SMEs take advantage of green and digital? SMEs do not only have to be agile but also to overcome challenges around financing.

 How is public finance best directed to increase trade and investment? eg., designing policies to support trade and investment in the GCC in addition to commercial law reforms to allow 100% foreign ownership of business. Attracting companies to UAE and providing their founders with Golden Visas for 10 years.

 UAE has strong capital markets, sovereign funds, banks that invest in start ups to help them scale up.



In Session 2; Speakers covered Innovation & Economic Acceleration including the EU space programme which provides full access to data collected free of charge for the benefit of the world as a whole. Water scarcity which is a big challenge for the region; and the efforts that are being made to reduce food waste and increase energy from food waste.



Session 3 in concluding the event included presentations from the six GCC countries. Some of the interesting points that were covered by the UAE speaker included:



 The UAE had advanced 9 ranks in the inflow of foreign investment in 2020, to 15th globally, with a growth rate of 11.2%

 The UAE advanced 6 ranks globally in the outflow of foreign investment in 2020, to rank 13th globally.

 The UAEs Golden Visa is available in the UAE for international investors and top talent from around the world, providing them with visas for up to 10 years.

 The UAEs investment environment is marked by stability, modern infrastructure, effective economic policy, and modern economic legislations.

 Laws to protect foreign capital (Such as IPR, Competition, Money Laundering, and Trusts) are either in place or being updated.

 Ambitious legislative reforms to ensure efficiency, transparency, and investor confidence are underway.  TradeArabia News Service
The Abu Dhabi Government Pavilion saw the signing of 12 agreements and MoUs as it welcomed more than 12,685 visitors at the Gitex Technology Week 2021 in Dubai from October 17 to 21.

With the aim of strengthening strategic partnerships and developing prospects for fruitful cooperation between the public and private sectors, the Abu Dhabi Government Pavilion hosted a series of events and oversaw the signing of a number of agreements and MoUs, including the Department of Health, which signed MoUs with Hub71, the Department of Government Support and Novartis Middle East.

Additionally, the Department of Municipalities and Transport signed MoUs with Tahaluf Al Emarat Technical Solutions and Microsoft, the Department of Energy signed an MoU with Huawei, the Department of Government Support signed an MoU with Microsoft, the Abu Dhabi Digital Authority signed MoUs with Amazon Web Services, Huawei, G42 Cloud and Esri, and the Abu Dhabi School of Government signed an MoU with the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI).

The pavilions participating entities showcased 100 innovative projects and initiatives in support of digital transformation, creating a unique experience for visitors by introducing a unified platform that features the services of government entities.

Under the theme Government of The Future 31 government and academic entities gathered under the Abu Dhabi Government Pavilion.

Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, visited the Abu Dhabi Government Pavilion, where he was briefed on the latest digital projects and initiatives. The pavilion also welcomed VIPs, leaders and experts from both the public and private sectors.

The Abu Dhabi Governments participation came under the supervision of the Higher Committee of Digital Government as part of its efforts to implement a cohesive framework and make a fundamental change in the concept of government services, moving towards a digital future.

Ali Rashid Al Ketbi, Chairman of the Department of Government Support  Abu Dhabi, expressed his appreciation of Abu Dhabi Governments successful participation at Gitex Technology Week 2021. Al Ketbi also praised the remarkable results achieved at the event, noting that these will further support the digital transformation journey in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and strengthen its position as a regional and global leader in digital innovation.

Al Ketbi also extended his gratitude to all participating government and academic entities and noted the full governmental coordination and integration which showcased the achievements of the Abu Dhabi Government in digital transformation.

Dr Mohamed Abdelhameed Al Askar, Director-General of the Abu Dhabi Digital Authority, stressed the importance of Abu Dhabi Governments participation in Gitex Technology Week 2021 in support of the emirates digital agenda, which focused on the four key pillars of Government Services, Government Solutions, Data and Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Ecosystem, with the aim of enabling, supporting and delivering a digital government that is proactive, personalised, collaborative and secure.

Al Askar added: Many government and academic entities were present at the Abu Dhabi Government Pavilion, and their participation came as the UAE celebrates its 50th anniversary, with the nation celebrating its remarkable journey over the last 50 years and beginning to prepare for the next 50.

Among the innovations presented at the show, the Abu Dhabi Government Pavilion saw the launch of an integrated platform to effectively manage incidents and emergencies in a cohesive manner. The platform can be used to gather or specify a range of resources and capabilities that could be called upon to support leading or supportive entities in times of emergencies.

Additionally, TAMM announced a range of new beneficial options available for Abu Dhabi Pay customers who use the facility to pay for government services, as well as the innovative TAMM OS tools aimed at enhancing the efficiency and quality of government services in Abu Dhabi. Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi Customs launched the Invisible Customs initiative and the Automation of E-commerce Policy Procedures project, in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Digital Authority.

The Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism launched the Intangible Heritage Register, the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy announced the Energy and Water Consumption Heat Map Dashboard tool, the Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council launched the Riyadah platform, and the Family Development Foundation launched its integrated family social service digital system project.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health  Abu Dhabi launched the Epidemiological Modelling Tool, the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre launched its Covid-19 Vaccination Platform and the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development has launched the Investor Journey project and the Virtual Licence that allows the foreign investors not residing in the UAE to obtain an economic licence to conduct business in Abu Dhabi from outside the emirate and before starting the residency procedures with the possibility of practicing their business from outside the country.

To mark its strong and successful participation, the Abu Dhabi Government Pavilion organised a recognition ceremony to honour all participating entities.

For visitors unable to attend in person, the Abu Dhabi Government Virtual Pavilion Experience was available to give users the ability to make virtual visits to the pavilion from anywhere in the world, and join in remotely with sessions and events taking place live at the pavilion.-- TradeArabia News Service
UAE and Oman on Monday (October 18) discussed the importance of cooperation and investment in the industrial sector, advanced technology and quality infrastructure.

An Emirati delegation led by Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the UAEs Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT), met with Qais bin Mohammed Al Yousef, Oman's Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion in the Sultanate, and a number of officials in related sectors.

The visit explored ways to broaden cooperation between the two countries at both governmental and private-sector levels, especially in the areas of industry, advanced technology and quality infrastructure, a statement said.

Dr Al Jaber conveyed the greetings of the UAE leadership to the leaders of the Sultanate, stressing the deep and abiding relations between the two countries, which are based on close historical ties and the development of common interests. Bilateral ties between the two were first laid down by the UAEs founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

Dr Al Jaber said the continued strength of the bilateral relations between the countries is a source of encouragement and pride, adding that he is looking forward to further enhancing cooperation in the areas of industry and advanced technology. He noted that the next steps will focus on creating investment opportunities and facilitating measures for investors.

Dr. Al Jaber said: Thanks to the vision and directives of our wise leadership, the UAE is moving rapidly to develop the industrial and advanced technology sectors in the country, investing in research and development and integrating 4IR concepts to achieve the key goals of boosting the national economy and achieving sustainable development.

The delegation was welcomed by Qais bin Mohammed Al Yousef, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, Dr Saleh bin Saeed Masan, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion for Commerce and Industry, and a number of officials in the public and private sectors.

For his part, Qais bin Mohammed Al Yousef, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, underscored the importance of developing bilateral relations with the UAE, particularly in industrial sectors.

Qais bin Mohammed Al Yousef, pointed out that the visit of the Emirati delegation to the Sultanate reflects a determination in both countries to exchange views on expanding private-sector partnerships, investment opportunities and trade volumes between the UAE and Oman.

The visit included meetings with representatives from the Oman Investment Authority, the Public Authority for Economic and Free Zones in the Sultanate, the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn), and Omans Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Dr Al Jaber was accompanied by Omar Suwaina Al Suwaidi, Undersecretary of MoIAT, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Group CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports, Khaled Salmeen, Executive Director of Adnocs Downstream, Industry, Marketing & Trading Directorate, Jassim Thabet, Taqas Group CEO, and a number of officials from MoIAT, Abu Dhabi Holding, and Mubadala Investment Company.

The Sultanate of Oman is among the top 10 trading partners of the UAE. The trade exchange volume between 2017 and 2020 totaled AED172 billion, which represents about 2.7 per cent of UAEs total foreign trade during this period, with a compound annual growth rate of about 5.7 per cent  an average of AED43 billion per annum. --TradeArabia News Service
Aviation, aerospace, space and defence leaders from across the planet will meet in-person in Abu Dhabi for the return of the Global Aerospace Summit on May 24 -26, 2022.



The theme of the Summit, Digital Driven Resurgence, will showcase the rapid transformation that has happened across these sectors over recent years and the role of innovation and technology moving forward, reported Emirates News Agency WAM.



An increasing number of aerospace and defence companies are embracing a range of digital technologies, from AI to robotics, analytics, and automation. The Summit will address the impact of digitalization on efficiency and sustainability across all of the sectors.



The 2022 edition, hosted by Mubadala, will be a strategic gathering of global aerospace industry leaders. It will provide an in-person platform to facilitate successful global trade across international markets.



Badr Al Olama, Executive Director  UAE Clusters, UAE Investments Platform, Mubadala Investment Company, commented: "The aerospace sector continues to evolve rapidly, constantly innovating and adapting to our new reality. Mubadala is continuing to invest in the sector, developing new partnerships and unlocking opportunities for future growth through the advancement of digitalization and automation technologies.



We are pleased to be hosting the Global Aerospace Summit, which is an ideal platform for the industry to come together to explore ways of accelerating its recovery and growth, as well as to discuss the latest strategies and ideas that will shape the future of aviation, space, and defence. We are looking forward to welcoming our partners, colleagues and friends from across the globe, in person in Abu Dhabi, as we drive forward a digital resurgence for our industry."



The premier thought leadership event will demonstrate the road to recovery for the aviation industry following the unprecedented impact of the pandemic. The Summit will highlight the need for greater collaboration between governments and industry to support the future growth of aviation and the wider aerospace sectors.



The event will cover a wide range of areas including sessions on commercial aviation, aerospace, MRO, defence, and space. The 2022 edition of the event will also include new elements such as a dedicated start-up programme, focusing driving investment in new enterprise and technology, and the Task Force Programme, which will address key challenges identified by the Summit Advisory Board as the most pressing issues concerning the industry.



The Future Propulsion Working Group is a new feature of the Summit, which will focus on how the industry can accelerate the adoption of new technology with a particular emphasis on investment and infrastructure requirements. The event will also focus on driving partnership opportunities through Bilateral Priority Markets sessions.



There will also be a continuation of the NextGen Leaders programme, which is dedicated to capacity building and skills development of students, graduates and young professionals within the aerospace, defence and space industries.
Global logistics automation partner, Swisslog has announced Antonio Trioschi as its new Chief Executive Officer alongwith a series of appointments within its senior management team to support continued growth and stability. Trioschi who joined Swisslog nine years ago and has since held several leadership positions across the business.

Most recently, Trioschi was responsible for the unity of two regions, Central and Greater Europe, into one strong EMEA region. He succeeds Dr Christian Baur, who left Swisslog in June and who has played a key role in setting Swisslog on a path to growth over the past six years.

Trioschi explains: With this leadership change, our customers remain our top priority. As we strive to expand our business in a fast-paced industry, our focus is to provide the best possible service to both new and existing customers.

Jens Schmale joined Swisslog in 2020 to strengthen its AutoStore offering and has been instrumental in the achievements of the business unit over the last year. Prior to joining Swisslog, he was, among other duties, managing director of a German AutoStore distributor.

KEY MARKET

The EMEA region is a key market within Swisslogs global reach, and Schmale will endeavour to ensure the company's continued success in the region. Commenting on his appointment, Schmale said: I am delighted to take over the role as Head of EMEA, and I am looking forward to expanding our roadmap within this highly dynamic market while developing new and existing customer relationships. I am fully committed to driving supply chain innovation through robotic and data-driven solutions.

Based in the companys Dortmund office, Schmale is set to further strengthen Swisslogs market position within countries across the EMEA region.

Trioschi continues: We are pleased to have Jens Schmale on board as the new Head of EMEA. With his wealth of expertise in leadership and customer engagement skills, I am certain he will play a leading role in supporting the future growth of Swisslog."

Markus Kirchhoff succeeds Schmale as Head of Swisslog AutoStore Europe, bringing many years of industry management experience to the role.

Trioschi adds: Were pleased to welcome Markus Kirchhoff on board to lead the European AutoStore business unit, and I am confident in his ability to cultivate our experience in this popular good-to-person technology."

CUSTOMERS AT THE FOREFRONT

Swisslogs strategy aims to deliver forward-thinking solutions based on a modular system of intralogistics technology that fulfil customer demands. A long list of references prove businesses are convinced of the quality solutions and service delivered by Swisslog across EMEA and beyond.

These include XPO Logistics  a leading global provider of transport and logistics solutions, dm-drogerie markt  Europe's top-earning drugstore chain, Brack.ch  online retailer from Switzerland, ASDA  UK supermarket chain, Varner  textile retailer from Norway, IMA  packaging specialist from Italy, and Arvato  logistics services provider.-- TradeArabia News Service
Siddharth Grease and Lubes Private Limited (SGL), a leading Indian manufacturer and supplier of lubricants, has opened its latest lubricant and grease plant built at an investment of AED50 million ($13.61 million) in Sharjah's Hamriyah Free Zone Authority (HFZA).

The new plant, Trinity Lubes & Greases FZC, is located in the inner port of HFZA, with a total area of about 135,000 sq ft (12,500 sq m) and annual capacity of 48,000 litres. It is fitted with the latest state-of-the-art lubricant and grease-making equipment imported from around the world.

The launch ceremony was attended by Saud Salim Al Mazrouei, Director of Hamriyah Free Zone Authority, Siddharth Sachdeva, Managing Director at Trinity Lubes & Greases FZC, and a number of officials from the Authority and the company.

Al Mazrouei later toured the fully automated factory built to the latest international standards.

He was briefed on the production stages and mechanisms, and the laboratories specialising in research and development to provide innovative solutions that meet the requirements of todays and tomorrows customers.

He was also briefed on the products manufactured that include automotive, industrial and construction lubricants, special greases for electric vehicles.

"SGL choosing the UAE and HFZA, in particular, to construct its new plant in the region is a yet another testament to the efficiency of petrochemical industries sector in the zone," said Al Mazrouei.

This is attributed to the availability of world-class logistical facilities along with a port with a depth of 14 metres, which enhances HFZA's position as a major center of production and export, added Al Mazrouei.

He underlined that the Authority strives to diversify investments, in line with the directives of the His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, who always calls for attracting quality investments that enrich the business environment in the emirate.

Al Mazrouei concluded by saying: "This new plant is a culmination of Sharjah's forward-looking vision by focusing on economic diversification and essential vital sectors.

Sachdeva said Trinity Lubes & Grease plant at HFZA would help his companys products penetrate new markets around the world, thus achieving a greater global presence.

Sachdeva noted his company aspires to further expand in the Middle East, North and South African markets by taking advantage of the strategic location of HFZA and the direct access to the inner habour, allowing it to draw base oils directly from barges.

He commended HFZA's sophisticated infrastructure and outstanding logistical services, something that provides efficient ways to facilitate access to regional and global markets.

SGL is specialised in blending lubricants and making greases for the biggest brands in the lubricant and grease world such as Castrol, Valvoline, Total, HPC among many others. Trinity Lubes & Greases will be looking to do the same.

He noted that the new plant adopts the latest technologies and equipment to produce the best oils and greases that keep abreast of the most important international standards in innovation, sustainability and providing innovative solutions.

For instance grease is normally replaced at 30,000 km. Trinity has developed a grease that can run 200,000 km and a new one that will do 500,000 km. Special greases have also been developed for Electric Vehicles to dampen vibration and sound, an important part of keeping EVs quiet.

Sachdeva stated that Trinity's production lines are fully automated and don't need people directly involved in the operation, which saves time and effort and conserves raw materials.

Trinity currently exports to over 30 countries around the world, with expectations of an increase in this number thanks to its presence at the Hamriyah Free Zone.

In addition to offering industrial and commercial plots of land, HFZA, the second-largest industrial-free zone in the UAE, provides advanced infrastructure and modern facilities that strengthen external expansion plans for investors, especially in import and re-export to the worlds markets.

It also provides countless competitive advantages, most notably a single-window operation that boosts the efficiency of performance and eases procedures of doing business, along with multiple tax exemptions, repatriation of capital and profits, full foreign ownership of the business, and quick access to regional and global markets.-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 more industries across the Middle East embrace digital transformation, a focus on collaborative development will be pivotal to extending the gains achieved to date, according to Huaweis top executive in the region.



Steven Yi, the recently appointed President of Huawei Middle East, spoke with journalists from around the region on the sidelines of the Gitex Global 2021 summit held recently in Dubai, UAE.



The executive noted how many governments and enterprises in the Middle East today have benefited greatly from being at the forefront of emerging technologiesbe it 5G commercial deployments, adopting cloud capabilities, designing intelligent city infrastructure, and more.



In cloud alone, approximately 81% of enterprises globally now use cloud-based applications, with Yi wanting to extend these benefits to countries in the Middle East. Huawei recently announced investing $15 million to support cloud-oriented ecosystem development in the region, with Huawei Cloud having already developed more than 100 local partners in the Middle East. Huawei Cloud and partners are now covering 27 regions and serve over 170 countries.



In the past two years, the development of new technologies and the new normal under the pandemic has accelerated the advent of a digital world, said Yi. The executive spoke on how that spirit of collaboration in the ICT domain can open new windows of socio-economic progress in line with countries national development agendas. Yet it will also take a concerted effort to drive digitalization in ways that will create value for all.



Openness and globalization are irreversible trends. Almost every country has now formulated its national strategies, and the integration of advanced technologies such as 5G, cloud, and AI will significantly serve the targets of building digital economies and achieving these visions and targets, noted Yi.



In this regard, Huawei has openly collaborated with government entities to contribute to their national visions and develop their ICT ecosystems. As a result, Yi confirmed that the companys business has continued to grow in the region.



We are grateful to customers and partners in the Middle East for their trust and support. We remain committed to customer-centricity in the Middle East, for the Middle East, he added.



Though we are living in a digital age, Yi acknowledged that some are still left behind and are unable to benefit from emerging technology and the opportunities that it provides. Meanwhile, the UN has estimated that 68% of the worlds population will live in urban areas by 2050, putting pressure on cities themselves to move towards more intelligent management and connectivity.



Talent is the cornerstone for a digital economy. While each Middle East country has different plans for different situations, talent cultivation must be our long-term strategy, commented Yi. The executive cited how Huawei alone plans to train 100,000 ICT talent across the Middle East over the next three years, working with local universities and relevant organizations and governments.



In addition to growing the local talent pool, Yi recognized how the sustainable development of the sector would require advancing open, transparent, and secure networks. For its part, in the past 30 years, Huawei has not had any major incident related to cybersecurity.



We call on all parties to cooperate in fields such as governance architecture, standards, and verification, sharing successful practices so as to enhance the trust and confidence of the society as a whole, added Yi. Cybersecurity is a common challenge for the entire industry, for all companies and all countries. It is really a technical issue, and it needs technical solutions based on verifiable facts and objective methods.



The launch of a 5G security working group earlier this year within the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation  Computer Emergency Response Team (OIC-CERT) is just one example of such collaboration. In addition to being a member of OIC-CERT, Huawei is one of the first telecommunication vendors to have its 5G equipment audited, tested, and certified under GSMAs NESAS/SCAS scheme, while contributing to developments of 3GPPs security specifications.



Touching on 5G specifically, Yi reaffirmed that 5G deployments have been quite successful in the Middle East to date, with the number of 5G subscribers in GCC countries estimated to exceed 10 million by the end of 2021. Globally, 176 commercial 5G networks have been deployed. Traffic is growing rapidly in the Middle East. Since the pandemic, industry digitization and online business have gained strong momentum. The next important step in 5G development is 5GtoB  applying 5G technologies to all industries, concluded Yi.



The benefits of developing local talent, strengthening cybersecurity frameworks, and expanding 5G applications are further detailed in a new Huawei Intelligent World 2030 report, which provides a glimpse of what the world will look like in 2030 in healthcare, food, living spaces, transportation, cities, enterprises, energy, and digital trust.  TradeArabia News Service
Featuring more than 140 companies showcasing their unique collections and designs this year, the Jewellery and Watch Show will return to Abu Dhabi from October 26 to 30.

Hosted under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence of the United Arabic Emirates, organisers of the show have revealed the headline exhibitors confirmed to join the event.

The line-up of headline exhibitors for the 2021 edition includes Salem Al Shuaibi Jewellery, Amwaj, Zoughaib & Co, Abdulla Al Masaood & Sons Jewellery, and Nsouli.

Registration to the Jewellery and Watch Show is free-of-charge to visitors.

The event is renowned for showcasing stunning jewellery and watches that are unique and not usually found in mainstream retail outlets, adding to the distinctive quality of the show.

All JWS visitors must show proof of vaccination (Green Al Hosn app) and a negative PCR test (within previous 48 hours). - TradeArabia News Service
Beyond Limits, a pioneer in industrial and enterprise-grade artificial intelligence (AI), is set to participate at Adipec 2021 for the first time ever. It will showcase its array of AI products and solutions that are powered by Cognitive AI.

During the event, from November 15 to 18, the company will demonstrate how its hybrid AI approach, which combines machine learning with human knowledge to augment and improve human decision making, can help organisations in the oil and gas industry confront some of the most daunting challenges, and empower them to improve performance, increase efficiencies, and optimise costs.

Beyond Limits participation comes in line with Adipecs focus this year on Digitalisation and Smart Manufacturing, as the global energy platform aims to highlight disruptive and transformational technologies that can help the energy sector unlock untapped value and opportunities, in order to set out the energy future roadmap that will ensure ongoing resilience and deliver sustainable value in the wake of Covid-19.

Beyond Limits hybrid AI solutions are engineered to solve complex problems for the worlds most demanding industries; and as a result, advance operational insights, improve operating conditions, enhance performance at every level, and subsequently increase profits.

The technology replicates human-like reasoning by combining numeric techniques like machine learning with embedded human knowledge to provide clear, explainable, and reliable recommendations that can match the in-depth understanding and experience of human thinking.

Commenting on the companys regional debut at Adipec, Kenneth Habson, General Manager EMEA at Beyond Limits, said: Adipec 2021 provides a valuable platform for Beyond Limits to showcase our technology and raise awareness about the value AI technologies bring to Oil & Gas players in the region. We are very excited to get the opportunity to meet with key industry players in-person and have insightful discussions about the industrys accelerated digital transformation, what this means for the future of the energy sector and the different ways to leverage the transformative benefits Cognitive AI technology offers to organisations in the sector.

Countries in GCC are hosting an exceptional culture of innovation and are setting AI strategies that empower the digital transformation of their economies. In such context, Beyond Limits is dedicated to using advanced AI to amplify human capabilities and optimise operational performance. There are lots of synergies that enable various partnerships with key industry players in the region, which we look forward to explore. We are proud to have such a Global event hosted in the UAE and look forward to welcoming our clients and partners, he added.

Beyond Limits recently partnered with Group 42 (G42), the Abu Dhabi-based Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing company, where the latter led a milestone funding round to boost Beyond Limits scale and reach in the Middle East and other markets, and to explore synergies between the two companies in applying advanced AI solutions.-- TradeArabia News Service
At the Angelus on World Mission Sunday, the Pope speaks of priests, religious and lay people on the front line of proclamation "in lands that still do not know Jesus". Appeal for migrants in Libya: put an end to the camps. Blind Bartimaeus is a model of prayer to God who can do all things.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - On the Sunday on which the Church celebrates World Mission Sunday, during the Angelus in St Peter's Square Pope Francis addressed his thanks to those who spend their lives bearing witness to the Gospel.

With gratitude," he said at the end of the Marian prayer, "I address my greeting to the many missionaries - priests, religious men and women and lay faithful - who spend their energies in the front line in the service of the Church, paying personally - sometimes at a high price - for their witness. They do this," he added, "not to proselytise, but to bear witness to the Gospel in their lives in lands that do not know Jesus. Many thanks to the missionaries".

The Sunday appointment with the faithful was also an opportunity to launch a new appeal for the "thousands of migrants, refugees and others in need of protection in Libya: I never forget you," Francis told them, "I hear your cries and I pray for you. The pope urged the international community to "keep its promises to seek common, concrete and durable solutions". "There are real lagers there," he added, "We must put an end to the return of migrants to unsafe countries and give priority to rescuing lives at sea with predictable rescue and disembarkation devices, guaranteeing them decent living conditions, alternatives to detention, regular migration routes and access to asylum procedures.

Before the Angelus, Pope Francis had commented on the Gospel passage in which Jesus restores sight to Bartimaeus, proposed by today's liturgy (Mk 10:46-52). God," he said, "always listens to the cry of the poor, and he is not at all disturbed by Bartimaeus' voice; on the contrary, he notices that it is full of faith, a faith that is not afraid to insist, to knock on God's heart, despite incomprehension and reproaches. And here lies the root of the miracle".

The prayer of Bartimaeus - said Francis - "is not a shy and conventional prayer. He is not afraid of Him, he does not distance himself. And so, from the heart, he cries out to the friendly God all his drama: have mercy on me!". The blind man - the Pope went on to observe - "does not ask for a grace" but "mercy for his person, for his life". He says "the essential and entrusts himself to the love of God, who can make his life flourish again" because "blindness was the tip of the iceberg, but in his heart there must have been wounds, humiliations, broken dreams, mistakes, remorse".

Starting from here, Pope Francis invited people to ask themselves: "How is my prayer? Is it courageous, does it have the good insistence of Bartimaeus, does it know how to 'catch' the Lord as he passes by, or is it content to give him a formal greeting every now and then, when I remember? And then: is my prayer 'substantial', does it lay the heart bare before the Lord? Do I bring Him the story and the faces of my life? Or is it anaemic, superficial, made up of rituals without affection or heart? When faith is alive, prayer is heartfelt: it does not beg for pennies, it is not reduced to the needs of the moment".

Jesus, who can do everything," he added, "must be asked for everything. He cannot wait to pour his grace and joy into our hearts, but unfortunately it is we who keep our distance".
Gay won another victory during the Maryland General Assembly session earlier this year when he pushed for an amendment to a state bill that earmarked 3% of the hotel taxes collected by the city to go into an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. That money, which Gay estimated is about $75,000, can be used to help people pay for security deposits, rental assistance and other costs, he said.
That prohibition is not discretionary, it is required, and it is expressly incorporated into the Open Meetings Act, the notice said. It therefore clearly applies independently to the work of the Advisory Board. Disclosing personnel information is considered a criminal offense under the MPIA, and it is settled law that criminal prohibitions cannot be waived.
Our teachers are doing amazing work under very, very difficult circumstances. It is, however, disingenuous for the teachers union president to file a grievance on which he knows he has no standing, demand negotiations when he knows that process has reached the impasse stage, and erroneously imply teachers are working for less money this year than they were last year. Playing loose with the facts doesnt bring resolution to key issues, he said in an email.
The 23 year-old, who was suffering from a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his left forearm, told officers he had gotten into an argument at a bar in Baltimore County. When he was leaving, he noticed a vehicle following behind his, he told police. As he drove into the 2600 block of Wilkens Ave., the vehicle pulled alongside his and someone inside the vehicle discharged a firearm, striking him, he told police.
And, lastly, Youre right to be incredulous. I am, too. And I think we need to have a new day and a new openness, and thats why Im applauding the new budgeting method that Teresa Sutherland is using. It is much more explicit, and it speaks to what is appropriated for, whats actually being used, . . . and what we werent necessarily accurately reflecting, weve got now.
Followers of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) held a peaceful march on Saturday in Hare Krishna Hill area of Bengaluru to condemn the attack on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh.

An ISKCON temple in Noakhali city in Bangladesh was vandalised and a devotee was killed by a mob on October 16. Protest in Pune is a part of a worldwide protest organised by ISKCON at about 700 ISKCON temples across 150 nations on Saturday. Posters reading 'Justice for Bangladesh minorities' and 'Protect our temples in Bangladesh' were spotted at the protest.

Madhu Pandit Dasa, President, ISKCON Bangalore said, "We express our pain and anguish on the unprovoked attacks on the ISKCON devotees, Hindus, and other minorities in Bangladesh. We unitedly stand in support and solidarity with them and pray for their safety and well-being."

"We urge the Government of Bangladesh to immediately ensure the protection of the affected minorities and take steps to prevent such incidents in the future. We also request the Government of India to work with our neighbouring countries and protect the rights of minorities in the region," he said.

ISKCON Bangalore had also organised a peaceful march to express solidarity with the persecuted minorities of Bangladesh, said ISKON in its official press release. The missionaries of the temple, ISKCON congregation members and other conscientious citizens participated in the event.

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 Chandpur's Hajiganj on October 13 and in Noakhali's Choumuhani, attacks on Hindu temples left two people dead on October 15.

(ANI)

Also Read: Bangladesh: Attacks on religious minorities, 3,721 houses, temples vandalized in 9 years
Newman also had complained about the original reconfiguration of her district in the map that was released Oct. 15. That map removed several city neighborhoods from her district and stretched westward to include rural areas along Interstate 80 around LaSalle and Ottawa. The district as originally drawn also put her in competition with six-term Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon.
China has established the world's first independent children's science fiction award to further boost the country's sci-fi industry and children's literature. Dozens of writers were honored at a ceremony held on Friday in Chongqing.

The organizers said it is the first time for China and even for the world to set up awards for children's science fiction.



The first annual Children Science Fiction Nebula Awards were originally planned in 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed to this year. The organizers didn't want to push back the second edition of the awards planned for this year, so the first and second editions of the award were held together on Oct. 22.

"The City of Ants" by sci-fi writer Ma Chuansi, which tells a story about ant evolving and gaining sufficient intelligence to form a civilization vying against humans, won the best children's sci-fi novel at the inaugural edition of the awards. Sci-fi scholar and writer Wu Yan's "China Orbit," which tells about how a child gets involved in a thrilling manned space flight project, won the best children's sci-fi novel for the second edition.

The jury praised the creativity of the setting of "The City of Ants." They said it was novel and clear, reflecting the author's scrutiny of human civilization and caring for reality. Meanwhile," China Orbit," is partly a personal memoir and partly a science fiction. The judges said such an innovative approach not only provides new ideas for the creation of science fictions for children, but also for the adult science fiction.

Dozens of writers were honored for other categories of the first and second editions of the awards, including best short fiction, best essays, best popular science-oriented sci-fi books, best science fiction for teenagers, and best science fiction for young children. The organizers hoped the awards can attract more outstanding writers to devote themselves to the creation of children's science fiction, promote the development of children's science fiction, publications and theoretical research, and lay the foundation for the overall development of science fiction literature.

"As children grow older, the fairy tales will burst and fade, but sci-fi is the opposite. Science fiction will become more real as they grow up and as the time progresses. It will have a more profound impact on the future of young readers. Children's science fiction is a literary category full of vitality, and its position in science fiction literature and children's literature is irreplaceable," said Liu Cixin, China's most prominent sci-fi writer who's known for his hugely popular "The Three-Body Problem." He serves as the chair of the organizing committee of the Children Science Fiction Nebula Awards.

He noted China's domestic children's sci-fi has made great progress in recent years, which has become an important part of children's reading and has also received increasing attention from the education sector. But it is still a far cry from being enough for the needs of the current time, and there is still a huge potential readership and development space to be explored.

Dong Renwei, one of the founders of the awards and China's sci-fi mogul, added, "Science fiction sprinkles the poetic sunshine on childhood and has special value for children's imagination, curiosity and exploration spirit. We believe that as long as there are readers and a market, as long as it is beneficial to children, we should encourage diversified children's sci-fi creation and promote its prosperity."

Before the awards were handed out, the 2021 Children Science Fiction Convention was held in the city, with forums joined by writers, experts, and publishers promoting new books, and major book deals signed. More than 300 sci-fi writers, scholars, experts, industry representatives as well as guests and representatives from education, publishing, film and television and other related sectors and industries, attended the convention.



As part of two-day annual sci-fi event, it had preceded the 12th Chinese Nebula Awards held on Saturday.
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, adopted multiple laws including laws on family education promotion and land borders, and an amendment to the Audit Law, as it wrapped up a session on Saturday.



President Xi Jinping signed presidential orders to promulgate the laws.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, presided over the closing meeting of the 31st session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee, which ran from Tuesday to Saturday.

Lawmakers passed a 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.

They adopted a decision to authorize the State Council to pilot property tax reforms in certain regions.

Legislators passed a decision to temporarily adjust the application of relevant statutory provisions during the reform of the national defense mobilization system.

They also adopted decisions 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.

Lawmakers passed a report on deputy qualifications and personnel-related bills, among others.

It was the first time the session deliberated a special report on the management of state-owned assets of natural resources, Li said while addressing the closing meeting.

He called for efforts to improve the national system for the management of natural resource assets and enhance the national capability of safeguarding resource safety.

The session set at the top of its agenda the study of the important speech delivered by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, at a central conference on work related to people's congresses, Li said.

Calling on the people's congresses at all levels and their standing committees to have thorough study into Xi's speech, Li urged them to uphold the overall leadership of the Party, adhere to the political development path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, ensure that the people enjoy extensive democratic rights according to the law, and improve the quality of the work of people's congresses.
 Flash

More than 800 inmates escaped following an attack by unidentified gunmen on a custodial center in southwestern Nigeria's Oyo state, the country's correctional service confirmed on Saturday.

Olanrewaju Anjorin, spokesman for the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) in the Oyo state, said in a statement 837 inmates awaiting trial escaped from the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Abolongo area of the state following an attack by gunmen on the facility on Friday night.

"The invaders were said to have arrived the center heavily armed with sophisticated weapons and after a fierce encounter with officers on guard, gained entrance into the yard using dynamite to blast the wall," said Anjorin.

He said the gunmen released the 837 detainees awaiting trial after entering the center, but the cells housing 64 convicts were not vandalized.

However, 262 of the escapees have been recaptured as of Saturday, leaving 575 still at large, said Anjorin.

He said a process of search and recapture has been launched, and urged local people to provide credible intelligence to aid security agencies in tracking down the fugitives.

There have been in recent months a series of gunmen attacks across Nigeria, including attacks on security facilities like police stations and custodial centers.

A group of gunmen attacked in early April the police headquarters of the Imo state and the state's correctional facility, and freed over 1,800 inmates.
An armed criminal group in Haiti has kidnapped a group of US missionaries and children, according to media reports.

AFP news agency said an alert had been sent out by US non-profit Christian Aid Ministries to its supporters asking for prayer.

The kidnapping occurred in the Ganthier area near the capital of Port-au-Prince on Saturday morning as the group returned from building an orphanage.

The area has been a hotspot for kidnappings for ransom by criminal gangs, with victims including a priest and nun earlier this year.

The missionaries are reported to have been ordered off a bus and seized while en route to the capital's Toussaint Louverture airport, where they were to catch a flight home to the US.

The Washington Post reports that one member of the group sent a desperate plea for prayer via WhatsApp while the kidnapping was underway.

"Please pray for us!! We are being held hostage, they kidnapped our driver. Pray pray pray. We don't know where they are taking us," they said.

Haiti has been in the grip of a power struggle since the killing of President Jovenel Moise in July. The last few months have seen a deterioration in the security situation, with the challenges only compounded by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in August that killed over 2,200 people.

Commenting on the reports of the kidnapping, a spokesperson for the Department of State told the Guardian: "The welfare and safety of US citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the Department of State."



Reposted with permission from Christian Today
For the Church to flourish, Christians must be honest with reality. We must accept our tainted reputation truthfully. Our noble strivings for better services, outreach or a greater community presence are fruitless pursuits without recognising how the Christians are perceived as a whole.

Churches often fail to grasp why their programs especially outreach are poorly attended. It may well be how the program is delivered but more often it could be the perception of Christianity as a whole. The challenge for Christians is not just a public relations exercise but a balance where sincerity in empathizing with the sceptics as well as rebuilding the Church is needed.

Whether we like it or not, there is a gap in what Christians think of themselves is in contrast to the mainstream. This perception is growing no thanks to history, politics, and our progressive culture. At the risk of reductionism, simply put Christians especially evangelicals uphold the Bible as the highest authority from God, believe in Christ's atonement for our sins to be the core of our faith, and arising from such to be born again is subsequently to be missional in sharing the Good News.

But in reality, Christians hold the sometimes-self-inflicted reputation of war-mongering colonisers, xenophobic racists, sexual and power abusers along with every headline written by non-religiously literate journalists out there.

Christians are frankly sick of hearing this and we often question whether such reputation is even fair given the massive reforms already undertaken. However, the reality is that changes to procedures cannot retrospectively remove the real harm suffered by those in the past nor does it change the view of the Church overnight.

We must understand how and why the culture feels a certain way about us. The grand old child protection saying of not just doing the right thing but being seen to do so is critical to how the next generation of churchgoers will feel. While the overwhelming majority of Christians exceed standards of positivity, there remains a serious reputation that dissuades people from Jesus.

Long gone are the days where ringing church bells successfully called the community into worship and also gone are the ability of Christians to simply say Jesus loves you without being hit with the great question of how and why?.

The community whether we are ready now or not are reviewing, drawing their conclusions, or following in an echo chamber in forming judgement to our messages conveyed by us or about us. This is before we even get to how church buildings or our presence online and in-person is viewed. It matters little of what Christianity is when Christians and Jesus are seen through their preconceived notions of the Church.

So, what now? It might be quickest and easiest to call upon our fellow believers to defend the faith and fight back against the growing culture wars. While it is important to hold fast to our doctrines, simply creating Godly bastions to attract believers to Jesus does not work and is the wrong option. Make no mistake that the Church needs to be a Godly sanctuary but a castle working with the mindset that it is only defending against a siege is now way forward.

When Christians are not in lockstep with Christs teachings but rather following our trajectory of engaging with the world, it will be easy to conclude that its easier just to start from scratch and naively assume that it will be a clean slate. Giving up to the deep systemic issues whether supposed or true is fool hearty. Abandoning the core doctrines of our faith and the church is not a genuine way forward, rather such is just a fatal and further step away from Christ.

The better way forward is first recognising the serious shortcomings of how we as Christians have defamed Christ. The Church must not be ashamed to highlights its flaws and work to rebuild. Christianitys cultural hegemony has been lost, especially in the Western world as we have often failed to grasp the rallying cries of those who have suffered at the hands of the Church, but also the calls from power-mongering ideologies that seek to amass its followings.

Im no expert and I wont even pretend to be able to solve the major challenges that the Christian community faces but acknowledging that we are all communications specialists (and we dont need to have done a Bible college preaching course or a university degree in media). We need to continually come back to and put Christ as the focal point of our lives, be prepared to answer questions of faith in love and ultimately seek to build others up through the Church.

For the Church to make inroads to giving a hand up to people distant from God, Christians ought to start from a place of sincere empathy. It is only from a place of empathy that reconciliation and repair can commence in challenging the misconceptions of our faith that act as barriers to Jesus.

From what remains of our local Churches and for it to be effectively used, acknowledging the flaws and proactiveness in rebuilding ultimately demonstrates the power of Jesus Christ to transform lives. While we hold onto our faith and no longer ignore the shortcomings of how our faith has been previously put into action, we must be willing to call them out.

Christians do not need to protect or defend the Church just for the sake of maintaining a foothold in the world, but rather if we are being truly missional then we have a responsibility to be building one another up in love to be able to draw others closer to God. We cannot expect non-believers to come to repentance in Christ if our Churches do not do likewise both in our deed and across our purview.
Once a week I head to a local primary school to teach Religious Instruction to a lively group of grade three students. Im consistently stunned by the inquiry and insight of these investigative young minds; the depths of their understanding have proven profound. Week by week, it has become increasingly clear to me that we have a problem; I have been part of it.

If you grew up in Sunday School in the age of friendship bracelets and pony beads, youre probably already familiar with the Gospel Bracelet; an iteration of colourful beads representing the fall of man from a perfect creation, and the necessary sacrifice of Jesus Christ for salvation. As a child, the Gospel Bracelet was the perfect tool for school yard evangelistic mission, tying up the truth in a tween aesthetic I was certain my classmates would love. So, when it came time to teach my classes of equally colourful children about the effects sin and the necessity of atonement, there seemed no better illustration.

Together we threaded our coloured beads onto elastic, the first was Creation, green. As I shared the biblical account of Genesis, a vibrant debate was sparked in the classroom. There were some children defending the literal six days, others preferencing a metaphorical six days, and still some who remarked:

I cannot believe God created the Universe; I believe in science.

Whether you believe in a literal or figurative Genesis is not the point; the fact that there are children who are growing up with the understanding that belief in God is akin to throwing out logic and reason; that is a real concern. This eight-year-old had already concluded an incongruity between Christianity and Science without fully understanding either; a bias that is epidemic amongst young adults today and now affecting the very youngest minds. This supposed incompatibility is just another iteration of faith in the Unknown God; at the limits of scientific inquiry, we find necessary assumption and faith.

For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I announce to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesnt dwell in temples made with hands, neither is he served by mens hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.

(Acts chapter 17, verses 23-25)

Colour after colour, they had their theories and interpretations, until finally we came to the last colour; Gold. The kingdom of God. This is the moment that struck me; as one boy raised his hand with comment,

I dont think gold is a good colour.

We all have our tastes and preferences, but his statement was not a matter of preference, but discernment. He went on,

Gold is the reason humans do so many evil things. Humans are the most dangerous creatures on earth- we destroy other animals, we destroy the environment, and we kill and hurt each other- and most of the time, we do it for Gold.

Never have I heard a more poignant exposition of the wickedness of the human heart than this young boy gave.

I just dont understand how a good God could create a world where there is so much suffering.

And herein lies our problem. While we are teaching cute the cute and colourful storybook adaptations of the biblical narrative, these children are wrestling with the profound effect of the sinful condition, all the while being bombarded with the arrogance of an aggressively atheist culture that proclaims Christianity as a fools respite from reality. They are learning to relate to a God that is more akin to a benevolent fairy in an animated Disney feature, rather than the fortress in the midst of their very real battles. In our discussion, this boy had a revelation of our need for a saviour. When he considered the evil that pervades our world, he could only conclude that it was the fault of the Creator at all; it was His creations that broke the world.

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

(Matthew chapter 19, verse14)

There are children who have grown up in church believing wholeheartedly that the Kingdom of Heaven is a magical land full of their favourite foods, where theyll finally be united with deceased pets; who will sing songs based on the Nicene Creed, yet have no concept of resurrection. We have failed them. As parents, teachers, ambassadors of Christ, we have built these children a jolly tugboat and expect them to weather the storm; when we could have been built a mighty ark. Keep the illustrations, but dont condescend the gospel of truth; humanity is broken beyond human repair, and children know it as well as anyone. They are asking the burning questions, and as they grow into adulthood, they will need to know how to defend the answers.
How was the UVA event? my mom excitedly asked my little sister over the phone. Instead of accompanying the rest of our family to a wedding over the weekend, my sister was dressed up to meet with representatives from the University of Virginia, or as I had come to know it, Virginia Techs a
The complex, built in stages between 1916 and 1936, was once home to Landers, Frary and Clark, one of New Britains major employers in its industrial heyday. The company employed as many as 1,000 workers in the late 1930s, and produced an extensive line of irons, cake mixers, heaters and other electric appliances.
Considered a threat to livestock and game, bobcats were subject to a bounty in the state from 1935-71. Since they were named a protected species in 1972, the polygamous wild cats have been resurgent in Connecticut, spreading into all eight counties. A DEEP biologist estimated the statewide population in 2019 at 800 to 1,000. The Bobcat Project also has found that in some cases, collared cats have moved into New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Based on our assessment before the sale, we knew some of them were in sufficient condition to continue in agricultural use. And were working to save some for historic purposes, she said. The next part of the process is to work with the Trust for Public Land and the (state) office of historic preservation.
But as more town clerks began to raise concerns about the ballot applications, Bromley, the former chairman of Hebrons Democratic town committee, admonished Farina in an Oct. 4 message that he was seeing applications with names in a Microsoft script, as opposed to a digital facsimile of an actual signature. Confusion with a significant helping of fear spread among local Democratic politicos. The fine for violating absentee ballot laws can be as much as $2,000 per incident. Multiply that by, say, 1,000 improperly filled in ballot applications that a party sends to voters and a local party leader gets nervous.
The state health department urges you to consult with your doctor or health-care provider who can assist you in making the best decision for your own situation, Dr. Danny Avula, state vaccine coordinator, said in a statement Friday. We also stress that all three vaccines authorized for administration in the United States are highly effective in preventing severe COVID-19 illness, hospitalization and death.
The Charlottesville march, known as the Unite the Right rally, took place over two days to protest the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from a downtown park. Some 600 far-right participants gathered from around the country. The violent clashes that erupted culminated with one participant ramming his car into a group of counterprotesters, killing Heather Heyer, 32, and leaving at least 19 other injured, including four plaintiffs in this lawsuit.
Srinagar: Union home minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir would be restored only after the delimitation and holding of Assembly elections in the Union Territory.

They (opposition) are asking for stopping the delimitation (process). That is because their politics suffers. Why should we stop delimitation? Nothing of the sort is going to happen in Kashmir now, he said while speaking at a function here.

He added, The youth of Kashmir get good opportunitiestherefore delimitation will happen after which elections will take place and then the statehood will be restored. I have said it in the countrys Parliament. This is the roadmap.

Mr Shah who is on a 3-day visit of J&K, his first since the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state in August 2019, said, I have come here to make friends with the youth of Kashmir.

The Delimitation Commission for J&K set up by the Centre and headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai to redraw Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies of the UT has been asked to accelerate its work as its extended one-year term is ending in March 2022. Though various regional mainstream political parties and the Congress and national Left parties are not averse to participating in elections under the new composition of constituencies, they have demanded that the statehood of J&K must be restored before the democratic exercise takes place.

The home minister earlier reviewed the security situation prevailing in J&K in the backdrop of recent spate of target killings in and outside Srinagar and a major clash in which nine Army soldiers were killed by militants in frontier Poonch district in a meeting of top hierarchy J&K police, various Central armed police and paramilitary forces, the Army, intelligence agencies and the civil administration.

During the meeting, held at the Raj Bhavan here, the home minister was briefed on steps taken to eliminate militancy and terrorism from J&K and counter-infiltration measures in place along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) with Pakistan, an official spokesman said, adding that J&K lieutenant governor, Manoj Sinha, and Union minister of state in the PMO, Jitendra Singh, also attended the crucial meeting.

Mr Shah claimed that terrorism in J&K has reduced and the stone pelting has become invisible. At the same time, he warned that stern action will be taken against those who try to disrupt peace and tranquility in the UT. He said, I want to assure you that strict action will be taken against those who want to ruin the peace of J&K. No one can obstruct development here. Its our commitment. We will continue to walk on this path.

The home minister referring to the post-August 5, 2019 situation in J&K said that some people had made noises over the imposition of curfews and snapping the Internet. Justifying the curbs, he said that had there been no curfew many, lives would have been lost.

He said, Three families ruled Kashmir for 70 years. Forty thousand people died (between 1990 and 2019). Why? Were there (at the helm) only for two or two and half years. They (opposition) tried to see curfew is lifted by inciting (people), mounting pressure on and slandering (government). This was a conspiracy in which some foreign powers were also involved.

He said that they had thought if the curfew is lifted, then terrorism will surge. There will be clashes between people and the police in which people will die and we will bake the loaves of politics. He said had it happened, he does not know how many fathers would have to shoulder the coffins of their children. So we saved lives Kashmir youth has been saved due to curfew, he asserted.

The official sources said that at the main agenda of the security review meeting was the recent civilian killings and radicalisation in the Valley, the prolonged encounter in Poonch and reported successful infiltration bids from across the LoC.

The home minister sought the details from the officers as to how the militants were able to carry out these killings despite deployment of security forces personnel in large numbers in Srinagar and other districts and given the fact that a record number of militants have been eliminated in counterinsurgency operations since 2019, the sources said.

He also sought details on "active terrorists, local militant- recruitment graphs and the radicalisation propaganda being used to lure youth into militancy. He asked for taking all possible measures to plug the infiltration from across the LoC and IB completely.

Soon after his arrival at the Srinagar airport earlier during the day, Mr Shah drove straight to meet the family of J&K police Inspector Parvaiz Ahmad Dar who was shot dead by militants on June 22 near his home in Citys Nowgam area while going to the locality mosque to offer magrib or evening prayers. He offered his condolences to the family and handed over documents of appointment to a government job on compassionate grounds to slain police officers wife Fatima Akhtar.

Later in a tweet, the home minister said, Today visited the family of martyr Parvaiz Ahmad Dar and paid tributes to him. I and the nation are proud of his bravery. Jammu and Kashmir Police is making all efforts to realise the vision of PM Modi for a new JK.

The home minister also flagged off the inaugural Srinagar-Sharjah international flight. He said that air connectivity between Srinagar and the Gulf will help in boosting tourism and bring more investment in the UT.

His other engagements in J&K include laying the foundation stones of two new Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) in Udhampur (Jammu region) and Handwara (Kashmir Valley) and inaugurating an IIT block in Jammu where he is also scheduled to address a public meeting on October 24 He is also meeting Panchayati Raj representatives and members of various other civic bodies in Srinagar and Jammu and holding separate meetings with officials to evaluate the work done on the development front particularly the Prime Ministers Development Package (PMDP) for J&K.

The Home Minister is being accompanied by home secretary, A.K. Bhalla, and other senior officers of the ministry, the heads of various Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Intelligence agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau.
New Delhi: In the backdrop of the country achieving the milestone of administering 100 crore doses, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday held a meeting with the seven Indian Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers. It is learnt that while lauding the efforts of the vaccine manufacturers, he urged the companies to speed up the production of more doses in order to cover more population by December end. The PM also talked about increasing innovation in the pharmaceutical sector to make India a drug and vaccine manufacturing hub.

Representatives from seven vaccine makers Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Zydus Cadila, Biological E, Gennova Biopharma and Panacea Biotech  attended the meeting with PM Modi. Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Union minister of state for health Bharati Pravin Pawar were also present in the meeting.

On Thursday, India crossed a major milestone in the global vaccination programme against Covid-19 as its cumulative vaccine doses administered crossed 100 crore doses. Indias cumulative Covid-19 vaccination coverage on Saturday exceeded 101.30 crore. In the last 24 hours more than 68 lakh doses were administered. Prime Minister Modi received congratulatory messages from several global leaders on this national feat.

The vaccine industry and I, thank you Shri @narendramodi Ji, for an excellent interaction. We feel energised and encouraged by the vision you have laid out for the industry, Serum Institute of India CEO Mr Adar Poonawalla tweeted after the meeting.

Thanks to PMO for the invitation , thought provoking interaction and insights to make Indian Bio-Pharma companies prepare ahead for leadership in global innovation and manufacturing, tweeted Bharat Biotech co-founder Suchitra Ella.

Delighted to meet the Honorable PM @narendramodi to celebrate #100CroreVaccinations and taking Brand India to the world through India-made vaccines. Making #Vaccines a foundational pillar of a #NewIndia, tweeted Dr Rajesh and Harshet Jain of Panacea Biotech.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan reviewed the progress of Covid-19 vaccination with the health secretaries and mission directors of National health mission (NHM) of the states and UTs. The focus of the meeting was to urge the states and UTs to increase the pace of the countrywide vaccination and coverage of the second dose. Highlighting the sizable number of eligible beneficiaries who have not received their 2nd dose of vaccine, the Union health secretary urged the states and UTs to focus on those beneficiaries who are waiting for their second dose after their interval period has been over.

States/UTs were also urged to improve the momentum of vaccination and accelerate the coverage as the country moves forward to vaccinate all the eligible population by end of the year under the nation-wide Covid-19 vaccination drive. So far 71.24 crore first doses covering 76% of the eligible population and 30.06 crore second doses covering 32% of the eligible population have been administered the Covid-19 vaccines. States and UTs were also advised to identify and prioritise districts having low coverage for focused action.
They objected to Naidus remarks that uniforms would be taken away from police personnel after TD conducts inquiry into attacks on party offices. They stated that this indicates the intention of Naidu of taking law and order in his hands.  ANI

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Police Officers Association Amaravati (APPOAA) objected to the derogatory remarks made by Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and his party leaders against DGP and the police department. They found fault with being compared to others.

Addressing a press meet here on Saturday, Association president Janakula Srinivasa Rao and general secretary Md. Mastan Khan said that it was inappropriate to weaken the police system with such baseless statements, which were a blot on constitutional spirit. They slammed Naidu for terming DGP Gautam Sawangs replies to his mails as love letters.

They objected to Naidus remarks that uniforms would be taken away from police personnel after TD conducts inquiry into attacks on party offices. They stated that this indicates the intention of Naidu of taking law and order in his hands.

APPOAA leaders ridiculed Somireddy Chandramohan Reddys claim that AP Police was supporting terrorists and Maoists. They pointed out that AP Police had won 113 national awards and had secured the top position when it came to nabbing dreaded criminals in Maharashtra, Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Whatever the outcome  if any  of the three-day visit of Union home minister Amit Shah to Jammu and Kashmir (October 23-25), perhaps its most noteworthy aspect is the irony. J&K was stripped of its autonomy and reduced from being a state to a Union territory in August 2019, and the official reason advanced as justification was that these steps were necessary to end the separatist mentality among the people in Kashmir valley, finish off terrorism, and bring about accelerated development. Two years on, the record has turned more than just a little disquieting.

Aside from the usual encounters between the security forces and young militants, which have grown in intensity  engulfing practically every district in the Valley  at the present juncture the authorities in J&K are reeling under twin threats.

Not far from the Line of Control in Poonch (Jammu), nine army personnel were killed in the past week apparently by infiltrating terrorists. These elements have not been apprehended. Preceding the trip to Kashmir of the Union home minister, the visit to the area by Army chief Gen. M.M. Naravane underlines the seriousness of whats happened. There had been no infiltration in this area for nearly two decades.

Simultaneously, the security grid faces the problem of the killing of civilians, with the murders of Kashmiri Pandits and of migrant workers being a cause for special concern. Again, the police and the intelligence appear not to have a clue two weeks on. At his long security review meeting in Srinagar, Mr Shah raised both issues  seeking strategically planned protection of minorities, and flexible patrolling of guards.

Underlying the fragility of the security situation, the home ministers arrival was preceded by the detention or arrest of around one thousand young people. Drones hovered in the air. The movement of two-wheelers was suspended. Several rings of security impeded the normal routine of ordinary citizens in Kashmir. Why eyes in the sky and eyes on the ground if the UT is moving toward a new era of development, and away from terrorism  as pronouncements of the government and the ruling party assure us  is a valid question.

Mr Shah is content not to answer it, however. In an online address to panchayat level youth clubs, which evidently have upward of 40,000 members though it will excite peoples curiosity to know the composition of such a group, he asserted that August 5, 2019 (the day of ending J&Ks autonomy), will be written in golden letters. With J&K having the highest unemployment rate in the country, this may have sounded off-key to the audience.

The home minister stoutly defended imposing thorough-going militarisation, the imposing of curfews, shutting down of the Internet, and a media clampdown in Kashmir for months, saying this was needed to save lives. In the absence of these measures, he apprehended that thousands may have been killed if reactions to ending of autonomy had been permitted to surface. This was the objective of a foreign conspiracy, he noted. Never before has the government expressed such an anxiety about mass rebellion. The foreign conspiracy angle too is without substantiation from official quarters.

Government claims as regards terrorism are inconsistent with reality, and are not new. The ministers statement that statehood will be restored once Assembly elections take place after the delimitation exercise is completed is also old hat. So, why the visit, Mr Shahs first after the ending of autonomy? The answer is in plain sight  that on his watch the security scene in J&K has plummeted. The minister is engaging in optics  of giving it everything he has got. But how much does he have is the question.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin disagrees that no veto right for permanent UN Security Council members is unacceptable. The suggested reform is not advisable because it will devolve the present body into the impotent League of Nations that failed decades ago to stop conflicts.

Putin disagrees with depriving UN Security Council members of their veto rights

Last Thursday, Putin stated that permanent members' power to veto is crucial to the Security Council.He called the demand of Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan improbable and should not be heeded by the global body, as his demand is a recipe for disaster

The Kremlin is one of the five nations with veto powers in the UN, and it has expressed disagreement in reforming the UN body. Reasons for revamping are the world order and economic change by other nations, reported the Express UK.

Putin told experts that veto powers are crucial that give clout to the permanent members. Without it, there will be all talk with no force beyond its words.

#Russias President Vladimir #Putin rejects his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip #Erdogans proposal to remove the veto power of #UN Security Council permanent members, saying it would turn the body into a debate club.https://t.co/g4nnmMvhIL  Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) October 21, 2021

He spoke to the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi's annual meeting, stating the move to remove veto power of permanent members will turn it to the former body that might usher in another world war. These reactions came as Erdogan pushed to alter the body's rules, which Moscow shut down with its harsh remark.

The permanent members of the security council are the USA, UK, France, Russia, and China. They have veto power. Other members of the security council rotate every two years.  count carkula  (@MGonGivItToYa) August 26, 2021

Turkish President Erdogan spoke in Angola last Monday on an African tour and stressed that the world is more than the five nations who are the only ones with veto rights. President Putin says no veto right for permanent UN security council members is not acceptable.

Read Also: Putin Slams the West for Military Support of Ukraine; Russia Outrageous at the US for Dubious Moves

Erdogan added that the UN should reassess the world's fate in the control of several nations, the AXIS powers, emergent after the fall.

Both leaders of Russia and Turkey talked three weeks earlier in Sochi for trade and security talks, which Erdogan said was fruitful. While Putin said, the two nations were okay on the international stage and working together.

Russia, Turkey deal on building power plants

The Turkish leader spoke to the press from the discussion with Moscow, saying that he proposed a deal with the Kremlin to build two nuclear power plants. On his part, Putin asked if Turkey would cooperate in developing facilities for space launches and other structures, said TASS.

Turkey, a NATO member, had a spat with the US when it bought an S-400 missile defense in 2019 from Russia, capable of detecting and shooting down the F-35. The Trump administration sanctioned them.

Erdogan made it clear he will meet with the US leader at the G-20 in Rome in October and the climate summit in Glasgow. But he will discuss the $1.4 billion spent for F-35s that was canceled with the US, noted the Hurriyet Daily News.

Erdogan added that he wouldn't let Joe Biden get away without clarifying their military, political, and commercial relationship.

Like with all the recent dealings with the US under the Biden Administration from a New York visit, he said relations with the White House are unstable, not an excellent atmosphere to deal with. But the Turkish leader said before the meeting with Biden in October, after talking to Putin in Sochi, that US relations are not healthy and their current direction "does not bode well."

Related Article: Russia Could Overcome the US in Cold War; Kremlin Possesses the Most Extensive Nuclear Warheads Globally

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Russia developed an advanced ballistic missile that was fired and struck the target precisely. These were the results of tests from Moscow's weapons development to match the US and its peers.

Modernization of the Russian Federation, as the goal of Kremlin, to have weapons as a deterrent from any aggression from the US.

The Kremlin has warned the West not to pursue any hostilities, but the US has been breaching the Soviet territory as of late. But Moscow is biding its time as not to aggravate as Washington is doing.

Russia's recent test using advanced Iskander missiles

Under evaluation is the Iskander-E missile seen as a possible sale by an unknown foreign buyer, said the builder of the advance projectile weapon, reported the Sun UK.

According to aerospace weapons fire that makes the Iskanker line of missile variants, they are primarily for short distances when fired, used against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces.

One of their members is the United States which created tension with the Russian Federation after throwing support to Ukraine.

The test accurately hits the target 110 miles away and over the horizon standoff distance. Bekhan Ozdoev, the chief of the firm Rostec missile, tells Russia's RIA Novosti, the weapon struck the target accurately.

It was an important test to see how accurate the system is in real-world combat. Ozdoev added that the camera placed around the target confirmed the hit with accuracy.

Russia deploys Iskander systems with extended-range missiles to Ukrainian borderhttps://t.co/CiWitIGFaA pic.twitter.com/49Gb17oApG  Defence Blog (@Defence_blog) April 10, 2021

Ozdoev added the weapon systems developed by Rostec enterprises has good result once again. Russia develops advanced ballistic missiles as a step ahead of its US counterparts.

Read Also: Putin Tests Latest Cruise Missile After Tensions To Compete Against the US in Near Peer Power Struggle

New hypersonic missile accurately hits target and hard to shoot down

This missile is launched from a vehicle with a three-person unit and a maximum range of 300 miles as standoff distance. Unlike the US, the former Soviet army has developed many standoff weapons.

Specifications of the missile include a weight of four tons and about 23 feet long and a controllable warhead while flying, as stated by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Iskander missile system was used by Russian armed forces when they fought Georgia in 2008.

Units carrying the ballistic missiles have been usually sent to Kaliningrad, a strategic spot where it can target NATO units in Poland, Baltic States, and Sweden.

Several countries like Armenia took notice of the weapon and bought it, later displaying them in a military parade in the same year. Another sale to Algeria followed after.

In the next arms race, the Kremlin pushed away all the stops and developed advanced ballistic weapons and hypersonic arms.

Early in October, information leaked that the top Soviet weapon engineers and designers were working hard to create a Mach 4+ hypersonic missile capable of flattening a city in mere minutes, cited UK News Today.

The Su-57 5th generation fighter will be able to mount this is missile and go at Mach 5 +, which will be hard to shoot down by US defenses, noted the Diplomat.

According to experts, it is used as a ship killer, attack ports too, but will be tested by the year's end.

Putin's pride in the Zircon hypersonic missile was launched from the nuclear-powered sub-Severodvinsk in the White Sea, striking a target in the Barents Sea.

Russia Develops advanced ballistic missile to add to its other weapons that are way ahead of the US, that is behind already. Even China has overtaken Americans in missile technology as well.

Related Article: Putin Boasts Latest Russian Superweapon; Nuclear Torpedo Concerns the West

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On Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki seemed to backtrack on President Joe Biden's Thursday comments that the US was committed to supporting Taiwan if it was attacked by China.

Biden Vowed To Defend Taiwan If China Attacks Became Controversial

In a recently published article in Newsweek, President Joe Biden seemed to commit to the protection of Taipei if Beijing attacked, prompting the White House to hustle to explain his remarks. The first apparent error occurred at a CNN town hall on Thursday evening, when Biden answered questions.

An unambiguous vow to protect Taiwan would remove decades of strategic uncertainty. The United States has neither affirmed nor denied its preparedness to assist Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack. This led the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki to clarify the answer of Biden.

Following Biden's discussion of the military strength of the United States and his personal experience with Chinese President Xi Jinping, presenter Anderson Cooper interjected to clarify the president's response, asking whether the United States is committed to defending Taiwan if China attacked. "Yes," said POTUS definitely, according to a report published in Daily Advent.

Read Also: Biden Commits To Defend Taiwan in Any Military Attacks From China, Russia; POTUS Announces There Is No Change of Policy of US Defense Relationship With Taiwan

Pentagon Commits An Apparent Error About the Critical Issue

Biden's remarks, as well as the unexpected pivot, sparked outrage and bewilderment on social media. However, only hours later, at a meeting of the US-led NATO Western military alliance in Brussels, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made an apparent blunder of his own while attempting to convey the US stance on the vital topic.

Austin said, "Nobody wants to see cross-strait issues come to blows, certainly not President Biden, and there's no reason that it should. You've heard us say this a number of times, and I'll say it again. We remain committed to our One China Policy, in keeping with the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Assurances, and the Six Communiques," according to a published report in VOA News.

Moreover, Austin was actually referring to "the three U.S.-PRC Joint Communiques" that set the stage for the relationship between Washington and Beijing after 1979 and the "Six Assurances," which promise long-term support for Taipei, albeit through informal channels, according to a note in the Pentagon's own transcript of the comments.

White House Press Secretary Released a Statement

During a White House press conference, Psaki said that the president is not announcing any policy changes and has not decided to alter policy. The Taiwan Relations Act governs the country's military connection with Taiwan, per Reuters reports.

According to the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, the United States will give Taiwan armaments to retain an adequate self-defense capacity. It does not state that the US would intervene militarily to defend Taiwan if China attacked it.

Psaki repeated that Biden's position has not changed when questioned by a news source if the president just misspoke or was sending a signal to Beijing. She reiterated Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's earlier Friday remarks in an apparent effort to defuse rising tensions after the president's statement.

Related Article: Biden Announces Support For Taiwan Against Growing Chinese Aggression Amid Rising Tensions With Russia

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China and Russia held their first-ever military exercise on October 17-23 in the Western part of the Pacific Ocean.

China and Russia Showcase Their Military Warships

In a recently published article in MSN News, both giant countries have showcased their military warships during the joint patrol. There were a total of 10 warships during the drill, five from each country that lasted for a week, and it covered 1,700 nautical miles.

In a statement released, it said that the main objective and goal of the joint military drill is to "demonstrate the flags of Russia and China," It also added that it promotes peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific area, as well as defend the marine commercial activities of both nations.

During the patrol, China and Russia's warships made their maiden passage through the Tsugaru Strait. The Tsugaru strait connects the Sea of Japan to the Pacific Ocean. It is located between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido in the northern region of the nation, according to a published report in Reuters.

Read Also: Tensions With Russia and China in the South China Sea Will Place UK Special Ops for More Difficult Missions

The two nations have a long-standing military relationship. They have participated in several joint military exercises, the most high-profile of which being "Vostok 2018," a simulated war in which a Russian-Chinese alliance battled a fake adversary.

In a published article in Sky News, according to a statement released by China's military ministry, Russia and China re-united in August to employ a combined command and control system, with Russian soldiers incorporated into Chinese formations.

President Xi Jinping of China is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In June, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhao Lijian said that the two nations were "linked like a mountain" and had an "unbreakable" bond.

Military Ties of Russia, China is a Challenge for Biden Administration

Deepening military and diplomatic collaboration between Russia and China are causing concern among US defense strategists, who are concerned that the two adversaries, who share military technology and many foreign-policy objectives, could impede the Biden administration's ambition to reclaim US leadership.

With an eye on its own pressure campaign on Taiwan and the South China Sea, China is closely following Russia's military buildup along the Ukrainian border, which the US Defense Department reported this week is greater than the 2014 deployment, according to a published article in Foreign Policy.

Meanwhile, according to 11 current and former officials and experts who talked to Foreign Policy, there is no proof that Beijing and Moscow are indeed coordinating their rival pressure efforts.

The Biden administration focuses on completing the long-delayed pivot to Asia by deploying more military assets to the Western Pacific. However, it is still grappling with how to manage Beijing's growing axis with Moscow, which, according to a 2019 US intelligence assessment, is more aligned than at any time in the previous 60 years. Chinese President Xi Jinping previously called Russian President Vladimir Putin as his "best buddy and colleague."

Related Article: Russia and China Continue Cooperation, Conduct Joint Military Drills

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Prince Harry's memoir is reportedly complete, and it will be released sometime next year.

During a recent interview, royal author Andrew Morton shared his thoughts about Prince Harry's memoir and said Prince Charles should be worried. After all, the book may detail the father and son's strained relationship.

"If I was Prince Charles, I'd be looking for a pile of coats to hide under. I think we're going to see Charles once more in the firing line," Morton said via Yahoo! News.

Morton added that the Duke of Sussex is the type who gives straight answers when you ask him questions straight out. And Meghan Markle's husband previously said that he would provide a firsthand account of his life that's accurate and truthful in his memoir.

The royal author is convinced that the real and truthful things that Prince Harry will detail in his memoir will have to do with Prince Charles. Therefore, the royal author suggests the latter should look for a hard hat when the memoir comes out.

Prince Harry announced his memoir last summer

Prince Harry first announced his plans to write a memoir in July. At the time, another source confirmed that the royal family is concerned about what Prince Harry will write in his book, but it's already making them nervous.

However, it is important to note that no royal family member has directly commented on the memoir. As of press writing, everything that's been said about their alleged reactions just came from palace insiders and royal experts.

Read Also: Prince Harry's Memoir: Royal Family Fears Spark as Publishers Demand Untold Gossip; Duke Confirms $1.5 Million Charity Donation

Morton also talked about Princess Diana during the recent interview. He said that the late royal must be so proud of what her son is doing. After all, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex managed to become independent humanitarians irrespective of what the palace might say, according to US Weekly.

Prince Harry called disrespectful over memoir's release date

Following Prince Harry's announcement that he would be writing a memoir, the dad of two was immediately criticized and called disrespectful.

True Royalty TV co-founder and editor-in-chief Nick Bullen claimed that Prince Harry's memoir would be released on Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee year.

"I think here in Britain, the announcement of this book has undoubtedly sent shockwaves around the place, both at the highest levels of society and just with the average amount on the streets. I think it was a couple of [interviews], the first was surely enough, surely the other interview was enough. Let's draw a line under it ... [and] let's try and start rebuilding from there," he said via Marie Claire.

Will the memoir overshadow the Queen's event?

Last month, royal expert Grant Harrold also claimed that Prince Harry's memoir could overshadow the queen's important milestone.

He said that Prince Harry must have known about his grandmother's upcoming Platinum Jubilee celebration. So, it's strange that he still decided to release his memoir around the same time, according to The News.

Harrold added that he hopes the Duke of Sussex's memoir will be nice. Otherwise, it will most likely overshadow the queen's event because different publications will most likely report on Prince Harry's memoir.

Related Article: Prince Harry Announces Early Memoir Launch; Book May Unveil 'Explosive Details' Against Prince William

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Two renowned chess players have decided to withdraw from the Grand Swiss tournament in Riga, Latvia, due to the country's increasing number of COVID-19 cases.

According to CNN, the Latvian government recently announced a four-week lockdown that will end on Nov. 14 to help prevent the further spread of the deadly virus.

The new restrictions include a curfew between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m., as well as the closing of non-essential shops. Stores that sell essential goods will be open between 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Grand Swiss, Women's Grand Swiss will still push through

But despite the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the country, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) announced that the Grand Swiss and Women's Grand Swiss tournaments will still push through during the month-long lockdown.

However, a number of restrictions will also be put in place at the tournaments, which will be closed to the public. Only a few journalists will be permitted entry to cover the competition.

Some protocols include testing, special conditions under the emergency status in Latvia, safety precautions, transport and accommodation, travel to Latvia, and more, according to the official statement.

Players that will break the lockdown protocols may be disqualified or even terminated from the tournament.

But despite FIDE's decision to still push through with the competition, at least two players have already announced that they will be withdrawing from the Grand Swiss tournament.

Read Also: No Special Treatment: Unvaccinated Athletes Banned To Compete at the Australian Open

Two professional chess players bow out of the tournament

On Twitter, American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura released a statement saying that he will be prioritizing his health, the health of his trainer, and the health of Latvians, that's why he bowed out of the competition.

Indian grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi initially tweed his concerns about traveling to Latvia amid the local government's restrictions. Shortly after, he also confirmed that he would no longer participate in the Grand Swiss tournament.

Latvia goes into month-long lockdown due to COVID-19

Recent reports revealed that Latvia has been struggling amid the rising cases of COVID-19 and low vaccination rates in the country.

Earlier this month, the government also declared a three-month emergency to stop the spread of the virus. Last week, it was confirmed that the incidence of COVID-19 has risen by a staggering 48 percent over the past couple of days.

The Latvian government decided to extend the school holidays until Oct. 29. Young students will return to school on Nov. 1, but older students will return to homeschooling.

An unnamed resident told the publication that he's been experiencing fatigue due to the virus and because he needs to wear a mask at work. Another local said that staying at home is most difficult because, as an athlete, he likes to go training.

Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins urged Latvians to get vaccinated against the virus. "I must call on all vaccinated people to be prepared to bear the burden, which I know is unfair. We need to do so because other people are unvaccinated. If we do not bear this burden, everyone will suffer," Karins said via Euro News.

Related Article: Tani Adewumi Wants To Become Chess' Youngest Ever Grandmaster At 11; Says He Practices 7 Hours Daily

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A missing 5-year-old boy was found dead one week after he was first reported missing.

According to reports, neighbors of Elijah Lewis and his mom, Danielle Denise Dauphinais, told police officials that they had not seen the boy outside his house for six months. But further investigation confirmed that the 5-year-old was spotted at home in mid-September.

However, it was only on Oct. 14 that he was reported missing. Immediately after, officers searched Ames Nowell State Park in Abington, Massachusetts, about 72 miles north of Merrimack.

Police initially unable to find missing boy

There was still no sign of Lewis earlier this week, so officials believed that they would no longer find him alive.

"We were hopeful that Elijah would be found alive. We're now facing the prospect that he is not. And we do have a belief at this time that Elijah is deceased," Ben Agati of the New Hampshire attorney general's office said via NBC News.

Lewis' mom and her boyfriend, Joseph Stapf, were arrested and charged with witness tampering and child endangerment following the boy's disappearance. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Read Also: Missing 3-Year-Old Australian Toddler Found in Wilderness After 3 Days in Potential 'Kidnap and Release' Case

Missing boy's cause of death to be revealed

On Saturday, a body believed to be Lewis' was found. And an autopsy will be performed to confirm his exact cause of death and official identification. After getting the autopsy result, authorities will decide what other charges could be brought to the case.

Governor Chris Sinunu released a statement thanking the law enforcement in New Hampshire and Massachusetts for their efforts in finding the missing boy, according to NHPR.

New Hampshire murders over the years

Lewis is not the only person from New Hampshire who was tragically murdered. Earlier this year, a 4-year-old girl was confirmed to be one of four victims who were stuffed into two 55-gallon drums in the New Hampshire wilderness decades ago.

At the time, a serial killer named Terry Peder Rasmussen went on a killing spree. And reports revealed that one of his last victims was his own daughter. Rasmussen's daughter's body was found near Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, according to Kiro 7. Rasmussen died in 2010 while he was serving his time in prison. He was 67.

Last week, Vermont State Police also found the body of a 22-year-old woman from New Hampshire who vanished while on a trip with her husband. According to WGME, Emily Ferlazzo went on a vacation this month, and her family reported her missing.

Authorities revealed that Ferlazzo and her husband got into a heated argument while driving their camper van to Vermont. The husband alleged that his wife got out of the van and started walking to a nearby store. When he came down to find her, Ferlazzo was allegedly gone. But surveillance footage revealed that their camper van was parked near their friend's house.

In August, two dead men were found at the Country Inn and Suites Hotel in Bedford. An autopsy confirmed that Nathan Cashman, 28, died from multiple chop wounds from the head, neck, and body. Davin Hanford, 60, was strangled to death, according to Boston. Theodore Luckey, 42, of New Jersey, was arrested on second-degree murder and held on preventative detention while the murders remain under investigation.

Related Article: Wife's Lover Shot Dead by Spouse, Husband Orders Her to Behead Lover, Bury Head in Woods

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Are you upset with the kind of service from your current carrier and need to shift networks, yet still have a phone to pay off?

T-Mobile is dangling an enticing offer: giving you up to $1,000 to settle handset dues with your current carrier in exchange for switching to its data network. The pink carrier will assist switchers, offering $1,000 for each of up to five qualified unlocked devices through a prepaid Mastercard, and an additional 20 percent off a family plan.

Obviously, the offer is directed at unsatisfied AT&T and Verizon 5G subscribers seeking their way out their current plans. These customers can swap their subscriptions with T-Mobile's Essentials plan costing $27 per line, inclusive of voice, text, 5G data, and mobile hotspot data of up to 3G speeds.

In the deal, T-Mobile will issue the virtual Mastercard, which takes 15 days to administer, and once activated, can be used for up to six months.

T-Mobile Tops Ookla Speed Test in the U.S.

With this offer, T-Mobile is surely very eager to have its rivals' customers consider it as the juiciest deal for a switch. The carrier is also flaunting its exceptional performance in terms of speed, topping Ookla's Speedtest in the U.S. Ookla had recognized T-Mobile as the fastest mobile data operator in the U.S., with average download speeds of 62 Mbps on current mobile phone chipsets. AT&T and Verizon, meanwhile, landed second and third respectively on the Ookla Speed Tests.

Read Also: T-Mobile Data Breach 2021 Hacker Slams 'Awful' Security; Mobile Company Facing New Major Problems

T-Mobile likewise carries the fastest consistent 5G download and upload speeds on PC Magazine's independent network tests. Verizon, however, ranked on top in the category of highest download speeds, boosted by the company's use of the mmWave spectrum.

The offer has appears tempting for disgruntled users of its rival carriers. However, T-Mobile has its own share of mishaps, which users should remember. It lied about the spectrums it would keep with the sole purpose of having its Sprint merger approved. Also, an enormous data breach hit T-Mobile, exposing data of about 49 million customers to hackers.

T-Mobile to Delay Shutdown of Sprint 3G Network

Meanwhile, T-Mobile announced that it shall postpone the planned shutdown of Sprint's 3G network to March 2022 to guarantee "partners" enough time to experience ease in the transition. The company originally planned to phase the Sprint 3G network by January next year, but has since been pushed to March 31st.

T-Mobile completed the $26-billion merger with Sprint on April 1, 2020.

T-Mobile's partners, the company said in a statement, have not been able to "follow through on their responsibility to help customers through this shift." Because of this, T-Mobile said it was "stepping up on their behalf." According to The Verge, the statement likely referred to Dish Network, which have since been at odds with T-Mobile over Sprint shutdown, which will affect Dish's Boost Mobile customers.

Dish acquired Boost Mobile to take Sprint's place as the fourth largest wireless carrier in the U.S.

Related Article: Are You Affected by the T-Mobile Data Breach? 4 Ways to Protect Yourself If You're Exposed
Actress Shin Sae-kyeong, left, and director Kim Jong-kwan pose during an online media conference for the documentary, "Another Record," Friday. Courtesy of Seezn



By Lee Gyu-lee



Actress Shin Sae-kyeong has taken on a new challenge to star in streaming platform Seezn's upcoming original documentary, "Another Record," which will shed light on an unknown side of the actress.



Directed by Kim Jong-kwan, who led the romance film, "Josee" (2020), and the drama film, "The Table" (2016), the documentary will follow Shin's journey through Seochon, one of the oldest neighborhoods of Jongno-gu in northern Seoul.



Exploring the neighborhood, the actress meets different people for genuine conversation and shares a part of her life that she has never shown to the public.



"I loved the purpose of this project, and I had faith in the director," Shin said during the online media conference for the documentary, Friday. "And personally, I've been thinking that this time, I need to take on a new challenge. I've always wanted to do something outside the same old cycle."



Adding that this was such a special experience in her career, she said that working on this documentary has taught her a lesson.



"It was weird to be my real self in front of the camera, instead of portraying a certain character. I am actually very cautious and don't enjoy adventures that much. I prefer stability," she said. "But this documentary has taught me that it is okay to embark on new journeys like this I've always thought that I don't like being put in unfamiliar surroundings, but I actually enjoyed them more than I expected. So it allowed me to explore myself."





A scene from the documentary / Courtesy of Seezn
Actors Ma Dong-seok, right, and Angelina Jolie pose during an online press conference for the film, "Eternals." Courtesy of Walt Disney Company Korea



By Kwak Yeon-soo



Ma Dong-seok, also known by his English name Don Lee, said the "Eternals" cast were like one big family. He plays Gilgamesh, who he described as "the most powerful and strongest character" in "Eternals."



Ma's various roles, ranging from a brutal gangster to a homicide detective to an arm wrestler, have paved the way for him to become the first Korean actor to play a superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.



The 50-year-old actor revealed that he didn't go through any audition process for "Eternals."



"After Train to Busan became increasingly popular abroad, I received numerous offers from Hollywood. I got a call from the casting director of Eternals, who offered me the role of Gilgamesh. It turned out that director Chloe Zhao and producer Nate Moore had already seen many of my films and analyzed my character," he told Korean reporters at a recent online press conference.



"Director Zhao and action designers incorporated my personality and action style, like a big punch or a box, in creating the character. So rather than flashy, acrobatic movements, I tried to keep the movements just plain and powerful."





Actor Ma Dong-seok, also known by his English name Don Lee, poses at the premiere for the film "Eternals" in Los Angeles, U.S., Oct. 18 (local time). Reuters-Yonhap
A scene from the play, "Borderline" / Courtesy of Judith Buss





By Park Ji-won







<iframe width="740" height="416" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/32a4bnOXHI0" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>







"Borderline," a play created jointly by South Korean and German artists focusing on the issues of defectors and refugees in each country, will be performed offline in Seoul.







Directed by Lee Kyung-sung of Creative VaQi, Producer Group DOT and Residenztheater, the work explores the experiences of people who are trying to settle in a new location after leaving where they usually live. German theater critic and playwright Jurgen Berger conducted research for the play by traveling between Germany, Thailand and Korea over the past few years, interviewing a wide range of people, then writing about them as well as the meanings of borders, division and reunification.







"Just like many refugees from Africa or Syria here in Germany, the refugees try to attract as little attention as possible and want to avoid being recognized as refugees. This happens in Korea mainly through the language, because the North Korean dialect differs from the South Korean (one) and South Koreans notice it straight away. One refugee I interviewed said that she first rid herself of her North Korean dialect and adopted the South Korean dialect. Because recognizability also leads to exclusion," Berger was quoted as saying in an interview with the Goethe Institut last year when the play premiered in Germany.







The poster for the play, "Borderline" / Courtesy of Producer Group DOT

Categorizing their work as "docufiction," a portmanteau of documentary and fiction, the work also "travels" between a documentary film and a play.







Performing the work on the stage is forms the basis for the filming process of the documentary film. Five actors, whom Berger met during the interviews, will appear, conducting the interviews, appearing in scenes and playing roles. The process will be filmed live and projected onto a screen in the theater hall.







The five actors include a person who crossed the Mediterranean from Somalia, a North Korean defector living in Seoul, a person who witnessed Germany's reunification at the age of six and moved from East Germany to West Germany, Berger's father, who was traumatized by deportation in the Czech Republic and actor Jang Seong-ik, who moved from Jeju Island to the mainland of South Korea.







The COVID-19 pandemic also likely inspired how the production addresses the rapidly changing concept of a border.







For two years starting from 2018, Creative VaQi and Producer Group DOT from South Korea and Residenztheater from Germany, traveled between Germany and South Korea for workshops, aiming to turn their research into a performance for the stage.







The work premiered Munich, Germany in October of last year and also aired in South Korea the same year. It was supposed to have premiered offline in South Korea in November of last year, but was released online in October instead due to the pandemic.







The 100-minute performance will be presented at Mary Hall of Sogang University from Nov. 3 to 9. The performances on Nov. 6 and 7 will have German subtitles.






A North Korean media outlet on Sunday slammed the United States for its recent proposal to create a new working-level defense dialogue with South Korea, accusing Washington of seeking to raise military pressure on Pyongyang.







The U.S. floated the idea of instituting the unofficial dialogue platform during the allies' regular defense talks in Seoul last month, sources have said, as Washington is pushing to rally its democratic allies to counter China's growing assertiveness.







Meari, a North Korean propaganda website, claimed that the proposed dialogue is yet another attempt by the U.S. to add pressure on the North and reinforce its regional policy initiative.







"The United States can be seen as seeking to usefully capitalize on the (proposed) defense working group to tighten its grab on South Korea's defense sector, pressure North Korea militarily and by extension, strengthen the realization of its Indo-Pacific strategy," the website said in an article.







It also rebuked the South for considering the proposed launch of such a defense dialogue based on a "sense of subservience" to the U.S.







Washington has reportedly proposed the dialogue to help find common ground between its Indo-Pacific strategy and Seoul's New Southern Policy aimed at deepening relations with Southeast Asian countries.







The two sides were expected to discuss the issue during their annual defense ministerial talks, called the Security Consultative Meeting, slated to take place in Seoul in December. (Yonhap)


An ambulance transfers a COVID-19 patient to a hospital in Eunpyeong District of Seoul in this photo taken in December 2020. Yonhap



By Lee Hyo-jin



The government is being urged to improve the way it handles COVID-19 patients after an infected man died when his condition deteriorated quickly while he was waiting at home for an ambulance. This latest fatality is raising concerns as more patients displaying mild or no symptoms are expected to be told to stay home in line with the government's envisioned shift to a "living with COVID-19" policy from November.



According to the Central Disaster Management Headquarters, the man, in his 60s, who was placed under isolation at his home in the Seodaemun District of Seoul, died Thursday morning, after his condition deteriorated abruptly while waitinf to be transferred to a hospital.



This death is the first reported among some 13,000 cumulative cases of people who have undergone home treatment since the system was adopted in January of this year.



According to the public health authorities, the paramedics arrived at the patient's house at 7:05 a.m., but they could not immediately transfer him to a hospital because the ambulance was not equipped with the proper air filtering system needed to transport COVID-19 patients.



The patient then had to wait 25 minutes for an ambulance with the filtering system, during which he fell into cardiac arrest. He arrived at the hospital at around 8:05 a.m., but was pronounced dead at 9:30 a.m.



The Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disasters Headquarters explained that the delay was due to a miscommunication between the quarantine authorities and the paramedics.



"The paramedics thought that he was a person in self-quarantine, as they were not informed by the public health authorities that he was a coronavirus patient," said Seo Soon-tak, a senior official at the headquarters, during a briefing on Friday.









The public health authorities noted that the deceased was an unvaccinated, asymptomatic patient with no underlying diseases, meeting their conditions for being placed under home treatment.





People stand in line to receive a coronavirus test at a testing center near Seoul Station, Sunday. Yonhap




The U.S. special representative for North Korea said Sunday that he looks forward to continuing exploring different options with South Korea to resume dialogue with North Korea, including the proposed declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War.







Sung Kim also reiterated Washington's willingness to help address the North's humanitarian concerns for its people in need, while urging Pyongyang to stop missile launches, which he cast as "concerning and counterproductive."







Kim made the remarks soon after he held talks with his South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, to discuss joint efforts to resume stalled nuclear diplomacy.







"I look forward to continuing to work with special representative Noh to explore different ideas and initiatives, including the ROK's end-of-war proposal as we continue to pursue our shared objectives on the peninsula," Kim said, referring to South Korea's official name, Republic of Korea.







Kim called Pyongyang's latest missile test a "provocation" and a breach of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.







"We hope the DPRK will respond positively to our outreach." the U.S. diplomat said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.







"We'll also prepare to work cooperative with the DPRK to address areas of humanitarian concern to help the most vulnerable North Koreans," he added. (Yonhap)


Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk, left, and U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim hold a press briefing after their meeting at a hotel in central Seoul, Sunday. Joint Press Corps



By Jung Da-min



The top envoys from South Korea and the United States charged with negotiations regarding the denuclearization of North Korea still remain poles apart over the details of any engagement policy toward Pyongyang.



Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk and U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim met in Seoul, Sunday, to discuss how to bring North Korea back to negotiations. They also reviewed Seoul's proposal for a declaration officially ending the Korean War in their second meeting within a week after they met in Washington, Oct. 18 (local time).



However, diplomatic experts said the two envoys only reaffirmed the differences in approach between Seoul and Washington without reaching any further agreement on President Moon Jae-in's proposal to formally declare an end to the war. They also said Washington has virtually rejected this, with Kim saying the U.S. would "explore different ideas and initiatives, including the Republic of Korea's end-of-war proposal."



After their meeting at a hotel in central Seoul, Noh said: "In particular, I had in-depth discussions with Special Representative Kim over Seoul's proposal to end the war in an extension of talks we had in Washington. We also reaffirmed our shared stance that we could discuss every possible idea including those involving the North's interests, once we resume talks with North Korea."



Noh said the two agreed to continue to push ahead with various engagement policies toward North Korea including providing humanitarian aid and confidence building, based on the shared perception that dialogue and diplomacy are urgently needed for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of a permanent peace on it.



Regarding proposal to end the war, Kim said: "I look forward to continuing to work with special representative Noh to explore different ideas and initiatives, including the Republic of Korea's end-of-war proposal as we continue to pursue our shared objectives on the peninsula."



Kim also reaffirmed Washington's previous stance that it was "ready to meet with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea without preconditions," adding the U.S. harbors no hostile intent toward the North and was waiting for a positive response to its call for dialogue.



However, Kim's statement differed from that of Noh in the details, such as him mentioning the importance of trilateral cooperation between the U.S., the Republic of Korea and Japan, and calling North Korea's recent ballistic missile tests "concerning and counterproductive to making progress towards a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula," both of which were not included in Noh's remarks.





Noh Kyu-duk, left, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, poses for a photo with Sung Kim, center, U.S. special envoy for North Korea, and Takehiro Funakoshi, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, prior to their talks in Washington Oct. 19 (local time). Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs




South Korea's Coast Guard has seized a Chinese boat for fishing without a permit in the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the southern resort island of Jeju, its officials said Sunday.







The 272-ton vessel carrying 11 crew members is suspected of conducting fishing activities in waters 116 kilometers south of the city of Seogwipo on the island at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday without any authorization.







The vessel is also alleged to have attempted to flee despite the Coast Guard's repeated calls to stop moving.







The Coast Guard plans to investigate the vessel's captain and other shipmates after they take COVID-19 tests, officials said. (Yonhap)






Lee Nak-yon, a former ruling Democratic Party (DP) chief who was defeated in the party's primary for the 2022 presidential election, pledged Sunday to join forces with Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung, its candidate, to help his election campaign.







His position was closely watched as a key element in the liberal DP's push for a so-called one team in the election fight against the conservative opposition People Power Party.







Meeting with the governor at a teahouse in central Seoul, Lee read out a statement in front of reporters that he will add "strength" for the success of the Moon Jae-in administration and the DP's election win.







He appealed to DP members and supporters not to abandon efforts to protect the spirit and value of the party although they "may have various thoughts."







He even stepped down from his job as lawmaker for the primary but lost to the governor in the monthslong primary that ended Oct. 10.







Many of his supporters are widely viewed as having a negative sentiment to the governor.







Their meeting is expected to accelerate the move to launch the DP's presidential election task force. The former DP head plans to assume the role of "standing adviser" at the camp.







The governor has decided to resign from his current post at the provincial government this week for a full-scale election campaign.







Moon's single five-year term is to finish in May next year, with the election to pick his successor scheduled to take place two months earlier. (Yonhap)


Prosecution hit for trying to protect presidential candidate



The prosecution is taking flak for its "poor investigation" into a corruption-ridden land development scandal, following its indictment of a key suspect last week on charges of bribery, but not breach of trust. The move has sparked a public backlash.



The opposition political parties have criticized the law enforcement agency, claiming it is trying to protect Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, a presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). Lee faces growing allegations that he might have been deeply involved in the controversial project to construct an apartment complex on land in Daejang-dong, Seongnam, south of Seoul.



On Thursday, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office indicted Yoo Dong-gyu, former acting president of the city-run Seongnam Development Corp., on charges of taking 350 million won ($298,000) in bribes from private developers in return for business favors. However, the office withheld breach-of-trust charges against Yoo, who is considered a close aide to Gov. Lee.



When requesting an arrest warrant for Yoo, the prosecution also listed charges that he demanded 70 billion won in kickbacks from Hwacheon Daeyu, an asset management firm, which took part in the project. In addition, the agency accused Yoo of accepting 500 million won in bribes from Kim Man-bae, the largest shareholder of the firm. It is unusual for the prosecution to omit charges listed in an arrest warrant for a criminal suspect.



The charge of breach of trust is crucial to confirming whether Gov. Lee was involved in the corruption scandal surrounding the development project. Lee, who designed and approved the project when he was Seongnam mayor, faces allegations that he caused a huge loss to the municipality by refusing to include a clause in a contract with the private developer that would see excess profits returned to city coffers. If such a clause had been included, the city could have prevented Hwacheon Daeyu and its seven affiliates from reaping an estimated profit of 850 billion won, almost 1,000 times their initial investments.



It can be said that the municipal government could have prevented this loss from the public-private project if city officials, including Gov. Lee, had done the right thing. During the National Assembly audit of the Gyeonggi provincial government last week, Lee flatly denied allegations implicating him of involvement in any corruption scheme. But he failed to give a clear explanation to dispel any suspicions.



The prosecution said it would bring additional charges against Yoo, if necessary, after conducting a further investigation. Yet, the agency gave the impression that it might be trying to protect the DPK's candidate. It has already been under fire for being too late in its launch of the investigation as well as raiding the mayor's office belatedly, thus giving time for Lee and other former and incumbent officials to destroy evidence.



Prosecutors should humbly accept the criticism from the main opposition People Power Party that they are desperately struggling to save Gov. Lee. They should double down on getting to the bottom of the case no matter who was involved in the scandal. Otherwise their investigation results cannot be trusted  and in that case, an independent counsel should be appointed to reveal the complete truth.


A funeral purportedly in Seoul in the late 1890s or early 1900s. Courtesy of Diane Nars Collection



By Robert Neff



Korea was once described as "a land where the dead seem to receive more careful consideration than the living and where they occupy the most pleasing of all sites and surroundings." This description may have been true, for the most part, especially when the deceased were affluent men, but for the poor and those without family, it was a land of ignoble endings.



In the late 19th century, Westerners visiting or residing in Korea often described the funerals they encountered  generally for wealthy and affluent individuals  which were quite elaborate and usually held at night. Funerals for the higher classes were usually not held immediately. Sometimes it took months of delay to determine a propitious date for the funeral and a site for the grave.



In the mid-1890s, Isabella Bird Bishop, an English travel writer, described a funeral (held during the daytime) she encountered in the streets of Seoul:



"First came four drums and a sort of fife perpetrating a lively tune as an accompaniment to a lively song. These were followed by a hearse, if it may be called so, a domed and gaudily painted construction with a garland of artificial flowers in the center of the dome, a white Korean coat thrown across the roof, and four flagstaffs with gay flags at the four corners, bamboo poles, flower-wreathed, forming a platform on which the hearse was borne by eight men in peaked yellow hats garlanded with blue and pink flowers. Bouquets of the same were disposed carelessly on the front and sides of the hearse, the latter being covered with shield-shaped flags of gaudily colored muslin. The chief mourner followed, completely clothed in sackcloth, wearing an umbrella-shaped hat over 4 feet in diameter, and holding a sackcloth screen before his face by two bamboo handles. Men in flower-wreathed hats surrounded him, some of them walking backwards and singing. He looked fittingly grave, but it is a common custom for those who attend the chief mourner to try to make him laugh by comic antics and jocular remarks."





A coffin and a dead horse or pony. Circa 1900s. Robert Neff Collection



Horace Allen, the American diplomatic representative to Korea, also described the many funerals he witnessed in his letters home and in his personal writings. He noted that many of the mourners were hired  male and female  and accompanied the bier through the city, escorted by men bearing red lanterns. The whole time the hired mourners kept up "a loud perfunctory chant" that echoed in the darkness of the empty streets.



Of course, these funerals were not cheap. According to Allen, "Money is often spent on these occasions in excess of the circumstances of the family." To help cope with the costs, some people established "burial clubs." This club consisted of three men who would each contribute a little over 33,000 cash (about 11 dollars). The family of the first member of the club to die would receive 30,000 cash, the family of the second member  when he died  would receive 33,000 and the when the final person died, the remaining sum of 37,000 cash would go to his family.



There was also a non-financial cost to funerals. Bishop wrote: "A mourner may not enter the palace grounds, and as mourning for a father lasts for three years, a courtier thus bereaved is for that time withdrawn from Court."



For the common people, funerals were much smaller and simpler affairs, but judging from the accounts, were perhaps more heartfelt than those of their affluent peers. Some Westerners described hearing the plaintive cries of real mourners  family members  as they accompanied their deceased love one through the streets.



According to George G. Gilmore, an American working in Seoul as a teacher in the late 1880s and early 1890s:



"When a death occurs in any family, the neighbors have no excuse for being ignorant of the fact. The women and girls and boys mourn in shrill and penetrating tones that reverberate through the night air with frightful distinctness."



Generally female relatives did not accompany the bier through the streets. Instead, they remained behind and burned the clothing of the deceased  usually in the street in front of the house.





A tomb of the privileged. Circa 1900s. Robert Neff Collection
A Google Pixel 6 phone user uses Snap's photo messaging app, Snapchat. Courtesy of Snap



By Baek Byung-yeul





Nana Murugesan, managing director of international markets at Snap / Courtesy of Snap
Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong enters the Seoul Central District Court, Oct. 12, for a hearing on the illegal use of the surgical anesthetic propofol. Korea Times photo by Ko Young-kwon



Ongoing legal battles to weigh on Samsung heir



By Kim Bo-eun



Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong is being watched closely over how he will steer the nation's largest conglomerate on the first anniversary of the death of his father and the business group's late chairman, Lee Kun-hee.



Lee, who was released from prison in August, is seen to have three key missions  creating new growth engines through bold investments, overhauling corporate governance and finding a solution to union-management relations.



Although he has remained relatively silent since his release from prison, the de facto head of the tech giant is expected to emerge once again at the forefront of managing the conglomerate and play an even greater role than he did in the past year. The Samsung chief received a prison sentence in January for bribing impeached and jailed former President Park Geun-hye, but was released via a special pardon in August.



During Lee's trial last year over the massive bribery scandal linked to the ousted President Park, he stated plans to honor his late father by surpassing his achievements. "The best way to honor my father is to make Samsung greater and stronger than what the chairman accomplished," he said at the time.



Shortly after Lee's release, Samsung unveiled a plan to invest 240 trillion won ($204 billion) over the next three years in non-memory chips, 5G and artificial intelligence.



The tech giant, currently the No. 1 player in the memory chip market, is aiming to gain the same title for non-memory chips, which are needed in cutting-edge technology sectors such as artificial intelligence.



Samsung is also seeking to scale up its foundry, or semiconductor contract manufacturing business, as demand for the service is high and is set to continue to grow. A major investment decision in the U.S. where Samsung seeks to build a second foundry plant is currently pending. Taylor City in Texas is widely expected to be the location, after the local authorities there offered substantial incentives. Lee is expected to visit the U.S. next month to meet with the authorities there for a final decision.





Samsung Electronics' new line at its chip campus in Pyeongtaek / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF) Executive Vice Chairman Lee Dong-geun speaks during a discussion hosted by the KEF on the government's carbon neutrality goal at the Press Center in central Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of KEF



By Yi Whan-woo



The country's oil refiners could suffer up to 800 trillion won ($680.2 billion) in losses by 2050 over the government's recently finalized roadmap to slash greenhouse gas emissions by about 1.5 times more than it planned earlier, according to Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF).



Citing a Korea Petroleum Association representative who attended its discussion session last week, the KEF said Sunday that the 800 trillion won in damages will include 100 trillion in sunk costs, as the refineries already have invested heavily in fossil-fuel facilities and will not be able to make up forthcoming losses.



The speculation came after President Moon Jae-in said that the country will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from the country's peak in 2018, up from the previous goal of 26.3 percent, during an announcement about the 2030 nationally determined contributions (NDC) target, Oct. 18.



The NDC is a roadmap to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and bring them to net zero by 2050.



The roadmap prompted complaints from the KEF and other major business lobby groups arguing that the government is pushing too hard without considering the difficulties faced by energy-intensive industries in their transition to carbon neutrality.



"The drastic carbon-cutting is feared to affect the entire manufacturing industry and factory operations nationwide," the KEF representative was quoted as saying.



KEF Executive Vice Chairman Lee Dong-geun claimed that the government's carbon neutrality goal "lacks details for business support regarding the tremendous costs caused by firms' shift toward net-zero emissions."



"Such an unstable policy and unrealistic goal will weaken the global competiveness of the companies, reduce production, push partner companies to move outside of Korea and result in a declined employment rate," Lee said. "The government should actively listen to business people to rewrite its carbon neutrality scenario and come up with practical measures."



Friday's discussion also brought up a possible negative impact on other energy-intensive industries.



An executive from the Korea Iron and Steel Organization noted that the steel industry is pushing to develop alternative steelmaking technology as part of its own goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 95 percent by the end of 2050.



"But meeting the government's goal by 2030 is simply impossible timewise," the executive said.



A representative from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association said that mid-cap auto part makers are concerned about being able to operate their factories through 2025, as they are not ready for electric vehicles, while at the same time, the market related to combustion engine cars is decreasing in its size.


A group of naval vessels from Russia and China conduct a joint maritime military patrol in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, in this still image taken from video released on Oct. 23. Reuters-Yonhap



Russian and Chinese warships held their first joint patrols in the western Pacific Ocean over the past week, Russia's defense ministry said on Saturday, a move Japan said it was monitoring.



Moscow and Beijing, which staged naval cooperation drills in the Sea of Japan earlier in October, have cultivated closer military and diplomatic ties in recent years at a time when their relations with the West have soured.



The naval manoeuvres, which Russia said ran from Sunday through Saturday, have been closely watched https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-russia-navy-ships-jointly-sail-through-japan-strait-2021-10-19 by Japan, which said earlier in the week that a group of 10 vessels from China and Russia sailed through the Tsugaru Strait separating Japan's main island and its northern island of Hokkaido.



"The group of ships passed through the Tsugaru Strait for the first time as part of the patrol," Russia's defense ministry said in a statement. The strait is regarded as international waters.



"The tasks of the patrols were the demonstration of the Russian and Chinese state flags, maintaining of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and guardianship of the subjects of maritime economic activities of the two countries," the ministry added.



China's defense ministry said on Sunday the joint exercise aimed to "further develop the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era, enhance the joint action capabilities of both parties and jointly maintain international and regional strategic stability".



A report on the ministry website said the operation was part of annual cooperation between the two nations and not targeted at third parties.



Japanese defense officials said on Sunday the Russian and Chinese vessels had also passed through the Osumi Strait off the southern Japanese prefecture Kagoshima, public broadcaster NHK reported.



Foreign ships are allowed to navigate through the Osumi and Tsugaru straits as they are international waterways, but Japan's defense ministry said it will monitor the two navies, characterizing the recent moves as "unusual", NHK reported.



Japanese officials could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reuters)


Demonstrators protest against prospect of military rule in Khartoum, Sudan, Oct. 21. Reuters-Yonhap



Pro-military protesters briefly blocked major roads and bridges in Sudan's capital, Sunday, amid growing tensions between the generals and the pro-democracy movement that fueled the uprising against autocratic former president Omar al-Bashir.



The development came a day after U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman met with military and civilian leaders in Khartoum to find a compromise to the dispute.



The souring ties between the military and civilians in the ruling government threaten Sudan's fragile transition to democracy since the military's ouster of al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019 after nearly three decades of autocratic rule.



The current crisis surfaced with a coup attempt last month. Officials blamed al-Bashir loyalists for the move. But the generals lashed out at the civilian part of the government, accusing politicians of seeking government posts rather than helping ease people's economic suffering.



Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of the ruling Sovereign Council, said that dissolving the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok could resolve the ongoing political crisis. That suggestion was rejected by hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters who took to the streets of Khartoum and elsewhere in the country Thursday.



That generals' accusations, echoed by Burhan and his deputy, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, have aroused fears among civilians that the military may eventually hijack the country's transition to civilian rule.



Pro-military protesters rallied in Khartoum earlier this month, echoing Burhan's demands. The protesters have since held a sit-in outside the presidential palace in the capital. Last week, they attempted to storm the Cabinet headquarters as Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok met with his Cabinet. Security forces dispersed them using tear gas.



On Saturday, dozens of pro-military protesters stormed the reception area of the headquarters of the country's state-run news agency and set tires ablaze outside the agency offices. It delayed a news conference for pro-democracy activists, according to Mohamed Abdel-Hamid, director of SUNA news agency.



In an escalation Sunday, pro-military demonstrators cut off major roads and bridges, including the Mec Nimr Bridge, which links Khartoum's downtown with other areas of the capital, according to activist and rights defender Tahani Abbas. The move caused traffic to clog the streets early Sunday, the first work day of the week, especially Nile Street, a main traffic artery in Khartoum.



"What is happening ... is an official coup sponsored by Burhan," she said. Abbas shared photos of protesters blocking a bridge with passenger buses and vehicles being turned back.



Later in the day, security forces dispersed the protesters using tear gas to open the blocked roads. Video on social media purportedly showed protesters fleeing over the bridge and on Nile Street.



Feltman, the U.S. envoy, met in Khartoum with Buhan, Dagalo and Hamdok and "emphasized U.S. support for a civilian democratic transition in accordance with the expressed wishes of the Sudanese people," the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum said.



He urged Sudanese leaders "to commit to working together to implement the constitutional declaration and the Juba Peace Agreement" between the government and an alliance of rebel groups, the embassy said.



The tensions come weeks ahead of a scheduled rotation of the leadership on the ruling sovereign council from the military to civilians, according to the constitutional declaration that established the joint government in August 2019. (AP)




1. Comedian Amanda Seales (of HBOs Insecure) is about to take you to school. Sick of the stereotypes about African Americans in media and the overall lack of knowledge of black history, Seales mixes humor and her doctorate in African American studies with her love of games and music to cr
What is Veterans Day? Its a day to honor all veterans, regardless of the war they fought in. Originally called Armistice Day, it commemorated Nov. 11, 1918, the day The Great War to End All Wars  later renamed World War I  was over. If youre a faithful reader, you know my particular le


The State of Connecticut Judicial Branch is seeking an experienced .NET Application Developer (Information Technology Analyst IV) for the Administrative Services Technology Unit. Qualified applicants will possess experience in the specific functional area of Software Development.



The successful candidate must be able to analyze, design, code and test complex to highly complex software applications and have the ability to lead a technical team by providing guidance and mentorship to junior staff in order to move projects forward. The selected candidate will also be required to work with database administrators and web administrators in order to configure, install and troubleshoot web applications and provide support for production issues. Developer skills required include the ability to design, develop, enhance and maintain applications and services based on business requirements using .Net technologies.



Qualified candidates must be proficient with: Visual Studio 2015 or above

Windows & Web UI design principles

Front end web development using JQuery, HTML5, CSS and Bootstrap framework

Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Services

Analyze requirements, prioritize and delegate tasks among team members Proficiency with .Net includes the ability to: Develop ASP.NET MVC, Windows Form Applications and Web Services/Applications

In-depth knowledge of at least one of the .NET languages (vb.net preferred)

Develop identity aware applications using Active Directory

Maintain and debug applications Proficiency with SQL Server including the ability to: Create, modify and debug stored procedures

Create and modify table structures and relationships

Create reports using Microsoft SSRS tools

Extract, transfer and load data using Microsoft SSIS tools In addition to the required qualifications, the candidate must have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both oral and written. It is necessary for the selected candidate to have the ability to manage the workload for projects, support daily on-going activities, resolve problems during and after working hours and to coordinate with other teams and work with all levels of technical and non-technical staff and management. The position requires a person with excellent technical skills, along with the ability to foster a team environment. Upon satisfactory completion of the initial probationary period, hybrid remote work may be available. Starting salary: $88,465 plus State of Connecticut benefits. EXPERIENCE AND TRAINING

General Experience: Ten (10) years of experience in information technology (IT), programming, systems/software development or another IT related field with a concentration in the specific functional area of the position being applied for.



Special Experience: Two (2) years of the General Experience must have been at the advanced working level with responsibility for performing a full range of complex technical support functions as highlighted in one of functional area(s) listed above.



Substitutions Allowed:

1) College training in management information systems, computer science, electrical engineering or information technology related area may be substituted for the General Experience on the basis of fifteen (15) semester hours equaling six (6) months of experience to a maximum of four (4) years for a Bachelors degree.



2) A Masters degree in management information systems, computer science, electrical engineering or information technology related area may be substituted for one (1) additional year of the General Experience.



3) Relevant certification in management information systems, computer science, electrical engineering, project management or related area may be substituted for up to six (6) months of the general experience. SPECIAL REQUIREMENT: Incumbents may be required to travel within the State in the course of their daily work. Applications must be received by November 8, 2021. Applications must be submitted through the on-line application site at www.ju.ct.gov/hronline/. Resumes or paper applications will not be accepted. Please reference posting number 21-3000-032 AA/EOE

recblid upw8nrv0f2kppuvifrsa9kzepe49nc






We will be at home during the Thanksgiving holiday.

We will make a brief trip away from home.

We will spend most of the Thanksgiving holiday away from home.

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The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has, at its October 2021 Plenary session, approved the exit of Mauritius from the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring.

The Mauritius Bankers Association Limited (MBA) welcomes this announcement, which affirms the status of Mauritius as a compliant jurisdiction.

Since the inclusion of Mauritius on the FATFs list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring in February 2020, the MBA has worked with the national Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Committee, Government officials, Regulators and other stakeholders, to support the speedy completion of the national plan of action, executed by the Mauritian delegation, led by the Governor of the Bank of Mauritius.

The MBA and its members are committed to continuing to uphold the highest standards of compliance to international AML legislation and best practices.

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The last flu season was the mildest one in decades because of masking and social distancing. However, with fewer people following these practices, health experts worry that the coming flu season could be more severe. As many people as possible getting the flu shot will be essential to ensuring that few people get very sick from the flu.
Loughney, who served as pastor at Most Holy Trinity Parish in Cresco, was arrested by Pocono Mountain Regional police, according to a statement by the Diocese of Scranton. Police could not be reached for comment.
Ramos was born in New York and moved to Allentown with his parents as an infant. He grew up on Seventh Street and says he navigated life as an at-risk youth in the city to become a mentor to young people and families facing similar challenges. Ramos says he has been active in Allentown politics for a decade, mobilizing Center City residents and property owners to protect historic buildings during redevelopment and speaking out for fiscal responsibility.
Voting 397 for and 22 against, this bill makes changes to the administration and management of the Strategic National Stockpile. Among these changes, the bill authorizes through Sept. 30, 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services to transfer supplies from the stockpile to any federal departments or agencies under certain conditions. HHS must also ensure the contents of the stockpile remain in working order and may enter into maintenance service contracts to carry out this requirement.
Gun-safety protocol on sets in the United States has improved since then, said Steven Hall, a veteran director of photography in Britain. But he said one of the riskiest positions to be in is behind the camera because that person is in the line of fire in scenes where an actor appears to point a gun at the audience.
Republicans say they are pursuing the changes in the name of election integrity, and repeat similar slogans  easier to vote, harder to cheat. Democrats dismiss it as the GOP following former President Donald Trumps false claims that widespread fraud cost him the election. They say Republicans have tried to whip up distrust in elections for political gain and are passing restrictions designed to keep Democratic-leaning voters from registering or casting a ballot.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 01:01:01|Editor: huaxia

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A man wearing a face mask walks on a street in London, Britain, on Oct. 23, 2021. Another 44,985 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 8,734,934, according to official figures released Saturday. (Xinhua/Li Ying)



LONDON, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Another 44,985 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 8,734,934, according to official figures released Saturday.

The country also reported a further 135 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 139,461. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

There are currently 8,238 patients in hospital with COVID-19.

The latest data came as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the vaccine alone will not be enough to lift the world out of the pandemic.

Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the WHO, said: "We really have to do other measures" to recover from COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Professor Stephen Reicher of the University of St Andrews warned that Britain risks "dilly-dallying into lockdown" if it does not act soon.

Speaking to Sky News, he warned that vaccines are "not quite enough" on their own, and "other protections" are needed to curb the pandemic.

Professor Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), told the BBC that he fears another "lockdown Christmas" when asked what people can expect from the holiday if government policy does not change.

However, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted the current "high levels" of infection in the country are "fully in line" with predictions made earlier this year. But he said the government will "keep all measures under constant review".

The prime minister said there is "absolutely nothing to indicate" the country will enter a new lockdown this winter, although he added the government would "do whatever we have to do to protect the public".

Speaking at a Downing Street news conference on Wednesday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid cautioned that the coronavirus pandemic "is not over". Javid has even predicted there could be as many as 100,000 COVID cases a day heading into winter.

More than 86 percent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 79 percent have received both doses, the latest figures showed.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 13:03:24|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, checks the Yellow River's waterways and learns about the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin at a dock as he inspects the estuary of the Yellow River in the city of Dongying, east China's Shandong Province, Oct. 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Pinglu Yellow River Wetland at the junction of Shanxi and Henan provinces welcomed another batch of guests in the latter part of October -- 13 swans that have migrated to spend winter.

With a pleasant climate and abundant food, the 6,000-hectare wetland is one of China's major winter habitats for white swans, attracting tens of thousands of the birds from Russia's Siberian region.

To better protect the bird, Shanxi's Pinglu County has shut down polluting firms around the wetland and invested hundreds of millions of yuan to improve the surrounding ecological environment. A protection team of more than 100 people has been formed and a remote video surveillance system is in operation. The county government has also spent 400,000 yuan (about 62,640 U.S. dollars) annually over the past decade compensating residents for returning their farmland to the wetland.

"Besides favorable policies and investment, China's continuous efforts in improving the ecological environment in the Yellow River have contributed most to the migratory white swans," said Zhang Jin, head of the wildlife protection station under Pinglu County's forestry bureau.

The Yellow River is the second longest in China, measuring 5,464 km, and runs through nine provincial regions, including Shanxi, Henan and Shandong.

For more than 3,000 years, the Yellow River basin had been the political, economic, and cultural center of the country. It witnessed the birth of four era-defining inventions in ancient China -- printing techniques, papermaking, gunpowder and the compass. It is also the place where the Book of Songs and other ancient Chinese classics were written.

Today, more than 400 million people live in the basin, which plays a crucial role in the nation's ecological and food supply systems.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who pays high attention to the protection of the Yellow River, has visited all provincial regions the Yellow River runs through, and has been to river banks on multiple occasions.

"The protection of the Yellow River is critical to the great rejuvenation and sustainable development of the Chinese nation," said Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, while chairing a symposium on ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin in Zhengzhou, provincial capital of Henan in September 2019.

Chairing a symposium on furthering ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province on Friday, Xi urged notable progress in ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

Provincial-level regions along the Yellow River should stick to putting the environment first and being committed to green development, said Xi. He visited the river's estuary and the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve in Dongying City, Shandong on Wednesday.

Swans rest on a lake near the Yellow River in Pinglu, north China's Shanxi Province, Oct. 27, 2020. (Xinhua/Ma Yimin)

Thanks to wetlands restoration efforts, the number of bird species in the delta nature reserve has doubled from 187 in 1992 to 371 this year. The city has restored over 20,000 hectares of wetlands since 2017 and is building a 108-km-long ecological corridor along the Yellow River, according to Dongying Mayor Chen Bichang.

Measures for high-quality development have also been adopted in provinces and autonomous regions in the Yellow River basin.

In April, the State Council approved a plan to build a start-up area to replace old growth drivers with new ones in Jinan. The area also serves as a demonstration zone in promoting ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin.

Covering an area of 798 square km, the start-up area is expected to include future industries such as brain-like artificial intelligence, future network and 4D manufacturing, and realize an output of more than 60 billion yuan in 2025.

In early October, the central authorities issued an outline document on the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin. The document will guide the country's ecological conservation and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin through to 2030 and beyond, and serve as an important basis for formulating and implementing relevant planning schemes, policies and measures, as well as building engineering projects.

High-quality development in the Yellow River basin also facilitates common prosperity. Lishi Village in mountainous Xihaigu, an area in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, used to be one of China's most impoverished due to drought and a fragile ecology.

As more Chinese consumers prefer traditional food, Lishi Village has set up collectively-operated vinegar workshops, oil workshops and other factories to promote industries with local characteristics in recent years.

Its quality products such as vinegar, oil and flour have been well-received. Last year, the collective economic income of Lishi Village had reached about 640,000 yuan, and dividends had been paid to villagers for three consecutive years.

"A few years ago, I had to do odd jobs in big cities for several months every year. Now, with skills in manual oil press, I can make more than 30,000 yuan a year without having to work elsewhere," said villager Qi Guoxi. "It's more stable and convenient." 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 16:45:56|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Monday marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the lawful seat of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations (UN).

President Xi Jinping has on multiple occasions stressed the importance of upholding the UN-centered international system and called for promoting global governance that is based on consultation and cooperation and is beneficial for all, and ensuring that global affairs are managed by all the people through consultation.

The following are some highlights of his remarks in this regard:

-- We should follow the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration in engaging in global governance. We should reform and improve the global governance system, and work with all other countries to build a community with shared future for humanity.

-- China will stay actively engaged in reforming and developing the global governance system. It will firmly uphold the UN-centered international system, the international order underpinned by international law, and the UN's central role in international affairs.

-- China is always a builder of world peace, contributor to global development, defender of the international order and provider of public goods.

-- China will continue to stand together with other developing countries and firmly support greater representation and say of them, especially African countries, in the international governance system.

-- International governance should be based on the rules and consensus reached among all countries, not on the order given by one or the few.

-- For global issues like climate change, a utilitarianism-oriented, take-more-give-less approach is in nobody's interest.

-- No country has the right to dominate global affairs, control the destiny of others, or keep advantages in development all to itself.

-- Democracy in international relations has become an unstoppable trend of the times.

-- What we need to do is to replace conflict with dialogue, coercion with consultation and zero-sum with win-win, expand the converging interests of all and build a big global family of harmony and cooperation. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 16:50:42|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Imagine, Xi Jinping stated in a 2017 speech at the Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, if a universal tool was available that could help remedy the global issues of our times.

"I cannot help thinking how wonderful it would be if an exquisite Swiss army knife could be made for our world affairs. When there is a problem, we can use the knife to fix it," the Chinese president told a high-level meeting at the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The resonating speech, presented as the world was at a junction between multilateralism and isolationism, openness, and protectionism, the analogy prefaced a Chinese proposal on peace, development, and communication: A community of shared future for humanity.

"All countries should jointly shape the future of the world, write international rules, manage global affairs and ensure that development outcomes are shared by all," Xi said.

The response was overwhelmingly positive.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pledged that the United Nations would join China in promoting world peace and development, and in realizing the goal of building a community of shared future for humanity.

Michael Moller, then director-general of the United Nations Office at Geneva, hailed China's role as a catalyst and as one "showing the way forward" in promoting the construction of a better world.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the lawful seat of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations.

Over the years, as its international status grew, China has contributed its wisdom and solutions for a better global governance system, in a growing number of spheres, ranging from nuclear security, sustainable development to climate change.

China may have proposed the tool, but success relies on the way that it is wielded, said Xi. "I believe that with unremitting efforts of the international community, such a [Swiss army] knife can be made."

Together, the world is stronger. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 19:24:22|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech "Work Together to Build a Community of Shared Future for Mankind" at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland, Jan. 18, 2017. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Imagine, Xi Jinping stated in a 2017 speech at the Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, if a universal tool was available that could help remedy the global issues of our times.

"I cannot help thinking how wonderful it would be if an exquisite Swiss army knife could be made for our world affairs. When there is a problem, we can use the knife to fix it," the Chinese president told a high-level meeting at the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in Paris, France, March 27, 2014. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

The resonating speech, presented as the world was at a junction between multilateralism and isolationism, openness, and protectionism, the analogy prefaced a Chinese proposal on peace, development, and communication: A community of shared future for humanity.

"All countries should jointly shape the future of the world, write international rules, manage global affairs and ensure that development outcomes are shared by all," Xi said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly via video, in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 21, 2021. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

The response was overwhelmingly positive.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pledged that the United Nations would join China in promoting world peace and development, and in realizing the goal of building a community of shared future for humanity.

Michael Moller, then director-general of the United Nations Office at Geneva, hailed China's role as a catalyst and as one "showing the way forward" in promoting the construction of a better world.

File Photo shows Qiao Guanhua (L, front), then vice foreign minister of the People's Republic of China, and Huang Hua, then Chinese representative to the UN, reacting at the 26th United Nations General Assembly on Nov. 15, 1971. (Xinhua)

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the lawful seat of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations.

Over the years, as its international status grew, China has contributed its wisdom and solutions for a better global governance system, in a growing number of spheres, ranging from nuclear security, sustainable development to climate change.

China may have proposed the tool, but success relies on the way that it is wielded, said Xi. "I believe that with unremitting efforts of the international community, such a [Swiss army] knife can be made."

Together, the world is stronger. 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 20:38:13|Editor: huaxia

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Photo taken on Oct. 23, 2021 shows a displaced persons camp in Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Balkh province, Afghanistan. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Friday it has been providing essential health services to people on the move and hard-to-reach Afghans while supporting the country to prevent the health-care system from a breakdown. (Photo by Kawa Basharat/Xinhua)
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 21:30:19|Editor: huaxia

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Photo taken on July 21, 2019 from Xiangshan Mountain shows the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan. (Xinhua/Zhu Xiang)

The question of Taiwan falls under China's internal affairs and brooks no foreign interference. With regard to issues concerning the country's core interests, China's position was, is and will always be determined and resolute. It is absolutely impossible for Beijing to compromise or make any concessions over Taiwan.

by Xinhua writer Wang Lei

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Several politicians in Washington in recent days have been feverishly challenging Beijing's red-line on Taiwan by hyping up a preposterous claim that Taiwan is a "sovereign, self-governing country" and calling for the Chinese island's involvement at the United Nations.

The remarks constitute a severe provocation of the one-China principle, a political foundation of China-U.S. ties, and are a flagrant violation of international norms. They are detrimental to the already-strained relationship between the two major countries and pose a grave threat to security and stability in the region.

It is widely acknowledged that there is only one China and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, not an independent sovereign state. The government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the sole legal government representing the whole of China.

It is also an important consensus highlighted in the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, particularly the Aug. 17 Communique, which Washington has pledged to adhere to.

The United Nations is an inter-governmental international organization composed of sovereign countries. Therefore, Taiwan, a province of China, has no right at all to be a member of the world body.

Fifty years ago, Resolution 2758 adopted by the UN General Assembly restored the lawful seat of the PRC at the United Nations and expelled representatives of the Taiwan authorities, resolving the issue of China's UN representation in political, legal and procedural terms.

But those U.S. politicians have deliberately distorted and misused the resolution, challenged the UN's authority, and sent misleading signals to separatist forces for "Taiwan independence."

A train runs on the Pingtan Strait Road-rail Bridge of Fuzhou-Pingtan railway in southeast China's Fujian Province on Dec. 26, 2020. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

For decades, the United States has kept playing the Taiwan card. On one hand, the White House has on many occasions voiced its adherence to the one-China principle. On the other, it continues to sell arms to Taiwan and send officials to the island for visits. These actions have interfered in China's internal affairs and risk stirring up trouble and confrontation across the Taiwan Strait.

Such dangerous, janus-faced moves have exposed Washington's hypocrisy and damaged its credibility, not to mention rattled the political foundation of relations.

The question of Taiwan falls under China's internal affairs and brooks no foreign interference. With regard to issues concerning the country's core interests, China's position was, is and will always be determined and resolute. It is absolutely impossible for Beijing to compromise or make any concessions over Taiwan.

Washington should not underestimate China's strong determination and will to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Those who continue to play with fire over Taiwan-related issues will ultimately pay a heavy price. 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-25 00:11:14|Editor: huaxia

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-- "China has stood with pride and contributed to the international community," commented Abdulla Shahid, president of the 76th session of the UNGA. "China has played a very, very important role in multilateralism and strengthening the United Nations."



-- Upon the 50th anniversary of the restoration of its lawful seat in the United Nations, China has pledged to continue to be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, a defender of the international order and a provider of public goods.

-- In a newly published position paper, China says it believes that international affairs should be addressed through consultation by all, and that the future of the world should be decided by all countries together.

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Five decades ago, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted to restore all lawful rights of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the United Nations, opening a new era of interaction between the Asian country and the world body.

Over the past 50 years, China has offered full support for the UN cause by upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, played a constructive and increasingly important role in international affairs, and made great contributions to world peace and development.

Upon the 50th anniversary of the restoration of its lawful seat in the United Nations, China has pledged to continue to be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, a defender of the international order and a provider of public goods.





CHOICE OF HISTORY

On Oct. 25, 1971, the UNGA at its 26th session adopted Resolution 2758 with an overwhelming majority to restore all the rights of the PRC and to recognize the representatives of its government as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations.

"I have never seen such a resounding applause in my life," said Iftikhar Ali, a Pakistani journalist who witnessed the moment, recalling that cheers and applause filled the air and people were hugging each other.

That moment came more than two decades after the founding of the PRC, which had been kept out of the international organization mainly due to the hostility of and obstruction by the United States.

Soldiers on the Chinese contingent to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are awarded the United Nations Peacekeeping Medal during a medal parade ceremony in southern Lebanon, June 16, 2021. (Photo by Liu Xiongma/Xinhua)

Yet, from the 1950s to the early 1970s, the third world -- mainly comprising newly independent countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America -- gradually took shape and became a significant force in the world.

The profound transformation of the international landscape eventually broke the blockade of the United States and its allies, making the restoration of China's lawful seat in the UN a historical inevitability.

Recalling the "historic meeting" in 1971, former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar, who was a member of his country's delegation to the 26th session of the UNGA, said restoring China's lawful seat strengthened the role of the world body and increased its representation at the global level.

"There was a sense that we were going to have a more realistic UN, more in line with what the world is, and in that sense, there was a feeling that the UN was being strengthened as the true place where international issues must be resolved," Lagos said.

That echoes the view of former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. With the restoration of China's lawful seat, "the United Nations became a universal organization in terms of its size and contents," he told Xinhua in a recent interview.





CONTRIBUTOR TO WORLD PEACE, DEVELOPMENT

Over the past five decades, China -- the world's largest developing country and a permanent member of the UN Security Council -- has proven to be a staunch supporter of the noble cause of the UN.

To help preserve world peace, China, holding high the banner of peace, development and win-win cooperation, has been committed to taking objective and just positions, resolving differences through dialogue and consultation, and the principle of non-interference in internal affairs of other countries.

Since 1990, it has dispatched over 50,000 peacekeepers to nearly 30 UN peacekeeping missions. It is the second largest funding contributor to UN peacekeeping operations and has contributed more peacekeepers than any other permanent member of the Security Council.

Chinese peacekeepers remove an undetonated bomb in Naqoura, Lebanon, Aug. 28, 2006. (Photo by Li Chunnian/Xinhua)

In terms of development, China has also made indelible contributions. By eliminating absolute poverty in China, it has met the poverty eradication target of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule, which stands as an enormous contribution to global poverty reduction and sustainable development endeavors.

Committed to common development, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward in 2013 the Belt and Road Initiative, which has now become the largest platform for international cooperation, and is playing a significant role in keeping the world economy afloat against the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aerial photo taken on April 8, 2019 shows the Maputo Bay Bridge, built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation with Chinese standards and financial support, in Maputo, Mozambique. (Xinhua/Zhang Yu)

In the spirit of building a community with a shared future for mankind, China has also been working tirelessly to advance international cooperation against such major threats as climate change. It has pledged to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

During the past five decades, China has not only made outstanding achievements in promoting its own political and economic development, but also "been actively engaged in the noble cause of peace and development in many places around the world," Ban said.

"China has stood with pride and contributed to the international community," commented Abdulla Shahid, president of the 76th session of the UNGA. "China has played a very, very important role in multilateralism and strengthening the United Nations."





CHAMPION OF MULTILATERALISM

"Both climate change and COVID-19 have shown us that we, as a species, as humanity, we can survive only through multilateralism," Shahid stressed in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"That is why China as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, as a responsible member of the international community, has a very important role to play," he added.

Two Chinese COVID-19 response experts pose for a photo with a local health worker at a nucleic acid testing station in Conakry, Guinea, Sept. 2, 2020. (Xinhua)

Indeed, China has always been a staunch supporter and practitioner of true multilateralism over the past 50 years. In a newly published position paper, China says it believes that international affairs should be addressed through consultation by all, and that the future of the world should be decided by all countries together.

"China firmly opposes unilateralism, protectionism and bullying acts, and firmly rejects pseudo-multilateralism in such disguises as group politics and small circles," said the position paper. "China is committed to making the global governance system more just and equitable."

"In the world, there is only one international system, i.e. the international system with the United Nations at its core. There is only one international order, i.e. the international order underpinned by international law. There is only one set of rules, i.e. the basic norms governing international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter," President Xi stressed in his statement delivered via video at the general debate of the 76th session of the UNGA.

Those remarks struck a chord with Ali, the Pakistani journalist. "China has been a strong advocate of multilateralism, and it continues to be an important supporter of developing countries," he said, adding that China has constantly insisted that decisions regarding international affairs should be reached through consultation between all members.

Looking into the future, China said it is ready to work with the international community to advocate peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, which are the common values of humanity, and advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Commenting on the vision of building a community with a shared future, Shahid said that "the COVID pandemic and climate change have clearly shown to us that we, as a species, can survive only if we work together." (Video editors: Rao Liwen, Chen Xiaoyu, Chen Shan, Yang Yijun, Xu Runnan, Zhang Boning)
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 12:26:43|Editor: huaxia

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CAIRO, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Western media attempt to shape global perceptions while warping the truth, which is why people should be aware of the risks in following their reports, wrote Egyptian writer Azza Radwan Sedky in a recent article.

"The Western media is no better, if also no worse, than Hollywood, which, if it so chooses, manages to manipulate and mislead whether viewers like it or not," Sedky wrote in her article titled "Follow the western media -- at your own risk."

The piece was published earlier this month on Ahramonline, the English website of Egypt's state-run Al-Ahram newspaper.

Sedky cited how Hollywood cowboy movies in the 1950s and 1960s have misled audiences regarding the native Indians, saying that Hollywood movies propagated "unfair and unjust" vision and misled the world to accept the depictions as authentic.

"The same thing is sometimes true of the Western media," wrote Sedky, calling Western media's prejudice against China, Russia, Iran, and Egypt as "recognizable bias."

"Stories in the Western media about these countries are constantly presented negatively, highlighting gloom and doom," she wrote, deeming the Western media "a propaganda tool."

The Western media also provide other media with descriptions which create negative stereotypes, with phrases like "China's tabloids say ... " and "Egypt's pro-government media argues ..., " Sedky wrote.

Such phrases leave readers with stereotypical negative impressions on Russia, China, Iran and Egypt while the Western media "alters and twists facts."

Last December, the BBC posted two versions of the same video, titled "How Everyday Life Has Changed in Wuhan," on YouTube, with one in Chinese and the other in English.

"Both versions had the same content, but the footage in the English version had a greyish filter added to make it darker and more depressing. The intention was clear. The same thing goes for Egypt," the Egyptian columnist wrote. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 21:00:19|Editor: huaxia

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KHARTOUM, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese police forces on Sunday fired tear gas to disperse protesters who closed a bridge linking the capital Khartoum and Bahry Town.

Ayman Khalid, Khartoum State governor, said in a statement that a group belonging to the dissolved National Congress Party closed El Mek Nimir Bridge and the Nile Avenue to disrupt traffic in central Khartoum.

"We directed the police, in the presence of the Public Prosecution, to open the roads and take the decisive and necessary legal measures to deal with this violation by the supporters of the dissolved party, and ensure the flow of traffic in the capital," he added.

Since Oct. 16, a group defecting from the Forces of Freedom and Change Alliance (FFC) has entered into an open sit-in in front of the presidential palace, demanding the dissolution of the government.

The FFC, which represents the civilian component in the ruling coalition, rejects the dissolution of the government and accuses the defectors of attempting to jeopardise the democratic transition and support the military to turn against the revolution.

Since the announcement of foiling a coup attempt on Sept. 21, the differences between the military and civilian partners in Sudan's transitional government have continued to escalate.

Sudan is ruled amid a 39-month transitional period under a transitional government of military and civilian elements, established after the ouster of former President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. The transitional period is set to be followed by elections to form a new government.

Sudan's Sovereign Council is currently chaired by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the constitutional document stipulates that the presidency of the council will be transferred to civilians by mid-November this year. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 19:47:12|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Britain and the European Union held "constructive" technical discussions on the Northern Ireland Protocol, but substantial gaps remain on the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), according to a British government source.

"The talks this week were constructive and we've heard some things from the EU that we can work with - but the reality is that we are still far apart on the big issues, especially governance," the source said on Saturday night.

"There's been plenty of speculation about governance this week but our position remains unchanged: the role of the European Court of Justice in resolving disputes between the UK and EU must end," it said.

British officials said solutions must be found quickly because disruption on the ground in Northern Ireland has not gone away and cannot be endured for much longer, citing reports that because of the protocol, supplies of Christmas crackers are being prevented from reaching Northern Ireland.

British officials have made clear this is "yet another practical example" of why the Protocol isn't working and why we need "common sense solutions" that reduce disruption to people's everyday lives.

After their first round of technical talks in Brussels, an EU negotiating team will travel to London on Tuesday for several days of intensive discussions. British Brexit Minister David Frost and European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic are due to meet in person in London for talks at the end of the week to take stock and assess progress so far.

Britain and the EU are getting back around the table to find a long-term solution to their post-Brexit trade dispute with Northern Ireland at the center.

They will aim to smooth trade through technical changes but also tackle the more challenging problem of the oversight role of the ECJ in Northern Ireland, on which both sides are far apart. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 22:47:37|Editor: huaxia

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MOSCOW, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Russia isn't wrong for halting official dialogue with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) given its aggressiveness, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday.

"The aggressive position of NATO has never been a secret. This is a bloc that was created against our country. No peace-loving statements, no camouflage of this aggressive orientation can hide its true purpose," Peskov told a Russian TV program.

"Nothing terrible will happen if we simply abandoned these relations against the background of the aggravation of its aggressiveness, against the background of such declarations that its main task is to restrain us," he said.

Commenting on Ukraine's attempt to join NATO, Peskov said it is impossible for Russia to prevent it, but Moscow will do everything necessary to minimize the consequences in the event of Ukraine's admission.

On Monday, Moscow announced that it was suspending its Permanent Mission to NATO, the NATO Military Liaison Mission and the NATO Information Office in Moscow, in retaliation for the alliance's "unfriendly actions," including the expulsion of Russian diplomats earlier this month. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-25 03:01:43|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that Democrats are close to reach a deal on President Joe Biden's social spending plan.

"In terms of where we are, I have said already we have 90 percent of the bill agreed to and written. We just have some of the last decisions to be made," Pelosi said on CNN's "State of the Union."

When asked if Democrats will have a deal by the time Biden leaves for Europe at the end of the week, Pelosi said that "I think we're pretty much there now."

"It's just the language of it," she said.

Biden has been pushing Democrats to reach an agreement on his social spending plan ahead of a self-imposed deadline of Oct. 31.

"It's all about compromise. You know, 'compromise' has become a dirty word, but... bipartisanship and compromise still has to be possible," Biden said Thursday night during a CNN town hall.

"If we can't eventually unite this country, we're in deep trouble," he said.

Democrats have agreed to cut the price tag of the social spending plan from the original 3.5 trillion U.S. dollars to about 2 trillion dollars in order to win support from key moderate Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

"It is less than what was projected to begin with, but it is still bigger than anything we've done in terms of addressing the needs of American working families," Pelosi said, adding the point is to reach a goal.

Pelosi's remarks came as Biden is meeting with Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday in a bid to finalize the social spending plan, according to Bloomberg News.

The White House and Manchin still differ on the terms of the top-line spending level for the bill, which creates and expands programs aimed at helping women, minorities, children and the elderly, Bloomberg reported.

Democrats have said they hope that an agreement in principle on the social spending bill will allow the House to vote this week on a separate physical infrastructure bill, as the current authorization for highway funding expires on Oct. 31. Enditem
The surge in cases of political violence in Zimbabwe ahead of the 2023 elections has put police under the spotlight with analysts saying the law enforcement agency is showing bias by not taking action against perpetrators linked to the ruling Zanu PF.

MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisas convoy was last attacked on several occasions by Zanu PF activists as the countrys leading opposition leader held grassroots meetings across Manicaland province.

On October 19, the party said Chamisas car was shot at by suspected Zanu PF activists in Nyanga.

It was the second attack inside a week after the opposition leaders convoy was blocked by Zanu PF supporters in Masvingo as he moved across the province to meet MDC Alliance supporters.

Videos and pictures of known Zanu PF activists that were involved in the attacks have been circulating on social media without any police action.

Fadzayi Mahere, MDC Alliance spokesperson, said the behaviour of the police had led to erosion of trust in the institution.

Mahere, who was responding to claims by the police that the MDC Alliance was refusing to cooperate in investigations into the shooting incident, said law enforcement agents had failed to act against Zanu PF activists despite evidence of their violent conduct being all over social media.

They (police) have not exercised objectivity in their dealings with us since the political violence started, Mahere said.

There is a confidence gap that makes it hard for us to trust that they will carry out their duties constitutionally.

Mahere said during Chamisas tours, instead of ensuring the safety and security of persons and property in line with their constitutional obligations, the police were either turning a blind eye or were complicit in the violence.

The onus is on the police to demonstrate that they are objective. They have a history of prejudging these matters and turning on the victims, she added.

We saw what they did with the MDC trio and several other victims of political violence and torture. We know their modus operandi.

Mahere said it was worrying that days after the video footage of Zanu PF activists attacking Chamisas convoys in Masvingo and Manicaland, nothing had been done to account for the perpetrators.

Four days after the video footage of the perpetrators of the violence went viral, why have no arrests been made?

Why are the police allowing Zanu PF to erect illegal roadblocks and disturb free movement of vehicles?

We call into question the professionalism and independence of the police who have actively worked against us in the past throughout the course of this citizen conversation tour.

They have been taking instructions from Zanu PF thugs at roadblocks and shielding the perpetrators of violence committed against us.

Last year police were heavily criticised after they arrested three MDC Alliance officials Joanna Mamombe, Cecelia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova after the trio was allegedly abducted and sexually abused.

The activists were instead accused of stage-managing their abduction. Mamombe, Chimbiri and Marova are still appearing before the courts over the alleged offences.

University of Zimbabwe political scientist Eldred Masunungure said it was essential for the law enforcement agencies to uphold the rule of law, which he said was an important pillar of democracy, through exercising independence from political parties in dealing with violations.

Political violence is not a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe, Masunungure told The Standard.

That has been the case since 1980, and we have seen impunity against the perpetrators, mostly of the ruling Zanu PF.

What has been very common is the persecution of those political players that seem to be threatening the establishment.

But that has implications on the political atmosphere as it will not promote a level political ground.

As the situation is right now, we are likely to witness an election that is similar to the previous ones, those that are coupled with violence, and those that will eventually be disputed.

In the run up to the 2008 presidential run-off election, security forces were accused of spearheading violence against opposition supporters.

Over 300 opposition supporters were killed in the violence that also displaced thousands when the late former leader Robert Mugabe wanted to overturn his first round poll defeat to the late MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai was forced to pull out of the polls due to the violence

Human Rights Watch Southern Africa director Dewa Mavhinga said there was a culture of impunity in Zimbabwe.

The victims of human rights abuses are denied their right to justice and an effective remedy.

Perpetrators of abuses enjoy de facto immunity from arrest and prosecution by virtue of their association with Zanu PF, Mavhinga said.

Action againts past and on-going political violence is essential if Zimbabwe is to end violence and restore the rule of law.

With elections coming up in 2023, the lack of accountability and justice for past abuses raises the spectre of further violence and poses a significant obstacle to the holding of free, fair, and credible elections.

Unless the police find the political will to impartially investigate, prosecute, and ensure appropriate punishment and reparations, human rights violations will continue.

The Zimbabwe Peace Project said police were acting in a partisan manner; colluded with ruling party activists in blocking opposition MDC Alliance activities, which was promoting public violence.

Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said he was out of office and could not comment on the matter.

Zanu PF acting party spokesperson Michael Bimha stuck to the ruling partys stance that the opposition was staging managing the attacks.

Allegations that Zanu PF was involved in the alleged violent cases are baseless and mischievous, Bimha said.

The ruling party is an independent institution from the police.

There is nothing that has been presented so far to link the party to accusations of interfering with the course of justice.

He added: We know the opposition shenanigans.

Whenever there is a high ranking official in the country they want to put on a fake show that there are human rights abuses so that the sanctions that were imposed on Zimbabwe remain in force.

Sanctions are meant to disrupt successful plans by President Emmerson Mnangagwa aimed at turning around the economy, but the tricks will not succeed.

However, the claim by Bimha contradicted party acting political commissar Patrick Chinamasa, who claimed Masvingo villagers were behind the attacks because they did not want to be addressed by Chamisa. Standard
POLICE have busted an elaborate syndicate of suspects that have illegally traded in more than 50 guns, including two officers stationed at the Zimbabwe Republic Police armouries in Harare and Chinhoyi.

Some of the weapons have been used to commit violent crimes such as armed robberies, which are on the increase countrywide.

The two officers at the centre of the scandal, William Nhata (35) of 9631 Southview Park, Harare, who worked at the ZRP police national arms depot in Harare and Constable Crive Kadambure who was based in Chinhoyi have been arrested.

Kadambure (42) who was stationed at the Mashonaland West Provincial Armoury in Chinhoyi was recently arrested for dealing in more than 40 high-calibre weapons.

Kadambure was arrested with his alleged accomplices Wonder Tawanda Kwaramba (36), who is an ex-police officer and a civilian Edmore Manuwere (28), with police saying the trio worked as an organised firearms syndicate.

Police documents in possession of The Sunday Mail say:

Detectives received information to the effect that there was a criminal syndicate dealing in illegal firearms. The information was that during the period from January 2019 to date, the above accused were working as an organised criminal syndicate dealing in firearms. The accused persons would then approach registered firearms dealers across the country where they purchased forty-four high calibre rifles.

The accused working as a syndicate went on to obtain fake firearm certificates with fake serial numbers and references. Armed with those fake certificates they would obtain the purchased firearms from the registered dealers.

Thereafter the accused sold to or traded the firearms with poachers and armed robbers both inside and outside the country. Acting on the information, the detectives managed to arrest the three accused persons in Harare, Bulawayo and Chinhoyi. The team managed to obtain firearms registers from registered dealers and established the accused person had made several purchases.

Kwaramba is also involved in another case, in which he is accused of dealing in firearms with Taona Javangwe (43) of Nkulumane suburb in Bulawayo.

Upon his arrest early this month, Javangwe, who is charged with being in possession of two firearms illegally, implicated Kwaramba.

Nhata was arrested last week and appeared in court on Wednesday, charged with fraud and contravention of the firearms act.

Police documents show that Nhata is suspected of having illegally traded in firearms since October 2019.

The police records read: On October 29, 2019, accused who is a member of the Zimbabwe Republic Police attached at ZRP National Armoury was approached by the complainant Simon Mandicheta Nr 42-020505-L-34 of Plot 31 Wesly South Nyabira intending to buy a firearm for the purposes or crop and livestock protection. The accused person then told the complainant that he was selling a .22 FN rifle serial number 63861 for US$350 and was shown the rifle which was at the National Armoury.

The complainant paid the money for the rifle and the accused was given a form FR 11 to process the firearm certificate so that he would collect the rifle by the accused. On 8 October 2021, the complainant approached the accused who was at his workplace intending to collect the firearm since he had acquired the firearm certificate for the rifle. The complainant then discovered that the accused did not have any rifle which he was selling. On October 18, 2021, complainant reported the matter at Harare Central leading to the arrest of the accused.

Another suspect is Patrick Chirara (42) of 2240N Chiedza road Karoi, who is facing eight counts of illegally dealing in firearms, which had fake certificates.

Police records say Chirara sold the guns to armed robbers. Sunday Mail
If Austrias intensive care units reach a total of 25% capacity, or 500 patients, then only those who are vaccinated or have recovered from COVID will be allowed into businesses like restaurants and hotels, said the chancellor.
We absolutely are following the genomic sequencing of this very carefully, Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on NBCs Meet the Press Sunday. It has several mutations on the spike protein that we have not yet seen implicated in increased transmissibility or in decreased ability of our vaccines or our therapeutics to work. Were watching it very carefully. We have had a handful of cases here in the United States, but it has not taken off as it has in the U.K.
A medical staff member in a protective suit treats a COVID-19 patient at an ICU in Infectious Hospital No. 2 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. The low vaccination rate in Russia, where only about a third of the population is fully vaccinated, is causing concern as the country suffers a sharp rise in cases, setting records for infections and deaths nearly every day this month.  (Roman Yarovitcyn/AP Photo)
In addition to a 2022 edition of the Shirley Chisholm Cultural Institute Awards Ceremony, next years events also include the Bring Your Folding Chair TikTok Campaign, kicking off in January. Established through an institute partnership with the Caribbean Heritage Organization and the Jump and Fly Foundation, it features special guests and is named for the famous Chisholm quote about participation in government: If they dont give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.
That seemed to make the most sense to me, it achieves the goal of getting the subway system linked up with the airport, said Gianaris. It keeps us from wreaking havoc on some of our local streets.
The victim dropped to the floor as the shooter retreated out the door. But an accomplice, wanting to make sure the job was done, grabbed the gun from the shooter and blasted the victim in the leg while he was down and scrambling to get back on his feet.
This Tevin thing is really really hard for me on a different level because I know the pain of the mother, she said. But Im also very worried about the father because this is the second child that he has to bury. And its in the order they came. Tevin was the second son.
In March of 2014, Fernandez was pulled over in Orange County, Fl. while cruising at 75 miles per hour in a 45 mph zone. He was found to be driving with a suspended license, court records show. Then the following month, Fernandez was ticketed in Osceola County, Fl. for driving on the wrong side of a residential road.
What happened with Captain Mack was we got into an incident and they microscoped it to a T and suspended him, said an officer involved in the fundraising campaign. When you get suspended, the only people who do anything for you is your co-workers. We get penalized for doing our jobs.
The 21-year-old victim got into an argument with the shooter in the Mobil convenience store moments before the caught-on-video Dec. 28 shooting. He and his girlfriend, also 21, were fleeing in their SUV when the gunmen opened fire, leaving the vehicle riddled with bullet holes. The couple was not struck.
The gentlemen of Sigma Nu stand in absolute solidarity with all victims of sexual abuse (and victims of all abuse) and in no way condone any acts of violence or sexual abuse by anyone  especially members of this Sigma Nu fraternity, the organization said in a statement.
If all goes well, and we get the regulatory approval and the recommendation from the CDC, its entirely possible if not very likely that vaccines will be available for children from 5 to 11 within the first week or two of November, said Fauci, who also is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
In Washington, progress on the spending package would pave the way for a vote on a smaller, $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. The bill has been held up as progressives in Congress said they wouldnt support it without guarantees on the bigger spending measure as well.
Sung Kim, the U.S. envoy on North Korea, on Sunday urged North Korea to refrain from further missile tests and go back to nuclear diplomacy. We remain ready to meet with the DPRK without preconditions and we have made clear that the United States harbors no hostile intent towards the DPRK," he said during a visit to Seoul. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
This photo provided by Jack Caswell shows director of photography Halyna Hutchins on the set of "Archenemy" on Dec. 17, 2019, in Los Angeles. Hutchins was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin Thursday on the New Mexico set of the western film "Rust." Authorities continue to investigate the shooting but there are no allegations of wrongdoing by Baldwin. (Jack Caswell via AP) (Jack Caswell/AP Photo)
Halls said in an search warrant affidavit that he didnt know the prop gun he handed to Baldwin on the Rust set in New Mexico on Thursday was loaded, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper.
Earlier last week I felt compelled to tell Halyna just how awesome I thought she was, Ackles wrote. I told her how incredible I thought her camera shots were and just how exciting it was to watch her and her team work. Truly. She laughed and said thank you and gave me a hug. Ill forever be thankful we had that moment. She had a spunk and passion that infected the entire crew from the top down.
There he stayed until he was transferred to an institution in Maine to be close to his ailing mother. When he died in 2000, his obituary said only that circumstances prevented his return to Maine to live until the 1970s.
Well, America has a problem. Weve done little to invest in our national infrastructure since the passage of the FAST Act in 2015 and that law will expire at the end of the month. Theres a solution: we are one vote away from a generational investment in forward-thinking design and construction. All that needs to happen is for Congress to do its job and vote.
Rep. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, debates during a session Tuesday March 10, 2020, in Tallahassee, Fla. Florida's top health official was asked to leave a meeting after refusing to wear a mask at the office of the state senator who told him she had a serious medical condition, officials have confirmed. Florida Senate leader Wilton Simpson, a Republican, sent a memo to senators Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021 regarding the incident at the office of Democratic state Sen. Tina Polsky, asking visitors at the building to be respectful with social interactions. Polsky, who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, had not yet made public her breast cancer diagnosis. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon) (Steve Cannon/AP)
First, you have to make the decision to do it. Until you make that decision, youre not really committed. Its just a dream that can evaporate, Rivera said. Its like a magnet that pulls you. You have to have that emotional pull toward it because it is a commitment, a distance to travel. What I love is the solitude, being out in the wilderness.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Jan Kubis, has lauded the achievements of the (5+5) Joint Military Commission (JMC) since the signing of the comprehensive ceasefire agreement in Geneva a year ago
If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Sparking off a major controversy, a witness in the cruise ship rave party raid case on Sunday accused the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of allegedly demanding bribes from Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan to release his son Aryan Khan.

The witness, Prabhakar Sail, openly stated on various TV channels that he feared a threat to his life from none other than the NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede.

The NCB has taken cognisance of the allegations of threats and bribes and a top official said that the matter will be probed.

Sail, identified as the personal bodyguard of the so-called private detective Kiran P. Gosavi, has released a signed affidavit statement and videos pertaining to the arrest of Aryan Khan and others on October 3, a day after the ship raid (October 2).

One of the 9 witnesses listed by the NCB, among other things, Sail claimed that he was made to sign 10 blank papers by the agency and now feared for his life from Wankhede.

In the affidavit, Sail has contended that he "overheard" Gosavi and Sam D'Souza discuss a deal of Rs 24 crore which they "settled" for Rs 18 crore, of which Rs 8 crore would got to Wankhede.

He said that he saw SRK's manager, Pooja Dadlani arrive at the NCB office after Aryan Khan's arrest and also witnessed her talking with Gosavi and D'Souza inside her vehicle.

Sail alleged that Gosavi directed him to collect Rs 50 lakh cash from a spot near the Indiana Hotel and asked him to give the bags to D'Souza near the Trident Hotel where he counted it to find Rs 38 lakh cash.

Reacting to the allegations, NCB Deputy Director-General, South West Region Mutha Ashok Jain said that Wankhede has "categorically denied" the allegations.

"As some of the contents of the affidavit relate to vigilance matters, I am hereby forwarding the affidavit to the Director General, NCB and requesting him for further necessary action," Jain said.

Simultaneously, chiding Sail, Jain said that since he is a witness in the case which is now sub-judice, "he needs to submit his prayer to the honourable court rather than through social media if he has anything to say".

He also said that Sail has given details about his movements and activities on October 2 (on the day of the ship raid), and "vigilance related allegations against certain persons in the affidavit which are based on overhearing" by the witness.

In the affidavit, Sail stated that Gosavi is missing and feared that the NCB officials or other people may abduct or kill him.

Gosavi, who is facing several cases, shot to focus earlier this month when Nationalist Congress Party national spokesperson and Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik made a series of exposes involving him (Gosavi) and other BJP-linked persons like Manish Bhanushali, in the NCB raids.

However, the BJP and NCB have rejected the charges by Malik, who has threatened to reveal more.
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

/var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde416930)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde4a5f38)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde416930)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde4a5f38)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde425b28)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde4a5f38)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde4a5f38)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdda95f70)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fde3053b8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fde3053b8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

/var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde4819d8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde9da780)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde4819d8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde9da780)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde9c4de8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde9da780)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde9da780)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fddfdaf88)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdea34080)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdea34080)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

/var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde514b28)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde958ca0)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde514b28)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde958ca0)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde50ce90)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde958ca0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde958ca0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdda957b0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fde97bb00)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fde97bb00)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

/var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fddf5a670)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fddf54e00)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fddf5a670)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fddf54e00)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde048b68)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fddf54e00)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fddf54e00)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fddf4f620)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fc7fbd370)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fc7fbd370)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

/var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fddfd6dd8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fbe8b30d0)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fddfd6dd8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fbe8b30d0)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde715530)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fbe8b30d0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fbe8b30d0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdda95030)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fde4c52a8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fde4c52a8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

/var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdeae72d8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde99f5a0)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdeae72d8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde99f5a0)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde86d500)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde99f5a0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde99f5a0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdda95c78)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdeac0280)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdeac0280)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

/var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde34d070)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde552a60)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde34d070)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde552a60)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fde74a858)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde552a60)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde552a60)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdda95e58)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fde6de888)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fde6de888)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
AM radio flutter John Dunn writing for EDN describes the cause of flutter on AM broadcast signals



Sometimes I like to listen to a couple of AM radio stations that transmit from southern New Jersey, which is rather far from here on Long Island. Their signals are pretty strong during the daytime but now and then there is a rapid in-and-out fading effect, which sounds very much like a flutter.



Ive sometimes heard that same effect when listening to shortwave radio and I initially assumed it was an ionospheric phenomenon but now I dont think so. There seems to be an alternative explanation.



Read the full story at

https://www.edn.com/am-radio-flutter/
Contest 2x1 Callsign - Wrap Up

Wednesday, 13 October 2021 at 10am will be remembered by many VK contesters as Frenzy Day.

The instant demand at exactly 10am for 2x1 contesting callsigns definitely stress tested the AMC website in more ways than one.

Luckily for all those applying it was a serious pile up, with anxious feelings of missing out, waiting impatiently for that 2x1 page refresh, not unlike waiting to hear the rare DX return your callsign and then when propagation shifts and unfortunately that rare one you need for honour roll is all but gone.

It seems many felt they may have been a Busted Call or Not In Log (NIL) during the frenzy.

Understandably, the AMC office has been inundated with phone calls. Let us sincerely hope that the callers were understanding and respectful of the AMC office staff who continue to do an excellent job at managing all things Amateur Radio including examination processing and callsign recommendations etc.

The day one results are actually quite surprising as after all the dust has settled only about 138 callsigns were allocated out of about 702.... or around 19.5%

The highest demand was for 2x1s was from the eastern states of VK3, VK2 and VK4 in that order, with many now been allocated. The VJ and VL prefixes seeming not so popular, however still being sought after for use in general and WPX type contesting.

More interesting to note is that not a single VK9 2x1 callsign has been allocated.

VK3 has had more issued than all of VK1, VK5, VK6, VK7 and VK8 combined.

Who would have even considered that so many contesters lived in VK3?

A snapshot on day 7 which was last Wednesday 20th of October reveals that there has only been another 156 callsigns allocated or at least removed from the AMC available 2x1 callsign register. The list shows fewer than 10 available in VK3 but many are still unclaimed from all the other states, collectively about 408 remain. This reflects around 43% of the available 702 2x1 callsigns having been allocated.

Considerable thanks need to be given to all the members of VK Contest Club (VKCC) who inspired and began this 2x1 callsign project well over 10 years ago and have continually pushed the 2x1 callsign agenda.

The WIA thanks all stake holders and individuals who contributed to the success of this long term project.

In particular, the WIA congratulates the Australian Maritime College (AMC) for a successful release and implementation of the 2x1 Callsign blocks to the Amateur Radio Contesting community.

To apply for a 2x1 Contest callsign (Advanced only) go to the AMC website and follow the instructions:

www.amc.edu.au/industry/amateur-radio/callsigns/2x1-contest-callsigns

With less than a week to go until the biggest global HF contest, the CQ World Wide SSB Contest, many are praying to the contesting gods that AMC along with ACMA will have all these new 2x1 Callsigns granted for use.

73 from Lee VK3GK

WIA
Court upholds strata ban of 11-metre radio antenna

BC Supreme Court has upheld a Surrey strata councils (British Columbia) ban on a suite owner building a 11-metre amateur radio antenna on a patio.

Sometime in 2017, Stanley Williams built the antenna in a backyard patio area adjacent to his unit. He secured it with ropes extending over the suites roof and attaching them with an eyehook to his carport.

The backyard patio was common property as defined in the Strata Property Act. Williams did not obtain strata approval for the antenna installation or items with which he secured it.

The strata council notified him the construction appeared to be an unauthorized alteration to a strata lot in contravention of a bylaw. He was told to remove it.

Later, he was told the antenna and support system also contravened a bylaw prohibiting satellite dishes or similar structures from being built.

Mr. Williams informed the strata that his installation was in the nature of a flagpole and that there was no technical or operational similarity between this insulation and a satellite dish, the court said.

After $700 in fines were cancelled, Williams informed the strata that he intended to erect a self-supporting tower for the purposes of amateur radio communications. This tower would be 15 metres high.

That request was denied.

Parts were eventually dismantled but others stood above the height of the building.

The strata soon filed a complaint with the Civil Resolution Tribunal to have Williams comply. He filed a counter-claim seeking a change of the strata bylaws.

The tribunal rejected his claims, including an assertion that Surreys land-use bylaw gave him exclusive use of his backyard patio area without compliance with strata bylaws.

jhainsworth@glaciermedia.ca

Source: North Shore News

https://www.nsnews.com/bc-news/court-upholds-strata-ban-of-11-metre-radio-antenna-4543779
JOTA in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines The Searchlight reports on Scout amateur radio activities in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines during the recent Jamboree on the air



The newspaper says:



The local scout association teamed up with local amateur radio (HAM radio) operators from the Youlou Radio Movement (YRM) to conduct JOTA/JOTI, 2021 from their headquarters (HQ) at Arnos Vale on Saturday, October 16, 2021.



Scouts and their leaders gathered at their HQ to take part in the worlds biggest radio and Internet radio event; JOTA/JOTI which stands for Jamboree On The Air/Jamboree Over The Internet.



This is an annual event held during the third weekend in October when more than two million scouts around the world team up with amateur radio operators to establish contact with scouts and Girl Guides from 171 countries, creating new friendships, exchanging ideas and sharing their hobbies, a release from the YRM president, Donald DeRiggs states.



On Saturday, October 16 even though HF propagation was not good during the day, the Internet via the DMR and Echolink, IRLP and similar ROIP technology was buzzing with activity until 10 p.m local time, with scouts sharing their experiences from around the world.



The three-day event culminated on Sunday, October 17, 2021. Some of the activities included camp fires, weekend camps, and training for their communications badge among other activities to keep young minds actively occupied. This year, contacts were made with Barbados, Grenada, Curacao, Canada, the UK, and the USA. Stations heard but not contacted included India, Switzerland, Brazil, Ireland and Australia.



Read the full story at

https://www.searchlight.vc/news/2021/10/19/local-scouts-participate-in-jamboree-over-the-air-2021/
Radio industry calls for government protection from smart assistants

The Guardian newspaper asks: Could Alexa kill the radio star?

The government is considering introducing legislation to ensure that Amazon and other tech companies do not abuse their growing power over UK airwaves.

Millions of Britons have bought voice-controlled devices in recent years, principally Amazons Echo and Googles Assistant. Most are used for listening to audio, with many households using them as replacements for traditional standalone radio sets in kitchens and bedrooms.

British radio broadcasters including the BBC and the main commercial radio groups now fear they have inadvertently handed control over their output to large technology companies who make smart speakers. They fear the US-based technology companies will hoard data on users listening habits, could be tempted to slip their own adverts into radio broadcasts, and may ultimately make it harder to find UK-produced content.

The BBC is particularly concerned by research suggesting that when BBC material is consumed through a smart speaker or other third party device, audiences are substantially less likely to mentally associate it with the BBC. This has potentially enormous implications for the future of the licence fee and convincing audiences to pay for the BBC in the future.

The government-commissioned digital radio and audio review, which asked industry voices for their views on the future of radio, has now asked the government to propose legislation to force Amazon and other companies to carry UK radio services on a free-to-air basis. A similar lobbying battle is currently being fought by UK television channels to secure so-called prominence on the home screens of modern television sets.

Radio stations also want a law to prohibit technology companies from inserting their own advertisements without the radio broadcasters consent, as well as legislation requiring car manufacturers to continue to prominently display radio stations on car dashboards.

The newly appointed media minister, Julia Lopez, said the government would reflect on the findings and consider new rules to protect the future of the British radio industry as part of forthcoming broadcasting regulation.

Read more at

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/oct/21/radio-industry-call-for-government-protection-from-smart-assistants?

CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
The executive presidency enabled far reaching decisions to be taken at times with the consent of a pliant cabinet of ministers and at times without them leaving out the MPs and also the people in ignorance. It led to allegations of corruption in purchase of armaments and other big deals.

by Gamini Weerakoon

Sri Lanka should be considered as an outstanding nation in its desire to change constitutions. The British Constitution, the oldest in the world, learned lawyers say, had been built on a set of legal principles, the Magna Carter, way back in 1215  806 years ago. The American Constitution is 233 years old while India which got Independence from the British one year before Lanka has had only a single constitution.

But we have had three constitutions in 72 years and seem to be hell-bent on going for the fourth come what may  a global pandemic, a US$ 31 billion foreign debt crisis, a UNHCR resolution accusing the countrys military top brass of war crimes with a potential of international sanctions and severe domestic crises precipitated by our own dear leaders such as a record rise in the cost of living, threat to the production of our staple food rice, unemployment and wild elephants, deprived of their traditional jungle, destroying homes of cultivators, daily, in search of food.

This penchant for new constitutions appears to be embedded in a Sri Lankan paradox. Even since President J.R. Jayewardene proclaimed his Gaulist Constitution with executive presidential powers, those opposed to him and his party, the UNP, began abusing the constitution in amusing and also in vilest possible terms.

The most amusing description of it was by Chandrika Kumaratunga: Bahubootha Constitution which defies being translated into English to bring out its true spirit expressed in Sinhala.

Nonetheless, all JRJ constitutional critics pledged to set fire to it, the moment they captured power. But that was not to be. Instead, on being elected, they found the executive presidency manna from heaven as compared to the Westminster system which Sri Lankan politicians had endured.

The executive presidency enabled far reaching decisions to be taken at times with the consent of a pliant cabinet of ministers and at times without them leaving out the MPs and also the people in ignorance. It led to allegations of corruption in purchase of armaments and other big deals.

Mahinda Rajapaksa during his second term of presidency  forgetting his pledge to destroy the executive presidency  attempted to do away with the constitutional limitation of only two terms for a president  thus creating an opportunity for a lifetime executive presidency. Voters put the issue to rest by throwing him out of power.

However, Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother Gotabaya bounced back into power winning both presidential and parliamentary elections with the majority Sinhala Buddhist voters believing that the UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe would sell the birthrights of the Sinhala Buddhists to minorities and Gotabaya instead would be their saviour.

During these presidential and parliamentary elections, there were no promises made to destroy the executive presidency. Vistas of Splendour and Prosperity were pledged and for that to happen the executive presidency needed more power and parliament voted in the 20th Amendment with a two-thirds majority doing away with the 19th Amendment  which enabled four independent commissions to exercise power  and vesting the president with all that power.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, according to some analysts, now wields more power than any other ruler in the post-Independence era. So why is he, amidst the numerous political storms battering the political firmament trying not only to push through a new constitution in a hurry and also hold provincial councils elections soon?

Foreign policy compulsions? Recently this country saw Indias top bureaucrats such as Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and commander of the Indian Army Mukund Naravane flying into Colombo and engaging in a diplomatic-military blitzkrieg. Apparently they wanted to make sure that the 13th Amendment was not conveniently forgotten by the Rajapaksa government.

This unique form of constitutional amendment with deployment of military force was introduced by India to this country, and is now recorded as a constitutional amendment following an agreement between President J.R.Jayewardene and Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, conveniently ignoring blatant violations of Sri Lankas air space and territorial waters by Indian forces threatening an immediate invasion and the helpless Sri Lankan president succumbing to the threats saying: No one (country) cared to lift a finger to support me.

All thats a chapter in the history of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhis attempt to impose Indian hegemony in South Asia.

Is Narendra Modi, fired by his Hindutva ideology and success, attempting to repeat history, this time in Making India Great by toying with smaller countries in its neighbourhood like Nepal and Sri Lanka?

This is a challenge to Gotabaya Rajapaksas policy of Neutral Non-Alignment. On the one hand there is China that has been Lankas trusted friend in its most turbulent times, consistently assisting Lanka in foreign fora and most important financial assistance without which it would not or could not have survived. True, there is a billion dollar debt owed to China. This old timers recall is in accord with what Chinese refugees in Lanka (after World War 11) who went door- to- door selling their wares said: Good things no Cheap; Cheap things no good.

Will Gotabaya Rajapaksas dynamic Neutral Non Alignment of shifting with rapidity between Beijing and New Delhi help Lanka as his Central Bank Chief Cabraal juggles with loans and financial assistance from China, Cash Surplus deals from India and even Bangladesh and IMF loans and mythical Western Foreign Direct Investments (save a recent one) and declares the economy is doing fine?

Gotabayas priorities would be; first win the Provincial Council elections and then enact the New Constitution.

For winning the PC elections there will be Basil R with his Aladdins lamp, supporters hope. Cynics, however, say Vladimir Lenins advice on winning elections may not be forgotten: Its not the voting that counts but the counting. There are many students of Leninism in the party ranks.

(The writer is a former editor of The Sunday Island, The Island and consultant editor of the Sunday Leader)
The nature and magnitude of corruption that has almost completely taken over the body politic of the country today has a direct impact on the lives of the poor and marginalised. The mega corruption that goes unchecked finally diverts badly needed resources from the underprivileged sectors of society as well as adds to the cost of living.

by Amjed Javeed

The revelations by the International Consortium of Investigative journalists in what is now known as the Pandora Papers have once again caused the spotlight to fall on corruption in Sri Lanka.

The Thalagodapitiya Commission appointed by the S. W. R.D Bandaranaike Government in 1959 found several of its own parliamentarians guilty of Bribery. Compared to the degree of corruption that has now eaten into the governance structure, particularly after the ushering in of the open economy in 1977, the allegations before the Thalagodapitiya Commission could be described as peanuts.

One of the MPs arraigned before that Commission was accused of accepting a bribe of Rupees 300 and a bag of rice.

Today the amounts talked about as inducements for crossing over from one party to another are staggering. Prior to the 2015 Presidential Elections one Parliamentarian claimed that he had been offered Rupees 800 million to cross over to the opposite side. In November 2018 another Parliamentarian claimed that he had been offered 2.8 million dollars to cross over.

While all these allegations of bribery relate to individuals and are reflective of the integrity of those engaged in politics, what is more alarming is the way in which the spread of the tentacles of corruption has impacted on governance structures in the country to the detriment of the peoples welfare.

Professor Laksiri Fernando in one of his writings sums it up well. According to him corruption derails development, degenerates and distorts the democratic system and decays the moral fabric of society. The ultimate victims are the poor, the needy and the ordinary people.

The nature and magnitude of corruption that has almost completely taken over the body politic of the country today has a direct impact on the lives of the poor and marginalised. The mega corruption that goes unchecked finally diverts badly needed resources from the underprivileged sectors of society as well as adds to the cost of living.

A random examination of some of the better known corruption sagas will shed light on what impact it has had on the economy.

Ronnie de Mel who served as Finance Minister during the J. R. Jayewardene regime once stated that one third of the aid that was received for the Accelerated Mahaweli Diversion Project went into private pockets.

During the Yahapalana regime the Central Bank Bond Scam was another instance of corruption. The tenure of the current regime has witnessed the Sugar scam, the Garlic Scam and the Data Scam related to the National Medical Regulatory Authority to name a few.

A couple of weeks ago former President Maitripala Sirisena drew attention to how a cheque had been released in haste on January 7, 2015 (a non working day in view of the Presidential Elections the following day) for the Nilwala Ganga Diversion Project. He raised the question as to where the money transferred by this payment had gone given that not even a sod of earth had been cut in furtherance of the Project up to date.

The question arises why no action had been taken with regard to this matter given that President Sirisena himself had raised this matter during his Presidency.

According to a Report of the Auditor General the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Management had paid a Mobilisation Advance of Rs.4,011,045,982 to the foreign contractor company for the Gin Nilwala Diversion Project comprising Rs.998,576,311 and Rs.3,012,478,471 in the years 2014 and 2015 respectively.

One of the factors that is inhibiting the fight against the spread of large scale corruption is the weakness of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC ) as well as other Governmental machinery that is supposed to monitor corruption.

One of the factors that contribute and facilitate corruption is the failure to follow due process prior to disbursement of funds. Under the 19th Amendment a Procurement Commission was set up but never quite got going. Unsolicited proposals have also been identified as a potential source of corruption but such proposals are still entertained by the Government.

The Declaration of Assets Law was enacted in the 1970s as a means of monitoring the illegal accumulation of assets by politically exposed persons but has hardly served its purpose.

The lack of strong public opinion is another factor that prevents the control of what has come to be a disease of epidemic proportions that has hamstrung the countrys development. Today one notes that those with the biggest allegations of corruption are the ones who shout loudest about corruption and receive public acceptance and public acclaim.

Until and unless there is strong public disapproval of the malaise of corruption the country may well have to live with the exponential increase in the plunder of public resources.

Corruption is today used as a battering ram to criticize political opponents but there is little or no follow up action to make actual miscreants accountable.

The revelations in the Pandora papers may only be the tip of the iceberg with regard to the resources that have been siphoned away from the country. It is undoubtedly sad that while the country is literally gasping for economic breadth, there are vast resources stacked away in safe havens.

It is a great tragedy that what has been earned for the country through the sweat and toil of our workers in the plantations, in the garment factories and in West Asia are lost to our people through such illegal activities.

It is a pity that the Sri Lankan State has not taken sufficient steps to correct the situation. If a Government takes corrective action there will be more schools, more hospitals, more development and lessening of the burden of the cost of living for the people.

(The writer can be reached at javidyusuf@gmail.com )
Power is theirs, impunity is theirs. To keep those gains, they must find a way of hoodwinking the electorate again.

by Tisaranee Gunasekara

We can only shake our heads at how all of us followed this lunatic ~ A German general (quoted in Volker Ullrichs Hitler  Downfall - 1939-45)

The first seeds of Americas Afghan misadventure were sown in the closing decade of the 19th Century. The emerging global superpowers first imperial ventures began with wars in Cuba and the Philippines. ...America is beginning a long course of error and wrong, lamented Charles Elliot Norton, Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard, and is likely to become more and more a power for disturbance and barbarism (quoted in The Proud Tower by Barbra Tuchman).

Colombo Skyline

When the history of Chinas own descent into imperialism is written, Sri Lanka will have the dubious honour of figuring prominently in it. While the worlds eyes are on Taiwan, China is flexing its newly honed imperial muscles in the Indian Ocean. What is at stake is nothing less than Lankan sovereignty and Chinas ability to impose its will on third world nations financially beholden to it.

The story began with President Gotabaya Rajapaksas ill conceived plan to force Lankan agriculture go fully organic between one season and the next. Importation of chemical fertilisers was banned and a consignment of organic fertiliser ordered from China. Lankas National Plant Quarantine Services tested two samples of the fertiliser consignment and found them to be unsterile and highly contaminated with bacteria (Bacillus and Erwinia) which can be pathogenic to plants (The Sunday Times  19.9.2021). The Rajapaksa regimes initial response was to discredit the test results. But scientists spoke out and the public protested, forcing the regime to reject the consignment.

The matter should have ended there, especially since the supplier, Qingdao Seawin Biotech, had reportedly admitted in its shipping advice that the consignment may contain microorganisms (and is thus unsterile). But in Chinas eyes, it was dealing not with a sovereign nation, but with a dependent nation. Beijing discarded the smiling mask and Colombo was treated to a display of wolf-warrior diplomacy. The Chinese Embassy issued a not-so-veiled threat, stating that a rejection of the fertiliser could affect relations between two countries. The Chinese company wrote a letter to Lankan authorities on October 22nd, stating that the consignment will reach Colombo that day, to hell with your order.

The Rajapaksas who never miss a chance to proclaim Lankan sovereignty from any available rooftop were clearly unnerved by this lupine display. They made no public response to either letter. The self-declared guardians of Lankan independence, from Buddhist monks to the likes of Wimal Weerawansa too maintained a death-like silence. But the National Plant Quarantine Centre stood firm and public pressure built up. Caught between the hammer of Chinese compulsion and the anvil of local opposition, the Rajapaksas ran for the backdoor.

The state-owned Ceylon Fertiliser Company, represented by the AGs Department, went to Colombo Commercial Court seeking an enjoining order against the Chinese company, its local agent and the state-owned Peoples Bank which had provided the Letter of Credit. (The local agent, incidentally, is Chelina Capital Cooperation, whose managing director is a close relation of Prime Ministers secretary, Gamini Senarath, according to a report in a Feb 15th 2015 report in The Sunday Times).

While China was brandishing its grievance, Sri Lanka ordered a consignment of nano-nitrogen fertiliser from India. The regimes current focus is neither the suitability nor the efficacy of this fertiliser type but how to spare presidential blushes by passing it off as organic. The fact that Colombo is buying fertiliser from India must be infuriating and alarming Beijing in equal measure. Add to that recent noteworthy developments from the secret LNG deal with an American company to Namal Rajapaksas much hyped visit to India, and China might be wondering whether Sri Lanka is trying to put a few inches of distance between herself and her financial master.

In a recent Foreign Policy piece, Andrew Erickson (a professor of strategy in the U.S. Naval War Colleges China Maritime Studies Institute), and Gabriel Collins, (of Rice University) argue that Chinese power is likely to decline after a peak period of about five years due to deteriorating demographic profile, structural economic problems, and technological estrangement from global innovation centres. Therefore in the next ten years Beijing will move aggressively to promote a narrative of inevitable Chinese strategic dominance in Asia and beyond, they conclude. Like America and its imperial predecessors, Beijing too is likely to become more and more a power for disturbance and barbarism. Thanks to the Rajapaksas, Sri Lanka might get a taste of that unappetising brew, soon.

Their shattered utopia

Ursula Le Guins iconic short story, The Ones who Walk away from Omelas, is both a gripping tale of fantasy and a reflection on the nature and cost of utopia. Omelas is a land where everyone is happy, safe, and prosperous, a place of beauty and grace. But this ideal state comes at a cost, and that cost is borne by a single child, imprisoned in a tiny underground room and condemned to a life of neglect, malnutrition, and fear, an existence that is the exact antithesis of the paradisiacal life enjoyed by every other citizen of Omelas. Every single Omelan knows about the child. The initial reaction is horror at the price of their happiness. Eventually, most learn to live with it by forgetting. The few who cant, walk away from Omelas, never to return.

That was the deal 6.9million Lankan voters made with the Rajapaksas almost two years ago  a utopia for the majority community built on the subjugation of minorities. The deal was made not in ignorance, but in knowledge. Trump forged a politics of white tribalism and white people embraced it, said US commentator Jamelle Bouie soon after 2016 presidential election. Similarly, the Rajapaksas forged a politics of Sinhala-Buddhist tribalism and the absolute majority of Sinhala-Buddhist voters embraced it.

The Rajapaksas and their patriotic army were going to build a patriotic paradise, which would allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step, to quote President Xi Jinping on the purpose of Chinas Social Credit system (Newsweek  1.5.2018). China would fund this utopia and Sri Lanka would be Chinas faithful acolyte in the Indian Ocean. As Chinese foreign minister asserted on the Jan 2020 visit to Colombo, As Sri Lankas strategic partner China will continue to standby Sri Lankas interests. China stands for the countrys sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. We will not allow any outside influences to interfere with matters that are essentially internal concerns of Sri Lanka.

Two years later, the promised utopia is in shambles. The hardcore Rajapaksa base might be loyal still, but its soft outer core and the floating voters are deserting the family. As prices continue to rise and shortages continue to worsen, the haemorrhaging will intensify. To make matters worse, Beijing, beset by its own economic woes, is proving unwilling  or unable  to foot the bill of Rajapaksa extravaganza.

So the Rajapaksas cannot afford to give the West its conge but must work at engagement, even a few concessions. Dollars are scarce, and losing the GSP plus facility would be fatal at multiple levels. (If the Americans offer the Millennium grant again, the Rajapaksas would grab the 500million dollars with both hands and on bended knees). There is also the fear of Western sanctions. The US and the EU opt for targeted sanctions these days, asset freezes and travel bans on individual politicians and officials. A recent example is EU sanctions targeting Nicaraguan vice president (who also happens to be the presidents wife) and several top officials. The Rajapaksas may be willing to brave sanctions if the brunt is borne by ordinary Lankans (and thus can be weaponised politically). But sanctions that spare the economy and the people while targeting family assets abroad or the familys chances of visiting Western lands would be quite another matter.

In this context, an attempt at recalibrating Lankas regional and international relations makes sense from a Rajapaksa point of view. After all, they have a Family Inc. to save. The past two years, however harrowing for ordinary Lankans, have been good for the Rajapaksas, a fruitful time in which their utopia has reached near completion. The 19th Amendment is gone and the 20th has placed all power in familial hands. The succession from brother to brother and from uncle to nephew is assured. The AGs Department is busy withdrawing cases against the family and their acolytes. Convicted murderer Duminda Silva is free to break more laws. The late Eliyantha Whites son and daughter are reportedly being provided with police security while Shani Abeysekaras letter asking for protection is unanswered.

Power is theirs, impunity is theirs. To keep those gains, they must find a way of hoodwinking the electorate again.

At a consultative committee meeting of the Ministry of Wildlife and Forest Conservation, parliamentarians Sridaran and Rasamanikkam had tried to raise some issues; prior notice had been given and the matters were on the agenda. According parliamentarian Sumanthiran, government members  with the sole exception of Chandima Weerakkody  had shouted them down, calling them kotiya (Tiger), thrasthavadiya (terrorist) and LTTE.

Sri Lankas state minister for women and child development celebrated the World Childrens Day in the company of Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP, the LTTEs international money manager and chief arms procurer, still wanted by India for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Mr. Pathmanathan is now living in sunshine, because once arrested, he opted to throw his lot with the Rajapaksas. The ace Tiger struts free while ordinary Tamils are being detained for commemorating their war dead. In a related development, PM Rajapaksa is dusting off his old proposal to ban cattle slaughter.

The PC polls are on the cards, and how can the Rajapaksas mobilise their base to defend family-power, sans an enemy?

The Viyath Maga to Ruin

Theres some good news, coming from Turkey. Six opposition parties have agreed to form a broad front against President Erdogan and to turn the next election into a kind of referendum on the presidential system. As an opposition leader put it, Today, Turkey is facing a systemic problem. Not just one person can solve it (New York Times  23.10.2021).

Though a systemic problem cannot be solved by one person, it can be created by one person, definitely one family, especially if an electorate is myopic enough to place too much power in a single fist. As the Lankan electorate did, in 2019 and 2020.

Elias Canetti in Crowds and Power, highlights the danger inherent in what he calls the anxiety of command. The greater the power to command, the longer the rule, the greater the anxiety and the danger; A ruler can keep it hidden or under control...but in the course of a life, it can increase, until, as with the certain of the Roman emperors, it suddenly manifests itself in madness.

Think of the worlds most dangerous car racing tracks, Nurburgring Nordschilfe or Le Mans. Imagine a Devel Sixteen or a SSC Tuatara, driven by a racing enthusiast who is too divorced from reality to see the twists and turns in the track or feel the speed of the vehicle.

That is Sri Lanka today.

Two years of Rajapaksa rule, Sri Lanka is akin not to the Singapore of Viyath Maga dreams but to Lebanon, a failing land.

Lebanons road to perdition sounds strangely familiar. It was cursed with a corrupt and sectarian leadership which acted in a bubble, refusing to see the unravelling of the economy and the suffering of the people. Beirut port explosion and the pandemic exacerbated the existing malaise. Today the country is in freefall. Unemployment, rising prices, shortages, and constant blackouts are turning ordinary lives into hell. Communal violence has broken out. Bank deposits are frozen, foreign exchange crisis has spun beyond control and the country has gone into a partial defaulting for the first time in its history.

The same fate Fitch Ratings has forecasted as a possibility for Sri Lanka in 2022.

Through the inferno, the family continues its merry way. President Gotabaya is turning inorganic into organic, PM Mahinda is focusing on cattle, Minister Basil is working at miracles and Minister Namal is touring India in the company of 100 Buddhist monks. They manage because the opposition is even more divorced from reality. Every figure in the opposition is nursing presidential dreams and probably regards the competitors on the same side of the divide as greater threats than the regime. A united front is possible only on the basis of a definitive plan (rather than a nebulous promise as in 2015) to abolish the presidency. Sans that the crash course will go on and on until the ruinous end.
Saying that rates have not and will not go down with attorney fee reform, Boggs wrote, Year after year we see an endless stream of big insurance companies consistently being slow to pay or flat out denying legitimate claims. Efforts to limit attorney fees are nothing more than an attempt by big corporations with deep pockets to protect their bottom line and limit consumers access to the courts.
We loved her and we are looking for justice, she said. We are going to pass Erikas law. No more murderers out in the street. If you murder someone you are never getting out of jail. You will never see the light of day. We will make sure of that.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to serve as Fire Chief for this wonderful city, Barksdale wrote. Ive greatly enjoyed and appreciated the opportunities Ive had in working with all of the men and women of OFD.
Polsky told The Associated Press about the tense exchange with state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo that was first reported by the news site Florida Politics. She said Ladapo and two aides were offered masks and asked to wear them when they arrived for the Wednesday meeting. She did not tell him she had breast cancer, but said she had a serious condition.
I do not understand the City Commissions logic with this new design. No competent assessment of how this might destroy Pompano Beach was considered. Traffic backs up for several blocks at stop lights, and cars get stuck on the railroad tracks. There are no other east-west streets besides Copans Road or NE 62 Street in Fort Lauderdale to absorb any of this congestion. Even more ridiculous is that several large apartment buildings are springing up near Atlantic Boulevard, and these new residents will add even more congestion.
Blackshear, GA (31516)

Today

A few passing clouds. Low 44F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 44F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has been awarded the We Invest in People Gold accreditation from Investors in People, a UK-based, non-profit accreditation body.

The bank joins 17% of select organisations internationally who have received the accreditation, becoming the first bank in the GCC and Mena region to achieve this status.

The Gold accreditation signifies full ownership of business practices put in place to support an organisations workforce, underscoring the leadership enacted in these core policies so that the organisation makes work better.

NBB has been recognised for its leadership, empowering approach and its creation of progress and development opportunities for its workforce.

The bank has made continuous efforts on its vivid transformation journey, with a focus not only on building its people, but also on implementing ESG methodologies in unconventional ways.

Demonstrating the effectiveness of active engagement to reap tangible and positive outcomes, the banks leadership approach has cemented trust, empowerment and delegation of authority to the right team members, underscoring its achievements and shaping the bank as an industry leader.

With a drive to encourage innovative thinking, the bank provides its human cadre with internal and external development opportunities, breeding transformative thinkers who are able to make changes on both a business and an industry scale.

The banks commitment towards building capabilities has enabled its people to prosper across various employee-led initiatives.

Commenting, NBB Chairman, Farouk Yousif Khalil Al-Moayyed, stated: It is with pleasure that we announce NBBs Gold accreditation from Investors in People. As the first bank in the Mena region to receive this prestigious award, we take great pride in our commitment and subsequent efforts to become an organisation that thrives on investing in our people and reaping their many successes. At NBB we seek to nurture our workforce and strive to instil the banks core values amongst our team members. We take pride in our people flourishing both personally and professionally.

Over the past year, NBB has achieved many key milestones, which acted as a catalyst for our many internal successes. Our people are our most valuable asset, and their continuous development works to enhance our business operations, elevate the sectors skillset and develop the industry as a whole, he added.

The Deputy Chairman of NBBs Nomination, Remuneration, Governance, and Sustainability Committee, Dr Esam Abdulla Yousif Fakhro, said: It is our ultimate goal to enhance the environment in which we operate, beginning with our organisation. As Investors in People, we aim to continue putting appropriate governance structures in place that work to provide our workforce with opportunities to grow and develop, in line with the goals of the organisation. Creating a better workplace is pivotal to our mission of adding value to our stakeholders as we bring our strategy to build a healthier, more prosperous and productive organisation to life from the inside out. 

Investors in People has impacted over 11 million people in 66 countries since its inception in 1991, with more than 50,000 organisations receiving accreditation. The accreditation body has defined and developed its accreditation process for almost three decades with the aim to accredit any organisation with the right blend of talent, motivation and leadership.

The gold accreditation benefits businesses through a measure of impact on the organisations people strategy and how it benefits their team, motivating organisations to constantly evolve their initiatives.-- TradeArabia News Service
Union Properties, one of the most notable developers in Dubai, said the claims in an arbitration case filed by one of its subisidiaries have now reached AED3.5 billion ($952 million).

This comes as part of the Dubai group's endeavours to update its shareholders and for transparency and disclosure purposes and in accordance with regulatory requirements.

Union Properties said the arbitral tribunal is expected to issue its decisions on a number of the claims in the second quarter of 2022.

Chairman Khalifa Hassan Al Hammadi said it has put together a team of international experts from Middle Eastern countries, Hong Kong, Australia, the US, and the UK to work on the case.

The team has exerted tremendous efforts to maximize the chances of the case being successful, he stated.

"As a result of the combined efforts of the law firm and the team, the claim has reached approximately AED3.5 billion. If the amount is granted, it will be a significant win for Union Properties and its subsidiaries," noted Al Hammadi.

The Union Properties' management and the legal team will be working through the arbitration procedural timetable set by the tribunal, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Arabias finance ministry has launched an initiative to implement global financial practices across the government sector as well as Fatoorah, an e-invoicing project at Expo 2020 Dubai.



These initiatives come at a time when Saudi Arabia is showcasing the Kingdoms digital competencies at its Expo 2020 pavilion in Dubai. For these initiatives, Saudi Arabia ranked amongst the most innovative countries in the world, in its provision of Government services and interaction with citizens, according to the GovTech report issued by the World Bank.



Paul Arnold, Managing Director of Sovereign Saudi Arabia, a partner company of Sovereign AEI commented on the ongoing digital acceleration across various government entities in the Kingdom.



Saudi Arabias finance ministry, in line with the Kingdoms Vision 2030, has launched an initiative to implement the latest global financial practices in the Government sector aimed at improving efficiency. The ministry had also launched a self-assessment pilot program on selected Government entities, said Arnold.



These have been implemented after conducting field studies on the viability of such tools by assessing the efficiency of internal control systems, the level of transparency and overall control measures. It aims to strengthen financial control procedures, improve governance and the overall effortless switch to automation.



Another crucial initiative was the roll-out of the e-Invoicing project, called Fatoorah, that is expected to benefit the Saudi economy, mainly in addressing the commercial concealment and the shadow economy that has cost the Kingdom almost SR400 billion ($107 billion) annually, Arnold noted.



Buyers and sellers will now have a digital system to enable the smooth exchange and processing of invoices, credit and debit notes. According to Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZTCA), the program will be carried out in two phases where the first phase requires generating and storing tax invoices and notes through the compliant electronic systems which contain the required tax data fields. The next phase will focus on digitally incorporating taxpayers into the system, allowing easy access to appropriate e-invoicing services.



These progressive initiatives will enable Sovereign AEI to provide better services and solutions to those who are looking to enter the Saudi market or expand their existing business within the kingdom.



These initiatives highlight Saudi Arabias proficiency in allowing businesses to flourish with ease and absolute transparency. Sovereign AEI aims to promote the economy of the Kingdom through its diverse and customised services in the market.  TradeArabia News Service
The Strategic Conference Programme at Adipec 2021 will bring together hundreds of ministers, policymakers, and business leaders from across the world to discuss and shape the new energy agenda.

A diverse programme of events at Adipec, from November 15 to 18, offers attendees access to immersive and interactive sessions including ministerial panels, leadership debates, industry disruptor interviews, and strategic panel sessions.

Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and hosted by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), Adipec returns in person this year, bringing together experts from across the sector.

The Strategic Conference Programme features speaking appearances from more than 160 ministers and policymakers, including Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry & Advanced Technology, United Arab Emirates & Managing Director and Group CEO, Adnoc; Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure of the UAE; Shaikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil of the Kingdom of Bahrain; Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources of Nigeria; Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of the Arab Republic of Egypt; Bento Costa Lima de Albuquerque, Minister of Mines and Energy of Brazil; Mohammad Barkindo, Secretary General of OPEC; and Pavel Yurievich Sorokin, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.

Many of the worlds leading figures in the energy business are also confirmed to speak, including Bernard Looney, Group Chief Executive of bp; Vicki Hollub, President and CEO of Occidental; Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni; Lorenzo Simonelli, Chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes; Tengku Muhammad Taufik, President & Group CEO of Petronas; Alfred Stern, CEO of OMV; Russell Hardy, CEO of Vitol; Eric Cantor, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Moelis; Tetsuhiro Hosono, Chairman & CEO of Jogmec; and Dr Christian Bruch, President and CEO of Siemens Energy AG.

COP26 will impact the trajectory of energy transitions, and unlock new solutions which accelerate diversification and decarbonisation strategies.

Adipecs Strategic Conference will also offer unique insights into how the energy industry has responded to the challenges of Covid-19, and how it is adapting more broadly in the face of accelerated energy transitions, growing global ambitions for sustainable integrated energy value chains, and net-zero emissions.

A selection of the strategic programmes highlights include:

Takayuki Ueda, President and CEO of Inpex Corporation, will speak at a Strategic Panel that explores global energy demand beyond 2021 and the factors influencing the oil and gas industries.

Olivier Le Peuch, CEO of Schlumberger Limited, will lead a Net-Zero Business Model Panel on how to navigate the upstream strategies that IOCs and NOCs are adopting, and what will determine a successful energy transition for companies.

Jeremy Weir, Executive Chairman and CEO of Trafigura, will front a Trading and Commodity Panel that examines the industry fluctuations impacting todays trading cycles and partnership opportunities, with particular insight on energy market diversification.

Thomas Gangl, CEO of Borealis, will participate in a Strategic Panel on circular economy projects, and how these investments will help achieve new sustainable business models.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) will sponsor Adipecs Leadership Suite, in which closed-door, invitation-only Leadership Roundtables will bring together ministers, policymakers and C-level executives to discuss and debate the trends, challenges and opportunities that will drive growth over the next decade and define the global energy future.

Peter Herweck, CEO of Aveva, will head a Digitalising Energy Roundtable on technological innovations and pathways for cross-sector partnerships, with a focus on achieving a greener value chain.

Martin Helweg, CEO of P&O Maritime Logistics, will lead a Strategic Panel for offshore and marine leaders on how to develop successful b value propositions that will capture market opportunities.

Christopher Hudson, President of dmg events, organiser of Adipec, commented: I am delighted to be able to welcome such a remarkable calibre of speakers to Adipecs 2021 Strategic Conference. This is an unparalleled opportunity to hear from the ministers, policymakers, and business leaders who are at the forefront of shaping the new energy agenda for 2022 and beyond. The Strategic Conference Programme is designed to enable all attendees to tackle the challenges facing the energy sector head-on.-- TradeArabia News Service
Positive trends are currently being witnessed within the German travel and air traffic business; however, a steady recovery still remains a distant goal. This was pointed out by the Board of Airline Representatives in Germany (Barig).

Even though passenger traffic has increased during vacation time in fall, the travel process as well as the vacation experience is still severely impaired by inconsistent regulations in different countries.

This is due to the states continuing unco-ordinated approaches in key processes within the travel chain, such as entry and exit rules or the declaration of risk areas. The consequent lack of transparency leads to more complex service processes, which might require more time and higher costs for companies and travellers.

Accordingly, Barig has appealed to the responsible politicians to support the urgently needed harmonisation of travel conditions.

Secretary-General Michael Hoppe said: Freedom of travel and mobility does not only belong to the most basic rights of people, but also plays an eminently important role in the recovery of national economies. Therefore, it is right to re-open borders given the previous successful efforts in fighting the pandemic.

"However, the lack of co-ordination among the different countries and states is slowing down the upswing in travel, with corresponding consequences for people and the economy. Thus, we call on politicians to push forward harmonisation and co-ordination matters, which is in the interest of every country and their citizens.

Towards that end, Barig has advocated the following:

- co-ordinated entry and exit rules

- harmonised recognition of vaccination, recovery, and testing certificates

- uniform declaration of risk areas

- co-ordinated, uniform rules for travel between the EU and other potentially opening countries such as China, India, and others.-TradeArabia News Service
Dakar, Oct 24 (UNI/Sputnik) At least six people died and five others were injured in an explosion in Senegals southern Casamance region, local media report.

The incident occurred on Friday afternoon, when a carriage with people returning from Friday prayers blew up on a mine, Sene News said on Saturday.

As a result, six people were killed and five more were wounded, with two of them sustaining serious injuries.

It is unclear whether the mine was laid recently or was one of the old mines that remain in the crop fields and surface after heavy rains.

UNI/SPUTNIK GNK
New Delhi, Oct 24 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be travelling to Rome, Italy, and Glasgow, UK, from October 29-November 2, to attend the 16th G-20 Summit and the World Leaders Summit of COP-26 respectively.

PM Modi will be participating in the 16th G-20 Summit in Rome from October 30-31 at the invitation of the Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi. The Summit will also be attended by Heads of State/Government of G-20 Member Countries, the European Union, and other invited countries and International Organizations.

He will also hold several bilateral meetings, including with the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

This will be the 8th G-20 Summit that the Prime Minister will be attending.

PM Modi will thereafter travel to Glasgow to attend the World Leaders Summit of the 26th Conference of Parties (COP-26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), at the invitation of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The high-level segment of COP-26, titled the World Leaders Summit (WLS), will be held on November 1-2.

He will hold numerous bilateral meetings on the sidelines of COP-26, including with the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, an official statement said.

The G-20 has emerged as the premier global forum for international economic cooperation.

India is scheduled to host the G-20 Summit in 2023 for the first time.

The forthcoming G20 Summit under the Italian Presidency is centred around the theme People, Planet, Prosperity, focussing on the areas of (i) Recovery from the Pandemic and Strengthening of Global Health Governance, (ii) Economic Recovery and Resilience, (iii) Climate Change and Energy Transition, and (iv) Sustainable Development and Food Security.

COP-26 is being held from October 31 to November 12 under the Presidency of the UK partnering with Italy.

The Summit will be attended by Heads of State/Government of more than 120 countries. COP-26 was originally slated to be held in 2020, but was deferred to 2021 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UNFCCC embodies the global will and vision to combat climate change. The periodic Conference of Parties to this Convention have emerged as global climate summits, providing an opportunity for stocktaking and for charting the way forward.

Prime Minister Modi last attended the COP-21 in Paris in 2015, when the Paris Agreement was concluded, and whose implementation commences this year.

At COP-26, the Parties will work to achieve the completion of Paris Agreement implementation guidelines; the mobilization of climate finance; actions to strengthen climate adaptation, technology development and transfer; and keeping in reach the Paris Agreement goals of limiting the rise in global temperatures, the statement added.

UNI/RN
Dushanbe, Oct 24 (UNI/Sputnik) The Russian 201st Military Base in Tajikistan will replace its old combat vehicles with 30 upgraded T-72B3M tanks before the end of this year, the head of the unit's staff, Col. Evgeny Okhrimenko, said on Sunday.

"Currently, the military base is rearming the units with modern military and special equipment. Before the end of the year, 30 modern T-72B3M tanks with advanced combat specifications are planned to arrive to replace combat vehicles of earlier modifications," Okhrimenko told reporters.

The commander added that the motor rifle divisions of the base have recently received a batch of advanced BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, cutting-edge Verba man-portable infrared homing surface-to-air missiles, rocket-propelled infantry flamethrowers of longer range and higher power, Kornet anti-tank guided missiles, 12.7mm ASVK-M Kord sniper rifles, AK-12 rifles, Linza sanitary armored cars, and the equipment of rear and technical services.

Okhrimenko noted that the unit personnel master the new equipment during exercises and learn effective military operations using the experience of the latest conflicts.

On Saturday, Col. Gen. Alexander Lapin, the commander of Russia's Central Military District, said that the large-scale CSTO strategic military exercise Boyevoe Bratstvo-2021 (Combat Brotherhood) in Tajikistan, is a response to the deteriorated security situation in Afghanistan governed by the Taliban.

UNI/SPUTNIK VP RNJ
BATON ROUGE, La. - This months bills for Louisianas two million or so electricity customers are $11.67 higher, on average, than they were in October 2020, according to the reports compiled by the Public Service Commission, which regulates the privately owned for-profit companies and the cooperative nonprofits that sell power throughout the state.

That averages to a 12% increase for every utility company in the state except for handful regulated within city limits by municipal governments.

Entergy Louisianas roughly 1 million customers  including those in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette metro areas  were charged $119.70 for 1,000-kilowatt hour this month. Thats $13.38 more  a 12.6% increase  than the $106.32 on the October 2020 bill. A typical homeowner buys about 1,300 kWh per month.

Cleco, which covers parts of St. Tammany Parish, charged its residential customers on October 2021 bills, $130.63 when using 1,000 kWh, which is $22.54, a 21% increase over its $108.09 October 2020 bill.

Every utility has its own unique issues. For instance, Cleco had to fire up its aged and expensive Dolet Hills plant in Mansfield to provide enough power to cover its additional needs this year. Those costs will be on bills until the plant is closed at the end of the year.

In general, though, its the same kind of drivers for them (other utilities) as it is for us, said Robert Cleghorn, Vice President Regulatory Strategy at Cleco Power LLC. He added that over the past 85 years, Cleco has faced many challenges. What we are experiencing now is one of those challenges: higher-than-normal bills.

The surprise February ice storm caused unexpectedly high costs during a time a year when, because of Louisianas usually mild winters, less power is used. Those costs were significant and regulators ordered that they be spread over several months. July and August were hotter than usual, including a full week above the dangerously high 105-degree heat index. Most Louisiana customers have air conditioners that they cranked up. And the price of natural gas, which fuels 70% of Louisianas electricity-making plants, increased 78% since last October.

Not mentioned quite as much by industry officials are, for some companies, PSC-approved rate increases. Other utilities have miscellaneous charges and most have reimbursements of what was spent to restore power after hurricanes before 2020. No one charge by itself is that much.

Its all these charges added together that create a pancaking effect, said Logan Burke, who leads the New Orleans-based consumer group, Alliance for Affordable Energy.

Price increases are just beginning. Customers will have to repay restoration costs from hurricanes Laura, Delta, and Zeta from last year. Those costs wont find their way onto bills for another year, at least. Then the costs of Hurricane Ida will be calculated, approved by regulators, and added to monthly bills as another surcharge sometime in the future.

Burke said the estimates forwarded during testimony at the PSC suggest another eventual hike of up to 10% when all the hurricanes are added.

PSC Chairman Craig Greene said, While the bill increases are a mixture of a lot of elements  namely rising fuel costs, approved rate increases, and storm costs  all of the reasons point to the frustrating reality that our present system puts customers in the position of bearing all of the risks associated with utility company decisions.

A utility company is allowed to charge customers for its cost to make and transmit power. Privately owned companies can tack on a profit, up to 10% depending on circumstances. Cooperatives, which were set up in the 1930s to bring electricity to rural areas, dont collect profits.

Electricity is made in generators that need fuel to operate. Utilities pass along the cost of that fuel bought a month or so ago but no profit is added. Entergy Louisiana bills saw the fuel adjustment portion of the bills go up $10.90 between October 2020 and October 2021.

The recent increases in utility costs across the country, including Louisiana, are largely driven by rising natural gas prices, said Brandon Scardigli, a spokesman for Entergys regulatory team. Some of these items are driven directly by the consumer, such as the amount of power used, but others are driven directly by market values, such as the price of natural gas.

The price of natural gas on Friday was $5.28 per Metric Million British Thermal Unit. Thats about 78% more expensive than the $2.99 MMBtu natural gas sold for on Oct. 22, 2020. In the past, the cost of natural gas fluctuates and eventually goes down.

With the fuel charges only temporarily impacting customer bills, we are confident that things will get back to normal soon, said Fran Phoenix, a Cleco spokeswoman.

In the meantime, customers should keep in mind that using more electricity translates to geometrically higher monthly bills. For instance, Clecos residential customers using between 1,000 and 1,500 kWh, have seen the bottom lines of their monthly bills go up about 9.5% from October to October. But for those customers using more than 3,000 kWh, their bills increased up to $70 per month  20% more over the same time period.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 10:32:46|Editor: huaxia

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SYDNEY, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Authorities of Australian state of Victoria outlined on Sunday what life would look like when the state reaches vaccination rates of 80 and 90 percent.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said there would be a "fundamental change" to health restrictions when the state reaches a 90-percent rate of vaccination, which is predicted to come around Nov. 24.

"There will be no caps anywhere." He said. "Masks will only be required in high risk indoor settings, for instance public transport, prisons, hospitals, aged care."

He also said that even when this milestone is reached, the "vaccine economy" would remain in place, meaning residents would still need to be fully vaccinated to enter non-essential retail spaces.

Victoria recorded 1,935 new locally acquired cases and 11 additional deaths in the 24 hours to midnight Saturday.

Despite high case numbers in the state's capital Melbourne, once the state reaches a vaccination rate of 80 percent, residents who were previously locked out of regional Victoria would be allowed to travel anywhere within the state.

Andrews announced that 91.2 percent of the state's adult population had received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 73.7 percent were fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile as residents in the state of New South Wales (NSW) enjoyed their third weekend since exiting lockdown on Oct. 11, the state recorded 296 new cases and four additional deaths in the 24 hours to 8:00 p.m. Saturday.

As of Sunday, 93.3 percent of the NSW's adult population had received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 84.4 percent were fully vaccinated.

Once NSW reaches a vaccination rate of 90 percent, predicted for Dec. 1, the majority of restrictions would be lifted. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 10:49:45|Editor: huaxia

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CANBERRA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has launched the next phase of its coronavirus vaccination campaign as the country continues to battle the third wave of COVID-19 infections.

Health Minister Greg Hunt on Sunday debuted the government's new vaccine advertising campaign.

Dubbed "spread freedom," the campaign emphasizes the benefits of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 such as the freedom to travel interstate and overseas, reminding people that with increasing vaccinations they are able to return to a more normal and free life.

As of Saturday, 86.6 percent of Australians had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 73.1 percent were fully inoculated.

Lieutenant General John Frewen, the COVID-19 Taskforce commander, said Australia was on track to become one of the most vaccinated countries in the world.

"We've now got enough vaccines distributed around the country to double dose all Australians who want to get vaccinated," he told reporters in Canberra.

"If you want to be fully protected before Christmas, then you really need to start coming forward now to that first dose to get the whole process done."

Australia on Sunday reported 2,240 new locally-acquired COVID-19 infections and 15 deaths.

The majority of new cases were in Victoria, the country's second-most populous state with Melbourne as the capital city, where 1,935 cases and 11 deaths were reported.

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) recorded nine new cases on Sunday - its lowest daily tally since late September. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 20:43:37|Editor: huaxia

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JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Fifty members of Islamic State (IS) outfit surrendered to Taliban authorities in eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, a Taliban provincial official confirmed on Sunday.

"Following efforts by local elders and authorities of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, a total of 50 members of Daesh (acronym for IS) group give up fighting and surrendered in Nangarhar," Mohammad Nasim, head of provincial intelligence office, told reporters.

He said the surrendered militants were active in Kuz Kunar and Haska Mina districts of Nangarhar, a known IS militants' stronghold.

The official did not say whether the militants have brought weapons with them.

The incident occurred amid military pressure mounted by Taliban security forces on militants in the country's eastern mountainous region.

The IS militants have not responded to the report so far. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 21:16:00|Editor: huaxia

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JAKARTA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The China-ASEAN relations are at a new starting point and will enter another exciting 30 years, said Chinese ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Deng Xijun.

The two sides shall further unleash the energy and potential of the relations with more active steps and more innovative measures, and build a closer community with a shared future for the benefit of the over 2 billion population in 11 countries, Deng said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. China and ASEAN established dialogue relations in 1991.

Deng noted that during the past 30 years, the two sides have made a giant leap forward in economic and trade cooperation. The two-way trade increased by 85 times, making the two sides each other's largest trading partners.

In the first three quarters of this year, China-ASEAN trade totaled 630.54 billion U.S. dollars, up by 31.1 percent year-on-year and accounting for 14.4 percent of China's total foreign trade, continuing to maintain strong growth momentum, Deng said.

According to China's statistics, since the establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 11 years ago, 90 percent of the goods between the two sides can be traded at zero tariff.

Commenting on the significance of ASEAN centrality embodied in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Deng said that during eight years of negotiations, ASEAN has played a leading role by vigorously coordinating the positions of all parties and ensuring steady progress.

China was the first non-ASEAN member to complete ratification of RCEP, he noted.

"The agreement is of vital significance to promoting post-COVID-19 economic recovery and prosperity in the region, deepening economic integration of East Asia, and safeguarding regional peace and stability," said Deng.

"China will continue fully cooperating with ASEAN to have the RCEP take effect as scheduled early next year."

Regarding the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Deng said China and ASEAN have been upholding the spirit of mutual assistance and solidarity as reflected by the cooperation on combating COVID-19.

To date, China has provided all ASEAN member states with over 300 million COVID-19 vaccines and a great number of emergency medical supplies. China has also sent medical expert teams to help build virus-testing labs and worked on vaccine trials with several ASEAN member states, Deng noted.

"Though the pandemic now in ASEAN is receding, the challenges including pandemic rebounding from time to time and low vaccination rate in some countries still remain and thus create uncertainties ahead," said Deng. China is ready to explore strengthening cooperation in vaccine R&D, production, procurement, vaccination, and supervision with ASEAN countries through China-ASEAN Vaccine Friend Cooperation to enhance the affordability and accessibility of vaccines in the region, he said.

Talking about the new trilateral security partnership between the United States, Britain and Australia known as AUKUS, Deng said it is in essence another "Anglo-Saxon" circle defined by the close Anglosphere affinity and geopolitical calculations.

"These small circles would disintegrate the existing regional architecture with ASEAN in the driver's seat and thus significantly undermine ASEAN centrality," he said.

Deng stressed that what ASEAN member states and other regional countries truly long for is no other than the peaceful coexistence of major powers in East Asia, an open and inclusive regional architecture to be consolidated, and a cooperation-oriented agenda with the focus on anti-pandemic endeavors and economic recovery.

In no way would they long for "endless geopolitical rivalry, worrying military and security agenda, or being forced to side with anyone," he said.

"Unfortunately, the policy orientation of the U.S. administration is drifting further away from the wish of regional countries," he said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 21:18:13|Editor: huaxia

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ISLAMABAD, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- A policeman was killed in firing by unidentified gunmen in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday, according to police officials.

Unknown assailants opened fire on the police constable as he was on his way back home after performing his duty with a polio vaccination team near the Multan Road area of Dera Ismail Khan district of the province, Najam-ul-Hasnain Liaqat, district police officer of Dera Ismail Khan, told Xinhua.

The injured constable succumbed to his injuries while being shifted to a hospital, the official said, adding that the attackers fled the scene afterwards, and a search operation is underway to arrest them.

The gunmen also took away the victim's official weapon and a vehicle, according to local reports.

In a similar incident in August, a police officer assigned to guard polio vaccination workers was killed in firing incident in Dera Ismail Khan. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 22:28:20|Editor: huaxia

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SUVA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Fiji will reopen its border for quarantine-free travel for tourists from some countries starting Nov. 11, according to a press statement on Sunday.

Tourists from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Britain, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Qatar, Germany, Spain, France, South Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, Japan and most Pacific island countries and territories will be allowed to enter Fiji without quarantine requirements from Nov. 11, ahead of the official reopening on Dec. 1.

The travellers are required to show proof of vaccination and test negative for the virus 72 hours prior to their departure. After arriving in Fiji, they will spend their first two days inside their hotel premises, and can use all hotel amenities.

A Rapid Diagnostic Test taken 48 hours after their arrival will allow them to explore the travel-safe areas, where they can take part in tours, shop for souvenirs and eat at restaurants.

The Fijian government said these travel-safe areas will be large enough for tourists to enjoy the best of Fiji, but restrictive enough to protect areas with low vaccination coverage.

For returning residents or those visiting friends and relatives after spending three days on hotel premises in Fiji, a negative COVID-19 test result will allow these travellers to enter Fijian communities in any location. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-24 22:34:18|Editor: huaxia

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JAKARTA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Gravediggers in Indonesia are now breathing more easily and having more free time to be with their families as the daily death toll of COVID-19 has dropped, with the number falling to zero in some areas.

During the past one year and a half, the gravediggers had to bury bodies of patients who died of COVID-19 every day from morning to night.

Saam Sadjim, one of the gravediggers at the Pondok Rangon public cemetery in capital Jakarta, finally got the time Saturday to cook for his wife and two children their favorite dish, rice with salted fish, and tamarind vegetables soup topped with chili sauce.

"When the transmission of COVID-19 was still high and there were a lot of corpses, I only slept for three hours, and it wasn't good enough because I was overshadowed by fear and worry about this pandemic," Sadjim told Xinhua.

At that time, Sadjim, who buried up to 60 bodies in a day with his team, had to work until 1:00 a.m. and start again at 6:30 a.m. the next day.

Since Jakarta recorded zero death due to COVID-19 on Oct. 17, Sadjim has started to arrive home before 5:00 p.m. and returns to work on the next day at 7:30 a.m. as he did before the pandemic.

Now he has dinner and watches television with his family every night, which is what he missed the most since March last year when the country recorded the first case of COVID-19.

Haerudin Saleh, a 52-year-old gravedigger in Jakarta, also feels the same relief.

During the gloomy period of high coronavirus death rate, Saleh buried up to 57 bodies in a day, but at the end of September there was only one body in a week and there is no more nowadays.

Indonesia has managed to control the COVID-19 pandemic with a sharp decrease in daily cases compared to the peak of the second wave of transmission in July.

Besides Jakarta, other provinces that have recorded zero deaths are West Java, Yogyakarta and Bali, Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said recently.

The senior minister is confident that his country can maintain the low rate of deaths from COVID-19 with the expanding coverage of vaccinations and orderly implementation of health protocols. Enditem
15:00 | Lima, Oct. 21.

These are the most prestigious awards in political communication, electoral and government campaigns. They are aimed at digital media, as well as technological and academic efforts, print media, as well as leaders committed to freedom, democracy, and above all excellence.





The Washington Academy Chairman Mauricio Jaitt pointed out that this edition once again broke the record in the number of applications. Besides, it reflected a considerable increase in the quality of works presented before the select jury, which was made up of exponents whose trajectory transcends borders.





San Marcos pride





San Marcos University graduate Ana Isabel Fiafilio who currently works at Peru's Education Ministry in the Investments Department has received a recognition for the work she has been doing in promoting Open Government among youth and public servants in Latin America through talks, conferences, and in the dissemination of knowledge on sustainable development in the areas of education, environment, and innovation in Government.





Fiafilio has been a fellow of various programs such as Leading Education, sharing experiences in terms of education with young people from Latin America and experts in the region.









It should be noted that Fiafilio will travel to the United States to receive the award. This event will be held at George Mason University (Arlington Campus) on November 17.





"I recommend that young people have a much more interdisciplinary vision in their different careers, so that they can access more opportunities at the international level," Fiafilio said in dialogue with San Marcos al Dia.
Ahora | El jefe de Estado, @PedroCastilloTe, preside la ceremonia del tradicional Cambio de Guardia, en el Patio de Honor de Palacio de Gobierno.

?? En vivo: https://t.co/sYo9fyfVPH
At the current rate of around thirty-four billion tons of CO2 emissions per year, we could exhaust our carbon budget in less than a decade

Carole King, an American songwriter, recorded these lines in 1971: I feel the earth move beneath my feet, I feel the sky tumbling down. Kings emotions were sentimentally human but in retrospect she seems to have been prescient. Back then, environmental activism was nascent. Greenpeace, the activist environmental organisation, was just being founded.

Five decades later, last week, old timers in the lower Himalayas in Indias Uttarakhand state had cause to remember King, as torrential rain battered the entire Kumaon region. Being level-headed, the hill folk expect little, give a lot and forever live under the benign gaze of a local devi or devata  each ensconced in a fetchingly, rudimentary temple, dotting virtually every hilltop and studded along the rocky banks of the tumbling rivers, which change from an inviting, sparkling, blueish-green to a menacing, muddy-brown during the monsoons, dark with the sludge they carry from degraded, denuded hillsides, gumming up dams along the way and further downs ream, infusing the mighty Ganga river with rich soil to regenerate fields in its flood plains.

It has always been thus. Cities, which are the furthest from nature, and the root cause of much of the ecological degradation earlier and now carbon emissions -- both linked to rapid economic growth, rising disposable incomes and rootless, unsustainable behaviour -- tourism being a prime example -- are also at the forefront of change, possibly, to redeem their guilt. Next month Glasgow, a major industrial city in Scotland, will host the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties (COP26), the worlds top decision-making body for mitigation and adaptation responses to climate change, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be joining several other world leaders. All the earlier twenty-five COPs also met in various cities across the globe.

It would have made more sense and lent immediacy to the deliberations, expected from the 30,000 participants at COP meetings, had it convened instead on a barren hillside, in the semi-arid Sahel or even better on Basan Char -- the shifting, mangrove fringed, mud island, floating in the delta of the Meghna river, where Rohingya refugees are being rehoused, in clapboard huts, just four feet above the water. Experiencing the raging waters of the Bay of Bengal is guaranteed to evoke a quicker response to the problem of rising sea levels, which is expected to deprive millions of their homes and jobs.

Proximity to the problem is a wonderful stimulus for quick decision making. If you live perched precariously close to a fast-flowing river, in a house, seemingly fixed by glue to a steeply inclined hill and a cloud burst pours torrents of water from above with swirling currents threatening to plunge you into the abyss, you shall feel the earth move under your feet. At that moment, any reservations you might have about paying a little more to switch to renewable energy simply vanish. Personalising the problem helps nudge action.

The same sense of urgency is lacking whilst ensconced in a temperature controlled cavernous conference room in some faraway city, which you reach by air and then catch a taxi to your hotel, because your bags -- comtaining essentials for a two-week stay plus space for shopping -- are too unwieldy to trundle around in a bus or on the Glasgow underground, which, incidentally, is functional since 1896 but reassuringly refurbished in 1977.

The multilateral COP architecture was meant to be a celebration of international collaboration. A forum to plug the authority gap, first identified (appropriately) by a British economist, Willian Forster Lloyd in 1833, who lamented that common pastures were overgrazed because no one farmer had the incentive to preserve them by reducing grazing unless all farmers did the same. The absence of a central authority to define rules for sharing a depletable, common resource is the central problem behind global warming.

To be sure, not everyone agrees. Elinor Claire Awan Ostrom, who won the Nobel Prize in 2009, was one such. An institutional economist by persuasion, her field research in California on sustainable community practices for sharing ground water and cooperative irrigation practices in Spain, Nepal, Switzerland and Japan as well as fisheries in Maine and Indonesia showed that decentralised, human communities have succeeded in managing scarce, common pool resources sustainably.

This hope energised global efforts over the last three decades to contain annual carbon emissions within a best-estimate carbon envelope, to avoid a rise in global mean temperature beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times -- the previously assessed tipping point, beyond which climate doom is assured. New evidence suggests that we should be aiming even lower at 1 degree Celsius with an even smaller carbon budget for incremental emissions. At the current rate of around thirty-four billion tons of CO2 emissions per year, we could exhaust our carbon budget in less than a decade -- thence lies the significance of 2030 as a milestone.

The Nationally Determined Contributions -- a voluntary effort by some individual nations, to restrain carbon emissions -- were a compromise at the Paris COP in 2015 because the choice was not to agree on anything at all. Sadly, these have proved insufficient to rein in global warming. With the space for global economic cooperation shrinking and the veiled but relentless global contestation surging, the prospects for a breakthrough in Glasgow are quite bleak. The late Elinor Ostrom would be distraught at the thought.

She would have emphasised two missing fundamentals for a successful outcome. First, a committed pluralist, she would accept only genuine participation, where sovereign negotiating positions reflect the decisions of layered community groups from the village upwards, thereby retaining the spirit of accommodation she evidenced in smaller sub-national communities. Second, rules to make the common decision inviolable, and non-compliance penalised by common consent.

Looking beyond the rhetoric, Glasgow is unlikely to aim sufficiently high enough for an equitable and effective reduction in carbon emissions on a per capita basis. The formalised triviality of multilateral negotiations, as evolved at the COP, are so remote from genuine participation and the common decisions taken, flouted so regularly, that the good folk of the Kumaon hills in India and the refugees on Bashan Char had better get used to feeling the earth move under their feet more often.
Witnesses say Ms Wanjiru, a sex worker, was last seen leaving a hotel bar with two British soldiers (Getty)

Army bosses have been accused of covering up the murder of a 21-year-old sex worker who was allegedly killed by a soldier nearly 10 years ago.

Agnes Wanjirus body was found in a septic tank at the Lions Court Hotel, in Nanyuki, two months after she disappeared in March 2012. The town is a 10-minute car journey from the British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk) camp.

The Sunday Times said a fellow soldier had gone to the proper people immediately after hearing a squaddie confess to the killing, but said he was told to shut up when he reported it and no action was taken.

The soldier, who was identified only as Soldier Y by the paper, said: I told the proper people. Everyone. All the lads, all the senior command that were there.

I went to higher up, hierarchy, people that should have dealt with it. I got called a liar. They basically just said, Shut up and get out.

The soldier from the Duke of Lancasters Regiment said to be responsible has been named by his colleagues, the paper said  referring to the alleged killer only as Soldier X.

Soldier Y described being shown her body in the septic tank by the squaddie, saying: He took me to the tank and lifted it up, and I looked in and I just remember seeing her in there.

My heart sank. My mind just went blank. The only thing I could say to him was: Ill never forgive you for this.

Ms Wanjirus body was discovered two months later, after the squad had returned to the UK.

An initial inquiry into the death of Wanjiru was unsuccessful, but a fresh investigation has been launched after an inquest delayed until 2019 found Wanjiru was unlawfully killed, the Sunday Times reported last month.

Judge Njeri Thuku wrote at the end of the inquest she formed the opinion that Agnes was murdered by British soldiers.

The newspaper said Soldier X denied any involvement in the murder of Wanjiru, whose post-mortem found she died as a result of stab wounds to her chest and abdomen.

There was also evidence she had been beaten, although due to the condition of her body it was unclear whether she had been sexually assaulted.

Story continues

Witnesses told the Sunday Times Wanjiru, a known sex worker, was last seen leaving the hotels bar with two British soldiers.

Labours shadow defence secretary John Healey accused his Tory opponent, Ben Wallace, of not taking the case seriously enough. He should pledge the fullest cooperation to Kenyan detectives and launch an inquiry into any possible cover-up from commanding officers, military police or the MoD, Mr Healy said of the secretary of state.

He continued: The details of this young Kenyan womans death are dreadful, yet theres still no action from defence ministers on reports of grave failings by the British military exposed in this case.

When our forces serve overseas they stand up for British values and these allegations, if proven, would profoundly betray those values.

Mr Healy finished by saying that, nine years on, justice must now be done for Agnes and her family.

Tweeting about the story, Labour MP Jess Phillips described it as a tragic tale and said it is one will be pressing the defence secretary for answers about.

Her name was Agnes Wanjiru and we owe her a debt, Ms Phillips added.

Wanjiru  a hairdresser who had recently turned to sex work to provide for her five-month-old baby, Stacy  was last seen by witnesses on the evening of 31 March 2012.

Her body was found naked behind the rooms where soldiers had been staying, without some fingers and toes due to advanced decomposition. Wanjiru had a 2cm stab wound to her lower right abdomen and a blunt force injury to her chest, the Sunday Times details. Her lungs had also collapsed.

An investigation into Wanjirus death stalled when a request by Kenyan police in June 2012 to the British Royal Military Police (RMP) that nine soldiers be questioned was said to have gone missing.

Detectives allegedly asked the RMP to put 13 questions to the soldiers, including whether any of them had sex with Wanjiru on the night she disappeared.

A photo of the victim was included in the request, as well as a request for DNA samples to be taken from the nine men.

The man who allegedly admitted to the killing was not among those nine, according to the Sunday Times.

The jurisdiction for this investigation rests with the Kenyan Police, and we are currently in discussions with the Kenyan authorities to determine what support is needed, an MoD spokesperson said.

Due to this being subject to an ongoing investigation it would be inappropriate to comment further.
A senior US diplomat has urged North Korea to refrain from additional missile tests and resume nuclear diplomacy, days after the North fired its first underwater-launched ballistic missile in two years.

Sung Kim, the top US official on North Korea affairs, spoke on Sunday after meeting with South Korean officials to discuss North Korea's recent missile tests that have come amid a long-running stalemate in nuclear diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.

"We call on the DPRK to cease these provocations and other destabilising activities, and instead, engage in dialogue," Kim told reporters, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"We remain ready to meet with the DPRK without preconditions and we have made clear that the United States harbours no hostile intent towards the DPRK," he said.

Last Tuesday, North Korea fired a newly developed ballistic missile from a submarine in its fifth round of weapons tests in recent weeks.

South Korean officials said the submarine-fired missile appeared to be in an early stage of development. That marked the North's first underwater-launched test since October 2019 and the most high-profile one since President Joe Biden took office in January.

Missiles fired from submarines are harder to detect in advance and would provide North Korea with a secondary, retaliatory attack capability.

Tuesday's launch violates multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban any activity by North Korea in the area of ballistic missiles.

Kim said the test poses a threat to the international community and is "concerning and counterproductive" to efforts to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim's South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, said the two had an "in-depth" discussion on Seoul's push for a symbolic, political declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War as a way to bring peace.

Story continues

Noh said he and Kim also reaffirmed that North Korea's issues of concern can be discussed once talks are restarted.

The US-led talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program have been largely stalled since early 2019, when a summit between then President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un collapsed due to disputes over US-led sanctions on the North.

The Biden administration has repeatedly said it's ready to meet North Korea "anywhere and at any time" without preconditions.

But North Korea says a return to talks is conditional on the US dropping what it calls a hostile policy toward Pyongyang, an apparent reference to the sanctions and regular military drills between Washington and Seoul.

Before the submarine missile launch, North Korea had also tested several other new weapons systems over a six-week period, including its longest-range cruise missile and a hypersonic missile currently under development.

Those weapons potentially put US allies South Korea and Japan within striking range. Some experts say North Korea may also in coming weeks test a missile that could reach the American homeland in order to maximise its pressure campaign on the United States.
A Cayuga County Sheriff's Office lieutenant has filed a lawsuit claiming the state Attorney General's Office is illegally withholding records on a complaint he says was filed about the county district attorney's conduct, an action the DA says is "dirty politics" amid a judicial campaign.

Fred Cornelius, a detective lieutenant with the sheriff's office, filed a legal petition in state Supreme Court in Albany County Oct. 18 against the AG's office; Abisola Fatade, its records access officer; and Kathryn Sheingold, its Freedom of Information Law appeals officer.

Cornelius, who has been with the sheriff's office for 26 years and is also an elected member of the Owasco Town Board, filed as an individual and not in any official capacity, but he states in the lawsuit that his law enforcement job gave him firsthand knowledge of the complaint, which he says was investigated. In an interview with The Citizen last week, he said the complaint stemmed from a domestic violence case handled by the Auburn Police Department.

Cornelius has been an outspoken critic of the district attorney, Jon Budelmann, during this year's campaign for Cayuga County Surrogate Court judge, pitting Budelmann against Auburn attorney Ben Susman. Cornelius has supported Susman's campaign, including donating to the Susman campaign, writing letters to the editor critical of the DA and making numerous social media posts, including one in recent weeks in which he stated his intention to file a FOIL lawsuit related to Budelmann's conduct.

In response to inquiries on the lawsuit and its allegations, Budelmann said there was no investigation by the AG's office and referenced a page from the exhibits in Cornelius' lawsuit as proof.

"This claim, by a member of my opponents campaign committee, is nothing more than dirty politics. There was no Attorney General investigation," Budelmann said in an emailed response to The Citizen's questions. "The Attorney Generals (FOIL denial) letter ... clearly states, there are 'no records of any matters deemed investigations of Mr. Budelmann.'"

The full paragraph in the AG's office Sept. 22 letter to Cornelius' appeal of his original FOIL letter stated: "I have confirmed with the Public Integrity Bureau, the likely custodian of responsive records, that, after a diligent search, it maintains no records relating to one or more closed matters it deems investigations of Mr. Budelmann. Your assertion that the criminal investigations about which you are inquiring are now closed may stem from a difference in your characterization of an investigation and the Public Integrity Bureau's."

The letter went on to say that records could also be withheld from public disclosure if there was still an ongoing investigation, but noted that the office was neither confirming or denying that an ongoing investigation existed.

When asked about the lawsuit and Budelmann's response on Friday, Susman declined to comment.

The records request

According to his petition, Cornelius made his Freedom of Information Law request with the AG's office on Aug. 1. He requested any documentation regarding AG investigations into Budelmann's conduct, "specifically but not limited to the status of any investigation into Mr. Budelmann by Public Corruptions Investigators or Assistant Attorneys General."

That request was denied by the AG's office on Aug. 30. Cornelius appealed that ruling and was denied again in the Sept. 22 letter, leading to the legal petition he filed this week claiming "that the Appeals Officer's decision is arbitrary, capricious and further based upon abuse of discretion as she did not follow the current state of the law."

The AG's office, through a spokesperson, said it "declines to comment at this time" when asked about Cornelius' lawsuit and his subsequent statement to The Citizen that the complaint and investigation related to an APD domestic violence case.

Cornelius declined to elaborate on his knowledge of the complaint with the AG's office beyond saying it involved the APD's June 2020 arrest of Joel Campagnola, founder of the addiction recovery support organization Nick's Ride 4 Friends, which has worked with local law enforcement leaders as part of its mission to provide support for people struggling with substance abuse.

"I do have to be careful about things that I have learned professionally that wouldn't be my place to disclose," Cornelius said, adding that is one reason he filed the FOIL request.

In addition to law enforcement protocol related to investigations by other agencies, Cornelius said he feels ethically that making a FOIL request was the best route for him to take.

"I wouldn't disclose anything until I received that information back in a format that the municipality was comfortable with," he said.

The lieutenant added that the person who requested the attorney general's office to investigate is someone he worked with professionally, but he declined to say who it is.

"One of the things that I figured would come out as a result of accessing those records would be that information, so I'm not comfortable saying who made the original report," Cornelius said.

What police records show

In the domestic violence case cited by Cornelius, Campagnola reached out to Budelmann as he was being questioned and ultimately arrested in connection with an incident that took place in the late morning of June 3, 2020, records obtained from Auburn Police Department show. According to the criminal complaint filed by APD, Campagnola came to the apartment of an ex-girlfriend and forced the door open, grabbed the woman by her throat and pushed her into a wall. He was charged with felony trespassing because he was carrying a handgun at the time and the violation of second-degree harassment. Campagnola pleaded guilty earlier this year to non-criminal violations as part of a plea deal made with the Oswego County District Attorney's Office, which took over as special prosecutor for the case after the initial arrest.

Campagnola also attempted to contact then-Auburn Police Department Chief Shawn Butler to ask for help, but unlike Budelmann, the chief told him he could not intervene. In a text message that's included with APD's records for the case, Butler wrote:

I hope you understand there is nothing I can do to intervene. There is a serious allegation as you know and I cannot be personally involved. I support you as a friend and a person but my officers must do their job and I must support them with that. Stay strong and we will talk soon.

The district attorney, on the other hand, did initially get involved, APD records show.

According to an investigation summary in the APD case file written by APD Lt. Kyle Platt, Budelmann was speaking on the phone with Campagnola while Campagnola was being held for questioning that afternoon at police headquarters. Platt wrote that he went to the interview room to speak with Campagnola at Campagnola's request, but when he entered the room, he heard Budelmann on speaker phone talking to Campagnola.

DA Budelmann could be heard telling Joel that the police should slow down in their investigation and make sure that they had all the facts straight before doing anything, Platt wrote.

A few minutes later, Budelmann arrived at APD headquarters and asked to speak to either Butler or Deputy Chief Roger Anthony, but neither were available. Platt wrote that he went outside to speak with the DA, who asked him if one of the chiefs was going to be coming in so the investigation could be slowed down. Platt said he was then told neither chief would be available and that he should handle the matter, so he went back outside to speak further with Budelmann.

Butler, who retired from APD in July, told The Citizen via email that he did communicate with Platt at that time.

When the DA reached out to me on this date I did not answer his phone call/text messages immediately but instead spoke to the command officer on duty, Lt. Platt, and asked him if he had the required and necessary probable cause to make an arrest of Mr. Campagnola, Butler said. When he assured me his officers did it was obvious that my involvement regardless of the bequest of the DA would not be prudent; therefore I did not involve myself as I wouldn't in any other arrest that our officers make on a daily basis.

Platt wrote that in his subsequent conversation with Budelmann, the DA said he was concerned that police did not have important facts that Campagnola had told him.

DA Budelmann was advised that his facts were not accurate in that this matter was domestic related and that Joel had a relationship with (the victim) and that Joel had entered (the victim's) apartment without permission," Platt wrote. "DA Budelmann believed that my facts about the relationship were untrue at which time he was advised that Joel had admitted same verbally and in an affidavit to police.

Budelmann continued to say police should slow down and get more information before proceeding with an arrest, Platt wrote.

DA Budelmann indicated that he felt that an arrest of Joel would cause further issues with Nick's Ride and all of the good the organization does. I advised DA Budelmann that there was probable cause to support the felony domestic violence arrest and that it would be doing a disservice of not making an arrest. DA Budelmann then stated that he was not telling police to avoid making the arrest but that we should slow down and make sure we have all the facts before proceeding.

Budelmann left APD at that point, Platt wrote. The DA then had phone conversations with the landlord of the apartment building where the incident took place and the mother of the victim. He called Platt and left a voicemail stating that he was told by both the landlord and victim's mother that they had given Campagnola permission to check on the victim and that the victim's mother's name was on the lease. Police would later confirm that the mother had co-signed the lease and paid the initial deposit and first month's rent, but the victim was the person living in the apartment and making monthly rent payments.

In a subsequent conversation police had with the victim that afternoon, she told them that her mother had called her and threatened to never allow her to see her children again if she didn't drop the charges, the APD records state. Her mother also texted her Budelmann's phone number and said she needed to call him.

While he was at APD and after he left, Budelmann was sending text messages to Campagnola apprising him of what he was being told by police and his conversations with the victim's landlord and mother, the APD records show.

The Citizen asked Budelmann why he got involved in the early stages of this investigation in this manner, and if it was unusual for him to so. He was also asked why he later voluntarily recused his office from the case.

Budelmann did not answer those questions directly, but said "as District Attorney, I serve as legal advisor to law enforcement and am honored to have their endorsement."

The endorsement reference was related to the support his judicial campaign has received from law enforcement unions that include NYS Law Enforcement Officers Union, Council 82; New York State Police Investigators Association; Auburn Police Officers Local 195; New York State Corrections Lieutenants Union, Council 82; Sheriff's Employee Association of Cayuga County; Cayuga County Deputy Sheriff's Police Association; and New York State Corrections Officers Police Benevolent Association.

One person who did view Budelmann's actions in the case to be unusual was Butler, the now-retired APD chief.

Never in my 25 year career with the Auburn Police Department have I seen the DA or any of his staff personally appear at APD relative to injecting themselves into an investigation nor have I ever seen the DA personally text message a defendant while they were in the custody of our agency, Butler said in his email to The Citizen, adding that "this was an alleged domestic violence case whereby our office as well as the DA's office have shared a historic stance of being pro-arrest.

Butler said he "was not at liberty" to either confirm or deny the AG's involvement in an investigation of the matter.

Political motivations?

Cornelius addressed the idea that what he is doing could be viewed as an attempt the smear the district attorney in the middle of his campaign for the surrogate court judge seat, since Cornelius has publicly supported Budelmann's opponent.

"I publicly support the idea of a just and ethical judge. This is is a very important decision that people are going to make and I think that the truth is important," Cornelius said. "I think that people can spin my motives however they want, but the reality is that all I want to happen is for people to have the information that they are entitled to in order to make an informed decision about who will represent them at the highest levels."

Noting that he is a registered Republican, Cornelius dismissed the notion that his actions are politically based. Budelmann is running as the Republican candidate for the judge position. Cornelius added that he used to chair the Owasco Republican Committee but he left that group in order to support Susman, a Democrat, because Cornelius felt he couldn't ethically back Susman and remain on the committee.

"For my own personal and ethical reasons I'm deviating from my normal party line," Cornelius said. "I mean, that's how important I think this is."

Executive editor Jeremy Boyer contributed to this story. Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.

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NEW ORLEANS (AP)  The high school bands played, the costumed marching groups danced and float riders threw Moon Pies and beads to the thousands of people who turned out Saturday for New Orleans' first big parade since the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic put the brakes on the city's signature brand of frivolity.

Its better than Christmas," said Lacey Sanders, who is a member of the Pussyfooters marching club. "I have been waiting for this since April of 2020.

After over a year where the coronavirus largely put an end to parades, the streets were lined with thousands of residents and tourists who came to watch the Krewe of Boo parade  the first float parade since Mardi Gras of 2020.

Krewe of Boo is a Halloween-themed parade that stretches from the city's Marigny neighborhood, through the French Quarter and into the Warehouse District. Riders on the floats dress up in Halloween-themed outfits and throw ghoulish and fun trinkets and beads to crowds that pack the streets.

Crowds in sequined or glittery costumes lined the streets. Parents held costumed children on their shoulders. Members of the Rolling Elvi  an Elvis tribute group that rides scooters  took photos with each other. Students from the Lafayette Academy marching band warmed up while girls in a dance troupe practiced their moves.

All would have been common sites during a regular year, but many were cognizant of how long it's been since the city has seen such an event.

This is one of the best feelings in a very long time. Its so lovely," said Jordan Philebar, a New Orleans resident who was dressed as Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family as she rode a float along with four members of her family. Its lovely to feel slightly normal again.

Mardi Gras 2020 was largely credited with contributing to the city becoming an early hot spot for the coronavirus. As the extent and seriousness of the pandemic became apparent, parades and music festivals were canceled.

If the city can pull off the Halloween-themed Krewe of Boo parade safely, without a resulting uptick in COVID-19 infections, it will bolster Mayor LaToya Cantrells tentative plans toward bringing back the lavish Mardi Gras processions that fill city streets during the annual pre-Lenten celebration.

This is a step towards the return of Mardi Gras next spring, Cantrell said in a Twitter post after announcing in September that the Krewe of Boo parade could proceed. What happens next depends on what we do right now!!

On Friday, the mayor said unless there is a dramatic turn for the worse in our COVID numbers that Mardi Gras would go forward next year  her strongest comments yet that the massive parades that accompany the yearly celebration would roll again.

New Orleans resident Melanie Smith walked with her granddaughter along Elysian Fields Avenue on Saturday, taking photos of especially good costumes, and participating in something she hadn't been able to do for over a year.

We miss it. Us locals, we miss it very much, and were just glad to be back, she said. She said she hoped that with the city's vaccination numbers continuing to rise the parade wouldn't result in more coronavirus cases.

As part of Saturday's safety measures for Krewe of Boo, riders and marching group members had to be vaccinated, or show proof of a negative COVID-19 test.

Also, health officials were out conducting a study during the parade to better understand coronavirus spread in large gatherings. About 40 health employees and volunteers were slated to be at the parade route to assist people in taking the survey and handing out goody-bags to those who take part. In keeping with the Halloween theme, the 40 dressed up as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House adviser and face of the federal pandemic response.

Krewe of Boo was scrapped last year and this year's Mardi Gras was a subdued affair without parades and a largely vacant French Quarter. As vaccinations became more widespread and infections dropped, the city began loosening restrictions that had limited capacity at restaurants or music venues. In one of the last stages of loosening restrictions, officials announced in May that they would start to accept applications for parades and the smaller processions called second-line parades.

The rise of the delta variant, which filled hospitals across the state over the summer, called into question the viability of parades. But in September, Cantrell announced Krewe of Boo would be allowed to parade. She credited work residents had done to slow the delta variant's spread.

New Orleans resident Stephen Hawkins watched the parade with his family although as a longtime member of the Krewe de Lune, he knows what its like to parade as well. He said the krewe's dancers practiced throughout the pandemic  outside and socially distanced  but with no one to perform for. Now their time was here.

He said everyone in their krewe was vaccinated but that it's impossible to say the same for the throngs of people crowded along the parade route. He said he hoped Saturday would lay the groundwork for Mardi Gras next year.

Were looking forward to Mardi Gras 2022. This is the dry run, he said.



Follow APs coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Chinas electric vehicle startup XPeng Motors today unveiled a slew of innovative technologies and thoughts on its Tech Day 2021, including high voltage supercharging technologies, the latest and most sophisticated version of its advanced driver assistance systems, the design of new-generation road-capable flying car, to explore future mobility solutions.

He Xiaopeng; photo credit: XPeng

Long-time charging is one of the main obstacles for wide application of electric vehicles (EVs), so all automakers want to have technology breakthroughs in this segment. Today XPeng launched Chinas first mass-producible 800V high-voltage SiC platform, which can give vehicles a range of up to 200km within 5-minute charging with new-generation X-Power superchargers.

Photo credit: XPeng

For supercharging piles, XPeng plans to roll out 480 kW high-voltage piles with IP67 protection and safety monitoring chips to offer safe and convenient charging experience. The automaker will launch in-house developed power storage technologies, in the form of either super-charging stations or mobile power-storage vehicles.

Photo credit: XPeng

According to the company, it has the most comprehensive supercharging network in China among all Chinese brands, including 1,648 free-of-charge stations and 439 branded supercharging stations. He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of the company, expects that in the next 2 years, the companys charging network will cover all cities and most highways in China. Whats more, the executive said new energy vehicle penetration rate in Chinas auto market will amount up to 50% by 2025.

XPeng also released the latest upgrade of its smart driver assistance system, XPILOT 3.5. The new system features the industrys first mass-producible quadruple perception fusion solution, with dual-camera-vision coverage, complemented by LiDAR and millimeter-wave radar sensors. Its visual perception network has been upgraded from 2D detection to 3D, with multiple-target recognition, classification and positioning. XPILOT 3.5 is expected to be rolled out in the first half of 2022 to support Chinas complex driving scenarios in major roads in the city.

Photo credit: XPeng

As the company believe that human-machine co-pilot will remain critical in the near future, XPeng adopts the route of progressively transitioning from advanced driver assistance to full autonomy. After the XPILOT 3.5, the company aims to roll out XPILOT 4.0 in the first half of 2023. XPILOT 4.0 will be built on a comprehensive hardware upgrade, with 508 TOPS ECU computing power to support point-to-point driving for customers.

He Xiaopeng said in the second half of 2022, XPeng will become the first Chinese vehicle brand to explore the operation of autonomous mobility and the data and scenarios autonomous vehicles collect can accelerate the evolvement of autonomous driving technologies.

Apart from technology advancement, XPeng also puts much weight on drivers training to offer relevant knowledge education and safety tests about driver assistance system.

Photo credit: XPeng

Another bright spot on XPengs Tech day is the unveiling of the sixth-generation flying cars design draft from the companys affiliate Urban Air Mobility (UAM) company HT Aero. The new model has completed 15,000+ safe flights up to now. According to the CEO, the mass production of the new flying car will start in 2024 with a price range no higher than RMB1 million ($156,600). Just several days ago, HT Aero announced it nabbed over $500 million in the Series A funding round, which will value it at more than $1 billion.
SVOLT, a Chinese EV power battery manufacturer carved out of Great Wall Motor (GWM), for the first time appeared on the list of the global top 10 EV battery manufacturers by monthly power battery installation capacity in August, according to the data from the market research firm SNE Research.

SVOLT said cracking the global top 10 was mainly thanks to SVOLT's vigorous efforts to expand battery capacity and strengthen R&D capability. Up until now, it has launched capacity expansion plans of over 200GWh.

According to the data announced by SVOLT and complied by Gasgoo, the battery manufacturer released battery capacity plans amounting to 182.6GWh during the first ten months of 2021.

SVOLT signing agreement for Chengdu project; photo credit: SVOLT



80GWh of the total capacity increase announced this year will be in Southwest China's Sichuan province with 29 billion yuan ($4.534 billion) worth of investment involved. Notably, the project for Chengdu was the biggest one signed so far this year in terms of both planned battery capacity and investment value.

Yang Hongxin, chairman and CEO of SVOLT, said the company was long regarding the construction and development of its Southwestern China base, especially in the core province Sichuan, as an important part of SVOLT's global capacity deployment. The decision to build the Chengdu battery manufacturing base flowed from local attractive merits, such as the strong support of resources, talents, policies, the mature industrial deployment, abundant NEV application scenarios, and the broad market where NEVs are widely used there.

Regarding resources, Sichuan province has launched many projects for the deployment of material and components indispensable to battery production, including lithium mineral, cathode & anode materials, electrolyte, and membrane. Besides, there are ample budget hydropower resources which can help lower the battery manufacturing cost and reduce carbon emissions during the production process.

The market influence from the Chengdu base, as well as the Suining project signed in Jan., is able to radiate all over the Southwestern China. In addition, both cities play important roles in the export to Europe.

SVOLT also launched two new projects in Jiangsu province, one of which was to be carried out in Changzhou, where the company is headquartered and its first battery factory is located.

Including the newly-signed project, the battery capacity expansion plans launched for Changzhou have already involved a total investment of 23 billion yuan ($3.6 billion), the biggest volume SVOLT has ever plowed in a city.

Besides, the project launched in Ma'anshan will yield Anhui province's first base integrating the production and R&D of power battery cells and packs. In Huzhou, Zhejiang province, SVOLT broke ground on a battery manufacturing factory in mid-August, as part of the agreement it inked with local government in February.

Gasgoo not only offers timely news and profound insight about China auto industry, but also help with business connection and expansion for suppliers and purchasers via multiple channels and methods. Buyer service: buyer-support@gasgoo.com Seller Service: seller-support@gasgoo.com

All Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce, copy and use the editorial content without permission. Contact us: autonews@gasgoo.com.
It seems like an unlikely marriage: Tesla, the world's biggest electric automaker, moving its headquarters to Texas  where the oil and gas industry is etched in the states DNA and where, unless something changes, Tesla isnt even allowed to sell its vehicles directly to customers.

On the other hand, Elon Musk  the high-profile leader of Tesla, SpaceX and a number of other companies  has steered many of his operations to the Lone Star State over the past few years, making Teslas headquarters merely the latest such move.

Musk has overseen development of a launch facility for SpaceX rockets on the Gulf Coast near Brownsville, picked Travis County as the site for Tesla's next billion-dollar assembly plant and even became a Texan himself in late 2020 by relocating his personal residence to the state.

His actions, capped by the Oct. 7 announcement that Tesla is moving its headquarters to Austin, have prompted plenty of crowing among Texas politicians and economic development officials eager for examples of the states vaunted business climate prevailing over that of California  which had been Musks longtime base of operations  and other regions of the country.

Texas is the land of opportunity and innovation, Gov. Greg Abbott said in a written statement heralding Teslas headquarters announcement.

There's little doubt that Musk, who is considered one of the two richest people in the world with an estimated net worth over $200 billion, stands to benefit substantially from his move to Texas. The state doesn't have an income tax  compared with California's personal income tax rate of 13.3% for the highest earners.

Musk also engaged in a public spat with California officials in May 2020  and first raised the prospect of pulling up stakes  over local coronavirus-related restrictions that shut down Tesla's factory there for a short time. He's likely to find officials who are more sympathetic to his coronavirus views in Texas, where Abbott has opposed various pandemic-related mandates and recently issued an order aimed at preventing private businesses from requiring that employees be vaccinated.

Still, California has been no slouch when it comes to fostering business activity and economic growth, actually outpacing Texas in the five years prior to the pandemic. California's gross domestic product climbed by about 21% from 2015 through 2019, according to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, compared with a 15% growth rate in Texas.

In addition, when Musk announced the Tesla headquarters relocation to Austin, he said that California will remain a big part of the company's plans.

To be clear, we will be continuing to expand our activities in California, where Tesla has a major vehicle assembly plant in the city of Fremont in Silicon Valley, he said. Our intention is to increase output from Fremont and (from Tesla's Nevada battery factory) by 50%."

That comes as no surprise to Marc Geller, a board member of the Electric Auto Association, who said Tesla is going to need all of its production facilities to keep up with strong demand for electric vehicles nationwide.

"I think Tesla  more specifically Elon  liked the notion of just kind of spitting in the eye of California" by moving the company's headquarters, Geller said. "But it's still going to (have) a big presence in both states because Tesla's going to be a really big presence in the country."

The upshot is that it's probably too simplistic to chalk up Musk's Texas moves to just a big-name example of lower taxes and less stringent regulations proving irresistible. Instead, Musk has said that California's high housing prices  which are a hardship for employees  are among the considerations that have played a role in his decisions, as is a strategic need to locate more of his operations outside of California for logistical purposes.

Musk called Tesla's Fremont factory "jammed" during his Oct. 7 announcement regarding the company headquarters, and he said soaring housing prices in Silicon Valley have "made it tough for people to afford houses, and people have to come in from far away to get to work.

In the Austin area, housing costs have been climbing substantially  but they have yet to reach California's stratospheric prices. The median sales price of single-family homes in Santa Clara County, where Tesla's headquarters had been located in Palo Alto, is about $1.6 million, according to the most recent figures available, compared with $527,000 in Travis County. Tesla and Musk have not yet said how many employees might be relocating to Texas from California as part of the headquarters move.

Still, that might not have mattered if Tesla hadn't already been on the hunt for a site to build a new U.S. factory outside of California to more efficiently serve car buyers in the central and eastern portions of the country.

Tax breaks from Travis County and the Del Valle school district, valued at over $60 million combined, helped seal the deal to build the new factory in the Austin area. But Musk has previously made clear that the quality of life in Austin gave it a substantial edge over competitors, such as a site in Tulsa, Okla., that was a finalist.

I guess a lot of people from California, if you ask them what is the one place you would move outside of California  its Austin, Musk told Automotive News in August last year, shortly after announcing plans for the Travis County assembly plant. "That was a big factor."

Likewise, millions of dollars in publicly funded incentives have helped lure SpaceX to Texas. But Texas has other attributes that have made it attractive to the private-sector space industry as well  such as a deep-rooted space tradition anchored by NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

SpaceX, meanwhile, already has a test facility near Waco but could be planning to expand in Austin, as it has recently posted advertisements for local job openings.

That would be in keeping with a number of other Musk-led ventures that have quietly moved to the Austin metro area during the pandemic.

The Boring Co., Musk's tunneling company, has had a presence in the region since last year and has purchased land in Bastrop County. Neuralink, Musk's neurotechnology company, has posted Austin-area job openings in recent months, while his private Foundation, called the Musk Foundation, moved to Austin in the summer of 2020.

Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, said Musk is clearly fond of Austin, partly because it's "a Silicon Valley in a 'J.R. Ewing' Texas"  a reference to the long-running TV drama "Dallas," about a family steeped in oil riches.

"That's why Musk is moving (Tesla's headquarters) to Austin and not Dallas or Houston," Ives said. "Austin has really become a next-gen technology city. It's much more of a tech-centric city than the oil and gas ones that Texas ultimately made its name on."

As for the decision to move the company's headquarters out of California, Ives said the West Coast state's high cost of living, including housing prices and taxes, played a big role. But he also said "growing tensions between Musk and (regulators with) the state of California and the city of Fremont" likely were factors.

Matt Holm, president of the Tesla Owners Club of Austin and a longtime Musk observer, agreed with that assessment, saying he thinks the die was cast when Musk first threatened to leave California nearly 18 months ago.

"When Elon said, 'I am done with California,' I am pretty sure he made up his mind then," Holm said. "It was just kind of a formality at that point.

Musk has chafed against California's government bureaucracy. But he's also got a big regulatory headache looming in Texas  the fact that Tesla is prohibited from selling its electric vehicles directly to buyers here because of a state law mandating that auto sales go through third-party franchised dealerships.

As a result of the Texas regulations, Tesla is facing the prospect of having to ship vehicles built at its new Travis County factory across state lines first  so they dont count as in-state sales  before bringing them back for delivery to customers in Texas. The company's business model forgoes third-party franchised dealerships and instead relies on direct-to-consumer sales over the internet, a strategy that doesn't comply with the Texas rules.

Tesla  and Musk himself  have tried for years to get the Texas regulations changed, but have been unsuccessful so far. A number of observers say they expect Tesla's huge investment in the Travis County factory, combined with its recent headquarters relocation, to finally tip the political scales in Musk's favor.

I think it's going to be incredibly awkward, both for Tesla and for the government of the state of Texas, for (Tesla's) cars to have to leave the state before they can be sold in the state once production at the factory begins, said Geller, of the Electric Auto Association.

But the Texas Automobile Dealers Association, which has long defended the regulations, isn't ready to throw in the towel.

Proponents of the restrictions contend they safeguard consumers by preventing vehicle manufacturers from establishing monopolies. Critics say they're protectionist measures that enshrine owners of dealerships as third-party intermediaries.

"As we have said before, we believe the Texas Legislature has gotten it right time and time again that the franchised dealer system best serves Texas and Texans by promoting competition in sales and service and providing accessibility in all areas of the state," said Jennifer Stevens, a spokesperson for the dealers' association.

Ives called the regulations "archaic" and said they're ripe to fall in light of Musk's latest Texas announcement.

"A top-three most innovative company in the world moves its headquarters to Texas that's going to pull some significant weight," he said.

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Just days after insurrectionists stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, Facebook's Chief Operational Officer Sheryl Sandberg downplayed her company's role in what had happened.

"We know this was organized online. We know that," she said in an interview with Reuters. "We... took down QAnon, Proud Boys, Stop the Steal, anything that was talking about possible violence last week. Our enforcement's never perfect so I'm sure there were still things on Facebook. I think these events were largely organized on platforms that don't have our abilities to stop hate and don't have our standards and don't have our transparency."

But internal Facebook documents reviewed by CNN suggest otherwise. The documents, including an internal post-mortem and one document showing in real time countermeasures Facebook employees were belatedly implementing, paint a picture of a company that was in fact fundamentally unprepared for how the Stop the Steal movement used its platform to organize, and that only truly swung into action after the movement, which played a pivotal role in the insurrection, had turned violent.

Asked by CNN about Sandberg's quote and whether she stood by it, a Facebook spokesperson pointed to the greater context around Sandberg's quote. She had been noting that Jan. 6 organization happened largely online, including but not limited to on Facebook's platforms, the spokesperson said.

The documents were provided by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen as evidence to support disclosures she made to the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided to Congress in redacted form by Haugen's legal counsel. The redacted versions were obtained by a consortium of 17 US news organizations, including CNN.

One of Haugen's central allegations about the company focuses on the attack on the Capitol. In a SEC disclosure she alleges, "Facebook misled investors and the public about its role perpetuating misinformation and violent extremism relating to the 2020 election and January 6th insurrection."

Leaked documents from Haugen first began appearing in The Wall Street Journal earlier this year. Revelations in the newspaper's ongoing series of reports, The Facebook Files, captured the attention of lawmakers around the world.

Facebook denies the premise of Haugen's conclusions and says Haugen has cherry-picked documents to present an unfair portrayal of the company.

"The responsibility for the violence that occurred on January 6 lies with those who attacked our Capitol and those who encouraged them. We took steps to limit content that sought to delegitimize the election, including labeling candidates' posts with the latest vote count after Mr. Trump prematurely declared victory, pausing new political advertising and removing the original #StopTheSteal Group in November," Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone told CNN Friday.

"After the violence at the Capitol erupted and as we saw continued attempts to organize events to dispute the outcome of the presidential election, we removed content with the phrase 'stop the steal' under our Coordinating Harm policy and suspended Trump from our platform."

Facebook also on Friday night published a blog post by its vice president of Integrity, Guy Rosen, about its efforts around the 2020 election.

"Our enforcement was piecemeal"

Among the tens of thousands of pages of documents Haugen provided is an internal analysis of how the Stop the Steal and Patriot Party movements spread on Facebook, first reported by BuzzFeed News earlier this year.

"Hindsight is 20:20," the author or authors of the analysis, who are not identifiable from what was provided, write. "[A]t the time it was very difficult to know whether what we were seeing was a coordinated effort to delegitimize the election, or whether it was protected free expression by users who were afraid and confused and deserved our empathy. But hindsight being 20:20 makes it all the more important to look back to learn what we can about the growth of the election delegitimatizing movements that grew, spread conspiracy, and helped incite the Capitol insurrection."

The analysis found that the policies and procedures Facebook had in place were simply not up to the task of slowing, much less halting, the "meteoric" growth of Stop the Steal. For instance, those behind the analysis noted that Facebook treated each piece of content and person or group within Stop the Steal individually, rather than as part of a whole, with dire results.

"Almost all of the fastest growing FB Groups were Stop the Steal during their peak growth," the analysis says. "Because we were looking at each entity individually, rather than as a cohesive movement, we were only able to take down individual Groups and Pages once they exceeded a violation threshold. We were not able to act on simple objects like posts and comments because they individually tended not to violate, even if they were surrounded by hate, violence, and misinformation."

This approach did eventually change, according to the analysis -- after it was too late.

"After the Capitol insurrection and a wave of Storm the Capitol events across the country, we realized that the individual delegitimizing Groups, Pages, and slogans did constitute a cohesive movement," the analysis says.

This was not the only way in which Facebook had failed to anticipate something like Stop the Steal, or in which its response was lacking.

Facebook has for some time now had a policy banning "coordinated inauthentic behavior" on its platforms. This ban allows it to take action against, for instance, the Russian troll army that worked to interfere with the 2016 US election through accounts and pages set up to look as if they were American But, the analysis notes with emphasis, the company had "little policy around coordinated authentic harm" -- that is, little to stop people organizing under their real names and not hiding their intention to get the country to reject the results of the election.

Stop the Steal and Patriot Party groups "were not directly mobilizing offline harm, nor were they directly promoting militarization," the analysis says. "Instead, they were amplifying and normalizing misinformation and violent hate in a way that delegitimized a free and fair democratic election. The harm existed at the network level: an individual's speech is protected, but as a movement, it normalized delegitimization and hate in a way that resulted in offline harm and harm to the norms underpinning democracy."

The analysis does note, however, that once Facebook saw the results of Stop the Steal on January 6th and took action, it was able to deploy measures that stymied the growth of both Stop the Steal and Patriot Party groups.

Facebook's Stone told CNN, "Facebook has taken extraordinary steps to address harmful content and we'll continue to do our part. We also closely worked with law enforcement, both before January 6th and in the days and weeks since, with the goal of ensuring that information linking the people responsible for January 6th to their crimes is available."

Pulling levers

Haugen began gathering evidence about the company before she eventually left the tech giant last May. To reduce the chance of getting caught taking screenshots of internal Facebook systems, she used her phone to take photographs of her computer screen.

As the insurrection was underway in Washington and Facebook was trying to get a handle on the situation, Haugen was snapping pictures, documenting the company's response.

One of the documents she captured, titled "Capitol Protest BTG [Break the Glass] Response," was a chart of measures Facebook could take in response to the January 6th attack. The chart appears to have been prepared beforehand; at the time Haugen photographed it, a little less than two hours after the Capitol was first breached, the company had instituted some of those measures while others were still under consideration. Among the potential actions listed in the chart were demoting "content deemed likely to violate our community standards in the areas of hate speech, graphic violence, and violence and incitement."

The page labeled these as "US2020 Levers, previously rolled back."

Those "levers," as Facebook refers to them, are measures -- guardrails -- that the company put in place before last year's Presidential election in an attempt to slow the spread of hate and misinformation on the platform. Facebook has not been clear in its public statements about what measures it did roll back after the election and why it did so at a time of tumult when the sitting president was calling the results of the vote into question.

But according to the "Capitol Protest BTG response" document, the guardrails Facebook reimplemented on January 6th included reducing the visibility of posts likely to be reported and freezing "commenting on posts in Groups that start to have a high rate of hate speech and violence & incitement comments," among others.

In the SEC disclosure, Haugen alleges that these levers were reinstated "only after the insurrection flared up."

Asked about the decisions to dial the levers back and then push them out again, Stone said, "In phasing in and then adjusting additional measures before, during and after the election, we took into account specific on-platforms signals and information from our ongoing, regular engagement with law enforcement. When those signals changed, so did the measures."

A through line

When Facebook executives posted messages publicly and internally condemning the riot, some employees pushed back, even suggesting Facebook might have had some culpability.

"There were dozens of Stop the Steal groups active up until yesterday, and I doubt they minced words about their intentions," one employee wrote in response to a post from Mike Schroepfer, Facebook's chief technology officer.3

Another wrote, "All due respect, but haven't we had enough time to figure out how to manage discourse without enabling violence? We've been fueling this fire for a long time and we shouldn't be surprised it's now out of control."

Other Facebook employees went further, claiming decisions by company leadership over the years had helped create the conditions that paved the way for an attack on the US Capitol.

Responding to Schroepfer's post, one staffer wrote that, "leadership overrides research based policy decisions to better serve people like the groups inciting violence today. Rank and file workers have done their part to identify changes to improve our platforms but have been actively held back."

Another staffer, referencing years of controversial and questionable decision-making by Facebook leadership around political speech concluded, "history will not judge us kindly."

***

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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  An assistant director unwittingly handed Alec Baldwin a loaded weapon and told him it was safe to use in the moments before the actor fatally shot a cinematographer, court records released Friday show.

Cold gun, the assistant director announced, according to a search warrant filed in a Santa Fe court.

Instead, the gun was loaded with live rounds, and when Baldwin pulled the trigger Thursday on the set of a Western, he killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her, was wounded, the records said.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office obtained the warrant Friday so investigators could document the scene at the ranch outside Santa Fe where the shooting took place. They sought Baldwins blood-stained costume for the film Rust as evidence, as well as the weapon that was fired, other prop guns and ammunition, and any footage that might exist.

The gun was one of three that the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez, had set on a cart outside the wooden structure where a scene was being acted, according to the records. Assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in the search warrant application.

It was unclear how many rounds were fired.

Halls did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment. The Associated Press was unable to contact Gutierrez, and several messages sent to production companies affiliated with the film were not immediately returned Friday.

The films script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, said she was standing next to Hutchins when she was shot.

I ran out and called 911 and said Bring everybody, send everybody, Mitchell told The Associated Press. This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman.

Mitchell said she and other crew members were attending a private memorial service Friday night in Santa Fe.

Baldwin described the killing as a tragic accident."

There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. Im fully cooperating with the police investigation, Baldwin wrote on Twitter. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.

No immediate charges were filed, and sheriffs spokesman Juan Rios said Baldwin was permitted to travel.

Hes a free man, Rios said.

Images of the 63-year-old actor  known for his roles in 30 Rock and The Hunt for Red October and his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live  showed him distraught outside the sheriffs office on Thursday.

Guns used in making movies are sometimes real weapons that can fire either bullets or blanks, which are gunpowder charges that produce a flash and a bang but no deadly projectile. Even blanks can eject hot gases and paper or plastic wadding from the barrel that can be lethal at close range. That proved to be the case in the death of an actor in 1984.

In another on-set accident in 1993, the actor Brandon Lee was killed after a bullet was left in a prop gun, and similar shootings have occurred involving stage weapons that were loaded with live rounds.

Gun-safety protocol on sets in the United States has improved since then, said Steven Hall, a veteran director of photography in Britain. But he said one of the riskiest positions to be in is behind the camera because that person is in the line of fire in scenes where an actor appears to point a gun at the audience.

Sheriffs deputies responded about 2 p.m. to the movie set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch after 911 calls described a person being shot there, Rios said. The ranch has been used in dozens of films, including the recent Tom Hanks Western News of the World.

Hutchins, 42, worked as director of photography on the 2020 action film Archenemy starring Joe Manganiello. She was a 2015 graduate of the American Film Institute and was named a rising star by American Cinematographer in 2019.

Im so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set, said Archenemy director Adam Egypt Mortimer on Twitter. She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film.

Manganiello called Hutchins an incredible talent and a great person on his Instagram account. He said he was lucky to have worked with her.

After the shooting, production was halted on Rust. The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website. The teen goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather (played by Baldwin) after the boy is sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.

Lee, son of martial arts star Bruce Lee, died in 1993 after being hit by a .44-caliber slug while filming a death scene for the movie The Crow. The gun was supposed to have fired a blank, but an autopsy turned up a bullet lodged near his spine.

In 1984, actor Jon-Erik Hexum died after shooting himself in the head with a prop gun blank while pretending to play Russian roulette with a .44 Magnum on the set of the television series Cover Up.

Such shootings have also happened during historical reenactments. In 2015, an actor staging a historical gunfight in Tombstone, Arizona, was shot and wounded with a live round during a show that was supposed to use blanks.

In Hill City, South Dakota, a tourist town that recreates an Old West experience, three spectators were wounded in 2011 when a re-enactor fired real bullets instead of blanks.



Berry reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writers Jake Coyle and Jocelyn Noveck in New York; Lizzie Knight in London; Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine; Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles; and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Draft law would see violators pay up to 100 million yuan for every hectare

China plans to step up a crackdown on violations that jeopardize wetlands with fines of up to 100 million yuan ($15.6 million) per damaged hectare, according to a draft law.

Aside from restoring damaged areas they occupied, those who reclaim swamps will have their illicit gains confiscated.

The draft law on wetland protection sets fines for such breaches at between 500 and 5,000 yuan a square meter, with that amount rising to up to 10,000 yuan for breaches in national key wetlands.

It also stipulates a maximum fine of 1 million yuan for those who drain natural wetlands or permanently cut off their water sources.

The draft was submitted to the ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, for a second reading on Tuesday.

The fine increases from the first draft were proposed after the committee solicited opinions from the public, government bodies and senior lawmakers in Beijing, said Hu Keming, vice-chairman of the NPC's Constitution and Law Committee.

Field visits to collect suggestions were also conducted in four provincial-level regions, including Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces, he said.

The draft law would also empower authorities to claim environmental compensation from those who breach it.

A national catalog of important wetlands will be compiled by forestry and grassland authorities and related State Council departments, while provincial-level governments will compile catalogs of important wetlands within their jurisdictions, the draft says.

The central authorities also unveiled a guideline on biodiversity conservation on Tuesday, vowing to place 55 percent of the country's wetlands under protection by 2025 and to lift the proportion to 60 percent by 2035.

According to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, more than half of the country's wetlands are now being conserved.

Thanks to consistent protection efforts, China saw its wetlands grow by about 202,600 hectares from 2016 to 2020, the administration said.

With 201 national wetland parks established in the past five years, the number of such parks across the country has reached 899.

China has some of Asia's most important wetlands, such as Poyang Lake, the country's largest freshwater lake and its largest winter habitat for migratory birds.
Through the expansion of the pro bono program, the firm has not only solidified the vision and goals for the first 25 years of the Crowley Fleck pro bono program, but has also ensured that the firms commitment to pro bono legal services will continue for years to come, said Benjamin T. Cory, Managing Partner. The firm recently celebrated its 125th year and it is fitting that we are following that anniversary with the 25th anniversary of our pro bono program, as the pro bono program has become an essential component of the firm and our culture.

Community service

Ben was inspired to go to law school by his grandmother. After raising four children as a single mother, his grandmother put herself through law school and went on to represent pro bono clients from her own home. When Ben was ten years old, she received a pro bono award from the State of California, and he was in the courtroom when she received the award. Ben keeps a photograph of his grandmother from that day next to his desk as a reminder that providing access to justice is an essential aspect of the practice of law.
The love of the outdoors and the passion for hunting and fishing started for Chuck Bosch while living on his family farm near Linton.

In the evenings and weekends after chores, the youngster would take a shotgun and sit in the cornfields or walk the tree rows in his search for pheasant or sharp-tailed grouse.

Fast forward a few decades and the young boy became a family man with a son of his own. Jared Bosch, now 28, and a firefighter with the Bismarck Fire Department, has absorbed from his father the same love and passion for hunting.

With the geese, duck and pheasant hunting seasons well underway in North Dakota, gun hunters are anticipating the opening of the mule and white-tailed deer season on Nov. 5. The bow season for deer began in early October. The North Dakota Game and Fish department issued 72,200 deer licenses to hunter this year, up from 43,275 licenses 10 years ago.

The father and son recently returned from a deer hunting trip in northwest Wyoming with a family friend. For six days the three trekked through the rugged mountains of the Absaroka Range with Jared bagging a mule deer buck.

Chuck didnt have a deer tag, but was happy just to drive the truck and carry the backpacks. I'm just happy to go, he said. Going on this last hunt was more fun without a tag than with a tag.

The trip was also more than the challenge of the hunt; it was also a time to talk, hang out, take in the breathtaking scenery and, of course, eat like bachelors on a camping trip.

Breakfast was a Hot Pocket and gas station coffee, Jared laughed. He (Chuck) would eat an alarming amount of Snickers bars every day. I try to eat a little more healthy with granola bars. Lunch and dinner was a more traditional camping menu of brats, bologna and deer sausage made from last years harvest and of course a big helping of canned baked beans prepared on a camp stove. Naturally the meals were served on paper plates and eaten at the back of the pickup with the tailgate down.

Their relationship began organically as many father and son relationships do, with the boy always at his dads side. Jared would tag along as a preschooler on ice fishing trips and a few years later as a 6-year-old walking the autumn dry prairie grass fields of North Dakota in search of pheasants.

When ice fishing Chuck joked about his concern Jared would fall into the hole he bore in the thick sheet of lake ice.

We usually had to end the days early because he stepped in the hole and got his pants wet, Chuck said.

During the pheasant season each fall, Jared would walk alongside his dad as they wandered through the prairie grasses. He was at the age where they continually talk, Chuck remembered. It was like walking across the CRP field (Jared melodically saying) Here come the hunters, here come the hunters. It was great, Chuck laughed.

In the off seasons, the two continued to bond in their love of the sport by watching the popular "Tony Dean Outdoors" program on TV every Saturday morning. He (Chuck) lived it, ate it, breathed it, slept it and I was just trying to do the same, Jared said.

The two enjoy gun hunting, but if they had their druthers, they each would prefer to hunt deer with compound bows.

I would give up gun hunting in a heartbeat if I could just bow hunt, Chuck said.

Jared believes rifle hunting is too easy. The guns and the optics have gotten so good and technically advanced. The satisfaction of shooting a deer from more than 1,000 yards is lost on Jared. Whats the fun in that?

With bow hunting Jared says he tries to get within 60 yards of the deer.

Its such a brilliant challenge, he said. You get addicted to it. With a gun you dont get that. I feel more satisfied.

One of the important aspects of hunting for Chuck, a 34-year veteran with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was to teach his son the practice of ethical hunting -- respecting the animal and its existence, being good stewards of the land and respecting landowners.

We dont hunt use bait, its not fair to that animal, Jared said. From the moment of birth to the moment of death, that animal is trying to survive. Its a prey animal. Every second it is looking to survive.

The two dont want to be seen as self-righteous, but adhere in fair chase hunting.

Its what we believe. Its what we do, Jared said.

Chuck's wife, Pam, enjoys seeing what the sport has done for her husband and son and their relationship. I think its wonderful that I can see its made them closer, she said. They understand what the other loves to do. Its great that they can be together.

As Jared recently started a family with his wife, Kodi, the hunting trips with his dad have grown even more special. Its become a better bonding thing for us, Jared said. The couple are expecting their second child in April. He hopes to carry on the hunting tradition with his children as well.

Thats the thing (family) we have in common, Chuck added. Hunting brought us together and its a relationship that has kept us together."

We have learned a lot about each other and a lot about ourselves while hunting, Jared said. Its been a great thing.

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Last fall, I shared a fantastic piece by Haris Durrani, an author and JD/PhD candidate at Columbia Law School and Princeton University, examining the "white savior" complex of the Dune universe, based on actual interviews with Frank Herbert shortly after the release of the first book.

Now, Durrani is back with a similarly fascinating and complex look at the role of Islam in Dune  which, he argues, may not be as appropriative as you might expect. Once again, Durrani turns back to interviews and other original documents to examine Herbert's attentive research on and surprising affection for Islam. From Durrani's perspective, Dune is perfectly in conversation with questions that Muslims have been asking about their own faith for years:

As much as the saga examines tensions between east/west, colonized/colonizer, and Brown (or Black)/White, it also interrogates questions internal to Islam. Dune is orientalist and conservative, but also, and sometimes frustratingly at the same time, thoroughly Muslim. Its Muslimness is not only a function of its Arabic words; its quotations and paraphrases from the Qur'an, prophetic teachings, or Muslim authors; or its references to Muslim histories. More so, its Muslimness reflects a serious engagement with those sources and histories, a conversation with their underlying ideas and affects that surpasses exotic aesthetics, easy plagiarism, cheap appropriation, the assumption of unchanging religion or language, and even scintillating references. Certainly, readers don't level the same critiques at Herbert, let alone other science fiction writers, when he uses the English, French, or Latin language, or references so-called Western philosophy in far future settings. Ultimately, it is through, and not apart from, the engagement with Islam and Muslims that the Dune novels explore their central themes about the relationship between religion, ecology, technology, capitalism, and anti/colonialism.

This piece is long  like, nearly 10,000 words, including footnotes. But damn if Durrani is not the unofficial leading post-colonial Dune scholar of our time.

The Muslimness of Dune: A Close Reading of "Appendix II: The Religion of Dune" [Haris Durrani / Tor.com]
Before he wrote the best-selling book Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump, journalist Spencer Ackerman was part of the Pulitzer-winning team at The Guardian who first reported on the trove of national security documents leaked by Edward Snowden. Now, Ackerman has teamed back up with Laura Poitras, director of Snowden documentary Citizenfour and a founding editor at The Intercept, to share a new old document from the Snowden archives that has not been publicly available until now.

The document, titled "Targeted Killing-Policy, Legal and Ethical Controversy," comes from the US intelligence community's wiki, Intellipedia, and essentially details the IC threat assessments of human rights organizations and civil libertarians who said "Hey extrajudicial drone assassinations are bad and also illegal, hence the 'extrajudicial' part of their name." From Ackerman's (consistently fantastic) newsletter Forever Wars:

While the entry on the wiki, Intellipedia, contains largely public information, it provides unique insight into how U.S. intelligence agencies viewed human rights and other civil-society organizations as a threat to its policy of assassinations. One of its only classified sections baselessly suggests that such legal and political efforts to restrain the drone strikesby both civil-society organizations and United Nations entitiesmight be driven by deadlier associations and agendas. "The effort may indicate a concerted effort by human rights organizations, activist international lawyers and opposition forces to undermine the use of remotely piloted vehicles, targeted killing, preemption and other direct action as elements of United States policy," the document states.

Case in point:

The ACLU's 2010 effort to injunct Obama from killing Anwar al-Awlaki receives substantial attention in the Intellipedia entry. Although that lawsuit failed, the entry dwells on posthumous right-wing commentary defending al-Awlaki's killing. Conservative pundits seemed to believe that al-Awlaki's death has settled the matter, but the Intellipedia author(s) give special weight to "editorials  charging that the ACLU case is a subtle effort, establishing precedent to impose real-time non-government legal oversight of executive decisions regarding the conduct of warfare." That is a hysterical way for U.S. intelligence analysts to describe a lawsuit whose point was to ensure due process for an American citizen who had not been charged with a crime but whom the government assassinated.

Here's the full document, if you're interested. Also you should subscribe to Forever Wars, because Ackerman is doing fantastic work breaking down the US defense and security industries.

On U.S. Intelligence's Wiki, Anxiety About Legal Challenges To Drone Strikes [Spencer Ackerman & Laura Poitras / Forever Wars]

Image: Mike / Flickr (CC-BY-SA 2.0)
L.A.'s Bob Baker Marionette Theater has a new book, Enchanted Strings, and that warms my heart. Hardcover available for pre-order now ($40).



You've asked, you've wished, and now we've written "Enchanted Strings," a spectacular, colorful, visual journey into the history of our Theater and founder dating all the way back to 1930!

"Enchanted Strings", written by Randal J. Metz (Director of Children's Fairyland Storybook Puppet Theater and former BBMT puppeteer), features a foreword from actor, comedian, filmmaker (and puppeteer!) Jordan Peele, and we couldn't be more honored to have them both as a huge part of this book.

You'll meet the remarkable visual artists and craftspeople who worked alongside Bob Baker, contributing their talents to build the theater, design the shows, and hand-craft more than two thousand incredible marionettes. Archival images and ephemera provide a behind-the-scenes look at Bob's amazing work for his theater, Walt Disney, and iconic Hollywood films. With more than 300 vintage and contemporary photographs, Enchanted Strings will delight Bob Baker Marionette Theater fans around the world, and fascinate everyone who is a child at heart!
Before the June 22 Democratic primary for mayor, few predicted the bitter election now gripping Buffalo.

+6 Buffalo mayoral race hits final stretch with star power and blue stamps With just a week and half until Election Day, both mayoral candidates ramped up their efforts on Saturday, the first day of early voting.

Byron W. Brown  the four-term mayor of New York's second largest city, former chairman of the state Democratic Party, and the face of Buffalo's renaissance  was viewed almost everywhere last spring as a Democratic primary shoo-in. Indeed, not one of Buffalo's establishment Democrats even considered a challenge to the mayor and his vaunted City Hall machine.

But everything changed when little-known and underestimated India B. Walton  a self-proclaimed democratic socialist  stunned a complacent Brown, who refused to debate and never even mentioned her name. And as a result, Brown now mounts an unprecedented write-in campaign in the toughest challenge of his career.

Whether anyone wanted it or not, Brown has sparked an election defining Buffalo's political soul.

Brown, a former Masten Council member and state senator, acknowledges that he and his team misread Walton's spirited challenge, that he thought her socialist views would never prevail in a city of "ethnic, conservative Democrats." Now, he is furiously striking back, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising and mobilizing an army of volunteers  even as Walton's supporters remain as committed as ever.

"It might be a blessing in disguise," Brown said Friday of his write-in effort. "I'm energized by it. And I believe that members of the community who might not have paid attention to the election and to what is at stake are paying closer attention.

"Many see the 'Write Down Byron Brown' campaign as ... uniting the city," he added, "and getting people involved who were never involved before."

Plans for a fifth term

At 63, Brown seeks to accomplish what no other mayor has ever achieved in the city's 189-year history  a fifth four-year term. He approaches the task boasting of a vibrant waterfront with more development planned; his claim of $6.5 billion in development and 12,000 new jobs; reducing property taxes by 16%; and an increase in population for the first time since 1950.

And if the city is beset by problems  such as its ranking as one of the poorest in the nation  then Brown sees opportunity. The low tax rate and housing costs attract immigrants. That, in turn, increases the population, bolstering federal aid based on the census.

He points to future priorities like a $250 million program to rehabilitate three Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority complexes. He seeks to label 40% of the city's housing stock as "affordable" in the years to come. And he looks to implement in Buffalo the federal government's $331 million American Rescue Plan to "build a local economy with a focus on inclusion and equity."

"My goal, going forward, is make every neighborhood a neighborhood of choice where people want to live," he said.

+8 Buffalo agency raided by FBI awarded $20 million in grants to Brown campaign donors The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency has also sold property or awarded exclusive development rights to campaign contributors without public bidding, though the Brown administration says campaign cash has nothing to do with getting city contracts.

Problems put Brown on defensive

In addition, The Buffalo News reported last year that a federal grand jury was probing campaign donations to Brown and a Lewiston companys waste disposal contracts with the City of Buffalo. But the mayor has always insisted he has no knowledge of why the FBI raided City Hall and took records, that he has not retained a lawyer and that nothing ever came of the probe.

It all allows new Walton allies to join the onslaught, like the Working Families Party, which Friday reported spending another $173,000 on her behalf, in addition to earlier donations.

"Another friend of Byron Brown being federally charged speaks to the kind of company he keeps," Working Families spokesman Ravi Mangla said after Casey's firm entered its guilty plea.

But if one problem haunts Brown more than any other, it may be "shelf life"  the political axiom holding that all politicians eventually lose their appeal with voters. Brown encountered the phenomenon during his last election in 2017, and even more in 2021.

"It all goes back to shelf life," said Gregory B. Olma, a Democratic zone chairman and Walton supporter. "It's not an inventive administration, and that's where shelf life kicks in.

"People's expectations get lowered, and you see that when parks get vandalized and nobody fixes them," Olma added. "At some point, you have to move away."

State Sen. Sean M. Ryan of Buffalo backs Walton as the "fair and square" primary victor. Never close to Brown and often mentioned as a future mayoral candidate, Ryan points to 16 years in office without a serious effort to address poverty  despite the incumbent's claims.

"When the big developers' projects sail through seamlessly, but it takes a homeowner in North Buffalo five to six months to get approval for a kitchen addition, that tells you he's lost touch," Ryan said.

"It's still one of the poorest cities in the country, child poverty is even worse, and we spend our scarce resources for big tax abatements for high-end apartments," he added. "You take for granted that the job is yours forever. People wanted change."

Others say Browns predicament stems from alienating longtime supporters. Back in the 1990s, Rev. Charles Walker of Mount Hope Community Church on Broadway joined Grassroots, the East Side political movement that spawned Brown. During the mayor's first campaign, Walker thought Brown was just what the long-impoverished part of the city needed.

I voted for him, I campaigned for him  the whole nine yards, Walker said.

But to hear Walker tell it, Brown didnt return the favor  or the favor of any residents of the far East Side who backed his first bid for mayor in 2005.

Hes never come down this way in the last three terms, Walker said. He comes to the Broadway Market and Central Terminal, but thats as far as he went.

The same can be said for the citys redevelopment efforts and city services under Brown, said Walker  a Walton backer who has hosted her twice on his radio show.

+3 Brown and Walton continue to state their cases, with a little help from their friends With one of the nation's most watched local elections less than two weeks away, on the day before early voting was set to begin, the two people who want to lead Buffalo as the city's mayor for the next four years continued to highlight their differences and gather support they hope will carry them to victory.

Byron hasnt done a damn thing for the neighborhood, Walker said. This is the forgotten city here.

Supporters point to changing neighborhoods

Still, Brown enjoys solid support in many sections of the city, even if few elected Democrats have endorsed his candidacy (many have not endorsed Walton either). Masten Council Member Ulysees O. Wingo Sr., representing Brown's home district, passionately defends the mayor against charges that City Hall ignores the East Side.

"If you say the East Side is neglected, then you don't remember what it looked like 16 years ago," he said, pointing to the Northland Workforce Training Center preparing many neighborhood residents for good jobs, as well as new playgrounds and sidewalk repairs.

"All these businesses coming to Buffalo would not have come without seeing this resurgence," he said.

Then why did Buffalo Democrats reject him in the primary?

"What I saw was emotional voters, rather than educated voters," Wingo said. "Now that the race is being intensely covered by the media, we'll see how many are still emotional."

North Council Member Joseph Golombek Jr. says his constituents are treated fairly. He sees the $21 million redevelopment of the former School 60 and a proposed rails to trails project, and believes the mayor may have lost the primary by avoiding Walton's "divisive politics."

"Byron has been good for my neighborhood. I know what I can get with Byron," he said. "I don't believe Walton will be worried about my neighborhood based on the rhetoric I've heard."

And though pilloried in some quarters for his support of developers and their projects, the business community wants Brown to continue the progress they see. Jonathan A. Dandes, a Rich Products executive and vice chairman of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, calls the mayor "honest, straightforward and accessible."

Brown helps the business community "navigate through the patchwork" of regulations, he said, ultimately resulting in jobs. And he has made the business community understand that his terms of "diversity and inclusiveness" must be part of the deal.

"I've seen him stand in board rooms and point to the needs of minorities," Dandes said. "That has raised the awareness of the business community."

'I'm prepared to win'

Brown enters the last days of the 2021 campaign with plenty of money, universal name recognition and the trepidation of some voters fearful of a "democratic socialist" running their city. Indeed, Brown never misses a chance to call attention to the term. He refers to images of Walton with bullhorn in hand "calling for defunding the police and shouting profanities at police officers trying to do their jobs."

"With Ms. Walton, I use the term 'radical socialist,' not 'democratic socialist,' " he said.

But he must also deal with a Democratic establishment, some of them old friends, supporting Walton or remaining neutral  including former allies like Gov. Kathy Hochul and State Sen. Timothy M. Kennedy. Assembly Majority Leader Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes on Saturday endorsed the mayor.

Following Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer's endorsement of Walton on Thursday, Brown accepts the realities of politics and realizes more old friends may leave in the days ahead. He says he will go it alone if he must.

"I knew from the beginning that when you lose a primary, much of that institutional support will go away," he said. "I knew what I was in for. I'm prepared to win without it."

News Washington Bureau Chief Jerry Zremski contributed to this report.

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Masten Council Member Ulysees O. Wingo Sr. and City Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams were among those who addressed the crowd.

On the sidewalk outside the polling place, two volunteers staffed a table where they handed out blue Byron Brown stamps designed for voters to use on write-in ballots. They had sample ballots on display, explaining how to write in a candidates name, and gave out hand sanitizer and pens.

+3 Brown and Walton continue to state their cases, with a little help from their friends With one of the nation's most watched local elections less than two weeks away, on the day before early voting was set to begin, the two people who want to lead Buffalo as the city's mayor for the next four years continued to highlight their differences and gather support they hope will carry them to victory.

Fundraising continues familiar pace

The two candidates most recent campaign filings, which were submitted Friday, showed that their respective fundraising since Oct. 1 had continued much as it had been for the first nine months of the year.

Brown again raised nearly twice as much as Walton: $340,027 to her $191,295.

In keeping with her earlier filings, Walton did not itemize more than one-third of her contributions. New York State law does not require candidates to itemize contributions under $100.

The two candidates each reported raising a similar amount from contributors out of state. Brown reported raising $34,375 from other states, while Walton reported raising $38,524 from outside New York State.

One of those out-of-state donations to Walton came from Robby Takac, the bassist for the Buffalo-born Goo Goo Dolls, who sent in his $1,020 contribution from California.

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Mary B. Pasciak Reporter I have been writing for my hometown paper for more than two decades. These days, I write about how the pandemic is affecting our community. If you have a story idea, call or text me at 716-710-9393, or email me at mpasciak@buffnews.com. Follow Mary B. Pasciak 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
Brown targeted Walton's socialist positions on a host of issues, from policing to taxes.

"It's time that we go to the polls and we show people in this community, across the state and across the nation that the firewall to socialism and the bad ideas of socialists ends right here in the City of Buffalo," he said.

"With an unqualified, radical socialist, our community will only go backwards," Brown said, "and we can't allow that to happen."

Lynne Dixon, who is running for Erie County comptroller, was among those in the crowd. Buffalo Police South District Chief Robert Joyce and about a dozen police officers lingered nearby throughout the rally.

At about 2 p.m. Saturday, about 100 people supporting Brown gathered a few blocks from the Delavan-Grider Community Center. The event was billed by Browns campaign as a "labor parade to the polls."

Some of the music played from vehicles at the event included a version of "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," by Jim Croce, with the lyrics rewritten to replace the name Leroy with Byron.

The crowd, which included several people carrying United Auto Workers signs, chanted "write down Byron Brown" and "four more years" as they marched west toward the community center, where Brown cast his own ballot.

+8 Buffalo agency raided by FBI awarded $20 million in grants to Brown campaign donors The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency has also sold property or awarded exclusive development rights to campaign contributors without public bidding, though the Brown administration says campaign cash has nothing to do with getting city contracts.
He said Town Hall has gotten "pretty discombobulated" in the past couple years and employees must be treated fairly.

"You have the haves and have-nots," Petrie said. "It's very political. I think we need to stop that."

Farrell, a school counselor in the Lake Shore Central School District, said she has been able to be a voice for the community. She wants to develop a comprehensive plan that will take the town forward. She also has worked on improving gateways in the town, including the South Park Avenue shopping area, Camp Road-Lake Street and Woodlawn.

"I've demonstrated in the first four years that not only can I collaborate with people but that I can get results," Farrell said.

She said she is proud of grant money flowing into the town.

Comerford, a special education teacher in the Frontier Central School District, is a member of the town Planning Board. She was a founding member of "Hamburg Residents Against the Asphalt Plant."

"I became keenly aware of the importance of planning," she said.
In each case, volunteers for Democratic primary winner India B. Walton were further down the sidewalk or across the street.

While the Walton forces offered palm cards and signs, the Brown workers had light blue rubber stamps reading "Byron W. Brown," which could be applied to the write-in space in the lower right-hand corner of the ballot.

The mayor's team had sample ballots to show voters where to put Brown's name and to remind them to fill in the oval on the write-in space to make sure the vote is counted by the ballot scanner.

"People have been cordial," said Lisa Yaeger, a Brown volunteer outside the North Buffalo Community Center on Sanders Road. She said numerous voters had accepted offers of rubber stamps and pens.

"There's a steady stream of folks, which is nice," she said.

Of course, Walton's name is preprinted on the ballot, since she won the primary.

Claudette and Mike Rivera, who voted at the Sanders Road site, went for Brown.

Byron Brown urges voters to 'write down' his name as early voting kicks off The mayor and his supporters described the election in dire terms, with democratic socialist India B. Walton painted as a threat to Buffalo.

"I like the direction the city is going is," Claudette Rivera said. "I didn't feel like Walton has enough experience. I feel she should have taken a different position before she ran for mayor."
Although she claimed to be in her 40s, she was actually 63 at the time of the stunt. Two assistants helped Taylor into the barrel, then a boat towed her about a mile from the falls and dropped her into the rapids in the Niagara River above the 170-foot Canadian falls. Twenty minutes later, Taylor's barrel appeared at the bottom of the Horseshoe Falls and she emerged to cheers from the crowd. She famously said afterward: No one ought ever do that again.

The stunt gave her not only the title of the first woman surviving the trip over the falls in a barrel, but she was the first human. (Animals had gone over in barrels before.)

Taylor enjoyed mild fame after her stunt, but never made the fortune she envisioned for herself. She had to use a lot of her money buying back her own barrel from an event promoter who ran off with it. By the time Taylor died in 1921, she was penniless and living at the Niagara County Almshouse in Lockport.
MIAMI (AP)  Florida's top health official was asked to leave a meeting after refusing to wear a mask at the office of a state senator who told him she had a serious medical condition, officials have confirmed.

Florida Senate leader Wilton Simpson, a Republican, sent a memo to senators Saturday regarding the incident at the office of Democratic state Sen. Tina Polsky, asking visitors at the building to be respectful with social interactions. Polsky, who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, had not yet made public her breast cancer diagnosis.

Polsky told The Associated Press about the tense exchange with state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo that was first reported by the news site Florida Politics. She said Ladapo and two aides were offered masks and asked to wear them when they arrived for the Wednesday meeting. She did not tell him she had breast cancer, but said she had a serious condition.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cancer patients are at a higher risk to get severely ill from COVID-19 and may not build the same immunity to vaccines.

Ladapo had asked to meet her in Tallahassee as he seeks confirmation in the Senate after being named to the post by Gov. Ron DeSantis last month.
Im a middle-aged white man, raised in the suburbs, a product of the evangelical church. Im a dad, and I dance like one. I dont swear often. My cousin, who I love and respect, is a police officer.

And yet, in the summer of 2019, I too, was on the streets of Buffalo with India Walton and many others, using some rough language in our chants about police.

Even though Im a regular in protest spaces, this felt different. The gatherings seemed to be spontaneous and leadership was fluid. My New Balance shoes, button-down shirt and receding hairline were not the norm in this crowd. More than one protester checked to see if I was an undercover officer. I wondered to myself if I belonged there. Should I have been amplifying this message?

The language we used is vulgar, but not more vulgar than police violence. We were chanting during the summer that we all watched one police officer slowly suffocate George Floyd, while three others stood by and did nothing.

We were chanting with Cariol Horne, who lost her job and who had then lost her pension for intervening to stop police violence. We were chanting the summer that Buffalo police responded to Willie Henley, a man experiencing a mental health crisis, by shooting him.
 Voters have not been served this year by the lack of mayoral debates. But now Walton has agreed to meet Mayor Byron Brown in a Wednesday affair sponsored by St. Josephs Collegiate Institute that will not be televised, but will still generate plenty of media attention. Since 1984, Ted Linas American Government and Politics class has become a top notch mainstay of the Western New York political scene.

 Two Buffalonians are recommended for appointment to the Court of Appeals. They include Associate Justices Erin Peradotto and Shirley Troutman of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court. Timothy Murphy, an assistant public federal defender in the Western District, is also recommended for the seat of retiring Judge Gene Fahey of Buffalo.

 Quote of the Week comes from Erie County Democratic Chairman Jeremy Zellner on the influx of NYC types backing its candidates for mayor (AOC and Gianaris this weekend for Walton; Congressman Tom Suozzi earlier for Brown).

People around here are getting a little tired of outsiders telling us how to vote, he said. AOC and Mike Gianaris this week; Tom Suozzi last week. Its not effective.

Nevertheless, Suozzi is expected back in town for Brown this week.

An earlier version of this column misidentified the congressman planning to come to Buffalo to campaign for Mayor Byron W. Brown.

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Let me start by saying Wow! Do government officials know that Erie County is the only county in the state not to allow youth deer hunting? Fifty-six other counties and 46 other states allow this practice. Do officials know how rural Erie County is, such as the areas of Springville, Holland, North Collins, Boston, etc.? Do officials know that youth can hunt small game such as turkey, rabbit, coyote, fox, groundhog and squirrel with a firearm in Erie County, when accompanied by an adult?

Is an Erie County official trying to curtail gun violence by not allowing youth to hunt deer? This is so out of touch with reality. Supervised youth hunting is not at all related to juvenile involved shootings or crime that is occurring outside of the sport of hunting. It is my opinion and the opinion of countless others that it should be the parents or mentors decision if youth should participate, not a government officials decision. Furthermore, hunter education classes and certificates of completion are mandatory by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for all youth before they even can get a hunting license.
The Atlanta Braves have picked country singer Travis Tritt to sing the national anthem to open Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tritt made the announcement on Twitter.

FYI - I will be singing our National Anthem for Game 6 of the NLCS in Atlanta tonight between the @Braves and the @Dodgers.   Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) October 23, 2021

Tritt, a Georgia native, has been very outspoken about his opposition to vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 safety measure. Earlier this week Tritt announced that he's canceling concerts in four states due to their required COVID-19 safety measures. Venues in Mississippi, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana require concertgoers to wear masks, show proof of vaccination, or proof of a negative COVID-19 test.

In an interview with Billboard, Tritt said that he decided to cancel the shows due to the negative comments he received after performing in venues with COVID requirements. In August, he released a statement that said vaccine mandates were "discriminating" against people who choose to remain unvaccinated. He implied that vaccine mandates are akin to the squelching of any specific freedoms and basic human rights around the world.

Travis Tritt, who has said that vaccine mandates are discriminatory, will sing the national anthem before Game 6 of the NLCS between the Braves and Dodgers. (Photo by David A. Smith/Getty Images)

If Tritt had for some reason been chosen to sing the national anthem at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, he might have said no since Los Angeles County requires proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to enter large venues. Georgia's Cobb County has no such requirements.

Tritt told Billboard that he's not against the vaccine, but "against forcing people to take medicine that they may not need and may not want." The CDC has advised everyone age 12 and older to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

MLB requires every non-player who comes onto the field to be vaccinated. and a Braves spokesperson told the Washington Post that the team will follow all COVID-19 for the singing of the national anthem. It doesn't appear that Tritt has shared his personal vaccination status.
ARENA  The desks are gone, along with the students, teachers, playground equipment and concerts.

The 2018 closure of the elementary school was a blow to this eastern Iowa County village, and required students here to be bused to Spring Green.

Declining enrollments, increased costs and maintenance issues forced the hand of the River Valley School District, which in 2017 also shuttered its elementary school in Lone Rock for the same reasons.

But on Saturday, the former Arena Elementary School was full of life.

Some showed off their new apartments, constructed in former classrooms and with Amish-built kitchen cabinets.

In the gymnasium, students of Hardcore Tumbling & Gymnastics did flips on mats, swung on bars and tried to keep their feet on balance beams. The Arena Historical Society is set up in the former kitchen to show off its collection, while the former school office and nurses station are the new home of the Arena Food Pantry.

A more than $1 million project by a pair of Arena developers has resurrected the former school building and has helped remove some of the sting that has lingered in this village over the past three years.

I think theyre trying to bring the community back into the building, and thats the most important thing that has happened here, said Ray Porter, whose family tree in Arena goes back to the 1840s. For these guys to take this venture on is really important to the community. We had lost some of our identity.

The project

The guys Porter is talking about are Sean Crook and Rick Kerska, two union ironworkers and longtime friends who have done a few housing projects over the years but nothing on this scale. The duo used their equity in three properties to buy the one-story building in 2019 for $67,000 and then spent another $1 million to remodel the 22,000-square-foot former school building into apartments and other uses. They also received $250,000 in grant funding from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and tax incremental financing from the village, through which they will be refunded 80% of their property taxes during the next seven years.

On Saturday, Crook and Kerska opened the doors for an open house of Arena School Apartments to show off the transformation and talk about more plans for the 6.6-acre site at the corner of Willow Street and Highway 14. While the building has a laundry room to serve the residents who live in the 11 apartments, Crook and Kerska want to build a public laundromat that would connect to the south side of the school building and front Highway 14. Other parts of the property, they say, could be ideal for more housing.

It was quite a challenging venture, but after seeing all of the positive reactions from people that have either taught here, went to school here, community members, it makes it all worth it, Crook said. Its a very solid building. It just needed to be modernized and updated. The actual layout of the building laid out as such that each classroom was basically an apartment. Size-wise theyre perfect for a one-bedroom.

Apartments range in size from 700 square feet to 900 square feet with rents ranging from $700 to $720 per month. Nine of the 11 apartments have been rented. Each has been retrofitted with ADA-compliant bathrooms, modern kitchens and new doorways to the outside. Each also has a doorway to the main hallway, where cubicles of coat racks remain along with ceiling tiles painted years ago by students. The former playground is now a parking lot, the equipment donated to Pecks Market down the road.

Serving generations

Leonard and Colleen Hooks had two children and three grandchildren attend the school between 1984 and 2018. The past three years have been emotionally trying for the couple who cherished the schools history, its small class sizes and ability to serve families in the village.

I was mad as a hornet, Leonard Hooks said. It affected (the community) economically because it was kind of a calling card for people to move in here. But I think this looks beautiful.

The Hooks were among the dozens of people who toured the building Saturday. Two apartments were open. One was unfurnished and not rented. The other is occupied by Tina Amble, who moved in a few weeks ago. Amble had a daughter and son who went to school in the building and a ceiling tile painted by her daughter, now 32, is right outside her door. Her son, Darren, 22, is moving into his own apartment in the building on Nov. 1.

Tina Amble, 54, who works for Electronic Theater Controls in Mazomanie, was one of the first to apply for an apartment. Her home is a former second-grade classroom.

Its just cool and brand new and beautiful, said Amble, who has a Western theme in her kitchen and living room and a Harley-Davidson motif in the bedroom. I just love the nostalgic hallway.

One of those who wandered through her apartment Saturday was Dave Jones, who remembers his second-grade classes in the room when he began learning cursive writing. He now works as a lender at Peoples State Bank, which provided the financing on the project for Crook and Kerska.

I can tell you with each apartment which grade it was, Jones said. I think it really turned out great. Its just an incredible makeover.

Difficult choices

Rural schools have been disappearing for decades across Wisconsin. One-room schoolhouses were replaced after World War II with more modern, multi-room facilities, but as more people moved off the farm into urban areas, rural schools became expensive liabilities for school districts that face funding and enrollment issues.

Before 1993, school boards wanting more money for school operations simply could raise taxes, and risk retribution from voters if they went too far. State-imposed revenue caps stripped school boards of that power, requiring them instead to seek the permission of voters via ballot questions. Some districts have been hit particularly hard as declining enrollment means less money from the state while costs per pupil  including salaries, utilities and operating school buses  keep rising.

Name a school district with a rural elementary school and its likely there has been talk of cutbacks, consolidations or outright closures. In the Dodgeville School District, for example, voters in 2016 rejected a controversial plan to close Ridgeway Elementary, a rural school about 7 miles east of Dodgeville. But in 2020, the School Board voted to close the school at the end of the 2020-21 school year. The village has purchased the building for a community center.

Tim Weber, a senior economic development director for WEDC, was on hand Saturday to tour the former school in Arena and said the project could serve as a model for other communities. The difficulty is often finding the right developer who has the experience and capital to take on such a project that can include huge investments in heating and air conditioning, plumbing and electrical systems.

One of the reasons were excited about this project is that housing in rural Wisconsin is a significant challenge, Weber said. This was an opportunity where we could get involved with housing and provide 11 new units for rural Wisconsin. Ive been involved with probably at least five or six of these vacant schools and this is the first one that has actually made it.

The plight of rural schools is on full display in exhibits in the Arena Historical Society. It includes old letter jackets and trophies from the former Arena High School when it played in the Little Five Conference with Black Earth, Viola, La Farge and Gays Mills. Theres also a map that shows the locations of 12 one-room schoolhouses in the town of Arena. Arena High School was constructed in 1909 but closed in 1962. Today the town and village, for the first time in over 110 years, have no public schools.

It seems to be the way things are, said Steve Harrington, president of the Arena Historical Society. I know theres hard feelings in the community because of the closure, but at least its still here. Our society is here and people will live here.

Barry Adams covers regional news for the Wisconsin State Journal. Send him ideas for On Wisconsin at 608-252-6148 or by email at badams@madison.com.

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BARABOO  Imagination is the heart of Dr. Evermors Sculpture Park.

The five-acre property here along Highway 12, hidden by a grove of trees and nestled next to Delaneys Surplus Sales, is filled with 20-foot-long dragons, a band of musical birds and a 17-foot-tall, 23-foot-long spider named Arachna Artie.

There are bus-sized bugs, a 9-foot-tall eagle and scores of creatures that resemble small animals from perhaps a distant galaxy.

But this fantastical place of scrap metal shapes and its 300-ton centerpiece, the Foreverton, have come closer to realizing the hope of its late creator.

Dr. Evermor, the persona of artist Tom Every, envisioned that one day the massive sculpture would move beyond its static state, power on and whisk travelers to alternate universes. The creation, which includes a NASA decontamination chamber, remained firmly embedded in its Sauk County soil last weekend, but a newly installed colorful light display is helping illustrate Everys dream.

Its such a treat to see it lit up, and its such a shame its never been lit up as far as I know, said Krissa Valentine-Harnish, who drove from La Crosse to bask in the glow of the purple and blue lights near the front of the Forevertron. I wish other people could see it and I wish more people knew (Everys) story, because his life is so fascinating.

Last weekends event, on a near perfect fall evening under a waxing gibbous moon, was part of a celebration of life for Every, who died in April 2020 at the age of 81, and for his son Troy Every, who took his own life in August at the age of 40.

More than 200 people spent the afternoon wandering the park, gathering behind the Forevertron to listen to stories about the Everys and to music from a live band. There were hot dogs  a Tom Every favorite  fresh-baked pizza and family members who wore black T-shirts with Power on Forevermor! on the back.

Some of the guests used pieces of PVC and percussion mallets to hammer out rough tunes on the dragons that have spines of pipes of varying length. Others gave close inspection to the Bird Band while a few picnicked in a gazebo. Under another, Lady Eleanor Every, Tom Everys former wife, sold small metal sculptures and metal Time Traveler Tokens that feature the Forevertron.

But for those who missed the inaugural lighting, there are plans in the works to continue lighting the Forevertron, possibly over the holidays. So far no dates have been set, but the display adds a new dimension to the park, located just south of the Baraboo Hills

This helps satisfy the sadness, Lady Eleanor said of the loss of two family members 18 months apart. (Dr. Evermor) would be so honored you would not believe it. He always wanted to (light the Forevertron) and he never did. Its been so difficult, and thats why it was so important to have this party.

Tom Everys scrap metal work helped define a genre of art that is now commonplace across America.

Love of salvage

He was born in Madison and raised in the village of Brooklyn, where he began collecting old newspapers to turn in to collection centers for cash when he was a child. His love of salvage grew, and for years he had his own salvage company in Stoughton.

In the 1970s  before he took on the Evermor name  Every helped Alex Jordan collect and build at the House on the Rock near Spring Green.

But in the early 1980s, Every had a falling out with Jordan and a short time later began working on the Forevertron. That three-year project led to hundreds of sculptures and the creation of the park across the highway from the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant.

After suffering a series of strokes, Every, who had financial problems throughout his life, spent his final years in a Sauk City nursing home. In 2011, he was awarded a Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Award, and, in 2016, he was presented a Friend of Preservation award from the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation.

Tya Kottler, Everys daughter, is trying to develop a family drama television show about orphaned teenage twins who discover the Forevertron that allows them to journey through the multiverse. Kottler wore her fathers signature black fedora as she took in last weekends event.

Its just to harness his energy, said Kottler, who along with family and friends have cleaned up the park and is hoping to someday buy the land from Delaneys, which buys and sells everything from canned goods to lumber and machinery. Weve done a ton of organizing and landscaping and cutting trees down that would allow for more views from different angles. My family is really pumped and motivated to try and keep this going here at this location.

Lighting it up

The lighting of the Forevertron came after a chance meeting with Katherine Cannistra, a Milwaukee-based artist who specializes in lighted art installations. She spent 10 years working with exhibits at the Betty Brinn Childrens Museum and began working full time on light installations in 2017.

In September, she happened to visit Dr. Evermors Art Park when she met Kottler. A discussion ensued that led Cannistra and a team of engineers and computer experts spending the next month installing more than 8,000 LED lights on, in and around the Forevertron.

With a budget of just $1,800, they used a cherry picker at times and rigging like that used by those who climb and trim trees to string the consumer grade lights, which are expected to last for three to four years, depending on weather and use.

Were doing more than just hitting it with flood lights, said Cannistra, who first visited the park in 2015. Were trying to tell a story with motion and make the thing come to life. Weve got wires going all over the place in different directions to get to different things. This thing is massive.

The installation includes about 20 spotlights, a pair of floodlights placed in the center of the sculpture and controlled by relays, and lights installed inside the egg at the top of the Forevertron. The initial plan called for lighting the sculpture all the way around, but budget and time constraints kept the project to the front of the Forevertron. Cannistra, who volunteered her time, said the Foreverton project is her biggest to date.

Its also probably the most exciting in terms of getting behind-the-scenes access to something so great, Cannistra said.

Rick Lantz and Cristal Martinez of Verona wore Forevertron T-shirts as they toured the grounds last weekend. They discovered the art park after shopping at Delaneys on a spring day about 10 years ago and fell in love with Dr. Evermors work. They now make a point of bringing family and friends to the park whenever they can. Lighting the Forevertron will make future visits even more inspiring.

Its always had sort of a sense of energy to it because its a dynamic thing, Lantz said.

I mean the whole story is that this is a powered thing so electricity is part and parcel of what its supposed to be, Martinez said.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 24)  Actress and television personality Kris Aquino, in an Instagram post, hinted at her engagement to former Interior secretary Mel Sarmiento.

On Sunday, Kris posted a video of the two of them standing beside a heart-shaped flower bouquet, seemingly poised to make an announcement.

While the clip was cut short, with the laughing couple agreeing to film a take two, its accompanying caption was more telling.

In it, Kris wrote a heartfelt message to Sarmiento, whom she described as her best friend and the man I said yes to spending the rest of my life with.

Thank you for, as Bimb said, loving me for me, with no agenda, and for being just an overall good and patient man. Its unreal how much more calm & peaceful I feel now that youre here, she wrote.

The TV host also said she is looking forward to bearing Sarmientos surname.

We agreed, whats personal shall remain private so hanggang dito lang ang pwede kong ma share [so this is the extent of what I can share], she said. Except I guess to say as much as I am proud to be an Aquino, looking forward na kong maging [I look forward to becoming a] Sarmiento.

The actress-host, who admitted the pandemic and many stressful events have taken a toll on her physical health, thanked Sarmiento for showing her it is possible to smile and laugh again.

Dumating nung hindi ko hinahanap o inaasahan  kaya nga tama silang lahat na nagsabi in Gods perfect time, she said.

[Translation: It arrived when I wasnt expecting or looking for it  so its true, those who said in Gods perfect time.]

Kris also thanked her late brother, former president Benigno Noynoy Aquino III, whom she said paved the way for their love story.

We would never have met nor reconnected had it not been for Noy, her post read.

Noting it has been exactly four months since her brothers death, Kris added: "Sure ako, ayaw niya talagang iwanan si 'bunso' na walang magbabantay at mag-aalaga na siguradong pinagkakatiwalaan nya."

[Translation: Im sure he doesnt want the youngest in the family to be left alone, without someone to care for her  someone whom he really trusts.]

During Noynoys term, Sarmiento served as the third and last secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government. News of his relationship with Kris first surfaced last August.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 24)  Vice President Leni Robredo is calling on the government again to suspend the excise tax on fuel products as high oil prices threaten other sectors, not just transportation.

During her weekly radio show, Robredo stressed that she has been pushing for the proposal amid the rising prices of basic goods and services even before the current steady rise in pump prices.

"2018 pa nananawagan na tayo ng suspension ng excise tax on fuel, baka dahil opposition tayo kaya minamasama," Robredo said during her weekly radio show.

[Translation: In 2018, we were already calling for the suspension of the excise tax on fuel, perhaps because we are in opposition, they're taking it the wrong way.]

While some political personalities have only joined her call now because of the upcoming elections, Robredo welcomed the development, as the suspension will benefit marginalized groups.

Republic Act 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law raised the excise tax on petroleum products in three tranches from 2018 to 2020, increasing duties to 10 per liter of gasoline, 6 per liter for diesel, and 5 per liter of kerosene.

Robredo warned that the continued rise in fuel prices will not only impact the transportation sector but other industries highly dependent on fuel as well, including agriculture.

"Dapat kapag may extraordinary na pagtaas ng presyo, automatic na ang suspension," she said.

[Translation: When there is an extraordinary increase in (fuel) prices, the suspension should be automatic.]

Transport groups earlier asked the government for an increase in the minimum fare, but it was rejected by the Department of Transportation, opting for other alleviating measures instead, like providing livelihood assistance to drivers, conductors and other affected transport workers.

READ: Fuel prices up for eight weeks in a row, but jeepney fare hikes off the table

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade earlier said authorities are exploring ways to cushion the impact of fuel price hikes, including providing a uniform discount at gas stations across the country.
(CNN) -- An assistant director handed Alec Baldwin a prop firearm and yelled "cold gun" before the actor fired the weapon, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza, according to a court document.

The "cold gun" remark was meant to indicate that the weapon did not have live rounds, according to an affidavit for a search warrant for the movie set filed by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office and obtained by CNN affiliate KOAT.

According to the affidavit, Baldwin was handed one of three prop guns by assistant director David Halls that were set up in a cart by an armorer for the movie "Rust."

Halls did not know there were live rounds in the gun, the affidavit said.

But when the actor fired the gun, a live round hit Hutchins, 42, in the chest and wounded Souza, 48, who was nearby, according to the affidavit.

Hutchins was pronounced dead at the hospital after being airlifted, the affidavit says.

Before Thursday's shooting, some crew members quit the production over concerns related to safety -- including gun inspections and Covid-19 protocols not being followed, according to the Los Angeles Times and other media reports.

Three crew members who were on the set last weekend told the Times there were two accidental prop gun discharges before Thursday.

The rounds were accidentally fired October 16 by Baldwin's stunt double after he was told the gun was "cold," two of the crew members, who witnessed the discharges, told the newspaper.

The film's production company told Deadline in a statement that it was not notified of official complaints regarding weapon or prop safety on set.

"We will be conducting an internal review of our procedures while production is shut down," Rust Movie Productions, LLC said in a statement. "The safety of our cast and crew is the top priority of Rust Productions and everyone associated with the company."

CNN has made multiple attempts to reach Rust Movie Productions for comment but has not received a response.

Armorer voiced doubt about experience level

Hannah Gutierrez, the armorer for the movie, had recently finished work on her first project as head armorer, she said in a September podcast interview.

Gutierrez was identified as the armorer who "set-up" the prop gun used by Baldwin, according to a search warrant issued by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office Friday.

"I was really nervous about it at first," Gutierrez said of working as head armorer on the set of the movie "The Old Way," starring Nicolas Cage.

"I almost didn't take the job because I wasn't sure if I was ready, but doing it, like it went really smoothly," she said in an interview on the Voices of the West podcast, which is dedicated to the Old West.

"It's really cool... really badass way to start off a really long and cool career, I'm hoping," Gutierrez added.

Gutierrez said her father, Thell Reed -- a gunsmith, stuntman and armorer -- started passing on his knowledge of guns when she was 16 years old. Though she studied filmmaking and aspired to act, she said, the transition to armorer seemed natural.

"I tried it with dad one time and then I noticed I had a really natural knack for it -- growing up around guns my whole life," Gutierrez said.

Her work as armorer ranges from teaching actors how to wear a gun belt to aiming and shooting, she said.

"I have to like just show them how to hold it straight, make it look like they're aiming at something and also you have to teach them about the recoil," said Gutierrez.

She added, "These blanks don't really have regular like push back that regular bullets do. In order to make it look more realistic [I] tell the actors to create a little bit of recoil with their wrist."

'Make sure that the weapon is truly cold'

"Cold guns" aren't supposed to be loaded, particularly during rehearsals, a weapons expert told CNN on Friday.

"You have to make sure that the weapon is truly cold, which means there should have been no rounds in there, period. And especially if it's a rehearsal," Bryan Carpenter, an armorer and weapons master in the film industry, told CNN.

Carpenter added that while it's acceptable for some actors to want to get a feel of a weapon during rehearsals, it's crucial to ensure the prop guns are not filled with any rounds. He noted that weapons on sets should be confirmed "cold" by two people to avoid such tragic incidents.

Despite safety measures, fatal production accidents have happened.

While filming the movie "The Crow" in 1993, actor Brandon Lee, the son of Bruce Lee, was killed in a prop gun shooting accident.

Even blank ammunition can be deadly if fired at close range. In 1984, actor John-Eric Hexum was playing around with a gun on the set of "Cover Up: Golden Opportunity" and died after putting the gun to his head and pulling the trigger.

Prop master Joseph Fisher told CNN on Friday that even when there is no "bullet" in a prop gun, there are still projectiles, including gun powder and gas which can be dangerous within a certain range.

Multiple agencies are investigating how this shooting happened

"Rust," which was being shot at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico, was starring Baldwin, who is also a producer of the film.

A 911 call obtained by KOAT offered a glimpse into the minutes following the shooting. A crew member told the operator that two people had been "accidentally" shot on set.

"We need some help a director and a camera woman have been shot," a woman told the operator. "I was sitting, we were rehearsing and it went off, and I ran out, we all ran out."

Baldwin on Friday said he's in contact with Hutchins' family.

"There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours," Baldwin tweeted.

"I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna."

According to the affidavit, all firearms and ammunition, cameras and computer equipment and the clothes worn by the actors at the time of the shooting were to be seized.

Baldwin's western-style clothes appeared to be stained with blood, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office affidavit.

The New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau is also investigating.

"The production company reported the fatality and injury to OHSB last night, in accordance with workplace safety laws. OHSB is investigating the incident in coordination with law enforcement, the employer, and employees," the agency said in a statement.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office also secured the shooting scene, spokesman Juan Rios said.

This story was first published on CNN.com "Crew member yelled 'cold gun' as he handed Alec Baldwin prop weapon, court document shows".
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 23)  The Department of Tourism (DOT) said efforts are in full swing to help welcome tourists back to various destinations across the country, now that COVID-19 travel restrictions are slowly being eased.

The agency on Saturday launched a 90-second tourism advertisement with the slogan, "It's More Fun with You"featuring various destinations in northern Luzon.

It encourages Filipinos "to travel and explore the country again after a long hiatus due to pandemic-related travel restrictions. The said campaign also supports recovery initiatives and efforts of the tourism industry," the DOT said.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat also said the video and other preparations are being made to welcome more tourists in the country in anticipation of the Christmas season, and in light of some destinations like Boracay and Bohol being able to ease travel restrictions for fully vaccinated local tourists.

"With health and safety protocols in place, we can look forward to opening more tourism destinations in time for the holidays, and shift recovery into high gear Gusto natin ipakita (we would like to show) na it's still more fun in the Philippines while we are all safe, Puyat added.

The department also said plans are now being made to welcome staycationers in Metro Manila. DOT's Metro Manila regional director Woodrow Maquiling, Jr. said there are now at least 40 staycation hotels open in the National Capital Region.

Intramuros Administration head Atty. Guiller Asido also said group-guided tours in the Walled City will be made available to fully-vaccinated tourists once their tourism frontliners complete their COVID-19 vaccination.

Local authorities recently announced Boracay will scrap negative RT-PCR test requirements for fully vaccinated local tourists by November, once it completes the vaccination of all tourism frontliners and island residents.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 24)  The country on Sunday logged 5,279 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,756,923, the Department of Healths latest bulletin showed.

Of the total, there are 60,957 active cases. At least 77.5% have mild symptoms, 6.1% are asymptomatic, 2.1% are critical, 5.1% are in severe condition, and 9.20% have moderate symptoms.

Meanwhile, the death toll reached 41,793 after 208 more patients lost their lives to coronavirus.

The number of COVID-19 survivors also jumped to 2,654,173 with 7,312 new recoveries.

The DOH added that 23 duplicates were removed from the total case count, of which 16 are recoveries.

It added that 154 cases that were previously reported as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

All laboratories were operational on Oct. 22, but two laboratories failed to submit their data to COVID-19 Document Repository System, it also said.

Based on data in the last 14 days, the non-reporting laboratories contribute on average 0.3% of samples tested and 0.8% of positive cases.

The daily positivity rate or percentage of people who tested positive stood at 10.3% based on 52,881 tests done on Oct. 22.

The World Health Organization recommends that positivity rates be below 5% as bigger numbers may indicate high transmission.

The independent OCTA Research group on Saturday said the COVID-19 reproduction number in the country dropped to 0.52.

Medical experts have said the reproduction number should be one or less to say that the community transmission is decreasing.

Meanwhile, the seven-day average of new coronavirus cases in Metro Manila dropped to 996, which marked the first time the capital regions average dropped below 1,000 since the July 22 to 28 period, OCTA added.
Cebu City (CNN Philippines, October 24)  Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte's meeting with presidential aspirant and former senator Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. once again stirred up speculations about her political plans, but she has reiterated that she is seeking reelection in the May 2022 polls.

No, I do not have plans to run for president," the eldest daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte said when asked about her plans after attending two events in Cebu on Sunday.

Despite their meetings, she has denied they will be running mates in the upcoming election. She said they only discussed how her regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago will support Marcos' candidacy.

Mayor Duterte had the rumor mill churning when she met with Marcos on Saturday, sparking speculations that she would run as his vice president.

When asked about their meeting, she replied: I cannot comment on that but you can ask him since he is the one who is a candidate for a national position.

During her visit to Cebu, Mayor Duterte said her relationship with Governor Gwen Garcia and her family goes beyond politics and that Cebuanos will be seeing much of her in 2022 and even in 2023 for similar visits. She also requested those in attendance to ask their friends in Davao City to campaign for her.

She added there were familial ties with the province as some of her relatives were from Tuburan and Danao.
Cumberland County and the rest of the region are seeing fewer new COVID-19 cases than they were a month ago, but new deaths continue to be reported across the Midstate.

Cumberland County had 164 new cases of the disease, along with three new deaths - the highest increase in deaths in the region - over the weekend, according to the state Department of Health's data that was updated Sunday. Though the number of deaths remains high, the 164 case increase again marks another weekend of decreasing caseloads for the county.

Just a month ago, the county saw 266 new cases, with about 100 new cases reported each day.

Along with a falling new caseload, the county's rate of positivity also fell. Though the county saw about 30% of its cases come back positive last weekend, there were more tests reported this past weekend. Judging by just the number of confirmed tests (119) and the number of negative tests reported (397), the county saw only about 23.1% of its tests come back positive.

Not all of the counties have seen quite as big of a drop, though most of them remain under where they were a month ago. Dauphin County had 377 new cases over two days a month ago, and this past Sunday, only had 194 new cases over two days. That's still higher than it was last weekend (176 new cases), but still lower than the weekend before that.

York County is the only one in the region to see a higher number than the cases four weeks ago. This past weekend, York County had 456 new cases and one new death, which is slightly above the 452 new cases about a month ago. York had been seeing falling cases each weekend, but remained above the 400 mark before climbing back to the higher number this past weekend.

In addition to its falling caseload, Cumberland County also saw a reduction in the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, though the number of those in the ICU (17) and those on ventilators (16) remained the same over the weekend. The overall number of hospitalizations in the county due to COVID-19 fell by five to 105 patients the last two days. However, only nine of its 112 currently staffed ICU beds are available.

Dauphin County likewise saw a drop over the weekend, falling from 117 Friday to 99 hospitalizations Sunday. There was one fewer adult in the ICU (27), though 15 patients remained on ventilators. Though there were fewer people in the hospital with COVID-19, the number of available beds did drop slightly to 27 of the ICU 198 beds being available.

Franklin County also saw a drop in hospitalizations from 70 Friday to 64 patients Sunday. The number of adult ICU patients also dropped by two over the weekend to nine adults in the ICU, and eight remained on ventilators. Like the other counties, however, the number of available ICU beds still dropped, with Franklin seeing only three beds available of the 27 that are currently staffed.

School-age children

In its weekly update for the eighth week of the school year, the department reported another 118 cases among children aged 5-18 in Cumberland County during the week of Oct. 13-19, the same number of cases as was reported last week. That brings the total number of cases in Cumberland County for this school year to 1,189.

Statewide, the number of cases among 5- to 18-year-olds decreased for the fourth week in a row with 5,877 cases reported. The state said the total number of cases in that age group for the school year is 54,503.

Early Warning Dashboard

Cumberland County saw a decrease in its in percent positivity and its incidence rate per 100,000 people in the Health Department's weekly update to its Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard Friday. Its percent positivity decreased to 11.1% for the week of Oct. 15-21, down from 11.8% the previous week. The incidence rate per 100,000 people decreased to 158.3, down from 213.1 the previous week.

Philadelphia County, which includes the city of Philadelphia, had the second lowest percent positivity in the state for the week of Oct. 15-21 at 4.5% and the lowest incidence rate per 100,000 people at 89.5.

Forest County has the lowest percent positivity for the week at 3.1%

Penn State Health update (Oct. 20)

Penn State Health lists a COVID-19 dashboard on its website tracking cases at each of its acute care hospitals  Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State Health Holy Spirit Medical Center, Hampden Medical Center and Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center. The dashboard will be updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Wednesday's update shows 118 total cases (116 adults, 2 pediatrics) in the health system's four hospitals  27 are fully vaccinated (22.8%) with one in an ICU and no one on a ventilator, 76 are nonvaccinated (64.4%) with 26 adults in an ICU and 10 adults on a ventilator, and 15 are unknown status patients. Both children hospitalized are unvaccinated, with one in an ICU and one on a ventilator.

Holy Spirit Medical Center in Camp Hill has 27 COVID patients. Nine are fully vaccinated adults (one in ICU and no one on a ventilator) and 18 unvaccinated adults (four in an ICU and two on a ventilator).

Hampden Medical Center has 10 COVID patients. Seven are not fully vaccinated (two in an ICU) and three are fully vaccinated.

Vaccinations

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention labels Cumberland County as having "high" transmission of the virus  the highest level, which is the transmission level for every county in the state. Community transmission is determined by the number of new cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days and the positivity rate over the last seven days, so the classification could vary from day to day based on those numbers.

In data updated Saturday evening, the CDC says Cumberland County has seen 62.1% of its total population of 253,370 become fully vaccinated. For the county's vaccine eligible population of people ages 12 and older, 71.7% have been fully vaccinated.

County numbers in the southcentral region (for Oct. 24) *new caseloads are over 2 days:

Adams County (pop. 103,009): 82 new cases; 13,108 total cases (10,745 confirmed, 2,363 probable); 43,855 negatives; 219 deaths (+1); 49.6% of county population vaccinated

82 new cases; 13,108 total cases (10,745 confirmed, 2,363 probable); 43,855 negatives; 219 deaths (+1); 49.6% of county population vaccinated Bedford County (pop. 47,888): 42 new cases; 6,704 total cases (4,556 confirmed, 2,148 probable); 12,383 negatives; 169 deaths (+2); 34.4% of county population vaccinated

42 new cases; 6,704 total cases (4,556 confirmed, 2,148 probable); 12,383 negatives; 169 deaths (+2); 34.4% of county population vaccinated Blair County (pop. 121,829): 159 new cases; 17,104 total cases (13,501 confirmed, 3,603 probable); 46,847 negatives; 379 deaths (+1); 45.9% of county population vaccinated

159 new cases; 17,104 total cases (13,501 confirmed, 3,603 probable); 46,847 negatives; 379 deaths (+1); 45.9% of county population vaccinated Cumberland County (pop. 253,370): 164 new cases; 27,863 total cases (21,834 confirmed, 6,029 probable); 100,874 negatives; 611 deaths (+3); 62.1% of county population vaccinated

164 new cases; 27,863 total cases (21,834 confirmed, 6,029 probable); 100,874 negatives; 611 deaths (+3); 62.1% of county population vaccinated Dauphin County (pop. 278,299): 194 new cases; 34,421 total cases (29,556 confirmed, 4,865 probable); 127,237 negatives; 636 deaths (+2); 58.1% of county population vaccinated

194 new cases; 34,421 total cases (29,556 confirmed, 4,865 probable); 127,237 negatives; 636 deaths (+2); 58.1% of county population vaccinated Franklin County (pop. 155,027): 74 new cases; 21,516 total cases (17,600 confirmed, 3,916 probable); 64,013 negatives; 450 deaths; 45% of county population vaccinated

74 new cases; 21,516 total cases (17,600 confirmed, 3,916 probable); 64,013 negatives; 450 deaths; 45% of county population vaccinated Fulton County (pop. 14,530): 12 new cases; 2,201 total cases (1,095 confirmed, 1,106 probable); 4,960 negatives; 28 deaths; 30.6% of county population vaccinated

12 new cases; 2,201 total cases (1,095 confirmed, 1,106 probable); 4,960 negatives; 28 deaths; 30.6% of county population vaccinated Huntingdon County (pop. 45,144): 19 new cases; 6,750 total cases (5,571 confirmed, 1,179 probable); 20,351 negatives; 156 deaths (+1); 46.3% of county population vaccinated

19 new cases; 6,750 total cases (5,571 confirmed, 1,179 probable); 20,351 negatives; 156 deaths (+1); 46.3% of county population vaccinated Juniata County (pop. 24,763): 11 new cases; 2,848 total cases (2,589 confirmed, 259 probable); 6,596 negatives; 115 deaths; 39.6% of county population vaccinated

11 new cases; 2,848 total cases (2,589 confirmed, 259 probable); 6,596 negatives; 115 deaths; 39.6% of county population vaccinated Lebanon County (pop. 141,793): 89 new cases; 20,397 total cases (17,448 confirmed, 2,949 probable); 62,633 negatives; 327 deaths; 50.3% of county population vaccinated

89 new cases; 20,397 total cases (17,448 confirmed, 2,949 probable); 62,633 negatives; 327 deaths; 50.3% of county population vaccinated Mifflin County (pop. 46,138): 68 new cases; 7,159 total cases (6,768 confirmed, 391 probable); 17,477 negatives; 192 deaths; 48.4% of county population vaccinated

68 new cases; 7,159 total cases (6,768 confirmed, 391 probable); 17,477 negatives; 192 deaths; 48.4% of county population vaccinated Perry County (pop. 46,272): 30 new cases; 5,236 total cases (4,040 confirmed, 1,196 probable); 13,127 negatives; 119 deaths; 46.5% of county population vaccinated

30 new cases; 5,236 total cases (4,040 confirmed, 1,196 probable); 13,127 negatives; 119 deaths; 46.5% of county population vaccinated York County (pop. 449,058): 456 new cases; 61,574 total cases (50,160 confirmed; 11,414 probable); 192,924 negatives; 954 deaths (+1); 54.7% of county population vaccinated

ZIP code-level counts (updated Oct. 24):

17013: 3,350 positives, 15,588 negatives - +11 since Oct. 22

17015: 2,009 positives, 7,626 negatives - +11 since Oct. 22

17050: 3,177 positives, 15,926 negatives - +11 since Oct. 22

17055: 3,566 positives, 18,125 negatives - +22 since Oct. 22

17011: 3,298 positives, 15,191 negatives - +17 since Oct. 22

17007: 480 positives, 1,938 negatives - +3 since Oct. 22

17065: 344 positives, 1,349 negatives - +1 since Oct. 22

17324: 382 positives, 1,399 negatives - +5 since Oct. 22

17241: 899 positives, 3,414 negatives - +5 since Oct. 22

17257: 2,312 positives, 7,699 negatives - +14 since Oct. 22

17240: 217 positives, 689 negatives - +1 since Oct. 22

17025: 1,527 positives, 6,144 negatives - +16 since Oct. 22

17070: 1,414 positives, 5,852 negatives - +5 since Oct. 22

17043: 485 positives, 2,222 negatives - +1 since Oct. 22

17019: 1,669 positives, 5,987 negatives - +16 since Oct. 22

17266: 28 positives, 136 negatives - +1 since Oct. 22

School district and college case counts (updated Oct. 22)

The Sentinel's case counts for Cumberland County school districts and colleges or universities are updated Fridays. The policy for each school districts reporting is noted in the list below.

Big Spring School District (reports active cases in past 14 days with school exposure): 14 student cases and 5 staff cases as of the sites last update on Oct. 20.

(reports active cases in past 14 days with school exposure): 14 student cases and 5 staff cases as of the sites last update on Oct. 20. Carlisle Area School District (reports cases as they occur and updates a chart): 13 new cases since Oct. 14; 154 cases this school year (started Aug. 25) according to the charts last update on Oct. 18.

(reports cases as they occur and updates a chart): 13 new cases since Oct. 14; 154 cases this school year (started Aug. 25) according to the charts last update on Oct. 18. Camp Hill School District (posts chart that includes total case count): 7 student cases and no new staff cases since Oct. 18; 61 student cases and 7 staff cases this school year (started Aug. 25.)

(posts chart that includes total case count): 7 student cases and no new staff cases since Oct. 18; 61 student cases and 7 staff cases this school year (started Aug. 25.) Cumberland Valley School District (reports weekly and total number of cases with school exposure): 13 cases since Oct. 18; 180 cases this school year (started Aug. 31.)

(reports weekly and total number of cases with school exposure): 13 cases since Oct. 18; 180 cases this school year (started Aug. 31.) Mechanicsburg Area School District (chart lists total cases actively being monitored, updated Tuesday and Friday): 13 positive and presumed positive cases being monitored as of Oct. 22.

(chart lists total cases actively being monitored, updated Tuesday and Friday): 13 positive and presumed positive cases being monitored as of Oct. 22. Shippensburg Area School District (reports weekly and total confirmed case counts involving school exposure): 6 new cases since Oct. 18; 145 cases this school year (started Aug. 19.)

(reports weekly and total confirmed case counts involving school exposure): 6 new cases since Oct. 18; 145 cases this school year (started Aug. 19.) South Middleton School District (posts notices as cases occur, updates table of case counts weekly on Fridays): 68 cases this school year (started Aug. 25) as of the charts last update on Oct. 15.

(posts notices as cases occur, updates table of case counts weekly on Fridays): 68 cases this school year (started Aug. 25) as of the charts last update on Oct. 15. West Shore School District (reports active cases with school exposure within past 14 days): 35 student cases and 5 staff cases as of Oct. 22.

(reports active cases with school exposure within past 14 days): 35 student cases and 5 staff cases as of Oct. 22. Dickinson College : 3 student cases and 1 employee cases since Oct. 18; 32 student cases and 23 employee cases this semester (started Aug. 30.)

: 3 student cases and 1 employee cases since Oct. 18; 32 student cases and 23 employee cases this semester (started Aug. 30.) Messiah University : 4 new student cases and 1 new staff case since Oct. 18; 50 student cases and 17 employee cases this semester (started Aug. 7.)

: 4 new student cases and 1 new staff case since Oct. 18; 50 student cases and 17 employee cases this semester (started Aug. 7.) Shippensburg University: 6 new student cases and 1 new staff case since Oct. 18; 150 student cases and 17 employee cases this semester (started Aug. 1.)

(Counties with a percent positivity above 5% in a week go on the Department of Health's watch list)

Pennsylvania: Percent Positivity - 9.4% last 7 days (9.7% previous 7 days) Incidence Rate per 100,000 people last 7 days - 173.4 (202.6 previous 7 days)

Adams County: Percent Positivity - 15.8% last 7 days (16.6% previous 7 days) Incidence Rate per 100,000 people last 7 days - 241.7 (220.4 previous 7 days)

Cumberland County: Percent Positivity - 11.1% last 7 days (11.8% previous 7 days) Incidence Rate per 100,000 people last 7 days - 158.3 (213.1 previous 7 days)

Dauphin County: Percent Positivity - 12.7% last 7 days (12.8% previous 7 days) Incidence Rate per 100,000 people last 7 days - 204.5 (226.7 previous 7 days)

Franklin County: Percent Positivity - 12.4% last 7 days (14.1% previous 7 days) Incidence Rate per 100,000 people last 7 days - 162.6 (176.7 previous 7 days)

Lebanon County: Percent Positivity - 13.1% last 7 days (14.4% previous 7 days) Incidence Rate per 100,000 people last 7 days - 200.3 (249.7 previous 7 days)

Perry County: Percent Positivity - 15.8% last 7 days (20.0% previous 7 days) Incidence Rate per 100,000 people last 7 days - 175.1 (237.7 previous 7 days)

York County:

Percent Positivity - 14.7% last 7 days (16.5% previous 7 days)

last 7 days (16.5% previous 7 days)

Incidence Rate per 100,000 people last 7 days - 247.4 (289.5 previous 7 days)
For Christina Spielbauer, the greatest lesson to carry over from her time leading the Carlisle Area School District is the value of forming relationships in service to students.

The North Middleton Township woman will step down as superintendent effective Dec. 31. Three days later, she will start her new job as senior vice president in charge of education at all Pennsylvania locations of New Story schools and River Rock Academy.

The last 22-plus years have been an incredible opportunity for me to grow and develop who I am as an educator and leader, Spielbauer said. I will miss most the relationships Ive developed with the board of directors, the administrative team, teachers, staff and students.

As Spielbauer steps down, she said she is optimistic about the future of a school district where she has spent most of her career. I believe Carlisle will continue to thrive and grow, she said. I know it will thrive because the staff is the heartbeat of the district and we have an amazing staff who will continue the great work we are doing.

The child of a military family, Spielbauer first came to the area when her father was a student at the Army War College and continued on as a faculty member.

A graduate of Trinity High School in Camp Hill, Spielbauer earned a bachelors of science degree in elementary and special education before becoming a learning support teacher and homebound instructor for Carlisle school district in 1998.

She was a teacher for Carlisle for four and a half years before becoming assistant principal at Wilson Middle School for two and a half years. Spielbauer then worked as the assistant director for special education at Northeastern School District in York County for almost two years before returning to Carlisle as its director of special education for three years.

During that time, Spielbauer earned a masters degree in educational leadership along with a superintendents letter of eligibility from Shippensburg University. She also participated in a doctoral study program at Widener University.

Prior to her appointment as superintendent in June 2017, Spielbauer was assistant superintendent under John Friend, who retired from public education later that summer.

I did not apply for the job, Spielbauer said about the vice president position. I was approached about the opportunity. It gives me a chance to get back to what I am passionate about, which is special needs and at-risk youth.

As an executive, she will oversee the education programs at 16 New Story School campuses and nine River Rock Academy campuses throughout Pennsylvania.

Spielbauer will have her office at the New Story School location at 346 York Road in South Middleton Township. She will continue to reside in North Middleton Township.

Email Joseph Cress at jcress@cumberlink.com.

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HARRISBURG  Spending in the race for an open seat on Pennsylvania's state Supreme Court has blown past $5 million, according to new campaign finance reports, with less than two weeks left until Election Day.

Reports filed with the state Friday show that most of it, or roughly $3 million, has been spent to help Republican Kevin Brobson, including spending by third-party groups in the race. That compared with about $2 million to help Democrat Maria McLaughlin through last Monday.

The reports are out as attack ads are hitting the airwaves on both sides.

Brobson's largest donor, by far, is a group that receives millions from suburban Philadelphia billionaire Jeffrey Yass, whose favored issue is boosting public school alternatives, like charter schools, and has become perhaps the largest donor to Republicans in Pennsylvania. It has spent more than $1.7 million to help Brobson.

The state Republican Party also has spent more than $500,000 to help Brobson, while a number of business associations also have contributed money to Brobson.

For McLaughlin, labor unions have contributed more than $900,000, while the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association's political action committee has given almost that same amount. The state Democratic Party has kicked in about $300,000, according to the reports.

The amount spent goes well beyond the last race in Pennsylvania for an open high court seat, in 2017, but remains short of the top spenders in 2015's contest for three open seats.

The election is Nov. 2. The amount spent on the contest before then could easily exceed $6 million, with the campaigns reporting more than $1 million combined in unspent money and new contributions.

Brobson and McLaughlin are running for a vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Thomas Saylor. The high court is currently in Democratic hands, 5-2, so the race will not change the partisan majority.

Brobson, 50, of suburban Harrisburg, has been a judge on the state Commonwealth Court for more than a decade. McLaughlin, 55, who spent almost two decades as a prosecutor in Philadelphia, was elected to the state Superior Court three years ago after serving as a city judge from 2012-17.

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Here is a very basic fact: People tend to like getting stuff for free. Ask most people, Do you want a fancy new Mercedes? and theyll likely respond, Yes. But ask them to pay full price for it and demand drops dramatically.

Hold that thought.

Sen. Bernie Sanders is very upset that the Democrats Build Back Better package is stalled. Poll after poll shows overwhelming support for the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better legislation, Sanders said in a statement, and the need to lower prescription drug costs, expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision and so on.

But as National Reviews Charles Cooke wrote, Sanders statement refutes itself. In the next paragraph, the Vermont senator says, polling also shows that despite President Biden having introduced this proposal five months ago, a majority of Americans have very little knowledge as to what is in this bill. Sanders adds, It is hard to ask people to have faith in their government when they have little understanding of what their government is trying to do.

As Cooke rightly notes, its odd to simultaneously claim a bill is overwhelmingly popular and that a majority of Americans have no idea whats in it.

But Sanders thinks thats proof the mainstream media is failing to educate the public. Individual elements of the bill poll well, hence the claim its popular. The foundations of American democracy are threatened not only by extremism, but by ignorance and lack of knowledge, he exclaims.

Im all for dispelling ignorance, but Sanders is perpetuating a myth that harms democracy, too  specifically, that massive social welfare spending is wildly popular with American voters.

In 2016, Vox polled Bernie Sanders proposals for nationalized healthcare and free college tuition. They didnt poll the general public; they polled Bernie Sanders own supporters. Not surprisingly, respondents favored single-payer healthcare. But when asked if theyd be willing to personally pay more for it, support dropped. Two-thirds said the most theyd be willing to pay in additional taxes for free healthcare was $1,000 per year, about $83 per month. This number includes the 8% of Sanders supporters who said they wouldnt be willing to pay anything for universal healthcare.

Cheap socialists arent the story here. Americans in general dont want to pay much of anything  out of their own pocket  for the stuff progressives constantly say America is demanding.

A Washington Post poll in 2019 found that 68% of Americans supported taxing wealthy families to pay for fighting climate change. But when asked if they would agree to pay an extra $2 a month on their electric bills, support fell to less than 47%. That same year, an AP-NORC poll asked people if theyd be willing to spend $10 more a month in their energy bills to fight climate change. Some 68% of respondents said nope.

This is where the truly dangerous ignorance begins. For years now, voters have been told that the rich as well as greedy corporations are an untapped renewable resource that can pay for everything and anything. Thats false. You could confiscate all of the wealth of the top 1% and it wouldnt come close to covering the bill for, say, the Green New Deal or Medicare for All. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may turn heads by scrawling tax the rich on her ball gowns, but the truth is we already do  at a remarkably progressive rate.

Theres no room here to explain why I think Bidens promise that his $3.5 trillion package wont be free for everyone making less than $400,000 per year. So, lets just pretend its true. In the market, popularity is determined by what people are willing to pay for with their own money. However, in progressive politics  and in much of the mainstream media  popularity is determined by what people are willing to have other people pay for. Defining public support this way is misleading.

But even if the rich could pay for it all, democracy isnt enriched when voters think one very small class of people is greedily standing in the way of economic salvation.

When populist politicians promise it would be easy to deliver that salvation but then fail to do it, voters feel betrayed and the politicians shift blame to sinister and corrupt forces (the one percent, special interests, evil corporations) or allegedly outdated obstacles to progress like the filibuster or even the Constitution itself.

That sense of betrayal doesnt foster healthy politics. It leads to extreme demagogues promising to deliver what they claim the corrupt establishment could not.

Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast.

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Still, Dormer said, the movie industry is likely moving away from real guns, albeit slowly.

The term prop gun can apply to anything from a rubber toy to a real firearm that can fire a projectile. If its used for firing, even blanks, its considered a real gun. A blank is a cartridge that contains gunpowder but no bullet. Still, it can hurt or even kill someone who is close by, according to the Actors Equity Association.

Thats why many are calling to ban blanks as well, and use disabled or replica guns.

Really there is no good reason in this day to have blanks on set, director Liz Garbus wrote on Twitter. CGI can make the gun seem real, and if you dont have the budget for the CGI, then dont shoot the scene.

Broadway actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein wrote that the tragedy certainly made him wonder why Hollywood wasnt leaning more on special effects.

Why, with all of the Hollywood magic available, are they still firing off gun powder? They know that they are going to goose-up the gunshots in post production, he wrote on Facebook. Why chance an accident in the first place?

But he also said the death raised even broader questions.

With all of that Hollywood talent and imagination are we still writing stories about shooting one another? he asked. Do we really have nothing better to spend millions of dollars on than the glamorization of gun battles?

Associated Press writers Lindsey Bahr, Lynn Elber in Los Angeles, Hillel Italie in New York, and Lizzie Knight in London contributed to this report.
The suspension of the bulk of Washington's Metro fleet was prompted when a train car slipped off the tracks on the Metros Blue Line near Arlington National Cemetery on Oct. 12. The car had apparently derailed once and then re-connected with the rails by itself, before derailing a second time. Some passengers were trapped in a tunnel in a dark train car and had to be evacuated on foot.

After the derailing, the NTSB revealed that the Kawasaki-made 7000-series trains had been suffering an escalating series of incidents due to a design flaw that caused the wheels to spread too wide on the axles, allowing the carriage to slip off the tracks. The issue had been apparent to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which oversees the regional D.C. transport system, since 2017, but neither NTSB nor the WMATA board had been informed, said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy.

The system experienced 18 separate incidents with the wheels in 2021 alone, Homendy said, and inspections revealed similar problems with an additional 21 rail cars.

Wiedefeld said his agency was now working to inspect every wheel on the 7000-series cars, proceeding in consultation with both Kawasaki and the NTSB. He acknowledged that WMATA could be blamed for failing to address the issue or inform NTSB or its own board of the problem.
The next step in the process would be to run a clinical trial. Based on the findings, the researchers believe that if the drug proves successful, it could be administered either orally or through an ocular implant.

But Gelfand said there are some hurdles to run, the first of which is funding. Most research funded by pharmaceutical companies is based on new drugs that may be patented rather than existing drugs. That can cost as much as $2.8 billion and take a decade or more.

The other hurdle would be the clinical trials expansive scope.

The study we would want to do would be a preventive one so youd need to pick many, many people for the study before you had enough that develop or do not develop AMD so you could say for sure if your drug worked, Gelfand said. Wed love to do a clinical trial and that is the goal, but its going to take a while.

In the meantime, Gelfand said people should neither start taking fluoxetine to stave off AMD or change their prescriptions to thwart the condition.

Based on this research, no one should be going out and either switching to fluoxetine or start taking it. These are serious drugs and people should consult with their physician before considering anything, he said.
ISTANBUL (AP)  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that he had ordered 10 foreign ambassadors who called for the release of a jailed philanthropist to be declared persona non grata.

The envoys, including the U.S., French and German representatives in Ankara, issued a statement earlier this week calling for a resolution to the case of Osman Kavala, a businessman and philanthropist held in prison since 2017 despite not having been convicted of a crime.

Describing the statement as an impudence, Erdogan said he had ordered the ambassadors be declared undesirable.

I gave the instruction to our foreign minister and said You will immediately handle the persona non grata declaration of these 10 ambassadors, Erdogan said during a rally in the western city of Eskisehir.

He added: They will recognize, understand and know Turkey. The day they dont know or understand Turkey, they will leave.

The diplomats, who also include the ambassadors of the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and New Zealand, were summoned to the foreign ministry on Tuesday.

A declaration of persona non grata against a diplomat usually means that individual is banned from remaining in their host country.
Virginia has put many safeguards in place to ensure that students in different subgroups have equitable access to meals, special curriculums and Governors Schools, and even in performance and growth as measured by the state Standards of Learning. For example, the commonwealth has made modest strides in ensuring that high-poverty students have more educational resources.

Unfortunately, the only safeguard that students have in regard to building quality, safety, health and accessibility is the VDOEs Guidelines for School Facilities. These guidelines recommend certain standards be met when old schools are renovated or new schools are built. Just like Virginias Constitution only requires that the General Assembly seek to fund an adequate education, these facility guidelines fall short of guaranteeing all students have adequate schools and classrooms. Furthermore, a locality must have the capacity to build or renovate to even consider the recommendations in these guidelines.

School divisions in Virginia have an interesting dilemma in how to respond to school infrastructure issues. School boards are responsible for cleaning, maintaining, renovating and replacing school buildings. However, school boards have no control over the amount of money they receive. Additionally, most of the funding school boards are given are restricted through state and federal mandates.
The bigger concerns about the Doing Business Index is more fundamental. Comparative legal scholars, including me, have found that the legal reforms favored by the index always appear biased in favor of systems based on common law followed by countries such as the U.S. and U.K.

For instance, France, one of the worlds largest economies operating under a civil legal code, has performed rather poorly in the initial rankings because of low scores on the registering property and getting credit metrics. And, in turn, that means countries such as Algeria, Lebanon and Indonesia that built legal systems based on France or other non-Anglo legal traditions are also unfairly hurt by the rankings.

The rankings have been controversial since their very launch. Joseph Stiglitz, who was chief economist at the World Bank in the late 1990s, said in a recent op-ed that he thought it was a terrible product from the beginning.

Countries received good ratings for low corporate taxes and weak labor regulations, he wrote. The numbers were always squishy, with small changes in the data having potentially large effects on the rankings. Countries were inevitably upset when seemingly arbitrary decisions caused them to slide in the rankings.
Everyone eligible should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of long-distance travel or employment.

Vaccination should be voluntary but those who don't get vaccinated should be frequently tested for COVID-19 as a condition of long-distance travel and employment.

Both vaccination and testing should be voluntary and not required as a condition of long-distance travel or employment.

I defer to the judgment of lawmakers as long as they base their decisions on a consensus of medical professionals.

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Released: October 5, 2021

Finalizing Preparations for Tuesday, November 2

Delaware County Elections is finalizing preparations for the upcoming 2021 Municipal Election scheduled for Tuesday, November 2. Important dates, deadlines and resources for candidates, campaigns, poll workers and voters have been updated on the Delco Votes! website at delcopa.gov/vote.

The November 2021 Municipal Election includes a large number of impactful judicial, county, municipal and other local contests, including Mayors, Constables, Auditors, Tax Collectors, Commissioners, Borough and County Council members, School Directors from several School Districts, Election Board members, and several judicial retention questions. Voters in the PA House of Representatives 164th District will also cast their vote as part of a concurrent Special Election that will determine their future State Representative.

The deadline to register to vote for the first timeor file a name or address updateis Monday, October 18. The deadline for voters to request a vote-by-mail ballot is Tuesday, October 26. Election Day itself is Tuesday, November 2, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The last day for the County to receive Military and Overseas Absentee Ballots is Tuesday, November 9.

COVID-19 Precautions

Delaware County Elections will again equip poll workers and polling places so that voters may participate safely.

Each polling location will receive PPE, including masks, gloves, single-use pens, and sanitation kits. Poll workers will be required to wear masks to protect voters and other poll workers.

All voters who choose to vote in-person are encouraged to wear face masks and practice social distancing in their polling place.

Two Ballots

Delaware County voters will encounter something new this election cycle: two separate paper ballots. Under the state Constitution, judicial retention questions must be listed on a separate ballot. The ballots will be marked with a large A in the upper right corner for state and local contests, and B in the upper right corner for judicial-retention questions.

Precincts will receive the ballots in A/B order and will instruct voters on how to feed the A and B ballots into the scanner, one at a time.

Voter Service Center

Delaware County Elections maintains a year-round Voter Service Center at the Government Center Building at 201 W. Front St. in Media. Hours of operations are:

Monday-Friday: 8:30 a.m.  4:30 p.m.

Election Day, Nov. 2: 7 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Note: The Media Voter Service Center will have limited evening and Saturdays closer to Election Day.

Services include: Voter registration for new voters and those who need to file an address or name change; mail-in and absentee ballots applications and on-site processing; 3rd party ballot-return applications, polling place confirmation, vote-by-mail status verification, replacement ballots for voters who did not receive their ballot, lost their ballot, mismarked their ballot, or received a damaged ballot; and answers to election-related questions.

Registered voters who have not yet applied for their vote-by-mail ballot can visit our Voter Service Center in-person and request, receive, complete, and return a vote-by-mail ballot in a single trip.

Vote-by-Mail Ballots

With one month to go before the 2021 Municipal Election, Delaware County Elections is now set to mail more than 30,000 requested vote-by-mail ballots to voters. Delivery of vote-by-mail ballots is expected by no later than October 15. Our Ballot Drop Boxes will be operational and accepting vote-by-mail ballots shortly after ballots are mailed out to voters.

Vote-by-Mail ballots are sent only to those voters who completed an application to vote-by-mail during the 2021 calendar year. Voters who voted in the 2020 General Election will not automatically receive a vote-by-mail ballot for this election. Voters who have not yet applied and who want to vote by mail must apply (online, by mail, or in-person) so that the application is received by 5 p.m. on October 26.

Once a vote-by-mail ballot has been received, voters may return their completed vote-by-mail ballot envelope at any of 40-plus secured Delaware County ballot drop boxes, in-person at the Voter Service Center, or through the mail. Mailed ballots are postage paid for those returning the envelope through the USPS.

As a reminder, the return of a ballot by anyone other than the voter is prohibited unless the person returning the ballot is rendering assistance to a disabled voter or an emergency absentee voter and completes the necessary affidavit.

Voters with questions about voter registration, vote-by-mail ballots, the locations of ballot drop boxes, election security, and other election issues may contact the Election Hotline by phone at (610) 891-VOTE or by email at DelcoElection@co.delaware.pa.us or visit the Delco Votes! website at delcopa.gov/vote.
ROSE (roz) n. One of the most beautiful of all flowers, a symbol of fragrance and loveliness. Often given as a sign of appreciation.

RASPBERRY (razbere) n. A sharp, scornful comment, criticism or rebuke; a derisive, splatting noise, often called the Bronx cheer.

ROSES to specialty license plates in Oregon.

Regardless of which one is your favorite  were fond of the Pacific Wonderland and Smokey Bear plates ourselves  the variety of license plates offered by the state offer a chance for people to individualize their vehicles. Plus, the plates raise money for great causes.

Reporter Troy Shinn had an article earlier this month about the redesigns for the Chinook salmon plate, which benefits the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, and the Oregon Cultural Trust plate, the profits of which go toward promotion of the Oregon Cultural Tax Credit. Both of these are an improvement and look great.

ROSES to a marker honoring Reuben Shipley, a Black pioneer from Benton County. Shipley donated land for the Mt. Union Cemetery in Philomath, but with the condition that Black residents had to be allowed to be buried there.

The historical marker, which will be installed next year, was unanimously approved by the Philomath City Council in September.

Roger Blaine, a member of the local Bahai congregation, is a volunteer at the cemetery. Blaine said that he always wondered why Shipleys story wasnt better known. But how do most of us learn about Oregon history but through historical markers? Blaine said, in an interview with reporter James Day.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Albany Democrat-Herald.

Besides the historical value, Blaine thought it was important to show how neighbors  Black and white  work together to achieve common goals.

RASPBERRIES to people who compare vaccination mandates and mask rules to the Holocaust.

A Greater Albany Public Schools employee, Tara Dixson, made such a statement during a recent listening session held by the district.

Pandemic safety measures are designed to save lives during a global emergency, and are completely dissimilar to the genocide of millions of people. COVID-19 is actually whats killing millions right now.

If you dont want to be vaccinated, or if you dont want to wear a mask, that isnt akin to a Jewish person being forced by Nazis to wear a gold star, and to suggest so is despicable. People should understand that those sort of statements are antisemitic and there could be consequences for their speech.

RASPBERRIES, a much smaller raspberry than the one above, to Michael Thomson, a board member for Greater Albany Public Schools. Thomson walked out of the listening session after Dixsons statement, noting that it crossed the line. And this is true. Dixsons statement was offensive and inappropriate.

But Thomson said that, as a volunteer, he could choose to leave.

While that might be technically true, Thomson also is an elected official who was attending this listening session as a public official doing official business. Some would argue that this wasnt a public meeting by the GAPS board, but still Could you imagine one of our U.S. senators or even a state representative walking out of a town hall in such a manner?

We understand that being a small town politician can be a rough gig, but our elected officials need thicker skin than this.

RASPBERRIES to listening sessions held by GAPS. The district is holding these listening sessions in large part because it still isnt taking public comment during its public meetings.

This practice has been in place for months, and its probably kept the school board from hearing a voluminous amount of nasty statements in the aftermath of former Superintendent Melissa Goffs firing and other developments.

However unpleasant these comments might be, its time for the practice to be shelved, as it disempowers our residents. Sending an email or letter to the board doesnt have the same impact for parents and others interested in the business of the government body.

The GAPS board can set time limits on individual comments, or it could even set a time limit for the entire public comments section of the meeting. But its time to open things back up.

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Cleanup efforts at Lebanon's Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery left community members grieving recently when they discovered that tokens of remembrance left on the graves of loved ones were discarded.

The Lebanon Odd Fellows have apologized for going too far and they are working to improve communications with the community.

While there are rules prohibiting placing items that would hamper mowing and leaf-blowing, the rules have rarely been enforced in recent years, according to Robbin Davis, whose husband, Army Staff Sgt. Kevin D. Davis, is buried in the cemetery. He was killed in action in 2005 in Iraq.

When Robbin saw Kevins and other graves were cleared off she went into action, documenting the results of the cleanup  a dumpster filled with keepsakes and a massive pile behind a privacy fence in the back of the cemetery. Angel statues, religious crosses, inscribed stones, poems, American flags, military memorabilia and thousands of imitation flowers were trashed.

Nothing was ever in the way of mowing, Davis said, adding that her husbands Bronze Star Medal hat had topped his grave for 16 years. They literally stripped everything.

Davis and others dug through the pile, taking to social media with photos of what they found in hopes to reconnect people with precious memories of those they lost. However, much of what was collected was damaged or destroyed in the process. Military challenge coins on several graves, a traditional sign of respect, went missing altogether.

After hearing a garbage truck was on the way one day, they raced against the clock to search the dumpster. They worked until the gates closed that night, and Davis returned the next morning at opening time, posting guard in front of the dumpster until backup arrived to finish the job.

We just wanted to stand strong for the community, Davis said.

Thanks to arrangement with the Odd Fellows, what items remained after days of work were set to be photographed, boxed up, cataloged and stored for a month while their fate is determined. But the damage has already been done and wont be easily forgotten.

There will never be a resolution, Davis said. People have lost things that theyll never get back.

Davis wasnt alone. She was joined by two longtime friends: Becky Thompson Jones and Candi Elliott.

It was something I had to do, Jones said, adding that the revelation of an overly zealous cleanup effort shook Lebanon. She said her son, Nicholas, who is buried in the cemetery, was 14 years old when he was killed in front of their house by a teenage driver who wasnt paying attention. His carefully decorated headstone was among those that were totally cleared.

Jones used her grief to help others, becoming an advocate and supporter for those suffering from loss, particularly parents of children who died. She has spent years helping others cope through the shared tragedy of seeing a young one buried long before their time. She was the last of three to address the Odd Fellows board.

I wanted them to know who my son was and what my sons headstone memorial means to not just me but many people, Jones said. This happened 16 years ago. He has friends that still come and visit him on a regular basis.

Elliott is the daughter of Vietnam veteran and well-known local Roy Burnsides, who is buried in the cemetery. Medals and military challenge coins on his grave, including one from her son on active military duty, disappeared during the cleanup.

They werent worth a lot, but they meant a lot, Elliott said. All of the memories on the graves, it was all gone into a pile  all of our veterans medals, everything was in the pile. That was upsetting.

A number of people came out to the cemetery to recover items after the women began sorting and salvaging. Elliott said they were digging for everyone, watching people in tears as they scoured for their items. Between the mud, the breakages, and the size of the mess, many went away empty handed.

It wasnt fair to families, Elliott said. It was like reliving my daddys death all over again.

Davis, Jones and Elliott were admitted to an Odd Fellows board of directors meeting Oct. 11. The three women were among a group of protesters who gathered outside the meeting to express their anger and disappointment with the cemetery cleanup. When the board asked for someone to represent the crowd, the women came forward.

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Lebanon Lodge No. 47 of the Odd Fellows, at 20 E. Ash St., owns the cemetery and operates it as a nonprofit, according to state of Oregon records.

Allen Whitmire, an Odd Fellows board member, said there has been an ongoing but overlooked issue with mementos at gravesites because the cemetery was ignored for a long time. He said items placed in the grass around graves make maintenance difficult, adding that informative community sessions about the issue werent met with much success.

We did some things right on that cleanup, and we did some things wrong, Whitmire said. Were not perfect.

With leaves dropping, Whitmire said it was time for upkeep. In addition to mowing, the leaf-blowers needed to come in. Although placing items on headstones and monuments is allowed, the blowers can blast items off the gravesites, making it even harder to mow. Fake flowers, which typically have a wire core, are only allowed during non-mowing seasons.

We cleaned up and got a little carried away, he said. Because we knew the blowers were coming.

The board admitted they went too far and apologized, Whitmire said. Going forward, there will be more advance notice of cleanups and there will be a community representative involved in the process. He noted that along with a fairly new Odd Fellows board, the grounds crew was recently replaced with professional contractors.

Jones said she appreciates that the Odd Fellows board is trying to make things right. She doesnt blame them for the cleanup, and said since then they have been sincerely accommodating and compassionate. After telling her story to the board, she said there wasnt a dry eye in the house.

They were all crying, Jones said. I think they finally really understood where we were all coming from.

Whitmire said the Corvallis Odd Fellows sent in a troubleshooter who is knowledgeable about cemeteries to help the Lebanon chapter in the wake of the public outcry. He said the help has been invaluable. He explained that the Odd Fellows creed boils down to caring for the sick, burying the dead and educating the orphan.

As part of the solution, a website has been rolled out. There is also a Facebook group to help keep the public informed about cemetery cleanups and other related events, including opportunities to volunteer.

Jones asks that the public consider registering for organ donation. Shortly before her son died, he had become an outspoken proponent of organ donation, and his organs were donated after his death.

Oregon Odd Fellows Grand Master Gordon Corda declined comment.

Cody Mann covers the cities of Albany and Lebanon. He can be contacted at 541-812-6113 or Cody.Mann@lee.net.

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'Nonbinary' Oklahoma lawmaker complains after governor says 'there's no such thing'
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In 2007, Joseph R. Waker Jr. formed a foundation that works to prevent acts of violence like the drive-by shooting on Grant Street that injured his 19-year-old grandson, Zyshawn Coker.

His organization looks to provide job training, education, and affordable housing in a safe community in which our youth and families can prosper.

On Sunday, he asked people to speak out against the criminal element that threatens our communities.

If you know something, say something, Waker said. We cannot be scared  Theres more of us than there is of them.

The Grant Street shooting was one of several in Dothan recently. Three young men were arrested in a drive-by shooting on Mercury Drive on Wednesday night. One of those men is also charged in the Oct. 17 shooting on Grant Street that injured Coker and two others, including a 3-year-old boy who was playing in the yard.

Dothan Police Chief Will Benny said the men were apprehended following two drive-by shootings in close proximity  the first was on Marquis Drive. No one was injured.
Google is well-known for forbidding the use of software using the GNU Affero General Public License, commonly known as AGPL. Google is also well-known for being the subject of cargo-culting by fad startups. Unfortunately, this means that they are susceptible to what is ultimately anti-AGPL propaganda from Google, with little to no basis in fact.

Obligatory: Im not a lawyer; this is for informational purposes only.

In truth, the terms of the AGPL are pretty easy to comply with. The basic obligations of the AGPL which set it apart from other licenses are as follows:

Any derivative works of AGPL-licensed software must also use the AGPL.

Any users of such software are entitled to the source code under the terms of the AGPL, including users accessing it over the network such as with their web browser or via an API or internet protocol.

If youre using AGPL-licensed software like a database engine or my own AGPL-licensed works, and you havent made any changes to the source code, all you have to do is provide a link to the upstream source code somewhere, and if users ask for it, direct them there. If you have modified the software, you simply have to publish your modifications. The easiest way to do this is to send it as a patch upstream, but you could use something as simple as providing a tarball to your users.

The nuances are detailed and cover many edge cases to prevent abuse. But in general, just publish your modifications under the same AGPL terms and youll be good to go. The license is usually present in the source code as a COPYING or LICENSE file, so if you just tar up your modified source code and drop a link on your website, thats good enough. If you want to go the extra mile and express your gratitude to the original software developers, consider submitting your changes for upstream inclusion. Generally, the feedback youll receive will help to make your changes better for your use-case, too; and submitting your work upstream will prevent your copy from diverging from upstream.

Thats pretty easy, right? Im positive that your business has to deal with much more onerous contracts than the AGPL. Then why does Google make a fuss about it?

The Google page about the AGPL details inaccurate (but common) misconceptions about the obligations of the AGPL that dont follow from the text. Google states that if, for example, Google Maps used PostGIS as its data store, and PostGIS used the AGPL, Google would be required to release the Google Maps code. This is not true. They would be required to release their PostGIS patches in this situation. AGPL does not extend the GPL in that it makes the Internet count as a form of linking which creates a derivative work, as Google implies, but rather that it makes anyone who uses the software via the Internet entitled to its source code. It does not update the what counts as a derivative work algorithm, so to speak  it updates the what counts as distributing the software algorithm.

The reason they spread these misconceptions is straightforward: they want to discourage people from using the AGPL, because they cannot productize such software effectively. Google wants to be able to incorporate FOSS software into their products and sell it to users without the obligation to release their derivative works. Google is an Internet company, and they offer Internet services. The original GPL doesnt threaten their scheme because their software is accessed over the Internet, not distributed to end-users directly.

By discouraging the use of AGPL in the broader community, Google hopes to create a larger set of free- and open-source software that they can take for their own needs without any obligations to upstream. Ask yourself: why is documentation of internal-facing decisions like what software licenses to use being published in a public place? The answer is straightforward: to influence the public. This is propaganda.

Theres a bizarre idea that software companies which eschew the AGPL in favor of something like MIT are doing so specifically because they want companies like Google to pay for their software, and they know that they have no chance if they use AGPL. In truth, Google was never going to buy your software. If you dont use the AGPL, theyre just going to take your software and give nothing back. If you do use the AGPL, theyre just going to develop a solution in-house. Theres no outcome where Google pays you.

Dont be afraid to use the AGPL, and dont be afraid to use software which uses the AGPL. The obligations are not especially onerous or difficult, despite what Google would have you believe. The license isnt that long  read it and see for yourself.
Rubber prices have soared by 30-50 percent this year, driving up profits for companies in the industry by triple digits in Q3.

Subsidiaries of the Vietnam Rubber Group such as Daklak Rubber JSC, Tan Bien Rubber JSC, Ba Ria Rubber JSC, Phuoc Hoa Rubber JSC, and Dong Phu Rubber JSC saw profits surge by over 300 percent.

Thong Nhat Rubber reported a rise of 466 percent.

Vietnams rubber exports increased by nearly 24 percent to $970 million in Q3, according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Trades import-export department.

Exports in the year-to-date were up 50 percent to $2.17 billion.

A recent report by the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries said global demand for natural rubber would grow by 9 percent to more than 14 million tons this year.

China, which buys over 70 percent of Vietnam's rubber exports, is expected to import 1.7 million tons between September and December and another two million tons in the first four months of 2022, according to the ministry.
Residents in Bui Xa Village, Chuong My District, share how they withstand and minimize the effects of heavy downpours in a flood-risk environment.

It was still raining heavily in Bui Xa Village at noon on Oct. 18.

After her trip to the market, Nguyen Thi Thanh and her daughter-in-law parked their motorbike at a lot in the middle of the village, put on their boots and waded home more than 500 meters away.

The floodwater level rose higher and higher, reaching Thanh's knees, as she moved further into the village.

Since she's a food seller at the local traditional market, Thanh has to get up before 2 a.m. daily to receive goods from merchants. On rainy days, fearing trouble when wading through flooded roads at night, she would stay and sleep at her second son's house near the entrance of the village and return home at noon the next day.

Thanh's home and about 100 households in Bui Xa Village of Chuong My District are situated near Bui River.

The right side of the river is defined as a flood-prone area since it helps divert floodwater from Red River and Day River to protect central Hanoi. As a result, Chuong My is flooded every year.

Due to the cold air triggering heavy rains and floods in central Vietnam, Hanoi and northern Hoa Binh Province witnessed massive downpours since Oct. 16.

The heavy rain and upstream water flow from Hoa Binh have caused the water level of Bui River to rise. Some rural transport routes in the communes of Chuong My District were also flooded and more than 190 houses submerged 0.3-1.2 meters.

The main alley leading to Bui Xa Village is flooded on Oct. 18, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Pham Nga

The main alley leading to Bui Xa saw floodwaters reach 0.5 meters, entering low-lying yards and houses situated by the riverside.

The rising water level has upended the daily life of people in Bui Xa.

When she saw floodwaters entering her yard while having lunch, Thanh quickly called her husband and children to take their clothes out of the wardrobe and put them somewhere higher, bringing their two big dogs and some puppies inside the family's two-story house.

"Our family has to let the dogs urinate and defecate on the floor and clean up afterward since there is no other way," she said.

After luring in the dogs, the pigsty was flooded and caused the pregnant sow to squeal. So Thanh and her husband put on conical hats to lure them to higher ground, taking a piece of corrugated iron to cover them temporarily.

Her son carried out the aluminum boat in the warehouse and tied it in front of the house just in case. Around noon, the floodwaters had already reached a bit over Thanh's heels.

"This year the water rose slowly," she said. "Back in 2018, I took a little nap but when I opened my eyes the water already reached as high as the bed. At the time, soldiers had to come in to help me clean up and my whole family moved into the house of my second son."

Nguyen Dinh Hoa, chairman of Chuong My District, said the government has directed commune to coordinate with local military units to prepare means of evacuating people when the water rises to a dangerous level.

The flood scene at Nguyen Thi Toi's house is no different from Thanh's house.

The 45-year-old woman and her husband carried two wardrobes and an old refrigerator to the upper floor. At noon on Oct. 18, when the floodwater receded in other areas in the village, her kitchen was still inundated.

"During the dry season, I can still grow some crops on the field. But I can't do so during the rainy season," said Tam, her husband, pointing at the flooded papaya tree in front of his house.

According to the latest report on Chuong My District, nearly 300 hectares of winter crops in the district were completely or partially flooded.

But according to Tam, the heavy rain in 2018 was much worse. That year, when he had just finished harvesting rice, the village received heavy downpours, with floodwater reaching up to his back. The couple carried each bag of soaked rice on their boat, pushing it to a few houses near the entrance of the village to dry temporarily.

Standing in the middle of the flooded road leading to her house, Hoang Thi Sim, 63, was trying to remove dirt and cement with a bucket normally used to store rainwater.

Her house is under construction, and its water system has not yet been installed. "Every day, I go to my neighbors to ask them for some clean water for daily usage. But I can't visit them since it is hard to bring the clean water back along the flooded road," she said.

Saving clean water is the first solution for people in Bui Xa to adapt to flooding.

Sim said she had purchased a bottle of itching medicine.

"I put it on every night, but my feet are still sore," she said, showing her white foot, affected from being submerged in water for a long time.

Living in a flood-prone area, Bui Xa villagers have actively found solutions to adapt to living conditions. For example, residents always build houses 0.5 to 1 meter higher than the road surface. Most households have a boat ready to use when needed.

Every time the water rises, the commune loudspeakers of Bui Xa start to remind people to pack their belongings in case of severe floods, and to evacuate children and the elderly from heavily flooded areas.

In September 2020, officials of Chuong My District said to ensure that people do not have to suffer from flooding, the best option is to migrate residents out of the flood-prone area.

Chuong My District has proposed that Hanoi prioritizes strengthening and upgrading the Bui River dike system.

During this flood, Thanh's two grandchildren and dozens of young kids in the area were pushed by their parents on a boat to a relative's house to stay temporarily. Her neighbors had to evacuate the whole family to another place, to wait until the flood recedes.

People wade through a flooded area in Bui Xa Village. Photo by VnExpress/Ha Huy Dat

To avoid the situation of rice being soaked in rainwater, Toi and her husband finished harvesting and transported their crop directly to their grandmother's house, located more than a kilometer away. They only plant rice once a year and harvest it by June just before the annual flooding season begins, which usually comes in late July or early August and remains until November or even after.

Most locals have simply accepted living with floods.

Toi only wishes to be healthy, and have money to build a house higher than the usual floodwater level. Meanwhile, Thanh said that many acquaintances who saw her wading through water twice a day to the market advised her to sell her house and move to another place.

She said she doesn't plan to relocate. "I have to adapt to where I live."
Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Son has been dismissed as Commander of the Vietnam Coast Guard for violations of Party and government regulations that happened under his watch.

In a decision issued Friday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also removed four other senior coast guard officials from their positions: Major General Pham Kim Hau, Major General Tran Van Nam, Major General Doan Bao Quyet and Colonel Nguyen Van Hung.

The decision also stripped former Political Commissar of Vietnam Coast Guard, Lieutenant General Hoang Van Dong, and former Deputy Commander Major General Bui Trung Dung of their titles.

On Oct. 1, Son had been removed as Deputy Secretary of the Coast Guard Party Committee by the Party Secretariat, along with six other officials.

The Secretariat determined that the Standing Party Committee of the Vietnam Coast Guard had, in the 2015-2020 period had lacked "responsibility, leadership, direction, inspection and supervision", letting the High Command and its subordinate units commit serious violations of the Party's regulations, the laws of the State and Ministry of National Defense in finance, capital construction investment projects and purchase of technical equipment and materials, causing serious consequences.

As the Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Commander of the Vietnam Coast Guard, Son was deemed jointly responsible for violations of the Standing Party Committee from 2015-2020. He was also primarily responsible for the violations committed by the High Command and its subordinate units.

Also Friday, the Prime Minister appointed new personnel to Vietnam Coast Guard positions after dismissing Commander Son and the four other senior officials.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  A crew member says she has raised safety concerns in the past about the assistant director who authorities say unwittingly handed actor Alec Baldwin the prop gun that killed a cinematographer on a film set.

Maggie Goll, a prop maker and licensed pyrotechnician, said in a statement that she filed an internal complaint with the executive producers of Hulus Into the Dark series in 2019 over concerns about assistant director Dave Halls' behavior on set. Goll said in a phone interview Sunday that Halls disregarded safety protocols for weapons and pyrotechnics and tried to continue filming after the supervising pyrotechnician lost consciousness on set.

Halls has not returned phone calls and email messages seeking comment.

This week's fatal shooting and some of her previous experiences point to larger safety issues that need to be addressed, Goll said, adding that crew member safety and wellbeing are top issues in ongoing contract negotiations between a union that represents film and TV workers and a major producers' group.

This situation is not about Dave Halls. ... Its in no way one persons fault, she said. "Its a bigger conversation about safety on set and what we are trying to achieve with that culture.

Baldwin fired a prop gun on the New Mexico set of the film Rust Thursday, killing 42-year-old Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her.

The gun Baldwin used was one of three that a firearms specialist, or armorer, had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed, according to court records. Halls grabbed a gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating that the weapon was safe by yelling cold gun," court papers say. But it was loaded with live rounds, according to the records.

Baldwin, 63, who is known for his roles in 30 Rock and The Hunt for Red October and his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, has described the killing as a tragic accident.

Goll said it should not have happened because there are so many steps that you have to go through ... that the possibility of it even getting there should be impossible.

Actor Ray Liotta agreed that the checks on firearms are usually extensive.

They always  that I know of  they check it so you can see, Liotta said in an interview Sunday at the Newport Beach Film Festival. They give it to the person youre pointing the gun at, they do it to the producer, they show whoever is there that it doesnt work."

Rust Movie Productions has not answered repeated emails seeking comment.

Baldwin, who is a producer on Rust, met with Hutchins' husband and 9-year-old son Saturday at a hotel in Santa Fe where the actor had been staying during filming. Baldwin and Hutchins' husband can be seen embracing in a photo published by the New York Post.

A vigil for Hutchins was held Sunday in Southern California, where attendees exchanged tearful hugs and speakers called for heightened safety standards on film sets.

Goll said in her email that during work on Into the Dark, Halls didn't hold safety meetings and consistently failed to announce the presence of a firearm on set to the crew, as is protocol. The assistant prop master admonished Halls several times for dismissing the actors before they had returned weapons to the props table, she said.

She became most concerned, however, when the supervising pyrotechnician, who is diabetic, was found unconscious in a chair, she said. Halls wanted to resume filming after the man was removed from the set even though Goll, the remaining pyrotechnician on site, didn't have the qualifications to supervise the complicated series of pyrotechnic effects that were planned.

One of the things that stuck out to me most about that day is the fact that he called out on radio over channel one, Hey, Maggie says we can keep going! and I basically held the button down so he couldnt transmit to anyone else on that channel while I yelled out, No, Dave, thats not what I said. Were not doing that, she recalled in a phone interview.

She filed an internal complaint with the executive producers of Blumhouse Productions about that day, she said.

To my knowledge nothing was done after my complaints, she said in an email.

I am gutted at not pushing harder for greater accountability and safety," she wrote. "Many of us have messaged each other wondering the same thing: is there something we could have done then that would have prevented the tragedy?



Flaccus reported from Portland, Oregon. Associated Press writers Jake Coyle and Jocelyn Noveck in New York; Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles; Walter Berry in Phoenix; and Michelle Eaton in Newport Beach, California, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fired a fatal gunshot from a prop gun that he had been told was safe, a camera crew for the movie he was filming walked off the job to protest conditions and production issues that included safety concerns.

Disputes in the production of the Western film Rust" began almost from the start in early October and culminated with seven crew members walking off several hours before 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed.

The crew members had expressed their discontent with matters that ranged from safety procedures to their housing accommodations, according to one of those who left. He requested anonymity for fear that speaking up would hurt his prospects for future jobs. Rust Movie Productions did not answer emails Friday and Saturday seeking comment.

At a rehearsal on the film set Thursday at Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe, the gun Baldwin used was one of three that a firearms specialist, or armorer, had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed, according to the court records.

Court records indicate that an assistant director, Dave Halls, grabbed a prop gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating incorrectly that the weapon didn't carry live rounds by yelling cold gun.

When Baldwin pulled the trigger, he unwittingly killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her inside a wooden, chapel-like building.

Baldwin, 63, who is known for his roles in 30 Rock and The Hunt for Red October and his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, has described the killing as a tragic accident. He was a producer of Rust.

Halls did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment.

A 911 call that alerted authorities to the shooting at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe hints at the panic on the movie set, as detailed in a recording released by the Santa Fe County Regional Emergency Communications Center.

We had two people accidentally shot on a movie set by a prop gun, we need help immediately, script supervisor Mamie Mitchell told an emergency dispatcher. We were rehearsing and it went off, and I ran out, we all ran out.

The dispatcher asked if the gun was loaded with a real bullet.

I cannot tell you. We have two injuries, Mitchell replied. And this (expletive) AD (assistant director) that yelled at me at lunch, asking about revisions....Hes supposed to check the guns. He's responsible for what happens on the set.

The Associated Press was unable to contact Hannah Gutierrez, the film's armorer, and several messages sent to production companies affiliated with Rust did not receive responses Friday.

Court records say that Halls grabbed the firearm from the cart and brought it inside to the actor, also unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in a search warrant application.

It was unclear how many rounds were fired. Gutierrez removed a shell casing from the gun after the shooting, and she turned the weapon over to police when they arrived, the court records say.

Guns used in making movies are sometimes real weapons that can fire either bullets or blanks, which are gunpowder charges intended to produce little more than a flash and a bang.

New Mexico workplace safety investigators are examining if film industry standards for gun safety were followed during production of Rust. The Los Angeles Times, citing two crew members it did not name, reported that five days before the shooting, Baldwins stunt double accidentally fired two live rounds after being told the gun didnt have any ammunition.

A crew member who was alarmed by the misfires told a unit production manager in a text message, Weve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe, according to a copy of the message reviewed by the newspaper. The New York Times also reported that there were at least two earlier accidental gun discharges; it cited three former crew members.

Mitchell, the script supervisor, told The Associated Press she was standing next to Hutchins when the cinematographer was hit.

I ran out and called 911 and said Bring everybody, send everybody, Mitchell said. This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman.

Filmmaker Souza, who was shot in the shoulder, said in a statement to NBC News that he was grateful for the support he was receiving and gutted by the loss of Hutchins. She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch and always pushed me to be better, he said.

Santa Fe-area District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said prosecutors will be reviewing evidence in the shooting and do not know if charges will be filed.

Hutchins husband Matthew Hutchins posted on social media to mourn his wifes loss, ask for privacy for his family, and thank her friends and mentors at the American Film Institute, who he said nurtured the success we had only just begun to see flourish.

The institute's conservatory canceled cinematography classes Friday in response to Hutchins' death.

At a vigil Saturday around 200 film crew workers gathered for a candlelight vigil as the sun set. They shared grief at the loss of one of their own, and fear of accidents on their own film sets.

Several in attendance lit candles, held a moment of silence, read poetry and made brief comments including one testimonial to her artistic spark and generosity.

Her death shouldnt have happened, Union sets should be safe sets, said Liz Pecos, president of IATSE Local 480.

Production on Rust was halted after the shooting. The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website.

The crew member that spoke to the AP said he never witnessed any formal orientation about weapons used on set, which normally would take place before filming begins.

He also said only minimal COVID-19 precautions were taken even though crew and cast members often worked in small enclosed spaces on the ranch.

The crew was initially housed at the Courtyard by Marriot in Santa Fe, according to the crew member. Four days in, however, they were told that going forward they would be housed at the budget Coyote South hotel. Some crew members balked at staying there.

We packed our gear and left that morning, the crew member said of the Thursday walkout.

The Los Angeles Times and Variety also reported on the walkout.

Gutierrez, the films armorer, is the daughter of a longtime Hollywood firearms expert. She gave an interview in September to the Voices of the West podcast in which she said she had learned how to handle guns from her father since she was a teenager.

During the podcast interview, Gutierrez shared that she just finished her first movie in the role of head armorer, a project in Montana starring Nicolas Cage titled The Old Way.

I was really nervous about it at first and I almost didnt take the job because I wasnt sure if I was ready but doing it, like, it went really smoothly," she said.

In another on-set gun death from 1993, Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was killed by a bullet left in a prop gun after a previous scene. Similar shootings have occurred involving stage weapons that were loaded with live rounds during historical re-enactments.

Gun-safety protocol on sets in the United States has improved since then, said Steven Hall, a veteran director of photography in Britain. But he said one of the riskiest positions to be in is behind the camera because that person is in the line of fire in scenes where an actor appears to point a gun at the audience.



Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Jake Coyle and Jocelyn Noveck in New York; Lizzie Knight in London; Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine; Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles; Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Walter Berry in Phoenix; and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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BOISE  A far-right group launched by anti-government activist Ammon Bundy is rapidly expanding nationwide and making inroads into Canada, according to a new report from the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.

The quick growth happened despite legal problems faced by some prominent Peoples Rights leaders, and continued even as some of the organizations Facebook groups were removed from the social media platform. The organization has grown by roughly 53% in the past year in large part because of continued anti-public health sentiment, according to the report.

Peoples Rights started in deep-red Idaho, which remains one of the least-vaccinated states with only about 43% of its population fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The group now includes activists in 38 states, according to the report.

I think the report underestimates their overall strength, because theyve also built out alliances with a range of groups from the Tea Party to the Proud Boys and anti-vax groups, said Chuck Tanner, IREHRs research director. In certain places they are able to mobilize at levels that make an impact on policy.

Peoples Rights started in 2020 amid a wave of backlash against public health measures taken at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Started by Bundy  who is best known for leading a group of armed activists in the occupation of an Oregon wildlife refuge in 2016, and now is one of many candidates running in Idahos gubernatorial race  the group frequently staged protests at public health districts, state Capitol buildings, schools and public officials homes. The IREHR report analyzed internal membership data from the Peoples Rights network.

Bundy did not immediately respond to phone and email messages left by The Associated Press.

Last year, the organization had just under 22,000 members nationally, according to a report by IREHR and the Montana Human Rights Network. Now it has grown by roughly 53%, according to the new IREHR report, with more than 33,000 members including nearly 400 official leaders in 38 states. It also includes more than 100 members in Canada  largely in Ontario  even though most of its political ideology centers on fringe interpretations of the U.S. Constitution and Christian nationalism, according to the report.

We noticed three or four months ago that they started having Canadian provinces listed on their website. Its not big, but its kind of strange, Tanner said.

Peoples Rights is still mostly focused in the northwestern states, particularly Idaho, where Bundy lives and roughly 17 out of every 10,000 are members, according to the report. Most of the growth has been around COVID-19-related activism, said Tanner.

Theres been rapid growth in places that didnt have very many members to begin with, but theres also been significant growth in areas that we know are really organized on the ground, like southern Washington and central Oregon, Tanner said. Theyve really built this COVID-denial activism, and as a group are playing an outsized role in the attack on public health measures to address the pandemic.

Prominent members of the organization have faced serious legal woes. In Idaho, Sean Anderson dropped from a leadership role after he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in a police shootout last year.

Another prominent Peoples Rights activist, Pam Hemphill, is facing several federal charges after prosecutors said she took part in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Hemphill has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Earlier this year, Bundy was convicted of trespassing and obstructing officers after prosecutors said he refused to leave a closed room at the Idaho Statehouse following protests that were attended by hundreds, including many Peoples Rights members.

That hasnt seemed to slow the organizations growth, Tanner said. The organization has promoted extreme political concepts including state secession and the repeal of the 14th, 15th and 19th Amendments, Tanner said. The Peoples Rights website calls on members to be ready to defend themselves and others against government officials.

What Peoples Rights does is spread really radical ideas about overturning civil rights in the United States, Tanner said. This is a broad-based, anti-Democratic and bigoted social movement.

But Joe Lowndes, a political science professor at the University of Oregon who researches conservatism and right-wing movements, said its not clear if the organizations growth will have staying power in a post-pandemic world.

Peoples Rights were kind of early adopters of the anti-mask, anti-vaccine movements, and theyve been able to build through that to push this vague, conspiratorial, anti-government idea, said Lowndes. But its hard to say how thats able to sustain itself in the long run. I cant see that theres much staying power beyond the issue of the pandemic, unless its kind of that general, apocalyptic-prepper stuff.

In places like Idaho, where some far-right political factions already had a stronghold, its difficult to tell if Peoples Rights was leading the anti-pandemic movement or just going along with the far-right flow, said Jaclyn Kettler, a Boise State University political scientist.

Its a little hard right now to trace what impacts they had compared to others with similar sorts of ideologies, Kettler said. It will be interesting to see what happens long-term here. For instance, a lot of the Tea Party organizations arent active like they were in 2010, but we can still see the influence of them.
Falling on hard times can happen to anyone but there are programs in place to cushion the fall. In Florida residents have access to a number of programs whether they should find they are out of work through no fault of their own to financial assistance covering expenses, be that food, rent or utilities.

Heres a look at some of the programs that are available in Florida.

Unemployment compensation

Workers in Florida that are forced out of work due to no fault of their own can apply for Reemployment Assistance Benefits from the state. Enhanced federal pandemic unemployment benefits are no longer available, Governor Ron DeSantis chose to pull the state out of the $300 booster to weekly benefits early and the remaining programs expired in early September.

The states regular unemployment had been some of the stingiest in the nation giving out of work residents just 12 weeks of benefits. However, lawmakers overcame opposition from the governor and increased benefits to $375, a $100 bump, and added two weeks to the annual total the unemployed could claim when unemployment is at or below five percent. For every half percentage over five percent an additional week is granted to those receiving benefits.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

This federal program provides monthly payments to people who have limited income and few resources. Supplemental Security Income is available to people 65 or older, as well as people of any age who are blind or who have disabilities. You could be eligible for Supplemental Security Income even if you are not a US citizen but lawfully reside in the United States.

To apply for Supplemental Security Income benefits, visit your local Social Security office. You can call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213 to schedule an appointment with a representative who will guide you through the application process. People who are deaf or hard of hearing can call Social Security's toll-free TTY number, 1-800-325-0778. You can call between the hours of 7 am to 7 pm on business days.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

People with low-incomes that meet federal income eligibility rules can sign up to receive monthly electronic benefits that can be used to buy a range of foods at markets and food stores. To qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in Florida residents must meet eligibility requirements based on family situation and income.

Beneficiaries can receive up to $250 for a single recipient to $1,504 for a family of eight, with an additional $188 per extra household member.

Those who receive Supplemental Security Income may be eligible for the SUNCAP Program, a special Food Assistance Program for beneficiaries that reside in Florida.

Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA)

Families with children under the age of 18, or under age 19 if full time secondary school students, could be eligible for Temporary Cash Assistance. Residents who are in the third trimester of pregnancy and unable to work as well as those in their ninth month of pregnancy may also meet the criteria to receive cash assistance. The program is designed to help families become self-supporting while allowing children to remain in their own homes.

In order to qualify a household must meet the TCA requirements based on income and assets as well as other technical criteria.

Emergency Rental Assistance Program

The Florida Department of Children and Families has a program to help residents pay for rent or utilities. OUR Florida emergency rental assistance is separate from other city and county programs across the state. Although it is available to all qualified applicants, residents cannot claim benefits from both the state and another program.

The state has created a frequently asked questions page for applicants to address concerns about the program.




Torrential rain has turned major streets in Quang Ngai into rivers. (Photo: VOV)

Heavy downpours lasting from October 22 evening to October 23 afternoon drenched large areas of Binh Son, Son Tinh, Tu Nghia, and Nghia Hanh districts and Quang Ngai city.

In Quang Ngai city, heavy rain on October 23 evening flooded thousands of homes and roads, disrupting traffic on major arteries.

Rising floodwaters also caused traffic congestion on National Highway 1A passing Binh Nguyen commune, Binh Son district.

Rescue forces moved more than 2,000 local residents from low-lying areas to safer parts of the district, said Ung Dinh Hien, deputy head of the districts administration.

Residents houses inundated (Photo: LDO)

In Nghia Hanh district, water levels in the Phuoc Giang river are rising rapidly, exceeding the third alert level. More than 750 households living along the river were inundated, with some places 1.5m deep in water. A local was reported missing due to rising floodwaters in Hanh Dung commune.

As heavy rain is forecast to lash Quang Ngai on October 24-25, the provincial administration has requested districts and cities to pool all resources to cope with severe flooding, with a primary focus on evacuation of local residents from flood- and landslide prone areas.

Project on marine aquaculture development till 2030 approved

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh has recently signed Decision No.1664/QD-TTg approving a project on marine aquaculture development till 2030 with a vision to 2045, reported the Voice of Vietnam.

Fish cage farming at sea. Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

The overall goal of the project is developing a synchronous, safe, effective, sustainable and eco-friendly marine aquaculture, producing branded products to meet domestic and foreign demand, generating jobs and improving income of residential community in coastal areas, contributing to protecting the security of the countrys seas and islands.

By 2025, the project targets having 280,000ha for aquaculture, achieving an output of 850,000 tonnes and export revenue of 800 million  1 billion USD.

By 2045, sea farming will become an important part of the fishery sector with modern management, contributing to over 25 percent of the total output and earning more than 4 billion USD in export turnover.

To such end, a synchronous infrastructure will be developed to serve the industry. Specifically, a fleet of logistics vessels and offshore marine farming areas will be set up in key provinces.

As for inshore sea farming, priority will be given to competitive consumption markets and growing various species in combination with resources protection and management in coastal areas.

For cities and provinces from Quang Ninh to Ninh Binh, the Hai Phong  Quang Ninh area will be built into a sea aquaculture centre with concentrated mollusca breeding areas, thus meeting domestic and regional demand.

The cities and provinces from Thanh Hoa and Binh Thuan will develop sea aquaculture in tandem with seafood processing, logistics services, building and operating a mobile model for effective and sustainable exploitation and management of lobster breeding.

The cities and provinces from Ba Ria  Vung Tau to Kien Giang will harmoniously combine sea farming with services, marine ecological tourism, wind power and processing industry.

Under the draft project, offshore marine farming areas will be established in key cities and provinces such as Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Quang Ngai, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Ba Ria  Vung Tau, Ca Mau and Kien Giang and several others with favourable natural conditions.

Healthcare tourism: untapped potential in Vietnam

Medical tourism has emerged as a major trend around the world as the COVID-19 pandemic and environmental pollution have caused people to pay more attention to their health. Particularly, experts said the post-COVID-19 era would be a booming period for all types of healthcare services, reported the Voice of Vietnam.

Tourists practice yoga on the beach on Con Dao island. (Photo: VNA)

This new kind of tourism has not been effectively exploited in Vietnam, despite the big number of destinations with potential for wellness tourism.

Wellness tourism has become popular in some countries including the US, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, China, Thailand and Indonesia.

It is forecasted that the global wellness tourism market will post a revenue of 919 billion USD in 2022, tourism expert Nguyen Van Luu said.

Currently, this type of tourism is growing rapidly from North America to Europe and Asia-Pacific and will expand faster in the coming years, he added.

It is worth mentioning that over the past five years, Asia has led in both the number of visitors and revenue from healthcare tourism.

Deputy Director of the Tourism Market Department, Vu Nam cited Yufuin, a rural village in Oita Prefecture of Japan as an example in exploiting local resources for health tourism.

With a natural area of about 1,800 hectares and a population of about 10,000 people, the village welcomed nearly 4.5 million visitors in 2019.

It is estimated that more than 12,000 visitors arrived at Yufuin per day on average, more than the population of the village. The income from tourism in 2019 of local people reached more than 16 billion JPY, equivalent to nearly 15 million USD.

Yufuin can be said to be one of the most typical tourist destinations in exploiting hot mineral resources for the development of healthcare tourism not only in Japan but also around the world," Nam said.

Commenting on this tourism trend, which has developed in the world but is still untapped in Vietnam, deputy head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong said there will be a shift in the tourism trend in the future, especially long-term trips will no longer be mere sightseeing trips. It will be a combination of relaxation and the use of services to strengthen physical and mental health.

Tourists enjoy Japanese-style hot spring bath. (Photo: Photo: VNA)

Huong said the main reason for wellness tourism to be ignored in Vietnam is a lack of comprehensive research on its potential as well as no specific orientations and policies for the development of this type of tourism.

Over recent years, many hot mineral springs have opened for tourists such as Quang Hanh (Quang Ninh province), My Lam (Tuyen Quang province) and Thanh Thuy (Phu Tho province) which offer Japanese-style healthcare tourism services with hot spring baths.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, about 350,000 foreigners came to Vietnam in 2018 for to have medical examinations and treatments, generating a turnover of 2 billion USD. Meanwhile, every year, about 40,000 Vietnamese people travel abroad for healthcare services in combination with tourism and spend billions of dollars. It showed that not only international visitors but also domestic travelers are potential customers of this type of tourism.

To meet the demand of tourists, some travel agencies have developed a wide range of tourist products associated with maintaining and promoting peoples health such as yoga on beach and massage therapy, offering a fresh experience for visitors.

Director of Thua Thien Hue Department of Tourism, Tran Huu Thuy Giang, said that this locality will study and soon issue policies and product orientations for tourism businesses to develop and put into operation healthcare tours.

It is necessary to define this type of tourism a key type in the planning and development strategy of Vietnam's tourism. The government needs to have policies and plans for the development of this type of tourism in order to improve the health of the Vietnamese community and attract foreigners and increase revenue for the state budget, said Professor Nguyen Van Dinh, a tourism expert./.




Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa and Botswana Hoang Van Loi at a working session with representatives from Business Botswana. (Photo: VNA)

President Mokgweeti Masisi made the statement at a reception for Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa and Botswana Hoang Van Loi after the latter presented his credentials on October 19.

Loi conveyed greetings and invitations of Vietnamese leaders to President Mokgweeti Masisi to visit Vietnam after the COVID-19 pandemic is put under control.

In reply, the President said he will arrange the visit at a convenient time.

The ambassador affirmed that Vietnam always wants to promote the friendship and cooperation with African friends, including Botswana.

Earlier the same day, Loi presented a copy of his credentials and paid a courtesy visit to Botswana Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation Lemogang Kwape who suggested the two countries increase the exchange of delegations at all levels, especially the high-level ones, and further provide mutual support at multilateral forums, firstly the United Nations.

Botswana and Vietnam should promote negotiations to soon reach cooperation documents necessary to their sustainable bilateral ties, he said, adding that to increase two-way trade, Botswana will consider opening doors for some Vietnamese goods like agricultural products, consumption goods, apparels and electronics.

He also suggested Vietnam increase imports of minerals that Botswana has large reserves and competitive prices.

On this occasion, Loi had working sessions with leaders of the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre and Business Botswana to seek specific measures to connect and assist businesses of the two countries in the time ahead./.
At the ceremony (Photo: VOV)

At the ceremony, the Vietnamese Ambassador pledged that he would make positive contributions to strengthening the bilateral friendship and cooperation between the two countries during his tenure.

He conveyed an invitation to visit Vietnam from President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to the Portuguese President.

For his part, President Rebelo de Sousa praised the positive relations between the two countries over the past years.

The two countries would continue to strive to tap the potential of cooperation to deepen their bilateral relationship and uphold the tradition of 45 years of bilateral diplomatic ties, he said.

The President hoped that the ambassador would fulfill his assigned tasks and make important contributions to Vietnam  Portugal ties, as well as both countries' agencies and partners./.
Egypts religious authorities have issued a decision banning the longtime practice of direct donations in boxes in mosques nationwide.
Thousands of protesters converged on Isfahan in central Iran on Friday to voice their anger after the city's lifeblood river dried up due to drought and diversion, state television said.
US President Joe Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan reiterated on Wednesday the US administration's commitment to exerting efforts to ensure Egypts water security.

Sullivans remarks came during a meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, head of Egypt's General Intelligence Service Abbas Kamel, and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, a presidential statement read.

The meeting was also attended by US National Security Council (NSC) coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk, Sullivan's senior adviser Ariana Berengaut, head of the North Africa Department of the NSC Joshua Harris, and Deputy Ambassador of the US to Egypt Nicole Shampaine.

Regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) issue, Sullivan said that the US is working to preserve the water and development rights of Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia.

President El-Sisi stressed that the international community should play a role in resolving the highly important GERD issue.

The president stressed that Egypt will not accept any harm to its water interests.

Earlier in September, the UN Security Council issued a statement encouraging the three sides to return to the AU-sponsored talks to reach a binding deal after earlier rounds collapsed.

Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have recently expressed readiness to engage in the African Union-sponsored negotiations to resolve their decade-long dispute over the mega dam Addis Ababa is building on the Blue Nile.

The two downstream countries have grave concerns about the potential impact of the GERD, especially in light of Ethiopia's resistance of a binding deal on the filling and operation of the dam.

Ethiopia implemented the first and second phases of filling the dams reservoir unilaterally in 2020 and 2021 without an agreement.

Reviving the peace process

During the meeting, El-Sisi affirmed that resolving the Palestinian issue in accordance with international references and restoring Palestinian people's legitimate rights will be of a great impact on the region.

This would lead to bolstering the whole region's security and will open new horizons of peace, cooperation and development, El-Sisi affirmed.

The two sides also discussed during the meeting the developments in the Palestinian issue and how to revive the peace process.

Sullivan affirmed the US appreciation of the Egyptian efforts to contain the situation in the Gaza Strip and prevent escalation. He also hailed the Egyptian initiative regarding the reconstruction in the strip.

The two sides agreed on continuing consultation and coordination to ensure maintaining the ceasefire and current de-escalation in Gaza with the aim of improving the humanitarian and living conditions of the Palestinians.

In May, Egypt sponsored a ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestinian factions to end an 11-day episode of Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip, during which more than 250 Palestinians, including 66 children, were killed.

Egypt then sent its intelligence chief Kamel to visit Tel Aviv and Ramallah  in late May and again in August  to push forward the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and safeguard the Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire in Gaza.

During his visit in August, Kamel met with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his national security advisor in Tel Aviv and with President Abbas in Ramallah.

Sullivan is scheduled to host Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata in Washington on 5 October to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Ensuring success of Libya's political path

El-Sisi affirmed to Sullivan and the US officials the importance Egypt attaches to ensuring the success of the political path in Libya and the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the sisterly country, the statement read.

The president underlined the importance of holding the Libyan elections as scheduled in December this year.

The two sides agreed on intensifying coordination on preparations for the Libyan elections, the withdrawal of foreign forces and mercenaries from the country and unifying Libyan security and military institutions.

The meeting also discussed developments in several regional issues, namely in Tunisia, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, Egypts presidential spokesman said.

El-Sisi affirmed that the effective way for countries suffering from crises to achieve stability in the region is to restore the comprehensive framework of the nation state.

Enhancing four-decade-long ties

During the meeting, El-Sisi asked that his greetings be conveyed to President Biden.

El-Sisi stressed Egypt's keenness to enhance the strategic partnership with the US in light of the US-Egyptian relations that have extended for more than four decades, especially on the security and military levels.

The US-Egyptian partnership has long contributed to enhancing the security and stability efforts in the Middle East in light of the tension and unrest the region faces, El-Sisi said.

Sullivan extended Biden's greetings to El-Sisi and affirmed the US aspiration to boost coordination and develop ongoing strategic cooperation with Egypt during the coming period.

This comes especially in light of Egypts pivotal and balanced role in the Middle East, which has become a main factor for the success of the efforts to achieve security, stability and peace, Sullivan said.

Sullivan also hailed Egypt's effective efforts in facing terrorism and extremist thought, affirming the need to boost cooperation between the two countries in this regard in the future.

Sullivan is currently in an official visit to Egypt as part of a Middle East tour that also includes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Egypt and the Biden administration have intensified consultations since the escalation in Gaza, starting with consecutive phone calls from Biden in May.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also visited Egypt and met with El-Sisi late in May as part of his first Middle East tour, which included Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan.

During his meeting with Blinken, El-Sisi affirmed the importance of working immediately to revive direct Palestinian-Israeli talks to bring both sides back to the negotiating table.

Blinken also met with Shoukry last week on the sidelines of the 76th United Nations General Assembly in New York, during which they discussed the GERD dispute and strategic partnership.

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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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Egypt is set to launch on Sunday the fourth edition of Cairo Water Week (CWW), the annual event that aims to spread awareness on water issues and promote innovation to face the most pressing water-related challenges.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is due to deliver the opening speech of the event, which will run from Sunday to Thursday under the title "Water, Population and Global Changes: Challenges and Opportunities."

Hungarian President Janos Ader and Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly will also address the CWW's attendees, according to the event agenda.

The five-day gathering is organised by the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources in cooperation with partners from regional and international organisations, as well as national institutions, authorities and ministries.

The irrigation ministry said a wide participation of ministers, official delegations and senior officials in the water sector will attend the occasion alongside host of scientists, representatives of international organisations and institutes and civil society organisations from different countries of the world.

An expo featuring modern irrigation technologies, smart irrigation and water reuse methods is scheduled to be held on the sideline of the event, with the participation of 34 companies.

The event also includes competitions to choose the best three-minute presentation of masters or PhD thesis, and the most innovative idea to rationalise water consumption.

Egypt, as one of the most water-scarce countries in the world, is paying special attention to water issues.

Egypt needs 114 billion cubic metres (bcm) annually, but it receives an average of only 60 bcm, mainly from the Nile River in light of the very limited amounts of rainwater and groundwater in the desert.

Egypt is working on filling the gap through the reuse of agricultural wastewater and groundwater, in addition to importing food products that would otherwise consume 34 bcm of water annually to produce.

In a previous statement by Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Abdel-Ati, he explained that Egypt overcomes water scarcity by importing 54 percent of its virtual water, which is the embedded water required to produce commodities, and reusing 42 percent of renewable energy.

Egypt has drawn up a strategy for its water resources through 2050, at a cost of up to EGP 900 billion (about $57.3 billion), according to Abdel-Ati.

The strategy is based on a four-pronged National Water Resources Plan, which runs through 2037 and is based on rationalising water use, improving water quality, providing additional water resources and creating a climate suitable for optimal water management.

Many projects are being implemented to increase the capacity of the water system to deal with challenges, including wastewater treatment, seawater desalination, rehabilitation and lining of canals and switching from surface to modern irrigation systems in agriculture.

In September, Egypt inaugurated the Bahr Al-Baqar triple-treated water treatment plant in Port Said, at a total cost of a cost of EGP 20 billion (about $1.3 billion).

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The Senate  Egypt's consultative upper house  will reconvene on Sunday and Monday to discuss a new draft law that aims to protect nature and maintain the country's biological diversity.

A report prepared by the Senate's Energy and Environment Committee said the new law is a necessary step to put into force Egypt's 2013 decision to join the Nagoya Protocol on biological diversity and access and sharing of biological and genetic resources.

The Nagoya Protocol is an international agreement that aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way. The protocol, adopted in 2010 in Nagoya, Japan and entered into force in 2014, obligates contracting parties to take measures that help conserve biological diversity in nature and prevent the extinction of rare species.

The report said the law aims to make sure that all concerned authorities implement Egypt's obligations under the Nagoya Protocol.

According to the report, the term "biological resources" includes animal and plant species that live inside and outside protected areas.

The draft law stipulates that those who seek to access to biological resources cannot use these resources without prior approval and licensing from the concerned authorities (the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency).

"Those who have an access to biological resources will be obliged to make sure that their activities do not lead to biodiversity loss or ecosystem degradation that might pose major risks to human survival and sustainable development," according to the draft law.

It also stipulatess that the Ministry of Environment will form a national committee that will be in charge of observing the access and sharing of benefits arising from the use of biological resources and registering all kinds of species living in Egypt.

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The Egyptian Armed Forces' Engineering Authority, which oversees construction in the New Administrative Capital ( NAC), announced a public contest to select names, logos, and slogans for the new capital.

Egypt is preparing to open the fourth-generation new capital, being constructed since 2015 over 170,000 feddans, by the end of this year and to relocate tens of thousands of employees there.

The new capital, located east of Cairo, is set to house 6.5 million people and host all ministries, parliament, government institutions as well as residential units and all services.

The engineering authority, which undertakes mega government projects nationwide, invited "all Egyptian people" to send their proposals to choose a name and a slogan for the new capital, as well as an innovative logo and distinguished "visual identity," according to a statement by the Ministry of Defence.

Citizens can submit their proposals at "www.egbranding.eg/" by the deadline of Thursday 18 November. A committee of experts, intellectuals and writers will sort and examine the proposals.

The designed "visual identity" for the new capital should "reflect the state's vision regarding the establishment of new smart cities and the advancement of society through science, art, innovation, sustainable development, and modern technology," the statement read.

The contest "comes within the framework of the Armed Forces' keenness to benefit from the creativity of the Egyptian people in national projects that it supervises and as part of preparations for inaugurating the New Administrative Capital," the statement added.

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The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Sunday its air strikes had killed more than 260 Huthi rebels in the past three days, but a rebel spokesman said the bombing campaign will not stop them.

The deaths are the latest among roughly 1,600 rebels the coalition claims it has killed in strikes over the past two weeks around Marib, the internationally recognised government's last bastion in oil-rich northern Yemen.

The Iran-backed Huthis rarely comment on losses, and AFP could not independently verify the toll.

The strikes are the most recent in a nearly seven-year coalition military campaign to support Yemen's internationally recognized government against the Huthis.

"Thirty-six military vehicles were destroyed and more than 264" rebel fighters were killed in the past 72 hours, the coalition said, quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The strikes were carried out in Al-Jawba, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Marib, and Al-Kassara, 30 kilometres to the northwest.

"If the enemy thought that their warplanes could limit the progress of our forces or break the determination of our soldiers they are mistaken," Huthi spokesman Yahya Saree said on the rebel's Al-Masirah TV channel.

He claimed that during an operation the rebels had killed 550 pro-government fighters, wounded 1,200, and taken 90 prisoners, without specifying a time frame.

AFP could not independently verify the figures given by the rebels.

The coalition has for the past two weeks reported almost daily air strikes around Marib.

Ceasefire call

The Huthis began a major push to seize Marib in February, and have renewed their offensive since September after a lull.

The Yemeni civil war began in 2014 when the Huthis seized the capital Sanaa, 120 kilometres west of Marib, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop up the government the following year.

Tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced in the war, which the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The UN Security Council called on Wednesday for "de-escalation" in Yemen, in a unanimously adopted statement to counter the risk of "large-scale famine" in the country.

The 15 council members demanded an immediate nationwide ceasefire, and sought an end to the Marib escalation.

"The members of the Security Council expressed grave concern for the dire humanitarian situation, including prolonged starvation and the growing risk of large-scale famine," according to a statement.

They also "condemned the recruitment and use of children, and sexual violence, in conflict".

The UN children's agency UNICEF last week said that seven years of conflict in Yemen had killed or wounded at least 10,000 children.

The figure only included child victims whose fates were known to the organisation, and there were countless others, UNICEF spokesman James Elder said in Geneva.

"The war must come to an end," he said.

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Egypt reported 881 new coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing the total infection tally officially to 323,733 since the outbreak began in February 2020, said Health Ministry in its daily coronavirus update statement.

The ministry also reported 47 new Covid-19 related deaths in the past 24 hours nationwide, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus to 18.242.

The statement added that 649 patients have been discharged after recovering from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries 273,154.

Egypt received on Friday the third shipment of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine comprising 1.4 million doses donated by the United States, bringing the total to 4.6 million.

Egypts vaccination campaign currently uses various types of imported vaccines, including Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer, in addition to its locally-made Sinovac/VACSERA.

Egypt aims to vaccine 40 million citizens by the end of the year, allocating around 1,100 vaccination centres nationwide.

Egypt has vaccinated around 22 million people against coronavirus and has administered 30 million doses since the beginning of its nationwide vaccination campaign early this year, presidential advisor for health affairs Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din told media on Friday.

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In a matter of weeks, state-owned EgyptAir Holding Company will get a loan of EGP 5 billion from national public banks as per a final approval by the Egyptian House of Representatives on Monday.

The latest loan is the third funding allocated by the state in less than two years to help the 90-year-old flagship carrier overcome the coronavirus-related implications.

The company found itself in hot water during the Monday session at parliament, with the civil aviation adviser advocating the request for a loan, and a number of House members alleged that there has been mismanagement inside the company.

Why EgyptAir Holding wants the loan

The lower house parliament convened to discuss a two-article draft law issued by the Cabinet allowing the minister of finance to issue the guarantees necessary to open the door for EgyptAir obtain the loan from the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr.

A joint committee formed from different House committees approved the draft law earlier this month, saying this long-term financing is part of the states efforts to back its sectors affected by the coronavirus fallout.

In a report, the joint committee said the company over the past period has suffered from numerous consecutive crises, the last of which was the pandemics effect on the global economy and international air transport.

Financial losses have led many of these [aviation] companies to go bankrupt, while the others are struggling to survive in light of these circumstances, the report said.

EgyptAir's operations have decreased to their lowest due to the pandemic, and therefore, the company's cash inflows are no longer enough to meet its financial obligations, said the report.

It added that this can lead foreign banks and international financial organisations to declare that EgyptAir is in a state of default.

Globally, over the course of 2020, international air travel fell dramatically, with airline industry bearing losses estimated at $137.7 billion, according to a report in October by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Adaptation opportunities and cutting costs will cut losses to $52 billion throughout 2021, IATA added.

The Italian national airline Alitalia, as a case in point, has stopped operation since 15 October over financial problems flared by the pandemic.

In remarks to the press in UAE last March, Roshdy Zakaria, chief executive officer of EgyptAir Holding Co, said EgyptAir has been burning cash at a rate of around EGP 500 million per month.

He said the carrier currently operates 40-50 percent of its pre-pandemic level in 2019.

As EgyptAir suspended flights for a few months since March 2020, Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Manar said in June of the same year that the company had racked up losses of over $3 billion due to the flight suspension.

Amgad Ahmed Aref, advisor to the civil aviation minister for parliamentary affairs, told the House on Monday that EgyptAir had endured huge losses even before the pandemic, in the wake of the two revolutions in 2011 and 2013.

Aref said there are official reports confirming EGP 201 billion in losses by the aviation companies due to the pandemic.

The civil aviation ministry adviser said the debts owed by the company include instalments for the purchase of planes, costs imposed by suppliers abroad, fuel prices consumed by planes, as well as instalments for the maintenance of the aircraft abroad.

The joint committee said it has approved the draft law to help the company recover from the pandemic repercussions and pay off its financial obligations.

Will the loan be effective?

Last year, a loan and a long-term funding by the state were granted to EgyptAir Holding Co. at a total value of EGP 5 billion to assist the company against the pandemic.

We are not asking for assistance from the government, we are asking for a loan that we are able to pay off, Aref told MPs.

Aref said the losses are estimated at EGP 1 billion per month, but the company is currently recovering.

According to the 2018/2019 report by EgyptAir, its last published annual report, the total liabilities of the holding company at the time were almost 9.3 billion.

If the losses were estimated at EGP 1 billion monthly, should I grant an EGP 5 billion loan to [Egypt Air Holding] to only cover the losses of the next 5 months? said MP Ehab Ramzy, who strongly rejected the draft law during the session.

Ramzy said he is afraid that the approval of the loan would be a waste of public funds, as the loan would be a failure as the previous ones were.

The MP also mentioned complaints about surplus staff at the company, with tickets being more costly than competitors, blaming the failures on obvious mismanagement.

On Monday, Aref put the number of the current EgyptAir fleet at 67, saying it was planned before the pandemic that the company possess a total of 107 planes.

The number of employees in EgyptAir is around 29,500, according to Zakaria in March this year. This means that staff-to-plane ratio at EgyptAir is 440.3 and could get much better to 275.7 if the fleet was raised to 107.

This is better than the state-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), with one of the world's worst staff-to-plane ratios of about 500 staffers per plane at the time, but far worse than Ireland's Ryanair for example, whose ratio stood at only 29.7 in 2016.

Although many aviation companies worldwide have downsized staff due to the economic implications of the pandemic, Aref told MPs that EgyptAir has not fired a single worker or deducted salaries.

According to Bloomberg calculations in July last year, around 400,000 workers at airlines worldwide have been fired, laid off or had their jobs threatened thanks to the pandemic.

How will the company cope amid accusations of mismanagement and MPs demand for guarantees?

Aref said a restructuring of the company is taking place, with the companys subsidiaries being merged in order to reduce expenses.

Aref said EgyptAir also adopts an international system enabling passengers to obtain tickets at low prices.

According to Aref, the company is contracting to get 12 planes to add to the current 67-plane-fleet. This falls short of the 107 planes the airline aimed to acquire before the pandemic.

I reassure the MPs that we are able to pay off, Aref said.

Before the pandemic, EgyptAir achieved one of its highest revenues over the past decade, totalling EGP 32.96 billion in FY 2018/2019, according to the annual report.

However, the costs totalled EGP 32.67 billion, including EGP 1.66 billion spent on wages; EGP 9.57 on raw material, requisites, fuel, and spare parts; and EGP 20.77 billion on expenditures, according to the financial statement.

The company achieved a profit of EGP 279.5 million through FY 2018/2019, up from a loss of EGP 1.91 billion in the previous FY.

During Mondays session, MP Diaa El-Din Dawood urged the company to not get involved in wrong policies given its significance to the country, and urged more transparency and explanation.

Secretary of the Houses legislative committee Ali Badr said the loan should include training sessions for the staff at the company.

Badr called for creating new horizons that can help the company gain real profit. He also affirmed the need to develop the capabilities of the company and invest in its human resources.

MP Mohamed El-Sallab, deputy chairman of the Houses industry committee, said the loan should be spent to develop the company based on scientific foundations so that it can compete with international companies.

The young renowned economist and businessman said EgyptAir owes heavy debts to many organisations, which affect the companys performance.

Debts burdened by the company allegedly amount to EGP 40 billion, which is more than half of the company's capital, MP Amira Abu Shoka said during the session.

Abu Shoka called for providing the parliament with the actual values of the companys debts.

MP Mohamed El-Husseini called for filtering out incompetent officials at the company.

MPs have called for the company to explain its plan during the coming period before the House, including how it will employ the EGP 5 billion loan.

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Concurrently with El-Gouna Film Festival, a seminar hosted by the Arab and Islamic Civilisations at the American University in Cairo discussed a 2021 title on the adaption of literature to the silver screen, a long journey in the case of Egypt.

Adaption: from literature to the cinema  stops along a joint history is the title that was put out earlier this year by El-Maraya for Cultural Production. This book of slightly over 300 pages is essentially an assembly of narratives on the issue that had been shared by concerned researchers who examined not just the parallel histories of novel-writing and cinema production in Egypt but also the influences of both art mediums  and for that matter certainly industries - on one another.

Salma Mobarak, professor at the Cairo University Department of French Literature and Walid ElKhachab, professor at the York University Department of Liberal Arts co-edited this highly informative volume.

In a on-line seminar on the book that the Department of Arab and Islamic Civilisations at the American University in Cairo, hosted by AUC professor Dina Heshmat on Sunday, both Mobarak and El-Khachab argued that one of the key points that this volume puts across is the irrelevance of all attempts to try to put literature as superior to cinema  or for that matter the other way round.

The concept of artistic hierarchy among the diverse mediums, Mobarak argued, should be disregarded simply because it is an artificial assumption on art in general.

In the case of Egypt, the book recalls the journey of the evolution of literary and cinema production has been all but fully simultaneous. In 1913, the book reminds, Mohamed Hussein Heikal wrote what is arguably the first Egyptian Novel  Zeinab. Only 10 days later came Barsoum looking for a job as the first fully Egyptian produced and directed feature silent film. It was yet another decade later that Mohamed Karim, the early 20th century film director, put out Zeinab into a silent film. And it took Karim himself a couple more decades to represent his own movie into a sound film.

In the span of these two decades several films have been produced based on literary originals  novels and plays. The adaptations came mostly from foreign literature, especially French. However, with the expansion of the volume of Egyptian literature, more and more adaptations were being made upon the Egyptian literary production. This, in a sense, as the chapters of the book suggest, was almost an act of national pride: to take the Egyptian cinema industry forward and to lean more on the equally developing Egyptian literature to produce scripts or even just themes for these movies.

With the accent being increasingly put on the call of nationalism after 1952, the authors of the book suggest repeatedly, it was more and more the Egyptian literary production that was giving the leads when the silver screen looked for titles. Latifa ElZayats novel (AlBab AlMaftouh) (The open door) that reflected on the national movement of liberation from British Occupation was quickly turned into a film after its publication. The book came out in its first edition in 1960 and the film was in the theaters in 1963.

Cairo University literature professor Hala Kamal, in her chapter on The Open door says that the film director gave himself a few liberties while doing his work.

According to Heshmat, this is perhaps only one of other examples where the film director and at times scriptwriter too forgo commitment to the original text. For Mobarak, however, a cinema production should never be viewed to examine whether or not the director was faithful to the original text. This, she said, would be missing the point about the film-making.

Ultimately, according to AlKhachab, within the reign of the film dateur, the French expression that is designed to highlight the artistic personality is inevitably dominant. This, he added, could well be the case when directors with a high artistic imprint do the adaptation. Youssef Chahines Hadouta Masrya (An Egyptian Story) which is inspired by/taken from, ElKhachab argued, is a prime example.

Deviating from the original text, according to the book, however, is not always a function of the influence of the style of the director. It is at times too, the book noted, a function of political context and-or timeframes. Some of the films that were produced, during the 1960s, especially after the military defeat of 1967, were fixed due to political reasons.

In its chapter on Tawfik ElHakims (Youmeyat naeib fialaryaf) (A maze of justice: diary of a country prosecutor) that was published for the first time in 1937 and turned into a film in 1969, the book revealed the hassle that Tawfik Saleh had to go through upon his adaption of the film to accommodate the wish of the ministry of interior, at the time, to avoid any association between the accounts of injustice that the novel reflects with the Nasser Era. Saleh eventually put together a film with a 1930s setting. However, to have his message on the state of justice in Egypt under Nasser, Saleh got the 1960s decoration for the court settings in his film.

AlMaraya's book indicates a purposeful influence of literature on the silver screen  at times. According to the AUC seminar, there was also a purposeful influence of the films, or at a later stage of the soap operas, on the books of which they were adapted. The recent adaptation of Nagubi Mahfouzs Afrah AlQoba (Joys of the dome) into a soap opera gave prominence to a book that had never received due attention upon its publication. Similarly, ElKhachab added, was the case with Sonallahs Ibrahim Zaat.

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In a pair of Cape Town warehouses converted into a maze of airlocked sterile rooms, young scientists are assembling and calibrating the equipment needed to reverse engineer a coronavirus vaccine that has yet to reach South Africa and most of the world's poorest people.

The energy in the gleaming labs matches the urgency of their mission to narrow vaccine disparities. By working to replicate Moderna's COVID-19 shot, the scientists are effectively making an end run around an industry that has vastly prioritized rich countries over poor in both sales and manufacturing.

And they are doing it with unusual backing from the World Health Organization, which is coordinating a vaccine research, training and production hub in South Africa along with a related supply chain for critical raw materials. It's a last-resort effort to make doses for people going without, and the intellectual property implications are still murky.

``We are doing this for Africa at this moment, and that drives us,'' said Emile Hendricks, a 22-year-old biotechnologist for Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, the company trying to reproduce the Moderna shot. ``We can no longer rely on these big superpowers to come in and save us.''

Some experts see reverse engineering _ recreating vaccines from fragments of publicly available information _ as one of the few remaining ways to redress the power imbalances of the pandemic. Only 0.7% of vaccines have gone to low-income countries so far, while nearly half have gone to wealthy countries, according to an analysis by the People's Vaccine Alliance.

That WHO, which relies upon the goodwill of wealthy countries and the pharmaceutical industry for its continued existence, is leading the attempt to reproduce a proprietary vaccine demonstrates the depths of the supply disparities.

The U.N.-backed effort to even out global vaccine distribution, known as COVAX, has failed to alleviate dire shortages in poor countries. Donated doses are coming in at a fraction of what is needed to fill the gap. Meanwhile, pressure for drug companies to share, including Biden administration demands on Moderna, has led nowhere.

Until now, WHO has never directly taken part in replicating a novel vaccine for current global use over the objections of the original developers. The Cape Town hub is intended to expand access to the novel messenger RNA technology that Moderna, as well as Pfizer and German partner BioNTech, used in their vaccines.

``This is the first time we're doing it to this level, because of the urgency and also because of the novelty of this technology,'' said Martin Friede, a WHO vaccine research coordinator who is helping direct the hub.

Dr. Tom Frieden, the former head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has described the world as ``being held hostage'' by Moderna and Pfizer, whose vaccines are considered the most effective against COVID-19. The novel mRNA process uses the genetic code for the spike protein of the coronavirus and is thought to trigger a better immune response than traditional vaccines.

Arguing that American taxpayers largely funded Moderna's vaccine development, the Biden administration has insisted the company must expand production to help supply developing nations. The global shortfall through 2022 is estimated at 500 million and 4 billion doses, depending on how many other vaccines come on the market.

``The United States government has played a very substantial role in making Moderna the company it is,'' said David Kessler, the head of Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. program to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development.

Kessler would not say how far the administration would go in pressing the company. ``They understand what we expect to happen,'' he said.

Moderna has pledged to build a vaccine factory in Africa at some point in the future. But after pleading with drugmakers to share their recipes, raw materials and technological know-how, some poorer countries are done waiting.

Afrigen Managing Director Petro Terblanche said the Cape Town company is aiming to have a version of the Moderna vaccine ready for testing in people within a year and scaled up for commercial production not long after.

``We have a lot of competition coming from Big Pharma. They don't want to see us succeed,`` Terblanche said. ``They are already starting to say that we don't have the capability to do this. We are going to show them.''

If the team in South Africa succeeds in making a version of Moderna's vaccine, the information will be publicly released for use by others, Terblanche said. Such sharing is closer to an approach U.S. President Joe Biden championed in the spring and the pharmaceutical industry strongly opposes.

Commercial production is the point at which intellectual property could become an issue. Moderna has said it would not pursue legal action against a company for infringing on its vaccine rights, but neither has it offered to help companies that have volunteered to make its mRNA shot.

Chairman Noubar Afeyan said Moderna determined it would be better to expand production itself than to share technology and plans to deliver billions of additional doses next year.

``Within the next six to nine months, the most reliable way to make high-quality vaccines and in an efficient way is going to be if we make them,'' Afeyan said.

Zoltan Kis, an expert in messenger RNA vaccines at Britain's University of Sheffield, said reproducing Moderna's vaccine is ``doable'' but the task would be far easier if the company shared its expertise. Kis estimated the process involves fewer than a dozen major steps. But certain procedures are tricky, such as sealing the fragile messenger RNA in lipid nanoparticles, he said.

``It's like a very complicated cooking recipe,'' he said. ``Having the recipe would be very, very helpful, and it would also help if someone could show you how to do it.''

A U.N.-backed public health organization still hopes to persuade Moderna that its approach to providing vaccines for poorer countries misses the mark. Formed in 2010, the Medicines Patent Pool initially focused on convincing pharmaceutical companies to share patents for AIDS drugs.

``It's not about outsiders helping Africa,'' Executive Director Charles Gore said of the South Africa vaccine hub. ``Africa wants to be empowered, and that's what this is about.''

It will eventually fall to Gore to try to resolve the intellectual property question. Work to recreate Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is protected as research, so a potential dispute would surround steps to sell a replicated version commercially, he said.

``It's about persuading Moderna to work with us rather than using other methods,'' Gore said.

He said the Medicines Patent Pool repeatedly tried but failed to convince Pfizer and BioNTech to even discuss sharing their formulas.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who is among the members of Congress backing a bill that calls on the United States to invest more in making and distributing COVID-19 vaccines in low- and middle-income countries, said reverse engineering isn't going to happen fast enough to keep the virus from mutating and spreading further.

``We need to show some hustle. We have to show a sense of urgency, and I'm not seeing that urgency,'' he said. ``Either we end this pandemic or we muddle our way through.''

Campaigners argue the meager amount of vaccines available to poorer countries through donations, COVAX and purchases suggests the Western-dominated pharmaceutical industry is broken.

``The enemy to these corporations is losing their potential profit down the line,'' Joia Mukherjee, chief medical officer of the global health nonprofit Partners in Health, said. ``The enemy isn't the virus, the enemy isn't suffering.''

Back in Cape Town, the promise of using mRNA technology against other diseases motivates the young scientists.

``The excitement is around learning how we harness mRNA technology to develop a COVID-19 vaccine,'' Caryn Fenner, Afrigen's technical director, said. But more important, Fenner said, ``is not only using the mRNA platform for COVID, but for beyond COVID.''

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Followers of a Sufi religious order convened on a Moroccan village near the city of Nador for the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad in the first such gathering since the pandemic.

A few hundred faithful, known as Fuqaras, from France, Tunisia, Ivory Coast and other countries, met for the weeklong Islamic holiday celebration.

The order, the Karkariya, follows a mystical form of Islam recognizable by its unique dress code: A modest yet colorful patchwork robe.

In the rituals, they surrounded their order's leader and founder, Sheikh Mohamed Fawzi al Karkari, kissing his hand and pledging religious allegiance to him as they prayed and chanted. Later in the night, the faithful formed circles and danced in fervent movements that symbolize verses from the Quran according to believers.



From March 2020 until July 2021, large religious gatherings in Morocco were banned because of the pandemic. Mosques and thousands of Sufi shrines were also closed for sporadic periods.

The Karkariya Sufi order was founded relatively recently, in the area where they are now meeting.

The term Sufi is broad and includes hundreds of movements spread all over the world. Each Sufi order is defined by its leader or its books. Morocco has hundreds of Sufi orders and the kingdom encourages and supports their presence as a moderate form of religious devotion, as well as maintaining soft power with Sufi orders across West and North Africa.

As the order spread beyond Morocco, it ruffled feathers. In 2017, Algerian media and some religious figures criticized the Karkariya order for the perception that the Morocco-founded order was infringing on Algeria in a ``religious invasion.''

Yet Algerian members were still able to travel to Morocco, up until this year when relations took a nosedive and Algeria severed diplomatic ties with its neighbor.

Khaled El Jidoui, a Tunisian member who studies computer science at Stanford University and became a member alongside his brother and father, says joining the order was ``the best decision of my life,'' pointing to the impact it had on the social and practical aspects of his life.

Asked about the colorful outfit, he describes the mosaic as his ``identity,'' where every patch represents different facets of his life aiming to ``merge together into one white.''

Imad Ali Saeed, a Yemeni researcher and scholar described the pride he felt at being one of Sheikh Al Karkari's students, noting that he learned about the order during his time researching Sufi sects in Morocco it was the ``superiority'' of knowledge of the leader that convinced him to join.

Mohammed Shaibani, a businessman from Mauritania, described a 30-year search across West and North Africa for a mentor and his happiness to have gathered again after the pandemic with his fellow members.

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) recent election to the UNs Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the third time reflects the countrys efforts to strengthen human rights and its "increasing international presence," the Vice-President of the European Commission for promoting our European Way of Life said.

In exclusive statements to official UAE news agency WAM, Margaritis Schinas described the UAE as "a pole of power, influence and inspiration."

Schinas is in the UAE to attend the events and activities of the European Union Honour Day at Expo 2020 Dubai, taking place on Saturday at the pavilions of the EU member states.

"The outcome of the UNHRC vote is the culmination of the UAEs efforts to strengthen human rights and freedoms and is a testament to the importance the UAE places on human rights and in achieving sustainable development at both the regional and international level," he said.

"The UAEs increasing international presence and the normalisation agreement with Israel show that the UAE acts as a catalyst towards increased stability in the region. The United Arab Emirates is undoubtedly a pole of power, influence and inspiration."

Among other responsibilities, Schinas is entrusted with overseeing the integration of migrants and refugees. He believes that the international community will be able to continue to "count on the UAEs contribution" to the current Afghan refugee crisis.

"The EU held a High-level Forum on providing protection to Afghans at risk on 7 October 2021, where we announced that we will put in place a specific, multi-annual Support Scheme for Afghans as our contribution to the global efforts," Schinas said.

"I am confident that the international community will also be able to continue to count on the UAEs contribution to offering legal, safe and organised pathways to Afghan nationals I think the UAE can be deeply proud of the work it undertook alongside its partners in the international community to assist the Afghan people on humanitarian grounds.

"The EU has also been dedicating all its efforts to ensuring the quick evacuation of those in need, having managed to assist nearly 10,000 peoples evacuations under our Civil Protection Mechanism before the airport closed."

However, the EU official expressed his concerns over the situation in Afghanistan despite all the international efforts.

"The situation in Afghanistan remains of concern and requires a determined and concerted response to its many dimensions. It is clear that we cannot abandon people in immediate danger in the country. Journalists, NGO staff and human rights defenders are amongst those who are most at risk, women and children in particular. Evacuations should continue, as far as this will remain possible in the difficult evolving circumstances," he affirmed.

Talking about Expo 2020 Dubai, Schinas said the event "offers the opportunity for people to reconnect and gives new perspectives through music, gastronomy, architecture and culture."

This global fair, he continued, "allows us all to discuss and find solutions to the common challenges we face. As a global community, we need these opportunities to come together and build a common momentum to tackle imperative issues such as climate change.

"In Europe, we know that global challenges require global solutions. And that is why we are here at Expo 2020; to contribute to meaningful conversations and partner up with world partners and people to tackle global challenges  in a spirit of cooperation and co-creation."

He commended the Emirati authorities for the "outstanding organisation of this first global post-pandemic event," saying that Expo "reflects this countrys ambitious vision and global aspirations."

Schinas is optimistic and hopeful that the event will prove to be the beginning of going back to normalcy in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

"I do hope that this is a marker of the shape of things to come. Europe is the most vaccinated continent in the world and the UAE has had an extremely impressive vaccination programme with more than 85 percent of the population fully vaccinated," he said.

"This is why the EU added the UAE to the list of safe third countries on 8th October, which should also facilitate travel to Dubai and visit Expo. We are happy that the UAE is advanced in the process of being linked to the EU Digital Covid Certificate as this can further facilitate mobility and it is so much needed to boost our economies and the tourism sector.

"However, there is still a lot of work to ensure vaccines reach all corners in the world. The EU is leading the way and has already exported over one billion doses to third countries and we count on the UAE to team with up us in this endeavour."

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Israel plans to build more residences for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, a government ministry said Sunday, adding to those announced in August by the new ruling coalition.

"Tenders for 1,355 homes in Judea and Samaria have been published," a construction ministry statement said, referencing the biblical names used widely in Israel for the West Bank.

The new accommodation adds to the more than 2,000 residences which defence sources said in August would be authorised for settlers in the West Bank.

Final approval is expected from the defence ministry this week for those homes.

About 475,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law, on land Palestinians claim as part of their future state.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967 and exercises full administrative control across much of the territory, where more than two million Palestinians live.

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.

The tenders come after Israel last week gave approval 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 new Jewish homes are to be built in seven settlements, according to the ministry statement.

Israeli colonisation of the West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem has continued under every Israeli government since 1967.

Construction accelerated, however, in the last few years under former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Since mid-June his successor Bennett has led a coalition of parties, ranging from the far right to leftist.

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The European Union (EU) has provided Egypt with more than 550 million in grants in response to water challenges, leveraging funds of nearly 3 billion in the water resources sector, said the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi.

Varhelyi made his statements during his speech at the Cairo Water Week event that kicked off on Sunday in Egypt.

He added that the EUs existing programmes, funded together with European financing institutions, extend to over 16 Egyptian Governorates, provide nearly 20,000 permanent jobs and 600,000 short term job opportunities, mainly in rural areas.

They will help to improve the quality of life for nearly 18.5 million people in Egypt by 2024, almost 20 percent of the population of the country, Varhelyi explained.

Varhelyi said that Cairo Water Week is one of the biggest water-related gatherings not only in Egypt, but in the Mediterranean as well as in Africa.

It is my pleasure that from its very conception and now for the fourth year in a row, the European Union is a strategic partner to the Egyptian authorities in organising this prestigious event. Our contribution to the Cairo Water Week stems from our firm commitment to Egypts sustainable development and in particular its water sector, he noted.

He added that water is a sector in which the EU has been active for well over a decade.

We have provided support to help improve the quality of life for Egyptian people, by expanding water and wastewater coverage and enhancing the quality of water resources. We have been working jointly with the Egyptian institutions throughout the water cycle. Our partnership covers the strategic, practical and financial perspectives, said Varhelyi

In this regard, Varhelyi noted that the EU has been assisting with the planning of water management through support to the preparation of the National Water Resources Strategy for Egypt from 2017 through 2050 as well as the National Rural Sanitation Programme.

In practical terms, the EU has carried out several projects helping the Egyptian population on the ground, including the rehabilitation of the Kitchener Drain in the Delta region, helping to reduce pollution flowing into the Mediterranean. The EU has also helped with multiple phases of the National Drainage Programme and Waste Water Treatment Programmes in Kafr El Sheikh, Alexandria and Lake Qarunm according to Varhelyi.

He also added that the EU has recently proposed a new agenda for the Mediterranean, which is based on transforming challenges into opportunities, in the mutual interest of the EU and its southern neighbours, and in particular of Egypt.

This agenda includes a dedicated economic and investment plan to stimulate a long-term socio-economic development and recovery in the southern neighbourhood.

From the EU budget, we aim to allocate up to 7 billion for the roll-out of this investment plan during the coming seven years. This is expected to mobilise up to 30 billion in private and public investment in the region during the next decade. For Egypt, the EU contribution could represent up to 1 billion between now and 2027, mobilising nearly 9 billion of additional investments in the country, Varhelyi illustrated.

He also stressed that water is among the top priorities in this plan.

In this regard, Varhelyi announced that the EU, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are to prepare a large intervention on Integrated Water and Food Security, which is an investment that will support Egypts efforts to combat climate change, protect the environment and ensure sustainable food systems.

Our objective is to develop secure and resilient water management and a sustainable circular society," he noted.

The EU is looking forward to working with Egyptian partners to support this initiative, said Varhelyi said.

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In a lake at a park in Changde, Hunan, performers on a floating platform strike melted iron, sending showers of sparks high into the night sky like thousands of shooting starts. This time-honored tradition is known in Chinese as "Datiehua," or "iron fireworks." [Photo: VCG]

In a lake at a park in Changde, Hunan, performers on a floating platform strike melted iron, sending showers of sparks high into the night sky like thousands of shooting starts. This time-honored tradition is known in Chinese as "Datiehua," or "iron fireworks." [Photo: VCG]

In a lake at a park in Changde, Hunan, performers on a floating platform strike melted iron, sending showers of sparks high into the night sky like thousands of shooting starts. This time-honored tradition is known in Chinese as "Datiehua," or "iron fireworks." [Photo: VCG]

In a lake at a park in Changde, Hunan, performers on a floating platform strike melted iron, sending showers of sparks high into the night sky like thousands of shooting starts. This time-honored tradition is known in Chinese as "Datiehua," or "iron fireworks." [Photo: VCG]
By Noriyuki Suzuki, KYODO NEWS - Oct 24, 2021 - 09:14 | All, Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may have witnessed the harsh reality of how investors react when his suggestion of higher capital gains tax rates apparently sent Japanese stocks lower shortly after he was elected president of the ruling party last month.

Heading into the House of Representatives election at the end of October, Japan's ruling and opposition parties are making campaign promises that, if realized, could also have ramifications for financial markets.

Some items are more feasible than others because they are already in the works. But there are also ambitious ideas that experts deem difficult to realize.

One of the more controversial ones is a review of the requirement for companies in Japan to disclose quarterly earnings reports.

In his first policy speech in parliament, Kishida, who became prime minister on Oct. 4, touched on the idea as part of his efforts to focus on redistribution -- the key theme for his goal of creating a new form of capitalism.

The Liberal Democratic Party led by Kishida also included that promise in its election platform.

Behind the call is the view that companies should be relieved from the time and resource-consuming task of compiling financial reports every three months and that the practice makes them focused on chasing short-term profits.

On the flip side, however, the rule change could make Japan and companies look like they were taking a step back in terms of information disclosure, experts say.

"For investors, the more information they have, the better," said Shoichi Tsumuraya, a professor at Hitotsubashi University.

Tsumuraya, an expert in finance and accounting, said the change will require a revision to the country's relevant law, adding it is "unrealistic" to do so because he doubts it is a pressing issue.

"Still, I'm of the view that the disclosure of reports every quarter should be left to each company because they can spend more time with shareholders talking about mid- to long-term plans instead."

Japan has been pushing for corporate governance reform since the time of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was mindful of the considerable presence that foreign investors have in the country's stock markets.

His "Abenomics" policy mix, entailing bold monetary easing by the Bank of Japan, fiscal stimulus, and structural reform, helped weaken the yen, lift Japanese shares and boost corporate earnings.

Masakazu Tokura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, said quarterly disclosure is a tool for companies to communicate with shareholders, striking a cautious note.

"A rapid change to the system would cause unwanted confusion in markets, and we believe (the issue) should be considered carefully," the Keidanren chief told a recent press briefing.

Kishida is also seeking to expand what is known as a "university fund" to 10 trillion yen by the end of March 2023. The fund, which is scheduled to be launched in the current fiscal year, aims to bolster research at universities with its investment profits.

Media polls show the ruling coalition of the LDP and Komeito is expected to secure a majority of the 465 seats up for grabs in the election, making some pledges more attainable.

The ruling parties support developing a "green international financial center" in Japan for bonds issued to address climate change and help attain carbon neutrality. The Japanese government has already unveiled the idea.

Japan pledged to bring carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050 when Kishida's predecessor Yoshihide Suga was prime minister, putting it on par with the United States and Europe.

"It's not just Japan that needs to work toward carbon neutrality and expand markets for sustainable bonds," said Takuya Nomura, a senior economist at the Japan Research Institute.

"Japan is still in the phase of developing a framework... but needs to move it forward if it wants to raise its presence while Hong Kong and Singapore are running far ahead," Nomura said.

Britain, Luxemburg, Hong Kong and Singapore are among the leading markets for green bonds used to finance environmentally-friendly projects. Government support is seen as critical to developing something similar in Japan.

Some opposition parties are proposing more drastic ideas in their campaign platforms for the election in which they aim to show they can be a viable alternative to the ruling coalition.

The major opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan wants to introduce progressive corporate tax rates, meaning that the more a company earns, the more tax burden they should shoulder.

The CDPJ is also calling for higher capital gains tax rates, an idea that Kishida has apparently entertained, but the LDP did not include in its campaign platform.

The Democratic Party for the People is floating the idea of "education bonds" to make education free from preschool through high school. It plans to secure 50 trillion yen over a decade by using the bonds, taking issue with the current government spending on education.

The smaller opposition party also proposed to make some of the BOJ's massive holdings of Japanese government bonds perpetual to reduce debt-servicing costs, though Kishida appears to have reservations about it.

The BOJ owns over 40 percent of Japanese government bonds as part of its aggressive monetary easing, with total state debt twice the size of the economy.

"My focus is on whether or how the country's fiscal stance would change," said Takuya Hoshino, a senior economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

"There are items that are particularly geared toward appealing to voters. Raising the capital gains tax may be controversial, but its impact on tax revenue would only be limited after all," Hoshino said.
KYODO NEWS - Oct 24, 2021 - 12:42 | All, Japan

In a move to promote a more diversified society, an increasing number of Japanese firms have started to support female entrepreneurs, hoping to revitalize the economy with services and products designed from women's perspectives.

Some companies are targeting investments at ventures established by women in a country where female entrepreneurs are said to face more challenges than elsewhere in starting businesses.

One such example is coly Inc., an online gaming company for female users. The company, where women account for more than 70 percent of employees, has launched a project to invest up to tens of million yen each in newly established companies with a female leader.

The Tokyo-based game developer was established in 2014 by twin sisters soon after graduating college, making a debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Mothers market for up-and-coming companies in February this year.

In the project, coly plans to assist some 10 companies, including giving advice about management, introducing staff and providing working spaces in addition to making investments.

"Female entrepreneurs face hurdles as there are few female seniors whom they can consult about starting and operating businesses," said the company's chief executive officer, Mizuki Nakajima.

Meanwhile, major venture capital firm ANRI, established in 2012 in Tokyo, announced in November last year that it would raise the proportion of investments that it directs to companies set up by women to over 20 percent in one of its operating funds.

Also coming under the spotlight as a supporter for female entrepreneurs was MPower Partners Fund, a venture capital fund founded by three women in May this year.

The founders include Kathy Matsui, former vice chair of Goldman Sachs Japan who has been advocating "womanomics," or the idea that women's economic participation contributes to economic growth as a whole.

Its operating funds are likely to reach some 16 billion yen ($140 million) after obtaining support from major firms such as a life insurance company that places emphasis on environmental, social and corporate governance.

According to a survey by U.S. credit card company Mastercard Inc. released last year, Japan ranked 47th among 58 economies in its index that examined the working environment for women and what each economy is doing to make progress in female entrepreneurialism.

The index reflects such factors as cultural perceptions about starting a business, conditions to support such efforts and visibility of female leaders to provide role models for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Japan ranked lower than other Asian countries such as Thailand and Taiwan, which were placed 11th and 12th, respectively, according to the survey.

The moves to support female entrepreneurs come in line with the expansion of a concept called "femtech," a term to describe products and services that offer solutions to women's health worries with the latest technology.

Not only private firms but also the Japanese government has shown strong interest in femtech in hopes that it will lead to greater female participation in society.

This year, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has set up a fund for firms involved in businesses related to femtech.

Among 20 projects chosen by the government are developing special bra pads for women diagnosed with breast cancer, offering telemedicine for women undergoing infertility treatment, and providing gynecological consultation services for working women.
KYODO NEWS - Oct 24, 2021 - 20:35 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

A Japanese government-affiliated institution will resume receiving dozens of foreign researchers next Thursday, even as entry restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic remain, an official said.

A total of 55 scholars in Japanese studies, including those from other Asia countries, Europe and the United States, are scheduled to arrive in Japan on that day, followed by more possibly in November and December, according to the official at the Japan Foundation.

The decision comes as Japan's strict travel restrictions have drawn international criticism, while European countries and the United States have resumed accepting foreign researchers amid an improvement in the COVID-19 situation.

The foundation, affiliated with the Foreign Ministry, hopes that the resumption will help reactivate academic exchanges between Japan and other countries.

"The country has been 'closed' for a long time but we should not put out the light of Japanese studies (abroad)," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Japan in principle still bans the entry of people from 160 countries and regions with a few exceptions, including those from China and South Korea.

The foundation, the country's sole entity dedicated to carrying out cultural exchange programs globally, had selected the 55 researchers by June.

It was carefully examining the timing of their arrival in accordance with the COVID-19 situation in Japan, which has now seen a sharp fall in the number of infections.

It invites foreign scholars with financial support under the framework of Japanese studies fellowships. About 120 people come to Japan as part of the program in usual years.

Requested by the foundation, Japanese government officials have allowed the entry of the scholars as an exception, the official said.

Participants in the fellowship program include researchers in the fields of Japanese culture, politics, and economics, with some working on their doctorate theses.

They will conduct studies for about two to 12 months in cooperation with universities and other academic institutions in Japan.

As for academic exchanges in Japan, issuance of new visas for international students has been suspended except for state-sponsored students.

The Japan Association of National Universities and the Japan Association of Private Universities and Colleges have urged the government to ease entry restrictions.

Related coverage:

Tokyo reports 32 COVID-19 cases, below 50 for 7th straight day

Tokyo area set to end COVID-19 restrictions on eateries

Scholars urge Japan to restart issuing visas to foreign students






KYODO NEWS - Oct 24, 2021 - 20:11 | World, All

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will continue to press Myanmar to allow the group's special envoy to visit the country to try to mediate among the feuding parties, according to a draft of a chairman's statement to be issued at this week's ASEAN Summit.

The draft seen by Kyodo News implicitly calls on the junta to implement its commitment to a five-point consensus agreed by ASEAN leaders in April to help find a solution to the country's political crisis, "including by facilitating the visit of the Special Envoy to Myanmar to build trust and confidence with full access to all parties concerned."

The reference is to Brunei's second foreign minister, Erywan Yusof, whose visit has not yet been approved by the junta due to his insistence on meeting with "some specific individuals," presumably ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition figures.

ASEAN leaders will meet via videoconference Tuesday through Thursday without junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, whose exclusion was recently agreed at an emergency meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers due to the junta's lack of cooperation with ASEAN in implementing the five-point consensus.

An ASEAN diplomatic source clarified that since it was decided at the Oct. 15 meeting to allow only a "non-political representative" from Myanmar to attend the summit, the junta-appointed foreign minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, should also not represent the country.

"So it must be a civil servant, not a minister or anyone holding a political post," the source said.

The five-point consensus calls for the immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar and restraint among the parties, constructive dialogue to seek a peaceful solution, the appointment of a special envoy of the ASEAN chair to facilitate mediation, provision of humanitarian aid, and for the special envoy and delegation to visit Myanmar to meet with all sides.

A big reason why Myanmar's top general was not invited to the summit was because the National Unity Government set up by opponents of army rule also formally requested representation at the summit.

"We wish to claim our rightful seats at the summits alongside our ASEAN counterparts," it said in a letter sent to nine ASEAN foreign ministers, a copy of which was seen by Kyodo News.

"Further we trust that the catastrophic situation our people are facing be a critical agenda item of the summits of highest priority," said the letter signed by Zin Mar Aung, the shadow government's acting foreign minister.

The ASEAN source said the 10-member grouping "cannot interfere in the internal affairs (of Myanmar) when the country is facing an internal problem of who is legitimate."

The junta has told Erywan not to contact the underground government.

According to a report he presented at the emergency meeting, which has been circulated among ASEAN foreign ministries, the special envoy was "warned against recognising, communicating or engaging with entities declared 'unlawful and terrorist groups' including individuals undergoing legal proceedings on trial for various charges."

The ASEAN source confirmed that there are plans for Erywan to continue efforts to negotiate with the junta after the summit.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Related coverage:

ASEAN to exclude Myanmar's military leader from Oct. summit

U.S. officials to travel to Southeast Asia, Japan to discuss Myanmar

Myanmar rejects ASEAN envoy's meeting with "specific individuals"
KYODO NEWS - Oct 24, 2021 - 22:24 | All, Japan

People from India and Bangladesh staged a protest in Tokyo on Sunday, calling for the safety of the Hindu minority in the Muslim majority nation.

Around 60 demonstrators gathered near the Bangladeshi Embassy, holding placards with messages including "Stop Communal Attack" and "Justice for Bangladesh Minority" and chanting slogans such as "We want justice."

In mid-October, communal riots broke out in Bangladesh after a mob vandalized a Hindu temple in Cumilla in its eastern part. The first attack occurred as images of a copy of the Quran kept near a Hindu deity at the temple went viral on social media.

After the incident, more Hindu temples and houses were vandalized, leaving scores of people injured and some dead in the chaos that went on for around a week, according to local media reports.

"Similar protests took place in around 150 countries including India, Bangladesh and the United States," said Tokyo-based Rohan Agrawal, an Indian national, who was at the scene of the demonstration staged by organizations including the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

"We demand equal rights and an end to such attacks against all the religious minorities in Bangladesh," said Nandy Khokan Kumar, one of the protesters, who is originally from Bangladesh but currently resides in Japan and runs a trade firm in Tokyo.

Anil Sarkar, a Bangladeshi Hindu, said, "I am scared for my family back home."

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has criticized the attacks and hundreds protested in the country's capital Dhaka last week against religious violence. Local authorities have made some arrests.

Hindus account for less than 10 percent of the overall population in Bangladesh.
KYODO NEWS - Oct 25, 2021 - 00:55 | All, Japan

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost one of two House of Councillors by-elections held Sunday, dealing a blow to the party and its leader Prime Minister Fumio Kishida with just a week until the general election.

The defeat in Shizuoka Prefecture was a red flag for Kishida, who took office less than a month ago promising to take stronger COVID-19 countermeasures and implement a "new capitalism" that puts the country on a growth track while redistributing wealth to the middle class.

Shinnosuke Yamazaki, a 40-year-old independent backed by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and another opposition party, won a close race against Yohei Wakabayashi, 49, of the LDP. The other race in the conservative stronghold of Yamaguchi Prefecture was won by the LDP's Tsuneo Kitamura, 66.





The by-elections for vacant seats in the upper chamber of parliament were the first national contests since Kishida replaced his unpopular predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, and closely watched as a bellwether for next Sunday's general election.

Media polls suggest the LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, will retain their majority in the 465-member House of Representatives, the more powerful lower chamber.

Kishida has said such an outcome would be enough to claim a mandate for the implementation of his COVID-19 and economic policies.

"We must push forward with reforms in order to revive the Japanese economy and put it on a growth track," he said in a stump speech in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on Sunday.

But the LDP faces the prospect of losing seats as the CDPJ and other opposition forces have set aside their differences to consolidate candidates across hundreds of voting districts.

"We are going to make drastic changes to the government's COVID-19 response, which has been behind the curve, and move away from economic policies that have made a small group of people rich and failed to spark growth," CDPJ leader Yukio Edano told reporters on the campaign trail in Kobe.

The Shizuoka by-election was held to fill a single-member district seat vacated by the LDP's Shigeki Iwai, who made an unsuccessful bid for Shizuoka governor in June. Voter turnout was 45.57 percent, down 4.89 percentage points from the upper house election in 2019.

Yamazaki is a former prefectural assembly member while Wakabayashi was previously mayor of Gotemba. Chika Suzuki, 50, of the Japanese Communist Party also ran but failed to garner wider support.

"This is the best result imaginable," Yamazaki said as he celebrated with supporters. "There were even more people calling for politics to change than I had imagined."

Underscoring the importance of the race in the central prefecture, Kishida took time out of his whirlwind general election schedule to campaign for Wakabayashi twice in about two weeks.

"We will band together with everyone running in the general election and unite" under Kishida, LDP election strategy chief Toshiaki Endo told reporters at the party's Tokyo headquarters.

CDPJ Secretary General Tetsuro Fukuyama said the LDP's defeat in Shizuoka was "a sign of growing disappointment in the prime minister" and gave the opposition a "momentum boost" heading into the general election, the first since October 2017.

In the western prefecture of Yamaguchi, former parliamentary vice industry minister Kitamura handily defeated the JCP's Kiyo Kawai, 61, a former prefectural assembly member, and 30-year-old Shota Harada, more widely known as YouTuber Hezumaryu.

Kitamura already had an upper house seat via proportional representation but gave it up to run for the seat in the single-member district, which was vacated by former education minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to run in the general election.

Voter turnout in Yamaguchi stood at 36.54 percent, down 10.78 points from the 2019 upper house election.

Related coverage:

Nearly 30% to vote for ruling party in Japan's general election: Kyodo poll

Japan party heads vie for support on 1st weekend of election race

A guide to Japan's upcoming House of Representatives election
By Tomoyuki Tachikawa, KYODO NEWS - Oct 24, 2021 - 21:24 | World, All, Japan

China has been paying serious attention to how Japan's new minister in charge of economic security will act after the Oct. 31 general election, as the position is expected to challenge threats posed by the Communist-led government.

The post was set up by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office on Oct. 4, with Sino-Japanese ties souring over issues surrounding democratic Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province to be reunified with the mainland by force if necessary.

If the economic security minister, Takayuki Kobayashi, tries to get closer to Taiwan than China to safeguard Japan's economic security interests, the leadership of President Xi Jinping would take retaliatory steps against the Kishida administration, jeopardizing regional stability.

Some pundits, meanwhile, said Japan might pursue a well-balanced diplomatic strategy toward China, as the country's economy is unlikely to grow without the neighboring nation's market with a population of 1.4 billion.

China and Japan, the world's second- and third-biggest economies, have been at odds over technology transfer, intellectual property protection, market openness and transparency as well as other trade and economic matters.

Japan's economic security minister will be engaged in a "gargantuan task but also an urgent one given heightened regional rivalry with China," said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan in Tokyo.

The primary role of the new minister is to "develop strategies and a legal framework to enable Japan to boost economic security encompassing supply chains, resources, innovative technologies and relevant infrastructure," he said.

Since a tit-for-tat tariff trade war intensified between China and the United States in 2018, Japanese policymakers have become more concerned about economic security of the country, many of whose companies have expanded their businesses in the two nations.

Dozens of lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party proposed in 2019 that the government establish an entity modeled after the U.S. National Economic Council, which coordinates economic policy advice for the president.

In December 2020, an LDP group -- created by Kishida as then chair of its Policy Research Council and Akira Amari, its current secretary general -- hammered out a report on economic security.

Apparently targeting China, the report said, "Some countries have started to use economic measures to impose their own desires on other countries, and even to try to reshape the existing international order into something in favor of themselves."

Moreover, a supply chain crisis stemming from the coronavirus virus outbreak in China, dubbed the "world's factory," took a heavy toll on Japanese enterprises and consumers early last year.

In its annual trade white paper released in June, the government said nations including Japan had been spurred to strengthen economic security following the pandemic that exposed the fragility of supply chains, citing the interruption of medical supplies as an example.

Immediately after the virus spread in Japan in February 2020, protective face masks and alcohol-based hand sanitizers were sold out at pharmacies and convenience stores, making a number of people vulnerable to infection.

Against a backdrop of Japan's dependence on foreign manufacturers, the government has been also compelled to implement a strategy to enhance domestic development and production of cutting-edge semiconductors amid a global chip crunch.

Kishida pledged in his policy speech on Oct. 8 to advance efforts to build a "resilient supply chain and draw up legislative bills that promote Japan's economic security."

A diplomat in Beijing said, "Ensuring economic security is very important for the future of Japan, as wars, in which many countries use economic weapons instead of military ones, have taken place."

Before taking up his new post, Kobayashi, a former Finance Ministry bureaucrat, served as secretary general of the LDP group that mapped out the report on economic security.

Within just days of his appointment, the Kishida administration decided to provide financial support for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to build a chip-making factory in Japan in a bid to bolster supply chains for critical components such as semiconductors.

Taiwan, whose tensions with mainland China have been escalating, welcomes Japan's move to construct the factory in its southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto, said Tai Wan-chin, a professor emeritus at Tamkang University in New Taipei City.

"Hopefully, the TSMC plant in Kumamoto will be mutually beneficial for Taiwan and Japan. It is a new area of Taiwan-Japan cooperation," Tai said.

As China has become "more assertive," Japanese citizens will "generally be less inclined to support a political party which advocates weak-kneed diplomacy" against the mainland, he added.

A scholar at a university in Beijing, however, said China has been "extremely irritated" by Kishida, as the nation argues that Taiwan is its "core interest" while it does not want Japan to interfere in its "internal affairs."

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since they split in 1949 as a result of a civil war.

"Should Japan's economic security minister take a hard-line approach toward China and attempt to beef up cooperation with Taiwan, Beijing would carry out measures that may choke the Japanese economy," the scholar said.

In 2010, China restricted exports of rare earths to Japan, when the two countries were at loggerheads due to competing territorial claims in the East China Sea.

China has remained the largest trading partner of Japan. Japan's degree of reliance on it for intermediate commodities has exceeded 20 percent in imports, almost double the figure for its dependence on the United States, the nation's security ally.

Temple University Japan's Kingston said, "Seeking progress through diplomacy is sensible and closing that door is counterproductive."

The Chinese and Japanese economies are "highly intertwined and there are many overlapping interests despite the tense security situation and frosty relations," he said.

Diplomatic sources said Kishida has already shown intention of emphasizing ties with the mainland, as he tapped as economic security minister Kobayashi, who belongs to an LDP faction led by Toshihiro Nikai, known as a pro-China veteran politician.

Related coverage:

Japan's LDP on course to keep majority in lower house: poll

Japan voters voice hope for change as election campaigning kicks off

China's Xi congratulates Kishida on being elected Japan's new PM
Islamabad:

The IMF's bailout package to cash-strapped Pakistan could be delayed as the global lender is pressing it to be transparent on the CPEC projects and wants a written guarantee from Islamabad that its assistance will not be used to repay the loans to China, a media report said Monday. Pakistan is seeking USD 8 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bail itself out from a severe balance-of-payments crisis that threatens to cripple the country's economy. Pakistan has so far received a total of USD 9.1 billion in financial aid packages from friendly countries like China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE during the current fiscal year.

Finance Minister Asad Umar said earlier this month that a mission of the IMF would visit Islamabad soon after the spring meetings of the World Bank Group, which includes the IMF, and an agreement should be signed by the end of this month.

Pakistani daily Dawn quoting official sources said the visit of the IMF mission to Islamabad for finalising the bailout package may be delayed as both sides are still engaged in an "intense discussion" on the final details of the deal.

"So, the IMF mission is now more likely to visit Islamabad in May, not April," the sources told the daily.

But the IMF on Monday said it held "constructive discussions" with Pakistani authorities last week in Washington and that its mission will be visiting Pakistan "before the end of April to continue the discussions" on a bailout package.

"The Pakistani authorities and IMF staff held constructive discussions during the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC towards an IMF-supported programme," the Office of the Resident Representative of the IMF in Pakistan said in a press release.

"At the request of the authorities, an IMF mission will be going to Pakistan before the end of April to continue the discussions," Dawn quoted the statement as saying.

Finance minister Umar during a press conference on Thursday said the two sides had "more or less, reached an understanding" on the bailout package and "in a day or two, we hope to reach a full agreement".

An official familiar with the Pakistan-IMF talks said, "Islamabad still hopes to conclude the agreement before June, as they believe the bailout package would help budget prospects."

If concluded, it would be the 14th IMF aid package for Pakistan. The sticking points, however, are the demands for market-determined exchange rates and sharing details of Chinese loans which Pakistan is reluctant to do so.

The sources said that IMF officials were also seeking details of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), along with a written guarantee from both Pakistan and China that the IMF assistance will not be used to repay loans to China.

The IMF insists on full disclosure of all financial cooperation between Pakistan and China, including assistance related to infrastructure development, nuclear power plants, joint manufacturing of JF-17 Thunder fighter jets and procurement of submarines.

The IMF is also demanding details of more than USD 6.5 billion of commercial loans Pakistan has received from China in the past two and a half years. In July, China also deposited USD 2 billion with the State Bank of Pakistan.

The finance minister is likely to visit China on April 25 for talks on the IMF concerns over CPEC and IMF will wait to hear from him before it finalises the bailout package, the daily reported.

Some of the other conditions proposed by the IMF include: making the State Bank of Pakistan independent, a market-oriented exchange rate, expanding the tax target by Rs 5,000 billion, ending income tax concessions, more taxes on salaries, narrowing the amount of taxable income from Rs12 lakh a year to Rs4 lakh, reducing electricity and gas losses, Rs140 billion electricity and gas revenue losses be recovered from consumers.

Both sides are engaged in "fine-tuning" the details of the proposed IMF programme. Pakistan wants the IMF to review some of the "restrictive" conditions it has attached to the package while the IMF insists that those conditions are absolutely essential for a successful completion of the programme.

Pakistan wants the IMF to focus on the long-term structural reforms that help revive its economy instead of attaching conditions that would be difficult to implement.

Last week, three influential US lawmakers urged the Trump adminstration to oppose the proposed multi-billion bailout package being sought by Pakistan from the IMF arguing it could be used to repay the Chinese debt.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the bipartisan group of three lawmakers - Ted Yoho, Ami Bera and George Holding - expressed their "deep concern" over the likely use of IMF's bailout package to repay the massive Chinese debt that Pakistan has accumulated under the CPEC.

China, they said, is investing USD 62 billion in Pakistan under the CPEC. "Its debt repayment and profit repatriation terms are not transparent and have understandably raised concerns inside Pakistan," the US lawmakers said.

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New Delhi:

Salma Hayekas husband Francois-Henri Pinault has reportedly committed to donate nine figure sums to rebuild the historic Notre Dame Cathedral. The French businessman according to ET CanadaA is pledging $113 million to rebuild the iconic Paris church of the 12th and 13th centuries which was engulfed by a massive fire broke out this Monday evening.

aMy father (Francois Pinault) and myself have decided to release a sum of a100 million from our Artemis funds (the family holding company) to participate in the effort that will be necessary for the complete reconstruction of Notre-Dame,a Pinalult is reported to have said in a statement obtained by French newspaper,A Le Figaro.

Actress Salma Hayek also took to her social media profile to react to the cathedralas destruction on Instagram. aAs many others Iam in deep shock and sadness to witness the beauty of Notre-Dame turn into smoke,a she wrote. aI love you Paris.a

Hayek, who is now married to the 56-year-old businessman began dating in March 2007 before tying the knot in February 2009 in Paris and share together have one child, an 11-year-old daughter named Valentina Paloma.

FranAois-Henri Pinault, the husband of acclaimed actress Salma Hayek is the CEO and chair of the international luxury group Kering, parent company of luxury brands like Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. He is also the president of Groupe Artemis, a French holding company that owns Christie's, a fine arts auction house.

A

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Washington:

Boeing faces a wave of flight cancellations by US airlines and pressure from President Donald Trump to re-brand its top-selling 737 MAX aircraft, a month after the plane was grounded worldwide in the wake of deadly crashes. American and Southwest Airlines say the grounding will disrupt scheduled flights through the summer, during the peak travel season which helps generate corporate profits. American is cancelling all 737 MAX flights through August 19 while Southwest, which owns the largest 737 MAX fleet, with 34 planes, is cancelling them until August 5.

United Airlines, which also ordered the 737 MAX 9, did not respond to an AFP query. In all, an average of 275 flights a day will be cancelled, which are likely to put a dent in airline profits and could cause the companies to raise airfares.

American already cut a key industry revenue metric -- Total Revenue per Available Seat-Mile, or TRASM -- saying it will rise one percent in 2019, down from a prior estimate of two per cent. Southwest is allowing affected passengers to reschedule flights at no additional cost.

"Neither Airbus nor Boeing like cancellations and there are stiff contracts which make this very difficult," said Scott Hamilton, managing editor of the aviation news site Leeham News and Analysis. "The companies will swap airplane types, however, if it comes to this."

All 737 MAX aircraft have been banned from the world's skies since mid-March after suffering two fatal crashes less than five months apart: a Lion Air flight crashed in the Java Sea in October, leaving 189 dead, and the Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10, which killed 157 people.

Crash investigators have zeroed in on the planes' anti-stall system, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS.

And Boeing, which has already ceased 737 MAX deliveries and slowed the pace of production, a buildup of delays could increase the penalties it must pay client airlines, Hamilton said.

Trump tweeted early Monday that Boeing had to give its scandal-stricken aircraft a new image.

"What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name," he said.

But Hamilton said Trump was right to doubt his own expertise. "Trump is a boob. Boeing isn't going to rebrand the 737," Hamilton said, pointing to Boeing's log of more than 4,600 backorders, a key sales revenue driver, and adding that the order cancellations so far were "inconsequential." Aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia of Teal Group agreed.

"Pretty much all of President Trump's pronouncements on aviation are safely and best ignored," he said. Boeing is finalizing software upgrades for the MCAS, which it has pledged to submit to regulators in the coming weeks so that the 737 MAX grounding order can be lifted.

"We're focused on testing and implementing the software update and rebuilding the trust of our airline customers, pilots and the travelling public," a spokesperson told AFP. "We know we have a deep responsibility to everyone who flies on our airplanes to ensure that the MAX is one of the safest aircraft ever to fly."

Rebranding the aircraft would impose additional costs on the airlines which would be required to fully retrain pilots, while an updated model involves less intense additional training. Flight cancellations show the airlines, that had hoped to have the planes back in the air by May, now expect it will be longer before the aircraft can return to service.

Aviation analysts largely agree and expect the grounding to be lifted by the end of August. In the meantime, the industry is working to regain the trust of the flying public.

The US Federal Aviation Administration, which must certify the 737 MAX's airworthiness, released a video last week in which its interim chief Daniel Elwell said the agency was working to keep pilots informed. The FAA also said the agency would not rush to get the 737 MAX flying again.

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New Delhi:

Union Minister and Jodhpur BJP MP Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was on Tuesday issued an show-cause notice by the Election Commission (EC) on charges of violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by threatening to the Rajasthan government officials in his speech earlier this week. The poll panel has also directed Shekhawat to respond to its notice by April 18.

On Sunday, April 14, Shekhawat, while addressing an election rally in Rajasthan's Pokhran, was caught on camera purportedly threatening the government officials, saying they would not be spared once the party in power in Rajasthan changes.

In December 2018, the Congress was voted to power in Rajasthan after 5-year-rule by the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government since 2014.

Shekhawat, the BJP candidate from the Jodhpur Lok Sabha seat was angered apparently by the videography of his vehicle during his election meeting in Pokhran on Sunday.

The videography was carried following a notice from the sub-divisional magistrate string that the expendidure on vehicles used by Shekhawat in the meeting would be added to his total campaign cost.

"This is not the last election. I have details of all officials. The government would change after five years. I would hang all of then upside down then, Shekhawat porportedly said on Sunday.

Soon after, a complaint was lodged against Shekhawat with the District Election Officer by NSUI leader Sunil Chaudhary over his alleged threat.

"The desperation of the BJP candidate was evident by his threat. It showed the BJP does not believe in democracy," Chaudhary said.

Jodhpur is scheduled to go to polls in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 29. The counting of votes for seven phase General Eelctions slated for April-May would be taken up on May 23.
New Delhi:

A group of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members on Wednesday burnt an effigy of Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan for his "khaki underwear" jibe at BJP leader Jaya Prada in his election speech earlier this week. Speaking to media, Rajsharan Shahi, the president of ABPV's Goraksh prant said, "Azam Khan has made derogatory remarks against a woman and we have always fought for the respect of women.

The statement coming from a senior political leader shows reality of his attitude towards women and it cannot be tolerated, the student wing of the BJP said. "Women of this country are very strong and I think they will teach him a lesson in this election," Shahi stated.

Addressing an election campaign on Sunday, Khan made derogatory and sexist remarks against his Rampur opponent and BJP candidate Jaya Prada, saying - "I brought her to Rampur. You are a witness that I did not allow anyone to touch her body. It took you 17 years to identify her real face, but I got to know in 17 days that she wears khaki underpants".

Reacting to his statement, Jaya Prada said, "He shouldn't be allowed to contest the elections because if this man wins, what will happen to democracy? There'll be no place for women in society. Where will we go? Should I die, then you'll be satisfied? You think that I'll get scared and leave Rampur? I won't leave," Jaya Prada said.

The Election Commission (EC) of India, miffed over his "khaki underwear" jibe, had on Monday barred him from campaigning for 72 hours beginning Tuesday morning. On Tuesday, Khan was served another show cause notice by the poll panel for allegedly making inflammatory remarks at several other places in Uttar Pradesh in the past few days.
Washington:

NASA has awarded three teams from India as part of the US space agencys annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge which invites high school and college students to build and test roving vehicles for future missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

The team from KIET Group of Institutions in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, won the "AIAA Neil Armstrong Best Design Award", which recognises systems best designed to meet the Rover Challenge performance requirements, NASA said in a statement.

The Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering from Mumbai, Maharashtra, won the Frank Joe Sexton Memorial Pit Crew Awardfor ingenuity and persistence in overcoming problems during the race -- as well as the System Safety Challenge Award.

A team from Lovely Professional University in Phagwara, Punjab, won the STEM Engagement Award, presented to the team that best informed others about rocketry and other space-related topics.

Nearly 100 teams took part in the competition, hailing from a record number of countries, including the US, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Mexico, Morocco and Peru.

Indian-American NASA astronaut and two-time spaceflight veteran Sunita Williams attended the second day of the event, interacting with teams and participating in the days activities.

The International Space Education Institute of Leipzig, Germany, won first place in the high school division with 91 points; and a team from University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez won the college/university division with 101 points.

Teams were awarded points based on the successful navigation of obstacles and completion of tasks.

The competition, hosted by NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center and held at the US Space & Rocket Center, this year marked 25 years since the inaugural event, the statement said.

We are so proud to congratulate this years winners, and every team that competed, said Bob Musgrove, Acting Manager of the Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall.

The creativity, skill and resourcefulness demonstrated each year on the rover course are the very traits that paved our path to the Moon in 1969, and the ones that will continue to carry NASA forward to the Moon again in 2024, said Musgrove.

Rover Challenge provides learning opportunities to students who, someday, may be responsible for planning future space missions, including crewed missions to other worlds.

After constructing their own rovers, teams attempt to traverse a nearly three-quarter-mile course with gruelling obstacles that simulate terrain found on Mars, as well as other planets, moons and asteroids throughout the solar system. In addition, they have to complete tasks, such as sample collection and instrument deployment.

Teams had a six-minute window to navigate the course, gathering points and trying to complete 14 obstacles.

For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday defended party leader Azam Khan who has been facing severe criticism for his indecent remarks against BJP leader Jaya Prada.

He was talking about someone else. We are Samajwadis, we never use foul language for women, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.

Meanwhile, Zee News quoted Yadav saying that the media has goofed up in this matter and is showing something else.

Akhilesh Yadavs remarks came hours after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath condemned Khans below-the-belt remark, saying it indicated the leader's "mean mindset" and "shamed" BSP chief for their silence over it.

"The mean and indecent remark against Jaya Prada reflects the mean mindset and personality of Azam Khan," the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said in tweet. "The silence of Akhilesh Yadav over it is shameful indeed," said Adityanath.

After examining the remarks made at an election rally on Sunday by Khan, who has often stoked controversies with his speeches, the Election Commission on Monday night imposed a nationwide ban on him from campaigning for 72 hours, beginning Tuesday.

During the last Lok Sabha elections in 2014, the EC had imposed a ban on Khan from campaigning in Uttar Pradesh for his provocative speeches and had also lodged an FIR against him.

Khan, however, remained defiant and said he did not name any person in his speech and if anyone proves that he had taken any name or maligned anyone then he would not contest the polls.

Without naming the actor, Khan had told the election rally in Rampur "... You got represented (by her) for 10 years. People of Rampur, people of Uttar Pradesh and people of India, it took you 17 years to understand her reality. But, I could recognize it in 17 days that she wears a khaki underwear."

Jaya Prada had represented Rampur twice in Lok Sabha after winning in 2004 and 2009 as a Samajwadi Party leader. Later she was expelled from the party, along with Amar Singh, following differences with Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Last month she joined BJP and has been nominated as the saffron party's candidate against Khan from Rampur, which goes to polls on April 23.

Khan and some other SP leaders sought to suggest that Khan's comments were targeted at Singh, who is considered her mentor in UP politics.

As the remarks drew a sharp criticism, with the BJP launching a scathing attack on him and other SP leaders including the party chief Akhilesh Yadav who was allegedly himself present at the rally, the police lodged an FIR against Khan.
Thiruvananthapuram:

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who suffered head injuries at a temple in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, was visited by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the hospital where he is undergoing treatment.

Tharoor tweeted a picture of Sitharamans visit and said that he was touched by her gesture amid the hectic electioneering in Kerala. Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala. Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example!, he wrote in his tweet.

Tharoor suffered head injuries when the hook of a weighing scale came off and its iron panel hit his head while performing 'thulabharam' ritual at a temple in Thiruvananthapuram.

According to party sources, Tharoor, who is aiming for a hat-trick from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency, sustained injuries on his head, which required six stitches.

The 63-year old MP also suffered a minor leg injury in the incident which occurred at a Devi temple here. 'Thulabharam' is a Hindu ritual in which a person is weighed against a commodity such as flowers, grains, fruits and similar articles in temples and the equal value or quantity is offered as donation.

The accident happened when Tharoor, sitting in the weighing scale, was waiting to see the 'deeparadhana' (aarti) being performed at the sanctum sanctorum," Sivakumar later told reporters.

The iron panel of the weighing scale came down and hit his head," Sivakumar added.

Tharoor was given first aid at the government general hospital here and then taken to the Trivandrum Medical College for detailed examination, party sources said.

Television channels showed the former union minister getting into a car with a bandaged head and waving to onlookers wearing a blood-stained kurta.
New Delhi:

Mahavir Jayanti marks the birth anniversary of Lord Mahavir, the founder of Jainism. He was the 24th and the last Tirthankara of the Jains. A significant day for the Jain community, Mahavir Jayanti will be observed on April 17 this year. Mahavir Jayanti is celebrated on the thirteenth day of the month Chaitra.

Vardhaman was born in 599 BC (as claimed by the Shwetambara sect) or 615BC (as claimed by Digambara sect) in the palace of Vaishali to King Siddhartha and Queen Trisala. Lord Mahavir took over the kingdom when he came of age.

Mahavir spent his childhood as a prince surrounded by luxuries. It is said that before his birth, astrologers had predicted that Mahavir will grow up to be either be a great king or a Tirthankara. During his formative years, Mahavir developed a great interest in Jainism. At the age of 30, he renounced the throne and left his family in search of enlightenment.

He spent the next 12 years as a monk and devoted the rest of his life preaching the spiritual truth to his followers. He was the 24th and the last Tirthankara of Jainism and preached the principles of truth, love and non-violence, which form the core of Jain philosophy.

Lord Mahavir practised and promoted non-violence and preached love and respect of all living beings. On these values, he later found a new religion  Jainism. Jains steer clear of all non-vegetarians dishes and follow the path of non-violence or ahimsa. Mahavir Jayanti is a reminder of these virtues.

Jains typically celebrate the festival by offering prayers to Lord Mahavir and by visiting temples that are festooned with flowers and flags. Idols of Lord Mahavir are carried on a chariot by devotees after the abhishek ritual. The Jain community also engages in charity work on this day.

For all the Latest Lifestyle News, Religion News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The Lok Sabha polls in Vellore constituency in Tamil Nadu has been cancelled over excess use of money power. The president has rescinded the election to Vellore parliamentary constituency by accepting the recommendation of Election Commission dated 14th April 2019.

The EC took the decision after the district police had filed a complaint against the accused, Kathir Anand, as well as two party functionaries on the basis of a report from the Income Tax department on April 10. Anand was charged under the Representation of the People Act for giving "wrong information" in his election affidavit filed along with his nomination papers, the police said. The other two, identified as Srinivasan and Damodaran, were booked under bribery charges.

The recommendation was sent to the legislative department of the law ministry Tuesday which issued the notification. The Tamil Nadu chief electoral officer has now been informed about the decision. He will, in turn, inform the political parties and candidates about the notification, sources in the government said.

On March 30, Income Tax officials had conducted searches at the residence of Anand's father Durai Murugan over suspected use of unaccounted money for electioneering, and seized Rs. 10.50 lakh in alleged "excess" cash. Two days later, they claimed to have seized Rs 11.53 crore from a cement godown belonging to a DMK leader's associate in the same district.

Murugan, however, said that he had not concealed anything. Questioning the timing of the Income Tax department's operation, he had alleged that the raids were a "conspiracy" by certain political leaders who could not face them in the electoral arena.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi:

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is in talks to buy centuries-old British toy retailer Hamleys as the company expands its presence in the consumer space, sources said.

Currently, Reliance Industries retail arm Reliance Retail has the licence to sell Hamleys products in India.

Reliance Industries is said to be aggressively pursuing the deal and due diligence for buy-out is in advanced stages, sources said.

When contacted, Reliance declined to comment on the issue.

As a policy, we do not comment on media speculation and rumours. Our company evaluates various opportunities on an ongoing basis, a Reliance Industries spokesperson said.

In 2015, Chinas C.banner International had acquired Hamleys in 100 million pound deal. In October last year, Sky News reported that C.banner International, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, had launched a strategic review of loss-making Hamleys and was looking to sell it. Hamleys was founded in 1760.

In the past few years, Reliance Industries has been diversifying beyond its core business of refining and petrochemicals and has emerged a strong player in the telecom and retail businesses.

Reliance Retail reported an over two-fold jump in its pre-tax profit to Rs 1,680 crore for the December 2018 quarter.

Reliance Industries also plans to get into the e-commerce space and intends to launch an online shopping platform for small retailers to take on Amazon and Walmart-controlled Flipkart.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had failed to fulfil the promises made in the past 5 years. Gandhi was speaking at a rally at Pathanapuram in Keralas Kollam district. The promises Modi has made to you has not been fulfilled but Anil Ambani gets Rs 30,000 crore in Rafale deal. The Prime Minister is speaking of nationalism and he gave the biggest defence deal to a person who has not made a single aircraft, Gandhi charged.

Hitting at the Sangh forces, the AICC chief alleged the country is now under attack from the BJP-RSS and there was an idealogical fight going on between the BJP on one side and Congress on the other.

No matter how many times you (BJP/RSS) attack us, we will use love and non-violence to convince you are wrong, he said.

In the last five years, our Prime Minister promised several things. Two crore job opportunities.. Rs 15 lakh deposits in bank accounts and price support for farmers, he said.

Gandhi asked the people how many of them had received the money in their bank account promised by the Prime Minister.

Gandhi assured the cashew farmers in the state that his party, if voted to power, will to take up their cause.

We will start a conversation to help make cashew growing a viable alternative, he said adding that it was an honour for him to fight elections from kerala.

Rahul Gandhi arrived here last night on a two day visit to Kerala. Besides Kollam, he would address rallies in three more districts.

Gandhi, who is contesting from Wayanad district as a second constituency besides the Congress stronghold of Amethi, will be addressing meetings in his constituency on Wednesday.
New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a petition seeking permission for Muslim women to enter mosques to offer prayers. A bench headed by Justice SA Bobde issued notice to the Centre and asked it to respond to the plea filed by a Pune-based couple. The bench told the counsel appearing for the petitioner that it will hear the matter because of the apex court's judgment in the case involving Kerala's Sabarimala temple. "The only reason we may hear you is because of our judgment in the Sabarimala temple case," the bench said.

aThis is not a person. The board takes benefits from the State, takes money from State, says petitioner. aCan a fundamental right to equality be asserted against another Human Being/ individual, asks Justice Bobde. aWill Article 14 apply to individual and can you claim equality of treatment from another human being,a Justice Bobde added.

The petitioners, Yasmeen Zuber Ahmad Peerzade and Zuber Ahmad Nazir Ahmad Peerzade, in their writ petition prayed for a direction against the Union of India and others for declaring the practices of prohibition of entry of Muslim Women in Mosque in India as illegal, unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25 and 29 of the Constitution. They had said the persons affected by such acts of the State are numerous and are not in a position to approach the Court hence the petitioners are filing the present PIL on behalf of such affected persons.

They said they had written to the Mohmdiya Jama Masjid, Bopodi, Pune, and Imam to allow them to enter mosque. They had responded stating that no practice of entry of women in mosque is permitted in Pune and other areas. Hence the present petition seeking court intervention to remove the gender discrimination.

In a landmark verdict on September 28, 2018, the Supreme Court granted women of all ages the right to enter the Sabarimala temple, reversing the Kerala shrineas tradition of barring girls and women of menstruating agea10-50 years. The verdict was passed by 4:1 majority by a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and judges DY Chanrachud, AM Khanwilkar, RF Nariman and Indu Malhotra, the sole woman on the bench and the author of a dissenting opinion.

Recognizing that banning women from entering the temple was derogatory to them, Khanwilkar on behalf of himself and Misra said: aMorality cannot be viewed with a narrow lens so as to confine the sphere of definition of morality to what an individual, a section or religious sect may perceive the term to mean.

aPatriarchy in religion cannot be permitted to trump over the element of pure devotion born out of faith and the freedom to practise and profess oneas religion." The Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the temple, had justified the restriction saying the ban had a ahistorical origin" as the entry of women and girls of menstruating age was antithetical to the aNaishtika Brahmachari" (celibate) nature of the deity.

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Home  Just In  Legalising marijuana in Nepal: The recurring debate is up. But, what next is uncertain

On September 6, Rajiv Kafle, a social campaigner and HIV/AIDS survivor, was arrested by police on the charge that he and his staff sold marijuana at Hippy Hill, a property he owns in Shivapuri, Budhanilakantha, on the northern outskirts of Kathmandu.

After his arrest, protests ensued in the capital as campaigners working towards legalising marijuana demanded his release adding his arrest was unlawful. Upon incessant protest, Kafle was released, but his arrest and release started a new debate: should marijuana be decriminalised in Nepal?

Such a debate had happened in the past too. Newly appointed health minister Birodh Khatiwada and a member of the House of Representatives Sher Bahadur Tamang have been talking on a regular basis about legalising marijuana in the parliament and at other places. A bill has also been registered in the House in regards to legalising and regulating marijuana.

But, should it?

The legalisation campaign

Campaigners have been asking the government to legalise marijuana, tax it and regulate it. Photo: Chandra Bahadur Ale

Kafle says it should as it can help transform the country economically.

The country was a different place when marijuana was legal in Nepal. Its still isnt too late to legalise marijuana and if we do, we will benefit a lot economically, he says.

He was one of the key people to have started the campaign to legalise marijuana in Nepal. It all started in 2010 with a handful of people but has now grown. As Kafle was arrested, campaigners gathered around Maitighar Mandala demanding his release.

Its good to see how far weve come, but the fight is not over, says Kafle.

In 2010, they took out a rally with a few bikes and cars. They also regularly hosted small events during festivals like Shivaratri to raise awareness about legalising marijuana in the country. By 2013, things intensified as #LegaliseNepal started trending on social media. More people started to speak about the issue including political leaders.

People were using it for recreation or as a medication, but no one spoke about it. This was and still is stigmatised and we want to change that, says Kafle.

Why? Why not?

Roshan has been smoking marijuana since he was in his early 20s. Now 45, he says he has seen both the good and bad of the drug.

During the early stages, I didnt like it. It made me paranoid about a lot of things, says Roshan, who is a banker by profession. But with time, I understood how to use it and since then, Ive enjoyed it a lot. It has helped me sleep better after work and made me less anxious. I dont do it at work, but I do like to smoke one before I go to bed.

Health benefits, the campaigners say, are clear. It helps deal with chronic pain, helps regulate and prevent diabetes, helps treat depression and autism, regulate seizures, helps with ADHD/ADD, alleviates anxiety, slows the development of Alzheimers disease. Likewise, it is also helpful in the treatment of glaucoma and dealing with pain linked to arthritis and PTSD symptoms. It helps with tremors associated with Parkinsons disease. These are proved by science.

But, there are drawbacks too. Studies have also proved that for long-term marijuana smokers, there is a risk of worse respiratory symptoms and more frequent chronic bronchitis episodes. Along with that, for marijuana users in general, there is a greater risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychoses. And, there is a link between marijuana use and increased risk of car crashes. There is moderate evidence that acute marijuana use impairs learning, memory, and attention.

Need for regulation than promotion or ban

File: Police destroying marijuana plants

But, Kafle says the plant can be regulated, and they have suggested ways for the same in the bill that has been registered at the parliament. One of the suggestions they have highlighted is using the casino model in consumption.

A lot of people say if Nepalis start consuming marijuana, itll mess the country up. If that is the case, why dont you legalise it only for foreigners like theyre doing so with the casinos? They dont even want to try it and that is what is disheartening, says Kafle.

He says the talks had been underway with late tourism minister Rabindra Adhikari about creating a hippy trail to commemorate 50 years of the hippies coming to Nepal. They had suggested that people like Paolo Coelho, a writer who recently wrote a book about coming to Nepal, be made an ambassador. But, Adhikari died in a helicopter crash and since then tourism ministers have been changing regularly.

This doesnt help when the country doesnt have political stability, says Kafle.

One person who has been active in speaking about this issue is MP Sher Bahadur Tamang, who says the country needs to legalise and regulate the use of marijuana.

Weve only been talking about it, being a drug being addictive. Yes, that is one aspect, but if you regulate it, we can use the good features the drug has, says Tamang during a recent television show, adding the government should do everything it can to regulate it.

So close, yet not so close

But, former DIG of Nepal Police, Ramesh Kharel, in the same show, says that is unlikely to happen as he has seen how the drug has torn families apart and has ruined the lives of many young individuals across the country.

Kharel says there was no chance that marijuana would be regulated in a country like Nepal where underage boys and girls openly smoke cigarettes.

This is wishful thinking. People say that the US has legalised it. No, it hasnt. Some states have opened up on legalising medical marijuana, but its federal laws still havent legalised it, says Kharel, questioning if Nepali leaders are trying to create a figure like Pablo Escobar in Nepal.

Doctors are also unsure about it. Dr Sandeep Shrestha, a physician and intensivist of Birta City Hospital and Research Centre, says Nepal as a country just is not ready for this as they still think the plant is bad.

Yes, there are some good aspects of the drug, but it has negative impacts and Ive seen people suffer from psychosis due to it. Not everyone will go through the same, but there will always be a few who will suffer from schizophrenia and psychosis, he says.

But, Kafle and Tamang both argue that saying Nepal cannot regulate is wrong. Kafle says around 1,500 people are given heroin legally in the country and a similar model can be used to distribute marijuana.

Why cant it be done? We cant sit here and say we cant do anything when the west is already stepping things up. If we dont move now, the world will legalise it and then thats it, well lose our chance to capitalise on the one product that can help reduce our trade deficit, says Kafle.
Home  Lifestyle  Beauty & fashion  Thrift stores are growing popular in Nepal. What does this mean to sustainability?

Two years ago, Rojeena Tandukar, 26, was desperately looking for a lehenga to wear to her friends wedding which was a week away. She was unwilling to repeat the ones she had already worn, neither did she have enough money to buy a new one.

She then posted about her problem in a private group on Facebook. I was searching for some thrift store, but could not find any. So, I posted about this on a womens group. I received some good responses from there and also got an idea to start a new group for this purpose only.

She then started a new group on Facebook, women-only, where they can buy and sell used clothes. By now, there are about 65,000 members in the group that has the motto of share, recycle, empower.

Tandukars experience shows how the culture of thrift stores is growing up in Nepal among the young men and women who are conscious of the value of money as well as the environment.

Thrifted clothes on sale on a Facebook-based thrift store. Screengrab from Ladies Buy and Sell Community

Growing thrifting scene

Thrifting culture, as a part of pop culture, is very popular in western countries. It has grown as an established billion-dollar industry there. However, it has been just a few years since youngsters have been adopting this concept in Nepal.

Nevertheless, the growth so far seems promising. Apart from the Tandukar-led Facebook group, there are many thrift cloth stores, mostly online, in Nepal. That includes Nepals Thrift Shop, Hamro Thrift Online Store, Nepal Thrifts, Easy Buy Nepal, Dohoran Nepal, and many others.

As per Tandukars observation, about 100 posts are posted daily on her group for the sale of used clothes. These posts are followed by an abundance of comments of the probable buyers, she claims.

An active buyer and seller of the very group, Samikshya Rana Magar, from Butwal, shares, I had already sold my used clothes worth about Rs 20,000 and also had bought many thrifted clothes from the very group. It is very cost-effective, also a sustainable way of being fashionable.

Sunaina Shrestha, the owner of Thriftmandu, started this store two years ago learning from how thrift stores work in other countries like the US. When I figured out that I had so many unused clothes in my wardrobe and there was no place to declutter, I initiated this thrift store here in Nepal, says Shrestha, an MBA graduate from the USA.

Thriftmandu page on Instagram

Shrestha also reports the number of transactions in her online store depends on how often she posts.

Further, she explains, When I have lots of customers who want to sell their stuff, I post about 20 items or more on a single day whereas the average number of posts is a bit less.

Sneha Tamang, a 21-year-old student in Kathmandu, has also adopted a thrifting culture like many other youngsters. She says, I have bought many clothes from the group created by Tadukar, worth around Rs 8,000 in total so far. As one gets the clothes you want at half the market price, why should you go to the other market?

The sustainable fashion initiative

Sunaina Shrestha, who is also a restaurateur and an educational counsellor, claims her thrift store is not just for profit but is also an initiation towards sustainable fashion.

A garment on sale at Thriftmandu. Photo: Thriftmandus Intagram page.

She explains, We can see that every household has about 10 items more clothes than they actually need. So, our concept is, basically, making people reuse clothes then purchasing them.

She adds, Because it is very likely that the clothes that do not fit me or that I dont like will be liked by someone else, and I may like something not liked by others, we dont have to buy a new one every now and then.

Aasha Adhikari, 22, a student based in Chabahil of Kathmandu, has been actively selling her clothes through a Facebook group. She also shares similar views, Nowadays, youngsters do not like to repeat the outfit they had worn once or twice. They like to follow new trends in fashion. So, better than hoarding old clothes, one can re-sell those clothes at a discounted price. And, the others looking for similar clothes can get it. This way, both seller and buyer will economically benefit.

Contribution to environment

Environmentalist Rajan Thapa praises the idea of thrifting clothes as environmentally and economically friendly. He says, Thrifting aids to the sustainable way of living.

Thrifted clothes on sale. Photo: Ladies Buy and Sell Community

As the younger generation is more into fashion, they buy newer clothes to look trendy and the old clothes will be unused and later thrown as waste. But, when one practises thrifting, they will be economically benefited as well the un-used clothes will be shared.

Thapa thinks it is also an opportunity for those who are economically weak to sustain themselves.

When thrifting is done on an optimum basis, it will eventually decrease the quantity of textile waste. Likewise, in the case of Nepal, where most of the textile products are imported, their transportation itself causes a lot of pollution. Hence, thrifting results in a decline in the amount of carbon emission, according to him. Also, natural resources are consumed extravagantly in the textile industry. Through adopting the thrifting culture, less natural resources will be consumed, says Thapa.

Meanwhile, the promoters are still not satisfied with the growth of this culture so far. Sandhya Ghimire, the owner of Easy Buy Nepal, an online thrift store, views, Online thrift stores are mushrooming, but a majority of them are not very appealing. Although they are affordable, I think thrifting hasnt matured enough in Nepal.

Ghimire thinks that if celebrities would start thrifting their clothes as well as buying from others, it will influence many citizens and boost the scene altogether.

From the archive
(Bloomberg Businessweek) --

Most Read from Bloomberg

COP climate talks were always going to be difficult: 200 countries in search of a plan to prevent catastrophic warming of the planet with time running out fast.The backdrop of terrifying weather events had brought a renewed sense of urgency to the matter. Then, the energy crisis struck, leaving Asia and Europe scrambling for fossil fuels, forcing China to double down on coal, and giving climate laggards another excuse not to engage. In the U.S., President Joe Bidens green ambitions have gotten bogged down in domestic politics, undermining his credibility as he tries to push others to curb their emissions.The aim of COP  the acronym for the conference of parties thats now in its 26th round  is to curb emissions, keep the goal of 1.5 degrees of global warming within reach, reduce coal use, sort out rules for global carbon trading and raise billions in climate finance.

But at the heart of talks is the issue of fairness. Developing nations say rich countries wrecked the planet as they industrialized, and its now unfair theyre thwarting others economic progress -- and failing to provide enough cash to help poor countries adjust. Thats why theres so much talk about how much money will be on the table.

Here is our guide to whats shaping up to be a fraught two weeks of talks. Well take you from the grand aims to the small detail, from a leaders summit in Rome, to the backroom deals where masked delegates will hash out carbon-market rules while trying to keep at a Covid-safe distance.

Where It All Begins: Rome

COP is being held in Glasgow, Scotland. But its pretty much kicked off already with the Group of 20 leaders summit in Rome. So far, its not looking good as talks are deadlocked on the issue of coal. If the G-20  which includes major emitters China and India  cant make progress, it will bode badly for the talks in Glasgow, where the leaders are heading straight from Rome on Sunday night.

Story continues

To Glasgow: Roll Call

Some key leaders are going to be missing, including Chinas Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Still, almost 200 countries will be represented. Some delegates will be there in person, some will dial in from home, and there will be strict rules on masks, numbers allowed in negotiating rooms, and Covid testing. The pandemic has added extra obstacles, and some countries go into the talks resentful of what they perceive as unequal access.

Leaders Mark Their Homework

Under the landmark Paris Agreement of 2015, countries have to regularly review their pollution-reduction pledges in order to ensure the world stays on track to limit the rise in temperature to close to 1.5 degree Celsius. The first promises  called Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs  were submitted in 2016, but it was clear that they were well short of what science says is needed. While some nations have already submitted new pledges over the past year, several major economies, including China and India, havent. The plans made so far would lead to a 2.4-degrees increase in temperature by the end of the century, according to the nonprofit research group Climate Action Tracker. At the start of COP theres a moment of taking stock  to see just how far away we still are from keeping 1.5 degrees within reach. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry has already acknowledged the plans probably wont be enough, and one aim of Glasgow is to make sure countries keep coming back with improved goals.

We need to change and we need to change radically and we need to change fast, says EU climate chief Frans Timmermans. Thats going to be bloody hard; thats the bad news.

The Goals

The U.K. hosts describe the aims for this COP as coal, cars, cash and trees. That means ending the use of the most polluting fossil fuel; phasing out the internal combustion engine; raising cash to help developing countries transition to cleaner energy and protect against the ravages of climate change; and reversing deforestation. They also aim to figure out global rules for pricing and trading carbon globally. Expect posturing and grand statements in the first two days  along with perhaps some new pledges  then the leaders leave, and the real work starts.

Priority: Coal

My personal priority: coal, says COP President Alok Sharma.

The U.K. presidency has set a target for the meeting to consign coal to history  and has been pushing for the goal at G-7 and G-20 meetings this year  with mixed success so far. But coal is still a massive part of the energy mix, and the recent surge in energy prices has forced countries into even greater reliance on the fuel. China is ordering miners to dig up as much as they can and in the U.S. a key lawmaker from coal-rich West Virginia is getting in the way of Bidens plans. The signs from the G-20 suggest Sharmas target may be out of reach. Read more: The World Is Nowhere Near to Kicking Its Dirtiest Habit

The Key: Cash

More than a decade ago, developed nations pledged that by 2020 they will raise $100 billion per year to help developing nations transition to cleaner energy. But a report released in the runup to the summit shows they still havent delivered on the promise, a failure that enrages poor countries and undermines developed world leaders credibility as they push others to make expensive changes.

We absolutely need to meet the $100 billion, says Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands. The delivery of that is a foundational element of the success at COP. 

Last month, Biden doubled the latest U.S. pledge to $11.4 billion annually beginning in 2024, but that still has to be approved by Congress, and activists argue it doesnt come close to the U.S.s fair share for the fund. ODI, a think tank, puts that figure closer to $43 billion, based on the U.S.s wealth, emissions and population size.

Finance Day: Follow the Money

Finance ministers, central banks and Wall Street bank CEOs will be in Glasgow on Nov. 3 for finance day, with a focus on how to green the global financial system and funnel money away from polluting industries and into cleaner ones. Watch out for pledges to phase out, or stop, financing for coal. Already weve seen a series of promises, including JP Morgan Chase & Co joining an alliance of lenders aligning their portfolios with net zero by 2050. As always, though, what matters is the detail, and just how rigorously investors hold companies to account.

Read more: Big Banks Haven't Quit Fossil Fuel, With $4 Trillion Since Paris

Paris Loose Ends: Carbon Market

The Paris Agreement left some unfinished business that negotiators still havent been able to tie up: how to standardize rules on carbon trading across the world. The buzzword to watch is Article Six  referring to those lines in the Paris deal that paved the way for a global carbon market but are so complex and controversial that they are yet to be finalized. The good news is negotiators are edging toward a deal on this.

The basic idea is to match carbon-sucking projects that reduce pollution with counterparties who need to reduce emissions, via a market of so-called offsets, which could be worth as much as $100 billion in 2030, according to some estimates. The mechanism in theory should drive money to places where the biggest gains can be made most cheaply.

Offsets are becoming an increasingly important element of decarbonization strategies, says Lidia Wojtal, of think tank Agora Energiewende.While there are already various voluntary carbon markets that can provide such credits, a deal on Article Six would make a difference: it would guarantee a truly global standard.

The difficulty is in creating a robust financial instrument that would translate work on national emissions-reduction pledges into comparable, exchangeable units. The framework needs to be flexible enough to attract investment, palatable to a range of countries with different priorities, and credible. Some negotiators say a bad deal would be worse than no deal if the rules that emerge arent robust enough. There are two big sticking points: one is the need to avoid double counting, the other is how to deal with old credits from a now-defunct system launched way back in 1997 under the Kyoto Protocol. A good deal would result in a net reduction of emissions globally  and the risk is that a bad deal does the opposite.

Broadly speaking, developing nations are eager to reap the funds that would come from a new program, while richer nations led by the European Union are focused on the integrity of the system.

The Endgame

At the end of talks theres likely to be some kind of Glasgow declaration. The U.S. and U.K. have both said they want to make sure countries keep racheting up their plans in the coming years. While several leaders are framing COP as a "make or break" deal for the planet, the reality is probably more nuanced. A clear win on just one issue will probably count as success, and its possible there will be progress that can be built on down the line. Meanwhile the role of business and finance is increasingly important  banks are mobilizing finance to green the economy, and that momentum is likely to be sustained.

Saving Face: the Side Deals

But as the main goals of ending coal and getting a net-zero commitment slip out of reach, work is under way to hatch a series of side deals that would go some way to salvaging the talks  or at least saving face. Theres a plan on curbing methane, for example, which the U.S. and EU are cajoling others to join, and others in the works on aviation and forests. The risk though is that if the main communique is so weak that all the action is in the mini deals, it raises questions about whats the point of COP  and whether climate multilateralism is coming to the end of the road.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2021 Bloomberg L.P.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct. 24, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Secure DeFi Ecosystem GloryDoge, launches a hub for sharing, Investing, and Developing Innovative Ideas. GloryDoge is a blockchain platform for kickstarting ideas and attracting investors.



Groundbreaking ideas seem to be popping up faster than ever. DeFi enthusiasts and professionals are always eager to explore the potential of decentralized finance and improve various areas of lives. Moreover, it has never been easier for anyone interested in supporting a project to invest their digital funds.

But there's a catch, many fundraising methods aren't as reliable as they appear to be. As a matter of fact, various ICOs and other forms of attracting investors have turned out to be scams relying on the lack of knowledge among inexperienced crypto investors.

Enter GloryDoge

Essentially, GloryDoge is a blockchain platform for kickstarting ideas and attracting investors. The secure DeFi ecosystem comes with a range of tools that can help innovators get funds from the interested parties. More importantly, GloryDoge offers investors a detailed overview of what they want to invest in.

GloryPad: Next-Gen IDO Launchpad

GloryPad is the main feature of GloryDoge. It's a launchpad that aims to attract all innovators, investors, developers, pretty much anyone interested in developing exciting ideas or investing in them.

The launchpad is currently in the works, and it's expected to be released during the third phase of development (we'll cover the roadmap below).

There's an important feature that makes GloryPad stand out from the pack and ensures investing is secure. Namely, innovators can create a set of tasks that need to be completed in order for their project or service to be launched.

Therefore, investors will not fund the entire project. Instead, they will have an overview of all tasks and the associated cost for each of them. As a result, they will get to choose a task that they can invest in to support a project.

Story continues

This approach by GloryDoge adds a new layer of transparency and security for all fundraising activities that will take place on the platform. Not only will the entire process weed out the scam cryptocurrencies, but it will also attract investors interested in supporting great ideas and seeing them come to fruition task by task.

The early version of GloryPad will also feature an activity pad, where one can learn about popular sales, activities, and more.

Finally, GloryPad will support all major blockchains, starting with Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, and Avalanche. The team behind the project plans to add more blockchains in the future.

Speaking of the team, let's see who's behind GloryDoge.

GloryDoge Team

The real identities of the people behind this platform have not been revealed. However, the official whitepaper states that the founder and co-founder are already doxxed on DessertFinance. In addition to that, Techrate and DessertFinance have audited the entire project, and an additional audit is expected in the future from Certik.

So far, only names are learned (or online pseudonyms) of the team members  William (CMO), Joey (CEO and lead developer), and Light (CDO). They have years of experience in software engineering, marketing, and design.

GloryDoge Token Economics

The GloryDoge Token is the main currency of the GloryDoge ecosystem.

This token's contract is written from scratch, which isn't that common nowadays. However, the team wanted to build maximum trust among everyone involved in GloryDoge and avoid some common issues that tokens with copied contracts face. The developers have taken into account a range of harmful actions and made sure that they aren't possible with the new contract. For instance, if the owner/deployer wants to set taxes higher than 10%, it will not be allowed.

Here's how the taxes are distributed:

4% of every transaction is distributed to all holders.

2% of every transaction is called "marketing tax" and is used for attracting founders and investors.

4% of every transaction is dedicated to the team and developers.



The good news is that there are no taxes if tokens are moved from wallet to wallet.

Finally, 50% of revenue from GlodyDoge DAPPs is distributed as BNB through staking, and 10% is locked for liquidity on PancakeSwap.

GLORYD Token Sale

The private sale has been officially concluded. The next phase is the presale, which will take place on PinkSale . It will officially start on October 28, where a total of 245,000,000,000,000 GLORYD tokens will be distributed. Users will have a chance to obtain the GloryDoge Token at the following rate: 1 BNB = 490,000,000,000 GLORYD. The minimum allowed amount one can buy is 0.1 BNB, whereas the maximum is 3 BNB.

The presale will start at 16:00 UTC, and it will last for 24 hours.

Roadmap: When is the GloryDoge Launch Expected?

The development roadmap for GloryDoge is divided into three phases:



Phase 1  The first phase includes deploying the token, distribution, and private sale contracts on BSC, in addition to releasing the white paper and launching the website. This phase has been completed.

Phase 2  The second phase is underway, with doxxing, contract audit, and the private sale being concluded. The next step is to conduct the presale, get additional contract audits, promote the project, and list the token on CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko.

Phase 3  The last phase includes a security audit, finalization, and release of GloryPad. The team also plans to hire additional members and promote the project further to increase the user base. The final step is to automate the revenue distribution to holders and work on new features and DAPPs.

Final Thoughts

The third phase isn't really the end. In fact, once GloryPad is launched, there will still be plenty of work to do, as the team wants to develop and launch various new DAPPs that aim to reshape the crypto space. For now, though, GloryPad will help many innovators and investors join forces and work on many new and groundbreaking ideas.

To learn more about GloryDoge visit GloryDogeCoin.com

Social Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GloryDogeCoin

Telegram: https://t.me/GloryDogeCoin

Github: https://github.com/GloryDoge

Media Contact

Company: GloryDoge

Contact: William K.

Email: hello@glorydogecoin.com

Website: https://glorydogecoin.com/

SOURCE: GloryDoge




Windsor, Colorado--(Newsfile Corp. - October 24, 2021) - A new form of NFTs that include a fresh spin on the popular art trend, is set to release from Liquid Craft on Oct 29th at 12 PM PST for presale, and Oct 31st 12 PM PST for public sale. The first release from the project is a series of handcrafted liquor-backed NFTs titled Dragons and Bourbon.





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/8342/100682_9bd4ba512418aa07_001full.jpg

Each NFT released in the limited series is backed by a bottle of small-batch, premium bourbon, uniquely crafted for this collection. Liquid Craft is also offering buyers of this first NFT mint the chance for numerous exclusive offers and airdrops.

Liquid Craft is a project determined to bring additional value to the NFT space while at the same time, providing a new alternative to traditional liquor investing. The aim is to bring benefits to the crafters that create fine liquors, the would-be collectors of this investment class, and the NFT market collectively.

Liquid Craft First NFT Series - Dragons and Bourbon

The first release from Liquid Craft is a partnership with multi-award-winning distillers from Windsor, Colorado - The Heart Distillery. The Colorado based distillers who are world-renowned for their dedication to the art of distilling, have handcrafted a small batch, cask strength bourbon specifically for this NFT series. The Heart Distillery's team of passionate crafters have created this small-batch bourbon with only homegrown and local ingredients. This ensures this limited edition NFT release is backed by something that cannot be replicated or found anywhere else.

Digital Art Meets Liquid Art

Each Dragons and Bourbon NFT on offer as part of the Oct 29th launch is backed 1:1 with a bottle of this liquid art. There will be two separate tiers made available as part of the launch, one tier for the Binance Smart Chain and the other for the Ethereum Network. Both tiers will be eligible for CRAFT token airdrops and exclusive offers to buyers to show appreciation to the first round of the project's supporters.

Story continues

NFTs - Positive Impacts On Multiple Industries

Liquid Craft aims to provide solutions for everyday problems currently facing the craft liquor industry, using blockchain technology and NFTs. Currently taking the world by storm, NFTs provide a variety of use cases in different sectors that include collectibles, music, art, and gaming.

Liquid Craft is using this technology to improve the traditional liquor investment market as well as assist the crafters of fine spirits, in a time that has seen many fighting to stay afloat due to the global pandemic.

Can NFTs Offer a Lifeline to a Struggling Industry?

Distillers, Breweries, and Wineries have traditionally relied on tourism as a substantial part of their business model. With international tourism at all-time lows, many are seeking alternative revenue options. Buyers are currently unable or unwilling to leave their local markets, with this resulting in many businesses losing a much-needed revenue stream. Liquid Craft believes NFTs and the smart contracts they are built on to be a viable solution.

The project is currently in the build phase of a complete marketplace to cater to international crafters of all sizes. The marketplace will enable them to use NFT and blockchain technology to showcase their product to a larger, more global audience, adding an additional option to sell their crafts.

Liquid Crafts Solution To Trading Physical Assets

For the collector of fine liquors, NFTs can also provide a significant benefit. The collectible liquor investment world is appreciating and growing fast, but traditional processes including intermediaries, transport, and storage requirements can be a deterrent to would-be investors. Investors can collect, or trade the value of the liquor as an NFT, as often as they like, while the physical product is stored safely with the supplier.

At any time, the current owner of the NFT can redeem the digital art piece for the physical product, with a handover process taking place. The NFT can trade hands numerous times and can only be redeemed once, with all transactions and ownership details recorded by the smart contract.

Liquid Crafts October 29th Launch

Liquid Craft has set the launch date for the Dragons and Bourbon NFT series to go live as of October 29th at 12 PM PST. An increased marketing drive is underway leading up to the release. To assist with the launch, Coinpresso, an expert SEO and crypto marketing agency, have partnered with Liquid Craft to bring their expertise and experience to all future marketing and promotional needs.

AMAs, Giveaways, and Whitelist Opportunities

For buyers seeking to purchase a Dragons and Bourbon NFT but are concerned with the limited first release number, Liquid Craft has ongoing promotions across all of their social media pages as well as numerous AMAs. All are offering opportunities to win D&B NFTs, as well as white list opportunities for participants. The launch itself will see initial buyers become eligible for airdrops, instant entry to future promotions and competitions as well as exclusive offerings not available to the general public.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CraftLiquid

Telegram: https://t.me/Liquid_craft

Discord: https://discord.gg/srR5H9xUjk

Media Contact:

Curtis Ramsay

Curtis@Coinpresso.io

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100682
She fills the thriller with more twists than a talented gymnast, portrays her characters with razorlike precision, writes with brutal beauty and invests what could have been an improbable plot with well-earned plausibility.

A CHILLING WORK OF NOIR

A search for novels about women in abusive relationships turns up dozens, almost all of them written by womenas if men can neither comprehend the subject nor render it with empathy.

But The House of Ashes (Soho Crime, $27.95, 304 pages)a work of noir by Belfasts Stuart Nevillestands as a powerful exception.

After the suicide attempt of his English wife, Sara, Damien Keane moves the couple to a house in his native Northern Ireland that his father bought for them.

Elderly Mary Jackson, bloody and unkempt, soon appears at the door, claiming the house is hers, and is returned to her care facility.

Marys visit leads Sara, not entirely stable, to wonder about the houses history. What she findsa multiple murder six decades in the pasttroubles her and leads to disturbing encounters with abusive Damien.
For 100 years, AAA school safety patrollers around the world have provided school-aged children an extra sense of safety and security when going to and from school. Recently, safety patrollers gathered at schools across the country to mark the centennial of this leadership-building and life-saving program.

Virginia is home to more than 15,000 safety patrollers in 601 schools across AAA mid-Atlantic territory.

The patrollers make a difference every day here at Battlefield Elementary School, says patrol adviser Kathleen Williams. They take their jobs very seriously, knowing that their friends, schoolmates and staff are relying on them. They were very excited to help AAA celebrate the 100th anniversary of the School Safety Patrol.

Battlefield Elementary School had an Outstanding School Safety Patrol Award winner during the last school year. Chloe Cleveland was honored for her hard work, for being an inspiration to other patrollers and for not missing a beat even when the school was switching from in-person to virtual and from virtual back to in-person. She was honored at a surprise ceremony in May.
In contrast, Mr. Youngkin ducks and dodges when hes asked something that he and his political handlers think may anger the right-wing, pro-Trump, COVID-19-denying base that he seems to need to win.

In one of his debates with Mr. McAuliffe, Mr. Youngkin wouldnt say whether he supported vaccinations for mumps, measles and rubella, which are currently required for children. Then he emailed a separate statement to the VirginianPilot saying he did.

While this statement is welcomed by physicians to protect kids lives, the previous hedging could no doubt have been dangerous. Also, Mr. Youngkin did not clarify why he opposes adding COVID-19 to the immunization schedule for children.

He has been engaging in COVID-19 vaccination double talk. He says vaccinations are essential to protecting people but he wouldnt require them, not even for nurses caring for cancer patients with weakened immunity.

To discover his true opinion, start with Mr. Youngkins campaign ad featuring a physician who has posted anti-mask rhetoric on his Facebook page. Virginians should also remember that Mr. Youngkin has promised to block schools and businesses from implementing safety measures that can reduce COVID-19 transmission, such as masks and vaccines.
NEW YORK (AP)  With computer-generated imagery, it seems the skys the limit in the magic Hollywood can produce: elaborate dystopian universes. Trips to outer space, for those neither astronauts nor billionaires. Immersive journeys to the future, or back to bygone eras.

But as a shocked and saddened industry was reminded this week, many productions still use guns  real guns  when filming. And despite rules and regulations, people can get killed, as happened last week when Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after he was handed a weapon and told it was safe.

The tragedy has led some in Hollywood, along with incredulous observers, to ask: Why are real guns ever used on set, when computers can create gunshots in post-production? Isnt even the smallest risk unacceptable?

For Alexi Hawley, it is. Any risk is too much risk, the executive producer of ABCs police drama The Rookie announced in a staff memo Friday, saying the events in New Mexico had shaken us all.

There will be no more live weapons on the show, he wrote in a note, first reported by The Hollywood Reporter and confirmed by The Associated Press.

Instead, he said, the policy would be to use replica guns, which use pellets and not bullets, with muzzle flashes added in post-production.

The director of the popular Kate Winslet drama Mare of Easttown, Craig Zobel, called for the entire industry to follow suit and said gunshots on that show were added after filming, even though on previous productions he has used live rounds.

Theres no reason to have guns loaded with blanks or anything on set anymore, Zobel wrote on Twitter. Should just be fully outlawed. Theres computers now. The gunshots on Mare of Easttown are all digital. You can probably tell, but who cares? Its an unnecessary risk.

Bill Dill  a cinematographer who taught Hutchins, a rising star in her field, at the American Film Institute  expressed disgust in an interview over the archaic practice of using real guns with blanks in them, when we have readily available and inexpensive computer graphics.

Dill, whose credits include The Five Heartbeats and Dancing in September, said there was added danger from real guns because people are working long hours on films and are exhausted.

Theres no excuse for using live weapons, he said.

A petition was launched over the weekend on change.org for real guns to be banned from production sets.

There is no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century, it said of the tragedy. This isnt the early 90s, when Brandon Lee was killed in the same manner. Change needs to happen before additional talented lives are lost. Lee, the actor son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was killed in 1993 by a makeshift bullet left in a prop gun after a previous scene.

The petition appealed to Baldwin directly to use his power and influence" in the industry and promote Halynas Law, which would ban the use of real firearms on set. As it stands, the U.S. federal workplace safety agency is silent on the issue and most of the preferred states for productions take a largely hands-off approach.

Hutchins, 42, died and director Joel Souza was wounded Thursday on the set of the Western Rust when Baldwin fired a prop gun that a crew member unwittingly told him was cold or not loaded with live rounds, according to court documents made public Friday.

Souza was later released from the hospital.

The tragedy came after some workers had walked off the job to protest safety conditions and other production issues on the film, of which Baldwin is the star and a producer.

In an interview, British cinematographer Steven Hall noted that he worked on a production this year in Madrid that involved lots of firearms."

We were encouraged not to use blanks, but to rely on visual effects in post (production) to create whatever effect we wanted from a particular firearm, with the actor miming the recoil from the gun, and it works very well, he said.

He noted, though, that special effects add costs to a productions budget. So its easier and perhaps more economic to actually discharge your weapon on set using a blank, said Hall, a veteran cinematographer who has worked on films like Fury and Thor: The Dark World. But, he said, "the problem with blanks is, of course  something is emitted from the gun.

Besides financial concerns, why else would real guns be seen as preferable? There are advantages to using blanks on set that some people want to get, said Sam Dormer, a British armorer, or firearms specialist. For instance, you get a (better) reaction from the actor.

Still, Dormer said, the movie industry is likely moving away from real guns, albeit slowly.

The term prop gun can apply to anything from a rubber toy to a real firearm that can fire a projectile. If its used for firing, even blanks, its considered a real gun. A blank is a cartridge that contains gunpowder but no bullet. Still, it can hurt or even kill someone who is close by, according to the Actors Equity Association.

Thats why many are calling to ban blanks as well, and use disabled or replica guns.

Really there is no good reason in this day to have blanks on set, director Liz Garbus wrote on Twitter. CGI can make the gun seem real, and if you dont have the budget for the CGI, then dont shoot the scene.

Broadway actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein wrote that the tragedy certainly made him wonder why Hollywood wasnt leaning more on special effects.

Why, with all of the Hollywood magic available, are they still firing off gun powder? They know that they are going to goose-up the gunshots in post production, he wrote on Facebook. Why chance an accident in the first place?

But he also said the death raised even broader questions.

With all of that Hollywood talent and imagination are we still writing stories about shooting one another? he asked. Do we really have nothing better to spend millions of dollars on than the glamorization of gun battles?



Associated Press writers Lindsey Bahr, Lynn Elber in Los Angeles, Hillel Italie in New York, and Lizzie Knight in London contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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The chief minister of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan Province has resigned hours ahead of a vote of 'no confidence' against him in the regional parliament.

Jam Kamal Khan had been facing criticism from the opposition as well as some members of his own Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) over the past few months.

"Jam Kamal Khan has submitted his resignation to the Governor of Balochistan Syed Zahoor Agha and the governor accepted his resignation," an official at the governor's office said in a written message to an RFE/RL correspondent in Quetta on October 24.



Sixteen members of opposition parties, who have also claimed the support of some members of the ruling party, had submitted a no-confidence motion against the chief minister last month. The speaker of the Balochistan assembly had fixed October 25 for the vote.



Minutes after his resignation, Jam Kamal Khan tweeted that "I have given my utmost time and energy for the overall governance and development of Balochistan. I would rather leave respectfully and not be part of their monetary agenda and bad governance formulation."

Members of the opposition have accused Kamal Khan of governing poorly, including doing little to counter high regional unemployment. He was also criticized for passing a budget that opponents said would further deepen poverty in the province. Kamal Khan had previously rejected all the charges as baseless.



Earlier, the outgoing chief minister had visited Islamabad to meet Prime Minister Imran Khan to seek support. Jam Kamal Khan's Balochistan Awami Party was an ally of the premier's Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf in Balochistan.
An ethnic Hazara political leader and former member of Afghanistan's parliament says the bodies of eight orphan children who starved to death have been found on the west side of Kabul.

In a statement posted to Facebook on October 24, Mohammad Mohaqiq said the children died in a neighborhood in Kabul's 13th district about three weeks ago. He said they were buried by a local mullah and by residents of the neighborhood where they were found.

A local mullah named Mohammad Ali Bamiani provided details about the deaths of the children, saying the eldest was about eight years old and the youngest was an 18-month-old infant.

"They had no one," Bamiani said. "Their parents were both dead and they had no close relatives."

Bamiani said he went into the house where the bodies of the children had been discovered.

He said "they were so hungry that they couldn't even stretch their legs."

Afghanistan's Taliban-led government has not yet commented on the deaths.

The United Nations has warned that Afghanistan faces a major humanitarian crisis, including mass starvation, if aid is not provided soon.

UN agencies say that, with winter approaching, some 18 million Afghans are desperately in need of food and shelter.

Delivery of the international aid many Afghans have relied upon for the past two decades has largely been halted since the Taliban seized power in August.

Western governments have frozen about $9.4 billion in state funds that the ousted Afghan government held in foreign bank accounts before the Taliban seized power.

The Taliban has warned that the dire economic situation in Afghanistan threatens to cause a flood of refugees to leave the country unless those funds are unblocked.

On October 24, the Taliban-led government launched a program that it says will help combat hunger by offering thousands of people wheat in exchange for labor.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the scheme will be implemented around Afghanistan's major towns and cities and is meant to employ 40,000 men in Kabul alone.

Calling the plan "an important step for fighting unemployment," Mujahid said recipients of wheat would have to "work hard" by digging water channels and catchment terraces for snow in the hills to combat drought.

The Taliban spokesman said the food-for-work scheme will target those who are currently unemployed and are at the highest risk of starvation during the coming winter.

He said the program will last two months and would involve the distribution of 11,600 tons of wheat in Kabul with about 55,000 tons elsewhere in Afghanistan -- including the cities of Herat, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Mazar-e Sharif and Pol-e Khomri.

Meanwhile, the Taliban says Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting foreign minister of the Taliban-led government, met on October 23 with the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Deborah Lyons, to discuss Afghanistan's economic crisis.

In a statement released on October 24, Taliban spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said Lyons assured Muttaqi that UN staff will be increased to help provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

Balkhi also said Lyons had promised to visit the United States and raise the issue of Afghanistan's blocked state financial reserves.

Balkhi also claimed that the Taliban is "completely prepared to deliver humanitarian aid to all those in need in the country."

But there are strong doubts within the international community, and among Afghans, about whether the Taliban would disburse humanitarian aid fairly -- particularly, to those from ethnic Hazara, ethnic Tajik, and ethnic Turkic minorities or to other groups that have fought against the Taliban for years.

The Taliban's self-declared government has not yet been formally recognized by any country as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
Zalmay Khalilzad, speaking publicly for the first time since stepping down as the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, said the United States did not put enough pressure on Afghanistans president to share power with the Taliban.

In an interview with CBS broadcast on October 24, Khalilzad also expressed doubts about the decision by the current U.S. administration to drop conditions on the pullout deal he had negotiated with the hard-line Islamist group during the administration of President Donald Trump.

President Joe Biden has faced criticism for the chaotic nature of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the sudden takeover by the Taliban following the 21-year-long Western involvement in the war-ravaged country.

Biden, in turn, has put much of the blame on the deal negotiated by Khalilzad during months of talks with the Taliban in Qatar, saying it tied the administrations hands when it assumed office on January 20.

The February 29, 2020, agreement between Washington and the Taliban paved the way for the United States to pull its forces out of Afghanistan. The deal did not involve President Ashraf Ghanis government in Kabul.

But Khalilzad said the deal was "a conditions-based package" that included eventual negotiations between the Taliban and Kabul, as well as a permanent cease-fire.

Khalilzad added that Biden decided "to do a calendar-based withdrawal," without regard to conditions on the ground.

"That was a decision made way above my pay grade," added the 70-year-old Khalilzad, who stepped down on October 18.

He contended that the Taliban would have eventually agreed to face-to-face meetings with Ghanis government, although he did not offer specifics to back the claim. Taliban representatives had refused to meet with the Kabul government, calling it a puppet of the West.

Still, Khalilzad appeared to place most of the blame on Ghani, who he said never agreed to share power with the Taliban.

"They preferred the status quo to a political settlement," he said of the Kabul leadership.

"I believe the biggest difficulty was that President Ghani and a few other Afghan leaders did not believe that we were serious about withdrawal for a long time.

"And then when it became clear that the U.S. was leaving, then they miscalculated the effects of the continuing war. They were not serious about the political settlement.

"It's my judgment that we didn't press him hard enough. We were gentle with President Ghani. We used diplomacy. We encouraged him," Khalilzad said.

Ghanis government -- and many in Washington -- assailed Khalilzads deal with the Taliban for cutting Kabul out of the negotiated deal.

The last U.S. soldiers left Afghanistan by the end of August -- two weeks after the Taliban had captured the capital as Afghan security forces offered no resistance.

Khalilzad told CBS: "I'm not saying it was an orderly withdrawal. This was an ugly final phase. No doubt about it."

But "it could have been a lot worse. Kabul could have been destroyed, street-to-street fighting could have occurred," he added.

In September, Khalilzad told the Financial Times that Ghani's abrupt departure from Afghanistan helped sink a deal in which Taliban fighters had agreed to hold off entering the capital and negotiate a political transition.

Ghani is currently in the United Arab Emirates following his exit from Afghanistan.

With reporting by AFP, CNN, and dpa
The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the killing of a police officer who had taken part in guarding a polio vaccination team, a frequent target of militants in Pakistan.

The officer was shot dead by two militants riding on a motorbike on October 24 in the northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan, police told RFE/RL.

He was on his way home after his shift had ended guarding a regional polio vaccination team.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack on October 24 coincided with World Polio Day, which is aimed at consolidating efforts to eradicate the virus.

Militants in Pakistan often target polio teams and security officers assigned to protect them, claiming the vaccination campaigns are a Western plot to sterilize children.

On September 19, a policeman guarding a polio vaccination team was shot dead by militants in the city of Kohat, in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.



On August 1, militants killed one policeman and injured another in two separate attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province during a polio vaccination campaign.



Pakistan along with neighboring Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where the disease remains endemic.
A radical Islamist party in Pakistan agreed on October 24 to suspend a protest march for three days after Pakistani authorities vowed to drop pending charges against the party's leader.

Saad Rizvi, head of the Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party, was arrested in 2020 amid demonstrations against France linked to the publication of political cartoons depicting Islams Prophet Muhammad.

Rizvi was detained preemptively on a charge of inciting people to assemble unlawfully. It remains unclear when he would be released.

Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan supporters clashed with police in the eastern city of Lahore on October 22 when they started their protest march with the goal of reaching Islamabad to pressure the government for Rizvi's release.

Police say the violence led to the deaths of at least two police and injured about a dozen others. They said the demonstrators also torched several police vehicles.

Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan claims that four party supporters were killed by police fire and many others were injured.

On October 23, after leaving Lahore, the marchers clashed again with police who fired tear-gas canisters into the crowd.

Raja Basharat, the law minister for Punjab Province, said on October 24 that Pakistani authorities will withdraw charges against Rizvi and release all demonstrators detained during the previous two days by October 26.

Basharat said the agreement with the demonstrators stipulates that the federal government will honor a previous agreement with Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan in which it vowed to address diplomatic ties with France over the publication of the caricatures.

Party spokesman Sajid Saifi confirmed Basharat's account of the agreement.

Saifi said thousands of party supporters will stay in the town of Mureedke to wait for the release of party leaders and members who have been detained.

Pakistani Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed told reporters that the party's demand for the expulsion of the French ambassador to Pakistan would be taken to a parliamentary committee in the coming days.

Rizvis party gained prominence in Pakistans 2018 elections, campaigning on the single issue of defending the countrys blasphemy law. Those laws call for death penalty sentences against anyone who insults Islam.

The party has a history of staging violent protests to pressure the government to accept its demands.

With reporting by AP
Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fired a fatal gunshot from a prop gun that he had been told was safe, seven camera crew members for the movie he was filming walked off the job to protest conditions and production issues that included safety concerns
Editors note: This is one in an occasional series profiling small businesses in the Pikes Peak region.

Speeding along Colorado 105, it's easy to miss The Wine Seller.

The pale red building blends in along a corridor of inconspicuous storefronts near the outskirts of Monument. But for those who frequent the shop, it's a treasure.

Offering an array of eclectic wines from vineyards around the world as well as some specialty beers and spirits, The Wine Seller works to be distinct from big-box liquor stores that often sell mainstream alcoholic beverages. Dirk Stamp, the stores owner and operator, focuses instead on bringing his customers authenticity when it comes to wine.

Its not just about the bottle and whats in it, Stamp said. ... Its a sense of a mission. Thats your job to champion authentic producers and vineyards.

Stamp caught what he calls the the bug for wine while stationed overseas in Germany as a tank commander in the U.S. Army.

While living there, he went on dates with a woman, Laura, who would one day become his wife. During their jaunts around Europe, they tried wines at local restaurants. Thats when he fell in love  not only with Laura, but with wine.

Its about pure curiosity, Stamp said. The joy of wine has never stopped for me.

After returning to the US and working for nearly a decade in the corporate world, Stamp decided to follow his passion. He bought The Wine Seller in 2000 after working as a salesperson for a wine distributor in the Pikes Peak region. He would often sell to Bob and Jeanne Giustra, a couple who ran The Wine Seller at the time.

When he found out the couple wanted to retire, he jumped at the opportunity to buy the shop. But taking over the store was a monetary risk that would involve lots of hard work  his wife was apprehensive about the prospect.

Basically, she thought I was crazy  sort of, Stamp said. We literally raided our entire savings ... it was like pushing your chips in.

Twenty-one years later, Stamps business is flourishing thanks to its loyal customer base. And many of his patrons dont just come for the special selection of wine, but for Stamps attentive service and wine expertise.

Hes a great resource, Glen Paluch, a 14-year-long customer, said. (Hes) extremely passionate about it and I think thats kind of what makes his business successful.

Customers like Paluch are also crucial for Stamps success because of the feedback they provide, Stamp said. A running dialogue with buyers helps him stock wines that not only fit the bill of authenticity, but are enjoyable to drink.

Thats why Stamp hosts in-store wine tastings and wine-pairing dinners at restaurants such as the Margarita at Pine Creek, so customers can find out what they like and dont like, and he can provide a forum to teach and learn about wine.

Dirk educates his customers, said Dave Harris, vice president of sales and marketing for Denver-based CTS Distributing, a wine and spirits wholesaler and importer from which Stamp orders some of his products. Where a lot of stores throw it on the shelf, and its done, Dirk is an education guy. He teaches people about these regions  he teaches them about wine.

Stamps curiosity for wine and desire to procure authentic wines motivates him to be adventurous with the wines he stocks  ordering from vineyards in such locales as Slovenia and Israel, Harris said.

He probably runs one of the best business models for wine in the state of Colorado, Harris said. His business model is super great for being progressive and forward looking.

Stamps business became supercharged at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic during a wave of panic buying. Customers started buying wine by the case because traveling and restaurant-going was limited, Stamp said. Liquor stores became the primary source for alcohol consumption for wine connoisseurs and general drinkers alike.

As a retail liquor store, if you didnt make money  a good extra chunk of money last year  then youre going out of business, Stamp said.

While COVID-19 didn't stifle Stamps business, it did prevent him from one of his favorite parts of the business  traveling to vineyards around the world.

Stamp travelled to outside Portland, Ore., to his first vineyard since the start of the pandemic, in September. A friend and former Palmer Lake resident runs the vineyard.

When youre walking in the vineyards, and we were there at harvest, and youre bringing the grapes in and youre holding these clusters in your hand  theres a little bit of magic there, Stamp said.

During the visit, he was also reminded of the hard work required to produce wines.

From cleaning to hauling, the task is no slight order  just as Stamps day-to-day is full of its own demands. But for him, the effort he puts in to find, sell and learn about wine is worth it.

Its the people that keep me coming in and putting a smile on my face, Stamp said. And just giving them something that gives them pleasure.
A Gazette investigation shows an increasing number of soldiers, including wounded combat veterans, are being kicked out of the service for misconduct, often with no benefits, as the Army downsizes after a decade of war.
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Theres a lot more to be told about our state by what were afraid of more than what we aspire to, so if ever there was a time to plunge the depths of our souls, the season of Colorados first snow and the Rockies disappointment is as good at time as there could be.
A lot of us are thinking about Halloween right now, but the experts tell me you should already be thinking about the holiday season. Now is th
Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute in Denver and hosts The Devils Advocate with Jon Caldara on Colorado Public Television Channel 12. His column appears Sundays in Colorado Politics.
Alan Gottlieb is editor of Denver-based public education watchdog boardhawk.org, where this commentary first appeared and is available online. Gottlieb covered Denver Public Schools as a newspaper reporter in the mid-1990s, worked as an education program officer for The Piton Foundation, and co-founded Education News Colorado and Chalkbeat.
Bob Beauprez represented Colorados CD-7 2003-2007, was twice the Republican nominee for governor, has enjoyed several different business careers and currently operates a bison breeding ranch in the Colorado mountains with his wife, son and daughter-in-law. Carol Hedges is the executive director of the Colorado Fiscal Institute, an organization advocating for tax and economic policies that advance equity and widespread prosperity.
Karen Byrne's young relative has a name for the volunteer work she does.

Cemetery scientist.

Byrne is a volunteer for Elmwood-St. Joseph, and she was doing research for the cemetery's annual History Walk when she came across a pulpit marker engraved with the gates of heaven. Buried there were a mother and son who died a month apart. Byrne was intrigued. She found out via their death certificates, the two lived at 10 Sugar Beet Row.

In the early 20th century, companies looking for cheap labor often built housing  little better than tenements  for its mostly immigrant workforce.

On the northern outskirts of Mason City near modern-day Lime Creek, three mini-communities of housing that became known as "rows" named after their respective companies sprung up: one each for Lehigh Portland Cement, Mason City Brick & Tile and the American Beet Sugar Company.

Immigrants from Europe and Mexico followed the work  they'd work the early fall sugar beet harvest in the north and then moved south to work with the warmer weather.

Have a story of Sugar Beet Row? Names only tell part of the story of those who migrated here for work and to start a new life. Pictures bring the story alive and give history a face. There are family stories and pictures of Sugar Beet Row that can be brought to life and preserved for the future. Karen Byrne is looking for these stories and pictures from the early 1930s, perhaps in a family Bible or a box in the closet as she works to continue researching Sugar Beet Row and the story of the migrant workers who passed through. If readers have stories and pictures they are willing to share for this historical research project please contact her at crlife2250@gmail.com

"I just kept right on going," Byrne said. "I looked at other cemetery markers, the Mason City Library, ancestry.com and newspapers.com. In the RL Polk directories, they said who lived in those houses.

"I looked up the names. That's how I found Concepion Rejas," Byrne said.

Rejas was 8 when she died of measles and pneumonia in February 1930, just six months after her family came north from San Antonio for work.

"It must've been so cold for them," Byrne said. The company housing usually had only a central wood-burning stove to heat the home.

Through Concepcion, Byrne also found Elias Rocho, a Methodist pastor who lived in Sugar Beet Row and ministered to the families there before later moving into Mason City. Rocho buried Concepion. Concepcion's parents were found with the help of The Spanish Archives in San Antonio, Texas.

There are others she found: Calixta Torres and her family lived in Sugar Beet Row until her death in 1934. The family migrated back to Mexico where they lived for several years before returning to Mason City to put down roots.

Fabian Chavez lived in Lehigh Row and worked at the Sugar Beet. Someone made the concrete cross marker for his grave in Elmwood/St. Josephs Cemetery.

Byrne also discovered that while the Lehigh Row children were bused into Mason City for school, the Sugar Beet Row kids had their own school, Lime Creek #8  also known as the Sugar Beet School. Kids at that school attended once the beets were harvested, through the winter. And there was no guarantee the families would stay once the harvest was one, so attendance was sporadic at best.

Byrne also read about Mary Garcia Rick, who was born in Mason City and lived on Lehigh Row with her parents. Byrne read Rick's story on the Migration is Beautiful website, part of the Iowa Women's Archives at the University of Iowa's libraries. They are helping guide Byrne in her search.

And the enormity of what started with a bit of curiosity has also hit Byrne, and caused her to seek out help.

"I have learned that this is very important and very personal and I'm not going to screw it up," she said.

So, she's looking for anyone who had relatives who lived on Sugar Beet Row any time from 1930-1935. This winter she will take independent study classes from a professor at the University of Northern Iowa to help guide her writing.

Even with the depth of her work, Byrne's efforts have only revealed part of the story and that's not acceptable to her.

"I have some information but am looking for more about those who passed through here or put down roots to preserve stories and pictures," Byrne said. These people contributed "to the prosperity of Mason City through their work and their culture."

You can contact Byrne through her email, crlife2250@gmail.com.

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Bob Rush of Manly, who became a firefighter 20 years ago, works at a paid department while also serving as a volunteer for another.

When he is not working for the Mason City Fire Department, he is on call with the volunteer fire department in Manly, where he has served as chief since 2010. He also serves as a paramedic in both towns.

When Rush was 23 years old and living in Woodburn, a member of the local volunteer first department asked him to join because they needed more members.

He decided to join and has been a first responder ever since.

Rushs day job was in a factory in southern Iowa, but I was finding my passion was the fire department, he said.

He began testing for different career fire departments across the state and was hired by the Mason City Fire Department in September 2001.

He joined the Manly volunteer department in 2002.

We have a great bunch of people on this department, but its hard to get volunteers anymore, Rush said. We are short staffed just like everywhere else.

It takes a lot of dedication to be a volunteer firefighter, according to Rush.

Im proud of the individuals who do that throughout the country because they are doing it for their community, not doing it for compensation or retirement, he said.

What Rush likes best about firefighting is helping people in need, but also the camaraderie, the family atmosphere of the department.

Its a bit like being in the military, according to Rush.

We depend on each other, he said. Its a bonding experience and a family atmosphere.

Rush said the toughest calls are anything that deals with children, but when you can help them it is rewarding. We dont do it for the thanks, but to see the appreciation from the family when you do help, whether it is a child or a spouse, its rewarding just to know you were there and were able to help.

As the fire chief in Manly, Rush works closely with Police Chief Aaron Pals.

Hes just really dedicated, really community-oriented, Pals said.

Rush was promoted to lieutenant with the Mason City Fire Department two years go. He is in charge of company operations and emergency scenes, as well as being more involved in training.

I do enjoy teaching people new skills, he said. I find that rewarding, helping new firefighters learn new skills or get better at the ones they have.

Rush became a paramedic in 2004. He was an EMT before that.

We are able to do a lot of things in the field being a paramedic that allows us to help people and get them to the ER, to get them stabilized so we can get to the emergency room, he said. It can be very rewarding.

Rushs advice for anyone who wants to be a first responder is the same as the Nike slogan: "Just do it."

Get a hold of your local fire department or rescue service and just talk to them and see if they need help, he said. Im sure they do. It does take some time and some classes, constant training, but the rewards are just endless.

Rush wishes more people would become first responders.

I know we are a busy society, but its very rewarding, he said.

Rush doesnt feel he needs special recognition for what he does because being a first responder is a team effort.

You are only as strong as your weakest link, he said.

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The recent death of Gen. Colin Powell has triggered much discussion about his leadership and the legacy he leaves through his service to the country.

And it points to questions worth exploring: What is leadership? What are the qualities of a leader?

Who would you consider as leaders in Mason City, Clear Lake, North Iowa or Iowa as a whole? What makes them leaders?

Some people believe the most effective leaders are people who stay in the background without the glare of publicity and quietly succeed in what they set out to do.

President Ronald Reagan is credited with saying, You can get a lot accomplished if you dont care who gets the credit. Incidentally, this comment or some form of it is also attributed to Harry Truman, Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain. (So who gets the credit? Never mind.)

One of the admirable traits of good leaders is they put the welfare and happiness of others ahead of any personal gains for themselves  which is one of the reasons why politicians often fall short of being good leaders.

Think of the best boss you ever had. What made him or her a good leader?

Andrew Yang, a businessman who sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, is best remembered for his proposal to provide every family in the country $1,000 a month to help them make ends meet. That proposal didnt go anywhere and neither did his candidacy.

But he said his abbreviated presidential run taught him a lot about politics, leadership  and the appearance of leadership. In a recent article in Politico, Yang writes about how presidential politics transforms an individual. Instead of being a person with ideas to promote, the candidate becomes a product to be sold. The important thing is not leadership, but the appearance of leadership, he said.

Yang says handlers tell the candidate what to say, how he should say it and how he should look when hes saying it. Appearance, appearance, appearance.

He said one day his advisers told him he needed to change his hairstyle. More gel, they advised. He said, Why? Bernie Sanders looks like a character from 'Back to the Future and nobody cares about his hair.

Yang writes, You function on appearance. Leadership becomes the appearance of leadership.

Ill bet nobody dared to tell Colin Powell what to do with his hair.

As I thought about what made Powell stand out as a leader, I came across a quote from John Quincy Adams, who said, If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

Humility is another enduring quality. Several years ago, Powell was the main speaker at a convention in Dallas attended by a friend of mine. Powell told the gathering he was aware that, as an Army general, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state, he was one of the most powerful men in world for quite a few years. But one day after he retired, he said he got up in the morning and his wife told him she was going out to have coffee with some friends. The toilets stopped up. Fix it, she said.

Sometimes leaders are also called on to be servants, especially in their own households.

John Skipper retired from the Globe Gazette in February 2018 after 52 years in newspapers, most of that in Mason City covering North Iowa government and politics.

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Danville Community College announced this week that TRIO Educational Opportunity Centers project director Sharon Harris has been named as the new president of the Virginia Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel.

Founded in 1975, the state groups goal is to increase college accessibly for target area Virginia residents by providing services to persons who are educationally, culturally and/or economically disadvantaged and those with disabilities.

Providing a forum and training for its members and institutions, the group currently has more than 50 TRIO program members. The seven national TRIO programs include Upward Bound, Upward Bound: Math/Science, Veterans Upward Bound, Educational Talent Search, Educational Opportunity Centers, Student Support Services, Ronald E. McNair Post baccalaureate Achievement Program and one TRIO Training program.

Harris has served as project director since 2011 and is an advocate for first generation, low-income individuals desiring to attend college. She holds a bachelors degree in finance from James Madison University and an MBA from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Harris previously served as VAEOPP president-elect, secretary, assistant secretary and assistant treasurer and has served on and chaired numerous VAEOPP & MEAEOPP committees.
I think were going to have to get used to some flexible prevention and knowing when to turn those prevention measures on, and when they may not be as important, Forlano added.

Need for vaccines, masks isnt going awayIts likely that people will still have to prove they are vaccinated to enter some businesses or public spaces. Because paper cards can be forged, electronic proof might be necessary, Bissell said. Thats why the Virginia Department of Health now allows residents to access their vaccination records online.

What counts as fully vaccinated wont change, Bissell added. You wont have to get a booster to be considered fully vaccinated.

Vaccines will be required for visitors arriving to the United States as of Nov. 8, the White House has announced. But international visitors might have vaccines not approved in the U.S. Any vaccine authorized by the World Health Organization will be accepted in the U.S. as long as the recipient has the full number of doses and theyre properly spaced out, Bissell said. These include Oxford/AstraZeneca; Covishield, which is the same formula as Oxford/AstraZeneca and produced by the Serum Institute of India; Sinopharm and Sinovac, which come from China.
Several grants matched those funds to contribute to the Aging Disability Transit Service, The Salvation Army and Reidsville Outreach Center to help their patrons.

With businesses closed, employment quickly became a major concern, especially for those who rented booths in salons and could not draw unemployment.

Although special funds were available, people were unfamiliar with how to get help.

I individually helped countless people by walking them through the system, sitting down with them over the phone or at the chamber at the computer, Sawyer said, noting she could help some with limited technological savvy over the phone but many did not have computers. They went into the chamber office to file the initial claim on the computer and were able to follow up by phone.

The Department of Commerce was not prepared for the incredible surge, and their website crashed. It was nearly impossible to navigate for some people, Sawyer said.

People went months without any income, so Sawyer contacted state officials to help alleviate their situations.
Tysons continued growth and investments are a testament to Virginias workforce and strong business environment, and we congratulate them on this new facility and look forward to many more years of success.

This is an exciting day for Danville and Pittsylvania County, and I cant be prouder, he said. Welcoming Tyson is a big, big deal.

David Bray, group president of poultry for Tyson Foods, said that to say he was humbled at the event and welcome was an understatement.

When we started this process, we felt we were home. And now I am absolutely certain we are home, he said. It is our goal to feed people and to keep team members safe. The products coming out of this facility will be both in the food service and the retail arena.

He said the company has worked successfully in Virginia for decades and is investing in the facility near Danville because of the demand for more high-quality Tyson brand chicken. Were thankful for the invitation to become a part of the Danville and Pittsylvania County communities, the support from both state and local leaders, and the presence of such a strong workforce in the region, he said.
GREENSBORO  Cone Health hopes to provide solutions for Triad area women to urinary incontinence issues that can cause inconvenience and embarrassment.

Studies indicate at least one in three women experience bladder weakness. And urinary incontinence is most common in women, yet is kept secret and left untreated because of embarrassment, the health system said in a news release.

Michelle Schroeder, M.D., has joined the health system and brings with her a specialized urological gynecology focus.

As part of Cone Health Urogynecology at MedCenter for Women, Schroeder began seeing patients Oct. 18. She brings a passion for providing comprehensive care for women with pelvic floor disorders. A fellowship-trained urogynecologist who completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of South Florida, Schroeder completed a fellowship in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Urogynecology issues come in a variety of symptoms, Schroeder said. Im a good listener and focus on hearing specifically what the issues are from my patients. This way I can create an individualized treatment plan for each person.
MARTINSVILLE, Va.  As area residents continue dying from COVID-19, vaccination opportunities are increasing.

One new death has been attributed to COVID-19 in the West Piedmont District since Wednesday. The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) has recorded that death in Franklin County.

The district comprises the counties of Henry, Franklin and Patrick and the City of Martinsville.

Today in Martinsville a drive-thru vaccination clinic will be held from 2-6 p.m. at St. Paul High Street Baptist Church, 401 Fayette St., from 2-6 p.m. A $50 gift card will be given to each person receiving his or her first COVID-19 shot, for as long as the cards last.

Various area churches have partnered with the VDH in an Iriswood District-wide vaccination clinic from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. The clinic is free, but pre-registration is required.

Nine churches are reportedly participating, with the central location at Moral Hill Baptist Church on Va. 58 East in Axton. To register or for more information, contact United Way Community Health Worker Karen Millner at 336-695-6872.

Meanwhile, Henry County continues to lead the district in deaths due to COVID-19 with 150, followed by Franklin County with 99, Martinsville at 88 and Patrick County with 55.
He had a gut feeling that Mr. Arbery may have been responsible for thefts that were in the neighborhood previously, Dial said. He actually says gut. His instincts told him that.

Its as if Georgia hadnt changed one lick since 1863.

But then you look at the 2020 election results and remember that it has. Then you look at the calls for an audit and the voter suppression laws that followed and  who knows what to think. The citizens arrest law was repealed last year, which means that for 157 years a law rooted in pure racism provided legal cover for vigilantes to do exactly what the McMichaels and Bryan are accused of doing.

We had a chance to get this right, you know. Following the Civil War, there was a window, an opportunity for this country to finally try to be the things it said it was. But instead of working toward peace, the country settled for quiet as the federal government gave reparations to former slave owners  instead of those who had been enslaved  and allowed Confederate soldiers to become sheriffs and deputies.

This is why no matter how fast we run or how far we go, whenever a high-profile murder trial with racial overtones emerges, at some point the country finds itself right back at the feet of its greatest failure. We call the time after the Civil War Reconstruction, but as the circumstances surrounding the murder of Arbery show, it was more like Reshuffling.
The results speak for themselves. Today, more than 40 years since the CRA and more than 50 years since the Fair Housing Act, the Black homeownership rate is just 42 percent  as low as it was before CRA was implemented. At the same time, whites have record-high homeownership rates of almost 73 percent.

That leads to lower net worth for Black families  and to lower revenues for Black-owned businesses.

In 2019, median Black wealth was just $9,000, compared to $160,000 for median white wealth. And despite an almost threefold increase in Black businesses, African-American business revenue actually declined as a share of total revenue  from 1 percent to just 0.5 percent  from 1992 to 2012.

This wealth inequality comes from historic discrimination and exploitation. And asset poverty re-enforces itself in our current financing system, where few financial products or investments are designed to address the low wealth reality of African-Americans, as well as Latinos or Native Americans.

Much more needs to be done to build wealth for Black families and other historically excluded groups. A good first step would be explicitly including race in the CRA.
To return to the question of mortgage lending, attempts to prove the existence of discrimination by examining loan-approval rates, as the Markup/AP team tried to do, are wrongheaded. External analysts lack the complete set of information about loan applicants, including credit scores, that financial institutions use to guide their decisions.

A more-revealing approach is to examine not the front end of the process, as it were, but the back end. How often do borrowers default on their mortgages? If lenders make their decisions without prejudice, then the default rates for, say, white and Hispanic customers ought to be roughly the same. That is, default rates would show lenders are equally willing to take a risk with a white applicant as with an otherwise-comparable Hispanic applicant.

If, on the other hand, a lender takes ethnicity into account and assumes whites are more trustworthy  more likely to pay their loans back  than Hispanics are, then the lender will award more loans to white applicants than to Hispanic applicants with the same incomes, debts, credit scores and financial history. That means, in turn, that the prejudiced lender will experience a lower average default rate for Hispanic customers than for white customers.
At the end, (Pence) announces that because of the dispute in seven states, there are no electors that can be deemed validly appointed in those states. This would reduce the number of electoral votes needed to elect a president from 270 to 228. With the seven states being uncounted, Trump would have 232 votes and Biden would have 222. Eastman smugly said, Pence then gavels President Trump as reelected.

Steps two through six were contingencies in the (likely) event that something went awry with the basic plot. One way or another, according to Eastman, President Trump is reelected.

Bob Woodward and Robert Costa report in their book "Peril" that in a meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 4 Trump implored Pence to consider Eastmans plan. Pence resisted. Ive done everything I could and then some to find a way around this. Its simply not possible.

Trump bullied Pence: Do you want to go down in history as a patriot, or do you want to go down in history as a p-----?

Keeping up the pressure, Trump told his supporters on Jan. 6, Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesnt, its a sad day for our country. ... I hope Mike is going to do the right thing.
For any app developer, 30% is a hefty chunk of change, chopping profits and limiting business reinvestment. But for upstarts and small-to-medium app developers, such a predatory bite can keep entrepreneurs from bringing their products to the market in the first place. Ultimately, that undermines the spirit of innovation that has made Apple and its app store into the force it is today, to say nothing of Americas broader entrepreneurial economy.

Naturally, Apples abusive policies increase costs for consumers. When an app company knows that it will have to pay up to 30% on every customer transaction, some of those costs inevitably are included in the price of their products. Lifting or lowering Apples lavish middleman fee  and allowing app developers to offer their own payment systems  would help lead to significant cost savings for application developers and their consumers.

Apples predatory prohibition of third-party payment systems is another example of how the tech giant builds barriers between app developers and their customers. App developers are even barred from telling customers about promotional offerings on their own websites, where they could sign up for subscriptions at a lower price.
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If ever there was an example of an officer who goes above and beyond the call of duty, it would be 33-year-old trooper Amanda Villa.

Villa wears many hats at the Montana Highway Patrol. She serves as a District 3 traffic homicide investigator, a drone operator, an evidence technician and more. In her eight years with MHP, Villa has taken on lots of jobs and has been recognized for her hard work.

In July 2021, Villa was given the Medal of Valor, MHP's highest honor, for her acts of heroism in rescuing several people from a helicopter crash. Villa said she is able to keep her cool in those kinds of situations because of her training and her personality.

"I was always very interested in a first responder type job," Villa said. "If I hadn't been a trooper I was going to be a wildland firefighter. I was always looking for a job that lets me help people -- help my community."

Villa first joined MHP after returning from a deployment with the United States Army Reserve. Villa said she was on her way to MHP training in Great Falls the day after she got back.

Villa said MHP was her top choice as an employer, noting that the agency is more proactive than much of law enforcement. Additionally, Villa said the large size of MPH plays a major role in the impact she can make.

Villa said some people may avoid a career in law enforcement because of the danger involved, but she was ready for it.

The hardest part for Villa is being the bearer of bad news. She said interviewing families after they've lost someone in a crash can be difficult. Villa said she has to be the composed and calm one in the room and the voice of reason. But in the end, she said it gives them the chance to prepare to move on with their lives.

"I'm a very open people-person," Villa said. "Being open tends to help the situation be more calm. We actually hire people who are not going to be amped up in situations like that."

Villa said the best part of the job is seeing someone who's life she changed for the better. She also said interacting with the public is a great part of the job.

"Sometimes you encounter people who maybe you've pulled over or even arrested and they thank you because they've learned from that situation," Villa said. "It means that I won't wind up having to be there on my traffic homicide duties."

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St. Peters welcomes new providers to medical group

St. Peters Health Medical Group welcomes primary care providers Dr. Robert Johnson and Dr. Kelsey Hoffman; Hospitalist Dr. David Goodwin and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Specialist Dr. Anita Lowe Taylor.

Johnson earned his medical degree at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and his bachelor of science in microbiology at Brigham Young University. He completed his family medicine residency at Rapid City Regional Hospital and is a board-certified member of the American Board of Family Medicine.

Hoffman earned her doctor of medicine at the Midwestern University - Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine and her bachelor of science in Psychology at Loyola University Chicago. She completed her fellowship and residency in the Montana Family Medicine Residency Program.

Hoffman is board-certified member of the American Board of Family Medicine and the American Board of Family Medicine-Sports Medicine.

Goodwin earned his doctor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, his master of science in chemical engineering at the University of Oklahoma and his bachelor of science in chemical engineering at Texas A&M University.

Goodwin completed his residency and internship in the Montana Family Residency Program. As a hospitalist, Goodwin provides inpatient care at the St. Peters Regional Medical Center.

Lowe Taylor earned her doctorate of medicine at Stanford School of Medicine and her bachelor of art in integrative physiology at the University of Colorado. She completed her medical internship at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco before returning to Stanford to complete her residency.

She focuses on whole person care and takes into account all aspects of a patients life that may be affected by their disability or chronic pain.

Johnson and Lowe Taylor are accepting new patients at the St. Peters Health Broadway Clinic.

Hoffman is accepting new patients for primary care at the St. Peters Health Medical Group North Clinic.

Lohse and Selle join Mountain-Pacific Quality Health board

Helena-based Mountain-Pacific Quality Health is proud to announce two new appointments to its board of directors, Dr. Shanda Lohse and Mariko Mari Selle, MPH.

Lohse is the medical director of Eastern Aleutian Tribes in Anchorage, Alaska, where she introduced the concept of clinical leadership and implemented changes to keep all clinics in line.

She has also served on the Association of American Indian Physicians executive board, the American Medical Association  Minority Affairs Consortium Governing Council and the Alaska Area Institutional Review Board.

Selle serves as the director of Alaska Primary Care Association Workforce Development at the South-Central Area Health Education Center, also in Anchorage.

Selle was director of development and quality at Wrangell Medical Center and Nursing Home from 2008 to 2012, and in 2019, she co-authored a manual titled Preparing Alaskans for Training in Health.

Mountain-Pacific has staff in Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii and Guam.

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AERO, the Alternative Energy Resources Organization based in Helena, in collaboration with Farm Commons, is offering a free virtual two-part workshop series on Nov. 3 and Nov. 10, on the opportunities and legal risks associated with selling foods under the new Montana Food Freedom Law.

Pre-registration is required. To register and for more information, go to: https://aeromt.org/food-product-liability-workshop-series/

Signed into law in April 2021, the Montana Food Freedom Law (also known as Montana Local Food Choice Act or SB199) is intended to expand opportunities for farmers, ranchers and food entrepreneurs to sell food directly to their neighbors and significantly expands the foods Montanans now can make at home and sell to the public without a license, permit, certification, packaging guidelines, labels, or an inspection. New foods include:

Raw milk and dairy products

Poultry

Fermented foods: pickles, kimchi, and more

Pestos, salsas, sauces, and other processed goods

Foraged foods, like mushrooms

Perishable baked goods

Processed and frozen vegetables

Prepared meals

AERO offers these workshops to ensure that producers enter into these new opportunities with the business and legal framework to help and continue building consumer confidence.

Farmers market vendors and managers, farmers, ranchers, cottage food operators, registered county sanitarians, caterers, raw milk producers, value-added food producers/manufacturers, and consumers will want to attend. Farm Commons (https://farmcommons.org/) a national resource on legal issues and managing risk for the agricultural community, leads the workshop series.

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Along a two-lane road northwest of Helena, the Gehring ranchs red barn stood quiet and picturesque.

In the valley ran the irrigation ditch where Bill Gehring found a pistol this summer, old and rusted. The buffalo herd his parents started grazed on the hill beyond. It doesnt usually get fall calves, he said, but this year it had eight.

The ranch is just one area Prickly Pear Land Trust has helped preserve over the last quarter century across four counties. Gehrings family homesteaded here in 1864, and at one point it was at risk of becoming a development. With the trust's help starting around 2016, the ranch now boasts a 3,200-acre conservation easement and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Its going to look like a ranch, Gehring said. Its going to be pretty close, with a little exaggeration, to how it did when my great-grandpa ran the place.

Gehring wasnt always in favor of a conservation easement, partly out of not knowing what could be done with it. Hearing from his cousins in Lincoln about their easements, and their advice  negotiate  helped change his mind.

Word of mouth is huge for affirming the trusts work, said Mary Hollow, Prickly Pears executive director. Gehring has, in turn, received interest about his ranchs easement. He said the questions are short, and its just a few people, but they include a fellow rancher.

I got this in the conservation easement, and hes asking me about it, Gehring said. I told him, you know, its a good thing to do.

Andrea Silverman said she walks Prickly Pears 21 easements, and the roughly 10,000 acres they contain, for annual monitoring to ensure the terms are being upheld. She has worked as the trusts conservation manager since 2008, when it had a staff of four.

Its great to see how the pace of conservation has accelerated, Silverman said. Even though a lot of us think differently on this issue, theres a common vision that brings us together.

The trust first came together in 1996 around protecting Mount Ascension and the land that serves as the Capitols backdrop. Silverman said the trust ensured those forests are home to elk instead of houses.

We only worked with willing landowners, but we managed to piece back together that subdivision and transfer it to the city, Silverman said.

Prickly Pear also maintains around 75 miles of trail on city, U.S. Forest Service and private land, according to Nate Kopp, its program and trails director. The work around Mount Ascension continued for years, including closing on a major addition in 2015, he said.

That was the year Hollow became executive director, having first returned to her hometown to work with the Nature Conservancy. She said 2015 marked a deliberate shift to expand to other areas like in the valleys and keep the trusts work relevant to people.

Kopp, who manages the trusts Peaks to Creeks initiative, said military funding for buffer zones around bases like Fort Harrison helped Prickly Pear acquire over 500 acres along Sevenmile and Tenmile Creeks. Restoration work continues along Sevenmile Creek, while Ten Mile Creek Park is open to the public.

More recently, the trust received over 300 acres along Prickly Pear Creek at the end of last year from the Montana Environmental Trust Group, the Independent Record reported. Restoration work is ongoing at the former ASARCO lead smelter site in East Helena where the creek flows by.

The stream meanders through what once resembled a moonscape, according to Hollow, its banks now crowded by shrubs in their fall colors, every bend in the stream engineered and reconstructed.

Next door, the black slag heap rose over 100 feet high. The basin on top resembled a volcanos caldera, but with tire tracks, bits of scrap metal and, somehow, a row of evergreen trees along one edge. An excavator worked just beyond a ridge, and a crushing machine rattled steadily.

Theyre in the process of shipping part of the heap to a smelter in South Korea, said Mark Rhodes, a consultant with the company Hydrometrics. Thats helping to pay for the reclamation work, which would continue for years.

Itll end up being a green hill instead of a black hill, Rhodes said. With this one, its going to be open to the public so they can see all the good stuff we did.

Prickly Pear now has 12 staffers, according to its website, and Hollow said the trust is at capacity for its work. She said it has started reaching out to the county commission about creating a regional parks district. That would let the trust transfer its land and focus on stretching across bureaucracies and jurisdictions.

Hollow used the Eddye McClure East trail as an example. Part of the trail is on private land that was sold over the summer, and a No Trespassing sign showed up at the parking area, the Independent Record reported.

Prickly Pears solution was typical, Hollow said, negotiating with the landowner for an easement to restore trail access this month and protect it permanently. She said the trust couldve pushed for a prescriptive easement, but thats not its style.

We will always look for the carrot and not the stick, Hollow said. PPLT couldnt do what it does on its own.

Staff photographer Thom Bridge contributed to this story.

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TRENTON, N.J. (AP)  Paid sick leave. Taxpayer-funded community college. A phased-in $15 minimum wage.

New Jersey has taken a decidedly liberal shift under first-term Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, increasing income taxes on the wealthy, expanding voting rights and tightening the state's already restrictive gun laws. Its a notable change from his predecessor, Republican Chris Christie, who spent two terms pushing more moderate policies.

Murphy's agenda will be on the ballot on Nov. 2, when voters will decide whether to give him a second term or steer the state in another direction by electing Republican Jack Ciattarelli. History isn't necessarily on Murphy's side: New Jersey hasn't reelected a Democrat as governor in four decades and hasn't elected a governor from the same party as the president in three decades.

Its one of the big, animating reasons why were running like were 10 points behind, Murphy said in an interview. Were taking nothing for granted. I mean, history has proven that this can be a very fickle year in terms of politics.

But Murphy does have some sizable advantages. He is leading in public polls and has raised more money than Ciattarelli, and New Jersey has 1 million more registered Democratic voters than Republicans. He's also welcoming some Democratic heavy-hitters to the state: Former President Barack Obama appeared on Saturday, and President Joe Biden was set to visit on Monday to promote his spending plan.

The race has national implications, though it has gotten less attention than Virginia's high-profile governor's contest. A loss for Murphy would be shocking in a state that Biden won over Republican Donald Trump by nearly 16 percentage points last year. It would also raise questions about whether moderate voters repelled by Trump were returning to the Republican Party now that the former president is no longer in office.

New Jerseys left turn has been years in the making: The state has voted Democratic in every presidential contest since 1992. It hasn't elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since Clifford Case in 1972. But governor's races have been continually in play for the GOP. The last three Republicans elected governor have won two consecutive terms.

My focus is solely New Jersey, Ciattarelli said in an interview. To win as a Republican, youve got to be focused on what it is thats bothering the people of New Jersey, and thats exactly what Ive done for the past 22 months.

Public polls show that Murphy has gotten high grades from voters for his response to COVID-19, even though New Jersey was one of the hardest-hit states at the beginning of the pandemic. About 35% of the state's nearly 25,000 deaths came from nursing and veterans homes. Murphy held daily news conferences about the pandemic at the beginning and is now holding two a week. He ordered most nonessential businesses to shut down early in the pandemic, including restaurants, theaters, gyms and most retail stores. Masks were required and social distancing was encouraged. Schools shuttered and then went mostly remote.

Many people are very happy with the way he handled the COVID-19 era. The numbers are very clear," Republican state Sen. Michael Testa acknowledged.

Some Republicans are also concerned that Trump's unpopularity could be dragging down Ciattarelli's approval numbers. Since a bruising June primary with rivals who claimed Trumps mantle, Ciattarelli has sounded more like the moderate he was while in the Legislature, speaking about his support for the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion and for immigrants without legal status to get drivers licenses, for instance.

He's been playing up his credentials as an accountant and the founder of a small business while campaigning in Democratic-leaning cities as well as GOP strongholds.

Ciattarelli has also had to balance the more traditional GOP wing with the Trump faction. Thats meant calling for lower property taxes, a perennial issue in New Jersey, and decrying COVID-19 restrictions. But it has also meant confronting questions about his appearance at a rally centered on Stop the Steal, a reference to Trumps false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Ciattarelli said he didnt know the rally was focused on the former presidents false claims.

Appearing with Murphy in Newark on Saturday, Obama said of Ciattarelli, When youve got a candidate who spoke at a Stop the Steal rally, you can bet hes not going to be a champion of democracy.

Asked whether he would welcome Trump campaigning for him, Ciattarelli said he does his own campaigning and isnt into endorsements. He has also said he accepts that Biden was legitimately elected.

The state's political environment shifted decidedly to the left during the Trump administration, with Democrats picking up all but one House seat in the state in 2018. They lost a second one when Jeff Van Drew left the Democratic Party over Trump's first impeachment. Murphy himself won election in the first year of Trumps presidency running on a self-styled progressive platform. His win was helped by the unpopularity of Christie, whose top lieutenant ran against Murphy in the 2017 race.

When you look which way the wind is blowing, it is very tough for a candidate to be a good candidate if the wind is not blowing at your back, said Assembly Republican leader Jon Bramnick. And in New Jersey, the wind is blowing definitely more Democratic."

Shavonda Sumter, a Democratic Assembly member and chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, said the push for more progressive policies like early in-person voting and expanded vote by mail began at least a decade ago. Those policies, vetoed by Christie, became law after Murphy became governor.

Sumter sees the real turning point coming in 2020 during the national reckoning on racial injustice followed the killing of George Floyd by police. She said white people's increased consciousness of the role race can play in politics has helped Democrats politically.

Folks woke up and realized this fight is not done, she said.

For Toby Sanders, a Trenton resident who attended a recent Murphy gun control rally in Bloomfield, this year's governor's contest is more than just a state race.

Its a bellwether for the nation. Its a foundation to build on, said Sanders, who considers himself a progressive.

For other voters, state and local issues are more important.

Mike Gardner, a municipal party official and retired attorney who worked at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said his top issue is getting rid of the high property taxes. He backs Ciattarelli.

Jim Arakelian, a real estate agent and retired law enforcement official, said he doesn't think police officers have been respected by the Murphy administration, citing the decision to release certain police disciplinary records as a big concern. Hes also skeptical about the media and the polling in the race, citing 2016 and Trumps surprise victory.

Polls can be skewed anyway the press wants, said Arakelian, who attended a Ciattarelli campaign stop at a New Milford pizzeria.

In their own way, some Democratic voters are also skeptical about polls, not wanting to take them for granted.

America is contested space right now. There is a battle quietly and loudly going on," Sanders said.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please join me in voting for Melinda Reed for City Commission. It is critical we elect officials who understand Helenas needs today and plan for Helenas future tomorrow. Melinda is that candidate. As the only working parent in running for Commission, Melinda brings a diverse perspective that will serve us all well.

Melinda understands the day to day needs of Helenas residents. As the former interim City Manager, Melinda understands the need to maintain Helenas critical government services, like fire protection, police, clean water, street investments and parks. Melinda steered the City through the turbulent beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the city with a surplus of millions of dollars.

Melinda will protect our treasured open lands system, unrivaled in Montana. As a young professional I appreciate that Melinda understands how unaffordable Helena is becoming for our workforce. Melinda will pursue housing policies to ensure that Helena can remain a City that welcomes everyone.

Melinda is also thinking about Helenas future. As a parent myself, I am glad that Melinda is thinking about what Helena looks like tomorrow. Melinda will support safe walkable streets that provide universal access for all, whether youre an adult out for a walk, someone with limited mobility, or a child looking for a safe route to school. Melinda will continue Helenas work towards energy independence and climate resilience, something we need today, and owe to generations to come.

Please join me in supporting Melinda Reed for Helena City Commissioner.

Hannah Fisher

Helena

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Sam Alpert says he has always been kind of a thrill-seeker.

So several years ago he was bored and drove by a volunteer fire department when the idea hit him that he should join their ranks. And while he is not with the department he originally joined, he is still serving.

Alpert calls firefighting a good group activity in which the outcome depends on how the squad functions together.

Its a team effort, he said.

He said he has been with the Tri-Lakes Volunteer Fire Department for about a decade. Previous to that, he had started with Baxendale. He now serves as a firefighter and emergency medical responder.

Alpert, 34, said during the summer the squad was called out two to four times a week and that has tapered off somewhat.

It comes and goes in waves, he said. We are as busy as I care for us to be.

Alpert, who is the information technology director for the Montana State Bar, encourages others to volunteer.

I work a full-time job and have three kids and I am also a student, he said. The time demand once you are past the training is not that much.

He said a few hours a week is all it takes to to fill an important need.

Alpert said he is not thinking of quitting any time soon.

You dont do it this for long without some moments of pause, he said of responding to accident calls and structure fires.

But he said safety tops the list for all firefighters.

Its good to be able to trust that the No. 1 priority is the safety of the respondent.

Betsy Brandborg, a friend of Alpert, praised Alpert, saying that serving is a thankless volunteer job, as the distressed people never stop to ask for the names of those helping.

That makes no difference to Sam, she said. His compassion for our community is his driving force.

She said he also manages the Tri-Lakes Facebook announcements, where news travels fast--especially during fire season.

His posts there are serious, important AND funny, she wrote. Not many people have that skill set.

He has such a strong work ethic that he never ignores a call, she said.

Sam's commitment, drive and personal balance absorb the terribly sad and horrific challenges of emergency care, which seem only to cement his ability to do more, Brandborg said. Sam will never let his community, his family or his co-workers down.

Susan Gobbs, another friend who knows Alpert from his state bar job, said she and Brandborg have watched Alpert's dedication to the community.

"He is such a blessing for the department," she said.

Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021.

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Being a firefighter was seemingly always in the cards for 40-year-old Steve Finstad of East Helena.

Finstad has served the Helena area as a first responder, both as a firefighter and emergency medical technician, for more than 20 years. It all started when he joined the East Helena Volunteer Fire Department as a senior in high school.

"My buddy's dad was the volunteer fire chief. At the time, I didn't even know if I'd like it," Finstad said. "But I wanted to do something to give back to my community."

After a few years, Finstad joined the Montana Army National Guard as a firefighter in an effort to get more training and more knowledge about firefighting. After just a few years, he was deployed to Iraq where, according to Finstad, "that really gave me a lot of experience."

At the time, Finstad was in Helena College's firefighter program. He was deployed after his third semester and never managed to graduate, but ultimately he achieved his goal of attaining a paid position as a firefighter.

After coming back to Helena from Iraq, Finstad worked as an ambulance driver for St. Peter's Health, firefighter for the Office of Veterans Affairs and ultimately as a firefighter for the City of Helena, where he has been for the past 12 years.

Most paid firefighting positions in Montana require training in emergency medical treatment. Finstad said he really enjoyed the EMT side of things, even working for several years in that ambulance driver position.

"I wanted to get as much experience as possible," Finstad said. "I could have gone either way. I really enjoyed doing EMT too."

For Finstad, being a first responder is about being able to give back to his community. He said it may sound corny, but he cares a lot about his community and its people.

"I enjoy serving the community I live in," he said. "It's an exciting job that changes every day. It is very gratifying. Plus it's nice to see people I grew up around out in the community and know that I'm helping them in a way."

The most challenging part of the job for Finstad is the hours. He said the scheduled can be tough, and when he is working the fire crew doesn't get a lot of sleep. He said they also often deal with rough calls back-to-back.

"But our group is really supportive of each other when dealing with that kind of stuff," Finstad said.

One thing Finstad wanted to draw attention to is the linemen and gas workers who he regularly works with. Finstad said they are often left out when people think of first responders, but their jobs are just as crucial for the safety of the community, and according to Finstad they "work really hard and bust their butts out there."

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NAPERVILLE - Once described as able to fight her weight in wildcat, University of Chicago graduate Gertrude Beasley came out swinging in her 1925 memoir, My First Thirty Years.

In the first sentence, she accused her father of raping her mother. By page 2, she was relating her first real memory: a sexual assault by her eldest brother when she was only about 4 years old.

Beasleys blistering account of poverty and abuse on the Texas frontier was banned for obscenity in the 1920s, despite an admiring review in the New Yorker. Within two years, Beasley, a journalist with a masters degree from the University of Chicago, was committed to a Long Island psychiatric hospital where she would remain for the rest of her life.

But against the odds, the frank and feminist book at the center of the firestorm has lived on, finding safe harbor in academic libraries, and winning ardent fans such as Larry McMurtry, author of the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel Lonesome Dove.

And now for the first time, Beasleys memoir is available to the general public thanks to the efforts of Nina Bennett, her sister-in-law Marie Bennett and Dominque Raccah, Ninas mother-in-law and Maries stepmother, who published it through Raccahs Naperville-based Sourcebooks.

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(Beasley) blew my mind in those first 10 pages. Heck, the first paragraph. And thats when I started digging in, and realized the backstory, and I was just so upset, said Nina Bennett, 36, a municipal consultant in Dallas.

We had come so far as a society and her words were still inaccessible. You could not access them unless you had connections to an academic library, which, because my husbands a professor at (Southern Methodist University), I do. Maries stepmother founded her own publishing company 34 years ago. For random reasons, we were in the place and we had the connections to elevate her words.

Nina Bennett and Marie Bennett, 48, a classical musician from Aurora, recently talked about Beasleys life and work via Zoom. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Gertrude is such an extraordinary person. How would you describe her?

Marie: If she were suddenly transposed into the 21st century, I see her as an extremely articulate, extremely effective advocate or protest leader.

Nina: When I wrote the introduction to the book, that was really how I tried to frame her. I envision her doing protest cheers with her microphone and leading revolts and being the person who says, This is not acceptable. She is not a person who would be brokering negotiations; she would be the (one) that you would deploy (saying), Youd better negotiate with us, because otherwise, were going to sic Gertrude on you.

Q. Gertrude says multiple male siblings sexually abused her as a child, and suggests that there may have been similar abuse in other local families. Do you have any idea how common that was?

Nina: I dont have any sense of how common sibling rape was. What I do have a sense of was that life on the frontiers, life as a farmer in the Great Plains or the Midwest, was so much harder than Little House on the Prairie depicts it, and so much less child friendly. You see it coming out in books that were published at the time: this real, horrible poverty, and how degrading that sort of impossible poverty is. None of those books have stood the test of time. I think part of that is because we didnt want to know, as a country. I think the other thing is that no one would publish it. Thats part of why theres so little documentary evidence.

Q. Chicago, where Gertrude studied and taught school in her 20s, was a place where she really blossomed.

Nina: I think Texas gave her the anger and the drive against degradation. Chicago gave her the causes into which she could channel that anger and that drive. She was given a vocabulary that she didnt have before, and I mean that both literally and figuratively. She was exposed to woman professionals. She was exposed to advocates. She was exposed to feisty women that made men afraid. There was a great quote (from Gertrude) about the (Chicago Public Schools superintendent Ella Flagg Young): It was my idea of a good time to see men afraid of a woman.

Q. She let her guard down a bit. She let herself be vulnerable in Chicago.

Nina: Yes. She let herself be saddened, or almost mourning. In the first half of the book, particularly in the first 10 pages, shes so, so angry. And by the end of the book, you feel she can allow herself to be sad and to mourn what she didnt have and even go a step further and start to mourn what her mother didnt have. She comes to this realization that her mother and all of their sisters  because they didnt have the power of choice in their husbands, and when they had kids  they could not have a loving relationship. In some sense a loving relationship was reserved only for the wealthy and the privileged. There was a great quote in there, about her mom saying, love goes out the window when youre poor.

Q. How much do we know about her time in the psychiatric hospital?

Nina: What we know is that she was (committed) within 10 days of her ship docking in Manhattan (in 1927). We know that she was sent to the Central Islip Psychiatric Center on Long Island. We know that she died there because copies of her death certificate were obtained and her burial plot was found on the site. We do not know anything about her records while in the hospital. My understanding is that those may exist, but the state of New York has not released them and will not release them, even to kin. In the Texas Monthly article that came out a couple weeks ago, the author made a compelling case (that) we dont know. Maybe she had a total psychiatric breakdown. We just dont know. Theres a lot of really compelling reasons to assume that (her hospitalization) was absolutely unwarranted, but we dont actually know.

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With multiple opportunities to get it right, Illinois keeps getting it wrong. Even though next week offers another (possibly final) opportunity for corrections, Illinois legislative maps will probably remain a gerrymandered mess for another 10 years.

This can has been kicked as far down the road as it can go.

The current Democrat plan for mapping  the latest of numerous attempts, one of which has been ruled unconstitutional in federal court -- is as unbalanced as it has ever been. Independents are pointing to the ridiculous shapes of some districts. Voters from Chicago suburbs are resisting being in the same district as rural residents. Even some Democrats are afraid seats might flip the way the districts are drawn. The Princeton Gerrymandering Project, a nonpartisan group that studies redistricting, gave Illinois' proposed map an "F" for fairness.

Given our states history, thats hardly a surprise.

Illinois currently has 18 seats in the U.S. House, with Democrats holding 13 and Republicans the other five. The state is losing a congressional seat because of population loss, most of which occurred in heavily Republican areas of central and southern Illinois, according to the 2020 census.

After the census was released, anticipation was Democrats would target Central Illinois and make it difficult, if not impossible, for Representatives Rodney Davis and Adam Kinzinger to be re-elected to the House.

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Illinois is one of the few states where Democrats control redistricting, and the party nationally is looking to the state for help in 2022. Democrats control the U.S. House by a thin margin, and Republicans are in charge of redistricting in more states than Democrats, which could give the GOP an advantage in next year's elections.

Worth noting is that this issue isnt unique to Illinois, or to Democrats. In states where Republicans draw the borders, theyre being drawn favorable to Republicans. Illinois isnt the only state in the middle of this debate every 10 years.

There has to be a better way of doing this. Gov. J.B. Pritzker had a map out of the nightmare, but reneged on his campaign pledge to reject partisan legislature map drawing. The map could still have been controversial had it been drawn in non-partisan fashion. But such controversy would have at least been different and could have come to a more satisfactory conclusion.

Instead, whats happened is painfully predictable. Citizens and voters talking to officials about the maps complain about what they dont have in common with others in their districts as drawn. Race is a key factor, as is the rural-urban mixtures.

One of the largest issues is more wide-reaching. When voters see that their areas of representation are being divvied up in a partisan debate, theyre bound to lose identity. They can feel disenfranchised. Not in a literal sense  theyre still able to vote. But imagining their vote counts for anything is difficult.

That ultimately winds up with the worst result possible in a dem0cracy  apathy. If we dont care what happens, were leaving open the door for the worst to happen.

We must avoid that outcome. Thats why redistricting decisions are vital.

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While the immediate future of the city jail is uncertain because the city is working to become a member of the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority with plans to close its current facility, the sheriffs office has other responsibilities. It is solely responsible for security at the city courthouse, which houses three different courts and the public offices of the revenue commissioner, treasurer and circuit court clerk and deputies are primarily responsible for serving legal paperwork such as eviction notices, arrest warrants and subpoenas.

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Courthouse security has to be paramount, Foster said. We often have three judges in the courthouse. If Im elected I want to make sure weve got a deputy that shadows that judge. We need to make sure we have enough people. I plan to advocate to the state Compensation Board that we get as many deputies in that courthouse and in those courtrooms as possible.

People bring things into the courthouse, and weve got to make sure we stop them at the door. We have to have enough people to man that position and for courtroom security, he said. I know most of the time courts are open police officers are there, but that is the sheriffs responsibility.

At present, Foster said, police officers are serving emergency protective orders.
Jerry Crabtree and Benjamin Crabtree, owners of the Longley/Gibson House on Main Street in Abingdon, would like to voice our opposition in writing as to the legalization of open drinking on Main Street.

The Longley/Gibson House is the two oldest houses in Abingdon (1790 and 1791), childhood home of William Saunders Oury (last man to leave the Alamo alive), home to three elected officials to the U.S. House of Representatives, and home of two soldiers who served in the Battle of Kings Mountain.

This house is located at 281 East Main St. next the Rain Restaurant and Bar, across the street from Campesino Mexican Restaurant and Bar, and approximately 50 yards down the hill from the Tavern Restaurant and Bar.

Through the years, we have had to deal with several nuisances that replicate from the alcohol consumption from these three businesses. That from which include: trash in our yard, beer bottles being thrown in our yard, cigarettes being thrown in our yard (fire hazard), trespassing and theft, public urination, confrontations from intoxicated people, observance of drinking and driving, fireworks during the Fourth of July being set off on the sidewalk right in front of our house (fire hazard), speeding and reckless driving on both Main Street and Plum Alley, harassment from intoxicated people, and other lewd and obnoxious behaviors.
HUDSON  The U.S. Department of Education announced that Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute has received a federal Talent Search grant of $1,386,875 to help more low-income students who would be the first members of their families to earn college degrees to prepare for and enroll in college.

The funding allows CCC&TI to relaunch its TRIO Talent Search program, which had previously been offered to area middle school and high school students for approximately 15 years. CCC&TI also offers the TRIO/SSS program, which serves currently enrolled first-generation college students.

I am thrilled that CCC&TI has received funding for the TRIO Talent Search grant program, said Emily Garrison, TRIO Programs Director. The impact this program will have on the lives of students and families and the opportunities this will bring to eligible students in Caldwell County Schools are life-changing.

One of the federal TRIO programs, Talent Search identifies middle and high school students and assists them to succeed in higher education. At least two-thirds of the students in each local Talent Search program are from low-income economic backgrounds and families in which neither parent has a bachelor's degree.
Such developments reflect, in part, coming to grips with the fact that COVID-19 is now here to stay. COVID-19 has become an endemic disease that will not be eradicated in the foreseeable future. Australians and New Zealanders, like the rest of us, will have to learn how to live with it.

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In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to soon authorize the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5-11. Parents with children in this age range, such as myself, will then be faced with the decision of whether or not to have their children vaccinated. Many are likely to be hesitant. Children are less likely to experience severe symptoms and death from COVID-19 than those who are older. Some worry about the potential for long term negative side effects from the newly developed vaccines. Many within the adult population remain hesitant when it comes to themselves being vaccinated. Such hesitancy will likely lead some to defer or delay the decision (which is a decision in and of itself) to vaccinate their children, or to definitely decide that their children will not be vaccinated at this time or in the near future.
An open letter to Hickory Mayor Hank Guess,

I recently attended a presentation by Mr. Shawn Pennell, Public Utilities Director.

Mr. Pennell described proposed improvements at Geitner Park, on the Lake Hickory waterfront. I was appalled when he mentioned the project envisioned by the Lackey Enterprise for this site.

Improvements in the park, spectacular walking trails, and broad walkways leading to the park make this a natural gathering point for everyone in Hickory. However, Mr. Pennell explained that the existing plan is to demolish the old building on that site and allow the Lackey organization to build a fancy pavilion with a restaurant, outdoor seating, a bar where alcohol will be served and rental space for private gatherings.

Mr. Guess, this is the classic for-profit privatization of public property. The value of the site has been greatly enhanced by public money, and a private interest will now snap up the most central and photogenic parcel; to be served by public roads, beautiful attractions and public parking spaces.

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I cannot imagine a more egregious privatization of public property. It is the very opposite of the democratic goal of creating beauty and value on behalf of the people of Hickory.
"Population growth in North Carolina's metros continues to beat forecasts," said Michael Walden, an economics professor at N.C. State University.

"Lack of health care facilities that lag population growth is a big source of concern for residents.

"I would expect big public pushback if new facilities were artificially limited to protect the financial returns of health care providers," Walden said.

Baptist-Novant dispute

With the two Triad community hospitals, Baptist and Novant gained a conditional certificate-of-need approval in 2008.

Both appealed the decision favoring their rival, with Novant ending its pursuit in March 2009. Baptist dropped its appeal in December 2009 as part of a settlement.

During a press conference announcing the settlement, the systems said they had reached "a mutually satisfying solution."

Officials with both systems acknowledged it took the realities of legal expenses of more than $1 million a year, and the prospects of seven to 10 years of litigation and appeals, to persuade them to reach a compromise that allowed both hospitals to open in 2017.
How do we know that to be true? Listen to the radical ramblings of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Shumer or Joe Biden, three long-time warhorses for the Democrats who now sound more like 1960s hippies eager to embrace every far-left idea that floats their way. Note also the many Democrats quick to grab a ride on whatever psychedelic bus stops by.

Conservatives, meanwhile, have ingrained principles that keep conservative ideology on track, rooted in Christian values, our constitution, tradition, and the norms that have maintained civil society for centuries.

This is how state-sanctioned abortion, for example, can be placed in the same argument as, say, a state-mandated vaccine. To a liberal, the two fall along the same line, although from a liberals perspective one is driven by personal choice, while the other is not. A conservative, meanwhile, will more likely see the two as totally disconnected, with the disconnect driven by the sanctity of human life, by the belief that Gods creation is to be protected from the point of conception onward. Driven by, in other words, one of the principles that keep conservative thought from developing into radical extremism. Crucial to understanding this key point is to recognize that refusing a vaccine is not a murderous act, despite the propaganda.
Instead of a formal living room, we have a music room. Surrounded by several 45 RPM vinyl records I grew up with, a large vinyl decoration reads, Music is the language of the soul. It is prominently displayed and earned a permanent place on the wall, because the message resonates deep within me, and I never want to forget it.

On a recent business trip, I attended two live concerts in one week and nothing has felt so good in years. Im still smiling, and theres a pep in my step that has been missing since well before the pandemic. Music to me is like a long, hot soak in a bathtub, a full body massage for my nervous system, a form of self-care like no other indulgence.

Live music in particular allows us to feel the sound and transform into song. Deep inside, your organs sense the beat of a good drum, and if you dont get chill bumps during a tight harmony, you may need a spiritual retreat or a reset on your equilibrium. Im just saying.

One study by Goldsmiths University in London measured psychological well-being after following 60 adults with heart rate monitors and found going to concerts may be better for your mental health than a walk with your dog or a session of yoga. They all improved mood but watching live music for even 20 minutes a day boosted overall happiness levels by 21 percent.
DCI CEO for Australia and New Zealand Malcolm Roe said DCI recognises the Northern Territorys position as the digital gateway to Australias forward-facing defence and space industries, as well as Asia to the north.

Darwin is a strategic location in Australia and has already created a digital ecosystem with key elements like; renewable energy, international and Australia-wide network connectivity.

It is also the command hub in the north for Australian defence and coastal border forces, as well as hosting significant U.S. Defence Force technical and aerial assets. The rapidly growing space sector is also seeing organisations such as NASA and other global players establishing a presence in the Territory. This is all in addition to the existing mining, agriculture and tourism sectors.

These industries require secure ICT infrastructure, so it makes perfect sense for us to increase our footprint to include NT, starting with the purchase of this land, Roe said.

DCIs investment closely follows the recent Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable (DJSC) announcement and the extension of the Terabit Territory into Asia.

With the development of the highly secure high-speed Terabit Territory network, and the impending arrival of a series of international sub-sea telecommunications cables, Darwin is strengthening its position as Australias Digital Territory and gateway to Asia, Roe said.

DCI says it has secured a 2.7 hectare site in a Darwin Technology Park, which provides enough space to support up to 10 Megawatts of IT Load. The deal also provides an option to expand up to 5 hectares in the future. The DRW01 design, subject to development application approval, is based on the secure cloud edge TIER-Ready III design that is being used by DCI in Adelaide, with physical security up to Zone 5.

We are very excited about this Darwin site as it is collocated with significant power infrastructure and has provision for large scale renewable energy assets to be developed alongside it, Roe said.

This investment supports the expansion of DCIs national footprint and the deployment of secure cloud edge facilities across Australia and New Zealand. DCI has operational data centre assets located in Sydney and Adelaide. These will soon be joined by two new TIER-Ready III certified facilities called ADL02 and AKL01, with construction underway in Kidman Park, South Australia and New Zealand respectively. DCI has also recently announced acquisition of land in Mawson Lakes to build a third Data Centre facility in South Australia, the company concluded.

This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 19 October 2021.
Answer: I love stand-up comedy. There is a connection between artist and audience that is different from any other I have experienced. To make somebody laugh, one has to gain trust first so that they will lower their guard and allow themselves to be fooled for a moment. Its super intimate. I try to write jokes that respect that trust by not being unnecessarily cruel or hurtful to anyone. A good portion of my material is autobiographical. Im a 6-foot-3-inch transgender woman in the South, among other things, so its pretty fertile soil. I like to think that by making some good natured fun of some of the unusual aspects of my life I am doing some small part to normalize the trans experience to audience members who may not have had any first-hand contact with any of us yet. If I can get somebody to laugh with me about those topics, Ive at least been able to humanize the struggle enough to be relatable and that feels bug to me.
It was New Years Eve. Devin Lyall sat in the back bedroom of her drug dealers house.

Her thin fingers fumbled with the syringe. Her fingers werent the only frail thing about her  in the past few months she had lost about 40 pounds, leaving her practically skin and bones.

She was using Opana, a strong narcotic, melting the small, circular pills into a liquid that she could inject.

As the dregs of 2012 trickled into the New Year, Lyall didnt have much hope. It was as if her life was ticking away as quickly as the seconds remaining before midnight.

She was shaking, chills running through her body, yet she was so hot she felt like she was on fire. She kept injecting, hoping it was the relief her body needed.

She woke up later, lying in a hospital bed. Her mother and father stood over her. She wasnt sure when or how she had gotten there.

Lyall had overdosed.

The drug dealer had called her mother, who rushed her to Wilkes Medical Center. They made it in time for doctors to give Lyall the reversal drug naloxone, saving her life.
Still, Dormer said, the movie industry is likely moving away from real guns, albeit slowly.

The term prop gun can apply to anything from a rubber toy to a real firearm that can fire a projectile. If its used for firing, even blanks, its considered a real gun. A blank is a cartridge that contains gunpowder but no bullet. Still, it can hurt or even kill someone who is close by, according to the Actors Equity Association.

Thats why many are calling to ban blanks as well, and use disabled or replica guns.

Really there is no good reason in this day to have blanks on set, director Liz Garbus wrote on Twitter. CGI can make the gun seem real, and if you dont have the budget for the CGI, then dont shoot the scene.

Broadway actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein wrote that the tragedy certainly made him wonder why Hollywood wasnt leaning more on special effects.

Why, with all of the Hollywood magic available, are they still firing off gun powder? They know that they are going to goose-up the gunshots in post production, he wrote on Facebook. Why chance an accident in the first place?

But he also said the death raised even broader questions.
An absurd social media photo of a law enforcement officer walking an alligator on a leash is 100% real, and it was taken during an equally strange incident recently in Sunset Beach.

The mischievous alligator was under arrest  sort of  after it began trotting through the Oyster Pointe at Sea Trail community and tried getting into the pool, according to the Sunset Beach police.

Officers ... were dispatched to Oyster Bay Drive for complaints of a 9-foot alligator walking through the neighborhood, the department wrote on Facebook. The alligator had also attempted entry into the community pool area. When officers arrived, the alligator had broken through porch lattice at the reservation office.

Its not clear what the alligator wanted in the office, but officers deemed it a neighborhood threat and corralled the reptile.

Details of the capture were not released, but the photo shows it was cooperating as officers led it through the parking lot.

The gator was relocated to a nearby pond, officials said.
NEW DELHI, India (AP)  Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as the internet giant's own employees cast doubt over its motivations and interests.

Based on research produced as recently as March of this year to company memos that date back to 2019, internal company documents on India highlight Facebooks constant struggles in quashing abusive content on its platforms in the worlds biggest democracy and the companys largest growth market. Communal and religious tensions in India have a history of boiling over on social media and stoking violence.

The files show that Facebook has been aware of the problems for years, raising questions over whether it has done enough to address the issues. Many critics and digital experts say it has failed to do so, especially in cases where members of Prime Minister Narendra Modis ruling Bharatiya Janata Party are involved.

Across the world, Facebook has become increasingly important in politics, and India is no different.
I cannot intellectually or morally grasp the conditions that warrant the arrest of an 8-year-old. To implement policies (and I use the latter term lightly) that validate unconstitutional procedures, granting wide latitude of subjectivity, is several hundred miles beyond what reasonable persons would consider beyond the pale.

The protagonist of this macabre practice is Judge Donna Scott Davenport, who self-identifies as the Mother of the County. Davenport calls her work Gods mission. It is a strange theological supposition to offer divine inspiration for arresting and detaining children. It is a theological interpretation that provides moral legitimacy to the school-to-prison pipeline. This policy is not applied in either China or Russia.

Dylan Geerts, who at 15 was already diagnosed as bipolar, was arrested for stealing change and small items from a car and placed in a Rutherford County detention center. Geerts told ABC News, They essentially put me in solitary confinement for between 22 and 23 hours a day, they took me off of my medications by force, not by doctors orders or anything. They just didnt allow me to have my bipolar medication. I was kept awake for close to 30-something hours by the staff, purposefull.

He was released on house arrest after four days.
Did the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent recession help to create the conditions that produced more homicides? Almost certainly. What about last years defund the police protests? Did they make officers less assertive in high-risk neighborhoods, emboldening violent criminals? Again, almost certainly. But some of the increase occurred in 2019, before these events took place. Crime is a complex phenomenon with multiple causes.

Still, I am persuaded that higher levels of policing tend to produce lower levels of crime. It makes sense. When more police officers are visibly on patrol in neighborhoods, individuals will think twice before committing crimes there.

You cant prove (or disprove) such a relationship by comparing police staffing to crime rates and looking for simple correlations, however. If a community has low levels of criminality for other reasons, it might well have fewer officers on patrol. And a high-crime community might well hire lots of officers. Such relationships shouldnt be used to assert that policing causes crime, although that hasnt stopped some activists from saying so.
At the end, (Pence) announces that because of the dispute in seven states, there are no electors that can be deemed validly appointed in those states. This would reduce the number of electoral votes needed to elect a president from 270 to 228. With the seven states being uncounted, Trump would have 232 votes and Biden would have 222. Eastman smugly said, Pence then gavels President Trump as reelected.

Steps two through six were contingencies in the (likely) event that something went awry with the basic plot. One way or another, according to Eastman, President Trump is reelected.

Bob Woodward and Robert Costa report in their book Peril that in a meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 4 Trump implored Pence to consider Eastmans plan. Pence resisted. Ive done everything I could and then some to find a way around this. Its simply not possible.

Trump bullied Pence: Do you want to go down in history as a patriot, or do you want to go down in history as a p-?

Keeping up the pressure, Trump told his supporters on Jan. 6, Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesnt, its a sad day for our country. ... I hope Mike is going to do the right thing.
A big thank-you

The nightmare lingers

Writing in response to Michael Gersons Oct. 13 column, The Trump nightmare continues to loom, the writer of the Oct. 19 letter A myriad of nightmares points to the nightmares he says are occurring now. He says we should be paying attention to them instead.

But many of the problems he mentioned have been around for decades. And several of them, including empty shelves, supply chain shortages and worker shortages, are related to former President Trumps failure to take COVID-19 seriously and contain it. Instead, even though he knew that COVID was deadly, even though he was infected himself, he opened the White House doors to it. He led superspreader events across the country. He encouraged people to ignore sound medical advice, ignore masking and social distancing, and just act as if COVID didnt exist, which doubtlessly led to more deaths. Trump was COVIDs best friend.
Lincoln Industries is excited to announce the promotions of Tim Carpenter, chief operating officer; Eric Jacobs, director of truck accounts; and Sara Paisley, learning & development manager.

Carpenter has been with Lincoln Industries for 10 years and served as director of operations and vice-president of operations prior to being named chief operating officer. His track record of operational leadership and commitment to the companys culture will be instrumental in his expanded leadership role which includes oversight of operations in Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Mexico.

Jacobs has been with Lincoln Industries for 14 years where his contributions have been key to the growth of the companys Heavy-Duty Truck Segment. Prior to being named director, Jacobs was the segment manager of the Truck division where he established strong relationships with key strategic customers like PACCAR (Peterbilt, Kenworth), Daimler, Navistar, and others.

Paisley was most recently learning & development leader and has been with Lincoln Industries for 7 years. As L&D manager, Paisley establishes leadership training and development programs, performance management systems, orientation, and compliance training. She also is a key member of the company communications team.
The illustration on the books dust jacket cleverly introduces this copiously documented travelogue. In addition to maps of Washington and Philbricks journeys, the book contains appropriate photos of historic and recent topics of interest including one of the original boundary stones placed by surveyors around Washington, D.C., in 1791.

Although Philbrick makes a cogent case for the United States being vastly different without the steadying influence of President Washington, the book is no hagiography. George Washingtons flaws, especially his relationship with slavery, are not downplayed. Readers may draw their own conclusions about the lasting effect of Washington upon our nation after reading the book.

Regardless of the readers preconceived notions about our first president, enough new facts are revealed and old myths dispelled to keep the pages turning rapidly. Many people are aware that Georges dentures were not wooden, but fewer know they were fashioned from horses teeth and hippo ivory. Fewer yet know that he first attempted transplantation of his missing teeth by purchasing nine healthy slaves teeth and having them placed into his own mouth. All the transplants failed.

Philbricks own trips were spiced by the unique and interesting characters he met along the way. He slept in at least two of the original beds George had used and was nearly drowned in a waterspout near Cape Cod. Dora encountered a large black snake but no lasting harm ensued. Readers who choose to accompany Philbrick, Washington, Dora and their fellow travelers will be glad they did.

J. Kemper Campbell, M.D., is a retired Lincoln ophthalmologist who was pleased to discover that Dora had been named for a character from David Copperfield, the first big boy novel he attempted as a youth, which still remains his favorite work by Charles Dickens.

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The last year, we've seen our sport grow tremendously. COVID has had a negative effect on a lot of places, but the biking community is a safe sport you can do and socially distance.

They identified a potential home for the pump track just south of the 32-year-old BMX track. But because the entire property is owned by the city, they needed permission to build.

And they got it earlier this month from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.

They brought some good information to the table from folks that have traveled around the country and observed other tracks, Yost said. It seems like they've got a really good idea here, so we were pretty pleased with their proposal.

The approval came with a couple of conditions, he said: First, Star City BMX needs to obtain a permit to build in a floodplain. And the pump track  like the BMX track  needs to be open to the public when Star City BMX isn't hosting races or other events.

The group is trying to raise $30,000 to build the first phase, and has already allocated $12,000 for the project, so it recently launched an online fundraiser to raise the remaining $18,000.
Morfeld, a Democrat who was a member of the Legislature's Redistricting Committee, said "Republicans made some last-minute decisions" that sliced up Lancaster County's legislative districts.

"The process was not transparent," he said.

But Morfeld said he believes there would have been "much worse outcomes for Lancaster County" in a regular session.

Vote-trading involving other pieces of legislation, and distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars of federal pandemic relief would have been "on the table," he said.

"I was really scared to see what might happen if we waited until the regular session."

Sen. Matt Hansen of Lincoln, a Democrat, said he "agreed to drop a filibuster" that he had begun to mount against the redistricting plan because he became convinced that "moving to next January would be worse."

Hansen said he was "not happy with the process."
Dave Brown, a professional firearms instructor and a firearms safety coordinator, wrote a piece for American Cinematographer magazine in 2019 in which he explained that "CGI may be used for close-range gunshots that could not be safely achieved otherwise, but yes, even with all the advancements in visual effects and computer-generated imagery, we still fire guns with blanks."

"The reason is simple: We want the scene to look as real as possible. We want the story and characters to be believable," Brown wrote. "Blanks help contribute to the authenticity of a scene in ways that cannot be achieved in any other manner. If the cinematographer is there to paint a story with light and framing, firearms experts are there to enhance a story with drama and excitement."

The more gunpowder that is used, the bigger the flash and blast from a prop gun. Brown's piece reiterated that using blanks still requires someone on set who is experienced with firearms.

"Blanks expel gunpowder and hot gases out of the front of the barrel in a cone shape," he wrote. "This is harmless at longer ranges, but the explosion can seriously injure someone if it's too close."
Here is a brief breakdown of Nebraska's senators and representatives in Congress.

At the center of allegations against Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who was indicted this week by a federal grand jury, is a 75-year-old Nigerian billionaire of Lebanese descent named Gilbert Chagoury.

For reasons that remain publicly unclear, Chagoury funneled $30,000 to the Nebraska congressman, who is charged with three felonies related to an ensuing FBI investigation. It is not the first time Chagoury, who lives in Paris and is a player on the international stage, has sought to purchase influence or been linked to corruption.

Chagoury is not a household name in Nebraska, but hes certainly a household name in Nigeria, Matthew T. Page, a former State Department expert on Nigeria, said in a phone interview this week.

The tycoon is well-known among people who look into corruption challenges around the world and among people who know about some of the most corrupt episodes in recent Nigerian political history, Page said. Chagourys role of adviser to a notorious Nigerian dictator in the 1990s is well-documented, and he has had other brushes with scandal since.
One of his early pronouncements included his desire and intent to make [Nebraska] the model territory. Although known already as the U.S. marshal, the press described Izard as not less than six feet tall, of full flesh [with] erect carriage while another said he had a stately character physically, mentally rather weak.

Izards inauguration ball was widely reported as being at the frame City Hotel at 11th and Harney where the floor proved to be a frozen mixture of mud and ice. Footing was precarious at best with several ladies falling. Supper followed at midnight, with no room for tables in the small room and consisting of coffee, sandwiches of a peculiar size, and dried apple pie, while the governor stood by shivering in the cold.

After appointing his son James the territorial librarian, he reported to the legislature that the foundations for the first capitol, at the center of Capitol Square, were completed under a $50,000 appropriation from the federal government. The Territorial Road from Omaha to Fort Kearny had been designed and three colleges had been incorporated -- Nebraska University at Fontenelle, the Nebraska City Institute and Simpson University at Omaha City to which he had been named trustee.
To put it directly, the effects of the racist development policies of the past cannot be overlooked or brushed aside and must be acknowledged by the citizenry and addressed by city development plans and policies, now and into the future.

The Planning Department is doing just that, using history to inform decisions as it drafts the Lincoln-Lancaster County 2050 Comprehensive Plan.

Addressing that history means it is imperative that the plan includes affordable units in as many housing projects as possible in all areas of the city and finding ways to create mixed housing options, particularly in areas where, without any zoning ordinances requiring it, only single-family homes are built.

The history-based planning should attempt to create complete neighborhoods, with mixed-housing options and nearby services, such as grocery stores and banks, along with schools, parks and swimming pools with easy access to all neighborhood residents, regardless of their income or housing status.

Those kind of plans will likely meet with some resistance from those who want to continue to develop new, single-family neighborhoods on the edges of the city and consign multi-family units and commit few development resources to the center of the city, essentially continuing to redline without the maps and explicit policy.

That resistance, however, must be overcome for Lincoln to move equitably into the future and begin to put away the institutional racism of its past.

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Along with thousands of Nebraska residents, I recently received an email from Rep. Jeff Fortenberry. It asked the following question: Should the IRS be allowed to see the amount of money going through your bank and credit union accounts? I had the option of answering yes or no and submitting additional thoughts.

Fortenberry should be ashamed for asking such a deceptively phrased question. The issue before Congress is how to collect the billions owed to the government by tax cheaters. Like most people, my taxes are deducted from my paycheck by my employer and paid directly to the IRS. I dont have a chance to cheat on my taxes.

The people who would be affected by this effort are the ultra-wealthy who get most of their income in capital gains, dividends and rents. Fortenberrys question makes this sound like an unprecedented intrusion on ordinary people, when in fact, its an effort to protect working people from having to pay more in taxes to make up for the failure of rich people to pay their fair share.

John Bender, Lincoln

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Bruce Willards poem, Song Sparrow, captures with such intimacy, the interruption of the comforting rituals of time: seasons changing, children growing older, water under the bridge, the world continuing its march. Here, in the midst of this, our long and tumultuous pandemic season, I am struck by how familiar the breathlessness that Willard describes feels. As with the best poems, the familiarity is formed through empathy  something that poetry teaches us again and again.
WESTLAKE, Texas  Anna Salton Eisen found the old pictures  wallet-size, black-and-white images of Jewish prisoners who survived the Holocaust  in a folder her late father, George Lucius Salton, kept most of his life.

The Texas woman recognized the names of some of the teens and young men from stories her father told. For three years, the baby-faced captives lived among the dead and dying in barracks and boxcars as Nazi captors moved them from Poland to France to Germany. The skeletal friends said a tearful Kaddish  a Jewish prayer of mourning  after learning their parents had died in the gas chambers.

But suddenly, the familiar names had faces.

Seeing the faces of all of them really brought the story to life, said Eisen, who discovered the photos while moving her mother, Ruth Salton, 99, from Florida to the Dallas area this past summer.

Eisen, 62, said she felt compelled to learn more about the confidants who had meant so much to her father, who died at age 88 in 2016.

George Salton was 17 when the U.S. Army liberated the Wobbelin concentration camp in Germany on May 2, 1945. Over the next few years, the survivors scattered around the world. Most lost touch with each other.

But 76 years after American soldiers cut down the barbed wire and fulfilled the prisoners impossible dream of freedom, Eisen set out to bring together the survivors loved ones.

As Eisen began her research, she relied on names written in pencil on the picture backs or mentioned repeatedly in Saltons 2002 book, The 23rd Psalm: A Holocaust Memorial.

As she combed through Nazi-era data, official documents, concentration camp lists and postwar records stored online through the Arolsen Archives at the International Center on Nazi Persecution in Germany, Eisen verified survivors names and dates of birth.

Through Ancestry.com, she explored passenger lists of ships that took Holocaust survivors to other countries, Social Security cards documenting name changes, and obituaries and family trees.

Some assumed new identities as they made fresh starts after the war. Eisens father was born as Lucek Salzman in the town of Tyczyn, Poland. But after the dangers he had faced, he chose a less Jewish-sounding name upon arrival in New York in 1947.

Google and Facebook searches led Eisen to the children and grandchildren of her fathers friends, most of whom never knew  until now  the full story of what their loved ones experienced.

Todd Nussen, a high school history teacher in Oceanside, New York, reacted with shock  and excitement  when Eisen texted him in late July to ask about his namesake grandfather, Tobias Nussen, who died at age 52 in 1973.

Now I have details. Now I have facts, the 40-year-old educator said.

___

As a result of Eisens research, family members of eight Holocaust survivors met for the first time on a recent Sunday.

Some exchanged hugs and tears in person at a New Jersey hotel suite.

Others connected via Zoom from Israel, Sweden and Texas.

It just gave me the chills, Bobbie Ziff, 67, a resident of Jackson, New Jersey, said of the emotional gathering, which came together less than four months after the photos discovery.

Ziff is the daughter of Tobias Nussen and the aunt of Todd Nussen.

Her father built a new life in America and owned a luncheonette in Brooklyn, New York, Ziff said. He never talked about the Holocaust, but he often had nightmares and screamed in his sleep.

Eisen sent Ziff a copy of Tobias Nussens photo as well as his name in a tiny diary that belonged to Salton.

It was just crazy, crazy, Ziff said. My only regret is that this didnt happen while her father (Salton) was alive. I would have wished to speak to him.

Pictured in another of the photos that Eisen found: Motek Hoffstetter.

His daughter Aviva Findler, a retired high school teacher who lives in Tel Aviv, Israel, said her father, like many other survivors, refused to talk about the Holocaust.

During the meeting, I found out he was very respected by his friends, which made me really proud and sad, Findler said. Seeing all of us on Zoom made me wonder once more about the power of life that enabled our fathers to start families and life after all the losses they suffered and what they witnessed.

Likewise, Anna Schlachet, 69, a doctor in Stockholm, said her father, Moses Ziment, spoke little about his Holocaust experience.

However, he did tell her that the rest of the family was gassed to death.

Sitting in a Zoom meeting with people I did not even know existed before, and at the same time understanding that we largely shared the same history, was a very strange and unreal experience, Schlachet said.

Another of the survivors, Emil Ringel, also moved to the United States. Ringel and his wife, Clara, introduced Salton  Eisens father  to his future wife, Ruth, whose own Jewish family had fled Poland and labored in work camps in Siberia during World War II. Ringel died at age 52 in 1979.

Daughter Barbara Ringel, of Queens, New York, relished meeting the children and grandchildren of her fathers friends.

That strength of spirit, that courage, that resilience, that ability to really try to push each other to survive  that was what characterized all of our dads, Barbara Ringel said.

___

For much of his life, Eisens own father believed in keeping the past in the past. He preferred to focus on living the American dream.

Fellow survivors did the same, not wanting to dwell on their rotten teeth or explain why they refused to waste even a single piece of bread.

Its a wound, Ruth Salton said of what she and her husband of 63 years experienced growing up. We didnt want any of our kids to carry the stuff that we lived through. We thought, It will hurt them. We want them to be happy.

George Salton proudly served in the same U.S. Army that had rescued him. He earned degrees in physics and electrical engineering. He worked in a high-level role at the Pentagon and held an executive position in the aerospace industry.

But eventually, his three children  especially Eisen, named after a grandmother she never knew  demanded answers about his childhood.

That led to George, Ruth and the three adult children traveling to Poland in 1998 to visit old concentration camps and ghettos, the remnants of synagogues and cemeteries throughout the central European country.

With Eisens help, Salton recounted the details of his familys Holocaust experience in his 2002 memoir.

Every day blended with the next, filled with hunger, sleepless nights, hard labor and the constant threat of beatings, selections, and executions, he wrote.

The book  and the New Jersey gathering  helped Miriam Kershner, daughter of Holocaust survivor Moses Tuchman, understand her father in a way she never had, she said.

We all felt so connected by our parents, and we all knew that our parents survived because of each other, said the retired teacher, 65, who lives in Marlboro, New Jersey.

I felt like I knew her all my life, Kershner said of meeting Eisen. Were sisters from another mother. Matter of fact, were going to get together again.

___

For her part, Eisen is writing a book of her own, Pillar of Salt: A Daughters Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust, which is due out next April. She is cooperating with a filmmaker, Jacob Wise, on a documentary based on her fathers experience and its impact on the second generation.

Eisen, a member of Congregation Beth Israel, a Reform Jewish community in Colleyville, Texas, said the book title reflects her faith.

I felt compelled to look back even though I was warned not to, she said, referencing the biblical account of Lots wife turning into a pillar of salt. I knew I risked being changed, but I had to face the past for the sake of my father.

It was not easy for me to bring these other families the truth. It was painful. But it was their story, and it belonged to them.

Its important, she believes, for the younger generations to keep the reality of the Holocaust alive.

Aaron Eisen, Annas 30-year-old son and co-author of Pillar of Salt, voiced pride in his mothers efforts.

My grandfather, when he would give speeches, would say that the Holocaust was incomprehensible, that we cant comprehend how this happened, said Aaron Eisen, who attended the New Jersey gathering. But I think over time we are beginning to comprehend, and what my mother is talking about, is that theres still so much to learn. With the technology and the archives, theres still so many more lessons.

As Ruth Salton approaches her 100th birthday, even she now understands the importance of telling the story, she said.

That is the only way to carry on, she said. Im so happy that the children are interested. The children want to tell the story, and the children can now live and feel what we did feel all our lives.

___

Not all of Anna Eisens research had a happy ending.

One of the pictures showed a young man named Izok Rypp.

Izok  Yiddish for Isaac  survived 10 concentration camps with George Salton and the others, apparently the only member of his family to escape the gas chambers as Nazi Germany systematically killed 6 million European Jews.

But he never made it out of a displaced persons camp in Germany after the prisoners liberation. He died at age 19 in July 1947, according to a death certificate. No cause of death was given.

He was the same age as Eisens father.

He never had a chance to have a life or a family, Eisen said. But his picture and his story in my fathers book have preserved his memory and his story.

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Oct. 18-22

This list is not comprehensive. Municipalities are listed as they appear on the criminal complaint. Suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. To see mugshots of the accused, visit journaltimes.com/gallery. Additional information about the complaints can be found at: journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts.

Nicholas J Altman, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, felony bail jumping.

Cyruss J Andresen, 1600 block of Martin Luther King Drive, Racine, operating a motor vehicle without owners consent, misdemeanor battery, disorderly conduct.

Michael A Brewer, 3900 block of Colorado Court, Racine, criminal damage to property (domestic abuse assessments), felony bail jumping.

Tamieka S Burton, 2800 block of Wright Avenue, Racine, possession of a firearm while intoxicated, carrying a concealed weapon.

Tikkia M Burton, 1500 block of Geneva Street, Racine, possession of THC.

Shakela L Cameron, 1600 block of Packard Avenue, Racine, misdemeanor battery (domestic abuse assessments), misdemeanor bail jumping.

Cameron R Davis, 1100 block of College Avenue, Racine, resisting an officer, felony bail jumping, possession of THC.

Edward L Gamble Jr., 2200 block of Center Street, Racine, possession of a firearm by a felon (firearm mandatory minimum enhancer).

Darrion J Gunn, 4200 block of Marquette Drive, Racine, possession of a firearm by a felon (firearm mandatory minimum enhancer), carrying a concealed weapon, obstructing an officer, misdemeanor bail jumping, armed robbery, take vehicle without owners consent by use or threat of force, receiving stolen property (between $2,500-$5,000), misdemeanor theft.

Mareena Harris, 2100 block of Northwestern Avenue, Racine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine (greater than 40 grams), maintaining a drug trafficking place, possession of THC, possession of drug paraphernalia.

Jaquay Q Hiler, 1600 block of 16th Street, Racine, strangulation and suffocation (domestic abuse assessments, misdemeanor battery (domestic abuse assessments), disorderly conduct (domestic abuse assessments), misdemeanor bail jumping (domestic abuse assessments).

Valerie A Hoaglund, 1600 block of Deane Boulevard, Racine, misdemeanor bail jumping.

Monica M Hoffmann, 1800 block of Woodland Avenue, Racine, disorderly conduct, felony bail jumping.

Quay D Howard, 2300 block of 90th Street, Sturtevant, obstructing an officer, possession of THC, misdemeanor battery, disorderly conduct.

Cecil Jones III, 1800 block of Mead Street, Racine, disorderly conduct (domestic abuse assessments), criminal damage to property (domestic abuse assessments), operating a motor vehicle while under the influence (3rd offense, general alcohol concentration enhancer).

Camerion D King, 2800 block of Wright Avenue, Racine, obstructing an officer, possession of drug paraphernalia.

Charles E Kirkpatrick, 200 block of Luedtke Avenue, Racine, impersonating a peace officer, misdemeanor operating a motor vehicle without owners consent, concealing stolen property (less than $2,500), misdemeanor bail jumping.

Matthew J Konwent, 600 block of South Green Bay Road, Mount Pleasant, misdemeanor theft.

Anthony A Lamar, 1000 block of Lathrop Avenue, Racine, substantial battery (domestic abuse assessments), disorderly conduct (domestic abuse assessments).

Vannessa M Lees, 1000 block of College Avenue, Racine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine (more than 40 grams, use of a dangerous weapon), possession with intent to deliver/distribute/manufacture THC (between 200-1,000 grams), alter identity marks (manufacturer property), maintaining a drug trafficking place (use of a dangerous weapon), neglecting a child (specified harm did not occur and child under 6 years of age, possession of drug paraphernalia, disorderly conduct.

Donald E Luccason, 4100 block of Walsh Road, Racine, disorderly conduct.

Sean J Mandli, 31100 block of Weiler Road, Burlington, felony bail jumping.

Juan Marquez Jr., 400 block of Randolph Street, Racine, stalking (domestic abuse assessments, felony domestic abuse repeater), knowingly violate a domestic abuse injunction (domestic abuse assessments, felony domestic abuse repeater), felony bail jumping (domestic abuse assessments, felony domestic abuse repeater).

Brett G Maves, 1400 block of 11th Avenue, Union Grove, operate motor vehicle while revoked.

Ricardo Mendoza Sr., 1600 block of Boyd Avenue, Racine, misdemeanor retail theft (intentionally take less than or equal to $500).

Laquita K Norton, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence (1st offense, with a minor child in the vehicle), operating with prohibited alcohol concentration (1st offense, with a minor child in the vehicle).

Jasmine Okray, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, possession of THC.

Delarrinardo D Perkins, 3700 block of 10th Avenue, Racine, operating a motor vehicle without owners consent, felony bail jumping.

Joseph A Pirk Sr., 1600 block of Pratt Avenue, Racine, possession of THC.

Oceaion T Powell, 1400 block of Lincoln Street, Racine, possession with intent to deliver/distribute/manufacture THC (less than or equal to 200 grams), carrying a concealed weapon.

Pauline M Rider, 1500 block of Thurston Avenue, Racine, misdemeanor battery (domestic abuse assessments), disorderly conduct (domestic abuse assessments, use of a dangerous weapon).

Bobby D Rosenthal, Elkhorn, Wisconsin, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence (3rd offense, general alcohol concentration enhancer), misdemeanor bail jumping.

Julian C Sherman, Lansing, Illinois, receiving stolen property (greater than $10,000), possession of narcotic drugs, criminal damage to property.

Robert P Tallman, 700 block of North River Road, Waterford, criminal damage to property (domestic abuse assessments), disorderly conduct (domestic abuse assessments).

Joshua R Thompson Sr., 2300 block of Rosalind Avenue, Racine, misdemeanor battery (domestic abuse assessments), disorderly conduct (domestic abuse assessments).

Aaron J Vanevenhoven, 800 block of 53rd Drive, Union Grove, substantial battery, disorderly conduct.

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KENOSHA  The edge of the steps leading to Marcus Giddens front porch is lined with tokens of affection  candles, flowers, balloons tied to the railing, a can of his favorite beer.

Several feet away, through the front door to the building on the steps leading to the landing of his second-floor apartment, a bloodstain marks the need for the memorial to Giddens.

Forty-one-year-old Giddens  known in his Uptown neighborhood by the nickname Lucky  was killed at about 11:20 p.m. on Oct. 8 in the four-unit building on the 6300 block of 24th Avenue.

A neighbor who lives in the building said she was home the night of the murder. She said she heard Lucky laugh, then heard gunfire. The shooter fled. Lucky was found lying on the steps with multiple gunshot wounds, the neighbor said, a beer still in his hand.

Giddens death was the 10th homicide in the City of Kenosha this year.

On Oct. 19, there were two more. Eighteen-year-old Marian Pizarro, who was 9 months pregnant and due to have her baby any day, and her boyfriend Sebastian Perez-Alverez, 17, were shot and killed in their home on the 600 block of 40th Place. Pizzaros mother Luz Pizarro-Perez, and Pizarro-Perezs 14-year-old son, were shot and wounded. Police believe Pizarro-Perezs 24-year-old boyfriend, Jostin Gutierrez-Pagan, shot everyone in the family, then shot and killed himself.

Kenosha Police Sgt. Leo Viola said police believe the shootings happened after Gutierrez-Pagan became enraged about Perez-Alverez being in the home.

A tragedy like this is almost beyond comprehension, Interim Kenosha Police Chief Eric Larsen said about the Oct. 19 shooting.

But tragedy has become a nearly monthly occurrence in the county this year. The City of Kenosha is now up to 12 homicides this year  nearly triple the average annual total. Add to citys total the three men killed in April at the Somers House tavern and that brings the number of people killed Kenosha County to 15 so far in 2021.

Behind each of the numbers is heartbreak. I wont answer messages but I just ask for a lot of prayer for me and my family. Hard days are coming and I will need a lot of strength, Pizarro-Perez wrote on social media the day after the shooting that decimated her family.

In Uptown, a week after Giddens death, two friends sat on his porch near his memorial. They said his death had shocked the neighborhood where he was known as friendly, non-confrontational and devoted to his family. Lucky was love, nothing but love, said a friend who was sitting on Giddens front steps near the memorial. She said she did not want to be identified, fearing retribution.

On the same block

Visible from the front steps of Giddens home  just across the street and to the south on the same block  another set of steps, another makeshift memorial, another bloodstain. On Labor Day, a gunman killed 23-year-old Chrishon Wright  the ninth homicide victim of the year  shooting him in the chest as he attended a cookout in the front yard.

Wrights mother, Nicole Jones, said her son, who split his time between his home in Lake County, Ill., and his girlfriends home in Kenosha, was on 25th Avenue that day attending a family gathering at the home of a relative of his girlfriend.

Police described the shooting as a targeted killing.

According to Jones, her son Chrishon was out on the front lawn along with his girlfriend, her relatives and Chrishons young children when the gunman appeared.

When the gentleman approached them he told Chrishons girlfriend to move out of the way, Jones said. And then he just shot my son. It was very targeted. It was bold, a very bold thing that that gentleman did to go after him in front of all the kids.

The day after the shooting neighbors described hearing gunfire and children screaming.

Nationwide uptick

The City of Kenosha typically has about five homicides each year. This year, the first two homicides came just six days into the year when a 24-year-old man is alleged to have hacked his father and stepmother to death with a machete. Murders hit their normal annual total by the second week in March.

Kenosha isnt alone in seeing an increase in murders. According to FBI statistics released in September, the United States saw a record one-year increase in homicides from 2019 to 2020, with a total of 21,500 people killed, up about 4,900 from the previous year. Seventy-seven percent of people murdered died by gunfire. While the number of murders is increasing, overall crime is on the decline.

This year, the number of homicides is continuing to rise nationwide, although at a slower pace than last year. Kenoshas two much larger neighbors  Chicago and Milwaukee  are having particularly violent years. According to data compiled by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Milwaukee has had 160 homicides so far in 2021, up slightly from the same date last year, which was itself a record year for murders in the city. In Chicago, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, 642 people have been killed so far in 2021, outpacing last year and reaching the highest level since the 1990s.

The cause of the increase nationwide is subject to debate, with speculation nationally focusing on the societal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the proliferation of firearms and the impact of widespread protest about police shootings.

Puzzling data

Kenosha Police Chief Larsen has a longtime interest in using data as a tool in directing resources. What the data shows in the homicide increase here presents a puzzle, he said.

Weve seen an increase in all firearm-related activity and I think certain aspects of that are starting to catch up with us, Larsen said. Last year there were 189 verified shots-fired calls in the city, up nearly 114 percent from 2019 and up 186 percent from 2018. Aggravated assault with firearm cases increased from 8 in 2019 to 52 in 2020.

Guns were involved in all but two of the 15 homicides in the county this year.

To combat increasing gun crime, Kenosha Police formed the Special Investigations Unit this year. The unit is made up of officers who had been assigned to the gang unit and to drug investigations. The SIU also has assigned federal officers from the ATF and includes a partnership with Pleasant Prairie Police. One focus of the group is targeting illegal guns.

But even as homicides have doubled, shots-fired calls have fallen sharply this year. Larsen said last week that there have been 87 shots-fired calls from Jan. 1 through Oct. 18 this year compared to 153 in the same time period last year.

Shootings resulting in injuries are also sharply down. Larsen said there were 34 shooting incidents involving injuries in 2020 and only 10 thus far in 2021.

Thats why it is difficult to use 2020 as any kind of measure. There were so many social, economic, and even educational factors that affected everyone, Larsen said.

Domestic incidents

The police chief said the increase in murders cannot be attributed only to gun crime. Fifty percent of them (homicides this year) are domestic related, which is significant, he said in an interview he gave days before the most recent homicides. With the double homicide on 40th Place, that percentage has climbed to about 67 percent. This isnt just happening on the streets, its happening in our households also.

Larsen said that indicates there are wider societal causes behind the increase.

Last week four Kenosha Police officers walked the Uptown neighborhood looking to address those issues, trying to chat with local residents and to offer a guidebook to resources in the community. They hoped not only to give people links to services, but to work to build relationships and trust in a neighborhood that has been rocked by violence over the last year and by rioting that occurred last August in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting by Officer Rusten Sheskey.

They knocked on doors, stopped to talk to people gathered in a barbershop, and to talk to people working in their yards or hanging out on porches.

One of the stops they made was on Luckys porch, where a neighbor and a friend of Luckys were sharing beers.

Were not here investigating anything, were just letting people know what support is out there, Kenosha Police Lt. Joe Nosalik told the women sitting on Luckys porch. The officers were handing out a pocket-sized booklet from the Kenosha County Division of Health and the Department of Human Resources that had phone numbers for mental health and substance abuse counseling services, legal assistance, and for food pantries and shelter programs.

But the talk quickly turned to Lucky, with the officers sharing recollections of a man they knew from the neighborhood and for his side business selling DVDs and CDs on the street, and the women on the porch sharing memories of their friend.

When the officers walked away, one of the women on the porch was nervous. People are going to see I was talking to them, theyre going to be saying Im a snitch, she said.

When police left the woman looked at the booklet they had handed her and said I dont need this, I dont need support.

I do, said another man from the neighborhood, taking the booklet from her. I need counseling.

The man said he lived next door to the home where Chrishon Wright had been killed, and had been home with his children when the shooting happened. They heard the shots and heard the screams of the kids in the yard. He said while watching a movie this week he was surprised when felt panicky when there was gunfire in the film. I didnt know how much it affected me.

Social medias impact

Chrishon Wrights mother Nicole Jones has another theory in what may be fueling homicides  at least that that took the life of her son. I really believe its social media, she said, saying that she thinks what began as a dispute on social media may have led to her sons shooting. Words being thrown back from different individuals.

Social media feuds are often the spark behind violent crime in Kenosha. And according to past statements from Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley, worries from witnesses about the possibility of being outed on Facebook have led to a growing reluctance to cooperate with police and prosecutors in investigations.

The thing about social media is that it makes communication that much easier because you can communicate any time of the day with anyone regardless of where you are. That being said, you also can have conflict any time of the day, with anyone, Larsen said. It could be argued that friend groups are larger and similarly enemy groups could also. Rumors in the past might have a limited audience; now they could be shared to thousands.

Jones said since Wrights death, shes been mourning for him, worried about her traumatized grandchildren, and remembering happier times, including her birthday a year ago when all of her children and grandchildren, including Wright, were with her to celebrate.

My son, he had his faults. He got into mischief here and there, she said. But he was loveable, always happy, always had a good smile on his face. He loved his kids. He was a great dad.

She said Kenosha Police detectives have been keeping in close contact with her about their investigation, and she said she is grateful for their work and feels they will ultimately make an arrest.

Its hard to understand who could hate him so much to walk up to him in broad daylight and shoot him like that, Jones said. That is a person who has to be heartless. Hes a cold-blooded killer  they need to get this individual off the street before another mother, or other kids, have to see their loved one shot down like this.

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Residents in the 262 area code in southeast Wisconsin are now required to dial 10 digits (area code plus phone number) for all local calls.

Starting today (Sunday, Oct. 24), local calls dialed with only seven digits may not be completed, and a recording may inform customers that their call cannot be completed as dialed. The recording will ask customers to hang up and redial with 10 digits.

TDS Telecom is alerting its customers in southeast Wisconsin about the change.

Customers should reprogram automatic dialing equipment and other devices now programmed with seven digits. Residents and businesses should check with security or alarm companies to make sure their systems are programmed to handle the new 10-digit dialing pattern.

Products that will need to be changed to 10-digits could include: life safety systems, VoIP and Private Branch Exchange systems, electronic telephone sets, autodial systems, multiline key systems, fax machines, internet dial-up numbers, alarm and security systems, gates, speed dialers, call forwarding settings and voicemail services.

Residents and businesses should also check their business stationery or advertising materials to ensure the area code is included.

This change to 10-digit dialing will prevent people from calling the new 9-8-8 emergency phone line by mistake. Beginning July 16, 2022, dialing 9-8-8 will connect people to the National Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Crisis Lifeline, as proposed by the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC said it hopes that a shorter, easy-to-remember number will more efficiently provide people with help when they need it most. However, until July 16, 2022, people should continue to call 1-800-273-TALK to reach the Lifeline.

In an emergency that requires immediate assistance from the police, fire department or ambulance, dialing 911 is still the number customers should use.

Important things to note:

Phone numbers and area codes will remain the same.

The price for both local and long-distance calling will not change for TDS customers.

Long-distance calls will still be made by dialing 1 + area code + phone number.

Make sure anything that uses or displays a phone number, or the phone numbers of others, is updated to include the area code. This could include any of the following: business stationery and marketing materials, home security systems, contact lists, voicemail services, fax machines and life safety systems.

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BUFFALO GROVE, Ill.  Kenosha County Sheriffs Deputy Terry Tifft and his K9 Riggs received a heros welcome when the police dog was released from a veterinary hospital in Illinois Sunday.

Dozens of canine officers and their police dogs, along with Kenosha deputies, local first responders and family members turned out to honor the dog Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth called a hero for stopping an armed homicide suspect who was running toward Highway 50 Thursday in Bristol.

The man  33-year-old Allen Brown of Countryside, Ill.  shot Riggs in the head after the dog tackled Brown to the ground as he fled. Brown was then shot and wounded by deputies.

The dog did his job, he saved my life and those of my fellow officers, Tifft said. The man the dog tackled is suspected of killing two people earlier that day.

Tifft was emotional when Riggs was walked out of the Veterinary Specialty Center in Buffalo Grove, Ill. Sunday, kneeling and hugging the 8-year-old German Shepherd who has been his partner since 2014.

Its very emotional, very emotional, I couldnt be happier right now, Tifft said before loading Riggs into his squad car to bring him back to Kenosha.

He was going to be followed on his trip by a procession of law enforcement vehicles, the deputy and his dog then honored again at a ceremony in a park before heading home. I cant believe how good he looks ... I thought it was bad, I thought I was going to lose him.

Chicago Police had asked sheriffs deputies to go to the Benson Corners Shell Station, 20000 75th St. in Bristol Thursday morning to search for a man suspected of killing two people and stealing one of the victims vehicles during a violent spree earlier the same day, according to Chicago media reports.

Three deputies, including Tifft, arrived at the station and the vehicle that had been stolen during the Chicago carjacking was in the station lot. They ordered Brown out of the vehicle. But, according to Beth, Brown got out of the car and began running toward Highway 50. Tifft released Riggs, who brought Brown to the ground just before he ran onto the road. Brown then shot the dog.

Very lucky dog

On Sunday, the healing bullet wound was visible in the center of Riggs forehead just above his eyes.

He is a very, very lucky dog, said veterinarian Herring. She said the bullet entered Riggs forehead then skirted through the muscle along his skull, exiting through the back of his head near the base of his skull. She said the path of the bullet was visible through the muscle, and there was some bruising to his brain, but said Harris escaped serious injury and should recover well.

Hes a very strong dog, Herring said.

Riggs was first treated by staff of Harris Veterinary Hospital in Paddock Lake, with staff riding in the Salem Lakes Fire Department ambulance that brought him to the hospital in Buffalo Grove. Paramedics Kyle Tobias and Eric Epstein, who were in the ambulance that transported the dog, came to see his release from the hospital.

Epstein said Riggs was unusually calm in the ambulance despite his injury. I was just trying to keep him calm, Epstein said, as a veterinary technician from Harris handled his care. He was very relaxed, and kind of acting like a regular dog (in the ambulance). I was petting him and he was leaning up against me.

Shooter was suspect in two killings

Brown was shot in the leg and abdomen. He had surgery at a local hospital and is expected to survive. He is likely to face felony charges in Kenosha for the shooting.

According to CBS Chicago, Brown is suspected of shooting and killing a 25-year-old man during an argument at a bus stop in Chicago at about 1 a.m. Thursday. He then ran from that shooting and carjacked a 41-year-old man, shooting that man in the chest and stealing his vehicle. The second victim died at an area hospital. Brown has two previous felony convictions, the most recent in 2009 for aggravated battery to a police officer.

On Sunday, many of the canine officers and police dogs that turned out to welcome Riggs as he left the hospital also train at Tops Kennel in Grayslake, Ill. The Kenosha County Sheriffs Department K9 officers and their dogs regularly train at the kennel, which also provides the department their dogs.

Trainer Alex Rothacker was also at the veterinary hospital to greet Riggs and Tifft.

The dog did what he was supposed to do, he did his job, which is to protect his family  and for these dogs, all people are their family, Rothacker said. Emotionally, he is fine. They told me that when he got shot he never let go, which is remarkable  I pray that the sheriff lets him go back to work.

For now, though, Tifft said he was anxious to get Riggs home. We just want to go home and get some rest, he said.

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It doesnt take more than driving by a gas station or looking at your utility bill to see that we are all taking it in the pocketbook because 
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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Thirty years after she closed her Wild & Woolly boutique at 308 Main St. and told the Tribune that downtown La Crosse was dying, Nancy Neil will open her Outrageous Boutique on Wednesday in the former Dim Sum Tea Shop location at 221 Pearl St.

Im impressed with how the downtown has improved in recent years, Neil said of her decision to open her womens boutique there. It took a while. Im glad to be here on Pearl Street.

Neil operated Outrageous Boutique for five years in Galveston, Texas, before closing it in the summer of 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She moved back to La Crosse in March, partly because a son and his family live here.

I just had a hard time retiring, she said of her decision to open Outrageous Boutique in downtown La Crosse.

Neil operated Wild & Woolly womens boutique in La Crosse from 1986 to 1991 and also had Wild & Woolly locations in Lake Geneva, Wis., and Galena, Ill. She also operated the Martindale House bed and breakfast at 237 S. 10th St. in La Crosse from 1985 to 1988.

Outrageous Boutique will sell apparel, accessories and gift items. Hours will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday and closed Monday and Tuesday.

For more information, call the store at 608-519-0176.

Boot Barn opened Wednesday in the former Pawn America store at 1235 Crossing Meadows Drive in Onalaska.

Its part of a national chain based in Irvine, Calif., that had 277 stores in 36 states as of early September. Boot Barn stores sell western- and work-related footwear, apparel and accessories for men, women and children.

The Onalaska store is the companys second Wisconsin location. The other one is in Eau Claire.

Hours at the new Onalaska store are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 608-399-2217 or visit www.bootbarn.com.

Jason Cobb, a financial advisor with Edward Jones, has opened an office in Suite 100 at 831 Critter Court in Onalaska.

The office opened Aug. 9. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and by appointment on evenings and Saturday.

Cobb has been an Edward Jones financial advisor since April 2019. Before opening the Onalaska office, he was working at an Edward Jones office in West Salem.

Edward Jones, which is headquartered in St. Louis, provides financial services in the United States and, through its affiliate, in Canada.

For more information, call Cobbs office at 608-518-3211 or visit www.edwardjones.com/jason-cobb.

Tommy ONeil has opened Sunrise Moving & Storage Co. in Onalaska.

His business opened in September. Its services include packing and unpacking, local moves, commercial moves, long-distance moves, pick-up and delivery, and storage.

Office hours are 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.

For more information, call 732-546-8691 or visit www.sunrisemovingandstore.com or Sunrises Facebook page or Instagram.

Heavenly Crossroads Salon & Spas La Crosse salon, which opened in 2016 at 2835 Darling Court, as a tenant in part of the former La Crosse Wellness Center building, has temporarily moved to the former Regis Salon space in Valley View Mall.

The La Crosse salon opened in the mall in early September, said Heather Yahnke, who with her husband Justin owns Heavenly Crossroads two salons in La Crosse and Holmen.

Were in the former Regis space for the time being, until we build their own building, Heather said. She had no prediction as to where or when the new building will be constructed. For more information, visit the salons Facebook page.

Steve Cahalan can be reached at stevecahalan.reporter@gmail.com

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Great Rivers United Way has been community-driven for more than 70 years.

From start to finish, our fundraising efforts rely on residents of our seven-county service region. First, thousands of community members pledge their financial support. Then, volunteers  many of whom are also donors  participate in our grant-making process.

Although Citizen Review officially debuted in 1960, an Executive Budget Committee comprised of volunteers had been making funding decisions since Great Rivers United Ways inception as the Community Chest & Welfare Federation in 1949. That year, 16 committee members were involved. By 1960, that number grew to 33 and included those outside of the Budget Committee.

In 1964, 256 community members attended our Annual Budget Review, where they analyzed agency finances and made a recommendation to the Budget Committee, who in turn made a funding recommendation our Board of Directors.

This same approval process exists today, with some modern twists. First community volunteers read and rate grants. Those outcomes are then reviewed by our Fund Distribution Steering Committee, who makes a recommendation to our Board of Directors.

Thanks to modern technology, volunteers are able to participate from the comfort of their own homes. Interested in learning more about our communitys needs, what our partners are doing to address them, and how YOU can get involved? Read on 

Great Rivers United Way is currently recruiting Community Investment volunteers. Community Investment is our process for fulfilling our Certified Partners funding requests. Community Investment happens every two years.

Community Investment volunteers can expect to increase their knowledge of community needs and resources by reading, evaluating, and rating grant applications using a clear set of criteria. Past volunteers have reported feeling good about helping to ensure that donor dollars are invested in great programs that help people living right here in our community.

Prior to grant review, volunteers are trained to leave any unknown bias they may have at the door in order to evaluate fairly and equitably. Volunteers are not assigned grants from organizations they have a relationship with in an effort to avoid conflicts of interest.

The time commitment for this volunteer need is two meetings totaling four hours, plus the time it takes you to review the five or six grants assigned to you on your own. The total commitment is roughly 11 to 14 hours.

Following independent review, volunteers attend a panel at which they will discuss their ratings with other volunteers who have reviewed the same grants. Panel members discuss their grant proposals and decide on a final collective score.

The training and panels will take place virtually this year, and volunteers will utilize an easy-to-use online platform called CommunityForce for rating. An internet-connected computer or tablet, plus a desire to learn are required. Volunteers should live or work in our counties served: Buffalo, Crawford, La Crosse, Monroe, Trempealeau and Vernon in Wisconsin, and Houston in Minnesota.

While a donation to Great Rivers United Way is a wonderful way to support your community, deciding how those gifts are distributed helps ensure that we are the best stewards possible of our donors hard-earned dollars. Please consider getting involved in this community-driven process this year.

To learn more about becoming a Community Investment volunteer or to sign up, visit www.gruw.org/communityinvestment.

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Much as Colin Powell deserves a tribute as Americas first Black secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he was under-recognized as a bridge-builder and champion of political moderation.

Powell, who died Monday, was a Republican who dared to challenge his own partys orthodoxy and tried to avert its drift toward right-wing extremism. The fact that he was later joined in his call for moderation by one of the architects of that rightward lurch  former Vice President Dick Cheney  attests to Powells judgment and thoughtful foresight.

Cheney was adamant about launching the 2003 war in Iraq and was willing to engage in the worst forms of political subterfuge to get his way. He enlisted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a campaign to deceive Americans  and the world  into believing Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Powells was the loudest and most persistent voice of dissent in President George W. Bushs administration, arguing that evidence was flimsy and didnt justify going to war. Cheney and Rumsfeld ridiculed the retired four-star Army general and Vietnam veteran as weak. Their insistence on the Iraqi threat (nonexistent though it later proved to be) convinced Bush that an invasion was necessary. The result was a costly, deadly and highly unpopular war that destabilized the region and wound up drawing troops and resources away from Americas well-justified war in Afghanistan. Both wars ultimately would conclude in humiliating U.S. retreats.

Long before that, however, was Powells own humiliation. Bush, under heavy pressure from Cheney, ordered Powell to compile the most persuasive case he could for United Nations support for the Iraq invasion. Powell, an obedient soldier to the end who believed first and foremost in honoring the chain of command, gave a 76-minute Security Council speech aided by enlarged intelligence photos and visual aids purporting to prove that Iraq was developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Across America, those who dared to question Cheney and Rumsfeld found themselves bombarded with right-wing attacks on their patriotism. Powell recognized that this dangerous trend screamed for correction before it got out of control. After resigning as secretary of state in 2005, he admitted the U.N. speech was a blot on his legacy. In 2008, Powell wanted to endorse his longtime friend, Republican Sen. John McCain, for the presidency. But he feared McCains choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate would pull the GOP even further to the right.

Powell broke with his party and backed Democrat Barack Obama instead. He later endorsed Hillary Clintons presidential bid over Donald Trump.

In the ultimate affirmation of Powells good judgment, he was joined recently in the call for GOP political moderation by none other than Cheney himself.

Powell was simply and completely, a leader, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated Monday.   He gave us his decency.

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A well-known local Mennonite missionary will celebrate the release of his new book Thursday evening at Landisville Mennonite Church, 3320 Bowman Road, Landisville.

An Evening with David and Grace Shenk will feature David Shenk and his wife, Grace, in discussion about his new book, A Gentle Boldness: Sharing the Peace of Jesus in a Multi-Faith World. Shenk, of Mountville, will sign copies of his new book.

The event, which begins at 7 p.m., is hosted by Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society and co-sponsored by Eastern Mennonite Missions. It is an in-person event but will also be available to stream at facebook.com/MennoniteLife. Phyllis Good will moderate the discussion.

Shenks new book shares stories from his work in Christian missions across the globe. Hell also share insight from societies, cultures and religions hes explored in his travels that respond to his question, What difference does Jesus make?

Shenk was born in Tanzania and is the child of pioneer Mennonite missionaries J. Clyde and Alta Barge Shenk.

Shenk moved to Lancaster County at age 15. He graduated from Lancaster Mennonite High School in 1955 and from Eastern Mennonite University in 1959.

In 1963, he and Grace began a 10-year assignment with Eastern Mennonite MIssions in Somalia, according to a biography on Lancaster Mennonites website. There, he helped develop the Somalia Mennonite Missions educational program.

In 1973, he received a doctorate from New York University.

Next, he and his family served in Kenya. He developed a scriptural course for Muslims, The People of God, which has been translated into nearly 45 languages, according to the biography.

I have a special interest in encouraging faithful Christian peacemaking, presence, and witness among Muslims, he said in the biography.

The Shenks are members of Eastern Mennonite Missions Christian-Muslim Relations Team.

Shenk was named Lancaster Mennonite Schools Alumnus of the Year in 2007.

Copies of Shenks new book will be for sale at Thursdays event for $16.99. For more information, visit lmhs.org.
Ahead of the July 4th holiday, Lancaster officials announced a zero-tolerance policy for improper fireworks usage.

But after the smoke cleared from the festive three-day weekend, it turned out that only one fireworks citation was issued in Lancaster city, and it turned out to be a dud.

Scott Allen Murphy, who lives in the 100 block of Mary Street and was the citys neighbor of the month in February 2019, received a summary citation for violating the citys fireworks ordinance on July 3. He faced a $100 fine along with $93 in court costs.

But Murphy, 47, said after talking with the officer and District Judge Adam Witkonis about the spirit of the law and the difference between actual fireworks and novelties such as sparklers, the officer graciously agreed to withdraw the citation on Oct. 13.

Murphy said the officer didnt do anything wrong at all and was following an ordinance that he thinks is over-restrictive.

Murphy said he knows the problems that can be caused by fireworks in the city. Thats why he said he specifically purchased items from the novelty section of Keystone Fireworks to entertain his young son. He purposefully avoided the more powerful consumer-grade fireworks that were on offer.

Still, Murphy said, even the novelty items he bought might run afoul of the law. Under his reading of the citys ordinance, even sparklers are illegal.

That police were only able to issue one citation  only to withdraw it three months later  demonstrates the difficulty in enforcing fireworks laws.

The problem with enforcement is that police have to catch someone in the act. Its like speeding, loud mufflers, motorcycles revving needlessly  you see and hear those transgressions, but even if you were to call police, the offender is long gone by the time officers arrive. Not to mention that fireworks are mostly set off in the dark of night.

Get over it

Complaining about fireworks, The Watchdog knows, dates back well before the rockets glared red and bombs burst in the air above Fort McHenry. Ahead of this years Independence Day celebration, it seemed clear that there was little appetite among Pennsylvania officials to crack down on noisy incendiaries.

This summer, the author of the 2017 state law that opened up the market for consumer-grade fireworks, Lycoming County Sen. Gene Yaw, was quoted as saying, Were not going to repeal it. Get over it.

Though a legislative aide told The Watchdog we arent sure that statement is 100% accurate, the underlying position was clear: The law was here to stay.

But after receiving a "copious amount of emails" after July 4, according to Yaws legislative director, Matt Osenbach, Yaw said he would introduce legislation to tweak the law to give municipalities some tools to combat lawbreakers. Also playing a role in shifting Yaws views was a fire attributed to improperly disposed of fireworks in York County. That fire killed an 8-year-old boy, injured three family members and destroyed a home.

While I am well aware of the complaints and the illegal use of consumer products, particularly in more urban settings, I believe we can make modifications to help further improve the current statute, Yaw wrote in a memorandum in July announcing his plan to introduce modification legislation.

Yaws bill, introduced Oct. 6, would increase penalties from the current $100 maximum to $1,000 for a first offense, $2,500 for a second offense and $5,000 for a third offense.

It would also limit setting off consumer fireworks to between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m., except on July 2, 3 and 4 and Dec. 31, when they may be used until 1 a.m. the following day.

The intent, Osenbach said, is to provide an incentive for police officers to try to catch some people in the act.

Osenbach said Yaw is looking to get input from law enforcement now that the legislation has been introduced. The senator is hopeful a legislative meeting might be scheduled in November.

A bill in the state House, co-signed by Lancaster Representatives Steven Mentzer and Mike Sturla, would set a maximum fine of $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for subsequent offense. It would restrict fireworks use to 10 a.m.-9 p.m. on Sunday-Thursday, except for July 4th, Memorial Day, and Labor Day, when they could be used until midnight, and until 1 a.m. on Jan. 1.

Safety first!

The Watchdog contacted Jess King, chief of staff for Mayor Danene Sorace, for reaction, but she declined comment.

State Fire Commissioner Bruce Trego said his office was aware of various legislative proposals.

We will continue to work with lawmakers to find common-sense solutions that acknowledge the problems weve seen in the past years with illegal and unsafe usage, as well as enforcement. Also we have had conversations with local government associations regarding the law and their proposals, Trego said.

In the meantime, we encourage everyone to educate themselves on what the law requires, how to safely handle fireworks, and to be courteous to their neighbors when celebrating, the statement said.

Osenbach also said education is important when it comes to fireworks.

Yaws intent with his 2017 legislation was to remedy an inequity, Osenbach said. Under the old law, Pennsylvania residents were generally unable to buy consumer fireworks  things such as Roman candles, bottle rockets and firecrackers. Those were sold at fireworks stores in Pennsylvania, but only to out-of-state residents.

Pennsylvania residents had largely been limited to so-called novelty fireworks  items such as sparklers and snakes. Display-grade fireworks  think the Barnstormers or your municipalitys July 4th fireworks display, have always been off-limits to consumers.

The Watchdog, who lives in the city and has heard fireworks that he knows are being improperly used (at all hours!), will be watching to see what progress the Legislature makes in changing the states fireworks laws.

As for Murphy, Lancaster citys lone recipient of a fireworks citation over the July 4 weekend, he said he celebrated the withdrawal of the citation with a grilled steak and a bottle of wine  and not by lighting off fireworks.
In a remodeled house on Fourth Street in Quarryville, the three funeral directors of Dewald Funeral and Cremation Services Inc. care for the living by dealing with the dead.

The building, modest in size, brings a feeling of comfortability that only a home could.

Grieving clients are invited to come as they are. The offices have armchairs and a couch for families to gather on when they come in to make funeral arrangements.

Their job is often overshadowed by the task of preparing bodies, but being a funeral director in a small town is much more. Michael Miller, Joel Reynolds and Frank Cazillo entered the profession from differing backgrounds and perspectives, but they share a common goal of helping people through some of the worst moments of their lives.

"Obviously we take care of the death part of it, Reynolds said, but our job is more to care for the living.

Mortuary services terminology Funeral director, mortician and undertaker: These are all synonymous terms. These people make funeral arrangements and prepare bodies for burial. Embalmer: This is the person who preserves the body. At Dewalds, the funeral directors perform their own embalming, but in other cases, an outside embalmer might travel to multiple larger funeral homes to specifically prepare the bodies. Interment versus inurnment: Interment means burial in the ground in a casket, while inurnment means cremation and the placement of remains in an urn. Viewing versus visitation: A viewing implies there will be a casket with a body, while a visitation implies that there will not be a casket or body present. Funeral service versus memorial service: Typically, a funeral service will have a casket and body present while a memorial service implies cremation, Reynolds said.

Reynolds wanted to make an impact in the community, as his funeral director father had.

Miller was fascinated by a funeral service he attended when he was 12.

Cazillo changed careers in his 40s because he wanted to have a more life-giving career.

They have worked together on a variety of tasks -- from general property maintenance and paperwork to meeting with the families and writing obituaries to embalming and preparing the deceased.

"It's truly an owner-operator type of business, though, Miller said. I mean we do everything from watering the flowers, to emptying the trash, to doing the removals, the embalming. It's just a small business through and through.  In a small business like this, I mean, we all do everything."

An early fascination with funeral homes

Around age 7 or 8, Miller rode his bike past a funeral home and wondered, Wow, what do they do in there?

At 12, Miller attended his grandfathers funeral. He was glued to the funeral directors side during the entire service, asking questions.

After that day, Miller -- now 39 -- knew that was what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

He got his first job at a funeral home shortly after, helping with upkeep at 13.

Miller earned a degree in funeral service education/mortuary arts and sciences from Northampton Community College, graduating with honors. He has been a funeral director for 15 years, and he completed the purchase of Dewald Funeral & Cremation Services this year.

Miller, who lives in Quarryville with his wife, Kara, and their four sons, said that early in his career, he thought most people experience grief in the same way. He quickly learned that was not the case, and that a funeral director has to have a keen sense of emotions.

Grief takes on many different forms, and you cant pigeon hole or put somebodys grief experience into a box because everybodys experience is different, Miller said, reflecting on what he has learned throughout this career.

While funeral directors arent grief counselors, they do strive to give families a smooth transition, helping alleviate stress during the families time of sadness.

"It's an education for me in the human experience. ... Everyone's grief is unique," Miller said.

Finding his calling later in life

Cazillo, a Parkesburg native, remembers a funeral director speaking during career day at his school.

Cazillo, 50 and living in Willow Street with his wife, Susan, initially took a different path, spending many years working for a company that contracted services to steel mills around the country.

In 2012, he decided it was time to switch careers, because his job no longer felt like a life-giving job.

At 41, he enrolled in mortuary school. He graduated with honors from the funeral service program at Northampton Community College, and in 2015, he received his Pennsylvania funeral directors license.

While commonly thought of as caring for the dead, Cazillo said, funeral directing is actually a life-giving practice.

Not only is it something he felt he was called to do, he said, but hes able to make a positive impact on the lives of the families he serves.

"You tend to be sharing their grief with them, Cazillo said. So, it does give you time to help minister to somebody in that situation and then help them walk through it."

That part of the profession is one that Cazillo, the father of two grown children, finds edifying.

"The most rewarding part of my job is when I feel like I've been able to help somebody and get them through a hard time, Cazillo said.

Carrying on his fathers commitment

3 misconceptions, myths funeral directors hear 1. Funeral directors are cold to death. This misconception is far from the truth, as many funeral directors will mourn with the families, said Joel Reynolds of Dewald Funeral & Cremation Services Inc. in Quarryville. Though a lot of time for funeral directors is spent working with the bodies of the deceased, they still share the families pain and grief. I sit and talk to families that I know well, Reynolds said. We'll cry together. It upsets me still, especially when a child dies." 2. Funeral directors live big, lavish lives. "Funeral directors got a bad rap, Reynolds said. They always drive in the big limousines and wear the suits. We're just normal people." Reynolds said that funeral directors are not trying to make money off of peoples losses, but rather are trying to serve them in one of their toughest moments. They treat everyone the same, no matter how much a family can spend on a funeral. 3. Funeral directors care primarily for the dead. "Obviously we take care of the death part of it, but our job is more to care for the living, Reynolds said. A lot of the career is about building relations with the families and the community so that they will trust you in taking care of such an important event.

Reynolds, 67, has lived in Quarryville his whole life (though he and his wife, Mary Ellen, also have a home in Myrtle Beach, S.C.) A fourth-generation mortician, Reynolds retired from daily operations of the funeral home in August but remains a licensed funeral director and has been helping grieving community members for 40 years.

Growing up, Reynolds could be found throughout his family's funeral home helping in any way he could: arranging flowers, maintaining the property and, once he was licensed, picking up bodies.

"It just felt normal to me, Reynolds said. This was just what I was supposed to do. ... It felt like a normal transition for me to step in and help out.

He remembers how he felt when people mentioned how caring his father, Carl Bud Reynolds Jr., was, and he strives to resemble him.

I grew up in this town, and I have various people that helped me grow up to be here, Reynolds said. So, I kind of look at it as just paying back to the community."

Reynolds described funeral directing as a lifestyle, comparing it to wedding planning, albeit condensed to two days.

It can be very hectic, but I think the term director -- funeral director -- is the best term because that's what I feel we do, Reynolds said. We direct people through this whole process.

Reynolds said that he and his colleagues arent what some people might picture when they think of funeral directors. He doesnt drive a big, fancy car or wear a three-piece suit.

That's just not the way we are, Reynolds said, mentioning that he drives a Ford.

Being a smaller business often means grieving alongside their clients.

Reynolds knows almost all of the people in the community that he serves, and, while he loves that, he also expressed how that makes the job more difficult.

I know their mom, or I know their child. ... So, I take a little bit of this home sometimes, Reynolds said. I buried my friend's mom. ... I'm starting to actually bury friends.

When its time to unwind and decompress, Reynolds said he likes to sit on the back porch of his house, secluded in the woods, to watch the trees while listening to the birds chirp.

Other days hell come home and lay across his bed to gather his thoughts.

"I just really wanna stare at nothing for an hour or two, Reynolds said.

Serving the community

Due to the 24/7, on-call nature of the job, a typical day could start between midnight and 8 a.m.

Who wants to get up at 2 o'clock in the morning to pick up someone thats just died? Miller asked, making his point on how funeral directing is a calling. There are 79 licensed active funeral directors in Lancaster County, according to the state Board of Funeral Directors, and thousands across Pennsylvania.

On slower days, they might come into the office in the morning and read the paper, paying special attention to the obituaries. Their team also includes an administrative assistant and two funeral assistants.

Given the nature of the profession, the long hours and the shared grief often felt with clients, heart and a passion for the profession is a must, Miller said.

Typically, students who enter mortuary school without any prior experience wont complete the degree, Miller said, recalling four students in his class who dropped out before the end of the first semester.

Cazillo referred to this career path as a calling, explaining why he drastically changed careers as a 41-year-old.

But Reynolds, having grown up in a funeral home, doesnt see it as a ministry. Frankly, he wouldnt even call it work. To him, it is quite simply his life and all hes ever known.

After the funeral, the directors might run into a client, still grieving, in the community. In those moments, Reynolds said, he asks them how theyre doing and does his best to keep it light and bring their spirits up.

"That's what's nice about a small community, Reynolds said. You don't lose touch with your families once they walk out of here.

NOEL ELVIN worked as an intern with the LNP|LancasterOnline newsroom over the summer and is finishing her senior year at Grove City College.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Pivotal Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin appears to be on board with White House proposals for new taxes on billionaires and certain corporations to help pay for President Joe Bidens scaled-back social services and climate change package.

Biden huddled with the conservative West Virginia Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the presidents Delaware home Sunday as they work on resolving the disputes between centrists and progressives that have stalled the Democrats wide-ranging bill. A person who requested anonymity to discuss Manchins position told The Associated Press the senator is agreeable to the White House's new approach on the tax proposals.

What had been a sweeping $3.5 trillion plan is now being eyed as $1.75 trillion package. Thats within a range that could still climb considerably higher, according to a second person who requested anonymity to discuss the private talks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that even at half the original $3.5 trillion proposed, Bidens signature domestic initiative would be larger than any other legislative package with big investments in health care, child care and strategies to tackle climate change.

It is less than what was projected to begin with, but its still bigger than anything we have ever done in terms of addressing the needs of Americas working families, Pelosi said Sunday on CNNs State of the Union."

Democrats are working intensely to try again to wrap up talks on the measure so the president can spotlight his administrations achievements to world leaders at two overseas summits on the economy and climate change that get underway this week.

Biden met with Manchin and Schumer, D-N.Y., at the presidents home in Wilmington after Democrats missed last weeks deadline to resolve disputes. Biden has said he'd like to see a $2 trillion package and they are trying again this upcoming week to reach agreement.

Its unclear what level of the new taxes Manchin would support, but he generally backs the White House proposals, according to the person who requested anonymity to discuss Manchin's position. Neither person requesting anonymity was authorized to discuss the negotiations by name.

The White House said the breakfast meeting was a productive discussion about the presidents agenda. The talks appeared to last for hours, but no decisions were announced. The Democrats continued to make progress, the White House said in its post-meeting statement.

Resolving the revenue side is key as the Democrats insist the new spending will be fully paid for by the various taxes.

Manchin and another Democrat, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have almost on their own halted Bidens proposal from advancing. With Republican opposition and an evenly split 50-50 Senate, Biden has no votes to spare and the two Democratic senators have insisted on reducing the size of the enormous package and pressed for other changes.

One key debate has been over the revenues to pay for the package, after Sinema rejected an earlier plan to reverse the Republican-led 2017 tax cuts and raise rates on corporations earning more than $5 million a year and wealthy Americans earning more than $400,000, or $450,000 for couples.

Instead, the White House is considering a tax on the investment incomes of billionaires  fewer than 1,000 of the wealthiest Americans with at least $1 billion in assets. It also has floated a 15% corporate minimum tax that is designed to ensure all companies pay what Biden calls their fair share  ending the practice of some big-name firms paying no taxes.

Democrats initially planned that Biden's package would contain $3.5 trillion worth of spending and tax initiatives over 10 years. But demands by moderates led by Manchin and Sinema to contain costs mean its final price tag could well be less than $2 trillion.

Disputes remain over far-reaching investments, including plans to expand Medicare coverage with dental, vision and hearing aid benefits for seniors; child care assistance; and free pre-kindergarten.

Pelosi, D-Calif., said on CNN that Democrats were still working to keep in provisions for four weeks of paid family leave but acknowledged that other proposals such as expanding Medicare to include dental coverage could prove harder to save because of cost.

Pelosi reiterated that about 90% is wrapped up and said she expected an agreement by weeks end, paving the way for a House vote on a separate $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill before next Sunday, Oct. 31, when a series of transportation programs will lapse. The Senate approved over the summer the package of road, broadband and other public works projects, but the measure stalled in the House during deliberations on the broader Biden bill.

Manchin, whose state has a major coal industry, has opposed Biden's initial climate change proposals, which involved a plan to penalize utilities that do not switch quickly to clean energy. Democrats are now also compiling other climate change strategies to meet Bidens goal of reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030.

Democrats were hoping Biden could cite major accomplishments when he attends a global conference in Scotland on climate change in early November after attending a summit of world leaders in Rome.

Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, said the expected cuts to the clean energy provisions in the spending bill were especially disappointing.

If were going to get the rest of the world to take serious steps to remedy this problem, weve got to do it ourselves, King said on NBCs Meet the Press."

Pelosi insisted that Democrats had pieced together other policies in the spending bill that could reduce emissions. We will have something that will meet the presidents goals, she said.

Democrats also want to make progress that could help Democrat Terry McAuliffe win a neck-and-neck Nov. 2 gubernatorial election in Virginia.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, maintained that his caucus will not budge on supporting the infrastructure bill before Oct. 31 if there is no agreement on the broader package, which would be passed under so-called budget reconciliation rules.

The president needs the reconciliation agreement to go to Glasgow, Khanna, D-Calif., said on Fox News Sunday. He added: Thats what is going to deal with climate change, thats whats going to hit his goals of 50% reduction by 2030. Im confident we will have an agreement.



Associated Press writer Alan Fram contributed to this report.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fired a fatal gunshot from a prop gun that he had been told was safe, a camera crew for the movie he was filming walked off the job to protest conditions and production issues that included safety concerns.

Disputes in the production of the Western film Rust" began almost from the start in early October and culminated with seven crew members walking off several hours before 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed.

The crew members had expressed their discontent with matters that ranged from safety procedures to their housing accommodations, according to one of those who left. He requested anonymity for fear that speaking up would hurt his prospects for future jobs. Rust Movie Productions did not answer emails Friday and Saturday seeking comment.

At a rehearsal on the film set Thursday at Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe, the gun Baldwin used was one of three that a firearms specialist, or armorer, had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed, according to the court records.

Court records indicate that an assistant director, Dave Halls, grabbed a prop gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating incorrectly that the weapon didn't carry live rounds by yelling cold gun.

When Baldwin pulled the trigger, he unwittingly killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her inside a wooden, chapel-like building.

Baldwin, 63, who is known for his roles in 30 Rock and The Hunt for Red October and his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, has described the killing as a tragic accident. He was a producer of Rust.

Halls did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment.

A 911 call that alerted authorities to the shooting at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe hints at the panic on the movie set, as detailed in a recording released by the Santa Fe County Regional Emergency Communications Center.

We had two people accidentally shot on a movie set by a prop gun, we need help immediately, script supervisor Mamie Mitchell told an emergency dispatcher. We were rehearsing and it went off, and I ran out, we all ran out.

The dispatcher asked if the gun was loaded with a real bullet.

I cannot tell you. We have two injuries, Mitchell replied. And this (expletive) AD (assistant director) that yelled at me at lunch, asking about revisions....Hes supposed to check the guns. He's responsible for what happens on the set.

The Associated Press was unable to contact Hannah Gutierrez, the film's armorer, and several messages sent to production companies affiliated with Rust did not receive responses Friday.

Court records say that Halls grabbed the firearm from the cart and brought it inside to the actor, also unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in a search warrant application.

It was unclear how many rounds were fired. Gutierrez removed a shell casing from the gun after the shooting, and she turned the weapon over to police when they arrived, the court records say.

Guns used in making movies are sometimes real weapons that can fire either bullets or blanks, which are gunpowder charges intended to produce little more than a flash and a bang.

New Mexico workplace safety investigators are examining if film industry standards for gun safety were followed during production of Rust. The Los Angeles Times, citing two crew members it did not name, reported that five days before the shooting, Baldwins stunt double accidentally fired two live rounds after being told the gun didnt have any ammunition.

A crew member who was alarmed by the misfires told a unit production manager in a text message, Weve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe, according to a copy of the message reviewed by the newspaper. The New York Times also reported that there were at least two earlier accidental gun discharges; it cited three former crew members.

Mitchell, the script supervisor, told The Associated Press she was standing next to Hutchins when the cinematographer was hit.

I ran out and called 911 and said Bring everybody, send everybody, Mitchell said. This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman.

Filmmaker Souza, who was shot in the shoulder, said in a statement to NBC News that he was grateful for the support he was receiving and gutted by the loss of Hutchins. She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch and always pushed me to be better, he said.

Santa Fe-area District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said prosecutors will be reviewing evidence in the shooting and do not know if charges will be filed.

Hutchins husband Matthew Hutchins posted on social media to mourn his wifes loss, ask for privacy for his family, and thank her friends and mentors at the American Film Institute, who he said nurtured the success we had only just begun to see flourish.

The institute's conservatory canceled cinematography classes Friday in response to Hutchins' death.

At a vigil Saturday around 200 film crew workers gathered for a candlelight vigil as the sun set. They shared grief at the loss of one of their own, and fear of accidents on their own film sets.

Several in attendance lit candles, held a moment of silence, read poetry and made brief comments including one testimonial to her artistic spark and generosity.

Her death shouldnt have happened, Union sets should be safe sets, said Liz Pecos, president of IATSE Local 480.

Production on Rust was halted after the shooting. The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website.

The crew member that spoke to the AP said he never witnessed any formal orientation about weapons used on set, which normally would take place before filming begins.

He also said only minimal COVID-19 precautions were taken even though crew and cast members often worked in small enclosed spaces on the ranch.

The crew was initially housed at the Courtyard by Marriot in Santa Fe, according to the crew member. Four days in, however, they were told that going forward they would be housed at the budget Coyote South hotel. Some crew members balked at staying there.

We packed our gear and left that morning, the crew member said of the Thursday walkout.

The Los Angeles Times and Variety also reported on the walkout.

Gutierrez, the films armorer, is the daughter of a longtime Hollywood firearms expert. She gave an interview in September to the Voices of the West podcast in which she said she had learned how to handle guns from her father since she was a teenager.

During the podcast interview, Gutierrez shared that she just finished her first movie in the role of head armorer, a project in Montana starring Nicolas Cage titled The Old Way.

I was really nervous about it at first and I almost didnt take the job because I wasnt sure if I was ready but doing it, like, it went really smoothly," she said.

In another on-set gun death from 1993, Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was killed by a bullet left in a prop gun after a previous scene. Similar shootings have occurred involving stage weapons that were loaded with live rounds during historical re-enactments.

Gun-safety protocol on sets in the United States has improved since then, said Steven Hall, a veteran director of photography in Britain. But he said one of the riskiest positions to be in is behind the camera because that person is in the line of fire in scenes where an actor appears to point a gun at the audience.

Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Jake Coyle and Jocelyn Noveck in New York; Lizzie Knight in London; Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine; Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles; Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Walter Berry in Phoenix; and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report.
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Much like the rest of the world, the independent restaurants throughout Pennsylvania had their world rocked in March 2020 with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the owners of the restaurants that we know and love scrambled to make plans to navigate a world of only having takeout orders, deliveries and curbside pickup as options, little did they know what the next 19 months would bring.

Being in a restaurant family, I got a front-row seat to the challenges that restaurant owners faced and how they were able to push through them.

March 16, 2020, was the day it was announced that restaurants would be restricted to carryout only. Almost three months later, outdoor dining finally became an option for restaurants to capitalize on. Oh, how they missed having people actually sitting down and eating in a dining room. Tents became a popular solution to the question of space for both seating and dealing with the weather.

Although there were obvious downsides to having customers eating in the parking lot  sweltering summer temperatures, small floods on slightly angled parking lots when it rained, napkins blowing around in the wind, the ambushes of spotted lanternflies and other various insects  it was nice to see people eating in a restaurant setting again.

Then the chill in the air returned in September and October 2020, and suddenly eating outside didnt seem like such a great idea. Starting on Sept. 21, 2020, restaurants in Pennsylvania were allowed to open their dining rooms indoors at 50% capacity. Although this wasnt a huge help, it allowed some restaurants to finally be able to break even after months of lost revenue.

But the trouble wasnt over yet. The Christmas Shutdown, as its called in the restaurant community, started on Dec. 12, 2020. Gov. Tom Wolf announced a temporary shutdown of indoor dining in restaurants throughout the state until Jan. 4, 2021. This was so challenging for those on the wait staff who relied on their tip money for Christmas gifts. Wolfs Dec. 10 announcement only gave them two days to figure out what they were going to do.

By the time news of the announcement had spread, the response from the surrounding communities for the hundreds of independent restaurants in Pennsylvania, with just two days left until the holiday shutdown, was astounding.

At Scooters in Lititz, there were people waiting in their cars for hours just so they could get a seat and make sure they supported Scooters and their staff up until the very last minute they could.

Now, despite being allowed to operate at full capacity more than a year and a half after the initial shutdown, restaurants (independents, specifically) are still reeling from the effects the pandemic has had on businesses. Much of it is due to the rising prices of food distributors like Sysco and U.S. Foods. And its not their fault. Various shortages in different areas are causing the prices to go up on food, which in return means the restaurants need to change their menu prices.

The prices arent going up for restaurants to try to make an extra buck; its because they need to raise their prices to stay in business. In addition to all of this, the employment issue doesnt help either. The lack of workers causes limitations in operating hours, because there isnt anyone to cover shifts. Its a struggle that not only restaurants, but every business, are seeing.

With all of this being said, next time you head out to eat, there are a few things to consider. Choose a local independent restaurant over a chain, think about how much theyve been through in the past 19 months and assist in their comeback.

Piper Hepler is in the 11th grade at Warwick High School.
A woman tentatively reached out to Domestic Violence Services of Lancaster County for help last spring. She texted to make contact, and then called the hotline. (To protect her, Im calling her "Susanna" here.)

At first, she asked if she was calling the right place, because her husband had not harmed her physically. When the advocate asked what was happening to her, she described extreme verbal and emotional abuse and threats. Susanna had reached a breaking point. The conversation she had with the hotline advocate convinced her that her situation was dangerous and that she and her children needed to escape.

In the popular Netflix limited series Maid, based on Stephanie Lands memoir, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mothers Will to Survive, the main character, Alex (played by Margaret Qualley), does not see herself as a victim of domestic violence. Facing homelessness with her daughter, she does not see a domestic violence shelter as an option. When asked by the court if she contacted the police after the most recent explosive episode, she asks, Why? So that I could tell them that he didnt hit me?

Recent research conducted by a Philadelphia marketing firm for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence found that the public largely associates the word violence with physical acts; therefore, they believe the term domestic violence refers only to physical injury.

It was suggested that one of the ways to address this misperception is more intentional education and awareness campaigns about the full spectrum of domestic abuse, which is complex and encompasses so much more.

In the new book, The Invisible Bruise: Finding Freedom and Hope After an Emotionally Abusive Relationship, Lancaster County author and survivor Kristin Manser shares her experiences of emotional and psychological abuse  the put-downs, the degradation, the gaslighting, the love bombing (intense expressions of love and attention that aim to manipulate)  by a person who claimed to love her. The book is now available on Amazon, and half the proceeds will be donated to Domestic Violence Services.

When I asked Kristin what was most helpful to her in terms of realizing that she was experiencing abuse, she responded, I journaled during that time, and eventually shared those journal entries and experiences and stories of my abuse with a few trusted friends, family members and professional psychologists. All of these people seemed 100% sure that emotional abuse is what had been happening to me.

Coercive control and psychological abuse are very dangerous and sometimes may lead to murder if the survivor tries to separate from the abusive partner. It is also extremely impactful. Studies have shown that emotional abuse has a more profound long-term impact on the health and well-being of the survivor than physical abuse once those wounds have healed.

Susanna and her children arrived at the Domestic Violence Services Safe House with few possessions and no financial resources whatsoever. Because her abusive husband had refused her access to their bank account and had not permitted her to work, Susanna had to face starting over on a long and difficult road toward economic stability, including a safe, permanent home for her family.

According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence, nearly 99% of all domestic abuse survivors have suffered some or multiple forms of economic or financial abuse, which is the main reason that they stayed with or returned to their abusive partner. Their identities were stolen; their credit was ruined; and debt accumulated in their names. Their wages were confiscated, or they had no access to the family financial resources.

While the impact is severe and far-reaching, Domestic Violence Services and other organizations can help. Our agency offers one-on-one support and financial education for survivors via the Allstate Foundations Moving Ahead curriculum; assistance via a client stability fund to help survivors get back on their financial feet; and connections to housing search, rental assistance, and myriad community resources.

Last year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Domestic Violence Services served nearly 1,800 adults and children, up 17% over the prior year. We sheltered 188 adults and children and answered 693 hotline calls and texts.

While these numbers have grown, we know that they are not truly representative of all the victims and survivors in Lancaster County. Many may not see themselves as victims, and if they do, may not be aware that help is available.

Still others may believe that the put-downs, verbal attacks and threats do reflect their worth as human beings, because that is what they have been told, time and time again, by someone they love who claims to love them.

Susanna and Kristin have broken free. They found the validation, safety, support and resources to reinvent their lives. They have survived  and thrived. I suspect that Alex, the main character in Maid, will do the same.

Kristin noted that family and friends were the most helpful in creating my support network to help me leave the situation, get my footing, and build back my life.

But not everyone has the support of family and friends. Its up to all of us to help to create a safe and healthy community. Here is how you can help:

 Listen. And provide support, validation, encouragement and access to resources.

 Speak up and speak out. About all forms of abuse.

October is devoted to raising awareness about domestic violence. But domestic abuse is an ongoing social and public health crisis that impacts all of us  our families, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our schools and our community.

Contact Domestic Violence Services to find out how you can get involved.

Christine Gilfillan is the director of Domestic Violence Services, which is part of Community Action Partnership of Lancaster County.

Domestic Violence Services 24-hour hotline: 717-299-1249. (Collect calls are accepted.)

National Domestic Violence: 800-799-SAFE (7233); TTY: 800-787-3224.

If you need assistance, you can text a Domestic Violence Services advocate. Text SAFE to 61222.

Email is not a secure form of communication, and those requesting information via email may not receive an immediate reply. Crisis-related messages should be directed to the 24-hour hotline.

Only general questions and information, such as volunteer inquiries and donation information, can be shared via email at DVSInfo@caplanc.org.
THE ISSUE

Pennsylvanias Legislature spent nearly $10 million during the past two years on private lawyers but routinely shielded the purpose of those expenses, hiding which lawmakers and their staff required representation  and why, according to a new investigation, Sam Janesch of The Caucus, an LNP Media Group watchdog publication, and Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PA, a nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer, reported in a story published in last weeks Sunday LNP | LancasterOnline. A review of thousands of pages of legal invoices and engagement letters from 2019 and 2020 by The Caucus and Spotlight PA shows the cases ranged from public records fights to secret personnel problems to attempts to overturn last years presidential election. In many instances, Republicans and Democrats in both chambers blacked out the reason for hiring lawyers, flouting case law that requires them to make public those critical details. Other records were so vague it was impossible to identify the reason for the representation.

Secretive, expensive and extraneous: three words that sum up not just the Pennsylvania General Assemblys legal fees but the bloated, underperforming Legislature itself.

The impressive investigative reporting of Couloumbis and Janesch made for infuriating, but essential, reading.

For instance, while the actual problems of Pennsylvanians go unsolved, the state Senate has spent at least $1.2 million on legal matters related to last Novembers presidential contest. (Not included in that sum: the $3.1 million in tax dollars that Gov. Tom Wolfs administration paid to defend itself in those and related cases, according to the governors office.)

Those costs are expected to grow as state Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre County, is leading an effort by Republicans to conduct a controversial review of last years election, Couloumbis and Janesch noted.

Once more for the folks in the back: The 2020 presidential election was deemed to be fair, legitimate and secure by judges appointed by former President Donald Trump; by numerous Republican elections officials, including those in Lancaster County; and by Trumps own attorney general and former election cybersecurity chief. No evidence has been found of any election irregularities or fraud significant enough to have altered the outcome of the election in Pennsylvania or any other state.

The Caucus and Spotlight PA asked Corman spokesperson Jason Thompson whether continuing 2020 election-related legal fights is a good use of taxpayer money. Thompson claimed that the state is facing a crisis in confidence with our voters not believing their votes were counted.

Whatever we have to spend in that fight is going to be well worth it, he asserted.

If theres a crisis in voter confidence, it was ginned up by Pennsylvania Republicans falsely assailing the 2020 elections legitimacy. And well worth it to whom? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris comfortably defeated Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence in Pennsylvania. The only people who will benefit from yet another review of the presidential election  aside from lawyers  will be Republicans pandering for Trumps favor. Its not going to help families struggling without child care or other essentials, or pandemic-struck businesses, or underfunded schools. It will, however, undermine our democracy.

Thats just one of the outrages revealed by The Caucus and Spotlight PA. Lets review some of their findings.

 Legislative leaders decide behind closed doors which lawyers to hire, and at what rate per hour (it was as high as $750 in the time frame reviewed). The decisions are made with virtually no third-party oversight. And, worst of all, Many of those same lawyers are also generous campaign donors, the investigation found.

A review of campaign finance data found that law firms and lawyers who have worked for the Pennsylvania House and Senate have donated at least $5.5 million to 18 campaign committees controlled by Democratic and Republican legislative leaders during the last decade. In all, they gave at least $24 million to local and state-level campaigns across Pennsylvania during that time period, in a state that allows unlimited donations with few disclosure rules, The Caucus and Spotlight PA reported.

So lawmakers can hire, on the down low, lawyers who fund their campaigns. Theres an adjective that describes these you-scratch-my-back-Ill-scratch-yours arrangements and its corrupt. It may be technically legal, but its still appalling.

 Moreover, the Pennsylvania Legislature  one of the largest and costliest in the U.S.  has fought to hide details of how it spends tax dollars on legal matters, Couloumbis and Janesch reported. In the state Senate, some records they examined were so heavily redacted that they didnt disclose any information at all about their purpose. And in the state House, it was worse: Roughly half of their engagement letters were redacted (those letters lay out agreed-upon fees and services).

The publics right to know with respect to these sorts of records is incredibly high, Gunita Singh, a staff attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told Spotlight PA and The Caucus. Theres tremendous public interest in scrutinizing how these individuals tasked with representing our interests are conducting themselves  including how theyre spending our tax dollars.

We could not agree more. Lawmakers can make all kinds of excuses for spending mountains of taxpayer dollars, but they ought to explain the reasons why theyre spending that money. And they certainly shouldnt be going to great lengths to conceal that information.

If theyre worried that taxpayers will be disappointed if we know, for instance, that legal fees went toward handling sexual harassment claims, they neednt be. Our expectations for members of the Pennsylvania Legislature are already in the basement. Likewise, were not surprised that lawmakers have had to spend money to defend the states misguided fireworks law or that legislative leaders are using taxpayer dollars to advance their own political interests.

This, however, caught even us by surprise: According to The Caucus and Spotlight PA, the state House last year paid an outside firm nearly $50,000 to help then-Speaker Mike Turzai, a Republican, write a law review article about school choice, an issue he championed during his legislative career. Four lawyers spent 117.4 hours on this  a single law review article on the then-House speakers pet subject.

Additionally, Turzai paid the same firm, Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, an additional $64,982.50 for help with a law review article on redistricting.

In Harrisburg, where Pennsylvanians in genuine need are nickeled and dimed all the time, nearly $115,000 was spent on two law review articles.

In 2019 and 2020, state Senate Republicans paid Harrisburg-based K&L Gates $1,577,594 to represent them in a fair funding lawsuit pressed by six school districts, including Lancaster, public school parents and nonprofit organizations. Imagine how many textbooks and school computers could be purchased for more than $1.5 million.

 The state Legislature has its own lawyers, who are paid annual salaries of roughly $200,000. As we asked in May, Why are taxpayers paying the salaries of staff lawyers if outside counsel is so often needed? We suggested then, and continue to believe now, that if staff lawyers didnt spend so much time redacting documents, they probably could take on more legal work.

As The Caucus and Spotlight PA reported, records show private lawyers were typically paid roughly $250 to $450 per hour, with one earning as much as $750 per hour  described as a discounted rate  for their time. Taxpayers also picked up the bill for travel-related and other expenses, like meals, those lawyers incurred while working on the cases. Seriously?

But wait. Theres more.

 When the Legislature modernized the commonwealths public records law more than a decade ago, lawmakers exempted themselves from having to turn over records that the executive branch must make publicly available. Still, the body put itself on the hook for public access to its financial records, including spending on contracts with private companies, such as law firms, The Caucus and Spotlight PA reported. But lawmakers didnt want to provide detailed information about legal bills. So the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that lawmakers had to provide a general description of the legal services being provided, and that the identity of the person being represented was not privileged.

Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel at the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, to which LNP | LancasterOnline, The Caucus and Spotlight PA belong, was asked how the Legislature should be handling document redactions. Her response? It means they should be taking a scalpel to these legal invoices and not a hatchet.

Indeed. Unfortunately, excess is the nature of our unnecessarily large, underworked and overpaid state Legislature.
Walking into a bank is no longer just about depositing a check or getting a loan, at least not at PeoplesBank. Rather, its being asked, What are your dreams?  and then getting help financially to achieve them.

In the past several decades, there hasnt been much change in the way customers interact with their bank, says Craig Kauffman, President and CEO of PeoplesBank, a Codorus Valley Company.

Its easy to make sure the ATM works and ensure we can help someone cash a check, Kauffman says. But the true value a bank brings to the table is in helping people achieve more. Thats what were here to do.

Forming a Clear Vision

Fulfilling that mission is part of PeoplesBanks bigger vision through its new connections Center locations. The first Connections Center opened in Downtown Lancaster just days before the pandemic hit and subsequently closed for a short time. Now, the Lancaster City Connections Center is open and eager to serve the Lancaster community at 101 North Queen Street. Its where visitors interact with digital Vision Boards that help bring their dreams  whether its to buy a house, save for college, or plan for retirement  to life.

Rather than tellers, financial mentors greet you, ready to help with basic banking needs and make the connections to the right people within the bank. They arent just there to talk about loans or lines of credit; they want to learn how you hope to grow your business or hear about your wishes to start a family.

When people have a clear vision of their priorities, we can help them make the plans and take the next steps to fulfill those visions, Kauffman says. Thats what it means to be a community bank.

Take your dreams to the bank.

The Vision Board technology that helps you map out your future is now available at all PeoplesBank locations, including Lancaster  Downtown and Oregon Pike.

It changes the conversation from the banker telling the customer what we have to offer, to the client telling the banker what they hope to achieve, says Chad Clabaugh, Senior Vice President and Chief Consumer Banking Officer at PeoplesBank.

It gives the person walking in the door a chance to dream big, to have hope for the future, Clabaugh adds. It has the ability to adapt based on someones place in life, he says, from planning for that first rainy day to getting ready to spend more time with grandchildren.

We recognize that PeoplesBank has the opportunity to make a difference in someones life, Clabaugh says. It starts with a conversation. Thats what were hoping to spark.

To learn more about the PeoplesBank Vision Board Experience, visit peoplesbanknet.com/VBX. Or stop by a PeoplesBank near you to complete your unique vision board with a financial mentor. Visit us at 2343 Oregon Pike or 101 North Queen Street in Lancaster today! PeoplesBank Unveils New Banking Model to Help You Pursue Your Dreams
IATA, the International Air Transport Association, is developing a digital "Travel Pass" data system that it hopes will serve as the standard "health pass" for international air travelers.

The basic idea is simple: a computer system collects your personal ID information, the results of your most recent vaccinations and tests, current information on how well those vaccinations and tests are performing, and current entry requirements for most countries. Then, when you want to travel, the computer's algorithm will combine all the inputs and display whether or not you're "good to go" on any individual trip.

Specifically, this project is designed to make it easy for travelers posing no health hazard to start flying all around the world even before the pandemic is completely controlled. And, at least for now, the good-to-go result will be based primarily on data on your COVID-19 situation: some combination of your most recent test results and its validity and your COVID vaccine and its known efficacy.

The system design implies that it will continuously update data from the various laboratories and governmental health institutions involved with COVID-19.

IATA is calling for COVID testing for all international travelers, along with a data flow that will allow all stakeholders to facilitate travel. As envisioned, it will provide:

Governments with the means to verify the authenticity of tests and the identity of those presenting the test certificates.

Airlines with the ability to verify that passengers meet the requirements for travel.

Laboratories with the means to issue digital certificates to passengers that will be recognized and accepted by governments and airlines.

Travelers with the means to convey test information securely to airlines and border authorities.

In some ways, this system is a technical metamorphosis of the old "yellow card" vaccination record issued by the World Health Organization (WHO). What's new about IATA's proposal is that it's 100 percent based on smart-phone/tablet apps. You'll apply and enter your data through the app, and you'll display the results on the app when you board a flight or arrive in a different country. You probably won't actually "show" it; you'll pass your phone near a contactless RFID terminal. So far, nothing I've seen treats the question of how you might use the system if you don't have or use a smart phone or tablet. Taken along with the trend to cashless payments, adoption of the IATA system as an international standard would inevitably lead to the conclusion that the days are coming when you must either carry and use a smart device or stay home.

IATA's motive is not altruistic: IATA is the worldwide trade association of large airlines, all of which desperately want you back in their airplanes as soon as possible. But it's been clear that the resumption of full-scale worldwide travel will depend on some sort of universally recognized and accepted system of test and vaccination documentation. IATA is attempting to preempt the position of designing and operating such a situation, and it may well be successful.

It's very likely that most airlines will eagerly adopt the system. What remains to be seen is whether the government health agencies involved in setting rules will also be in favor. My guess is that most will: Like the airlines, governments are under heavy pressure to allow their citizens to roam the world and to open their borders for incoming visitors.

The folks who kvetch about encroachments on their personal freedoms by big data are likely to kvetch about this deal. And it certainly does post the potential of making it harder for you to limit the spread of personal information that you'd like to stay personal. My own take is that we're already so far down the big-data path that IATA's add-on won't tip the balance to any noticeable degree. Feel free to disagree. But if you opt out, don't expect to be heading overseas anytime soon.

Send e-mail to Ed Perkins at eperkins@mind.net. Also, check out Ed's new rail travel website at www.rail-guru.com.

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A little over a week after 24-year-old Baber Shah Dorani arrived at Fort McCoy in western Wisconsin Sept. 1 after fleeing from Afghanistan, his teeth started to hurt.

He waited a few weeks for the pain to subside, but it got worse. In mid-October, he went to the medical clinic on base, but there was no dentist. The medical personnel gave him some ibuprofen  which he said didnt help  and a gel that, when applied, did dull the pain, but only for about 10 minutes, Dorani said.

A few days later, Dorani went to the clinic again. Still no dentist. On the third time Wednesday, medical staff told Dorani a dentist had arrived over the weekend, but he would have to wait another 10-15 days or more before he could get the two cavities filled.

Two of them have a big hole, Dorani said of his teeth, noting that a third tooth aches. (They) should be removed.

For the last nearly two months, the roughly 13,000 Afghan evacuees staying at Fort McCoy have not had access to a dentist, interviews with several Afghan evacuees show. A single dentist arrived within the last week or so, but getting an appointment could take weeks or longer. The Wisconsin State Journal spoke with four Afghans, including Dorani, who said theyve struggled to get dental treatment as their teeth continue to decay.
Its just to harness his energy, said Kottler, who along with family and friends have cleaned up the park and is hoping to someday buy the land from Delaneys, which buys and sells everything from canned goods to lumber and machinery. Weve done a ton of organizing and landscaping and cutting trees down that would allow for more views from different angles. My family is really pumped and motivated to try and keep this going here at this location.

Lighting it up

The lighting of the Forevertron came after a chance meeting with Katherine Cannistra, a Milwaukee-based artist who specializes in lighted art installations. She spent 10 years working with exhibits at the Betty Brinn Childrens Museum and began working full time on light installations in 2017.

In September, she happened to visit Dr. Evermors Art Park when she met Kottler. A discussion ensued that led Cannistra and a team of engineers and computer experts spending the next month installing more than 8,000 LED lights on, in and around the Forevertron.

With a budget of just $1,800, they used a cherry picker at times and rigging like that used by those who climb and trim trees to string the consumer grade lights, which are expected to last for three to four years, depending on weather and use.
TWIN FALLS  Following an extremely challenging year on local communities due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, Glanbia Nutritionals has continued to give back, recently donating $50,000 to Valley House Homeless Shelter towards their new Beyond Shelter Project.

Glanbia Nutritionals has prided itself as a positive corporate steward employing over 800 people throughout Idaho, and providing support in the region to make the Magic Valley a better place. In saying that, we were struck with the need this year around food and shelter in the region. Being able to jumpstart the Valley House and their efforts, supports both of these initiatives, states Wilf Costello, chief commercial officer of cheese and marketing at Glanbia Nutritionals.

Valley House has been in the Magic Valley for 26 years, providing a safe place to help a wide-range of community services provide motivated homeless persons the help they need to become self-sufficient, while advocating for policies that help reduce homelessness. Their efforts are focused on offering a safe, positive, drug-free environment where homeless persons and families can find hope and the resources needed to better their lives by embodying to offer a hand up, not a hand out.

It is an honor to support Valley House when we see the effort and dedication the management and staff put forth to support the underprivileged in the Magic Valley, states Jim Bergin, vice president indirect procurement at Glanbia Nutritionals.

All of the $50,000 Glanbia donated to Valley House will go toward the new Beyond Shelter Project, which will house another 60 men, women and children.

Currently the shelter houses 140 people, and the new complex is crucial right now as they have been at capacity and turning people away due to lack of space.

We are beyond grateful for this generous donation from Glanbia. Their partnership in our mission allows us to keep providing more opportunities for those in need, Valley House Assistant Director Kim Spiers said.

Since the pandemic has started, it was shocking to me to see the Valley House homeless shelter having to turn people away as the demand for shelter increased, and they did not have enough rooms to support everyone. When Glanbia heard the need, they stepped up with funds to support the new building. This generous action aligns with who we are organizationally  a company who steps up and helps out. And its why I am proud to work here, states Whitney Beem, senior project manager at Glanbia Nutritionals and a Valley House volunteer.

Valley House is continuing to take donations toward the Beyond Shelter Project, as they are close to the final numbers needed to complete the build.

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BOISE  Idahos three universities all reported enrollment increases for the fall  growth that nearly erases their pandemic-driven losses from 2020.

The four-year schools turned in their fall numbers to the State Board of Education this week.

The rebound comes at a pivotal moment for Idaho higher education. From fall 2019 through spring 2021, the states four-year and two-year colleges lost more than 5,000 students. That translated to an 8.7% drop  and it has an impact on young adults but also on the colleges and universities. As higher education receives a shrinking share of the state budget, colleges and universities rely on tuition and fees to cover an increasing share of their costs.

Here are thumbnails from Idahos four-year schools.

Boise State University

Fall enrollment came in at 25,829, a 7.2% increase.

By comparison, fall enrollment dropped by 8.3% a year ago.

President Marlene Tromp hailed the rebound. Boise State has consistently found new ways to reach students, meet industry needs, and positively impact our state, often in ways that serve as a national model, she said in a late Wednesday afternoon news release.

Heres what happened this year, in several areas:

First-year students: 3,203, an 11.6% increase.

Graduate enrollment: 3,068, a 3.8% increase and a university record.

Instruction mode: In all, 83.6% of undergrads and 48.8% of graduate students are taking at least one in-person class.

A year ago, those numbers were 71% and 40%, respectively.

Out-of-state enrollment: Unavailable. A year ago, Boise State officials said a spike in out-of-state enrollment helped offset a decline in in-state enrollment.

Dual-credit enrollment: Also unavailable.

In 2020, Boise State attributed much of its overall enrollment decline to a dropoff in dual credit. That wasnt unique to Boise State. As high school students wrestled with pandemic uncertainties  and often a mix between in-person and online instruction  many of them decided against taking college-level courses.

University of Idaho

Overall enrollment: 11,303, a 4.7% increase from the previous year.

In 2020, the U of I had absorbed a fall enrollment decrease of 9.5%.

We are energized by the enrollment increase, especially considering the challenges of the pandemic, President Scott Green said in a news release.

A closer look at the U of Is numbers:

First-year students: The U of I attracted its largest freshman class in five years: 1,656 students in all.

Thats a 16.2% increase from last year, but it was driven in large part by out-of-state enrollment. In-state first year enrollment increased by 5.2%.

Out-of-state undergraduate enrollment: 465, up 10.6%. Our current student mix is changing rapidly, said Dean Kahler, vice provost for strategic enrollment management. Our marketing and price point are resonating with the out-of-state market.

Graduate enrollment: 1,947, up 8.2%.

Hispanic enrollment: Up by 8.5%, essentially returning to pre-pandemic levels.

Dual-credit enrollment: 1,641, up 19.9%.

Returning students: First-year student retention fell by 2.2%.

Idaho State University

Overall enrollment came in at 12,157.

This is a 3.2% increase, erasing much of a 5% dropoff a year ago.

More metrics:

First-year students: Up by 10.7%, contributing to Idaho States first year-to-year increase in undergraduate enrollment in nearly a decade.

We are turning the corner on years of enrollment declines, President Kevin Satterlee said in a news release. This shows the impact of, and the importance of, the retention and recruitment efforts we have been making across the campus.

The geographic mix: Out-of-state students account for a relatively large share of the fall enrollment increase. Out-of-state enrollment climbed by 7.8%.

Graduate enrollment: Up for the fourth successive year. Idaho States 2,326 graduate students represent a 5.6% increase.

Dual-credit enrollment: 2,911, up 15.6%.

Lewis-Clark State College

After bucking the pandemic trends, and attracting a slight enrollment increase last fall, overall numbers fell by 3.8% this year.

But current enrollment, 3,710, is up from pre-pandemic numbers from three years ago.

Other metrics:

First-year students: 1,324, up 1%.

Hispanic enrollment: Up 7.1%.

The geographic mix: While Lewis-Clark continues to draw most of its students from Idaho, out-of-state enrollment grew by 3% and international enrollment climbed by 53%.

The increase in international enrollment is very encouraging as it may mark a return to more normal international enrollment patterns, President Cynthia Pemberton said in a news release. The non-resident increase is also encouraging as it means word about LC States accessibility, affordability, and quality is spreading beyond Idahos border.

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BOISE  State superintendent Sherri Ybarra pushed back hard against political outcry surrounding social-emotional learning Thursday morning, declaring that education is under attack by those who have co-opted the term.

Her comments, delivered during an address at a virtual symposium on school safety, came as Ybarras office distances itself from the term social-emotional learning. SEL has been drawn into a divisive debate about alleged school indoctrination, as EdNews recently reported. Her comments also came the day after the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a libertarian group, accused Ybarras State Department of Education of plotting to hide racist SEL teachings from parents.

But Ybarras office has continued to advocate for the concept behind SEL, despite an internal rhetorical shift and external backlash.

She began her address with an exercise to advocate student social and emotional supports.

She asked participants to raise their hands if:

They were proud that Idaho ranks fifth in the nation for suicides.

Theyd like to see more students die by suicide.

Theyd like more students to disengage from school, get hooked on drugs or otherwise hurt themselves.

Theyd like to see more incidents like the shooting at Rigby Middle School in May.

Theyd heard details about the latest students death from suicide Wednesday night.

Nobody wants any of those things that I just mentioned. But unfortunately, education is under attack right now. Some folks are characterizing the work that were doing to stop the things I was mentioning just a few moments ago, characterizing it as critical race theory. And nothing could be farther from the truth. Because depression, alcohol, suicide  those things know no boundaries, and no demographic when it comes to affecting our kids.

The Freedom Foundation and members of Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachins education task force have grouped SEL in with critical race theory, a comparison Ybarra rejected several times Thursday.

A few school board candidates have made opposition to SEL central to their campaigns ahead of the November election, further adding political charge to the term. Theyve looked to mobilize voters by calling SEL racially-tinged indoctrination, while Ybarra counters that SEL is about self-control, self-awareness, problem solving, strong interpersonal skills and responsible decision making.

The Republican superintendent didnt call out the Freedom Foundation by name, but said another force is trying to portray mental health supports as sinister.

Those who have co-opted the term social-emotional learning seem less concerned about our students well-being and more about political posturing and attempts to convince Idahoans that indoctrination is rampant in Idaho schools, she said. I speak for myself along (with) the department and many other Idaho parents and stakeholders who will not tolerate being shamed or scared off of a program that prevents kids from dying.

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PITTSBURGH  Twenty years ago, Paul Carson said he never would have hesitated to speak out at a school board meeting about any issue affecting his childrens education.

But one day, that changed. I just dont do it, Carson told me. A physician who practices medicine in an urban Pittsburgh hospital, Carson said it has nothing to do with his being 20 years older. It has everything to do with the culture we are navigating.

Anyone, he said, can take a video of what you say, edit it to his or her advantage, then post it on social media. Or they can just simply claim on social media that you are racist or extremist because you express an opinion outside the sensitivities of the cultural curators who define what is acceptable and what is not in our country.

When Carson used a media platform in discussions about school district issues , as he did last year when the children in the Pittsburgh public schools went for months without in-person education, he said he had to be profoundly cautious in expressing his views.

School board meetings have been around forever, and they have always had the potential to become raucous. I remember attending them with my mother as a teenager, then as a mother myself when my children were young. I also had to attend a few as a reporter for the local newspaper I worked for at the time. Emotions often ran high, as they should when childrens welfare is involved. Good parents never lose sight of the fact that the people who educate their children spend more of the day with them in a classroom setting than parents themselves do. Emotions also ran high when new buildings were proposed, which always eventually meant higher taxes.

I have often told young reporters that if they want to see firsthand the most important political process in the U.S. system, they should turn off cable news, get off the iPhone, turn their eyes away from Washington and cover a local school board meeting.

No one should accept threats or physical violence at a school board meeting or anywhere else. But such conduct is fortunately rare. The question today is, can we trust our government to distinguish between the actual threat of violence and the passionate expression of viewpoints by parents?

That question became a reality this week when Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo suggesting a nationwide federal crackdown on parents at school board meetings. And the answer from parents like Carson is, Absolutely not.

Garland made his decision under pressure from the National School Boards Association. Its interim director responded by saying Garlands memo sends a strong message to individuals with violent intent who are focused on causing chaos, disrupting our public schools, and driving wedges between school boards and the parents, students, and communities they serve.

Freedom is messy. Our discussions about things that matter to us, such as our children, are chaotic, disruptive and, yes, divisive. They drive wedges  thats a feature, not a bug.

In the past few months, parents across the country have become frustrated with extremist curriculum choices that their school boards are making. In response, they have done what Americans have done for generations  show up at school board meetings to voice their concerns.

In many cases, their concerns cross traditional political, racial and socioeconomic lines and are at odds with the Biden administration.

Garland is now using the FBI against parents on the grounds that school board members feel threatened. But what does threatened look like? Is it someone yelling at you? Disagreeing with you? Holding an opposing opinion? Who is defining those threats?

This memo wasnt just designed to target those who would commit violence. It was also clearly designed to stop regular people with real concerns from voicing those concerns because of the fear anything they say will deem them a domestic terrorist, which would destroy their personal, community and professional lives.

It is downright chilling to think that there are parents out there who are worried that they are going to end up on a government list or under some type of government scrutiny if they decide to go into a school board meeting to give a public comment on an issue.

Eighty years ago, dairy farmer Jim Edgerton stood up at a town hall meeting in his hometown of Arlington, Vermont, to voice his disagreement with the town councilors decision to build a new school. Edgerton was the only person at the meeting or in town who objected to the proposed building.

His opposition was mostly unremarkable, but he held his ground, nonetheless. No one would have known about it had not Norman Rockwell, a newcomer in town, been there.

As he watched Edgerton exercise his freedom of speech, the famous illustrator of Americana could not stop thinking about the State of the Union address President Franklin D. Roosevelt had delivered on Jan. 6, 1941, in which he warned that the values and liberties the public took for granted were under attack. Rockwell would go on to illustrate that moment, making Roosevelts words relatable by depicting them in use in small-town America.

It is inconceivable that the federal government today wants to squash that freedom through vague rules and intimidation. Garland seems to be making the calculation that the Jim Edgertons of this world will cower under the concern the government is watching them.

In the beginning, maybe they will. But in the long run, the air of intimidation probably wont last. There comes a point when those feeling the threat go from being on the fringe of society to being the majority.

Salena Zito is a CNN political analyst, and a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through shoe-leather journalism, traveling from Main Street to the beltway and all places in between.

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For many people, the animals they adopt and love become more like family members than pets. We form deep relationships, not just with the 164 million dogs and cats in our country, but also with the beloved parrots, goats, horses and other fellow critters who at least pretend to love us back, providing comfort and joy all around.

Sadly though, life for all of us animals is a spin around the wheel of fortune, so illness and injuries happen. Thats why some of the most valued members of every community  from big-city neighborhoods to back-road rural areas  are the staffers in our local veterinarian office. Its a special group, not only because of their medical knowledge and remarkable skills, but particularly because practically all of the vets, nurses, technicians and support staff are there chiefly because they love animals and get personal satisfaction from providing care for them.

When I say they are there, I not only mean 9 to 5, but for the most part, this is a group of independent health providers are committed to being there when needed  including off hours and days off, for animal misfortune and suffering dont go by clocks and calendars. Generally speaking, local vet practitioners also try to be there for low-income people who have more love than money to spend, offering deferred payment plans and even discounted fees so their animals can get the treatment they need.

But wait  sound the ambulance sirens! Something is going horribly wrong! This venerable profession that for generations has been a positive blend of private business and essential public service has recently been collapsing into a corporate model of Wall Street owned chains. They are monopolizing markets, reducing staff, gutting service and prioritizing the love of money over the love of animals. Its not uncommon these days for frantically worried customers to bring an ill or injured pet into their old reliable vet office only to find it has quietly come under chain ownership and is understaffed and unwilling to accept the patient, forcing a desperate scramble to find emergency care, often out of town.

The same profiteering corporate mentality that has proven disastrous for human health care is now rapidly locking down pet care  and it ought to be outlawed as an act of animal cruelty.

Question: What does a packet of M&Ms and your local veterinarian have in common? Answer: Both are owned by Mars Inc., the global candy monopolist.

Since the 1980s, weve seen massive consolidations in industry after industry  airlines, insurance, newspapers, supermarkets, banking, the internet ... candy, etc. Theyve created monopolies that run roughshod over consumers, workers, communities, suppliers and our nations commitment to the common good. So, now the corporate attitude seems to be, what the hell, why not let monopolization go to the dogs?

This change has been led by private equity groups. They are corporate-takeover sharks that borrow billions of dollars to buy out, plunder, then sell off the remnants of established businesses. They target enterprises that can be grabbed on the cheap but have assets like a loyal customer base. Then the sharks raise prices on those customers while cutting staff and quality of service.

This has been happening to thousands of local vet practices and hospitals, which have quietly been plucked by Wall Street entities bearing nondescript acronyms like IVC, JAB, KKR, and VCA. At first locals dont notice the takeover, because the corporate outfit not only buys your friendly Dr. Barry Bones vet service, but they also buy the docs name. As an IVC takeover consultant confided: People like to take their dog to local vets and not feel like its a corporate machine.

But increasingly, it is. Solo practitioners who became veterinarians to provide friendly, community-based service now must answer to bean counters at headquarters  and, foremost, they must serve profit over animals. Veterinary Center of America (VCA), for example, is one of the most aggressive monopolizers, controlling access to and prices charged by 1,000-plus vet facilities in 43 states. In 2017, VCA was taken over by Mars Inc.

One feisty group battling monopolizers is the National Veterinary Professionals Union  Get info at natvpu.org.

Populist author, public speaker and radio commentator Jim Hightower writes The Hightower Lowdown, a monthly newsletter chronicling the ongoing fights by Americas ordinary people against rule by plutocratic elites. Sign up at HightowerLowdown.org.

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Austria's Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. European Union leaders conclude a two-day summit on Friday in which they discuss issues such as climate change, the energy crisis, COVID-19 developments and migration. Credit: Olivier Hoslet, Pool Photo via AP

Unvaccinated people in Austria could face new lockdown restrictions if coronavirus case numbers continue to rise, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said.

The news came after a Friday evening meeting between Schallenberg and state-level leaders to discuss their response to rapidly increasing case numbers.

"The pandemic is not yet in the rearview mirror," Schallenberg said. "We are about to stumble into a pandemic of the unvaccinated."

Schallenberg announced that if the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units reaches 500, or 25% of the country's total ICU capacity, entry into businesses such as restaurants and hotels will be limited to those who are vaccinated or recovered from the virus.

If the number reaches 600, or one-third of total ICU capacity, the government plans to impose restrictions on unvaccinated people. In this case, they would only be allowed to leave their homes for specific reasons.

Currently, the number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs stands at 220.

In the past week, Austria has reported 20,408 new cases of the virus, according to health authorities, bringing the seven-day average to 228.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. A week earlier, that figure was at 152.5 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Although Austria's government has encouraged citizens to get vaccinated, the effort has slowed in recent months. About 65.4% of the total population has received one dose of the vaccine, and 62.2% are fully vaccinated.

Explore further Latvia to impose lockdown over Covid spike

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Colorectal Cancer Screening. Credit: American College of Surgeons

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients' willingness to keep appointments for non-COVID-19 illnesses has been well documented, but a team of researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University report that for people hesitant to come into the hospital or an outpatient center to get a colonoscopy, home-administered fecal occult blood tests (FOBT) may provide a useful workaround tool. About 30 percent more survey respondents completed home-based test during the pandemic than before.

Kristine Kenning, MD, MS, presented findings from a survey of adults age-eligible for screening at the virtual American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress 2021. "The key message from our findings is that barriers to screening have increased during the pandemic, and we have to find a way to work with the community to increase those rates," said Dr. Kenning, chief general surgery resident at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine, Richmond. "Our study found that people are compliant with, and willing to do, home-based fecal occult blood testing. This test provides a very important way for us to increase screening for colorectal cancer."

The American College of Gastroenterology clinical guidelines recommend colonoscopy for colorectal cancer evaluation and following a positive FOBT with a colonoscopy. About 148,000 cases of colorectal cancers are newly diagnosed in the United States each year, the American Cancer Society reports, and they account for 53,000 deaths.

Kristine Kenning, MD, MS, and Emily B. Rivet, MD, MBA, FACS explain the findings. Credit: American College of Surgeons

About the survey

The cross-sectional survey involved 765 people age 50 years and older. Dr. Kenning and colleagues found that their respondents reported a higher completion of stool tests pre-COVID than the American Cancer Society reported, 32 percent vs. 11 percent. During the pandemic, 50 percent of respondents said they completed the FOBT. By contrast, 44 percent of survey respondents who said they had colon screening during the pandemic underwent a colonoscopy. This practice appears to demonstrate substitution of stool-based testing for colonoscopy, Dr. Kenning noted.

"Our study looked at attitudes toward colorectal cancer screening and how they were impacted during the pandemic, both related to concerns about the pandemic as well as to economic impacts," senior author Emily B. Rivet, MD, MBA, FACS, said. "What we learned is that fecal occult blood testing was seen by patients as a viable alternative to conventional screening colonoscopy." Dr. Rivet is an associate professor in the department of surgery, division of colorectal surgery, and an affiliated professor of internal medicine at VCU School of Medicine.

Patient concerns about copays

Notably, a greater percentage of respondents indicated being unemployed during the pandemic than the year prior: 7.4 vs. 2.6 percent. In addition, 41 percent of respondents expressed concerns about copays; 57.6 percent of those respondents said this was a factor for delaying screening. Dr. Kenning noted that she is working with Carrie Miller, Ph.D., MPH, the principal investigator of the larger survey, on a follow-up assessment of the pandemic-related impact on attitudes toward colorectal cancer screening. Dr. Miller is post-doctoral fellow with VCU's department of health behavior and policy.

Other screening delays

Copays were not the only deterrent to getting scheduled colorectal screenings during the pandemic, the study found. Almost two-thirds of respondents65.9 percentconfirmed concerns about COVID-19 exposure when scheduling colonoscopies; and 59 percent of them said this caused them to delay their screening.

To address those concerns, respondents endorsed that being offered protective equipment (gloves and masks), visits to smaller offices, or weekend screening appointments would increase their likelihood of following through with the colonoscopy; respectively, 30.7 percent for each of the two former factors and 19.7 percent for weekend screening. However, 48.1 percent of respondents said they were willing to do an at-home FOBT as an alternative to colonoscopy, among whom 93 percent indicated they would be willing to undergo a follow-up colonoscopy if the FOBT was positive.

Lessons learned from the pandemic

"Even pre-pandemic, the rates for colorectal screening in the United States were very far from 100 percent, so I think the lessons that we are learning from this pandemic and working with patients to find alternatives to what the conventional approaches have been in the past are going to be applicable to care moving forward. This approach applies even if we do eventually enter a post-pandemic state, which is, of course, what we are all hoping for," Dr. Rivet said.

Dr. Kenning said the survey results show that there is still much work to do to improve colorectal screening. "Colorectal cancer screening has decreased significantly during the pandemic and still hasn't improved to the rate that it was before," Dr. Kenning said. "Making sure that we're offering all of the options to patients is very important so that, whatever form of screening they're comfortable with, they'll start down that pathway in order to get the screening they need."

The survey results also underscore the need to tailor colorectal cancer screening to each patient's concerns and needs, Dr. Rivet said. "It's important to have a conversation about all of these different alternatives and what the different positives and negatives are," she said.

More information: Kenning K. et al, COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Colorectal Cancer Screening. Scientific Forum Presentation. American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2021.
Bulgaria said on Saturday it was days away from sending coronavirus patients abroad as a vicious fourth wave overwhelms its health system and forces neighbouring Romania to ramp up restrictions.

Health Minister Stoycho Katsarov told the Nova TV channel that if the current rate of infections was not stemmed in 10 to 15 days there would be "enormous problems".

"Our capacity in terms of staff and ventilators has been practically exhausted, we will have to seek help from abroad," he said.

"Talks are underway with the EU to transfer patients to other countries if it comes to that."

Katsarov has also warned a lockdown cannot be ruled out.

Despite the introduction of a health pass for places such as restaurants and shopping centres, experts say the current wave could lead to infections leaping from around 5,000 a day to 9,000 a day in two weeks in the country of 6.9 million.

Bulgaria has suffered one of the world's highest death rates with the total standing at almost 23,000 people.

Over the past year Bulgaria has faced a protracted political crisis alongside the pandemic, with the third parliamentary election this year due to take place next month.

Vaccination surges

Bulgaria and neighbouring Romania together have the lowest vaccination rates in the EU, with low takeup blamed on the widespread circulation of conspiracy theories and mistrust of the authorities.

Only 24 percent of Bulgarians have been fully vaccinated while in Romania the figure is barely 33 percent.

Romania is bringing in harsher measures this Monday to try to bring infections under control.

The country of just over 19 million has now recorded in excess of 1.5 million cases, with more than 15,000 new infections recorded on Saturday.

More than 44,000 people in Romania have died after contracting the virus and the government has had to transfer around 30 patients to neighbouring Hungary as its threadbare healthcare system buckles.

As of Monday, face masks will be compulsory across the country and gatherings such as weddings and conferences will be banned for 30 days.

Spaces such as gyms, shopping centres and restaurants will require a health pass for entry, while unvaccinated people will face a 10 pm curfew.

The one-week school holiday due to begin on Monday has also been extended for seven days.

Controversially, church services have been exempted from the need for attendees to provide proof of vaccination or recovery.

There are signs that the introduction of health passes in both countries has pushed some to get the jab.

The Romanian government announced on Friday that 130,000 Romanians had headed to vaccination centres in the past 24 hours, including a record 86,000 people getting their first shot.

Vaccination centres in Bulgaria also reported a surge in takeup after the introduction of the health pass was announced on Tuesday, with three times as many people getting jabbed on Friday as compared with the previous week.

Explore further Romania hits record infections, deaths amid vaccination lag

 2021 AFP
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Germany's seven-day coronavirus incidence rate reached 100 infections per 100,000 people on Saturday for the first time since May, following a surge in cases in recent weeks.

The number hit 100 after rising from 68.7 just eight days ago, the Robert Koch health institute (RKI) said.

The milestone comes a day after the German health ministry warned that "we are seeing an escalation of the situation".

The upwards trend "became visible in almost all age groups over the past week and it is to be expected that the increase in case numbers will pick up speed in the further course of autumn and winter," health ministry spokesman Oliver Ewald said.

Germany recorded 86 new COVID-19 deaths on Saturday, with the country's total toll rising to 95,077, official figures said.

There were also 15,145 new infections recorded over 24 hours, the figure having risen 31 percent over the last eight days.

The health ministry said Friday that the spike in cases had not yet led to an "increased dynamic" in COVID patients needing intensive care.

Germany's DIVI intensive care association however voiced alarm.

Senior DIVI expert Christian Karagiannidis wrote on Twitter that there was a "very close correlation" between incidence rates and new COVID hospital admissions.

"The real fourth wave is beginning now and is gathering speed," he tweeted.

More than 66 percent of the population of Germany, a country of some 83 million people, is fully vaccinated against COVID.

Almost 70 percent have had a first dose.

Explore further Germany warns of 'escalation' in Covid cases

 2021 AFP
The Financial Impact of Covid-19 on a Surgical Department: the Effects of Surgical Shutdowns and the Impact on a Health System. Credit: American College of Surgeons

Postponement of nonessential surgical procedures early in the coronavirus pandemic not only disrupted surgical care at U.S. hospitals, but also took away a large portion of hospitals' total income, results from two studies reveal. These findings (from the two studies, which took place at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) were presented at the virtual American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress 2021.

Surgical services are typically an important financial engine for hospitals, and the new study findings showed that curtailing surgical procedures for even two months can seriously impact a hospital's financial security. Most elective, nonurgent operations in the country stopped from mid-March to early May 2020, to conserve resources for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Results of one study found that this two-month suspension cost a single university health care system 42 percent of its net revenue for five months.

Nationwide, hospitals lost $1.53 billion from missed elective pediatric procedures alone, the other study investigators estimated as part of their study, for approximately the same period, March to May 2020. Hospitals were slow to make up the surgical backlog and the lost income from children's operations, with a median, or middle, time to recovery of one year, the investigators estimated.

As COVID-19 cases reportedly continue to remain high in many states, some hospitals are again triaging cases and delaying selected operations. Consequently, the researchers said their findings demonstrate the need for better long-term planning by hospitals to prevent further shutdowns to ensure patients have access to the surgical services that they need.

Reasons for not delaying surgical care

"Whenever possible, we should not delay surgical care for our patients," said the first study's lead investigator, Daniel M. Mazzaferro, MD, MBA, a plastic surgery resident at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. "Surgery is a critical asset to the survivability of a health care system."

Moreover, delays in surgical care also can lead to patients' medical conditions worsening, affecting their quality of life, or sometimes even shortening it. Another result is patients may require more treatments, raising health care costs down the line, Dr. Mazzaferro noted.

The pandemic resulted in an unprecedented temporary postponement of many elective operations across the country, as recommended by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and other organizations in March 2020 to free hospital beds and other resources for COVID-19 patients. The ACS provided guidance for how hospitals could triage surgical casesthat is, select which operations to prioritize and which to defer until after COVID-19 caseloads decreased.4

Hospital Financial Risk Due to Procedural Cancellations During the Covid-19 Pandemic. Credit: American College of Surgeons

Financial impact

Dr. Mazzaferro and his coworkers calculated the net revenues of three hospitals in their health care system during the first surge, or "wave," of COVID-19 cases from March to July 2020, compared with the same period in 2019. A total of more than $99 million of net revenue was lost from all surgical departments and $58 million from the department of surgery in the first wave. The researchers reported a median net revenue loss of $636,952 per month per division for the department of surgery in the first wave, using updated data presented during the virtual Clinical Congress. However, the system lost significantly less money$274,626 each month for each divisionduring a second COVID wave between October 1, 2020, and February 29, 2021.

The surgical department did not suspend elective operations during the second surge, said Liza Wu, MD, FACS, senior investigator of this study and professor of surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine.

"We were in a better position than the first time around to continue with elective surgery," Dr. Wu said. "We had more personal protective equipment or PPE, better COVID-19 therapies, and a better understanding of the virus, and we probably were able to get COVID patients out of the hospital faster."

Their surgical department, she added, also began triaging elective surgical patients using a new scoring system called the Medically Necessary, Time-sensitive Scoring, or MeNTS, which University of Chicago physicians described in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.5

After elective operations resumed in June 2020, surgeons quickly regained their productivity, Dr. Mazzaferro reported. He made this conclusion based on a measure of surgeon productivity that insurance payers use for reimbursement, called work relative value units (RVUs). Work RVUs decreased significantly less in the second COVID-19 wave than the first: 7.8 versus 13.2 percent.

For the second study, researchers led by Sourav Bose, MD, MBA, MSc, then a postdoctoral research fellow at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, assessed the financial impact of COVID-related pediatric procedural cancellations. To project lost surgical revenues, they used the 2016 Kids' Inpatient Database, which represents approximately 80 percent of pediatric hospital admissions nationally.

Dr. Bose, a general surgery resident at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said the nation's children's hospitals delayed or canceled an estimated more than 51,000 elective procedures from March to May 2020.

Daniel M. Mazzaferro, MD, MBA and Sourav Bose, MD, MBA, MSc explain the findings from two studies presented at the American College of Surgeons virtual Clinical Congress. Credit: American College of Surgeons

Lessons learned

"Our message isn't all about revenue. It's about how to efficiently manage surgical patients' needs," Dr. Bose said. "Hospital systems must assess their operations management strategies to optimize the availability of surgical resources for patients with the greatest need."

He proposed that hospitals optimize any excess resource capacity that existed before the pandemic or increase their capacity for performing procedures based on their resources, such as expanding hours for operations.

Dr. Mazzaferro also recommended that health care systems make long-term preparations so they can safely provide elective surgical care during future peaks in COVID-19 caseloads. He suggested the following:

Increase hospital bed and resource capacity through alternate solutions, such as sending an overflow of surgical patients to other patient care units or facilities that can accommodate them.

Appropriately triage elective operations following ACS guidelines 4 and other published surgical triage tools.

and other published surgical triage tools. Ensure sufficient PPE for health care workers and patients.

Help keep staff healthy by mandating COVID-19 vaccines or frequently testing them against the virus.

Explore further Nationwide study reveals millions of canceled operations due to COVID-19

More information: Mazzaferro, DM, et al. The Financial Impact of Covid-19 on a Surgical Department: the Effects of Surgical Shutdowns and the Impact on a Health System. American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2021. Journal information: Journal of the American College of Surgeons Mazzaferro, DM, et al. The Financial Impact of Covid-19 on a Surgical Department: the Effects of Surgical Shutdowns and the Impact on a Health System. American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2021.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Namibia has discontinued the use of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine following concerns raised by neighbouring South Africa, the health ministry said on Saturday.

Neighbouring South Africa earlier this week said it would not approve Sputnik V due to concerns it could increase the risk of HIV infection among men, a claim the vaccine's developer says is unfounded.

The Namibian health ministry said in a statement that following South Africa's decision it was suspending, with immediate effect, use of the shots until the formula is listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization.

"The reason for discontinuation of the administration of the vaccine is being done out of abundance of caution that men who received Sputnik V may be at higher risk of contracting HIV when exposed to it," said the ministry.

Namibia had taken delivery of a Serbian donation of 30,000 Sputnik dosesout of which less than 120 have been administered so far.

South Africa's health products regulator on Monday said it would not authorise use of Sputnik based on earlier studies testing the safety of a modified form of adenovirusa type of virus that causes respiratory infectionsknown as the Ad5 and contained in the jab.

The regulator said two previous studies, one in South Africa and one in the Americas, found a heightened risk of HIV infection among men linked to the Ad5-vectored vaccine.

In both trials, "administration of an Ad5-vectored vaccine was associated with enhanced susceptibility/acquisition of HIV in men", the regulator said last week.

Russia's Gamaleya Centre, which developed Sputnik V, says any allegation of a link between the vaccine and HIV is unfounded.

It says clinical studies on more than 7,000 participants showed "there was no statistically significant increase of HIV-1 infection among adenovirus type-5 vectored vaccine recipients."

Explore further S.Africa rejects Russian Sputnik vaccine over HIV fears

 2021 AFP
Treatment Risk Perceptions Vary Based on How Risk Information Is Communicated. Credit: American College of Surgeons

Using quantitative rather than qualitative terms to describe the risks of various treatment options improves communication between surgeons and patients, according to a study presented at the virtual American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress 2021.

Based on a survey of American adults, researchers found that using qualitative descriptions of various risksfor example, using terms such as "sometimes" or "uncommon"led to a wide range of interpretations. In contrast, there was less variance in interpretation when those surveyed were given a risk percentage (for example, a 1 percent risk) or range of risk percentages (for example, 1-5 percent), according to the authors.

Understanding the potential complications of various alternative treatments is important to help patients make informed decisions, said Joshua E. Rosen, MD, MHS, research fellow at the Surgical Outcomes Research Center at the University of Washington, Seattle, and first study author. Patients need accurate information about the types and degrees of risk they face so they can base decisions within the context of what is happening in their lives, Dr. Rosen said.

While the outcomes and quality of life may be very similar when comparing surgery with a course of antibiotics, there are differences in other outcomes that may be important to patients. For example, recovery time associated with an operation could lead to missed work or school days, while antibiotics pose the risk that the problem will not be resolved and may require an operation at a later time. A student with an upcoming exam may prefer to opt for a course of antibiotics rather than surgery first because the recovery time associated with surgery could interfere with taking the exam, Dr. Rosen explained.

"The way surgeons communicate with patients really matters," Dr. Rosen said. "We need to communicate accurately so that patients can interpret that information within the context of their lives."

Unfortunately, using qualitative descriptions of risks tends to lead to a wide array of interpretations. For example, those surveyed were given one of three descriptions of the risk of deep space infection after appendicitis surgery:

3 percent

1-5 percent

uncommon

Respondents were then asked to characterize the risk of deep space infection after an operation for appendicitis (appendectomy). Those who were told the risk was "uncommon" said they interpreted this term as meaning their chance of getting an infection was, on average, a 26 percent chance, far higher than the point estimate of 3 percent or the range of 1-5 percent.

"Surgeons need to thoughtfully communicate such information because it can affect how patients perceive risks. Our findings advance something all surgeons know they should do by highlighting ways surgeons can do it," said Joshua M. Liao, MD, MSc, the senior study author. "Surgeons can use our findings to consider when and how to communicate risks using numerical estimates and ranges."

Joshua E. Rosen, MD, MHS, general surgery resident at the department of surgery at the University of Washington Medicine, Seattle, and first study author explains the findings. Credit: American College of Surgeons

Findings are communication tools

The study's findings are intended to be used as tools to help surgeons counsel patients, Dr. Rosen said. Based on these findings, surgeons should:

Recognize that the way information is communicated affects how patients receive or interpret it.

Communicate with numbers because it leaves less room for variation in interpretation.

Use qualitative description of risks only if they are accompanied by numbers.

Check with patients to assess how well they understand their condition and potential treatment options.

The surveys were conducted among 296 American adults (54 percent were male) recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Respondents were asked to estimate the risk of complications (0 to 100 percent) for "a typical patient with appendicitis." The study used Fligner-Killeen tests for homogeneity of variances to compare the spread in respondents' estimates based on risk communication language.

Among the 296 respondents, variance in risk estimates was highest for all complications tested when risks were communicated using qualitative descriptors. In addition, variance was generally lower when risks were communicated as point estimates rather than ranges.

A broader effort is underway

This study is part of a broader portfolio through the Decision Science Group (vsslab.org/dsg) that seeks to improve health by improving how doctors, clinical teams, patients, and their loved ones make health care decisions, Dr. Liao said. One major aim of the Group's work is to translate insights into practice by using findings from this study to design decision-making tools and protocols that can be implemented to help patients make decisions about appendicitis treatment, he said. Core members of this group include faculty in the school of medicine, school of public health, and Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.

Explore further Pregnant women have better outcomes after immediate surgery for complicated appendicitis

More information: Rosen JE, et al. Treatment Risk Perceptions Vary Based on How Risk Information Is Communicated. American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2021.
Age Exacerbates Inequity in Telemedicine Use During the Covid-19 Pandemic for Cancer Patients in the Deep South. Credit: American College of Surgeons

Two studies improve understanding of how video and telephone telehealth services are used by patients and cancer centers across the country, identifying factors that could lead to more or less use of these services and guide efforts to improve access for patients who might otherwise be shut out. Research findings were presented at the virtual American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress 2021.

To improve access to care during the COVID-19 pandemic, many medical centers shifted to telehealth services. In fact, telehealth visits increased by 50 percent during the first quarter of 2020, compared with the same period in 2019, according to the CDC.

Telehealth appointments are more efficient than traditional face-to-face encounters, eliminating the need for long travel and wait times, plus many patients prefer the convenience of remote visits. However, challenges for patients such as technical difficulties, internet connection issues, and limited access to smart devices can prevent patients from using this approach.

"Because of COVID, centers across the country had to ramp up telehealth services, and that begs the question, is it feasible for these centers to make this shift long-term?" said Harry Doernberg, a medical student at Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.

Telehealth use among Commission on Cancer-accredited centers

For the first study, Mr. Doernberg and colleagues addressed this question by conducting a secret shopper study on 371 ACS Commission on Cancer (CoC)-accredited centers across the U.S. The objective was to identify factors associated with the centers who offered telehealth services and those who did not. Between June and September 2020, researchers called the centers anonymously to find out if they had the capacity to offer telehealth appointments to breast cancer patients.

Harry Doernberg, Anees Chagpar, MD, FACS, FRCS(C), and Connie Shao, MD, explain the findings. Credit: American College of Surgeons

Among the study's key findings:

The vast majority of CoC-accredited centers (316 of 371) offered telehealth visits for breast cancer patients.

After controlling for facility type (Comprehensive Community Cancer Program, Community Cancer Program, and more), teaching hospital status, and hospital size, geographic location was the only independent factor associated with telehealth access.

Centers located in the west were over six times (OR: 6.38) more likely to offer telehealth visits than other regions, including the northeast.

"Overall, this analysis highlights the fact that different regions of the country were more or less prepared to shift to telehealth during the pandemic," said study coauthor Anees Chagpar, MD, MBA, MPH, FACS, FRCS (C), professor of surgery, Yale School of Medicine, and a member of Yale Cancer Center. "The next questions are: What happens going forward? How many of these centers will continue to offer telehealth? What percentage of patients will opt for telehealth visits? How these questions play out in the future remains to be seen."

Telehealth use among a diverse population

For the second study, Connie Shao, MD, a general surgery resident at the University of Alabama Birmingham, and her colleagues looked at telehealth use between March and December 2020 among a diverse population of patients receiving care at a Commission on Cancer-accredited National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Birmingham.

Using billing data, researchers compared patient socioecological factors for outpatient clinic visits (in-person versus telehealth and within telehealth, telephone-only versus video). The analysis adjusted for factors such as zip code, household income, race, and sex to identify factors associated with telehealth use.

Factors Affecting Telehealth Availability Amongst Breast Centers During the Pandemic. Credit: American College of Surgeons

Among the key findings:

Of the 60,718 clinic visits, 84.4 percent (51,260) were in-person and 15.6 percent (9,458) were via telehealth, including video (41.7 percent) and telephone-only (58.3 percent) visits.

Telehealth visits were primarily used by patients who were white (70.3 percent), female (63.7 percent), and had private insurance (47.5 percent). Average age was 60.

Compared with video visits, telephone visits were used more by patients who are Black (25.8 percent vs. 18.4 percent), older (62 vs. 57), from lower income zip codes ($52,297 vs. $56,343), and publicly insured (52 percent vs. 41.4 percent).

For each decade of advancing patient age, the likelihood of having a video visit decreased by 18 percent. This was even more pronounced in Black patients where the likelihood of a video visit dropped by 40 percent for every decade. When Black race and older age were combined, the odds of having a video visit dropped by another 12 percent. This finding was despite increased video telehealth use over the study period.

"Telemedicine is here to stay," Dr. Shao said. "The issue is how do we make sure patients are accessing it equitably? Unfortunately, some of our sickest patients are not able to access telemedicine that most benefits their health care needs. We want to offer patients, those who are far from the hospital and have a difficult time connecting with us, care with us, even as the COVID pandemic hopefully ends."

Although telemedicine has been available for decades, COVID has accelerated its widespread use very quickly. Together, these two studies deepen understanding of how vulnerable patients are not reaping the benefits of its use, paving the way for additional research and improved access.

Currently, Dr. Shao and colleagues are implementing a process at their center where patient navigators screen patients to figure out who needs telehealth support. The patient navigators instruct patients on how to set up a video-based telemedicine visit. This gives patients the skill and confidence to use telehealth video visits now and for future appointments.

"We are currently collaborating with a group to roll out this program even more and to analyze the strength of the program and eliminate the barriers. We want to know what can be improved to achieve successful telemedicine visits," Dr. Shao said. "As COVID wanes, the fear of coming into the hospital decreases. Moving forward, our concern is finding ways to help those patients better engage with us, often and remotely. A lot of these patients are rural and live hours away from a major hospital."

Coauthors for the Yale University School of Medicine study are Walter Hsiang, BS, MBA; Victoria Marks, BS; Irene Pak; Dana Kim; Bayan Galal; Waez Umer; and Afash Haleem.

Explore further Telehealth disparity seen in cancer care

More information: Doernberg H, et al. Factors Affecting Telehealth Availability Amongst Breast Centers During the Pandemic. Scientific Forum Presentation. American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2021.
People wait for their turn at a vaccination center in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. Coronavirus infections and deaths in Ukraine have surged to all-time highs amid a laggard pace of vaccination, which is one of the lowest in Europe. Credit: AP Photo/Andriy Andrienko

Ukraine's coronavirus infections and deaths reached all-time highs for a second straight day Friday, in a growing challenge for the country with one of Europe's lowest shares of vaccinated people.

Ukrainian health authorities reported 23,785 new confirmed infections and 614 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Authorities in the capital, Kyiv, shut schools for two weeks starting Friday, and similar measures were ordered in other areas with high contagion levels.

Authorities have blamed surging infections on a sluggish pace of vaccination in the nation of 41 million. Ukrainians can freely choose between Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines, but only about 15% of the population is fully vaccinated, Europe's lowest level after Armenia.

Overall, the country has registered over 2.7 million infections and about 63,000 deaths.

The steep rise in contagion has prompted the government to tighten restrictions. Starting Thursday, proof of vaccination or a negative test is required to board planes, trains and long-distance buses.

In Rivne, 300 kilometers (190 miles) west of Kyiv, the city hospital is swamped with COVID-19 patients and doctors say the situation is worse than during the wave of infections early in the pandemic that severely strained the health system.

Chief of ICU department Dr. Valentyn Koroliuk speaks to a patient with coronavirus at the city hospital 1 in Rivne, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. In Rivne, 300 kilometers (190 miles) west of Kyiv, the city hospital is swamped with COVID-19 patients and doctors say the situation is worse than during the wave of infections early in the pandemic that severely strained the health system. Ukraine's coronavirus infections and deaths reached all-time highs for a second straight day Friday, in a growing challenge for the country with one of Europe's lowest shares of vaccinated people. Credit: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka

"The ... course of the disease is certainly more severe and more aggressive than last year. The patients have become younger," said Valentyn Koroliuk, head of the hospital's intensive-care unit. "Unfortunately, those patients who are in our department are not vaccinated."

Lilia Serdiuk, 61, is fighting COVID-19 and regretting that she did heed calls to get vaccinated.

"I didn't believe it, I didn't even want to watch the news," she told The Associated Press as she lay on her back in a narrow bed. "This disease exists and it is very terrible. I wish all people would listen to the news and the recommendations of doctors."

The hospital is near capacity and doctors worry the wave of patients will grow.

"What if there are even more patients? What if we don't have enough oxygen? This is constant stress," said doctor Tetiana Pasichnyk.

Medical staff prepare a coffin for a body of a patient who died of coronavirus at the morgue of the city hospital 1 in Rivne, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. In Rivne, 300 kilometers (190 miles) west of Kyiv, the city hospital is swamped with COVID-19 patients and doctors say the situation is worse than during the wave of infections early in the pandemic that severely strained the health system. Ukraine's coronavirus infections and deaths reached all-time highs for a second straight day Friday, in a growing challenge for the country with one of Europe's lowest shares of vaccinated people. Credit: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka

Medical staff members carry a cart with dead body out of the COVID-19 infection department in a city clinic in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. Coronavirus infections and deaths in Ukraine have surged to all-time highs amid a laggard pace of vaccination, which is one of the lowest in Europe. Ukrainian authorities on Thursday reported over 22,000 new confirmed infections and 546 deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest numbers since the start of the pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

Medical staff members push a cart out of the COVID-19 infection department in a city clinic in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. Coronavirus infections and deaths in Ukraine have surged to all-time highs amid a laggard pace of vaccination, which is one of the lowest in Europe. Ukrainian authorities on Thursday reported over 22,000 new confirmed infections and 546 deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest numbers since the start of the pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

Medical staff members load a body of a patient who died of coronavirus at the morgue of the city hospital 1 in Rivne, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. In Rivne, 300 kilometers (190 miles) west of Kyiv, the city hospital is swamped with COVID-19 patients and doctors say the situation is worse than during the wave of infections early in the pandemic that severely strained the health system. Ukraine's coronavirus infections and deaths reached all-time highs for a second straight day Friday, in a growing challenge for the country with one of Europe's lowest shares of vaccinated people. Credit: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka

Medical staff members transport a body of a patient who died of coronavirus at the morgue of the city hospital 1 in Rivne, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. In Rivne, 300 kilometers (190 miles) west of Kyiv, the city hospital is swamped with COVID-19 patients and doctors say the situation is worse than during the wave of infections early in the pandemic that severely strained the health system. Ukraine's coronavirus infections and deaths reached all-time highs for a second straight day Friday, in a growing challenge for the country with one of Europe's lowest shares of vaccinated people. Credit: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka

A black market for counterfeit vaccination certificates has blossomed amid the restrictions, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy chaired a meeting earlier this week on ways of combating the illegal practice.

Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky said police have opened 800 criminal cases concerning the use of such certificates, adding that the ministry deployed 100 mobile units to track down their holders, who would face severe punishment.

He said that a former lawmaker, Nadiya Savchenko, produced a fake proof of vaccination as she returned to Ukraine Friday.

Police said they suspect workers at 15 hospitals across the country of involvement in issuing false vaccination certificates.

To encourage vaccination, authorities have started offering shots in shopping malls. As infections soared, skeptical attitudes began to change and a record number of more than 270,000 people received vaccines over the past 24 hours.

Explore further Ukraine sees new record high in virus deaths, infections

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Implementation of a Novel, Single-Encounter Telemedicine Lung Cancer Screening (SET-LCS) During Covid-19 Preserves Access among African Americans. Credit: American College of Surgeons

A novel telemedicine lung cancer screening effort during the COVID-19 pandemic shows that virtual single-visit screenings are just as effective as single-visit screenings done in person at the hospital, according to a study presented at the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Virtual Clinical Congress 2021.

The study of virtual lung cancer screenings (LCS) was performed at Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, which has a large African American patient population. African Americans face disparities in care, especially for lung cancer. They are less likely to be screened and treated for lung cancer and more likely to die from it, compared with the general population, explained Jessica S. Magarinos, MD, a general surgery resident at Temple University Hospital and first author of the study. Although the authors hypothesized that LCS disparities would be exacerbated during COVID-19, this was not the case, she said.

"Our study shows that telemedicine screenings were able to reach the African American population in a safety net hospital," Dr. Magarinos reported.

More people need to be screened for lung cancer

More people die of lung cancer every year than from any other type of cancer. Although lung cancer can be successfully treated if caught early enough, only about 3-to-6 percent of the population eligible for LCS get screened, said Cherie P. Erkmen, MD, FACS, a thoracic surgeon at Temple University Hospital and the principal investigator for the retrospective study.

"Overall, we do a sorrowful job of getting people to undergo lung cancer screening," Dr. Erkmen said. "We can reduce preventable lung cancer death by finding novel ways of getting people screened."

With the advent of COVID-19 pandemic, many patientsacting on advice from such scientific advisory groups such as the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST)decided to defer getting screened for lung cancer. The authors at Temple University in Philadelphia decided to quickly pivot to offer telemedicine lung cancer screenings, which mitigates the risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus. Earlier this year, the ACS was one of the major health care organizations that issued a call for patients to not miss cancer screenings due to COVID-19.

Study details

The researchers compared 673 patients who received single-visit lung cancer screening (LCS) patients before the COVID-19 pandemic with 440 patients who received Single Encounter Telemedicine Lung Cancer Screening (SET-LCS) since March of 2020, when the pandemic began to prompt shutdowns across the U.S.

For the LCS population, the authors retrospectively analyzed prospectively collected data from February 2021 and earlier; for both groups, they looked at race, smoking history, educational status, Lung-RADS*, cancer diagnosis and stage, and adherence to follow-up using the Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test.

Jessica S. Magarinos, MD, a general surgery resident at Temple University Hospital and first author of the study, and Cherie P. Erkmen, MD, FACS, a thoracic surgeon at Temple University Hospital and the principal investigator, explain the findings. Credit: American College of Surgeons

Study findings

The distribution of patient race before and after COVID-19 was not significantly different; in each case, the largest group of screened patients was African American (52 percent before, 37 percent after), Dr. Magarinos said. Smoking history was significantly different; 65 percent of those undergoing screening before COVID-19 were active smokers compared with 33 percent after COVID-19.

The authors concluded there was no significant difference in the distribution of Lung-RADs results (single visit vs. telemedicine):

Lung-RADS1, 46.4 percent vs. 37.0 percent

Lung-RADS2, 44.0 percent vs. 50.8 percent

Lung-RADS3, 5.3 percent vs. 7.6 percent

Lung-RADS4, 4.2 percent vs. 4.8 percent

Lung-RADS0, 0.1 percent vs. 0.2 percent

CT guided biopsy, 0.4 percent vs. 0.5 percent

EBUS guided biopsy, 0.3 percent vs. 0.5 percent

Surgery 2.5 percent vs. 1.1 percent

Declined diagnostic work up, 0.3 percent vs. 0.2 percent

Deceased prior to diagnostic work up, 0 percent vs. 0.2 percent

The authors also concluded there was no significant difference in the frequency of procedures for cancer diagnoses. These multiple findings led the researchers to conclude that telemedicine screening was just as effective as in-person screenings.

Although the telemedicine approach allowed many patients to get screened for lung cancer, overall the number of people who were screened for lung cancer during the pandemic declined by 75 percent, according to the authors.

Dr. Erkmen hopes continued telemedicine lung cancer screenings after the pandemic will eliminate some barriers to getting screened and will result in more people getting screened.

The authors believe that telemedicine screening is applicable to other types of cancers, including breast cancer or colorectal cancer screening, said Dr. Magarinos.

Explore further 2021 USPSTF guidance expands eligibility for lung cancer screening
In this Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021 file photo, people wait for a COVID-19 vaccine, at the Belgrade Fair makeshift vaccination center, Serbia. Serbia on Wednesday Oct. 20, 2021, introduced COVID-19 passes for indoor venues late at night following weeks of surging infections and relatively low vaccination rates. Credit: AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File

Serbia on Saturday is set to launch partial COVID-19 passes while Croatia and Slovenia reported high daily rates of infections, as countries with low vaccination rates grapple with a persisting virus surge.

Serbia has seen thousands of news cases daily for weeks now and recorded more than 50 deaths each day, in the country of 7 million where about half of adults have been fully jabbed and tens of thousands have received booster doses.

On Saturday, authorities reported an additional 6,748 new infections in the past 24 hours and 60 fatalities from COVID-19. The Balkan nation has confirmed more than 1 million infections since the start of the pandemic and nearly 10,000 deaths.

Experts have harshly criticized the government decision to introduce COVID-19 passes for indoor spaces only from 10 p.m. They said the move was too little too late and that stricter measures are needed to curb the raging virus.

"It's scandalous and far too late," retired epidemiologist Zoran Radovanovic told N1 television.

Serbia's government initially was reluctant to impose any measures, urging people to get vaccinated instead. Face masks have been obligatory indoors in the Balkan country but there have been no limits for gatherings or work at nightclubs, bars or restaurants.

Starting Saturday evening, visitors will have to provide COVID-19 passes showing evidence of vaccination, a negative test or that they have recovered from the disease in the past seven months. Officials said more than 2,000 inspections will control whether the new rules are being implemented.

The virus situation has been alarming also in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe where vaccination rates are lower than the European Union average. Romania has approved the tightening of rules from Monday as hospitals filled up and infections soared to record numbers.

Slovenia on Saturday said the number of confirmed daily cases has reached a nine-month high and a positivity rate of about 30% in the country of about 2 million people. Slovenia has fully vaccinated 53% of the population of 2 million. Just over 5,000 people have died of COVID-19.

Croatia too is reporting a surge in daily new cases to more than 3,500 over the past daysthe daily number of confirmed cases has risen by 1,600 since last weekend, authorities said.

The government so far has imposed COVID-19 passes for the health and social service workers, but not the general population. Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic on Saturday called on citizens to vaccinateCroatia's vaccination rate also stands at around 50%.

"Vaccination is seen globally as the best solution and we must all help those citizens who still have doubts to decide in favor of it," he said.

Explore further Ukraine sets new COVID deaths record

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Missoula County received approval on Thursday for the continuation of the Violence Against Women Rural Program Award.

The grant, which spreads out $950,000 over three years, aims at bolstering services and resources in rural communities for survivors of domestic violence. It comes from the U.S. Department of Justices Violence against Women program.

The awards objectives are comprehensive  they look at specific problems in rural systems that hinder the ability of people in abusive situations to seek help, said Kelly McGuire, Missoula Countys Community Justice Department grants and contracts administrator.

When you've been assaulted or you're really frightened of somebody, you're worried for your life, she said. It's really hard to understand the justice system. It's really confusing.

Missoula has seen two domestic violence-related deaths in the last two months. One of those incidents happened outside city limits, off Mullan Road near Frenchtown and ended in Danielle Johnston losing her life. In the other, Lucille Synek died when she was allegedly run over with a truck by her partner in the WinCo parking lot.

Montana had the eighth-highest femicide rate in the U.S. in 2017, McGuire said.

Chief among the program's goals is to ensure survivors have access to the resources needed to leave abusive situations.

The grant aims to increase victim advocacy services in rural and isolated areas and provide civil legal services and direct emergency financial assistance. The money also targets preventing future victimization by implementing a teen dating violence prevention program among rural youth communities, namely in middle and high schools.

It's so important that people are able to identify the signs of domestic violence and be able to know what services exist and to give that information to folks that are in that situation, McGuire said, adding education about consent and health relationships is vital in preventing violence, too.

It really is transformative for kids to be able to get that in school, she said.

Training and strengthened collaboration between professionals who serve rural victims is also a component of the grant.

Rural communities face special challenges when survivors are trying to leave abusive relationships, McGuire said. Rural high school students are twice as likely to report being raped as urban students.

Victims consistently report barriers while trying to leave their abusers, such as limited job opportunities, insufficient child care resources, and lack of available housing in their area, McGuire said. Minimal control and independence over finances is a hurdle for many victims, too.

Services for victims in rural pockets of the state also prevent anonymity in reporting, discouraging individuals from seeking help. Lack of public transportation can also pose difficulties, making it hard to easily access police stations, courthouses and medical centers.

Special to this years grant will be the formation of a parenting support group in Seeley Lake, McGuire said.

McGuire has heard several stories of people experiencing domestic violence in rural communities who have suffered severe abuse, but were able to get access to the legal help and financial assistance needed to get them to safety. Without the grant, McGuire thinks those outcomes may not have been feasible.

I think this grant absolutely saves lives, she said.

The pandemic has left many survivors even more isolated and trapped in their homes with unsafe partners, McGuire said.

Part of the grant includes a partnership between Missoula and Mineral counties. Because Mineral County is relatively small and under-resourced, when survivors arent able to find services they often come to Missoula for aid, McGuire said. This support for Mineral County has been in place for over a decade.

Mineral County Sheriff Mike Toth is looking forward to the grants continuation and the benefits it brings to his county.

Our victim advocates get a lot of good training through Missoula, so were really looking forward to this program moving forward, Toth said. Were fortunate to be close to Missoula and have this support from them.

In September, following the death of Danielle Johnston, the Missoula County Community Justice Department sent out a news release listing resources for individuals experiencing domestic violence.

Domestic violence is not uncommon in our community, and there are others in Missoula who have experienced harm in the past or are currently experiencing harm from someone, said Shantelle Gaynor, director of the Community Justice Department. If you are in danger, there are people who can help. You are not alone. You are a loved member of this community who deserves to be treated with care and respect. No one deserves abuse.

The Missoula YWCA provides 24-hour crisis counseling, emergency shelter, transitional housing, mental health counseling, legal support and support groups for victims of crime. Their phone number is 406-542-1944.

The Missoula City-County Crime Victim Advocate Program provides legal advocacy for victims of crimes. Advocates can help you obtain a restraining order, report a crime to police or navigate options available to you through the justice system. They can be reached at 406-258-3830.

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Just days after insurrectionists stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, Facebook's Chief Operational Officer Sheryl Sandberg downplayed her company's role in what had happened.

"We know this was organized online. We know that," she said in an interview with Reuters. "We... took down QAnon, Proud Boys, Stop the Steal, anything that was talking about possible violence last week. Our enforcement's never perfect so I'm sure there were still things on Facebook. I think these events were largely organized on platforms that don't have our abilities to stop hate and don't have our standards and don't have our transparency."

But internal Facebook documents reviewed by CNN suggest otherwise. The documents, including an internal post-mortem and one document showing in real time countermeasures Facebook employees were belatedly implementing, paint a picture of a company that was in fact fundamentally unprepared for how the Stop the Steal movement used its platform to organize, and that only truly swung into action after the movement, which played a pivotal role in the insurrection, had turned violent.

Asked by CNN about Sandberg's quote and whether she stood by it, a Facebook spokesperson pointed to the greater context around Sandberg's quote. She had been noting that Jan. 6 organization happened largely online, including but not limited to on Facebook's platforms, the spokesperson said.

The documents were provided by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen as evidence to support disclosures she made to the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided to Congress in redacted form by Haugen's legal counsel. The redacted versions were obtained by a consortium of 17 US news organizations, including CNN.

One of Haugen's central allegations about the company focuses on the attack on the Capitol. In a SEC disclosure she alleges, "Facebook misled investors and the public about its role perpetuating misinformation and violent extremism relating to the 2020 election and January 6th insurrection."

Leaked documents from Haugen first began appearing in The Wall Street Journal earlier this year. Revelations in the newspaper's ongoing series of reports, The Facebook Files, captured the attention of lawmakers around the world.

Facebook denies the premise of Haugen's conclusions and says Haugen has cherry-picked documents to present an unfair portrayal of the company.

"The responsibility for the violence that occurred on January 6 lies with those who attacked our Capitol and those who encouraged them. We took steps to limit content that sought to delegitimize the election, including labeling candidates' posts with the latest vote count after Mr. Trump prematurely declared victory, pausing new political advertising and removing the original #StopTheSteal Group in November," Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone told CNN Friday.

"After the violence at the Capitol erupted and as we saw continued attempts to organize events to dispute the outcome of the presidential election, we removed content with the phrase 'stop the steal' under our Coordinating Harm policy and suspended Trump from our platform."

Facebook also on Friday night published a blog post by its vice president of Integrity, Guy Rosen, about its efforts around the 2020 election.

"Our enforcement was piecemeal"

Among the tens of thousands of pages of documents Haugen provided is an internal analysis of how the Stop the Steal and Patriot Party movements spread on Facebook, first reported by BuzzFeed News earlier this year.

"Hindsight is 20:20," the author or authors of the analysis, who are not identifiable from what was provided, write. "[A]t the time it was very difficult to know whether what we were seeing was a coordinated effort to delegitimize the election, or whether it was protected free expression by users who were afraid and confused and deserved our empathy. But hindsight being 20:20 makes it all the more important to look back to learn what we can about the growth of the election delegitimatizing movements that grew, spread conspiracy, and helped incite the Capitol insurrection."

The analysis found that the policies and procedures Facebook had in place were simply not up to the task of slowing, much less halting, the "meteoric" growth of Stop the Steal. For instance, those behind the analysis noted that Facebook treated each piece of content and person or group within Stop the Steal individually, rather than as part of a whole, with dire results.

"Almost all of the fastest growing FB Groups were Stop the Steal during their peak growth," the analysis says. "Because we were looking at each entity individually, rather than as a cohesive movement, we were only able to take down individual Groups and Pages once they exceeded a violation threshold. We were not able to act on simple objects like posts and comments because they individually tended not to violate, even if they were surrounded by hate, violence, and misinformation."

This approach did eventually change, according to the analysis -- after it was too late.

"After the Capitol insurrection and a wave of Storm the Capitol events across the country, we realized that the individual delegitimizing Groups, Pages, and slogans did constitute a cohesive movement," the analysis says.

This was not the only way in which Facebook had failed to anticipate something like Stop the Steal, or in which its response was lacking.

Facebook has for some time now had a policy banning "coordinated inauthentic behavior" on its platforms. This ban allows it to take action against, for instance, the Russian troll army that worked to interfere with the 2016 US election through accounts and pages set up to look as if they were American But, the analysis notes with emphasis, the company had "little policy around coordinated authentic harm" -- that is, little to stop people organizing under their real names and not hiding their intention to get the country to reject the results of the election.

Stop the Steal and Patriot Party groups "were not directly mobilizing offline harm, nor were they directly promoting militarization," the analysis says. "Instead, they were amplifying and normalizing misinformation and violent hate in a way that delegitimized a free and fair democratic election. The harm existed at the network level: an individual's speech is protected, but as a movement, it normalized delegitimization and hate in a way that resulted in offline harm and harm to the norms underpinning democracy."

The analysis does note, however, that once Facebook saw the results of Stop the Steal on January 6th and took action, it was able to deploy measures that stymied the growth of both Stop the Steal and Patriot Party groups.

Facebook's Stone told CNN, "Facebook has taken extraordinary steps to address harmful content and we'll continue to do our part. We also closely worked with law enforcement, both before January 6th and in the days and weeks since, with the goal of ensuring that information linking the people responsible for January 6th to their crimes is available."

Pulling levers

Haugen began gathering evidence about the company before she eventually left the tech giant last May. To reduce the chance of getting caught taking screenshots of internal Facebook systems, she used her phone to take photographs of her computer screen.

As the insurrection was underway in Washington and Facebook was trying to get a handle on the situation, Haugen was snapping pictures, documenting the company's response.

One of the documents she captured, titled "Capitol Protest BTG [Break the Glass] Response," was a chart of measures Facebook could take in response to the January 6th attack. The chart appears to have been prepared beforehand; at the time Haugen photographed it, a little less than two hours after the Capitol was first breached, the company had instituted some of those measures while others were still under consideration. Among the potential actions listed in the chart were demoting "content deemed likely to violate our community standards in the areas of hate speech, graphic violence, and violence and incitement."

The page labeled these as "US2020 Levers, previously rolled back."

Those "levers," as Facebook refers to them, are measures -- guardrails -- that the company put in place before last year's Presidential election in an attempt to slow the spread of hate and misinformation on the platform. Facebook has not been clear in its public statements about what measures it did roll back after the election and why it did so at a time of tumult when the sitting president was calling the results of the vote into question.

But according to the "Capitol Protest BTG response" document, the guardrails Facebook reimplemented on January 6th included reducing the visibility of posts likely to be reported and freezing "commenting on posts in Groups that start to have a high rate of hate speech and violence & incitement comments," among others.

In the SEC disclosure, Haugen alleges that these levers were reinstated "only after the insurrection flared up."

Asked about the decisions to dial the levers back and then push them out again, Stone said, "In phasing in and then adjusting additional measures before, during and after the election, we took into account specific on-platforms signals and information from our ongoing, regular engagement with law enforcement. When those signals changed, so did the measures."

A through line

When Facebook executives posted messages publicly and internally condemning the riot, some employees pushed back, even suggesting Facebook might have had some culpability.

"There were dozens of Stop the Steal groups active up until yesterday, and I doubt they minced words about their intentions," one employee wrote in response to a post from Mike Schroepfer, Facebook's chief technology officer.3

Another wrote, "All due respect, but haven't we had enough time to figure out how to manage discourse without enabling violence? We've been fueling this fire for a long time and we shouldn't be surprised it's now out of control."

Other Facebook employees went further, claiming decisions by company leadership over the years had helped create the conditions that paved the way for an attack on the US Capitol.

Responding to Schroepfer's post, one staffer wrote that, "leadership overrides research based policy decisions to better serve people like the groups inciting violence today. Rank and file workers have done their part to identify changes to improve our platforms but have been actively held back."

Another staffer, referencing years of controversial and questionable decision-making by Facebook leadership around political speech concluded, "history will not judge us kindly."

***

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HINSDALE  A 76-million-year old animal rose from a sandstone coulee through a curtain of dust kicked up by the two thundering propellers of a Chinook helicopter.

A 9,000-pound chunk of rock dangled from the helicopter. The fossilized remains of a tyrannosaur were curled inside the rock, frozen in a geological snapshot of the late Cretaceous Period. The Chinook guided the fossil to a flatbed truck, finishing the first part of its journey to the Badlands Dinosaur Museum in Dickinson, North Dakota.

Its a big one, said paleontologist Denver Fowler, curator for the museum, as he stood next to the flatbed on a recent October Saturday. Fowler, along with his wife and fellow researcher Liz Fowler, spent four years uprooting the dinosaur from the prehistoric sediment in Valley County.

Inside the badlands that carve through the prairie of northeastern Montana is a layer of mudstone and sandstone known as the Judith River Formation. The ranches and farmland around Hinsdale were part of a delta on the edge of a great inland sea that split North American in two, stretching from the Arctic Sea to the Gulf of Mexico.

A human walking along the delta 76 million years ago, hypothetically, would see many familiar animals in the water, Liz Fowler said, like turtles, frogs, salamanders and crocodiles. On land, however, the 7-ton duck-billed Brachylophosaurus would be munching on ferns and conifers. The apex predator Daspletosaurus, a relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, would be munching on Brachylophosaurus.

It was probably a half-grown Daspletosaurus, Denver Fowler said, that washed up on the ancient delta. Decomposition set into its curled body, causing its belly to swell with gases. Then, like a whale, its gut exploded. Other than its scattered ribs, the rest of the animal was encased in the sediment that washed over it.

Nature kept the animal buried and preserved while the inland ocean receded, only to slowly unearth it through erosion. Wind and water chipped away at the hill where the tyrannosaur lay, eventually exposing its feet. It was these two feet spotted by Denver Fowler that launched the excavation.

To find one foot is awesome but its not all that uncommon. If youve got both feet together and theyre both articulated, then youve got to have the legs together. If youve got the legs together, then theyre probably attached to the hips, and if youve got the hips, then why not the rest of the skeleton? he said.

Denver and Liz Fowler, both of whom earned a Ph.D. in paleontology from Montana State University, first came to Valley County in 2016. Their visit to the rugged formations about 60 miles south of the Canadian border came after an error that Liz Fowler spotted at a Bureau of Land Management office in Havre.

In their lobby they have the jaw of a dinosaur with some nice teeth in it, and it was labeled duckbill. Liz said, Thats not duck bill, thats a horned dinosaur,

They asked BLM HiLine District Archaeologist Josh Chase where he found the jaw, and he brought them out to Hinsdale. Chase has helped facilitate excavations and research in Montana conducted by the Museum of the Rockies, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and most recently the Dickinson Museum Center, which houses the Badlands Dinosaur Museum.

The real effort of digging around the tyrannosaurs feet began in 2018. Over the next two summers, they dug about 10 feet deep into a hillside, and into the soft sandstone beneath the dinosaurs feet, planting jacks along the way. As they neared the point where the bones lay, their progress came to a halt. Limestone had mixed in with the sediment surrounding the dinosaur, making it close to impossible to break apart into manageable pieces.

In 2019, the excavation team of volunteers and students returned with cement saws. Their diamond blades tore through the thick parts of the rock, leaving a checkerboard pattern over the top of the fossil. Even with the help of the saws, the slab containing the bones still weighed 4.5 tons, and the rough landscape meant that if the dinosaur was going anywhere, it would have to be by helicopter.

The Fowlers, whose experience in excavating ancient animals spans continents, had overseen helicopter extractions before, but never one this large. With wildfires taking priority, they had to wait until late this year to get a Chinook recently acquired by the Billings Flying Service at the site.

To prepare the fossil for the trip to North Dakota, the Dickinson Museum Center commissioned a custom iron frame. A portion of the frame wrapped around the slab containing the dinosaur, and another sat on the truck. On the day of the extraction, the Chinook pilots hovered over the flatbed while a small team on the ground held onto ropes that dangled from the framed Daspletosaurus. After a few corrections, the rock fell into place as snug as a 10,000-pound puzzle piece.

Over the next two to three years, experts will break away the stone with air chisels, and scans of the fossilized bones will reveals its age and give paleontologists insights into its evolution. Because Denver Fowler spotted the tyrannosaur on public BLM land, there will be no dispute over where it will go or who will get to see it.

Theres a lot of interest in paleontology on public land at the moment, because this allows us to have dinosaurs in local museums. This allows us to have dinosaurs on display. Stan the T. Rex from South Dakota, nobody knows where it is, said Fowler, who is also the curator of the Badlands Dinosaur Museum.

Stan, a 39-foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex was found in 1987 and excavated outside of Buffalo, S.D. in 1992. At nearly 70% complete, dozens of casts have been made of Stan that fill museums worldwide. The fossil remained the property of the Black Hills Institute, a private corporation, until 2020. Stan was sold to an anonymous buyer for roughly $32 million, making it the most expensive fossil ever sold and potentially closing off any future research that paleontologists had planned for the 66 million-year-old T. Rex.

In the United States, all fossils on public lands have to be excavated through permit. Once theyre out of the ground, they have to remain in the public trust by going to federal repositories, such as the Museum of the Rockies or the Dickinson Museum Center.

BLM lands in Montana contain both paleontological sites that date back to the Cretaceous Period, and culturally significant Indigenous sites like buffalo jumps that date back more than 20,000 years. Fowler said digs on public lands act as a kind of buffer against commercial paleontology, which drives private landowners to take fossils found on their property to the auction block.

Theres no real substitute for people who really know what theyre doing, like being able to identify fragments and tell species from a tiny fragment. Being able to tell the rib bone of a giant animal from the leg bone of a tiny animal, he said.

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Hospitals and many other health care facilities in Montana will soon face an uncomfortable choice  get employees immunized against COVID, in violation of a new state law forbidding workplace vaccine mandates, or forfeit federal dollars.

The Biden administration last month announced the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid will begin requiring that staff at CMS-certified facilities throughout the country mandate COVID vaccinations for their staff in order to receive reimbursements through the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

For many health care facilities, thats a massive piece of their finances. Benefis Health, which has about 3,400 employees within its two hospital campuses in Great Falls, a senior services facility and a critical access hospital in Choteau, gets 76% of its payments through federal sources, according to Kaci Husted, the organizations vice president of business development and communications. The vast majority of that, she said, is through Medicare and Medicaid.

Thats crucial to our business, Husted said.

But that requirement tees up a conflict unique to Montana. Earlier this year, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed into law House Bill 702, which seeks to prevent workplaces from discriminating against staff, customers and others who use their facilities on the basis of their vaccination status. In practice, it forbids private businesses and other employers from requiring staff to get any type of vaccine  though it includes carve-outs specific to schools and nursing homes. Such requirements now fall under the state's legal definition of discriminatory practices.

Husted said Benefis plans to move ahead with a companywide vaccine mandate for staff once the CMS rule is rolled out. The mandate was announced to employees Sept. 10, the day after the CMS announcement.

You hear some employees who are thrilled about this, and you hear some employees who arent so thrilled about it, Husted said.  Weve heard it both ways, but at the end of the day, we really go back to our guiding principle of what is the best for our patients and the community.

COVID cases have been surging for more than two months in Montana, even as most of the rest of the country has enjoyed a lull after a severe surge over the summer. The state has consistently had the highest or second-highest number of daily cases per capita in the country, and overwhelmed hospitals throughout Montana have been supplemented with National Guard members as demand for their intensive-care units regularly spike well above capacity.

Medical professionals and agencies  as well as the governor  have repeatedly said getting more Montanans vaccinated is critical to stopping the onslaught of the viruss highly contagious Delta variant. More than 2,200 Montanans have died from COVID to date, and the state has now recorded more coronavirus-caused deaths in 2021 than during the first year of the pandemic.

But many Montanans remain skeptical of getting vaccinated, despite an ever-growing body of medical evidence that the three approved vaccines are safe and effective. One, created by Pfizer, has received full approval by the federal Food and Drug Administration, while the other two have received emergency use authorizations. The state ranks in the bottom third nationwide, with 50% of the population fully vaccinated, versus 57% in the U.S.

Rep. Jennifer Carlson, the Manhattan Republican who sponsored the vaccine-discrimination bill, did not respond to phone calls seeking comment for this story. Arguing for her legislation on the floor of the state House earlier this year, Carlson had dismissed concerns raised by Democrats and some Republicans that the bill would hamstring the ability of hospitals to keep people safe, and would put them in jeopardy of losing federal funding.

"The prohibition was against denying a person employment, or firing a person," she said in an April 28 speech. "It was not a prohibition against health and safety standards, or reasonable accommodations, or infection control, or treating patients, or being careful, or making sure sick people aren't injured at health care facilities. It wasn't about that. It was about employees."

The bill ultimately passed with near-unanimous support from Republican lawmakers, who hold majorities in both chambers. Democrats almost uniformly opposed the bill.

Two lawsuits are currently seeking to overturn HB 702 in state courts, arguing that it violates the state Constitution's guarantees to equal protection and a "clean and healthful environment." Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has sought to dismiss one of the lawsuits, arguing the plaintiffs lack standing and fail to show how they've been injured by the new law.

The CMS vaccine requirement for health care facilities builds on an earlier announcement by the Biden administration that nursing home staff would have to be vaccinated to receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. CMS initially planned to put the emergency regulation into effect in September, but it has yet to be published.

Such a mandate could potentially prevent tragedies like the one that unfolded this August in a nursing home in Libby, where at least 10 residents died from COVID-19 amid an outbreak traced back to a staff member who contracted the virus, according to the Daily Inter Lake. Cascadia Healthcare, the nursing homes parent company, did not say whether the employee was vaccinated, but confirmed only half of its staff had gotten the shot.

The Montana Health Care Association represents the states nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Its executive director, Rose Hughes, called the proposal a double-edged sword and said many of her groups members are concerned that requiring vaccines will drive even more staff to leave an industry long plagued by worker shortages.

We have the worst staffing shortage that Ive seen in my 40 years dealing with these facilities, Hughes said in an interview last week.

And given the states persistently tight labor market, she noted there are a lot of other places that support staff  who typically make around $15 an hour  can easily find better-paying work that doesnt require any shots.

Theyre especially worried about nursing assistants, because at that level of wages, they would not have trouble finding another job, she said, adding, Without exception, these facilities list the workforce shortage as their top problem.

Hughes said those salaries have, on average, risen across the state in that last two years. But nursing homes often operate on tight budgets, and she said they generally don't have much room to boost entry-level salaries further.

"At the same time, they can't admit people because there was an outbreak," Hughes added. "In terms of their general well-being, the facility and how they operate and what they're trying to do, they're no better off than they were a year ago. If anything they may be worse off."

While Montanas new vaccine law allows mandates specifically for nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, if it becomes a requirement to receive CMS funding, Hughes noted that a separate federal requirement is in the works that could complicate things. The Biden administration is also finalizing another requirement  to be enacted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration  that would force companies with more than 100 employees to mandate either vaccinations or coronavirus testing for all staff.

Knudsen has said he plans to challenge the OSHA rule in court once it is published.

Since the requirement comes from OSHA, and not CMS, it wouldnt be covered under the HB 702 carve-out for nursing homes.

But Montanas new law might leave enough wiggle room to not conflict with the OSHA rule  at least when it comes to health care facilities. The legislation states that those organizations may implement reasonable accommodation measures to protect the health of staff and others from unvaccinated employees, though it doesnt define those measures. Biden has stated that the final OSHA rule will include a testing option in lieu of vaccination.

While Benefis in Great Falls plans to move forward with a companywide vaccine mandate once the federal government starts requiring it, other large hospitals in the state are still weighing their options.

"As soon as new vaccine mandate regulations become available, Billings Clinic will implement a plan that complies with applicable laws," Zach Benoit, a spokesman for the state's largest hospital, wrote in an emailed statement Thursday. But, he added, "Forfeiting CMS reimbursement would have an unsustainable financial effect."

CMS did not respond to a list of questions emailed on Wednesday, including on the expected timing of the vaccine regulations and whether mandates would allow for routine testing instead of vaccination, similar to the OSHA requirement.

Bozeman Health spokeswoman Lauren Brendel also declined to comment on that hospital's plans for navigating potential conflicts in the state and federal requirements before the federal rules are published.

But hospital officials there said theyve struggled with staff turnover since the pandemic began, a situation common to many medical facilities across the country. Montana Hospital Association CEO Rich Rasmussen said thats also true across the state.

Certainly there is broad concern about ensuring our facilities do not lose any staff members because of the vaccine mandate, Rasmussen said. He added, "It may not be clinical staff, it may be support staff.

Bozeman Health has been operating at or near capacity since COVID cases began spiking in Montana last year, Chief Nursing Officer Diane Patterson said Thursday. During that period, annual staff turnover has hovered just under the national average of 30%.

Still, Bozeman Health has been more successful than many other hospitals when if comes to encouraging employees to get immunized on their own. The hospital has an 80% vaccination rate among its staff, Brendel said, and a 90% rate among medical staff.

A lot of team members talking to each other in a respectful way, raising awareness, dispelling any myths, pulling in research and understanding their why for why they chose to be vaccinated has really been helpful in getting people to navigate those decisions, Patterson added.

The emotional toll of treating patients in the midst of a pandemic with no end in sight  Montana has for weeks stood out as one of the country's top COVID hotspots  has also potentially played a role.

By far, the majority of the team members believe in the COVID vaccine and have chosen to get the COVID vaccine, Patterson said. I think that its very hard for the team to see patients coming in and dying, that have made decisions not to get the vaccine, and thats probably one of the biggest pieces of compassion fatigue that we see.

Montana State News Bureau Chief Holly Michels contributed to this story.

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This is a critical time for children in Montana. Montanas children continue to face great challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, including isolation and learning barriers. On top of that, thousands experience trauma, a lack of access to basic needs, foster care involvement and parental substance use.

At my school in Missoula, a wonderful community of children from diverse cultures and backgrounds, some of our students face these extreme challenges. They are not alone. One in six Montana children (16.7%) live in families experiencing food insecurity, up from 10.3% in 2018, according to Feeding America. Montana has the second-highest percentage of children in foster care nationwide, with close to 4,000 children in care.

In addition, trauma and mental health issues for parents and children are a major cause for concern, with youth suicide rates in Montana among the highest in the nation.

To effectively address these challenges, communities must work together to build innovative responses that are personalized to the needs of each child and their family.

Fortunately, a new partner is investing in Montanas kids in a deep and lasting way, to help children who face significant obstacles develop their own unique talents and dream their own big dreams.

This week, the national organization Friends of the Children announced they are launching a Montana chapter  bringing them to 24 locations nationwide. Friends of the ChildrenMontana will pair children with a paid, professional mentor, called a Friend. Friends full-time jobs will be to work with children one-on-one, from as early as age 4 through high school graduation  12+ years, no matter what.

Friends of the Childrens model is distinct and courageous. National researchers and evaluators have hailed their approach as a promising solution to supporting youth and families impacted by foster care, poverty and childhood trauma.

The organization has a big impact on the lives of children in the program: 92% go on to enroll in post-secondary education, serve our country, or enter the workforce; 83% receive a high school diploma or GED; 93% remain free from juvenile justice system involvement; and 98% successfully wait to become parents until after their teens.

As part of the program, Friends of the Children will be implementing a Two-Generation (2Gen) approach that focuses on supporting youth and their parents or caregivers in achieving overall health and well-being. Friends of the Children's 2Gen model acknowledges that it is not just children that need support, but their family, caregivers and siblings as well.

A recent study supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that Friends of the Children builds social capital and positively impacts outcomes for both the children enrolled in the program and their parents. Friends provide parents with social support, share insights about their children, and connect them to community resources.

Another report conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention named the practice of mentoring and the presence of a caring adult as a promising strategy to both prevent and lessen the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

Through our coordinated efforts, we can help children and their families build skills and resiliency to achieve their goals, whatever they may be. In the first year, Friends of the ChildrenMontana will serve children in the greater Missoula area through a number of partnerships, including existing relationships with Lowell Elementary School and Mountain Home Montana. FriendsMontana will work with the many community organizations that already do important and impactful work, particularly in Missoula.

In addition, FriendsMontana will build deeper relationships with outlying rural and tribal communities, to ensure that a regional approach is adopted in the early years.

Montana can become a better place because of the efforts we make, together.

Barbara Frank is principal of Lowell Elementary, a Title 1 Missoula school. She is a founding board member of Friends of the Children Montana (friendsofthechildren.org).

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Photo Illustration by Kristen Hazzard/The Daily Beast/Getty

Its pushed conspiracy theories about everything from 9/11 to the Great Reset, a right-wing myth that pandemic lockdowns are a prelude to biomedical totalitarianism. And it has a record of targeting vulnerable communities with vaccine disinformationdespite an ongoing pandemic killing about 1,500 Americans every day.

And yet the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a nonprofit based in Finland, Minnesota, is no right-wing operation. In fact, its somehow found a place for itself in progressive political circles.

For years, the group inhabited the ragged margins of the left-wing political map: an odd estuary where environmental advocacy mingled with paranoia about vaccines and trutherism about the Sept. 11 attacks. The groups leader, Ronnie Cummins, has long published articles about genetically modified organisms in obscure online outlets and occasionally appeared on long lists of signatories to letters written to federal officials about legislation like the so-called farm bill.

But the progressive surge of the past half-decade has allowed the OCA to seep into the mainstream, even as its activities have grown increasingly toxic.

In September 2019, five House Democrats appeared at a rally that OCA affiliate Regeneration International held on Capitol Hill with the Sunrise Movement, in support of the Green New Deal. A few months earlier, the Association had feted Robert F. Kennedy Jr., perhaps the nations foremost anti-vaccine activist, for an event in Minneapolis. In February 2020, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) touted the organization among the endorsers of his Farmers Bill of Rightseven though it spent that same month bankrolling a campaign to overturn a statute limiting vaccine exemptions in Maine.

Perhaps the group seemed an appealing ally at the time. After all, Cummins 2020 book Grassroots Rising, which advocated so-called regenerative agriculture and the Green New Deal, bore an adulatory quote from famed environmentalist Bill McKibben.

Story continues

But Cummins next tome was co-authored by notorious supplement hawker Joe Mercola, whom the New York Times called the most influential spreader of coronavirus misinformation online, and bore a foreword from the misbegotten Kennedy scion. It asserted, among other scientifically dubious offerings, that pandemic lockdowns are part of a public-private Great Reset plot, and that those infected with COVID-19 should inhale hydrogen peroxide.

Cummins did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story. But spouting nonsense hasnt alienated his group from some of the nations leading progressive Democrats.

In April of this year, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) included a quote from OCAs political director in a release announcing his proposal of a Civilian Climate Corps. One day later, the same political director joined Cummins in a public conversation in which they propounded wild conspiracy theories about Dr. Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates, vaccine safety, COVID-19 death tolls, and the supposedly impending takeover of the United States by a shadowy corporate and government cabal.

All the while, thousands of dollars from Cummins and other OCA leaders have poured into the campaign coffers of such left-of-center candidates as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

Tech Tycoon Dangled a COVID CureThen Went Full Anti-Vaxxer

The last elected official is especially remarkable because she hails from the same Twin Cities Somali community that Minnesota authorities say the OCA infected with anti-vaccine misinformation before the COVID-19 pandemic, triggering the states largest measles outbreak in decades.

But if the OCA was active before the emergence of the novel coronavirus, the pandemic has offered it new opportunities to propagate blatant disinformation.

Among other focuses, the group has taken to spreading what experts call flagrant lies about the vaccine to Spanish-speaking communities via Regeneration International and two other affiliates: La Asociacion de Consumidores Organicos and Via Organica. The websites and social pages rave about the approach of el Gran Reinicio and bio-fascismo, and publish posts with headlines like Senales de que la vacuna antiCOVID no funciona (Signs That the Anti-COVID Vaccine Doesnt Work) and Peligros a largo plazo de las vacunas experimentales de ARNm (Long-Term Dangers of the Experimental mRNA Vaccines).

Simultaneously, the groups promote unproven and debunked preventative measures and cures for the lethal virus. Its all part of what critics describe as a disturbing scheme to recruit health enthusiasts and recent immigrant groups to a deadly cause.

The Organic Consumers Association is designed to draw in people by appearing on its surface to have this cuddly name: everybody likes organic foods, warned Imran Ahmed, founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit that has studied the anti-vaccine movement and its tactics. But Cummins is less now about organic consumption and organic production than a vector for anti-vax misinformation that might kill people.

None of the Democratic senators or House members who previously boasted support from the OCAor received their donationsoffered on-the-record comments for this story prior to publication. But one House source, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the subject, suggested the group had inadvertently appeared on a list of friendly environmentalist groups, though they could not say with certainty where that list might have originated.

All of these same officials have urged Americans to get inoculated against COVID-19, and none has endorsed the sort of disinformation the OCA has promoted. (McKibben, for his part, characterized himself as a longtime pro-vaxxer and denied any knowledge of Cummins views on the topic at the time he provided the blurb.)

But this is typical of anti-vaccine groups, argued Ahmed. In multiple reports, the Center has identified the OCA as an extension of the mega-rich Mercola, who has contributed millions to the Association via his foundation. Besides the book co-written with Cummins, the OCAs website carries ads for Mercolas natural remedy marketplacecomplete with a unique promo codeand publishes content from his website.

In fact, nearly all of the recent Spanish-language posts about COVID-19 on the websites of the Asociacion de Consumidores Organicos and Via Organica have run under Mercolas byline. These include articles promoting unproven treatments often touted by vaccine skeptics such as ivermectin, zinc, and quercetinthe last of which the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to Mercola for marketing in May.

All of this, Ahmed argued, is part of what he characterized as the anti-vaccine movements affiliate marketing strategy: identifying receptive audiences, and engaging them with material geared toward their specific interests and concerns.

Theyve seen the opportunity to target people who are concerned about their health, and may be looking for alternative solutions, he said. Because of his willingness to play ball with Mercola, to form an alliance, [Cummins] has become a particularly useful conduit to channel into people who care about organic foods.

Mercola, for his part, acknowledged his financial relationship with the OCA and its affiliates to The Daily Beast. But he called Ahmeds group a dark-money funded political operative and denied that his dubious claims that the COVID-19 virus was lab-engineered and anticipated represent disinformation. He further insinuated that a pandemic simulation exercise held by the Gates Foundation and World Economic Forum in October 2019 was evidence of some sort of malign scheme for world domination.

Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America and co-founder of the Latino Anti-Disinformation Lab, echoed Ahmeds observations about a marketing strategyand saw it in the OCAs outreach to Spanish speakers. He noted the preponderance of COVID-19 and vaccine-related content on the website of Via Organica, a group ostensibly dedicated to running an organic farm in Mexico, where the Noticias page is dominated by updates from Mercola.

This, Carusone argued, reflects the widespread suspicions and anxieties about the pandemic in Hispanophone communities, where concerns about GMOs and wellness issues might seem, to some, like a luxurious concern.

Thats something right now that is deeply part of the Latinx information ecosystem: conversations about the vaccines, Carusone said. What were talking about here is an entity that is taking that little bit of mistrust that is well-placed, and exploiting it.

He warned further that the OCA could also gain credibility by association in progressive circlesso often dependent on coalitionsthrough its links with environmentalist groups and causes.

Dr. Rogelio Saenz, a demographer at the University of Texas at San Antonio who has tracked the impact of the pandemic on immigrant communities, said there is a historic market for weight-loss supplements and for holistic cures of the sort Mercola and the OCA promote.

"There has always been a noticeable part of the population that falls into those particular kind of remedies, those sort of quick fixes, Saenz told The Daily Beast. There has also been, within the Latino community, a great degree of respect and also use of traditional herbs and things like that, which is also part of the culture and could be exploited, as well.

Meanwhile, Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Childrens Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, feared that the OCAwith its foothold in Mexicocould lead to anti-vaccine misinformation trickling not just into Spanish-speaking communities in the United States, but also in nations to the south, where the scientific establishment has so far kept such sentiments at bay. Hotez, who is also a Daily Beast contributor, pointed to his own findings: that failure to vaccinate had cost 22,000 lives in the Lone Star State and Florida, which he blamed on the plague of disinformation.

Any organization thats promoting ivermectin or unproven therapies and treatments is dangerous. We know what happens, and weve seen this over and over again in the United States, which is that people start relying on those instead of vaccinations, and wind up dying, he said. One of my great fears is that anti-science aggression thats here in the U.S. will start to filter into Latin America.

The OCAs approach to infiltration is all-too familiar to those who observed its propaganda campaign last decade in the groups home state of Minnesota.

Responding to an increase in autism diagnoses among the children of Somali immigrants, the nonprofit and its partners targeted parents with materials in their native language. Among other things, they asserted a debunked link to the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, and even engaged with families directly at local community and shopping centers.

Dr. Kari Campeau, assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver, produced her doctoral dissertation on the resulting outbreak of measles. She noted the community often had difficulty interfacing with social services because of language and access disparities, and often dealt with mistreatment by doctors. These issues, combined with difficulties obtaining sanitary living spaces and healthy food, created a gap that the OCA could enter and exploit.

I feel that group, with others, really stepped into that vacuum and said, We have this ready answer: its the vaccines, recalled Campeau. This group did weaponize concerns and poor experiences that people had with medicine, and really targeted a vulnerable community.

Particularly disturbing to Campeau was how the disinformation lingered even after the outbreak passed. Somali families she interviewed whose children were among the dozens infected continued to tell her they would not vaccinate their kids in the future.

Its a disturbing precedent given millions of Americans still need vaccines and booster shots to ward off COVID-19 in the months and years ahead, experts said.

The messaging was that persuasivethat even having first-hand experience of kids getting sick, going to hospitals, the terror of that was not enough [to convince them vaccination was safe], she said.

At least one Green New Deal-supporting progressive has pushed back on the OCA and its activities: In September, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) penned a letter to Amazon attacking the prominence its site gave to Mercola and Cummins book.

The book perpetuates dangerous conspiracies about COVID-19 and false and misleading information about vaccines, the senator wrote. And the book contends that vaccines cannot be trusted, when study after study has demonstrated the overwhelming effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Its the end of Spooky Season, and YAS is going out with programs all week! Join us Monday night at 6 p.m. for our Improv Night where teens will show off their (bad) skills as they pretend to be ghosts with useless haunting techniques, Tuesday night we will be watching and discussing Cruella (2021  PG-13) and the companion novel Hello, Cruel Heart at 6 p.m., and Thursday afternoon is our last Pop-Up Craft for the month as we highlight a Day of the Dead craft. All of these programs are hosted via Zoom with no pre-registration required  Zoom links can be found on your free account on bcpls.readsquared.com. Visit us online at bcpls.org/yas to see more of whats available including our Discord server.
For more than a century, Butte  even with all its mining and the pollution it left behind  has had some of the best drinking water in all of Montana.

The pristine water comes from Basin Creek Reservoir, and to keep it that way, Butte-Silver Bow built a high-tech, $30 million plant nearby. Millions of gallons of water flow through its pipes and processes each day on their way to faucets in town.

The water is still pristine, and the treatment plant and system is so efficient and economical that it has provided nearly 60 percent of Buttes potable water supply since coming online.

The treatment plant also allowed the county to open up the lower Basin Creek Reservoir to fishing and hiking and picnicking this past summer. Camping and campfires were not allowed, but it was open during day hours.

The public access only lasted four weeks, cut short in early July by drought and wildfire danger. There had long been concerns about wildfires at Basin Creek and what they could do to Buttes water supply, especially given all the deadwood that mountain pine beetles left in their wake a decade ago.

But the concerns hit new heights this summer, and really hit home in late September, when a wildfire broke out just east of Homestake Pass. Quick action by firefighters, with help from a tanker aircraft and a couple of helicopters, kept it from spreading far. But as fires go, it wasnt all that far from the reservoirs at the base of the Highlands.

It wasnt exactly a wake-up call to Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher, since he knew about the general fire concerns. They have especially worried Jim Keenan, Butte-Silver Bows chief water operator, and Jim Dennehy, who oversees water treatment in Butte.

But it was a call to action.

Until recently, Gallagher said he had not been up the upper reservoir, a smaller body of water more than a mile upstream that connects to the lower reservoir via Basin Creek.

I hadnt taken a trip up there, Gallagher said. The lodgepoles that are just laying down  its just a tinderbox ready to go up. Its not a matter of if well have a fire. Its a matter of when we have a fire with that many fuels there.

Big efforts are now being launched to clear deadwood from the Basin Creek watershed, including small county-owned portions that hug the reservoirs and the thousands of acres overseen by the U.S. Forest Service.

It could be a multi-year project, and unless the area gets a very, very wet spring and summer, Gallagher said the four weeks of public access this year will probably be the last for a long time. The treatment plant made that access possible.

I think the possibilities of keeping that open until we take care of this fuel situation is slim, he said. The ultimate goal is we get back to that, but if somebody went up there and had a little fire while fishing and it sparked, it would be devastating to the local potable water system.

Butte-Silver Bow has worked with the Forest Service and the Montana Department of Natural Resources this year on reducing fuels, and county crews removed some dead timber this spring from county land. It was hauled to a nearby area and people were allowed to collect it for firewood.

But Keenan says far more clearing is needed.

Weve recognized the problem for a while but I think the recent fires certainly intensified everybodys interest in trying to get something done up there to prevent a catastrophic wildfire, Keenan said.

The backdrop

The Basin Creek reservoirs were created in the late 1890s to serve as one of Buttes primary sources of drinking water, and they remain that to this day.

Even following more stringent federal requirements in the late 1980s and early 1990s under the Safe Drinking Water Act, Basin Creek was granted a waiver that allowed its water to go unfiltered. A little chlorine was added before gravity carried it into town, but that was it.

In 2011, the water exceeded levels of acceptable disinfection byproducts. For about six months, the water contained high levels of organic carbons that produced possible carcinogens when treated with chlorine.

Based on data, sampling and other analysis, water officials believe pine beetles had ravaged trees in the watershed, leaving additional organic matter on the forest floor that washed into the reservoir and changed the waters character. There was a heavy spring runoff that year, too.

The beetle kill was definitely a big factor, Dennehy, the countys water treatment supervisor, said Friday.

Organic carbons soon returned to acceptable levels, and have fluctuated over the years since, but the federal filtration waiver was revoked a decade ago, meaning the water had to be treated. Thats why the treatment plant was built.

It has worked great, county officials say, but fire could lead to big problems.

If a large wildfire were to occur, the Basin Creek watershed slopes and hillsides could be made unstable and fill reservoirs and choke intakes with ash and sediment mobilized by subsequent storms and snowpack runoff, Keenan says in a recent video the county produced about the dangers.

The video was played for commissioners this week and is included on The Montana Standards online version of this story.

Keenan told the Standard this week that clogged intakes and pipes werent the only potential problem.

Were also concerned about the treatability of water, he said. The Basin Creek plant is very high-tech and very sophisticated, but its built to take advantage of the gravity flow of water through the treatment process, so theres not a lot of pre-treatment in this plant.

Its made to treat a pretty pristine water supply, he said, so anything changing that would be a challenge.

Plans for action

The challenge ahead is big and it could be costly, but, Gallagher says, Were not going to have to re-invent the wheel.

Thats because Helena faced a similar situation with the Chessman Reservoir and Tenmile Creek watershed that are the main sources of that citys drinking water. Beetles ravaged forests in that area, too, increasing wildfire threats to the reservoir and a five-mile flume that transports the water.

With help from federal grants and cooperation from the Forest Service, private landowners and others, deadwood was cleared to create buffers around the reservoir and along the flume, greatly reducing the wildfire threat.

Because aspects of the beetle kill, reservoir and land oversight were similar, Gallagher, Keenan, Dennehy and others from Butte-Silver Bow met with Forest Service and Helena officials up there last week.

We are fortunate enough to be able to piggyback on what theyve done, Gallagher said.

Keenan agrees.

I think there may be a bigger project up there to kind of expand on what theyve already done, but theyve done a lot of good work up there for sure, he said.

The clearing work done by county crews at Basin Creek last year was a start, Keenan said, but was only a small part of whats needed. The Basin Creek watershed is 7,700 acres, most of it overseen by the Forest Service, so coordination with that agency is needed.

The goal is to clear deadwood from at least 40% of the watershed, and the project is likely to be done in stages with funding help from grants.

The county was just awarded a $50,000 grant so it can hire a hand-crew to do clearing on 16 acres of county land in the area, and its possible that work could be done before the new year.

Undertaking major fuel reduction, especially that involving Forest Service land, first requires an environmental analysis mandatory under federal law. The county is seeking a $100,000 federal grant to pay a consultant to do that. That could all take months.

The county is also applying for $265,000 in federal money that would go toward fuel-reduction efforts on 85 acres of B-SB property next to the main reservoir. The county would hire outside crews to do the work.

Gallagher said Tim Lahey, the Butte district ranger for the Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest, is supporting the efforts and hopes everyone else will, too, including groups that pushed for public access to the reservoir.

I think weve gotten the attention of all the parties, Gallagher said. Right now, I think its just a matter of getting the funding.

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With all of the attention given to getting Montanans vaccinated, theres one part of our getting-back-to-normal strategy that is frequently overlooked: COVID-19 testing.

Testing is a critical part of our ability to separate the standard cold from early symptoms of a highly contagious and potentially serious diseaseespecially for the unvaccinated. That knowledge allows us to remain at work, travel freely and safely gather with friends and family.

Over the past year, Montana has made tremendous strides increasing access to timely COVID-19 testing. At the same time, access to and coverage for testing has changed considerably. Its critical that Montanans understand their options and know how to find the most appropriate and affordable testing in their community.

You should get tested for COVID-19 if you or a loved one are exhibiting any combination of the following symptoms: fever or chills; cough; shortness of breath or difficulty breathing; fatigue; muscle or body aches; headache; new loss of taste or smell; sore throat; congestion or runny nose; nausea or vomiting; and/or diarrhea. Its frustrating but true: COVID-19 symptoms are similar to the typical crud we see this time of year.

Here are some tips to find the best place for a COVID-19 test:

Use the CDC and your county public health websites to find the testing sites in your community. The most common testing sites are national pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS; community health centers; and your primary care provider. If you have health insurance, be sure to contact your health plan to understand what they cover for COVID-19 related tests and services. Earlier in the pandemic, most health plans waived co-pays and deductibles for COVID-19 tests and care. Many of those co-pays and deductibles are now in effect again. If you had a test last year that you didnt pay for, you may be surprised to find you have to pay for it this year. If you dont have insurance, its important to shop around. The federal government has shifted the vast majority of testing resources to national pharmacy chains like Walgreens and CVS. The federal government is fully funding the PCR test (the gold standard COVID-19 test for its accuracy and reliability) at pharmacy chains, community health centers, and Indian health centers across Montana. This was a deliberate move to make testing more widely available to consumers while providing relief to hospitals so they can focus on the treatment of severe COVID-19 cases. Testing for patients who do not have symptoms (including tests for travel purposes) may be limited. For travel testing, its important you do your research to determine which tests are accepted at your destination. Confirm your testing site can provide the appropriate test and results in the required timeframe.

On behalf of the hospitals, community health centers, Urban Indian Centers and other healthcare providers we represent, we continue to encourage every eligible Montanan to get vaccinated. The vaccine is safe and provides effective protection against COVID-19. If you havent been vaccinated, please speak to your primary care provider today. Widespread adoption of the vaccine is the fastest path to reducing the crisis inside our hospitals, slowing the spread of the disease, and getting us back to normal.

Rich Rasmussen is President and CEO of the Montana Hospital Association. Cindy Stergar is CEO of the Montana Primary Care Association.

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SEATTLE (AP)  Isaiah Obet was behaving erratically and in mental distress in 2017 when Auburn police officer Jeff Nelson ordered his police dog to attack and then shot Obet in the torso. Obet fell to the ground and Nelson fired again, fatally shooting Obet in the head. Police said the officers life was in danger because Obet was high on drugs and had a knife. The city later reached a settlement of $1.25 million with Obets family.

The next year, Joseph Allen was crossing in front of Nelsons patrol car when the officer swerved and pinned him against a fence, breaking both his ankles. His justification: Allen was a dangerous criminal.

In 2019, Nelson scuffled with Jesse Sarey after attempting to arrest him for disorderly conduct. He punched Sarey seven times and then shot him in the torso. After Sarey fell to the ground, Nelson killed him with a second shot to the forehead. He claimed Sarey was on his hands and knees ready to spring forward, which later was disproved by both video and witnesses.
Gee said his principals have covered classrooms occasionally and paying their full time teachers to sub during their prep periods, a strategy started three years ago. Sometimes classes have been split or brought into study halls in order to have a teacher watch them according to Gee.

We have had to be creative. Sometimes that means pulling in teachers that are on their prep periods to cover. Sometimes it means taking a class, dividing it and sending half of the class to another classroom and the other half to another classroom, said Drzycimski.

Drzycimski and Lettow said had concerns with the number of subs the district has due to flu season and because of COVID-19 cases.

A number of our employees have students that go to this district. So if the kids are sick, someone has to be home with them too, said Drzycimski.

One thing that I would say was nice with wearing masks, even though there werent many, was that there wasnt much of a flu season, said Lettow. Without wearing masks, I will expect more of a flu season.

Gee explained he didnt know of any concerns about flu season building up but knew that illness, other than COVID-19, was going to be on the rise since there is no masking in the district.
NEW DELHI, India (AP)  Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as the internet giant's own employees cast doubt over its motivations and interests.
Donna Mateo gets her booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine from Michelle Hardy of the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the Sinajana Community Center on Oct. 1, 2021.
With Black Friday just over a month away, many South Africans will be preparing their bank accounts and credit cards to score big deals.

Numerous South African retailers participate in the annual shopping craze, and this year is set to be no different.

Retailers like Makro, Game, Takealot, Loot, OneDayOnly, Everyshop, Wootware and DreamwareTech have confirmed they will have big Black Friday offers available during November.

MyBroadband looked at some of the best Black Friday deals we previously covered or published in the MyBroadband forum.

Below are some of the best deals we found from the last few years.

55-inch Samsung UHD TV  3,000 Vodacom bucks (free when you buy R3,000 airtime)

Several Vodacom customers scored big Black Friday deals in 2019 using VodaBucks on the Vodacom app.

One of the offers was a 55-inch Samsung UHD TV for 3,000 VodaBucks.

At the time, buying R1 of airtime awarded the customer with one VodaBuck.

Multiple MyBroadband forum members bought R3,000 of airtime, got the VodaBucks, and ordered their TVs. Effectively, they were getting them for free. There was also a 40-inch Samsung HD TV for 2,000 VodaBucks.

Ford Mustang GT  R729,900 (R130,000 off)

Bidvest McCarthy offered significant discounts on new cars during Black Friday 2017. These included R46,000 off a Ford Ecosport 1.5 Ambiente and R130,00 off a Ford Mustang 5.0 GT.

Samsung Galaxy S10 models  Starting from R9,999 (R6,000 off)

Samsung South Africa shaved R6,000 of all Galaxy S10 models during Black Friday 2019, the same year of their release. Shoppers could get the S10e for R9,999, the standard S10 for R12,999, and the S10+ for R14,999.

Nintendo Switch Bundle  R4,699 (R4,300 off)

Vodacom had only a handful of device deals during its Black Friday 2019 promotion, but they were among the best in that year.

Among these was a Nintendo Switch bundle for R4,699, a discount of R4,300 at the time. Currently, the Switch retails for R6,999, which means it would still be a special deal today.

Free Rain 5G router on a 24-month contract

Rain 5G routers are typically only available on a free-to-use basis, which means you dont get to keep them if you cancel.

During Black Friday in 2019, the operator ran a promotion that let customers keep the Huawei 5G CPE router, worth R3,450 at the time, if they took up a 24-month contract.

This cost only R1 more per month than the R999 Premium package.

12-month Showmax subscription  R199 (R989 off)

Cellucity sold Showmax annual subscription vouchers for R199 in 2018. Typically, the video streaming service costs R99 per month.

Xbox One S 1TB with two controllers  R4,199 (R2,199 off)

In 2018, Game sold the Xbox One S 1TB console for R3,499 with one controller or R4,199 with two.

Those deals offered respective discounts of R1,899 or R2,199. The Xbox One S 1TB now sells for R9,999 on Takealot.

PlayStation 4  R3,999

Sonys big Black Friday deal in 2016 was for the standard PlayStation 4 console at R3,999. Thats R2,300 less than its launch price three years earlier and around R3,000 less than it currently sells for.

Travelstart flight deals  Starting from R199

Travel agencies and airlines also join in on the Black Friday action. Travelstart has done this on several occasions. In 2016, it offered big discounts on various domestic and international flights.

These included R199 for flights to Cape Town and Johannesburg, R3,999 for return flights to Mauritius, and R5,999 for return flights to London.

Palit GeForce RTX 2060 OC  R5,999 (R2,400 off)

While Wootwares Black Friday offer of R5,999 for an RTX 2060 graphics card might not have appeared appealing in 2020, many a gamer would be grateful for that price today.

DJI Mavic  R5,999 (R15,000 off)

Another big Vodacom deal in 2019 was on a DJI Mavic drone for R5,999, which retailed for R21,000 at the time.

The catch was that it was only available to five customers.

Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini  R1,499 (R2,000 off)

The oldest good Black Friday deal we could find was an incredible smartphone special in 2014 on the Samsung SIII Mini from Kalahari.com, the once-popular online store that merged with Takealot in 2015.

Kalahari sold the smartphone for R1,499  R3,100 less than it cost at launch under two years earlier.

Glenlivet Malt Scotch Whisky  R399,000 (R150,000 off)

Affluent whisky enthusiasts might have jumped at the chance to get a bottle of Glenlivet Scotch Whisky on this big Black Friday deal from Makro in 2018.

The typical South African more likely felt that R399,999 is perhaps better spent on a medium-sized SUV.

Now read: Bad news for Black Friday smartphone deals
You wouldnt wear a pair of flip flops to go bushwhacking, nor would you wear hiking boots to the beach.

And when it comes to selecting the best tyres for your 44 adventure, the same principle applies.

Whether youre tackling slippery slopes, muddy trails, jagged rocks or more, you want to do so safely and comfortably, while never sacrificing the elements of comfort, fun, adrenaline and adventure.

Enter the Dunlop Grandtrek range of SUV and 44 tyres.

This year, 10 travel lovers  including both experienced 44 drivers and novices  have put the tyres to the test and gone once again to places Google hasnt been, with the 2021 instalment of the Grandtrek Uncharted expedition.

The expedition team set out to find uncharted roads in and around some of the countrys most spectacular gravel passes, that could make their debut on the Google Street View platform with the aid of a special 360-degree camera.

Dunlop is also showcasing some of the footage at www.grandtrek.co.za.

KZN photographer, Kierran Allen, was among those who joined the adventure, taking in the valleys of Gwahumbe Game Reserve and the foothills of Sani Pass to cross into Lesotho.

His vehicle was kitted out with a set of no-nonsense, all-terrain Grandtrek AT3G tyres, which are built for off-road travel, adventure and exploration.

We were the first ever people to map the whole route for Google Street view.

Faced with the forever changing pass, boulder hopping and icy roads, I must say it was a walk in the park with the Grandtrek AT3Gs.

Having travelled across the country on many 44 trips, having the right tyres keeps your mind at ease and focused on the obstacles ahead of you, he said.

Fellow photographer, Mike loff, ventured out to uncharted areas of the Western Cape with a set of Grandtrek AT5s, suitable for both on and off-road travel.

On this adventure we unlocked Die Hel, Swartberg Pass, Seweekspoort and the Bosch Luys Kloof Pass.

One thing is for certain, we got there and back in one piece, no punctures and a few hundred kilometres of new Street View for you to enjoy, 360 degrees, from the comfort of your own home, he said.

For Durbanite Nick Ferreira, Ongoye Forest in KZN was the site of adventure.

We grappled with some extreme terrain and it would not have been possible without these incredible Dunlop Grandtrek AT3G tyres, he said.

Lubin Ozoux, CEO of Sumitomo Rubber South Africa, manufacturer of the Dunlop tyre brand, says Dunlop boasts the countrys most extensive range of SUV and 4X4 tyres, backed by Dunlop Sure, the most comprehensive tyre cover for these tyres.

Click here for more on the full range of Grandtrek tyres or to track the Grandtrek Uncharted 2021 Expedition.
Members of Black Axe, a notorious Nigerian crime syndicate, are attempting to flee international authorities following the arrest of eight individuals alleged to be involved in the organisation in Cape Town this week.

According to a Sunday Times report, when news of the arrests reached the Black Axe, members across South Africa fled their homes and attempted to book flights to Nigeria.

Law enforcement agencies arrested the eight suspects on Tuesday, 19 October, during raids conducted on nine properties in Table Bay, Cape Town.

Rachael Honig, acting US state attorney, said that seven leaders of Black Axe and an eighth man who had conspired with one of them were charged with multiple federal crimes relating to internet scams they perpetrated from SA.

State prosecutor, Robin Lewis, indicated that the alleged Black Axe members could face up to 60 years in a US federal prison if extradited.

The court case has been postponed until Tuesday, 26 October, and the state expects to begin an extradition hearing following the suspects bail application.

The arrests were part of a joint operation led by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), United States Secret Service Investigations, and Interpol, with assistance from several South African authorities.

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, said Hawks spokesperson Katlego Mogale.

According to the Sunday Times report, the number of victims is believed to be in the thousands.

The indictment against the suspects alleges that they stole R100 million from around 100 US victims.

[The suspects], all originally from Nigeria, are charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, spanning from 2011 to 2021, the US justice department said.

It added that four of the accused would also be charged with aggravated identity theft.
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MIAMI (AP)  Florida's top health official was asked to leave a meeting after refusing to wear a mask at the office of a state senator who told him she had a serious medical condition, officials have confirmed.

Florida Senate leader Wilton Simpson, a Republican, sent a memo to senators Saturday regarding the incident at the office of Democratic state Sen. Tina Polsky, asking visitors at the building to be respectful with social interactions. Polsky, who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, had not yet made public her breast cancer diagnosis.

Polsky told The Associated Press about the tense exchange with state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo that was first reported by the news site Florida Politics. She said Ladapo and two aides were offered masks and asked to wear them when they arrived for the Wednesday meeting. She did not tell him she had breast cancer, but said she had a serious condition.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cancer patients are at a higher risk to get severely ill from COVID-19 and may not build the same immunity to vaccines.

Ladapo had asked to meet her in Tallahassee as he seeks confirmation in the Senate after being named to the post by Gov. Ron DeSantis last month.

"It was so shocking to me that he treated me in this manner," Polsky said. "If he is a surgeon general for the next several years, I am really concerned about a future public health emergency and not being able to rely on him for necessary guidance and proper scientific leadership."

Ladapo offered to go outside, but the senator said she did not want to sit on the metal picnic tables on a warm day when her office was nice and spacious. She said she asked whether there was a reason why he couldn't wear a mask, but he wouldn't answer.

The Florida Department of Health did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

Democrats have opposed the appointment of Ladapo, criticizing him for comments and actions related to the pandemic.

A day into his job, Ladapo signed new rules allowing parents to decide whether their children should quarantine or stay in school after being exposed to people who tested positive for COVID-19.

On Thursday at a press conference with DeSantis to oppose vaccine mandates, Ladapo said people were not comfortable with the vaccines because the federal government has not been open about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines, saying there was a "concerted effort" to hide stories of people with adverse reactions.

Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine has received the full approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, meeting high standards required for the vaccine to be considered safe. It has been administered to millions and proven to be effective against hospitalization and death. However, immunity against infection can wane over time.

Authorities in Sweden, Denmark and Norway earlier this month suspended or discouraged the use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine in young people because of an increased risk of heart inflammation, a very rare side effect associated with the shot.

Ladapo also wrote an opinion column in the Wall Street Journal saying masks have "little or no effect on respiratory virus transmission."

The CDC still recommends people with weakened immune systems, and those in high-transmission areas to wear masks. Studies have supported their use, with some finding that cloth masks are less effective.

In the memo sent by Simpson, the president of the Florida senate, he said that while there's no mask mandate in the Senate, senators can request social distancing and masking within their offices.

"It shouldn't take a cancer diagnosis for people to respect each other's level of comfort with social interactions during a pandemic," he said. "What occurred in Senator Polsky's office was unprofessional and will not be tolerated in the Senate."

***
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fired a fatal gunshot from a prop gun that he had been told was safe, a camera crew for the movie he was filming walked off the job to protest conditions and production issues that included safety concerns.

Disputes in the production of the Western film Rust" began almost from the start in early October and culminated with seven crew members walking off several hours before 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed.

The crew members had expressed their discontent with matters that ranged from safety procedures to their housing accommodations, according to one of those who left. He requested anonymity for fear that speaking up would hurt his prospects for future jobs. Rust Movie Productions did not answer emails Friday and Saturday seeking comment.

At a rehearsal on the film set Thursday at Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe, the gun Baldwin used was one of three that a firearms specialist, or armorer, had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed, according to the court records.

Court records indicate that an assistant director, Dave Halls, grabbed a prop gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating incorrectly that the weapon didn't carry live rounds by yelling cold gun.

When Baldwin pulled the trigger, he unwittingly killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her inside a wooden, chapel-like building.

Baldwin, 63, who is known for his roles in 30 Rock and The Hunt for Red October and his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, has described the killing as a tragic accident. He was a producer of Rust.

Halls did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment.

A 911 call that alerted authorities to the shooting at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe hints at the panic on the movie set, as detailed in a recording released by the Santa Fe County Regional Emergency Communications Center.

We had two people accidentally shot on a movie set by a prop gun, we need help immediately, script supervisor Mamie Mitchell told an emergency dispatcher. We were rehearsing and it went off, and I ran out, we all ran out.

The dispatcher asked if the gun was loaded with a real bullet.

I cannot tell you. We have two injuries, Mitchell replied. And this (expletive) AD (assistant director) that yelled at me at lunch, asking about revisions....Hes supposed to check the guns. He's responsible for what happens on the set.

The Associated Press was unable to contact Hannah Gutierrez, the film's armorer, and several messages sent to production companies affiliated with Rust did not receive responses Friday.

Court records say that Halls grabbed the firearm from the cart and brought it inside to the actor, also unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in a search warrant application.

It was unclear how many rounds were fired. Gutierrez removed a shell casing from the gun after the shooting, and she turned the weapon over to police when they arrived, the court records say.

Guns used in making movies are sometimes real weapons that can fire either bullets or blanks, which are gunpowder charges intended to produce little more than a flash and a bang.

New Mexico workplace safety investigators are examining if film industry standards for gun safety were followed during production of Rust. The Los Angeles Times, citing two crew members it did not name, reported that five days before the shooting, Baldwins stunt double accidentally fired two live rounds after being told the gun didnt have any ammunition.

A crew member who was alarmed by the misfires told a unit production manager in a text message, Weve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe, according to a copy of the message reviewed by the newspaper. The New York Times also reported that there were at least two earlier accidental gun discharges; it cited three former crew members.

Mitchell, the script supervisor, told The Associated Press she was standing next to Hutchins when the cinematographer was hit.

I ran out and called 911 and said Bring everybody, send everybody, Mitchell said. This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman.

Filmmaker Souza, who was shot in the shoulder, said in a statement to NBC News that he was grateful for the support he was receiving and gutted by the loss of Hutchins. She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch and always pushed me to be better, he said.

Santa Fe-area District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said prosecutors will be reviewing evidence in the shooting and do not know if charges will be filed.

Hutchins husband Matthew Hutchins posted on social media to mourn his wifes loss, ask for privacy for his family, and thank her friends and mentors at the American Film Institute, who he said nurtured the success we had only just begun to see flourish.

The institute's conservatory canceled cinematography classes Friday in response to Hutchins' death.

At a vigil Saturday around 200 film crew workers gathered for a candlelight vigil as the sun set. They shared grief at the loss of one of their own, and fear of accidents on their own film sets.

Several in attendance lit candles, held a moment of silence, read poetry and made brief comments including one testimonial to her artistic spark and generosity.

Her death shouldnt have happened, Union sets should be safe sets, said Liz Pecos, president of IATSE Local 480.

Production on Rust was halted after the shooting. The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website.

The crew member that spoke to the AP said he never witnessed any formal orientation about weapons used on set, which normally would take place before filming begins.

He also said only minimal COVID-19 precautions were taken even though crew and cast members often worked in small enclosed spaces on the ranch.

The crew was initially housed at the Courtyard by Marriot in Santa Fe, according to the crew member. Four days in, however, they were told that going forward they would be housed at the budget Coyote South hotel. Some crew members balked at staying there.

We packed our gear and left that morning, the crew member said of the Thursday walkout.

The Los Angeles Times and Variety also reported on the walkout.

Gutierrez, the films armorer, is the daughter of a longtime Hollywood firearms expert. She gave an interview in September to the Voices of the West podcast in which she said she had learned how to handle guns from her father since she was a teenager.

During the podcast interview, Gutierrez shared that she just finished her first movie in the role of head armorer, a project in Montana starring Nicolas Cage titled The Old Way.

I was really nervous about it at first and I almost didnt take the job because I wasnt sure if I was ready but doing it, like, it went really smoothly," she said.

In another on-set gun death from 1993, Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was killed by a bullet left in a prop gun after a previous scene. Similar shootings have occurred involving stage weapons that were loaded with live rounds during historical re-enactments.

Gun-safety protocol on sets in the United States has improved since then, said Steven Hall, a veteran director of photography in Britain. But he said one of the riskiest positions to be in is behind the camera because that person is in the line of fire in scenes where an actor appears to point a gun at the audience.



Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Jake Coyle and Jocelyn Noveck in New York; Lizzie Knight in London; Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine; Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles; Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Walter Berry in Phoenix; and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Note: I was busy this week celebrating Trafalgar Day and rushing to produce our next edition of Inside Napa Valley. So I am bringing back one of my favorite past columns, this one from 2018, indulging my secret fantasy of being captain of a fearsome wooden frigate.

Ive confessed in this space before my semi-secret passion for the long-gone wooden warships of the sail era. If I could indulge one fantasy, it would to be the captain of a sturdy frigate having adventures on the seas while Napoleons wars rage across Europe.

A good part of this stems from the accident of my date of birth  Oct. 21. It happens to be the day in 1805 on which Admiral Horatio Nelson delivered a crippling blow to a combined Spanish and French fleet off the shores of southern Spain, near Cape Trafalgar. That ended Napoleons dream of invading England and made Nelson, who was mortally wounded in the battle, a posthumous hero in England of almost saint-like proportions.

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My grandmother, a history teacher, never wished me a happy birthday, but rather a happy Trafalgar Day. That led me to exploring just what this strange, unfamiliar holiday was about, and thus discover the breathtaking and long-forgotten art of sailing square-rigged ships in battle, and to learn of the nearly superhuman efforts it took to keep the ships afloat.

The descriptions of life aboard these ships almost defy belief. Months and even years at sea, with little privacy, hardly a whiff of luxury or comfort even for the most senior officers. Life was a mind-numbing haze of watches, repetitive drills, and cleaning  boredom beyond endurance punctuated by moments of combat that were bloody, brutal and apocalyptic in ways that land-based soldiers would not experience until the machine-driven horrors of the 20th century.

Ive read a fair bit history on that era by now, but I just recently picked up a book I had not heard of before, even though it has been in print for half a century: Trafalgar: The Nelson Touch, by David Howarth.

He tells the familiar tale of the ships of the two fleets: Victory, Royal Sovereign, Agamemnon, Leviathan, Temeraire, Tonnant  all huge, two- and three-deck monsters, carrying 500-900 men each and mounting anywhere from 70 to more than 100 guns. The smaller frigates, with 36 to 40 guns, have equally evocative names: Euryalus, Sirius, Hermione, Hortense.

As familiar as this story is to me by now, one detail stood out in Howarths book, a ship I had never noticed before.

The HMS Pickle.

I had to know more.

The Pickle, as it turns out, was a schooner, a tiny little ship with about 40 men and just eight guns (Howarth lists her as having just four on the day of the battle, though other sources disagree). Its humble duty was to ferry messages and relay signals between the frigates blockading the French and Spanish ports and the massive ships of the line, standing well out to sea, waiting for word that the enemy fleet was coming out for battle.

But on Oct. 21, there was the Pickle, bravely sailing along behind a line of massive warships, led by Nelsons flagship, the 104-gun Victory. Her decks were cleared and her guns were at the ready, just as if she had been a fearsome three-decker, not only slightly more than an armed yacht.

Her four small guns were manned and ready, Howarth wrote, and looked, as someone remarked long afterward, about as dangerous as two pairs of Wellington boots.

Although she didnt try to engage the enemy directly, which would have been suicide, throughout the battle, the Pickle dodged between the warships, picking up the wounded and stranded, including French crew members fleeing from the burning wreck of the Achille, which was in imminent danger of exploding once the fire reached the gunpowder storage room.

After the battle, the Pickle was chosen for the grim honor of relaying the news back to London of the smashing victory, and of the shocking death of Nelson at the moment of his greatest triumph.

Commanding officer John Richards Lapenotiere received a handsome promotion and financial reward for his quick delivery of the message.

Turns out that the Pickle went on to further glory, capturing several small vessels in 1805 and 06, including engaging and capturing the French privateer Favorite, which was almost twice her size, an achievement that was recognized decades later when all the surviving crew of the Pickle were awarded a special medal commemorating the engagement.

Sadly, the Pickle ran aground on Cape Santa Maria in Spain in the summer of 1807 and was damaged beyond repair, ending its small but illustrious career.

The heroism and bravery of the men of the tiny and ridiculously named Pickle moves me. On Oct. 21, they were ready to follow their admiral into battle. Once the battle started, they were quick to assist friend and enemy alike, despite the hellish battle going on around her. She never lost that fighting spirit to her final day afloat.

Its a story of duty and loyalty that deserves to be told.

And while in my fantasy life, Im still on the quarterdeck of a frigate, I now think Id be just as proud to find myself in command of the small but mighty Pickle.

You can reach Sean Scully at 256-2246 or sscully@napanews.com.

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When the Supreme Court rules in the coming months on the Mississippi and Texas laws substantially restricting abortions, it will do more than decide the future of its 1973 ruling legalizing a womans right to end her pregnancy.

It will almost certainly plunge the long-simmering issue into the midst of the 2022 midterm congressional and gubernatorial elections at a time both Democrats and Republicans believe it could help them.

One is likely to be wrong. Or, perhaps, each will be right in some places and wrong in others.

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Ever since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, abortion rights has been a potent factor in many national and state elections, and its an issue in next months Virginia governors race. As is often the case, the Republican, Glenn Youngkin, favors additional restrictions, and the Democrat, Terry McAuliffe, opposes them.

But polls on which party benefits are as complicated as those on the attitude of Americans toward the practice itself.

For example, 2020 television network election exit polls showed a majority of voters favored keeping abortion generally legal. They also showed the proportion regarding the issue as an important factor in their vote was roughly the same among supporters and opponents of abortion rights, about three in five.

Still, Donald Trumps 2016 promise to name Supreme Court justices opposed to abortion rights  and the fact that by 2020 he had done so  likely helped to maintain his strong support from religious conservatives, including those wary of his three marriages and other aspects of his private life.

Current attitudes are similarly complicated. A recent Quinnipiac University Poll showed Texans agreed by a 2-to-1 margin with the courts 1973 ruling legalizing abortions, about the same degree of overall support as has been shown in most national polls.

But the same poll showed opinion evenly split on the provision in the states new law that makes abortions illegal when a fetal heartbeat is detectable. That provision would ban abortions after the first six weeks of pregnancy, rather than the 26 weeks currently allowable under the Supreme Court decision.

At the same time, the survey showed strong opposition among Texans to the new laws provisions allowing private citizens to sue anyone they suspect may have facilitated an illegal abortion and to the provision including in the abortion ban any pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

It didnt take long after the 1973 decision for the issue to enter the political debate. Interestingly, the first major figure to use it was a rising Republican senator named Bob Dole, facing a close 1974 reelection race in Kansas. In a debate, Dole raised the fact that his Democratic opponent, a gynecologist and congressman named William Roy, had performed abortions. It was seen as a major factor in Doles narrow victory.

Though he mostly downplayed the hot-button issue in later years, Dole took credit for it when seeking the GOPs 1996 presidential nomination, telling the South Carolina Christian Coalition that when abortion first became a national issue was at my reelection in 1974."

Still, national Republicans were slow to embrace it. In 1976, former President Gerald Ford said the decision should be left to the states. But in their 1980 takeover of the GOP in which religious conservatives played a key role, Ronald Reagans forces added planks to the Republican platform that urged reversing Roe v. Wade and appointing federal judges at all levels of the judiciary who opposed abortion rights.

Ever since, it has been a prominent political issue in both national and state elections. And recent legislation makes it likely to become an even greater factor in 2022.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, a womens rights and reproductive rights support organization, 19 states have passed a total of 106 restrictive measures this year, hoping they would pass muster with the newly reconfigured Supreme Court that now has a solid conservative majority because of Trumps appointments of three justices critical of abortion rights.

The court has agreed to consider a Mississippi law, which would ban most abortions after 15 weeks. It also stepped into the controversy surrounding the even more restrictive Texas law, allowing it to take effect pending a ruling on its constitutionality, though even some conservative legal experts consider it unconstitutional unless the court is ready to reverse the 1973 ruling.

In this circumstance, there are two great uncertainties: how far the court will go in restricting its 1973 ruling, assuming that is why it took these cases. And which side will benefit politically.

Democrats believe the issue will spur a larger-than-usual turnout of suburban women that will help their candidates in next years elections. That sort of turnout was a key factor in the Democrats recapture of the U.S. House in 2018 and the presidency in 2020.

Similarly, many Republicans believe it helped to elect Trump in 2016  and nearly reelected him in 2020  by generating an outpouring of religious conservatives.

Interestingly, weekly polls by The Economist and YouGov show that the proportion of Democrats who consider abortion an extremely important issue has risen during 2021, while the proportion of Republicans has dropped.

That trend, along with the underlying national support for maintaining most legal abortions, suggests Democrats stand to benefit the most if the court significantly restricts its 1973 ruling.

Carl P. Leubsdorf is the former Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News.
Armenia President visits National University of Singapore

Gia, wanted by French law-enforcement authorities, found at Armenia's Bagratashen checkpoint

Leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia agree to meet in Brussels

European Council: Pashinyan and Aliyev agreed to establish direct communication line at level of defense ministers

Armenia's Representative to OSCE speaks about Azerbaijan's recent attack at Permanent Council's session

Armenia serviceman Meruzhan Harutyunyan, killed in Syunik Province, was buried at Yerablur Military Pantheon

Armenian News-NEWS.am's special report: Drive from Kapan to Tchakatashen is 150 km instead of previous 8 km

3 Armenian servicemen killed during Nov. 16 Azerbaijani attack posthumously awarded presidential medals

Left-wing trade unions hold protest against Turkey's Erdogan in Izmir

Armenia FM presents situation following Azerbaijani attack during meeting with Lithuanian Seimas Vice-President

Armenia delegation covers Azerbaijan's Nov. 16 attack during online meeting of CSTO PA Permanent Commissions

Armenia PM receives delegation led by Vice President of Lithuanian Seimas

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

Situation is tense in Armenia's Kasakh, residents protesting against acting village head (LIVE)

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
During the Future Talks at the Armenian Summit of Minds in Dilijan, President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian held a discussion with Deputy Director of Yandex Tigran Khudaverdyan, as reported the Staff of the President of Armenia.

The focus of the discussion was on the latest technologies and their impact on various sectors.

In response to President Sarkissians comment on the future trends for technological advancement and Armenia being a beneficiary in this sector, Khudaverdyan particularly mentioned that the pandemic has not only caused painful consequences, but has also caused certain changes in the world, and Armenia can also win in these new realities.

For many years, there had been talks about how remote learning and remote employment could be organized. The pandemic radically changed the attitude of mankind towards educational technologies and remote employment. Armenia is in a place that is hardly accessible in terms of transport and logistics. This means Armenia has the opportunity to become a part of the world in which roads are virtual, and this will be possible through Internet technologies. This is a new world in which Armenia can win, Yandexs Deputy Director said, adding that its hard for a small country like Armenia to allow itself to have an educational system that is as developed as the educational systems of developed countries. Currently, our partnering companies have started hiring people for remote employment since there are technologies that are making remote employment more comfortable. This is a big opportunity for Armenia to maintain itself and become accessible to the wealth of the whole world, he said.

President Sarkissian and Tigran Khudaverdyan shared the view that Armenia needs to use the whole network, knowledge and talents of the Armenian Diaspora for empowerment of the country.
It became known Sunday as to how the 33 seats of Gyumri Council of Elders were distributed among the five parties that passed the respective threshold in the local elections on October 17, shantnews.am reported.

Territorial Electoral Commission No. 31 convened a meeting todayand with the agenda of summing up the election results.

As a result of the local elections on October 17, the Gyumri city government will be formed by the Balasanyan Bloc Social Party, Armenias ruling Civil Contract Party (CCP), the countrys former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), the Zartonk (Awakening) National Christian Party, and the Country to Live party.

The calculation of the mandates is done by a special formula which is defined by the Electoral Code. And according to that the Balasanyan blocwhich received the majority of votesgets 14 seats, the CCP11 seats, the Zartonk party4 seats, the RPA2, and the Country to Live party2 seats. This means, however, that none of these political forces can elect the new mayor of Gyumri by themselves, and therefore they will have to form a coalition.

The new mayor of Gyumri shall be elected during the first meeting of the newly elected municipal council, and this will be held in early November.
Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan today received newly appointed Ambassador of France to Armenia Anne Louyot and congratulated her on assuming the important mission, as reported on the Facebook page of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia.

Tatoyan presented the urgency of the return of Armenian captives and the violations of the rights of residents on the borders of Armenia due to the criminal acts of the Azerbaijanis.

The Ombudsman highly appreciated the professional and self-dedicated work of French reporters during the war [in Nagorno-Karabakh] in September-November 2020.

During the meeting, Tatoyan presented facts that affirm the violations committed by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces against residents on Armenias borders. He went into detail and said people have been deprived of their homes and lands and are facing social and security issues.

Tatoyan emphasized that delimitation and demarcation with Azerbaijan without the creation of a buffer zone and without the removal of armed Azerbaijani soldiers will not ensure the rights of citizens of Armenia and especially borderline residents and will lead to the committal of new violations of rights and further escalation. He added that the main reason for violations of the rights of civilians of Armenia by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces is the policy of Armenophobia and hostility of the Azerbaijani authorities which reached the level of fascism after the war. Moreover, this is reflected in an international document, that is, the Resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of September 27, 2021.

The Ombudsman stressed that all the servicemen and civilians of the Armenian side illegally held in Azerbaijan are captives, must be immediately released and returned to Armenia without any political or other precondition, and the Azerbaijani authorities are artificially delaying and politicizing the process, grossly violating the rights of the captives and their families, causing them sufferings and causing tension in society.
An artist's concept of our solar system showing a sense of scale and distance. NASA

James O'Donoghue went viral for the first time in December 2018.

He was a planetary scientist for NASA at the time, but the federal government had temporarily shut down due to budget disputes in Congress. He'd been told not to work or even check his email. So with extra time on his hands, he took to Photoshop.

O'Donoghue and his NASA colleagues had just measured the material raining onto Saturn from its rings, and found that the rings will slowly fall away over 100 million years. He realized that people would probably wonder what that will look like.

So a few days before their study's publication, O'Donoghue slapped an expanding black circle onto an image of Saturn and faded most of its rings away. The New York Times featured his animation with the news of the study.

O'Donoghue's impression of how Saturn may look in the next 100 million years. The innermost rings disappear as they rain onto the planet. NASA/Cassini/James O'Donoghue

Then, as he continued to roam the Internet while waiting for government work to resume, O'Donoghue realized that he couldn't find any videos comparing each planet's spin side by side. So he made one.

He pulled together images of all the planets, tilted them to the correct degree, and made them spin at their real-life speeds. He threw numbers next to them for good measure.

The video took off.

"It was viewed by 1.6 million [people] in a couple of days. As someone with 450 followers, I thought that was a bit ridiculous," O'Donoghue told Insider.

But he realized that it had taken about 16 hours to make the video, which means he'd reached roughly 100,000 people for each hour of work.

"I thought, 'This is actually kind of efficient' - an efficient way of doing outreach to people," he said. "If you're from a rural area like myself, that's kind of important. I didn't have any exposure to any scientists where I'm from. You'd have to go very far away to reach one."

Story continues

O'Donoghue grew up in the English town of Shrewsbury, then later among the hills and farms of Newtown, Wales. He'd never thought of astronomy as a career option until he left for university.

Since the planets video, O'Donoghue has almost always had another idea for an animation bouncing around in his head. He has now created more than 80 such animations for his Youtube channel.

The effort earned him the Europlanet Society's Prize for Public Engagement last month.

James ODonoghue at NASA. James ODonoghue

"Among the talented and motivated science communication projects nominated this year, James O'Donoghue's brilliant animations stood out," Dr. Federica Duras, who chaired the award jury, said in a press release. "In their simplicity they are a masterclass in outreach and communication, and the fact that they do not rely on language and translation means that they are perfectly inclusive, easily adaptable and usable all over the world."

"A lot of this is just play," O'Donoghue, who now works at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), told Insider. "I kind of just go where I enjoy with it."

Here are some of his best videos.

After his early successes, O'Donoghue pivoted to illustrating the speed of light

This series of videos shows a particle of light (a photon) traveling across different distances in space. It zips around Earth faster than you can blink, and ping-pongs between Earth and the moon every 1.255 seconds.

But the distance between planets is so large that it takes a photon several minutes to cross. That's why space agencies like NASA will always have a delay in communicating with rovers on Mars - even when they send messages at light speed.

Another video shows how the moon has retreated over 4.5 billion years

About 4.5 billion years ago, a Mars-sized object (or perhaps a series of many smaller objects) crashed into Earth, sending bits of our planet's crust into space. They fell into Earth's orbit and eventually coalesced, forming our moon. That newborn moon - a ball of molten rock with a magma ocean - was nearly 16 times closer to Earth than it is today.

As it cooled, the moon backed away, retreating thousands of miles.

O'Donoghue's sequence starts with the moon's current position and follows it back in time to its birth, tracking its distance from Earth, apparent size relative to our planet, and the speed of its movement.

Some videos debunk myths, like the dark side of the moon

Although there is a side of the moon that we never see from Earth, it's not dark all the time.

"Remember not to say 'dark side of the moon' when referring to the 'far side of the moon,'" O'Donoghue said on Twitter. "This graphic shows the dark side is always in motion."

The video shows how sunlight falls across the moon as it orbits Earth. In one orbit of about 29.5 days, all sides of the moon get bathed in sunlight at some point.

Others demonstrate shocking facts of physics - like the true center of the solar system

Hint: It's not really the sun.

"Instead, everything orbits the solar system center of mass," O'Donoghue explained on Twitter. "Even the sun."

That center of mass, called the barycenter, is the point of an object at which it can be balanced perfectly, with all its mass distributed evenly on all sides. In our solar system, that point rarely lines up with the center of the sun.

His animation shows how the sun, Saturn, and Jupiter play tug-of-war around the barycenter, pulling our star in looping mini-orbits.

Earth and the moon have their own barycenter, too

That point is about 3,000 miles from our planet's center, just below its surface.

By the way, Earth has two types of day

The sidereal day happens each time Earth completes a 360-degree rotation. That takes 23 hours and 56 minutes.

But because Earth is constantly moving along its orbit around the sun, a different point on the planet faces the sun directly at the end of that 360-degree spin. For the sun to reach the exact same position in the sky, Earth has to rotate 1 degree further, which takes another four minutes to make a 24-hour spin.

The solar day - the one humans count in the calendar - happens when Earth spins that extra degree, and the sun is at the same point in the sky as it was 24 hours ago.

Because we go by solar days in our calendars, we count 365 days in a year. But Earth actually completes a full rotation (a sidereal day) 366 times per year.

A more recent video shows how fast (or slow) a ball would drop on each planet

For this video, O'Donoghue collaborated with Rami Mandow, who founded the website Space Australia.

The speed of the ball's fall depends on the planet's mass - a more massive planet has a stronger gravitational force - and its density. The closer the ball is to a planet's center of mass, the stronger the gravitational force.

"I really like how this one came out," O'Donoghue said.

Many of his animations compare the planets

This animation also shows how fast each planet spins and how much they're tilted on their axes.

He's also compared planets by putting them all on one globe

This video shows how quickly the planets spin relative to one another. Jupiter, for example, rotates 2.4 times faster than Earth.

His adaptation of a NASA animation shows the oceans draining away

This remake of a 2008 NASA video shows what it would look like if Earth's water drained away, revealing the hidden three-fifths of the planet's surface.

"This animation reveals that the ocean floor is just as variable and interesting in its geology as the continents," O'Donoghue said.

O'Donoghue even circled back to his main research subject: Saturn

It may not be obvious in photos, but the ice and rock chunks that make up Saturn's rings circle at rates nearly 70 times the speed of sound. But each ring moves at its own specific pace. The animation above shows how it all moves.

"In a way, the ring system is like a mini solar system," O'Donoghue said. "Objects close to Saturn orbit faster, otherwise they would fall in, while objects far away can afford to go slower. This is the same for planets."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Ask people to name the worlds largest river, and most will probably guess that its the Amazon, the Nile or the Mississippi. In fact, some of Earths largest rivers are in the sky  and they can produce powerful storms, like the ones now drenching northern California.

Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of moisture in the atmosphere that extend from the tropics to higher latitudes. These rivers in the sky can transport 15 times the volume of the Mississippi River.

When that moisture reaches the coast and moves inland, it rises over the mountains, generating rain and snowfall. Many fire-weary westerners welcome these deluges, but atmospheric rivers can trigger other disasters, such as extreme flooding and debris flows.

In the past 20 years, as observation networks have improved, scientists have learned more about these important weather phenomena. Atmospheric rivers occur globally, affecting the west coasts of the worlds major land masses, including Portugal, Western Europe, Chile and South Africa. So-called Pineapple Express storms that carry moisture from Hawaii to the U.S. West Coast are just one of their many flavors.

My research combines economics and atmospheric science to measure damage from severe weather events. Recently I led a team of researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Army Corps of Engineers in the first systematic analysis of damages from atmospheric rivers due to extreme flooding. We found that while many of these events are benign, the largest of them cause most of the flooding damage in the western U.S. And atmospheric rivers are predicted to grow longer, wetter and wider in a warming climate.

Rivers in the sky

On Feb. 27, 2019, an atmospheric river propelled a plume of water vapor 350 miles wide and 1,600 miles long through the sky from the tropical North Pacific Ocean to the coast of Northern California.

Just north of San Francisco Bay, in Sonoma Countys famed wine country, the storm dumped over 21 inches of rain. The Russian River crested at 45.4 feet  13.4 feet above flood stage.

Story continues

For the fifth time in four decades, the town of Guerneville was submerged under the murky brown floodwaters of the lower Russian River. Damages in Sonoma County alone were estimated at over US0 million.

Events like these have drawn attention in recent years, but atmospheric rivers are not new. They have meandered through the sky for millions of years, transporting water vapor from the equator toward the poles.

In the 1960s meteorologists coined the phrase Pineapple Express to describe storm tracks that originated near Hawaii and carried warm water vapor to the coast of North America. By the late 1990s atmospheric scientists had found that over 90% of the worlds moisture from the tropics and subtropics was transported to higher latitudes by similar systems, which they named atmospheric rivers.

In dry conditions, atmospheric rivers can replenish water supplies and quench dangerous wildfires. In wet conditions, they can cause damaging floods and debris flows, wreaking havoc on local economies.

Helpful and harmful

Researchers have known for some time that flooding due to atmospheric rivers could cost a lot of money, but until our study no one had quantified these damages. We used a catalog of atmospheric river events compiled by Scripps Institution of Oceanographys Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, and matched it to 40 years of flood insurance records and 20 years of National Weather Service damage estimates.

We found that atmospheric rivers caused an average of

Evacuations ordered as a powerful storm heads for California's wildfire burn scars, raising risk of mudslides  this is what cascading climate disasters look like

https://theconversation.com/evacuations-ordered-as-a-powerful-storm-heads-for-californias-wildfire-burn-scars-raising-risk-of-mudslides-this-is-what-cascading-climate-disasters-look-like-170335 Sun, 24 Oct 2021 17:49:53 +0000 tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/170335 Studies show climate change is raising the risk of cascading hazards that alone might not be extreme but add up to human disasters. Communities and government agencies aren't prepared. Amir AghaKouchak, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine

Officials issued evacuation orders for people living downhill from several of Californias wildfire burn scars on Oct. 24, 2021, as a powerful storm system known as an atmospheric river began to drench the West Coast.

While the storm brings much-needed water to a region in the midst of an historic drought, and should significantly lower the wildfire risk after a destructive fire year, it also brings dangerous new flood and mudslide risks, particularly in areas recovering from wildfires.

Wildfires strip away vegetation and leave the soil less able to absorb water. A downpour on these vulnerable landscapes can quickly erode the ground as fast-moving water carries debris and mud with it. The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings and warned of ash and debris flows through Oct. 26 in several areas that recently burned, including the sites of the Alisal Fire near Santa Barbara and the nearly 1-million-acre Dixie Fire in the Sierra Nevada. Near San Jose, two counties ordered evacuations near large areas that burned in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 2020.

I study cascading hazards like this, in which consecutive events lead to human disasters. Studies show climate change is raising the risk of multiple compound disasters, and its clear that communities and government agencies arent prepared.

When storms hit burn scars

California has experienced this kind of cascading disaster before.

In early 2017, following years of drought, the region had a wet winter that fueled dense growth of vegetation and shrubs. An unusually warm and dry spring and summer followed, and it dried out the vegetation, turning it into fuel ready to burn. That fall, extreme Santa Ana and Diablo winds  known for their sustained low humidity  created the perfect conditions for wildfires.

The Thomas Fire began near Santa Barbara in December 2017 and burned over 280,000 acres. The following January, extreme rainfall hit the region, including the burn scar left by the fire, and caused the deadliest mudslide-debris flow event in Californias history. More than 400 homes were destroyed in about two hours, and 23 people died.

These kinds of cascading events arent unique to California. Australias Millennium Drought (1997-2009) also ended with devastating floods that inundated urban areas and breached levees. A study linked some of the levee and dike failures to earlier drought conditions, such as cracks forming because of exposure to heat and dryness.

Individually, they might not have been disasters

When multiple hazards, such as droughts, heat waves, wildfires and extreme rainfall, interact, human disasters often result.

The individual drivers might not be very extreme on their own, but combined they can become lethal. These types of events are broadly referred to as compound events  for example, a drought and heat wave hitting at the same time. Their combined impact can be harder to forecast. A cascading event involves compound events in succession, like wildfires followed by downpours and mudslides.

While the drivers and physical mechanisms behind compound and cascading events are not fully understood, they are often linked to large-scale circulation patterns like the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Meanwhile, lack of preparedness and high degrees of vulnerability at the local level can also increase the impacts of multiple connected events.

With compound and cascading events likely to become more common in a warming world, being able to prepare for and manage multiple hazards will be increasingly essential.

Climate change intensifies the risk

Several research studies have shown that compound events with both drought and heat waves have become more severe and frequent in recent years. One study attributed the increase in the risk of these dry-warm events in California to human-caused global warming and projected that the increased risk of dry-warm conditions will continue in the future.

An important physical process responsible for increases in compound drought and heat is land-atmosphere interactions. Evaporation from soil cools down the land surface, similar to how the human body cools down by sweating. During droughts, the lack of moisture limits soil evaporation, which increases the surface temperature and eventually the air temperature in the area. Data shows temperatures during droughts are rising in many parts of the United States, including the Southwest  a pattern that is expected to continue in the future.

Numerous studies have also shown that droughts and heat waves increase the likelihood of wildfires. And wildfires can trigger other cascading hazards, turning otherwise unexceptional events into human disasters.

At the same time, extreme rainfall events are expected to intensify in a warming climate. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, leading to wetter storms. This means there will likely be more burned acres exposed to potentially extreme rainfall events in a warmer world.

[Youre smart and curious about the world. You can read The Conversation daily by subscribing to our newsletter.]

Map showing 2021 wildfire burn areas

Cascading hazards are not limited to rain over burned areas. Soot and ash deposits on snowpack can increase snowmelt, change the timing of runoff and cause snow-driven flooding. Fires are not only increasing in size and severity, they are also occurring at higher elevations and well above the snow line.

Its also important to recognize that human activities and local infrastructure can also affect extreme events. Urbanization and deforestation, for example, can intensify flooding and worsen mud or debris flow events and their impacts.

Managing multiple disasters and climate change

Despite the high risk when extreme rainfall and droughts interact, most research in this area focuses on only one or the other. Different government agencies oversee flood and drought monitoring, warning and management, even though both are extremes of the same hydrological cycle.

Recent studies and disasters show a strong need to integrate management and risk reduction strategies of droughts and flood. Focusing on one hazard by one agency can potentially have unintended consequences for another hazard. For example, maximizing reservoir storage when expecting a drought can increase the flood risk.

As a society, we cannot prevent cascading hazards from happening. But we can become better prepared for plausible cascading hazards in a changing climate.

Read more: Atmospheric river storms can drive costly flooding  and climate change is making them stronger

This article was updated Oct. 24, 2021, with evacuation orders issued near several wildfire burn scars.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Amir AghaKouchak, University of California, Irvine.

Read more:



Amir AghaKouchak receives funding from NSF, NASA, NOAA, and Caltrans.
Chicago saw yet another deadly weekend following a summer similarly riddled with gun violence.

At least 25 individuals were reportedly shot so far this weekend in Chicago, three of whom were shot fatally, according to police.

A 30-year-old man was gunned down Friday by three male suspects while walking on the sidewalk in the 4300-block of West Gladys Avenue at around 11 p.m., police said. He was struck in the leg and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. There are currently no suspects in custody.

CHICAGO POLICE UNION CHIEF TELLS OFFICERS TO IGNORE VACCINE MANDATE

A group of five were wounded by gunfire on Friday in the Chatham neighborhood. The group was standing outside when a suspect opened fire then fled the scene. A male victim was left in critical condition from the gunfire, police report.

On Saturday, a woman was accidentally shot in the face with her boyfriend's gun at a party. She was taken to Stroger Hospital and pronounced dead shortly after.

Other shootings included carjackings and drive-by scenarios, ABC 7 reports.

Some 1,606 people were shot in Chicago during a three-month period in the summer, a population equal to that of some small towns, CNN reports.

The striking violence comes as Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot maintains a standoff with a substantial portion of the city police department over vaccine mandates. Lightfoot is struggling to rein in the Fraternal Order of Police's leadership, which has instructed officers to ignore the city's mandate and strike against it.

"What we've seen from the Fraternal Order of Police, in particular leadership, is a lot of misinformation, a lot of half-truths, and, frankly, flat out lies, in order to induce an insurrection. And we're not having that," Lightfoot told reporters last week. "And so we want to make it very, very clear that the law is on our side. We feel very confident about it."

"We believe that the FOP leadership is trying to foment an illegal work stoppage, a strike, pure and simple. We've laid that out in the materials. And we're not having that..." she continued.

Story continues

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Chicago FOP President John Catanzara called Lightfoot's bluff, saying that the city wouldn't be able to last with "a police department workforce at 50% capacity or less."

I can guarantee you that no-pay status will not last more than 30 days, he continued. Theres no way theyre going to be able to sustain a police department workforce at 50% capacity or less for more than seven days without something budging.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Lori Lightfoot, Chicago, shooting, News

Original Author: Matthew Miller

Original Location: Bloody weekend in Chicago sees 25 shot, three dead: police
In another homophobic rant, Boosie said Lil Nas X should commit suicide because it would do this world a huge favor

Rapper Lil Boosie told fellow musician Lil Nas X, that if he commits suicide it would do this world a huge favor world, after the Montero rapper joked about working on a song with Boosie.

On Saturday afternoon, Lil Nas X went on Instagram live and trolled viewers saying that he had a song featuring the Baton Rouge rapper that was coming out soon. Boosie has repeatedly sexually harassed Lil Nas X because the musician is open and proud of his sexuality.

In response to the obvious troll statement, Boosie posted a tweet, which has since been taken down for violating Twitters community safety rules, calling the Industry Baby singer several derogatory names and making disparaging comments about his sex life.

Boosie ended the homophobic rant by saying, nobody wants you here.

Boosie reacts to Lil Nas X saying he has a song coming out with him. pic.twitter.com/Fa9zB5Uil5  SAY CHEESE!  (@SaycheeseDGTL) October 23, 2021

In several follow-up tweets, he relayed the same sentiments and warned Lil Nas X to STOP PLAYING WITH THE STRAIGHT, again using homophobic slurs.

Lil Nas X, who has been vocal about how homophobia is deeply embedded in hip-hop culture and particularly among Black male artists, seemingly ignored Boosies rant and tweeted: i am truly saddened. i have never been so mortified in my life. i cant believe disney channel has yet to play halloween town this entire october.

i am truly saddened. i have never been so mortified in my life. i cant believe disney channel has yet to play halloween town this entire october.  MONTERO  (@LilNasX) October 23, 2021

Lil Nas X, who has skyrocketed to fame due to the success of his hit single Old Town Road, has been the target of the many recent homophobic attacks from other artists.

Story continues

The Grammy-award-winning rapper came out as gay in the summer of 2019, during what he said was one of the scariest moments of his life.

I was afraid because I knew the world was watching, and all I ever saw for boys like me was judgment and ridicule, he recalled while accepting the 2021 Native Son Award, which honors Black men in media, entertainment and activism. But it was because the world was watching that I knew I had to stand in my truth.

The musician has been using his platform to speak on behalf of the LGBT+ community and advocate for gay and queer causes.

After the release of his debut album, MONTERO, he announced to fans that he had a baby registry, where they could donate to several queer and gay serving non-profit organizations that support and advocate on behalf of marginalized people.

After the release of the music video for his lead single, Call Me By Your Name, where Nas X is seen dancing on a devil-like character and frolicking with men, Boosie said that he would beat Nas X and that he had to stand up for straight people during a Breakfast Club interview.

You cant brag on really smashing or your sexuality no more, he added, stating that straight musicians arent able to make music about sex because the industry is now ran by LGBTQ people. The rapper also said that Lil Nas X is too sexual which is not safe for kids.

Host Charlemagne that God and DJ Envy immediately call Boosie out for his hypocrisy, saying he has dedicated decades to making misogynistic and sexist music that hurts Black women. Boosie completely ignored their argument.

In response to the interview, Nas X plugged his Billboard No. 1 single, Industry Baby, featuring Jack Harlow, saying in a tweet, wow. this is insane. almost as insane as my new single industry baby which is out now!

Jack Harlow and Lil Nas X attend the BET Awards 2021 at Microsoft Theater on June 27, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (PhotoCred: Rich Fury/Getty Images)

Boosie has repeatedly attacked Lil Nas X, including during an Instagram live where he was defending rapper DaBaby after his unsolicited homophobic rant at Rolling Loud.

Lil Nas said he wants to perform naked for charity. Like bruh, they dont tell him nothing, he said in an Instagram live. They should be picking sides, man. You dont tell his lil f***** a** nothing. Thats the most disrespectful motherf***** in the world.

Lil Nas X has always trolled Boosie back and moved the focus onto something else. However, many have stated that the targeted harassment not only perpetuates homophobia in the Black and hip-hop community, but it also creates dangerous environments for queer Black people to feel safe.

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The post Boosie verbally attacks Lil Nas X on social media after the rapper jokes about a collaboration appeared first on TheGrio.
Oct. 24The League of Women Voters of Boulder County is inviting residents to join a Tuesday night virtual conversation about election security.

The 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday program  "Election Security: How Colorado's Gold-Standard Election System Works, and Why Voters Can Trust Election Results"  is to include presentations by Hilary Rudy, the Colorado Department of State's deputy elections director, and Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Molly Fitzpatrick, according to a League of Women Voters announcement of the event.

"Elections are one of the most fundamental elements of our democracy. Mistrust in election systems  exacerbated by misinformation and disinformation about the 2020 national election  may erode trust or reduce engagement in the voting process itself. Fortunately, Colorado is recognized nationally as having a gold-standard election system and a high voting rate. Locally, Boulder County's election system has many positive features to ensure accuracy and accountability," the League said in a news release.

With Election Day rapidly approaching Nov. 2, the League said, "this event will enable Boulder County residents to learn about our state and local election systems, ask questions of officials overseeing these systems, and help build trust and confidence in the voting process.".

People can register on the League of Women Voters of Boulder County website, lwvbc.org, to receive the Zoom link for the meeting.
By Kevin Light

Victoria, BRITISH COLUMBIA (Reuters) - A container fire that broke out on Saturday on a cargo ship carrying mining chemicals off British Columbia is smoldering and appears to be under control, Canadian Coast Guard officials said on Sunday.

Sixteen crew members were evacuated from the MV Zim Kingston on Saturday, while five remained onboard to fight the fire.

The ship is anchored several kilometers off the southern coast of Vancouver Island. Residents of the island are not in danger, officials said, and transit of commercial vessels to the ports of Vancouver and Seattle ports is unimpeded.

Canadian Coast Guard Commander JJ Brickett said the company has indicated that the fire has burned itself out. Tug boats had sprayed water around the area of the fire to keep it from spreading, and a helicopter flyover on Sunday gathered evidence that this has worked.

"We can't see any scorching or charring of those adjacent containers, that's a really good sign," Brickett said. "The fire is smoldering as you would expect, and we're continuing to cool on either side."

The coast guard is telling all vessels to stay at least two nautical miles away, and the Transport Ministry has restricted all aircraft, including drones, from flying within two nautical miles or below 2,000 feet over the ship.

Earlier on Sunday Danaos Shipping Co, the company that manages the container ship, said in a statement that no injuries had been reported.

The fire "appears to have been contained," and a salvage and fire extinguishing agency was brought in to ensure the safe return of the vessel's crew, Danaos said.

The mishap comes as more bad weather is expected to hit the area on Sunday and amid a global shipping traffic jam that has held up deliveries all over the world.

The ship is expected to weather the storm from its anchor, but tug boats are standing by and monitoring in case the ship were to move, Brickett said.

Story continues

Canada's coast guard said it has been working with its U.S. counterpart to track 40 containers that had fallen overboard when Zim Kingston encountered bad weather on Friday, saying they posed a significant risk to mariners.

The coast guard is still tracking these containers, which are to be recovered by the salvage company hired by the ship's owners. At the moment none of them seem to be drifting toward shore, Brickett said.

"Mariners are advised to stay clear of the area. Currently there is no safety risk to people on shore, however the situation will continue to be monitored," the coast guard said on Saturday, when video obtained by Reuters showed fire cascading down from the deck of the ship into the water.

(Reporting by Steve Scherer, Bhargav Acharya, Chris Helgren and Nur-Azna Sanusi; Additional reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Edwina Gibbs, Frances Kerry, Mark Porter and Diane Craft)
Anthony Geracis life changed overnight.

The 32-year-old Virginia Beach resident was one of more than 100,000 Hampton Roads workers who lost their jobs in April 2020  the month after the coronavirus pandemic took hold and Gov. Ralph Northams social distancing measures began to affect businesses.

Rather than look for another position, Geraci did something more workers are doing  he switched careers.

Its one of the reasons why employers in fields such as hospitality, restaurants and other entry-level industries say they are in dire need of workers. For reasons economists are still researching, the pool of available applicants has shrunk dramatically.

Im hearing more and more economists saying that the pandemic must have nudged people toward reevaluating their priorities in life, said Peter McHenry, a William & Mary associate professor of economics who researches labor issues.

After spending time at home with family, McHenry said workers realized perhaps they didnt like their jobs as much as they thought and reconsidered their options.

That could be a delay, or it could be a career change, he said.

Around 20% of workers have changed careers since the pandemic began, according to an April survey conducted by Prudential Financial.

For Geraci, that opportunity came when his mother clued him into a new job training program called the Virginia Ready Initiative. After being laid off from doing customer tax support for Liberty Tax, he began to realize his real passion was in technology. The program provides a $1,000 incentive for people who pursue job certificates in high-demand fields.

Geraci used the program to obtain a key information technology support certificate. Better yet, the jobs program paid for the classes in full and he was able to pocket the $1,000 incentive upon completion.

I always loved computers and loved tech but needed the skills on the resume, Geraci said.

Theories disproved

A few things are certain about the current worker shortage. For example, the Hampton Roads civilian labor force  the total number of people either looking for work or currently employed  has declined by more than 33,000 workers, or around 4%, since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Those people have left the labor force entirely. They are neither employed nor looking for a job.

Story continues

Many of those workers are women. Nationally, 309,000 women left the labor force in September, and women have accounted for 57.5% of total job losses since February 2020, according to a National Womens Law Center analysis of jobs data. To McHenry and other economists, that indicates continuing issues around child care, and remote schooling may be pushing women out of the workforce to care for children learning at home.

Additionally, expanded unemployment benefits have afforded lower and middle-income families an unprecedented level of financial savings. Bolstered by expanded unemployment benefits, decreased consumer spending and multiple stimulus checks, the personal saving rate  the amount of monthly income remaining after taxes and spending  swelled to a record 33.8% in April 2020, and remained above 10% for the next year, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis graph.

Several theories about the labor shortage have been disproved, McHenry said. For instance, states that ended expanded unemployment benefits early did not see a boost in hiring, disproving a common theory among conservative politicians that the benefits were keeping people home. Additionally, fewer people are getting sick from COVID, so McHenry said its unlikely people are staying away from work out of fear or illness.

Getting people back to work

The Virginia Ready Initiative, founded in June 2020 by businessman and Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin, pairs an existing workforce development program run by community colleges with 24 major Virginia employers, including Newport News Shipbuilding and Sentara Healthcare. Along with technology careers, the program provides incentives for credentials to nursing assistants, truck drivers, pharmacy technicians and other in-demand fields.

Virginia Ready Initiative CEO Caren Merrick said most of the programs 3,000 participants are in their early 20s to 50s, have work experience and are taking a risk by going back to school during a pandemic.

I think we should celebrate them, Merrick said.

That risk paid off for Geraci. A few months after completing his course, he landed a job handling tech support for InMotion Hosting, a Virginia Beach website hosting and design company. He now makes about 12% more than before the pandemic, is able to work remotely and has room for professional growth in a field he enjoys.

McHenry expects the larger employment picture to improve somewhat for employers and workers in the near future. He thinks workers will return to jobs in fields such as hospitality and restaurants as their savings dry up, and many employers have already boosted wages in those positions.

Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, trevor.metcalfe@pilotonline.com
China's hypersonic glide vehicles featured in a 2019 Beijing parade

The news that China had tested a new nuclear-capable hypersonic missile was described by some as a game-changer that stunned US officials. So how big a deal is this, asks Jonathan Marcus of the Strategy and Security Institute, University of Exeter.

Twice in the summer, the Chinese military launched a rocket into space that circled the globe before speeding towards its target.

On the first occasion, it missed its target by about 24 miles (40 km), according to people briefed on the intelligence speaking to the Financial Times, which broke the story.

While some US politicians and commentators were alarmed at China's apparent progress, Beijing was quick to deny the report, insisting that this was in fact the test of a re-usable spacecraft.

China's denial is "an act of obfuscation" says Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Non-Proliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California, because the story has been confirmed by US officials speaking to other media.

And he finds the claim that China tested an orbital bombardment system [FOB] both "technically plausible and strategically reasonable for Beijing".

What are ICBMs and FOBS?

An ICBM is a long-range missile that leaves the earth's atmosphere before re-entry, pursuing a parabolic trajectory towards its target

A Fractional Orbital Bombardment System sends missiles through a partial orbit around the earth to strike targets from an unexpected direction

Both the FT story and the Chinese denial could be right, says Aaron Stein, director of research at the Foreign Policy Institute in Philadelphia.

"A reusable space plane is a hypersonic glider. It just lands. A FOB system delivered via some sort of glider would do much of the same thing as a reusable space plane, so I think the actual differences between the two stories is marginal."

Indeed over recent months a number of senior US officials have hinted at this kind of Chinese development.

Story continues

Diagram showing arc of ICBM v hypersonic

FOB systems are not by any means new.

The idea was pursued by the Soviet Union during the Cold War and is now seemingly being revived by China. The idea is for a weapon that enters a partial orbit around the earth to strike targets from an unexpected direction.

What China appears to have done is to combine the FOBS technology with a hypersonic glider - they glide along the outer edge of the atmosphere avoiding radar and missile defences - into a new system. But why?

"Beijing fears that the United States will use a combination of modernised nuclear forces and missile defences to take away their nuclear deterrent," says Mr Lewis.

"If the US were to strike Beijing first, which we publicly retain the option of doing, the missile defence system in Alaska might be able to handle the small number of China's nuclear weapons that survive."

All the major nuclear players are developing hypersonic systems but view them differently, says Aaron Stein. And these differing points of view, he argues, feed into the other sides' paranoia, fuelling the arms race.

Both Beijing and Moscow view hypersonics as a means to ensure the defeat of missile defences, he believes. But in contrast, the US plans to use them to strike so-called hard targets like things that support nuclear command and control, using conventional or non-nuclear warheads.

Russia's Avangard hypersonic boost-glide weapon

Some advocates of rapid US nuclear modernisation have seen the recent Chinese tests as "a Sputnik moment" a reference to the surprise and alarm registered in the US at the Soviet Union's first orbital satellite in the late 1950s.

But some experts would disagree and don't believe this test by China creates a new threat. James Acton of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says the US has been vulnerable to nuclear attack by China since at least the 1980s.

But he thinks intensive Chinese, Russian and North Korean programmes to defeat US missile defences should prompt the US to reconsider whether treaties that impose limits on such defences are, after all, in the US interest.

Mr Lewis stresses that the important thing now is for the US to draw the right conclusions.

"I fear this is much more like 9/11 where in the aftermath of the surprise and reeling from a mix of fear and vulnerability, we embarked on a series of disastrous foreign policy decisions that made us far less safe.

"In fact, one of the things that we did was to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile or ABM Treaty, which is far more responsible for China's development of this system than anything else."

America's potential adversaries are all seeking to modernise and upgrade their nuclear weaponry.

China's arsenal, though, is still dwarfed by that of the United States. But concerns about US missile defences and conventional precision long-range strike systems are all pushing it to develop a larger and more diverse nuclear arsenal.

North Korea too is seeking to modernise and refine its nuclear capability, not least, as Ankit Panda of the Carnegie Endowment notes, to secure added leverage in future diplomacy.

"For a few years now," he says, "they've demanded to be treated by the United States as an equal and see the development of ever-more-advanced nuclear and missile capabilities as one way to earn that respect."

Putin and his defence chiefs watch a hypersonic missile launch via video link

It all contributes to a growing nuclear headache for the Biden administration.

The collapse of much of the existing fabric of arms control agreements inherited from the Cold War does not help. Neither do the growing tensions with both Moscow and Beijing.

In Ankit Panda's view, the single most meaningful thing the United States could do to stem and slow the ongoing arms race is to discuss limitations on strategic missile defences, as it did during the Cold War.

"Putting missile defence on the table"' he says, "would allow Washington to extract meaningful concessions from Russia and China. It would additionally dissuade each from pursuing costly, convoluted, and dangerous means to deliver nuclear weapons."

Jonathan Marcus is honorary professor at the Strategy and Security Institute, University of Exeter, UK
Colombia's most-wanted drug trafficker "Otoniel" has been captured, officials said Saturday, a major victory for the government of the world's top cocaine exporter.

Dairo Antonio Usuga, who headed the country's largest narco-trafficking gang known as the Gulf Clan, was captured near one of his main outposts in Necocli, near the border with Panama.

Images released by the government showed the 50-year-old Otoniel in handcuffs and surrounded by soldiers.

"This is the hardest strike to drug trafficking in our country this century," president Ivan Duque said in a message, adding that the arrest was "only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar," the notorious Colombian narco-trafficking kingpin.

Some 500 soldiers backed by 22 helicopters were deployed in the Necocli municipality to carry out the operation, which left one police officer dead.

It was "the biggest penetration of the jungle ever seen in the military history of our country", Duque said.

A live broadcast by the police later showed a handcuffed Otoniel landing in Bogota before being taken into custody under heavy security.

Colombia's police chief Jorge Vargas said during a press conference that authorities carried out "an important satellite operation with agencies of the United States and the United Kingdom."

According to police, Otoniel was hiding in the jungle in the Uraba region, where he is from, and did not use a telephone, relying on couriers to communicate.

Fearful of authorities, he "slept there in the rain, never approaching inhabited areas," Vargas said.

The United States had offered a $5 million bounty for information leading to the arrest of Otoniel, one of the most feared men in Colombia.

He was indicted in the United States in 2009, and faces extradition proceedings to the country, where he would appear in the Southern District of New York federal court.

The Colombian government blames the group -- financed mainly through drug trafficking, illegal mining and extortion -- for being one of the main drivers of the worst bout of nationwide violence since the signing of a peace pact with FARC guerillas in 2016.

Story continues

The Gulf Clan is present in almost 300 municipalities in the country, according to the independent think tank Indepaz. However, recent government efforts have seen the organization decimated.

- Life of violence -

Although Otoniel announced in 2017 he intended to reach an agreement to participate with the Colombian justice system, the government responded by deploying at least 1,000 soldiers to hunt him down.

He took over the leadership of the Gulf Clan -- previously known as the Usuga Clan -- from his brother Juan de Dios, who was killed by police in 2012.

Born to a poor family, Otoniel joined the Popular Liberation Army (EPL), a Marxist guerrilla group that demobilized in 1991.

After laying down his arms, he later returned to fighting, joining far-right paramilitary groups.

Many of these were demobilized in 2006 at the initiative of former right-wing president Alvaro Uribe's administration, but Otoniel decided to remain in the fight.

Colombia is the world's top producer of cocaine, with the United States as its principal market, despite half a century of efforts to clamp down on the drug trade.

In remote areas where there is little government presence, criminal groups like the Gulf Clan, dissident FARC guerrillas and leftist ELN rebels fight bloody turf battles to control drug trafficking corridors and illegal mining operations.

jss/bfm/md/oho/rbu
Good Morning America

After suffering unspeakable abuses and deprivation at the hands of their parents, the Turpin siblings -- it seemed -- were on the path to a new life: a future with the resources needed to start fresh, to make up for the years they were locked away from the world. Nearly four years ago, after authorities rescued the 13 Turpin siblings from their family home in Perris, California, where they were subjected to brutal violence and deprived of food, sleep, hygiene, education, and health care, advocates and county leaders assured the siblings -- and a concerned public -- that help was on the way. "We are confident, given what they've been through and how resilient they are, that they're going to be really successful," said Jack Osborn, a court-appointed attorney for the seven adult children, after their parents' sentencing in 2019.
The Las Vegas Raiders will be without one of their top weapons against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

They listed tight end Darren Waller on their inactive list prior to the game.

Darren Waller was ruled out of Sunday's game against the Eagles. (Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)

The following players are inactive for #PHIvsLV pic.twitter.com/rv4oSngZFS  Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) October 24, 2021

Waller suffered an injury to his ankle and heel during Friday's practice, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. The injury left him a game-time decision. The Raiders apparently ruled Waller out after evaluating him during pregame warmups. They did not initially specify why he was ruled out.

Waller, a Pro Bowl selection last season, has 33 catches for 378 yards and two touchdowns in six games this season. His absence will leave the Raiders more reliant on backup tight end Foster Moreau.
Drake Lets Out His Inner Cowboy for Costume-Themed 35th Birthday Party in L.A.

The Daily Stardust/BACKGRID

Drake dusted off his spurs and stetson to celebrate another trip around the sun.

The four-time Grammy Award winner rang in his 35th birthday Saturday with a costume party in Los Angeles, where he channeled his inner cowboy. Drake complemented his white stetson with a tan fringe jacket and a bolo tie for his star-studded gathering at Goya Studios.

He went with "Chico Amante" as the theme, which translates to "lover boy," a reference to his recent sixth studio album Certified Lover Boy. The party also featured a giant box full of cocaine-esque bricks, printed with the phrase.

RELATED: Adele Reveals She Played Drake Her New Album, and Asked 'Do You Think This Is What People Want?'

Drake was joined for the celebration by French Montana, Offset, Jack Harlow, Larsa Pippen, Luka Sabbat, Future, and more celeb friends. His father Dennis Graham was also present for the festivities.

Drake Lets Out His Inner Cowboy for Costume-Themed 35th Birthday Party in L.A.

Saliimthedream/Instagram

The Scorpion artist was also met with celebratory messages from his famous pals on Instagram. "Happy birthday to the goat," Nicki Minaj wrote on her Story. "Happy bday my brother" DJ Khaled penned. "More life more blessings my brother," wrote Future.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.

"Happy mother f birthday to the goat my twin @champagnepapi this s 4life n after," wrote French Montana, who performed at the event. "See you in a few we turning up tonight."

Drake Lets Out His Inner Cowboy for Costume-Themed 35th Birthday Party in L.A.

French Montana/Instagram

Drake celebrated his son Adonis' 4th birthday earlier this month with a race car-themed party. "Adonis races into 4," read a sign at the kid's bash, which was attended by Bugs Bunny from Space Jam: A New Legacy.

RELATED GALLERY: Celebrities Whose Star Sign Is Scorpio

"TEACHA MORE LIFE KID," the proud dad wrote on Instagram with a photo of himself and the birthday boy.

Story continues

Drake Lets Out His Inner Cowboy for Costume-Themed 35th Birthday Party in L.A.

French Montana/Instagram

The Degrassi: The Next Generation alum welcomed Adonis with Sophie Brussaux in October 2017. He recently gave his son a mention on Certified Lover Boy, which became Spotify's most-streamed album in a single day.

"I been hot since the birth of my son," Drake sang on the album's first track "Champagne Poetry," recounting events in his life, before adding in the song: "Co-parent of the year, we figured out a rapport."
Independent redistricting commissions are falling short of expectations set by Democrats who initially backed them. (Photo: Rebecca Zisser/HuffPost)

DETROIT  Natalie Bien-Aime had only 90 seconds to make her case to Michigans citizen-led redistricting commission about why its proposed congressional and state legislative maps simply dont work.

I believe they do not represent the best interests of African American voters, the 51-year-old health care consultant told the panel during a public hearing this week, before a phone timer dinged, abruptly ending her remarks.

We have a voice and we dont want to lose our voice, she said afterward, seated in a socially distanced audience near several Black activists waving white and purple Fair Maps Now! signs at Detroits TCF Center.

Bien-Aime was No. 4 of 116 speakers who objected overwhelmingly to the commissions proposals for new voting districts. They argued the panels drafts violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the landmark law outlawing racial discrimination in voting, by breaking up majority-Black districts in the nations largest majority-Black city.

Another speaker was more pointed: Start over. These maps are garbage.

This is not necessarily what reformers had envisioned in 2018, when Michigan voters passed a constitutional amendment to stamp out extreme partisan gerrymandering with the creation of a 13-member independent redistricting commission.

Its been frustrating to watch the commission draw these maps, said Lavora Barnes, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party. They spent a good deal of time drawing maps without considering partisan fairness and without considering the Voting Rights Act, and came up with maps that simply dont meet those standards.

Michigan activists object to proposed state legislative and congressional maps at a hearing in Detroit on Oct. 20. The maps, they argue, would dilute votes in the nation's largest Black-majority city. (Photo: Liz Skalka/HuffPost)

Michigan is just one state where new bodies charged with redrawing legislative boundaries for the next decade are falling short of expectations  particularly those set by Democrats who championed these reforms in response to out-of-control GOP gerrymandering following Republicans 2010 midterm sweep.

Kelly Burton, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, the reform group launched by former Attorney General Eric Holder, defended independent commissions, even if theyre preventing Democrats from reaping the partisan advantages of gerrymandering to the degree Republicans have.

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By putting commissions in place across the country, Democrats are saying that were not afraid of voters, were not afraid of a fair process, and we dont need to cheat to win, Burton told HuffPost in a statement. On net, you do get fairer maps out of commissions, even though not all of them are created equal.

As for Michigan, the commissions maps need improvement so they more closely adhere to the guidelines in the state constitution, Burton said, pointing out that an expert witness testified the legislative maps are more favorable to Republicans.

Nationwide, theres a lot riding on redistricting for Democrats, who face losing their thin House majority in 2022 (the presidents party usually cedes ground in the midterms anyway) and the specter of Donald Trumps return in 2024.

For their part, Republicans succeeded at cementing their power in the last redistricting and beating back good-government reforms, positioning themselves strongly a decade later. In Texas, the only state to gain two congressional seats after the 2020 census, GOP lawmakers resisted attempts to swipe their power for an independent commission. The result is a congressional map that doesnt expand the GOPs footprint, but creates safer districts for its incumbents. Experts are also closely following Georgia, another expanding state where Republicans hold the reins in redistricting. In bothstates, population gains were driven largely by communities of color that are considered more Democratic-leaning.

Not all reforms are created equal.Michael Li, senior counsel at the Brennen Center

Despite GOP dominance in statehouses, nearly a dozen states are using independent commissions or reformed systems instead of their legislatures to draft new boundaries for 40% of the nations House seats. The changes are designed to discourage extreme partisanship and create more balanced maps. But not every commission functions the same way, and theres still plenty of drama surrounding the process.

Not all reforms are created equal, said Michael Li, a senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice. I dont necessarily want to throw anybody under the bus yet because things still are going forward, but theres been a lot of acrimony on bipartisan as opposed to independent commissions.

In Colorado, a blue-trending state where Democrats control the legislature and governorship, the party handed over control of redistricting to a citizen-led commission  instead of using its position of power to help bolster its House majority. With an extra seat thanks to congressional reapportionment, the commission returned a map with four Democratic seats, three Republican seats, and one toss-up, potentially creating an equal number of seats for both parties in a state President Joe Biden won by over 13 percentage points in 2020.

In Virginia, a bipartisan panel composed of both citizens and state legislators devolved into partisan chaos over state legislative maps and punted that job to the Virginia Supreme Court. Now Democrats are pushing back against a proposed congressional map that creates an even split where they currently have a 7-4 edge.

In Michigan, a presidential battleground with a GOP legislature and Democratic governor, Democrats are objecting to state legislative maps projected to give Republicans an advantage. At the same time, they acknowledge theyre better off than with the alternative: extreme gerrymanders handed down by Republicans in Lansing.

This independent commission is absolutely better than having legislators drawing their own maps  but its still not where it should be, Barnes said.

Thats the feeling for many in Michigans largest metro area, said Michael Joseph, president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists in Detroit. At the hearing this week, Joseph argued against diluting majority-minority districts anchored in Detroit, and said voters in these districts deserve representatives from their own communities, not the suburbs. (The commission has defended the maps, saying they consulted experts in their interpretation of the Voting Rights Act and are trying to balance competing interests and guidelines.)

Your plan, for the next 10 years, will deny Black and brown [constituents] in Michigan the opportunity to select representatives from their neighborhoods to send to Washington or their school boards, Joseph told the commissioners.

Michigan currently has 17 majority-Black voting districts: two for Congress (Democratic Reps. Brenda Lawrence and Rashida Tlaib) and 15 for the state legislature. But the maps on the table would make them all less than 50% Black, which voters like Joseph say is unacceptable.

Your plan negates what fairness and balanced voting brings to our democracy and our communities, he told the commissioners.

The buck stops with citizens in Michigan, but its not that way in every state that has an independent commission. New York is the ultimate test for whether Democrats can stand by their professed values. The party there controls every lever of government and can override its citizen redistricting commission under political pressure to pad its House majority.

Can they be disciplined enough to say we believe in fairness and good governance enough to allow this commission to operate? Or will they usurp that power and then just gerrymander the heck out of the state because theyre afraid that Republicans are going to do that in Texas and in Georgia? said Doug Spencer, a redistricting law expert at University of Colorado Law School.

If theres one thing that Democrats shouldnt worry about in the short term, its even more gains for the GOP, Spencer said. Thats because Republicans were able to gerrymander so effectively in 2011, theres basically no room for them to grow.

Theyre already very near the extreme of the kinds of seats they would be able to get, he said. So while [Republicans] control the process completely, they are pretty close to the cap of the kind of seats they could naturally get.

But thats less of a comfort for Detroit voters, who dont risk getting lumped in with GOP districts, but who are nonetheless fighting for fair representation.

You know what? When we had Republicans part of this process, we at least advanced with two majority [Black] seats in Congress, Detroit school board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo told the commissioners. Under your plan  zero.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has allowed hotels to run at full capacity while observing strict coronavirus precautionary measures, an official at the Ministry of Tourism said on Sunday.

Assistant Minister Abdel Fattah al-Asi told Reuters the decision had already come into effect.

Egyptian hotels had been running at 70% of capacity since July due to COVID-19 regulations. Tourism accounts for up to 15% of Egypt's national output, and is a key source of foreign currency.

(Reporting by Momen Saeed Atallah; Writing by Ahmad Elhamy; Editing by Alison Williams)
America is a nation of immigrants. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886 after a skeptical American public had to raise funds to facilitate its passage from France to its full installation on Ellis Island in New York harbor.

The broken shackle and chain at her feet as she walks forward commemorates the abolition of slavery in the United States. After dedication, the statue became an icon of freedom, a symbol of the U.S. and a symbol of welcome to immigrants arriving by sea. The monument was a gift from the French people.

Since 1902, there has been an engraved bronze plaque at the base of the statue containing words from the sonnet The New Colossus, by poet Emma Lazarus. It is familiar to most Americans: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Immigration has become a very divisive subject as public attitudes toward it have changed from the early 19th century audiences.

The pictures that are seen in real time today differ dramatically from people lined up on the decks of freighters waving flags and looking forward to a better life.

No person with any compassion can help but cringe at the views of people huddled under bridges, in tents, ill and hungry. Equally as challenging to the spirit is what we saw from Afghanistan as people ran alongside airplanes, jumping on the wings and any place they could to escape fear and possibly death in their native country.

Immigration will continue to be a contentious matter for America for the foreseeable future. Immigrants use of public benefits will continue to generate controversy, although a great deal of the research shows that immigrants use public benefits at a lower rate than native-born residents.

The research also points out many of the benefits immigrants bring to America. Among them are the starting of businesses and the provision of engineers, scientists and innovators, and the likelihood that immigrants would create their own jobs for cutting-edge technology and companies.

Story continues

When the public is goaded to be completely against immigration with untrue stories about immigrants, it is difficult for people to see any good coming from those entering the country.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service is responsible for administering immigration and naturalization laws regarding the admission, exclusion, deportation and naturalization of aliens in the United States.

There have been complaints that immigrants take benefits from Americans in need. However, benefits to immigrants are limited to the qualified and eligible. Those descriptions are defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act. It is lengthy and too complicated for a commentary.

Lest you believe that all immigrants are crossing the southern border through hardships, the Wall Street Journal reports that more affluent people, who are flying to a Mexican border city every day, take a cab or a bus and just walk up to border agents and turn themselves in.

Yuma, Arizona, has become a prime destination for migrants from South America. These migrants are quickly moved from shelters to flights that they had booked ahead of time.

If you can bear the TV channel TLC, you will see that the K-9 visa is being used by American men and women seeking partners from foreign countries that they have 90 days to marry. Many are just as needy as the sad immigrants under the bridge.

I dont have the answer to the immigration issue. I do believe that the international strategy for immigration has to be rethought.

Countries that have a reasonable amount of prosperity are facing the same issues.

In the meantime, I look at the new Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. He is the first Black U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. This office was previously held by none other than Rudy Giuliani. Mr. Williams was born of Jamaican immigrants.

I mourn the passing of one of my favorite generals, Gen. Colin Luther Powell, born of Jamaican immigrants in Harlem, New York.

Elaine Harris Spearman, Esq., a Gadsden native, is the retired legal advisor to the comptroller of the City of St. Louis. The views reflected are her own.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Columnist Elaine Harris Spearman comments on immigration
Turkish President Tayyip Erodgan on Saturday said he ordered the foreign ministry to expel 10 envoys from Western countries. If carried out, that would mark the deepest diplomatic rift with the West during his 19 years in office.

I gave the necessary order to our foreign minister and said what must be done: these 10 ambassadors must be declared persona non grata at once. You will sort it out immediately.

Erdogan is fuming because the envoys have called for the release of Osman Kavala. The philanthropist denies charges that he financed nationwide protests and was involved in a failed coup. He has been in prison for four years. Rights groups say his case is emblematic of a crackdown on dissent under Erdogan.

Erdogans remarks come just days after the ambassadors of the United States, France, Germany, and seven other countries issued a joint statement calling for Kavalas urgent release. They were summoned by the foreign ministry, which called the statement irresponsible.

European Parliament President David Sassoli said on Twitter: "The expulsion of ten ambassadors is a sign of the authoritarian drift of the Turkish government. We will not be intimidated. Freedom for Osman Kavala."

The U.S., German and French embassies, the White House and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Erdogan has previously said he plans to meet U.S. President Joe Biden at the G20 summit in Rome next weekend.
Florida state Sen. Tina Polsky asked the state's top health official to leave her office after he refused to wear a mask during a meeting earlier this week, despite being informed that Polsky had a serious medical condition, Florida Politics reports.

Context: Polsky was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in August and is set to begin radiation therapy this week. She had not yet made her diagnosis public, per AP.

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Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo had asked to meet with Polsky as he prepares for his upcoming Senate confirmation hearing, per Florida Politics.

Polsky told Ladapo that she had a serious condition, and Ladapo offered to talk outside, which Polsky rebuffed, saying she would prefer to chat in her office. After some back-and forth, Polsky asked Ladapo if there was a reason he couldn't wear a mask.

He just smiles and doesnt answer. Hes very smug, Polsky told Florida Politics. And I told him several times, 'I have this very serious medical condition. And he said, Thats OK, like it basically has nothing to do with what we are talking about.

She eventually asked Ladapo and two of his legislative aides to leave.

Florida State Senate President Wilton Simpson denounced Ladapo's behavior in a memo to members and Senate staff Saturday night, per Florida Politics.

What occurred in Senator Polskys office was unprofessional and will not be tolerated in the Senate," Simpson wrote. While there is no mask mandate in the Senate, Senators and staff can request social distancing and masking within their own offices."

It shouldnt take a cancer diagnosis for people to respect each others level of comfort with social interactions during a pandemic," he noted.

Of note: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Ladapo to be surgeon general back in September.

Ladapo has worked to strengthen the state's ban on school mask mandates and has even questioned the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.

The bottom line: It was so shocking to me that he treated me in this manner, Polsky told AP.

If he is a surgeon general for the next several years, I am really concerned about a future public health emergency and not being able to rely on him for necessary guidance and proper scientific leadership.

When reached, Polsky told Axios she had "no additional comment."

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A senior doctor in Florida was asked to leave a meeting with a Democratic state senator after he declined to wear a mask due to the lawmaker having a medical condition.

Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and two of his aides were told to leave the office of state Sen. Tina Polsky after they were offered masks and refused, Florida Politics reported. Ladapo allegedly offered to move the meeting outside as an alternative.

"I told him I had a serious medical condition," Polsky said. The senator was diagnosed in August with stage one breast cancer. Polsky told the outlet she tried to ask Ladapo's reason for refusing the mask and declined the offer to move outside.

Ladapo had requested that he and the senator meet as he prepares to seek reconfirmation in his role as surgeon general for the upcoming session.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have noted that people who have been diagnosed with breast cancer have an increased risk of illness if they contract COVID-19.

VIDEO: BIDEN WALKING THROUGH RITZY DC RESTAURANT MASKLESS, VIOLATING CITYWIDE MANDATE

Polsky described Ladapo as acting "smug" during the whole encounter, adding that he just smiled and didn't reply to her, though she reiterated to him that she had a severe medical condition.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Sept. 21 that he was appointing Dr. Joseph Ladapo, a Nigerian-born immigrant to the United States, to be the surgeon general and secretary of the Florida Department of Health. Ladapo currently serves as a professor at the University of Florida. Prior to this, he was an associate professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Ladapo shares similar views to DeSantis, who has adamantly opposed mandates on masks and vaccinations, in addition to business lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that these infringe on people's rights. Florida recently reported a decline in COVID-19 cases, with infections per 100,000 residents dropping by 12 points, a 48% decrease, according to the New York Times coronavirus tracker.

Story continues

The Washington Examiner reached out to the Florida Department of Health for a comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Florida, Coronavirus, Cancer, Face masks

Original Author: Elizabeth Faddis

Original Location: Florida surgeon general refuses mask in meeting with state senator, asked to leave
Reuters

Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte declared on Thursday in a televised speech that an unnamed candidate for next year's presidential election was a cocaine user. Duterte, who waged a war on drugs that killed thousands of users and peddlers, did not name the candidate, nor provide evidence to support his allegation, but said he was "a very weak leader". "We have a candidate using cocaine," Duterte said in a speech in the province of Oriental Mindoro.
Zalmay Khalilzad. Susan Walsh-Pool/Getty Images

In his first interview since stepping down from his post as U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad defended the withdrawal deal he had negotiated with the Taliban, but told CBS Face The Nation's Margaret Brennan he "objected to the direction of the Biden administration's current Afghanistan policy," writes CBS News.

"One reason I left the government is that the debate wasn't really as it should be based on realities and facts of what happened, what was going on and what our alternatives were," said Khalilzad to Brennan in the interview that appears to be airing over several days. The chief Taliban negotiator did not directly criticize President Biden, but he emphasized that the withdrawal agreement "was meant to be 'conditions-based' rather than driven by a calendar date," per CBS News. The Biden administration has argued its withdrawal plans were bound by an agreement negotiated under former President Donald Trump in February of 2020.

"I was asked by the former president to negotiate our withdrawal from Afghanistan and get commitments from the Taliban (on) the terrorism front," Khalilzad explained, as reason for his resignation. "That has been achieved."

"I'm not saying it was an orderly withdrawal," Khalilzad acknowledged. "This was an ugly and final phase. No doubt about it could have been a lot worse." And in the case of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled Kabul as the Taliban took over, the diplomat conceded "we could have pressed President Ghani harder."

Khalilzad also assured the public that "a set of agreements," some of them unreleased, had been made with the Taliban regarding how they will handle terrorism. "We hold them accountable to those agreements," he said.

"The American people should be pleased," Khalilzad argued. "Not with the way the final phase happened  we all are unhappy with that  but that the Afghan war is over for the United States."

Story continues

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PARIS (AP)  One rape victim was asked by Paris police what she wore that day, and why she didn't struggle more. Another woman was forced to fondle herself to demonstrate a sexual assault to a skeptical police officer.

They are among thousands of French women who have denounced in a new online campaign the shocking response of police officers victim-blaming them or mishandling their complaints as they reported sexual abuse.

The hashtag #DoublePeine (#DoubleSentencing) was launched last month by Anna Toumazoff after she learned that a 19-year-old woman who filed a rape complaint in the southern city of Montpellier was asked by police in graphic terms whether she experienced pleasure during the assault.

The hashtag quickly went viral, with women describing similar experiences in Montpellier and other police stations across France. French women's rights group NousToutes counted at least 30,000 accounts of mistreatment in tweets and other messages sent on social media and on a specific website.

Despite recent training programs for French police and growing awareness around violence against women, activists say authorities must do more to face up to the gravity of sex crimes, and to eradicate discrimination against victims.

Addressing the national issue last week, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said "there are questions that cannot be asked to women when they come to file a complaint."

"It's not up to the police officer to say whether there was domestic violence or not, that's up to the judge to do it," he added.

He also announced an internal investigation at the Montpellier police station.

The prefect of the region of Montpellier had previously condemned in a statement what he called "defamatory comments" against officers. He denounced "false information" and "lies" aiming at discrediting police action.

Toumazoff denied launching an anti-police campaign, saying the hashtag aims at urging the government to take action.

Story continues

"By letting incompetent and dangerous officers working in police stations, (authorities) expose the whole profession to shame," she told The Associated Press. She said the victim mentioned in her initial tweet does not wish to speak publicly while her rape complaint is under investigation.

The Montpellier regional branch of powerful police union Alliance argued that officers are just doing their jobs. "While police officers understand the victims' distress, the establishment of the truth requires us to ask 'embarrassing' questions," it said.

A 37-year-old Parisian woman told the AP about her experience at a police station after she was assaulted this year by a man living near her home, who had previously harassed her in the street.

Once, he blocked her path and pressed her against a wall, touching her belly and her breast and threatening to kill her, she recalled.

The woman described arriving scared and crying at the police station, where officers welcomed her "very kindly."

But then, she said, the officer in charge of filing the complaint did not write down her description of the assault, so she refused to sign the document.

"I had to tell it all again," she said. The officer asked if she was certain that the abuser wanted to touch her breast.

"I had to make the gesture so that he sees that it was not another part of the body," she said. "Making me repeat and ... mime the gesture in front of a wall, that's humiliating. I found it very degrading. I felt I was like a puppet."

The case is still ongoing. Police suggested a change of apartment to move away from her abuser, she said.

Another Parisian woman, aged 25, said she was left "traumatized" by the police treatment after she had been raped by her ex-boyfriend in 2016.

When she filed her initial complaint, the police officer, who had received special training, "explained to me why he was asking all these questions, he was in a spirit of kindness," she remembers. "I felt rather safe and that he believed me."

Months later she was summoned to another police station, located in the same street where her attacker was living. Feeling very anxious at the idea of potentially seeing him, she said she was talked to as if she was "stupid" and "a liar."

Police asked what she was wearing that day, why it was different from when she was having consensual sex with him, how she could argue she was surprised if he was wearing a condom, she recalled. An officer told her, "I don't understand why you did not struggle more."

The complaint was closed without follow-up due to lack of evidence. The young woman described the police response as very difficult to live through, with a "huge impact" on her private life and almost leading her to giving up her studies.

The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they are victims of sexual assault.

Speaking to lawmakers at the National Assembly, the interior minister acknowledged things "can still be improved" on the matter across France.

The government has set the goal to have at least one specially trained officer in each police station for dealing with domestic violence and sexual abuse. An annual survey led by national statistics institute INSEE shows that currently only 10% of victims in these cases file a formal complaint.

The #doublepeine movement comes after the shocking killing earlier this year of a woman who was shot and set on fire in the street by her estranged husband. One of the officers who had taken her domestic abuse complaint a few months earlier had recently been convicted for domestic violence himself.

Darmanin promised that officers definitively convicted for such acts won't be allowed to be in contact with the public anymore.

Women have been raising the alarm for years, Toumazoff said, denouncing announcements by politicians not followed by action.

"When there are urgent situations, like terror attacks, they can do things because it's urgent," she said. "It's the same here. Women's lives are at stake. It's urgent every day."

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: France, Police, Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment

Original Author: Associated Press

Original Location: French sexual abuse victims denounce police mistreatment
Halyna Hutchins' husband Matthew shared photos of the cinematographer as he honored her days after her death.

Matthew posted a trio of photos Saturday on Instagram.

"We miss you, Halyna!" he captioned the photos.

Halyna Hutchins' husband Matthew honored the cinematographer on Instagram days after she died in a gun mishap on set of Rust. Photo by Fred Hayes/Getty Images for SAGindie

Halyna was killed Thursday after actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun while rehearsing a scene for his upcoming film "Rust" at the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico.

RUST DIRECTOR JOEL SOUZA INJURED IN MOVIE SET SHOOTING SPEAKS OUT: I AM GUTTED

Hutchins was airlifted to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Director Joel Souza was wounded in the collarbone area and was taken by ambulance to a medical center. He was discharged from the hospital on Friday morning.

The cinematographer was airlifted to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Photo by Fred Hayes/Getty Images for SAGindie

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Matthew told Fox News on Friday, one day after his wife's death, that he had made contact with Baldwin , who authorities say was the one who discharged the prop gun on the set in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

"I have spoken with Alec Baldwin, and he is being very supportive," Matthew Hutchins told Fox News.

Matthew's mother, who is Halyna's mother-in-law, was also reached by Fox News early Friday. While declining to speak in depth to allow her son to release a statement of his own, she told Fox News, "This is just a horrible time for us. She was my daughter-in-law, and she was a wonderful, wonderful person."

Matthew has yet to release a full statement regarding Halyna's death.

Fox News' Melissa Roberto contributed to this report.
HOUSTON (AP)  Felix Harper threw three touchdown passes, two of them to CJ Bolar, and ran for another score and Alcorn State defeated Texas Southern 44-27 in a game delayed at the start by lightning on Saturday night.

Harper was 23-of-31 passing for 211 yards and Bolar caught seven passes for 98 yards. Stadford Anderson added 90 yards rushing for the Braves (4-2, 3-0 SWAC).

Alcorn State led 27-20 through three quarters and closed it out with a 17-point fourth quarter in which Harper threw for one touchdown and ran for a 16-yard score.

Andrew Body completed 17 of 28 passes for 308 yards and a touchdown for the Tigers (1-5, 1-3). Five of his completions were to Ke'Lenn Davis for 122 yards.

__

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LONDON (AP)  The husband of U.K. charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been detained for more than five years in Iran, has gone on a hunger strike again after a court decided she has to spend another year in prison.

Richard Ratcliffe started his fast on Sunday outside the British government's Foreign Office in central London.

He plans to maintain a constant vigil by sleeping in a tent outside the building's main entrance in an effort to pressure Prime Minister Boris Johnson to secure the release of his wife and other detained dual British-Iranian nationals, Amnesty International said.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe served five years in prison after being taken into custody at Tehran's airport in April 2016 and convicted of plotting the overthrow of Irans government, a charge that she, her supporters and rights groups deny.

In May, she was sentenced to an additional year in prison on charges of spreading propaganda against the system for having participated in a protest outside the Iranian Embassy in London in 2009  a decision upheld this month by an appeals court. The verdict includes a one-year travel ban, meaning she wouldn't be able to leave Iran until 2023.

Ratcliffe went on a 15-day hunger strike two years ago outside the Iranian Embassy, a move he credits with getting their 7-year-old daughter Gabriella released.

We are now giving the U.K. government the same treatment. In truth, I never expected to have to do a hunger strike twice. It is not a normal act, Ratcliffe said on his change.org petition.

He said Iran remains the primary abuser in Nazanins case, but the U.K. is also letting us down."

It is increasingly clear that Nazanins case could have been solved many months ago  but for other diplomatic agendas. The PM needs to take responsibility for that.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was employed by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency, and was arrested as she was returning home to Britain after visiting family. Rights groups accuse Iran of holding dual-nationals as bargaining chips for money or influence in negotiations with the West, something Tehran denies.

Iran doesn't recognize dual nationalities, so detainees like Zaghari-Ratcliffe can't receive consular assistance.
The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British Iranian held in Iran since 2016, began a hunger strike Sunday to denounce the British government for "also letting us down" and failing to secure her release.

Richard Ratcliffe plans to spend the night in a tent outside the Foreign Office, a week after his wife lost her appeal on a second jail term in Iran.

In an online petition with more than 3.5 million signatures, Ratcliffe said he began his hunger strike, his second since 2018, to force Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government to "take responsibility" for his wife's fate.

Tehran "remains the primary abuser in Nazanin's case", but "the UK is also letting us down", he said.

The reason, he said, is his family "is caught in a dispute between two states" over an old debt of 400 million pounds that London refuses to settle since the Shah of Iran was ousted in 1979.

"Two years ago I went on hunger strike in front of the Iranian Embassy, on the eve of Boris Johnson taking over as Prime Minister," Ratcliffe wrote.

"Two years ago we were allowed to camp in front of the Iranian Embassy for 15 days, much to their considerable anger," he said.

"But it got Gabriella home," he said, referring to the couple's now seven-year-old daughter who had originally travelled to Iran with her mother.

"We are now giving the UK government the same treatment," he said.

- 'Who takes responsibility?' -

"In truth, I never expected to have to do a hunger strike twice. It is not a normal act," Ratcliffe said.

"It seems extraordinary the need to adopt the same tactics to persuade government here, to cut through the accountability gap.

"It is increasingly clear that Nazanin's case could have been solved many months ago, but for other diplomatic agendas," he said.

"The PM (Johnson) needs to take responsibility for that. Who does the Government answer to for the choices it makes? Who takes responsibility?"

Story continues

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a 43-year-old project manager, who lived in London with her husband and daughter, has been held in Iran since 2016 and served a five-year sentence.

In late April, she was sentenced to another year's imprisonment and banned from leaving the country for a further 12 months.

Her family fears she will soon return to prison, which she had been allowed to leave with an electronic bracelet in March 2020 amid Covid-19 concerns.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe is one of a number of Western passport holders being held by Iran in what rights groups condemn as a policy of hostage-taking aimed at winning concessions from foreign powers.

The project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the news agency and data firm's philanthropic arm, was arrested in April 2016 while visiting family.

She was convicted of plotting to overthrow the regime, a charge she strenuously denied.

She completed that sentence in March this year, only to be slapped with a fresh one-year jail term for "propaganda against the system".

The UK's then-foreign minister Dominic Raab condemned the second sentence, saying that Iran's treatment of Zaghari-Ratcliffe amounted to torture and she was being held unlawfully.

cdu/lc/har
Reuters

MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the West was taking Russia's warnings not to cross its "red lines" too lightly and that Moscow needed serious security guarantees from the West. In a wide-ranging foreign policy speech, the Kremlin leader also described relations with the United States as "unsatisfactory" but said Russia remained open to dialogue with Washington. The Kremlin said in September that NATO would overstep a Russian red line if it expanded its military infrastructure in Ukraine, and Moscow has since accused Ukraine and NATO of destabilising behaviour, including in the Black Sea.
CNN

CNN host Jake Tapper used the last few minutes of his State of the Union broadcast on Sunday to unload on the conversative politicians who saw opportunity in the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Alec Baldwins movie Rust last week.

Noting that Hutchins was a rising star in her field who left behind a husband and young son, Tapper said, Heartbreaking, for normal people. But theres something about our politics right now that is driving people away from our shared humanity.

He pointed to Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) who apparently did some digging and found a 2014 tweet from Baldwin about guns that she turned into a joke at his expense. The Colorado congresswoman thought it was funny to exploit hands up, dont shoot, to make a joke at the expense of Baldwin, Tapper said. But more importantly, really to make a joke at the expense of Halyna Hutchins and her husband Matthew and their son Andres.

Our politics is driving people away from our shared humanity, says @jaketapper, as a Republican candidate attempts to exploit the terrible tragedy on the set of Alec Baldwins film, for political gain.



For some Republican leaders, cruelty is a feature, not a bug, he says. pic.twitter.com/GTFls3ZzHk  State of the Union (@CNNSotu) October 24, 2021

More disappointing, Tapper added, was a tweet from Republican Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance, who jokingly demanded that Trump be reinstated to Twitter so that he could attack Baldwin. Vance was, for a time, even a CNN contributor, hired for his perceived insight, the host said, while now he is part of an Ohio Senate primary that seems to have become the Fear Factor of American politics, with contestants positioned against one another as to who can performatively appeal to the best at the lowest, common denominator.

Story continues

Vance seems to want Trump to attack and mock for a global audience Alec Baldwin for killing a woman in what almost certainly was a tragic accident, he continued. Regardless of the pain of Matthew Hutchins or Andres Hutchins. And however this impacts Baldwin, and really, I mean, how might such an incident impact you? And he did this, J.D. Vance, why? Presumably because he thinks it will help him win supporters. He did it to win votes. In other words, the cruelty is a feature of his candidacy, not a bug.

From there, Tapper linked the conservative reaction to the Baldwin incident to Donald Trumps statement attacking Colin Powell after his death and even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenes deranged anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jewish space lasers were causing deadly wildfires.

He ended the show by recounting a text he received this week from an unnamed Republican official. After J.D. Vances tweet, it read, being a horrible person is now actually a job requirement in this party.

I hope to God that that Republican official is wrong, Tapper concluded.

CNN Host Calls Out Tucker Carlson for Hiding Vaccine Status

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James Michael Tyler as Gunther in Friends

There are some actors who hate being too heavily associated with a single role. James Michael Tyler, who has died at the age of 59, was not one of those actors.

While some Friends stars tried to shake off their former characters and move on with their careers after the series ended in 2004, Tyler always seemed relaxed about being known as Gunther.

The waiter and manager at coffee house Central Perk gradually became a fan favourite over the sitcom's 10-year run. And long after the show ended, Tyler kept close ties to the Friends brand.

He would speak to the press every time the Friends set went on tour around the world. He would pose for selfies and sign autographs when stopped by fans of the show. "Occasionally, I'll still get recognised as Gunther, which is OK with me," he said in 2018.

As an actor, Tyler didn't have a huge number of other film and TV credits to his name. But he did appear alongside Matt LeBlanc once again in the BBC comedy Episodes in 2012, as part of a storyline where the Joey actor attempted (and largely failed) to get the other stars of Friends back together.

After the six main stars, Gunther was the character with the most appearances in Friends, cropping up in 185 episodes - more than Janice, Carol, Susan, Phoebe's husband Mike, and Ross and Monica's parents Jack and Judy put together.

Having said that, he didn't necessarily speak in every episode he appeared in. Tyler often wasn't even credited because Gunther was simply seen in the background, behind the bar, particularly in the early years. He initially got the job on Friends because he knew how to work a coffee machine.

But he was gradually given more and more material over the years, delivering killer one-liners in his character's droll manner.

To remember the actor and the part he played, here are some of Gunther's best moments:

Story continues

short presentational grey line

1. His debut on Friends

Friends was a worldwide phenomenon, although Gunther didn't actually speak until the second season

Where else could we start?

Admittedly, Gunther's first appearance in the comedy series wasn't much to write home about. He was seen working in Central Perk in the second episode of the first season, The One With The Sonogram.

His first ever line of dialogue actually didn't come until the 33rd episode, and even then he only had one word to say. "Yeah."

"Before then, I had kind of an inkling that Gunther slept in the back of Central Perk - in the storage room. But I didn't create a full-formed backstory for him until much later in the series," Tyler recalled to Business Insider.

In his first speaking scene, Ross offered him the slinky he had initially bought for Rachel. "Hey Gunther, you got stairs in your place?" Ross asked. "Yeah," Gunther replied. "Go nuts," said Ross, handing him the springy toy.

2. Obsessing over Rachel

There are a million great scenes we could include in this section, because Gunther's primary personality trait was his utter adoration of Jennifer Aniston's character.

Sometimes his love for her slipped out in his speech. At other times, we heard his inner monologue as a voiceover. Either way, the poor barista could never seem to catch a break.

Gunther's unrequited love for Rachel was a running theme

"What does Rachel see in this guy?" he thinks to himself in one episode as she sits politely listening to one of Ross's dinosaur stories. "I love Rachel, I wish she was my wife."

In another episode, we hear him mentally plucking up the courage to ask: "Say Rachel, I was wondering if you'd like to go to a movie with me sometime... as my lover." Before he decides against it, telling himself: "Nah, too out there."

On another occasion, he yells "You idiot!" at Joshua for declining Rachel's marriage proposal.

When Rachel is looking for someone to hug in her excitement at completing a crossword, Gunther dives towards her in a great piece of physical comedy, ultimately crashing to the floor.

Jokes aside, Gunther played a key role in breaking up Ross and Rachel in series three, when he told her Ross had been unfaithful.

3. Not driving a Porsche

When Joey found a set of Porsche keys in Central Perk, he initially asked Gunther if they were his.

"Yes, that's what I drive," Gunther fired back sarcastically. "I make four bucks an hour. I saved up for 350 years."

This interaction acted as a springboard for the rest of the episode's storyline, which saw Joey pretend the car was his in order to impress passing women.

4. His never-changing hairstyle

Tyler appeared in 185 of the 236 episodes of Friends, although he didn't speak in many of them

Gunther's white-blonde hair was his trademark - but it was never intended to be that colour. One of Tyler's friends tried to dye it the night before his audition, and it didn't turn out as planned.

But it clearly didn't do the actor any harm. In fact, his eye-catching head of hair probably played a large part in helping the actor catch the attention of viewers in the early years when he was essentially an extra.

Unfortunately for him, the producers loved it too, which meant Tyler had to continue bleaching his hair every week for 10 years.

Not that Joey realised this in the show, of course. When Gunther told him in one episode that he was off to get his hair dyed, Joey replied: "Oh really? But I like your natural colour."

5. Telling Ross he's an "ezel"

When Ross attempted to learn Dutch to impress the landlord of an apartment, he practised some new phrases on Gunther, who was fluent.

But when Ross rudely cut the conversation short, Gunther ended up calling him an "ezel". Ross had to look this up to discover he'd just been called a donkey, or ass. Once he finally found the translation, he said: "Hey Gunther, you're an ezel."

Gunther was too smart for him though, replying: "Jij hebt seks met ezels (You have sex with donkeys)," leaving Ross stumped once again.

Tyler often posed for selfies and autographs at promotional events

6. Storage room tantrums

It must have been painful for poor Gunther to witness Rachel being asked out on a date by another man in the third season, right under his nose.

So he headed to the coffee house's storage room, out of viewers' sight. The next thing we heard was the sound of an almighty crash, with Gunther obviously smashing large amounts of glass and crockery in a rage.

When he returned to the coffee house floor, he was greeted with stunned silence by the other customers. "I dropped a cup," he explained, unconvincingly.

7. Upholding standards of decency

Gunther helped Phoebe out of one particularly tricky situation involving a man she was dating in series three.

Her partner Robert wore very loose fitting shorts and, as a result, gave those around him an eyeful.

Fortunately for him, Tyler didn't have to keep bleaching his hair after Friends came to an end

Robert's unintentional flashing left Chandler, Joey and Ross helpless with laughter, but neither them nor Phoebe wanted to broach the subject with him.

Fortunately, when Gunther walked by their table, he swiftly told Robert: "Hey buddy, this is a family place. Put the mouse back in the house."

In 2015, Tyler was interviewed on Central Perk's famous orange sofa by Good Morning Britain, where he revealed that was his all-time favourite line.

8. ...and upholding the "no smoking" rule. Mostly.

"Oh, no, no, there's none of that in here," Gunther told Chandler when he tried to smoke a cigarette in Central Perk.

Chandler replied: "Oh, come on, at least let me finish this last one."

Gunther thought before offering a compromise. "OK, but only if you give me a drag."

Inhaling Chandler's cigarette, he delivered one of his most memorable lines: "Oh oh, dark mother. Once again I suckle at your smoky teat."

9. He used to be a soap star

Tyler initially got the job on Friends because he knew how to work a coffee machine

Joey needed a shoulder to cry on when he found himself unemployed in season two. Dropping into Central Perk for a coffee, he told Gunther the producers of the TV soap he starred in, Days of Our Lives, had killed off his character.

"That's too bad. How'd they do it?" asked a sympathetic Gunther. "I fell down an elevator shaft," explained Joey.

Gunther replied: "That sucks. I was buried in an avalanche." After confusion from Joey, he added: "I used to be Bryce on All My Children."

It was a fun indication of Gunther's past, and a reminder that in New York you're never far from an out-of-work actor.

10. Tyler's appearance at the reunion

When the Friends cast got back together for their much-heralded reunion in early 2021, several members of the supporting cast joined them to celebrate.

It's a testament to Tyler's importance to the show that he was the only star who was allowed to appear via Zoom, rather than in person.

The six stars of Friends reunited for a reunion special earlier this year

We now know, of course, that Tyler was struggling with his mobility. The cancer had left him unable to walk and he used a wheelchair at home - although it wasn't visible during the reunion.

"It was the most memorable 10 years of my life, honestly," he told host James Corden. "I could not have imagined a better experience. All these guys were fantastic. It was a joy to work with them. I felt very, very special."

11. Saying goodbye to Rachel

As Friends inched towards its end, Gunther finally plucked up the courage to confess his feelings for Rachel before she was due to leave for Paris.

Gunther told her: "I know you're leaving tonight, but I just have to tell you. I love you. I... I don't know if that changes your plans at all? But I thought you should know."

Becoming emotional, Rachel replied: "Gunther. Oh, I love you too. Probably not in the same way, but I do. And when I'm in a cafe, having coffee, or I see a man with hair brighter than the sun, I'll think of you."

As we all will.
First lady Jill Biden on Monday will visit the military base that's home to pilots and aircrews who helped conduct the airlift out of Kabul to thank the service members and their families for their support in ending the 20-year war in Afghanistan.

Why it matters: When she stops at the crews' home at Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina, the first lady will be their most high-profile member from the Biden administration since the airlift ended on Aug. 31.

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President Biden and his national security team were heavily criticized for the chaos surrounding the evacuation, which included leaving American citizens behind and the deaths of 13 U.S. service members in a suicide bombing.

Jill Biden will use the trip to highlight resources available for the service members and their families relating to mental health and beyond.

The last official to visit the base following the airlift was Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The details: Biden is expected to visit with the 437th Air Wing at the tail end of a trip taking her to Michigan and South Carolina on Sunday and Monday. Axios is accompanying her for the visits.

The 437th provided over 30 air crews to support the airlift. Some were among the last people to evacuate from Kabul.

Joint Base Charleston is home to two dozen C-17 transport aircraft, which were predominantly used in the mission. The first lady is likely to view some.

Biden also is expected to address the troops and their families.

The big picture: Jill Bidens stepsons, Beau and Hunter Biden, served in the U.S. military. She's been involved in military initiatives since her time serving as second lady.

A major pillar of her platform is the Joining Forces initiative, which she began with first lady Michelle Obama and relaunched as first lady herself this year.

The relaunch focuses on military family employment and entrepreneurship, as well as ensuring families receive quality child care.

The first lady has been thanking troops at bases across the country.

The visit to the base is part of a larger trip that began Sunday in Michigan.

Story continues

The first lady and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy visited the Saginaw Chippewa Indian tribe in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, where they held a listening session focused on youth mental health.

On Sunday night, Biden was scheduled to deliver remarks at the Yeshiva Beth Yehudah's annual dinner in Detroit.

Before her stop at Joint Base Charleston, the first lady was set to visit the Medical University of South Carolina Hollings Cancer Center, part of her focus on Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Go deeper: "Generals contradict commander."

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The Conversation

If authorized, molnupiravir could be a key oral treatment to help keep COVID-19 patients out of the hospital. Plyushkin/iStock via Getty Images PlusNearly two years into the pandemic, it has become starkly clear that we need better treatments for COVID-19 for people in the earlier stages of disease. Two new antiviral drugs could soon be the first effective oral treatments for COVID-19 to help keep people out of the hospital. An advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration plans to revi
Dr. Anthony Fauci is facing a demand from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to divulge information regarding the alleged use of an experimental drug on puppies.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers sent a letter Friday to President Joe Biden and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases requesting that they share information regarding the alleged infection of 44 beagle puppies with parasites in order to test an experimental drug on them, the Hill reported.

"We write with grave concerns about reports of costly, cruel, and unnecessary tax-payer funded experiments on dogs commissioned by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases," said the letter, signed by Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace and 23 other lawmakers.

BUZZ: PETA CHEERS NIH RESIGNATION, NEWSBUSTERS' NOYES RETIRES, BILL MURRAY CRUSHED OBAMA IN PUTT-PUTT

The letter continues on to state that according to invoices obtained through a Freedom of Information Act filing, cordectomies were performed on six- to eight-month-old dogs.

"As you are likely aware, a cordectomy, also known as 'devocalization,' involves splitting a dog's vocal cords in order to prevent them from barking, howling, or crying," the letter points out, explaining that this type of procedure is opposed by organizations such as the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Animal Hospital Association.

The letter comes following several accusations from the White Coat Waste Project that Fauci and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases allegedly used taxpayer money to fund a "wasteful and brutal" experiment on the beagles via laboratories in Africa, California, Georgia, and Maryland.

Mace and Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan Boyle introduced the Animal Freedom from Testing, Experiments and Research (AFTER) Act on Sept. 14, which directs federal agencies "to develop and maintain" policies geared toward allowing animals no longer needed for research to be adopted or retired, according to a press release from Boyle's office.

Story continues

The letter continues on to request answers on how many drug tests have been performed on dogs since the beginning of 2018, the exact amount of taxpayer money being spent on these experiments, and the reasoning behind using procedures such as cordectomies, especially given that they are "medically unnecessary," among other questions.

Yesterday, I sent a letter to Dr. Fauci regarding cruel, taxpayer-funded experiments on puppies; debarking before drugging and killing them. Thankful to my 23 democrat and republican colleagues who signed on. This is disgusting. What say you @NIH pic.twitter.com/c54SXipD9Q  Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) October 23, 2021



CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The Washington Examiner reached out to Rep. Nancy Mace's office and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Anthony Fauci, Coronavirus, Experimental Drugs, Dogs

Original Author: Elizabeth Faddis

Original Location: Lawmakers demand answers from Fauci on allegedly experimenting on puppies
A parent activist and former school board member who has trained hundreds of concerned parents across the country to run for school board themselves tells Fox News that parents will not accept the National School Board Association's "disingenuous" apology after it compared parents to domestic terrorists in a letter to the Biden administration. She predicted that the NSBA letter will only energize concerned parents.

"Its really disingenuous, its a little too late for that," Laura Zorc, director of education reform at Building Education for Students Together (BEST), told Fox News in an interview on Saturday. "Its almost as if its a forced apology."

NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION SORRY FOR LANGUAGE' IN LETTER THAT LIKENED PARENTS TO DOMESTIC TERRORISTS

NSBA sent the letter on September 29, warning that school boards face "physical threats" due to opposition to COVID-19 policies and critical race theory. The letter claimed that some unruly parent protests may be "equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism."

Yet on Friday  after the Department of Justice had issued a memorandum apparently based on the letter  NSBA issued an apology for the letter.

"On behalf of NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter," the NSBA said, noting that "there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter."

Parents at school board meetings in Fairfax County, Virginia, have worn t-shirts declaring, "Parents are not domestic terrorists."

Zorc told Fox News that the NSBA apology is "an apology to their membership, it's not an apology to the parents it needs to be going to."

At least 21 states had distanced themselves from the NSBA letter, according to Parents Defending Education.

MAJORITY OF VIRGINIA PARENTS WANT A SAY IN THEIR KIDS' EDUCATION, FOX NEWS POLL FINDS

Yet Zorc said the apology is unlikely to solve the key issues.

Story continues

"The toothpaste is already out of the tube, you cant put it back in after doing something like this," she told Fox News, noting the Biden administration's memo.

"How do you take all that back and make parents feel safe and secure?" Zorc asked.

Zorc, who served four years on the Indian River County School Board, helped found BEST in January 2021. She told Fox News that about 770 people have completed her trainings on how to run for school board, and more than 180 trainees have committed to running. The organization focuses on issues like COVID-19 school closures, school choice, and watching out for radical ideas in the curriculum, like critical race theory  the very issues that NSBA mentioned.

Zorc said she has "had contact" with "many of the parents" listed in the NSBA letter. "For them to call these parents domestic terrorists, I was appalled. These parents have done nothing but go to school board meetings, sign up for their three minutes, and speak at the meeting."

YOUNGKIN CAMPAIGN AD USES MCAULIFFE'S WORDS TO SHOWCASE HIS STANCE AGAINST PARENTS INFLUENCING SCHOOLS

Zorc predicted that the NSBA letter will energize parents.

"COVID-19 was the great awaking for parents," she told Fox News, referencing parental outrage over prolonged school closures, mask mandates, vaccine mandates, and Zoom classes that allowed parents to see the radical ideas teachers were pushing in the virtual classroom.

"I think the NSBA letter has thrown gasoline on this parent-led movement fire," Zorc explained. "For the parents that were growing weary, I believe this move by the NSBA has bushed this movement to the next level."

She pointed to two recent events that illustrate the growing movement.

Zorc referenced the resignation of Loudoun County School Board member Beth Barts, who stepped down amid allegations of a cover-up of an alleged sexual assault in a girls' restroom, and the rise of Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin, who has championed parental rights. While Virginia has trended blue in recent elections  going to Joe Biden by 10 points in 2020  recent polls have Youngkin tied with Democrat former Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

"I definitely think that his numbers have skyrocketed because of his position on protecting parental rights," Zorc said. She noted McAuliffe's infamous statement, "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach."

"I think that sent a red flag to parents across the state," Zorc said.

"We have so many administrators and school boards that dont want the parents there but thats our job to be there," Zorc added.

NSBA declined to comment further about the apology letter.
Then-Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas speaks to reporters after casting his ballot in Leimert Park in November. (Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: Columnist Nicholas Goldberg is wrong to feel sympathy for parents like suspended Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas and actress Lori Loughlin because their crimes (alleged, in Ridley-Thomas' case), both of which involved USC, were committed to benefit their children.

My brother and I grew up in a middle-class family in Brooklyn. We were not wealthy or even comfortable. We worked our tails off to get good grades, high test scores and New York state scholarships that allowed us to pay for an Ivy League education.

Our parents were encouraging and supportive, but they also cracked the whip to make sure we did our schoolwork. They never could have afforded sending us to Cornell without those scholarships, and we didn't expect it.

If Ridley-Thomas did what he is accused of, then he committed a crime likely because he believed his status alone earned his adult son a spot at the USC School of Social Work. If he's guilty, he should go to jail.

Paul Weissman, Pasadena

..

To the editor: Ridley-Thomas allegedly used taxpayer money to bribe USC for his benefit and that of his family. The federal indictment alleges 20 counts of criminal activity  yes, 20 counts.

I was saddened to read multiple pieces in The Times supporting him for the good he has legitimately done or expressing sympathy for him. But doing good things as part of his job and then allegedly doing evil things behind the scenes is not commendable.

I confess I'm angry because I voted for Ridley-Thomas to become a Los Angeles County supervisor. If the indictment is true, then he betrayed our trust and we deserved better.

Paulette Benson, Culver City

..

To the editor: Goldberg's empathy with parents who steal for their kids crescendos when quoting a judge's "callous" remark in 1911: "If a man cannot rear children decently, he has no right to have them."

On the surface, that is so imperious as to be immoral.

But consider overpopulation. It's the greatest problem in the world by far. We've heated up the planet, it's so bad. It causes wars over possession of land. It degrades livability. It means we use plastic by the tons and oil by the billions of barrels, and then destroy our natural habitat with these.

Story continues

Zero population growth is desirable, but regional reduction is insignificant compared to the multitudes around the globe who cannot rear their children decently, hence a degraded environment for everyone.

The judge had a point.

Joel Athey, Valley Village

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Photograph: Jeffrey Collins/AP

Its a story as thick and unctuous as South Carolinas low country mud. Those in the know arent talking, and those who dont know are. But with six active investigations, including a murder inquiry, the case of Richard Alex Murdaugh, a 53-year-old tort lawyer and scion of one of the states most powerful families, has gripped America.

Last week, Murdaugh appeared in court in Columbia, the state capital, on a bond hearing over charges he misappropriated $3.5m in insurance settlements relating to the death of the familys longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield. The defense and prosecution approved the bond request. Judge Clifton Newman denied it.

Related: US lawyer arranged his murder so son would receive life insurance, say police

Newmans stated rationale was that Murdaugh, who appeared a shadow of the portly man pictured in earlier photographs, was a danger to himself and others because he  prosecution and defense acknowledged  has a 20-year addiction to opioids and, the judge said, close to 80% of criminal cases that come before the court have a component of addiction.

No amount of bond court can be set to satisfy protections to Mr Murdaugh and the community, Newman said.

But thats barely the start of it. Like most things about the Murdaugh family, what is said raises questions about whats being left unsaid  and most of that revolves around power, money and intimidation in the south stretching back decades.

Outside court, Satterfield lawyer Ronnie Richter told the Guardian that issues of class pervade the case. We have a problem in the country with the perception that power and influence, true or not, gets you a second tier of justice from rank-and-file. It took courage for the system to say youre going to get treated like everyone else.

Asked if the Satterfield family accepted Murdaughs explanation for her death, he said: Not sure. Its under investigation like everything else.

Over the last four months, the name Alex Murdaugh  pronounced Murdoch  has become like steps on a trail of misadventure.

Story continues

On the night of 7 June this year, Murdaughs wife, Margaret, or Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, were found dead of gunshot wounds in front of the kennels at the couples 1,770-acre estate near the town of Hampton. No suspects have been publicly named. Maggie Murdaugh had reportedly explored a separation from her husband after a check to a charity she supported bounced.

Three days later, South Carolina state investigators said they had opened an investigation into the death of Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old LGBTQ person found dead on a nearby road in July 2015. His death was officially ruled a hit-and-run, but deep gashes to his head suggested to some he was beaten to death.

Files with the state highway patrol showed that a Murdaugh family member  a personal injury lawyer  called Smiths family on the day he was found in the road, offering to represent them at no charge. The family told police they thought the offer was weird.

Then, in July this year, court documents alleged a civil conspiracy connecting law enforcement and the Murdaugh family to the aftermath of a 2019 boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach, the daughter of another prominent South Carolina family. Paul Murdaugh was alleged to be driving the boat while intoxicated, and was facing related criminal charges at the time he was killed.

The Beach family are incensed at the way the criminal investigation was conducted while their daughters body was missing and believe people were actively trying to cover up what had happened, the Beach family attorney Mark Tilsey told the Guardian.

In August, the murder investigation in the deaths of Maggie and Paul was kicked up to the state level. In September, Alex Murdaugh resigned from the law firm the family co-founded. Last week, the firm sued Alex for millions they claim had been misappropriated.

Then, on 4 September, at about 1.30pm, Hampton county central dispatch received a 911 call from Alex Murdaugh, who reported he had been shot in the head. Two days later, he entered a rehabilitation facility in Georgia. In a statement, he said he had been having an incredibly difficult time.

Alex Murdaugh in court during a bond hearing Columbia on Tuesday. Photograph: Lewis M Levine/AP

But the shooting, according to state police, was not a homicide attempt but a possible suicide attempt, carried out by a cousin, Curtis Eddie Smith, in a doomed attempt to gain a $10m life insurance payout to benefit Murdaughs other son, Buster.

The shot grazed Murdaughs head; a toxicology report found opioids and barbiturates in his blood. Smith claimed he was 1,000% certain Murdaugh was not shot. Ten days later, Murdaugh was arrested in connection with the shooting and returned to treatment. Smith has been charged with assisted suicide, insurance fraud and several other counts. He denies the charges.

Then, last week, Murdaugh appeared before Judge Newman after being arrested at a second rehab location in Florida on charges that he diverted millions in wrongful death lawsuit settlement funds from the Satterfield family, in what prosecutors described as scheme to sue himself in order to seek an insurance settlement.

But that death, too, has raised questions. Murdaugh said Satterfield tripped over the family dog, a hunting dog, fell, and hit her head. She later died from a stroke and cardiac arrest. At the bond hearing on Tuesday, assistant attorney general Creighton Waters said the alleged fraud is the tip of the iceberg. There is far more we will reveal soon.

But instead of granting a release on bond, and returning Murdaugh to rehab in Orlando, Judge Newman ordered a psychiatric evaluation and placed him back in custody.

Residents of Hampton, the civil seat of Colleton county, are unclear if the entire saga marks the unravelling of an individual or an entire dynasty: the Murdaughs, whose wealth reputedly originated in moonshine, have extensive land holdings, as well as extensive political, judicial and blood ties to the region.

For more than 85 years, a Murdaugh has served as South Carolinas 14th circuit solicitor  the chief prosecutor for the region. Votes, some claim, were bought through donations of money to the Black folk and the churches. The law practice, run out of the largest building in downtown Hampton, has profited from cases involving CSX, a $79bn railroad and freight company, whose tracks run through the county.

I wouldnt say Alex looked down on people, but he thought he was better than them Suzy Murdaugh

Equally important, perhaps, are the familys social ties in South Carolina, a state known for traditional, conservative mores and a wealthy white society that enjoys hunting, fishing, costume balls and, for some, heavy drinking.

But alongside the wealth is deep poverty. In Hampton itself, formalwear stores sit close to thrift stores. In court, the Satterfield family came in check shirts and mullets, while Murdaugh attorney Dick Harpootlian sported a grey pinstripe suit.

But in Hampton, few were willing to speak on record. The stakes, some said, were too high. Someone who had been at school with Alex Murdaugh said simply: He was a bully and he abused the lower-class kids. Whats happened to him is appropriate.

Suzy Murdaugh, a relative on her fathers side, said she could go to her wealthier relations for help. They were powerful. They own the country. If you went to court, you won. Didnt matter what it was. Dont think Alex, his father Buster, or his grand-father ever lost a case. He told the judge what to do.

That side of the family owned land across the county and considered themselves on a higher level.

I wouldnt say Alex looked down on people, but he thought he was better than them, she said.

But Suzy Murdaugh also said she didnt believe he had drug addiction. Could have been, I guess, but Hampton is a drug county. But he was [a] full-blown alcoholic, yes. All Murdaughs are alcoholic. Three generations back they ran moonshine. So we come from a long line of alcoholics.

How the different deaths are resolved, or if they are resolved, is now a matter for state investigators. Theories, some highly complex and abounding with motives, power plots, and accidental crossed paths, hang like Spanish moss from the oaks in the swamps of the inner coastal plain.

Alexs handling of the Beach civil case certainly precipitated his current unraveling, but its still difficult for me to fathom how or why the murders could have happened, or how they could be connected with our case, said Tinsley.

Most say they just dont know the truth. Others indulge in conspiracy. Suzy Murdaugh says shes convinced Maggie and Paul arent dead: I know it in my gut.

Its a fantastical theory, but not out of character for the region and this story, where truth seems very hard to find.

Either way, she says, all this leads to cover-up, cover-up, cover-up.
(Reuters) - Myanmar's military rulers pledged on Sunday to cooperate "as much as possible" with a peace plan agreed with ASEAN, despite a stern rebuke of the regional bloc for excluding the country's top commander from a summit this week.

In an announcement in state media on Sunday, the junta said it upholds the principal of peaceful coexistence with other countries and would cooperate with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in following a five-point "consensus" agreed in April, a plan backed by the West and China.

ASEAN foreign ministers decided on Oct. 15 to sideline https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/asean-chair-brunei-confirms-junta-leader-not-invited-summit-2021-10-16 Min Aung Hlaing, leader of a Feb. 1 Myanmar coup, for his failure to implement that plan, which included ending hostilities, initiating dialogue, allowing humanitarian support and granting a special envoy full access in the country.

The junta struck back https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/myanmar-rejects-asean-decision-exclude-junta-leader-summit-2021-10-22 late on Friday, accusing ASEAN of departing from its principals on consensus and non-interference. It refused to agree to send a politically neutral Myanmar representative instead of Min Aung Hlaing.

ASEAN chair Brunei has not responded to Myanmar's rejection.

A spokesman for Thailand's foreign ministry declined to comment on Saturday, citing the sensitivity of the matter, while Indonesia's foreign ministry spokesperson, Teuku Faizasyah, said ASEAN's consensus on who would represent Myanmar at the summit was the "common guide for all ASEAN members".

The exclusion is an unprecedented snub from a bloc long criticised for being tardy and ineffective at dealing with member governments accused of atrocities.

More than 1,000 civilians have been killed in a post-coup crackdown in Myanmar, with thousands more detained, many tortured or beaten, according to the United Nations, citing activists. The junta is accused of using excessive military force against civilian populations.

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The junta has insisted many of those killed or detained were "terrorists" determined to destabilise the country. The junta chief last week said opposition forces were prolonging the unrest https://reut.rs/2ZgZJBG.

ASEAN's special envoy, Erywan Yusof of Brunei, had sought a meeting with ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but the military government said that was impossible https://reut.rs/30uv6sB because she was detained and charged with crimes.

The junta warned Erywan not to engage with opposition forces it has outlawed, including the shadow National Unity Government, an alliance of pro-democracy and armed ethnic groups, Japanese broadcaster NHK said, citing an unpublished report.

A Myanmar military spokesman and Erywan's office did not immediately respond to separate requests for comment on Sunday on the reported warning.

In Sunday's announcement, Myanmar's rulers first reaffirmed their own five-point plan for restoring democracy, which they announced after the coup.

The military insists it is the legitimate authority in Myanmar and its takeover was not a coup, but a necessary and lawful intervention against a threat to sovereignty posed by Suu Kyi's party, which it said won a fraudulent election last year.

(Additional reporting by Ain Bandial in Bandar Seri Begawan, Orathai Sriring in Bangkok, Nilufar Rizki in Jakarta and Reuters Staff; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by William Mallard)
Photo Illustration by Kristen Hazzard/The Daily Beast/Getty/Netflix

Gwyneth Paltrows first Netflix series, The goop Lab, stirred controversy from its debut. Scientists were frustrated with the streaming giant for spreading misinformationand even worse, the show was also boring.

Now, however, Paltrow returns with a new series, Sex, Love & goop. The show observes a handful of couples (most but not all of whom are straight) as they meet with sex therapists to address various issues in their relationships. While The goop Lab felt like a well-produced QVC ad for expensive quackery, Sex, Love & goop takes an earnest, emotionally driven approach to a topic that remains embarrassingly taboo in the U.S.

Beyond offering yet another brand extension for Gwyneth Paltrow, Sex, Love & goop also tightens Netflixs grip on a relatively new TV niche: educational programming that normalizes sex.

How Marcia Cross Brought Her Scheming Desperate Housewives Energy to Netflixs You

Shows like Big Mouth and Sex Education use sharp comedy and empathy to encourage teen viewers to treat themselves with understanding. These programs reject the melodrama of Degrassi or the preachiness of 7th Heaven in favor of something more humaneven if one of them is an animated series in which the Statue of Liberty comes alive to complain about period cramps. There was also last years Sex, Explained, a docuseries hosted by Janelle Monae, as well as the upcoming Sex: Unzipped, a celebration of sexual health and positivity featuring Saweetie.

Should we worry about the fact that these shows are airing on the same platform that waited two years to cut a suicide scene in 13 Reasons Why despite experts warnings and the emergence of apparent copycats? (A study in 2019, released months before the scenes were cut, found that a spike in teen suicides had followed the shows release.) Is it concerning that these shows titles might sit next to, over, or under that transphobic Dave Chappelle special? Or that the guy responsible for programming all of these things is still struggling to prove that he understands how his decisions impact the real world?

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It was strange to watch Sex, Love & goopwhich I mostly likedand consider how its message of safety and empathy stacks up against the other content on Netflix.

Streaming platforms dont incorporate ethos into their brand identities the same way traditional networks have. (NBC is for young city dwellers and coastal elites, ABC is for family comedies, et cetera.) Rather than cultivate a singular brand identity, Netflix has replicated cable television in its entirety. Viewers can scroll through Food Network lookalikes, HGTV-like real estate programming, and A&E-like docuseries alongside flashier originals and a slowly dwindling selection of library content.

It can be strange, then, to consider two Netflix originals like Sex, Love & goop and Chappelles The Closer side by side. But Netflix has also worked for years to make inclusivity part of its brand, launching targeted social media accounts like Most and creating content categories like the Black Lives Matter Collection. If Netflix wants to maintain a cohesive brand ethos when praise is on the table, should that brand not also bear responsibility when it falls short?

Luna Matatas, a sex and pleasure educator based in Toronto, recently pointed out to CBC that in spite of its best intentions, Sex, Love & goop remains limited in scope.

There are lots of barriers for people who are underrepresented and marginalized within sex education, Matatas said. We dont see queer inclusivity, we dont see fat bodies, we dont see disabled bodies, we dont see trans bodies, you know, intersex bodies.

When they first debuted, neither Sex Education nor Big Mouth featured trans characters. Last year, Netflix released Disclosurea documentary that outlines how trans erasure and anti-trans media foster violence against trans people in real life. Even now, however, it seems that Ted Sarandoswho, its worth repeating, said just a week ago that content on screen doesnt directly translate to real-world harmdoes not actually understand how any of his decisions affect his viewers or the culture they help create.

In his most recent mea culpaan interview with Deadlinethe co-CEO was asked whether the strong reaction to the anti-trans humor in Chappelles The Closer had surprised him. His response does not exactly inspire confidence.

The Singing Tampon in Netflixs Big Mouth Netflix

Its impossible to please everybody, but we are trying to please a world that is made of people of different tastes, sensibilities and beliefs, and it becomes very difficult to do that for everybody, Sarandos said. This would be the appropriate response to give someone who is being cranky about the office lunch order, but it seems like a pretty demeaning one to people who are literally just asking you not to promote material that threatens their lives.

We have stated it internally that we are going to have some things on Netflix that you dont like, Sarandos continued. There are some things on Netflix that may be harmful to you, your colleagues and your friends but we are trying to entertain the world and make business decisions that are protective of creative freedom and artists and also respectful, safe workspace. Was this supposed to sound good?

Perhaps Gillian Andersons Sex Education character can give Ted a sex education.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday she expects the chamber to pass the bipartisan infrastructure plan by weeks end, and alternatives to corporate tax hikes and a billionaires tax will be used to finance President Bidens promised expansion to the social safety net.

Why it matters: Pelosis comments come as House and Senate leaders try to wrap up a deal. What will get cut  and how the remainder will be paid  are linchpins to a final agreement.

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A formal deal on the roughly $2 trillion plan also will allow a House vote on the Senate-passed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill before surface transportation funding runs out on Oct. 31  a week from today.

The big picture: Democrats hope these two potentially transformational developments will give them a lifeline heading into the 2022 midterms.

They also hope for a boost to their candidates in two pivotal gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey on Nov. 2.

What she's saying: "We have 90% of the bill agreed to and written. We just have some of the last decisions to be made," Pelosi told Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union."

"I think we are pretty much there now," she said when asked if the deal would be cinched before Biden leaves for Europe on Thursday.

Pelosi also said international taxes, a wealth tax and stepped-up IRS tax enforcement could be part of the final package now that tax rates on corporations and wealthy individuals have been nixed over opposition from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.)

We probably will have a wealth tax," Pelosi said on CNN. But, again, it's only 10% of what we  you need.

The speaker acknowledged the new package will likely be far less than the $3.5 trillion Democrats initially hoped for but added it will still be "transformative" when added to the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill enacted in March.

Story continues

"It is less than we had projected to begin with, but it is still bigger than anything we've ever done in terms of addressing the needs of America's working families," she said.

The latest: Democrats are still debating a top-line price tag for the bill, revenue raisers and key policies.

The president hosted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) at his home in Delaware on Sunday morning to continue negotiating key sticking points.

Manchin has held firm on a $1.5-trillion cap, while Biden and Schumer are pushing for something closer to $2 trillion.

Two potential cuts as the package gets smaller are paid leave for families and Medicare expansion for dental, vision and hearing.

Manchin also opposes key climate provisions, including the Clean Energy Performance Program.

Meanwhile, Senate staffers are working behind the scenes on a tax proposal they plan to introduce as early as Monday. The proposal will serve as the outline for how to pay for the bill.

Biden conceded during a CNN town hall meeting on Thursday that he doesn't have the votes to raise corporate taxes  a pillar of his package that's widely popular in polls.

Sinema is instead pushing for a minimum tax on corporations and taxing billionaires' assets.

Between the lines: Gaining the support of Manchin and Sinema is crucial to clinching a deal.

Each Senate Democrat has veto power over the bill due to the body's 50-50 split.

"When you're in the United States Senate and you're president of the United States and you have 50 Democrats, everyone is a president," a laughing Biden told CNN last week.

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Oct. 23Today's 1:30 p.m. battle between Bethel and host Cumberland at Nokes-Lasater Field is big on several fronts.

It's a meeting of Tennessee's only NAIA football-playing schools. Both are part of a tie for second place in the Mid-South Conference Bluegrass Division. And both schools recruit heavily in the Middle Tennessee area.

Bethel coach Michael Jasper played at Mt. Juliet High, as did Wildcats quarterback Nolan Chowbay. Defensive back Vonte Bates is a senior from Watertown.

"We recruit a lot of the same kids," Cumberland coach Tim Mathis said. "It's a big game for just that, recruiting purposes, to try to get the edge on that. It's something you have to look at and take advantage of that.

"We're not really close (147-160 miles apart, depending on what route one takes, according to Google Maps), but we are the only two NAIA schools in Tennessee. That makes a rivalry game. We both want to stay in that second position in the Mid-South Bluegrass Division."

Bethel is 5-2 and receiving votes in the NAIA poll. The Wildcats are coming off a 44-13 win at Pikeville. They, the Phoenix and Thomas More are 2-1 in division play, trailing only 3-0 Lindsey Wilson.

Chowbay, an older player who originally signed with Austin Peay out of high school in 2015, was a runner and passer during his days with the Golden Bears. As a Wildcat, he's completed 133 of 234 passes for 2,220 yards and 19 touchdowns with 15 interceptions.

"They want to throw the ball more than they run it," Mathis said. "We got to put pressure on him because statistically he's thrown about two interceptions a game. So if we can put pressure, hopefully we can get him to turn the ball over."

Cumberland's offense, when it's functioning properly, is part of the Phoenix defense as the running attack keeps the ball from the opposition.

"We were pretty balanced," Mathis said of last week's 54-32 win at Campbellsville. "I think we had 300 yards rushing and 300 yards passing. Obviously, if you can be that balanced and that much offense you're going to keep them off the field, which does press them and maybe make them make mistakes.

Story continues

"But we got to worry about Cumberland, not so much what they do. Not turn the ball over. We want to establish the run and go from there."

Cumberland established everything last week, building a 47-6 lead at halftime before Campbellsville outscored the Phoenix 26-7 in the second half.

"The ballgame was over, but you got to come out and finish the game," Mathis said. "We still moved the ball up and down the field. We fumbled twice inside the red zone. We could have easily scored two or three more touchdowns. We have one stop on defense and they quit because they quit in the first half. But we let them just hang around in the second half.

"That was disappointing... I'm not a guy, and I'll never be a guy, I'm not going to score 90 points in a ballgame. We were just trying to run the ball and get some young guys in and had some young guys fumble the ball. We got to learn from it and learn to be professional enough to finish the game off."

Bethel has run a 4-2-5 defense during Mathis' four-year tenure at Cumberland. Bates is third on the Wildcats with 47 tackles, including a sack and 3 1/2 tackles for loss with an interception.

"One thing the try to do on the outside get the corners to man up," Mathis said. "That allows them to get extra guys in the box.

"But I think we can take advantage of that. Put some guys in situations throwing the ball where hopefully we can get some big plays. But again, we got to establish the run."

The Phoenix established the run last week despite a toe injury to Treylon Sheppard which limited him to a single carry  a 4-yard touchdown run. But James Christian enjoyed a career day with 229 yards and three touchdowns while Nick Burge contributed 71 on 15 rushes.

"We didn't need (Sheppard)," Mathis said. "If we needed him, then we could have played him. We didn't need him so we didn't play him.

"We got three capable running backs. Nick Burge is just as good and just as capable. That's the way we look at that position. It's the next man step up and carry the load. We got three guys who can carry the load."

One more reason why this week's game is big  it's homecoming.

"We want our alumni to come back and we want to do well in front of them," Mathis said.
Associated Press

Khari Hasan Kalo peered out of the window of the repatriation flight as it touched down in northern Iraq. It's a place he and his family had hoped never to see again after they left for Belarus two months ago, driven by dreams of a new life in Europe. Kalo, 35, had begged for loans and spent his savings on the ill-fated journey to the Belarusian capital of Minsk, the first stop on a journey to the West.
Sen. Roy Blunt said on Sunday that former President Donald Trump should dwell on the future rather than the past.

"The best thing that President Trump could do to help us win majorities in 2022 is talk about the future, and he can be an important part of that  this 22 effort. But I think better off to talk about the future than to focus on the past," Blunt said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The remarks from the Missouri Republican come as Trump has teased a 2024 presidential run and continues to litigate the 2020 election that he lost, falsely spouting claims of voter fraud and launching efforts to take out his critics politically, including those who voted to impeach him.

Blunt said Wyoming voters are "going to decide if there's a place" in the House for Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), one of the leading Trump critics inside the Republican Party.

Looking ahead to a potential Trump bid to take back the White House, Blunt offered some measured advise.

"He can be a candidate if he wants to be. But again, I think what President Trump could do that would be most helpful right now would be focus on the policies that arent working," Blunt suggested. "His policies at the border were working, his regulatory policies were working, his tax policies were working. But we see those policies for Democrats with these narrow majorities they have are not working."

"I hope thats where he focuses, but I dont manage his time or his comments," Blunt said.

And Blunt also addressed the debate over voting rights legislation.

He characterized Democrats' efforts to pass voting rights legislation as a federal overreach.

"There are 10,000 election jurisdictions out there in America," the senator said. "The federal government deciding how elections should be run in all 10,000 of those jurisdictions is a bad idea. ... One of the strengths of our system is that the diversity of the system itself and the state and local responsibility to conduct an election that people have confidence in."
People gather at the vigil for Haylna Hutchins on Saturday. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt

On Saturday, a candlelight vigil for "Rust" cinematographer Haylna Hutchins was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

A prop gun was accidentally fired by the film's star Alec Baldwin killing Hutchins.

The New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau are investigating the incident.

"Rust" crew members gathered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to pay tribute to the film's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Hutchins, 42, was killed on Thursday after the film's star, Alec Baldwin, accidentally fired a prop gun. The film's director, Joel Souza, was also shot and sustained injuries from the accident on the set of the film in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Local 600 International Cinematographers Guild hosted a candlelight vigil at the Albuquerque Civic Plaza on Saturday, the New York Post reports. Violinists played at the event before attendees held a moment of silence, the publication added.

Candles were lit for Hutchins. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt

"I was really lucky to get to work with her," Lane Luper, a member of Hutchins' camera operating team on "Rust," said at the vigil, according to the publication.

"To work with somebody that's that collaborative and never, ever thought of herself as better than anyone on that set, I would've been lucky to have ever done another movie with another person like that or with her, and I don't get to," Luper added.

Meanwhile, some attendees highlighted the unsafe working conditions that led to Hutchins' death. One person was pictured holding a sign that read: "She deserved a safe workplace! SOS. Safety on Sets."

One Hutchins' camera crew member who spoke anonymously to The Sun said they wanted "justice" for the cinematographer.

"She was more than just a camera person who got shot. She was a brilliant person," they said. "We'll be able to talk more after we talk to the investigators and give them the evidence."

The New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau is investigating the incident, Insider's Erin Snodgrass previously reported. The state board can impose civil penalties in incidents of workplace accidents, even if authorities decline to press charges.

Story continues

A statement was read on behalf of Hutchins' husband, Matt Hutchins.

"The outpouring of sympathy from our many friends has been overwhelming and we thank everyone for their kind and generous sharing of images and stories of her life," he said, according to the New York Post.

The statement added that the loss of Hutchins is "enormous" and that "we will need time to process our grief."

Read the original article on Insider
By Jarrett Renshaw, Doina Chiacu and Michael Martina

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democrats have almost reached an agreement on a social spending bill that is a pared-down version of U.S. President Joe Biden's priorities and plan to vote on that and an infrastructure bill in the coming week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday.

"I think we're pretty much there now," Pelosi said in an interview with CNN's "State of the Union" as Biden met with fellow Democrats Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin, who has objected to parts of the bill.

No top-line number for the spending bill had been expected to emerge from Sunday's breakfast meeting at Biden's home in Delaware, given some of the complicated issues that needed to be resolved, sources told Reuters.

Biden, Schumer and Manchin had a "productive discussion" and continued to make progress, the White House said in a statement after the meeting, without elaborating.

Democrats have struggled to agree on a framework of $2 trillion or less that will allow the House of Representatives to move forward next week on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and set the stage for passage of Biden's larger "Build Back Better" package.

The divisions threatened to derail Biden's agenda on social spending and climate change and embarrass the U.S. president as he prepares to attend the opening of a global climate summit in Glasgow that begins on Oct. 31.

Schumer and Manchin were meeting to finalize some of the particulars. "I'm optimistic that we can do that," Pelosi said.

Asked if votes on the two bills would be held in the coming week, Pelosi said, "That's the plan."

Disagreements over the scale of the larger package have held up Biden's domestic agenda, with progressive Democrats in the House refusing to vote for the infrastructure bill, which has already been passed by the Senate, until a deal is reached on social programs and climate change.

Story continues

Moderate Democrats, most notably Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema, had objected to the original $3.5 trillion price tag and some provisions of the latter bill. Republicans oppose the measure, but 19 in the Senate voted in support of the infrastructure legislation.

The White House is seeking to get Manchin to support roughly $2 trillion in spending, up from Manchins $1.5 trillion figure, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

The White House and Democratic leaders need the money to help keep the party unified as they slim down the legislation and make painful cuts to party priorities, like Medicare expansion, paid family leave and free community college.

Sinema has opposed a hike in the corporate tax rate that had been a main source of funding for the bill, but Pelosi said losing that would not stand in the way of raising the roughly $2 trillion needed to pay for the programs.

Pelosi said lawmakers have an array of options to fund the spending bill even without the corporate tax rate hike, including better tax enforcement, a so-called billionaires tax and international tax harmonization.

Senators were writing that tax proposal on Sunday and would introduce it Monday, Pelosi said.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on the CNN program she anticipated no problems in funding the bill.

"All in all, it should be relatively straightforward to raise the revenue necessary to pay for this bill," Yellen said.

The White House is also pressing Manchin to agree on a number of environmental measures after the senator, from coal-producing West Virginia, opposed a centerpiece of the plan that would reward utilities that invest in renewable fuels and penalize those that do not.

Democrats are considering a flurry of options, including boosting production tax credits for nuclear power and enhancing credits for carbon sequestration projects, the sources said.

Addressing climate change is a health issue, a jobs issue, a security issue and a values issue for Democrats, Pelosi said.

"We will have something that will meet the president's goal," Pelosi said. "I'm very confident about that, even though it will be different than what we originally proposed."

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Michael Martina, Jarrett Renshaw and Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Grant McCool and Daniel Wallis)
ITTA BENA, Miss. (AP)  Jah'Marae Sheread scored four touchdowns, three of them on passes from Rasean McKay and Florida A&M held off Mississippi Valley State 31-28 on Saturday.

The third touchdown between Sheread and McKay, a 19-yard connection with 6:32 to go in the fourth quarter, gave the Rattlers a 31-28 lead. MVSU reached the Rattlers 17-yard-line on the next possession but turned the ball over on downs. The Delta Devils did not cross midfield on their only remaining possession.

The Rattlers (5-2, 3-1 SWAC) led for much of the game but fell behind 28-24 with 7:32 remaining in the fourth when the Delta Devils' Jalani Eason hit Malik Meyers with a 9-yard TD pass.

McKay completed 19 of 34 passes for 180 yards, with the three TDs and two interceptions. Bishop Bennett ran for 140 yards on 19 carries. In addition to the three touchdown receptions, Sheread scored on a 59-yard punt return. He had eight catches for 88 yards.

Eason completed 15 of 21 passes for 215 yards and one touchdown. Jacory Rankin caught four passes for 147 yards for the Delta Devils (2-5, 1-3).

__

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Sri Lanka has barred a Chinese ship carrying desperately needed organic fertiliser that experts have found to be tainted with harmful bacteria, officials said Sunday.

The action comes as Sri Lanka battles food shortages caused by a currency crisis while farmers have said a government ban on chemical fertiliser could ruin their crops this year.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office said the National Plant Quarantine Services had tested a sample from the unnamed Chinese vessel and "confirmed the presence of organisms, including certain types of harmful bacteria".

A Commercial High Court has banned any payment to Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co., Ltd for the 96,000 tonnes of fertiliser, an official statement added.

Authorities halted the $42 million deal last month, but reports said the cargo had still been shipped and was due in Colombo. The location of the ship has not been revealed.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority said the agricultural ministry ordered them on Saturday to prevent the unloading of the fertiliser in any port and to turn away the Chinese vessel.

Sri Lanka originally ordered the organic fertiliser from China as part of its efforts to become the world's first 100 percent organic farming nation.

The organic plant nutrients from China were meant to replace the phased-out chemicals during the main rice cultivation season that started October 15.

Following widespread farmer protests that the abandoning of agrochemicals would critically hit yields, the government last week lifted the ban on chemical fertiliser imposed in May.

It has since imported 30,000 tonnes of potassium chloride as fertiliser and some three million litres of nitrogen-based plant nutrients from India.

Farmers of tea -- the main export commodity along with rice -- have warned crop yields could be halved without chemicals.

aj/tw/qan
The founder of a St. Paul charter school that lost $4.3 million in a hedge fund investment is planning to step down as superintendent, the school board said in a message to students and families.

Christianna Hang submitted her letter of resignation days after the state auditor's office determined that Hmong College Prep Academy (HCPA) failed to follow state law and its own policies when it invested $5 million in the hedge fund. The office sent its findings to the Ramsey County Attorney's Office for possible action.

The school's authorizer, Bethel University, also recommended earlier that the board fire Hang.

The board plans to meet Monday to vote on Hang's resignation and decide on an interim leadership plan.

"We have promised since school began that we would be open and transparent about the ongoing issues we are actively managing and resolving with school regulatory officials," the board said in its message to families. "Our school operations and HCPA's high-quality instruction will continue as normal."

HCPA opened in 2004 with 200 ninth- and 10th-graders, according to its website, and since has undergone several expansions on what now is a sprawling grades K-12 campus in the Como neighborhood.

The Hmong charter school is the top destination for families who decide against sending their children to St. Paul Public Schools. According to a recent report to that district's school board, 1,642 of the city's school-aged children went to HCPA during the 2019-20 school year.

HCPA had been eyeing financing options for a new middle school when it made the hedge fund investment in 2019, according to federal court documents filed by HCPA and the hedge fund, Woodstock Capital LLC.

The school sued the hedge fund alleging fraud and negligence. Woodstock Capital attributed the losses to the pandemic.

Last week, State Auditor Julie Blaha said her office was not assigning blame to anyone for the school's losses.

Story continues

Hang also served as the school's chief financial officer.

Bethel recently directed the school board to separate the superintendent and finance positions, and to implement a two-person authorization system for electronic fund transfers.

The board said in its message that it has worked with families to create a special school community and "we are deeply committed to ensuring the success of the school today and for decades to come."

Anthony Lonetree  612-673-4109
Tarek El Moussa and Heather Rae Young have officially tied the knot, TODAY can confirm.

Their wedding ceremony was held outside in Santa Barbara, California, in front of family and friends and the cast of the Netflix show "Selling Sunset." The black-tie affair was filmed for a special titled "Tarek and Heather: The Big I Do."

El Moussa's children Taylor and Brayden (whom he shares with ex-wife Christina Haack)  played a big part in the ceremony.

So sweet! (Instagram)

The lead up to their wedding was well documented on Instagram. Though El Moussa, 40, remained fairly radio silent on social media on Saturday, Young shared videos documenting the morning of her wedding day and getting ready process.

The day prior, the two shared plenty of photos and videos from their rehearsal dinner, even sharing a couple of shots on Instagram, expressing their excitement for their impending nuptials.

El Moussa shared a snap of the two sharing a kiss on Instagram, penning a sweet message to Young in the caption.

Ready to say I do  Which is crazy, he wrote. If you had asked me four years ago I wouldve told you I was never getting married again and honestly I didnt even think I would find love. Then one day Heather jumped onto my boat, looked at me, smiled and the rest is history. Thank god for that day. My life is so much better with you in it now lets do this thing!!

Young, 34, shared a sweet photo on Instagram Friday of the two facing one another with their noses almost touching, writing in the caption, My forever. See you at the altar my love.

This is El Moussas second marriage and Youngs first. The Flip or Flop star was married to his co-star and ex-wife, Christina Haack, for nine years, initially splitting in 2016 before finalizing their divorce in 2018.

The former couple still co-parent their two children together, their 11-year-old daughter, Taylor, and 6-year-old son, Brayden.

El Moussa and Young got engaged last July while celebrating their one-year anniversary in Catalina Island, California. A year before they got engaged, El Moussa told TODAY Parents that he thought carefully about bringing Young into the picture and his childrens lives, revealing she was the first woman he dated that he introduced to his two kids.

Story continues

"I wasnt someone who was just dating a bunch of different women," he explained. "I was waiting for the right one, who I thought would be right not only for me, but for my kids to meet. With Heather, I knew right away, and that was it."

Last summer, the Selling Sunset star sat down with TODAY the month after her engagement, talking about being a bonus mom for El Moussas children and looking ahead to her then future wedding.

"My life is just so incredible right now, she said at the time. I can't believe I'm a fiancee, and I'm getting married, I'm gonna be Mrs. El Moussa. It's the best feeling in the world."
Former President Donald Trump, who was one the most powerful right-wing voices on Twitter during his presidency. Evan Vucci/AP Photo

Internal researchers said Twitter's algorithm showed bias toward right-wing politicians.

Tweets from "accounts from the political right receive more algorithmic amplification," they said.

The research, published Thursday, came as former President Donald Trump launched a competitor.

Twitter's algorithm amplifies right-wing political content more readily than similar left-wing content for users in the US and a handful of other countries.

Internal researchers at the San Francisco company studied the way Twitter's algorithm surfaced tweets from elected legislators in seven countries - Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US. The researchers looked at the content that popped up in the personalized timelines of about 2 million daily users.

"In six out of seven countries - all but Germany - Tweets posted by accounts from the political right receive more algorithmic amplification than the political left when studied as a group," Rumman Chowdhury, director of software engineering, and Luca Belli, staff machine learning researcher, wrote in a blog published on Thursday.

The research was published amid an ongoing conversation about how social media companies, including Facebook, can affect political discussion and election results in the US and elsewhere. It was also published just as former President Donald Trump, once Twitter's right-wing star, announced his own media company in an attempt to compete with Silicon Valley tech giants.

Twitter allows most users to choose between a chronological timeline and an algorithmic timeline. With the latter, the most visible tweets are decided by a combination of factors, including the types of accounts a user has chosen to follow.

The researchers said they found that tweets from all elected officials, regardless of their parties, were seen more often when users chose the algorithmic timeline option.

In separate findings, the group looked at media outlets in the US, which they lumped into political categories.

Story continues

Twitter's algorithm shows bias toward right-wing politicians, the company says. Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

"Right-leaning news outlets ... see greater algorithmic amplification on Twitter compared to left-leaning news outlets," they wrote.

The researchers stopped short of saying why, exactly, the right-wing content received greater amplification in users' personal timelines. But they said it could be that "different political parties pursue different strategies on Twitter."

"However, understanding the precise causal mechanism that drives amplification invites further study that we hope our work initiates," the researchers wrote in a discussion of their findings.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Marlon priest, a US Air Force veteran, pleaded guilty to two counts of impersonating a federal law enforcement officer. Getty Images

Two Norwalk Police officers accused of drinking on duty resigned earlier this month.

Police said Sarah Laudano and Michael DiMeglio were suspended last year after drinking and ignoring calls on the job, CBS New York reported.

The two are facing multiple charges including larceny and reckless endangerment.

Two police officers in Connecticut resigned earlier this month after they were accused of drinking in their patrol cars and not responding to service calls while on duty, according to reports.

Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik said the officers, identified as 39-year-old Michael DiMeglio and 31-year-old Sarah Laudano, stepped down on October 15, The Hour reported.

"I'm glad that this incident is now behind us from a department perspective," Kulhawik told the newspaper.

CBS New York reported the two were suspended last year after they were discovered together at a hotel instead of working and drinking in a school parking lot, police said.

According to CT Insider citing an arrest warrant, the duo was found by their supervisor on the night of October 9, 2020, and cops said they "were not in a condition to respond to calls for service."

The warrant said that during their investigation, authorities also found broken beer bottles at the school that was linked to both officers, according to the report.

As the newspaper reported, Laudano was also accused of driving with a baby and another person inside her cruiser after drinking, according to the warrant.

As CT Insider previously reported, DiMeglio and Laudano were later arrested in January 2021 and are facing larceny and reckless endangerment charges. According to the reports, Laudano was also charged with a risk of injury to a minor.

Mayor Harry Rilling told The Hour that "this incident was truly shocking and disappointing" and that DiMeglio and Laudano "made the right decision" in resigning from the Norwalk Police Department.

Read the original article on Insider
Senior U.S. diplomat Sung Kim called on North Korea to stop missile tests and resume nuclear negotiations Sunday, AP reports.

Driving the news: Kim's remarks come on the heels of the country's submarine-fired missile launch last week, which violated multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.

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Submarine missile fires are harder to detect and would ultimately provide North Korea with "a secondary, retaliatory attack capability," AP writes.

What he's saying: "We call on the [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] to cease these provocations and other destabilizing activities, and instead, engage in dialogue," Kim said, per the AP.

"We remain ready to meet with the DPRK without preconditions and we have made clear that the United States harbors no hostile intent towards the DPRK."

The backdrop: Earlier this month, North Korea accused the UN Security Council of applying a double standard over the country's missile program.

The country began resuming its missile tests in September, after a six-month hiatus, according to AP.

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The British High Commission in Nairobi on Sunday said it was "fully cooperating" with a police investigation into the 2012 murder of a Kenyan woman last seen with a British soldier.

The woman, 21-year-old Agnes Wanjiru, was found dead in central Kenya nine years ago. She had reportedly been at a hotel in the central Kenyan town of Nanyuki with soldiers from a nearby British army base.

The Sunday Times reported that a British soldier confessed on the evening to killing Wanjiru, and showed comrades where he dumped the young mother's body in a septic tank behind the hotel.

The crime was reported but dismissed by military officials, said soldiers quoted by the newspaper, who claimed the accused's identity was an open secret but he was never questioned and eventually returned home.

UK High Commissioner to Kenya Jane Marriott expressed "outrage and concern" over Wanjiru's death and promised high-level support to a Kenyan investigation into her murder.

"I can assure Kenyans that the UK is fully cooperating with the investigation and will help in any way we can," Marriott said in a statement Sunday.

"Senior military visitors from the UK come to Kenya regularly -- including in the coming weeks -- and will be discussing Ms Wanjiru's murder and UK support to the Kenyan investigation."

- 'Full cooperation' -

The UK Ministry of Defence said it was working with the military and Kenyan police to ensure their investigation "is not impeded".

"The Defence Secretary is impatient with the pace of this and has directed full cooperation," a ministry spokesperson said late Sunday on Twitter.

Marriott said initial inquiries were made in 2012 by a special UK investigative branch and details about British personnel were submitted to Kenyan authorities when requested.

After an inquest in 2019, Kenyan authorities began looking into the murder again.

The British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) said the jurisdiction to investigate rested with the Kenyan police and they supported their efforts.

Story continues

Since Kenya gained independence in 1963, the British army has maintained a permanent garrison on the outskirts of Nanyuki.

Thousands of British infantrymen have passed through BATUK for exercises in harsh and difficult terrain, and the base has bolstered Nanyuki's economy for decades.

But the question of who has jurisdiction over British law-breakers has been contested in the past between Britain and Kenya, and other incidents have caused tension over their long presence in Nanyuki.

In March, a fire broke out at a BATUK training area and spread uncontrollably, burning for days and consuming around 12,000 acres (4,800 hectares).

In 2002, Britain's defence ministry paid millions in compensation to 233 people who said they had been injured by unexploded British ordnance in the area.

np/jj
Taiwanese soldiers on an armored vehicle during the National Day Celebration in Taipei, October 10, 2021. Ceng Shou Yi/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Amid increased Chinese pressure on Taiwan this month, it was reported that US troops have been training Taiwanese forces.

US special-operations forces have for decades deployed overseas to train partners to better defend themselves.

The US hasn't had an official military presence in Taiwan since 1979, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been helping them.

In the first days of October, the Chinese military sent more than 150 aircraft, including bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons, into Taiwan's air-defense identification zone, which isn't territorial airspace but is still seen as a provocative move.

Amid that Chinese aggression, reports emerged that US Army Special Forces soldiers and Marine Raiders have deployed to Taiwan and have been working with their Taiwanese counterparts since at least last year.

The US hasn't had an official military presence in Taiwan since 1979, when the US officially recognized Beijing, but that doesn't mean US commandos haven't been working with Taiwanese troops over the years, though that training has ebbed and flowed with US policy toward Taiwan.

Although training rotations are usually not disclosed, American commandos have deployed to the region before to conduct foreign internal defense - or the training of allied or partner conventional and special-operations forces, including Taiwan's.

The secret weapon of US special-operations

Taiwanese soldiers during a shore-defense operation as part of a military exercise, September 16, 2021. Ceng Shou Yi/NurPhoto via Getty Images

When people think of special-operations units, they think of door-kickers who can perform the toughest operations under the most arduous conditions. Those units do that, but they have also mastered many other mission sets that are valuable in peacetime, competition, and during war.

Foreign internal defense is one of them, and the Army's Special Forces Regiment has unparalleled expertise.

Foreign internal defense is the bread and butter of Green Berets. During such overseas rotations, Green Beret teams work with and train their local counterparts, using their cultural knowledge and language capabilities to build rapport with their counterparts and ensure a smoother training experience.

Story continues

By training foreign units, Green Berets form solid professional and personal relationships with the local unit and could capitalize on those relationships in the future.

"FID is one component of US efforts to help our partners prevent lawlessness, insurgency, and war in their own countries. The primary method we use to conduct FID is building the capacity of military and paramilitary partners," Lino Miani, a former Army Special Forces officer and president of the Combat Diver Foundation, told Insider.

Other units within US Special Operations Command, such as Marine Raiders, Navy SEALs, Air Commandos, and Navy Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen, also have some foreign internal defense capability.

Taiwanese soldiers prepare grenade launchers, machine guns, and tanks for a drill simulating a Chinese invasion, in Tainan, Taiwan, September 16, 2021. Ceng Shou Yi/NurPhoto via Getty Images

"We're very flexible and can use FID in many ways. For example, dive teams can quite literally stand up brand new units with combat divers, and the next teams that get to rotate in-country can continue that relationship," a former Green Beret told Insider.

Troops specializing in other infiltration methods can do the same thing. "Free-fall teams can train their guys in HALO [High Altitude Low Opening] and HAHO [High Altitude High Opening] ops, mobility teams can work with their vehicle guys, etc.," added the former Green Beret, who requested anonymity because of ongoing work with the US government.

In the Indo-Pacific area of operations, it's the 1st Special Forces Group - one of seven Green Beret groups - that is responsible for working with Taiwanese and other regional partners and allies. Green Berets assigned to the unit learn the cultural and linguistic nuances of the region to be more successful. Many also have ethnic ties to the region, giving them another way to relate to the forces they train.

"It is these partners that will make it increasingly difficult for China to subvert their governments and societies. This serves as both a complicating factor for Chinese designs and a deterrent. In many ways, FID places more capability in more forward locations, more durably, and for less money than USA

would be able to do with our own troops," added Miani, who is also CEO of Navisio Global LLC, an international security and business consultancy.

Rotations like the one in Taiwan are sometimes not disclosed to avoid international incidents or diplomatic fallout.

"SOCOM has a presence in over 70 countries. Much of it is standard rotations in friendly countries with which we've had a solid relationship for decades," the former Special Forces operator said. "Other rotations are in countries where our presence would be better not advertised for many different reasons, like domestic opposition or fear of upsetting third countries that are the regional 'top dogs.'"

A war with China

A soldier launches a Javelin missile during a military exercise in southern Taiwan, May 30, 2019. SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images

In a war with China, the allied and partner commando units that US special-operations forces have helped stand up or train over the decades would be an advantage for the US military.

"China's strategic geography depends on three rivers and a coastline. This strategic core is constrained by the US 7th Fleet on one side and by ethnic minority regions of varying degrees of historic hostility on the other three," said Miani, who served in the 1st Special Forces Group.

"Any war between the USA and China will take place in this strategic periphery but will ultimately be waged to protect the core and guarantee the Chinese economy has access to the rest of the world," Miani told Insider.

These partners and allies are all united in their desire to avoid an oppressive China on their doorstep that could upend regional peace. But if it came to blows, they would be valuable allies and already prepared to deal with Chinese forces through their decades of training with US special operators.

Green Beret teams already in countries in the region will also have a head start if fighting breaks out and could slow down or distract Chinese forces, buying the US and its allies valuable time to deploy their forces.

"The SF Regiment can be America's most potent tool for drawing Chinese divisions away from that purpose," Miani said. "This will require FID in some regions to impede Chinese conquests and unconventional warfare in areas where China already holds sway."

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate.

Read the original article on Business Insider
US President Donald Trump greets Rep. Mike Kelly and his wife Victoria upon arrival at Erie International Airport in Erie, Pennsylvania on October 10, 2018. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

A congressional ethics watchdog says Rep. Mike Kelly's wife may have made an illegal stock purchase.

A report found "substantial reason to believe" she used insider information for the purchase.

Kelly previously violated the STOCK Act by not reporting a stock purchase on time, Insider reported.

There is "substantial reason to believe" the wife of Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly profited by thousands of dollars on a stock purchase she made using "confidential information" she learned through her husband, according to an Office of Congressional Ethics report released Thursday.

In April 2020, Victoria Kelly purchased between $15,001 and $50,000 worth of stock in Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., an Ohio-based steelmaking company. Prior to that, the company said it would shut down their plant in Kelly's district unless former President Donald Trump's administration helped it compete with foreign producers, the report said.

Kelly lobbied for the company to the Trump administration, which complied with his request on April 28, 2020, according to the report. Victoria Kelly made the stock purchase the following day, days before any public announcement.

"The purchase occurred just after her husband, in the course of his official job duties, learned confidential information about the company," the report said.

Kelly's office did not respond to Insider's request for comment, but a spokesperson told the Associated Press in a statement that Kelly has always been "open and transparent" about his finances, and has filed regular disclosures.

As the Associated Press reported, neither Kelly nor his wife have been criminally charged.

The ethics office recommended that subpoenas be issued for both of the Kellys, noting that both of them declined to cooperate with the ethics office's review. The report also recommended that Kelly's chief of staff and former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross be subpoenaed as part of the investigation.

Story continues

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK) Act was passed in 2012 to address insider trading and conflicts of interest in Congress. The law requires lawmakers quickly report any trades made by themselves, their spouse, or a dependent child.

The Kellys violated the Stock Act earlier this year, Insider previously reported.

In June, Kelly failed to report that his wife purchased between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of shares in Beauty Health Company until more than seven weeks after a STOCK Act-mandated deadline required he report the purchase.

Kelly is among 43 members of Congress identified by Insider and other news organizations as having violated the STOCK Act.

Read the original article on Business Insider
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP)  Alabama players once again got to light up those celebratory cigars after another win over border rival Tennessee.

This one just didn't come quite so easily for the first three-plus quarters.

Bryce Young passed for 371 yards and two touchdowns, ran for two more scores and led No. 4 Alabama to a dominant fourth quarter and a 52-24 victory Saturday night over the Volunteers.

Brian Robinson ran for 107 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Crimson Tide (7-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) score 21 of their 28 fourth-quarter points in a little over six minutes.

Its a special rivalry to the Alabama fans and the players so we wanted to just have fun with it while we can, Robinson said.

That fourth-quarter flurry turned a mostly competitive game against the Volunteers (4-4, 2-3), fueled by Hendon Hooker's 282-yard passing performance, into another lopsided final score.

The offense answered and we kept putting up points, Tide coach Nick Saban said.

The result was Alabama's 15th consecutive win in the border rivalry, with the previous five having an average margin of 33 points. And the players got to return to the field after it was over to light up and celebrate.

The Tide monopolized the ball for more than 40 minutes and converted 15 of 20 third-down plays. Tennessee was 2 of 13.

Young, a leading Heisman Trophy candidate, completed 31 of 43 passes and turned five of his frequent scrambles into first downs or touchdowns.

John Metchie caught 11 passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns. Jameson Williams gained 123 yards on six catches.

Hooker was 19-of-28 passing with three scores after . But he had a fourth-quarter pass intercepted by Jalyn Armour-Davis, who returned it 47 yards to set up another 'Bama score.

I thought Hendon battled all night long, Vols coach Josh Heupel said. "I thought he was really efficient for the most part during the football game.

I thought he continued to fight and play in the second half and had some big-time plays.

Story continues

Hooker's status had been uncertain after a lower body injury sustained against No. 12 Mississippi.

I was kind of just going day by day, he said.

Tennessee's Cedric Tillman had seven catches for 152 yards, including a 70-yard TD early in the fourth when Hooker hit him in stride down the right sideline.

That came quickly after Young pump faked, then ran and dove over the goal line for a 6-yard touchdown to open the fourth for a 31-17 lead. He bobbled the ball near the goal line before falling on it.

Thirty seconds. Two scores. But that one had to be reviewed before the on-field ruling was upheld.

I was initially talking to the side judge, and he said the box didnt have a view for it to be overturned and that he had crossed the goal line based on the footage they had, Heupel said.

Then Alabama struck again, with Young launching a 65-yard bomb to Williams. That set up Robinson's 15-yard touchdown that effectively quashed the Vols' upset hopes.

Im not going to be negative about the game, Im not going to be negative about our team, Saban said. Really positive about the way they went out there and kept competing in the game and even though everything wasnt perfect we made the plays that we needed to make to win the game.

THE TAKEAWAY

Tennessee: Too many penalties (12 for 98 yards), too few rushing yards (64) is a hard combination to overcome against Bama. But the Vols hadn't scored that many points against the Tide since a 51-43 overtime win in 2003.

Alabama: Got off to a sloppy start with a roughing the kicker penalty setting up a Vols touchdown and a fumble inside the Tennessee 10 along with a blocked punt later. But the defense stood firm on some key drives and the offense delivered plenty of big plays.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Alabama figures to stay put in the rankings with No. 2 Cincinnati and No. 3 Oklahoma both winning close games and top-ranked Georgia off.

FACING FORMER TEAM

Alabama linebacker Henry To'oTo'o, who transferred from Tennessee, downplayed facing his former team.

Playing Tennessee, it was fun, he said. A huge rivalry game. Being able to see my guys that I played with, it was fun. It was just the next guys on the schedule."

UP NEXT

Tennessee visits No. 15 Kentucky after an open date.

Alabama has an open date before hosting LSU.

___

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25. Sign up for the APs college football newsletter: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25
"We'll have strike teams that go into communities, engage through relationships, through community health workers, through our existing partnership with community residents and be able to offer vaccine to those who want it that may not be able to come to a larger site," Avula said.

But this booster shot rollout is slightly more complex than the first round of vaccinations.

While mixing and matching could make it easier on providers, there may be a challenge in planning and anticipating need. Booster shots are also a separate product from the one slated for 5-to-11-year-olds.

The Moderna booster shot authorized on Thursday is a smaller dose than the initial shots - still from the same vial - which is different than the regular third dose recommended for immunocompromised people in August taken at least four weeks after the second Moderna vaccine.

The initial goal of booster shots was to prioritize the people with severe risk to COVID. But the guidelines are not exactly restrictive. Its definitions of what counts as a "high risk setting" or an occupation that places an individual at severe risk of contracting the virus are broad.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be travelling to Rome, Italy and Glasgow, United Kingdom from 29th October 2021 to 2nd November 2021 to attend the 16th G-20 Summit and the World Leaders Summit of COP-26 respectively, said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

PM Modi will also hold several bilateral meetings, including with the Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi. He will also hold numerous bilateral meetings on the sidelines of COP-26, including with the Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson.

This is a developing story.
Her death shouldnt have happened, Union sets should be safe sets, said Liz Pecos, president of IATSE Local 480.

Production on Rust was halted after the shooting. The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website.

The crew member that spoke to the AP said he never witnessed any formal orientation about weapons used on set, which normally would take place before filming begins.

He also said only minimal COVID-19 precautions were taken even though crew and cast members often worked in small enclosed spaces on the ranch.

The crew was initially housed at the Courtyard by Marriot in Santa Fe, according to the crew member. Four days in, however, they were told that going forward they would be housed at the budget Coyote South hotel. Some crew members balked at staying there.

We packed our gear and left that morning, the crew member said of the Thursday walkout.

The Los Angeles Times and Variety also reported on the walkout.
He said he earned an associate of arts degree and spent hours honing his woodworking skills while trying to stay out of trouble.

Every chance Ive had, I tried to better myself, he added.

I believe I have matured and grown up. Im not the same person that I was. Im sorry for what I did, said Jenkins, who hoped he would get the opportunity to spend time with his mother before she passes if he is granted a release.

Osborn broke down talking about the events that led up to a 1988 incident in which he and two other co-defendants talked an acquaintance into giving them a ride to a party but then shot and robbed him in a rural area, which netted the inmate a kidnapping conviction from the Scott County incident.

I know what I did was horrible, he told an Aug. 5 commutation panel. I regret it every day, what I did. There is no excuse for what I did. I apologize. If I could take it back, I would.

During his July 28 hearing, Bear said he has faced his demons from Vietnam in battling post-traumatic stress disorders while in prison, saving up $14,000 in hopes of eventually gaining release and living in Keokuk with his wife of three years.
CEDAR RAPIDS  If he had known someone was keeping score, state Sen. Rob Hogg says he might have tried harder.

Still, the Cedar Rapids Democratic wasnt surprised to learn that hes the most active Iowa legislator on Twitter and Facebook, according to Quorum, a Washington-based public affairs software company that tracked the social media posting of lawmakers in 50 states since the beginning of the year.

Hogg, who was elected to the Iowa House in 2002 and the Senate in 2006, has posted to his Twitter and Facebook accounts 3,994 times between Jan. 1 and Aug. 25, Quorum said.

That sounds about right, Hogg said.

He finds social media a useful tool for communicating with not only his southeast Cedar Rapids constituents, but Iowans in general. Hogg doesnt post as often about legislation as he does about the coronavirus pandemic, the destruction of existing prairie land near his Otis Road home for a rail car storage yard and, more recently, about the upcoming United Nations Climate Change conference beginning Thursday.

Social media, I think, can be useful, said Hogg, who is not seeking re-election in 2022. The trick is for people not to get dragged down in it and forget about other things.
Does any other country do that? In Paris, Metro stops are named for French generals and French military victories, not Russian or British ones. Yet the U.S. apparently had no problem glorifying the leaders of a violent white supremacist insurrection.

Of course, this was a war between the states, and one key goal when it ended was to reunite the country. If we were going to welcome Southerners back into the fold, we couldnt very well view them all as traitors and enemies in perpetuity.

But we were under no obligation to glorify their vanquished cause or memorialize their leaders. Besides, the military installations didnt get named in the immediate aftermath of the war as an act of spontaneous reconciliation. They were named many years later.

So how did it happen?

It seems that many of the posts were established around the time of World War I  about 50 years after Robert E. Lees surrender at Appomattox. The country needed camps to house and train troops. Southern towns feverishly lobbied for them and for the economic benefits they would bring.
Meanwhile, the Department of Defense prepares for confrontation with China, and issues worst-case assessments of Beijing. The recent war scare in China required several calls from former secretary of defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, as well as the postponing of a naval exercise in the South China Sea, to calm waters. An underwater collision involving a U.S. nuclear attack submarine in the South China Sea last week should serve as a wake-up call to the policy and political communities mired in group think on China. Chinese foreign policy experts have compared the dispute in the South China Sea to the Cuban missile crisis.

We hear nothing from the departments and agencies of government that could address the issue of China more realistically with measures to enhance bilateral relations and temper the public atmospherics. The Commerce Department should be focused on economic security and civilian technology to counter the Pentagons emphasis on military security and technology. According to a recent Politico article, the Commerce Departments Bureau of Industry and Security  central to technology trade with China  suffers from a lack of strategic direction and insufficient resources. There is no discussion of returning to the Washington-inspired Trans-Pacific Partnership, a regional trading association best suited to competing with China in East Asia.
North Plattes Board of Adjustment and Planning Commission will both meet Tuesday in a rare instance in which both panels are scheduled for same-day meetings in consecutive months.

The five-member adjustment board will consider a setback variance for a proposed storage building north of the Union Pacific tracks during its meeting at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Planning Commission members, who will meet at 5:30 p.m., will take up a trio of items related to planned residential lots between South Willow Street and U.S. Highway 83 west of Menards.

The Board of Adjustment meets on an as-needed basis, while the Planning Commission meets monthly unless it has no pressing business. Both will meet in the City Hall council chamber, 211 W. Third St.

Harvey Benes, who wants to build a 40-by-100-foot storage building at 801 N. Miles Ave., wants the adjustment board to allow a 5-foot setback for both its side yards for consistency with other buildings north of his lot.

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Current zoning regulations require a 10-foot setback, but that would limit the width of Benes proposed building to 30 feet, Planning Administrator Judy Clark said in a memorandum.
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Our goal is to have an actual game (in April) but this (the mash-up) is kind of a good way to get back into (competition), Hecht said. Thats the most exciting thing that were all looking forward to  just to bring derby back to North Platte.

The Flatrock team began practicing again on Jan. 23 at the Maranatha Camp & Retreat Center after shutting down the program last March.

Hecht said the team was able to recruit some new players during a recruitment push that included a virtual meet-and-greet event over Zoom this spring.

The Flatrock team was formed in 2012 by five players who skated in local parks. The team rebranded a few years back from its initial name of the Heartland Hellcats. It competes in four to six matches in a normal season.

Flatrock has no other events planned after Oct. 30 outside of the April date for now. Hecht said the group will likely wait until January to create a schedule for the coming year.

The mash-up is also a fundraiser for the Rape/Domestic Abuse Program, which provides assistance for residents in six area counties.

A look at the Flatrock teams Facebook page shows the players have been involved with a number of community organizations.
Actor Brandon Lee died in March 1993 after he was shot in the abdomen while filming a scene for The Crow. Money and safety issues, including severe burns suffered by a construction worker, already had plagued the production. A makeshift bullet was mistakenly left in a gun from a previous scene and struck Lee during a scene that called for using blank rounds. OSHA fined the production $84,000 for violations found after Lees death, but the fine was later reduced to $55,000. After the fatal Rust shooting on Thursday, an account run by Lee's sister Shannon tweeted : No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period.

Camera operator Sarah Jones was run over by a train in February 2014 during the filming of a Gregg Allman biopic in rural Georgia. The death of Jones, 27, and the injuries of other crew members hit by pieces of a metal bed frame that was on the train tracks as part of the production, put a heightened industry focus on film set safety. The crew filming Midnight Rider did not have permission to be on the tracks but were not expecting a train while filming the bed scene. Prosecutors filed criminal charges against the films director, who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing charges. He was sentenced to two years in jail but released after a year and fined $74,900 by OSHA. Jones' parents created a foundation dedicated to improving safety on film and television shoots.
BARDSTOWN, Ky. (AP)  Striking workers at one of the world's largest bourbon producers voted to a ratify a new contract Saturday, a day after announcing a tentative agreement with Heaven Hill.

About 420 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23D went on strike about six weeks ago, forming picket lines at the company's operations in Bardstown, Kentucky, after rejecting a previous contract proposal.

The tentative agreement came just days after the company signaled it intended to start hiring permanent replacement employees for bottling and warehouse operations. The workers then voted to ratify the five-year agreement Saturday, according to a statement from Heaven Hill.

We look forward to welcoming our team members as we transition back to normal operations, company spokesperson Josh Hafer said in the statement.

The dispute revolved around health care and scheduling, the latter a sign of the bourbon industrys growing pains as it tries to keep up with global demand.

Family-owned and operated Heaven Hill produces Evan Williams, one of the worlds top-selling bourbons. The spirits companys other brands include Elijah Craig, Henry McKenna, Old Fitzgerald, Larceny and Parkers Heritage Collection.
CURTIS  Agricultural advocacy and industry influence will be among topics discussed in Curtis on Monday at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture.

We Must Stand United is the theme for the 6 p.m. free public forum by Trent Loos, a Nebraska ag producer who represents the Protect the Harvest organization.

Loos, who has served on the PTH Advisory Committee since May, will present the groups views on agriculture, land use and the rural-versus-urban divide across the country.

There are solutions that each of us can be a part of on the local level, in our communities, said Theresa Lucas McMahan, PTH program manager and board of directors secretary. It is time to rally our troops in support of our local government, county sheriff, county commissioners, and school board members.

Loos, who farms in central Nebraska with his family, has hosted his radio program Loos Tales for 20 years. The program airs in 19 states, on nearly 100 stations, and is on the internet.

A frequent traveler and public speaker, he has presented programs in 48 states, Japan, Australia, Ireland and Canada. Loos encourages those in agriculture to stand up and proudly tell consumers about life on their family farming (and ranching) operations.
Where used medical gloves belong. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Tens of millions of counterfeit and already used medical gloves  that were cleaned, repackaged, and sold as new  have been imported into the United States from Thailand during the pandemic, according to a monthslong CNN investigation published on Sunday. CNN also reports that what it discovered is likely just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this kind of illicit trade, as the ongoing surge in demand for nitrile gloves continues to outstrip supply.

These were reused gloves. They were washed, recycled, Tarek Kirschen, a Miami-based businessman who ordered about $2 million of gloves from Paddy the Room, the Thailand-based company at the center of the report, told CNN. Some of them were dirty. Some of them had bloodstains. Some of them had markers on them with dates from two years ago  I couldnt believe my eyes.

According to import records, U.S. distributors acquired almost 200 million gloves from the company across the pandemic, and its not clear what happened to them after they arrived.

Federal authorities in the United States and Thailand have both launched an investigation into the trade of secondhand gloves, CNN noted. The investigation by American authorities was prompted earlier this year after one U.S. company warned the Food and Drug Administration and Customs and Border Protection that it had received shipments filled with visibly used gloves from Paddy the Room. The Thai firm responsible for the substandard glove shipment continued operation until at least July; meanwhile, it took the FDA five months after being tipped off about the counterfeit gloves to send out an alert to all its port staff that shipments from Paddy the Room should be seized. By that time, more than 80 million more gloves from the company had been shipped to the U.S., according to the records CNN reviewed.

The report explains that the flow of subpar gloves into the U.S. was made easier by the FDAs temporary suspension of import regulations in order to ease the pandemic-fueled PPE shortage. In a statement, the agency told CNN that companies shipments only fall under the relaxed rules as long as the gloves conform to the consensus standards and labeling cited in the guidance and where the gloves do not create an undue risk.

Meanwhile in Thailand, authorities have done at least ten raids in recent months and seized used gloves being repackaged into counterfeit nitrile boxes; according to CNN, some authorities even found workers scrubbing used gloves by hand in wash bowls and dyeing them with food coloring, then drying them with laundry machines.

Theres an enormous amount of bad product coming in, Douglas Stein, an expert in the nitrile-glove industry, told CNN: an endless stream of filthy, secondhand and substandard gloves coming into the U.S. of which federal authorities, it seems, are only now beginning to understand the enormous scale. Stein called nitrile gloves the most dangerous commodity on Earth right now.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer

Andreessen Horowitz has invested $5 million in a group chat.

In September, the trendsetting VC firm joined Pace Capital, Kindred Ventures, Spark Capital, and the 31-year-old New York Timesappointed It Girl in venture capital Li Jin in putting a total of $10 million into Friends With Benefits, which describes itself as the ultimate cultural membership powered by a community of our favorite Web 3 artists, operators, and thinkers bound together by shared values and shared incentives. While it may be that, in practice its mostly a chatroom on the app Discord, populated by around 1,500 crypto enthusiasts, artists, NFT collectors, and various hangers-on. Sure, by the standards of venture capital, $10 million is not a huge sum. But how much money has your friends group chat raised so far?

Admittedly, Friends With Benefits, which was co-founded by Trevor McFedries, the former DJ who created the infamous CGI influencer Lil Miquela, is something more than a group chat: Its also a DAO, or decentralized autonomous organization. Decentralized, as in, it has no executive leadership; autonomous as in self-governing; and organization  well, thats the group part of group chat. At their simplest, DAOs are blockchain-based co-ops with software constitutions, and in the last few weeks theyve overtaken the imaginations of the crypto-futurist visionaries and feverish speculators who turned NFTs into in a multibillion-dollar market over the course of the pandemic  plus a bunch of eager, hopeful artists, marketers, and programmers.

To the true believers, DAOs are the institutional building blocks of Web 3, the blockchain-grounded decentralized utopia promoted as the future of the internet by a group of savvy investors, artists, futurists, and developers. Web 3 is owned by the builders and users, orchestrated with tokens, and combines the decentralized, community-governed ethos of Web 1 with the advanced, modern functionality of Web 2, as a widely circulated Twitter thread by Chris Dixon, the Andreessen Horowitz partner who led the investment in Friends With Benefits, put it. In this vision, a corporate-controlled, data-siphoning social network like Facebook could be replaced by a quasi-democratic DAO, in which new features and products would be debated and voted on by user-owners, with decisions and regulations transparently enforced by contracts encoded on the blockchain. And unlike with Facebook, user-owners who wanted to quit could easily sell their stake in the DAO on the blockchain, pocketing any profit. (Thats one story, at least. To detractors, Web 3 is at best a colossal waste of energy  literally  and at worst a pyramid scheme, a vast, distributed, utterly transparent scam bent on suckering the greedy and naive with promises of wealth and transformation.)

If you really buy into it, though  if youre steeped in the ultra-positive, hyper-utopian, get-rich-quick culture of Web 3 as it flourishes across Twitter and Discord  youre not just looking to change the web. Sure, the future of privacy, finance, art, thats all nice. But as DAO evangelist Tracheopteryx recently told CoinDesk: DAOs are a bet on the future of human organization itself.

But. Uh. What actually is a decentralized autonomous organization? Described by breathless fans, DAOs can suggest a kind of group or corporate intelligence, a hive mind distributed across the blockchain. This ambitious, almost otherworldly conception of DAOs and their potential evokes the Scottish sci-fi writer Charlie Strosss book Accelerando, in which spacefaring humans at the edge of the solar system encounter an abandoned megacomputer populated by semi-sentient scavenger corporations that attempt to use the new arrivals as currency. The humans escape with the assistance of an alien slug that turns out to be a pyramid scheme  trying to hide from its creditors by masquerading as a life-form.

Alas, so far, no DAOs have managed to instantiate themselves as slugs. (Whether they are pyramid schemes trying to hide out remains an open question.) For now, they tend to resemble an odd mash of more familiar legal, financial, and social forms. A running, self-deprecating joke among enthusiasts holds that a DAO is just a group chat with a bank account  which, for practical purposes, is about right. But its also a little bit joint-stock corporation, a little bit cryptocurrency, a little bit gamer clan, a little bit message board, a little bit multilevel-marketing scheme.

The basic structure of a DAO revolves around a crypto token, tracked on the block chain, that serves as a measure of an individuals stake in the group. In most DAOs, tokens reward participation, guarantee voting rights, and, importantly, are tradable  which means they can accumulate value.

As a concrete example, take Friends With Benefits and its token, $FWB. There are one million FWB tokens on the blockchain, some portion of which are circulating on the open market at any moment. To join Friends With Benefits, you can buy FWB tokens with ether (or another cryptocurrency of your choice). As with any other crypto, those tokens can ultimately be sold on to any willing buyers. Around a third of the million FWB tokens is, at the moment, retained in a community treasury, to be distributed according to the wishes of the DAO, with a set number disbursed every few months to members, based on contributions like providing liquidity or serving on committees. People who own at least 75 FWB tokens can propose resolutions in binding elections where each token is equivalent to one vote. The $10 million VC investment in FWB  an exchange of tokens from the treasury to USDC, a dollar-equivalent crypto stablecoin  was put through such a process, passing with 98.07 percent of the vote.

Theoretically, the point of this structure is to encourage members to work for and promote the organization without needing executives or administrators  or even, for that matter, knowing who your collaborators are. Because each token represents a financial stake in the DAO, all members are incentivized to both increase their token holdings by doing beneficial work for the organization, and to drive up the value of their own holdings.

Well, wait  a voice pipes up  thats all well and good, but what kind of organizations are we talking about? What are DAOs supposed to do? The true believers will tell you: anything. The most straightforward and obvious use is as a mechanism for pooling capital for investment. The most famous DAO is probably still The DAO, a collective investment vehicle launched in the spring of 2016 that described itself as a new breed of human organization  borne from immutable, unstoppable, and irrefutable computer code. The DAO raised more than $150 million in ether  14 percent of all the tokens outstanding  from 11,000 investors. TechCrunch called it a paradigm shift in the very idea of economic organization. Six weeks after it was launched, an attacker managed to exploit The DAOs code to transfer $60 million of its ether holdings into a separate personal account. (Deciding that irrefutable computer code actually meant somewhat refutable computer code, the ethereum community controversially voted to reset its blockchain to immediately before the attack, effectively erasing the transaction.)

DAOs of a more recent vintage are rather more secure and somewhat less vocally ambitious. PleasrDAO and Flamingo, for example, were both created to pool funds for speculating on NFTs, while VentureDAO is an attempt to build a venture-capital investment group inside a DAO structure. There are DAOs devoted to helping other DAOs with technical problems. You can imagine (and many have) a journalism DAO, where writers or subscribers are token-holders who could vote on, say, magazine covers, or assignments. The crypto publication Decrypt did exactly this in an experiment in June, resulting in the semi-decentrally assigned article What Are Flash Loans? The DeFi Lending Phenomenon Explained.

And Friends With Benefits? What does it do? Well, it hosts events (Diplo came to a party thrown during the bitcoin conference in Miami in June) and publishes a newsletter, but right now, more than anything else, its a group chat in a Discord chatroom. You can join the chat only if you own 75 FWB tokens; if you own a smaller number of tokens, you can still access other services, like the newsletter (for people who hold at least one FWB token), or community-authored guide to Miamis hidden gems (for members who hold ten tokens). The token-gated party that Diplo attended required that attendees hold a certain number of tokens. Whether or not any of that sounds worthwhile to you, its clearly worth a lot to someone: FWB tokens  listed only on a decentralized crypto exchange called Uniswap  currently trade at around $116, down from a high of nearly $200 earlier in September, leaving the DAO with a market cap of $116 million. (Not bad for a year-old group chat.) That money will be put to use through the decentralized decision-making process, spearheaded by volunteer committees formed to answer questions like, If FWB is building the ultimate cultural membership, what are the suite of digital and physical products that power that ecosystem?

Though I have no doubt they will find an answer, arguably the genius of Friends With Benefits is its recognition that, at least right now, a DAO doesnt really have to do much of anything at all. If its cool and exclusive  and if its members promote its coolness and exclusivity  demand for tokens will rise. Squint one way, and it sort of looks like Soho House, if it were structured like a frequent flyer program and run like an anarchist squat co-op. Squint another way its a cool kids clubhouse re-imagined as a MLM. After all: Pyramid schemes align incentives pretty well, too.

The real utopian hope for DAOs is not necessarily in what they do, anyway, but what they promise: ownership. Two decades of the Web 2.0 era have helped connect a majority of human beings on the globe to one another, but almost exclusively on private platforms over which users have little, if any, say. In some cases, youre handing over data to corporations who turn around and sell it without recompensation; if youre a creator or business, you might be building an audience on a platform in which you have no stake.

The token structure aims to change that. You can imagine a DAO where tokens are distributed based on contributions to a company or platform  for creating content, or even usable data. What if all that posting you do on Twitter gave you a say in the companys decisions? Maybe more to the point, what if quitting meant getting paid out for all your contributions to the platform?

You can see why the DAO structure has attracted attention from net artists and other members of the creator class. Ownership is a powerful concept to people who contribute enormous value to internet properties without seeing much in the way of compensation  a category of person that includes not just professional creators but just about anyone who posts or scrolls through social media. A Vine owned by creators and users, rather than by a fickle parent company like Twitter, might have survived and thrived.

But creating more equitable ownership structures doesnt necessarily translate to more democratic control, or a better end product. In most DAOs, tokens still act like shares, so whatever person or people own a majority have the most power. A YouTube where Jake Paul and the kid from Charlie Bit My Finger collectively own a significant portion of the platform would certainly be better for Jake Paul. But would it be better for anyone else on or watching YouTube?

In theory, the tradability of tokens acts as a counterbalance against majoritarianism. If you dont like the direction Jake and Charlie are taking DAOTube, you can sell your tokens and buy into a different video-sharing DAO. This sounds fair  but it also sounds unstable. Megaplatforms are most useful and effective when theyre reliable and widespread. Platforms that rise and fall on the movements of a token market are anything but. To people for whom the Web 2.0 landscape of global megaplatforms represents a steady if sometimes suffocating communications and professional infrastructure, the ever-fluctuating DAO marketplace doesnt necessarily look like an improvement, no matter how much more ownership and democracy it promises. On the other hand, to financial speculators, for whom volatility is an opportunity and not a drawback, it looks like paradise.

Of course, it needs to be said that this is all extremely theoretical. For all the philosophical and technical claims made about the unique status of the DAO, very little legal or regulatory work has been done to clarify what, exactly, they are in the eyes of the government. (Wyoming has passed a law that allows DAOs to operate as LLCs.) What the law is clear about, though, is that any token that gives a person a legal, old-fashioned ownership stake in an organization is a security  and subject therefore to regulation by the SEC. Gary Gensler, the current SEC commissioner, has expressed a willingness, if not an eagerness, to lay down the law in crypto world  which means that, for now, DAO token-holding represents only a social promise of ownership. If you want your rights enforceable by the U.S. government, you need to be subject to its regulations.

The current mania for DAOs emerges from the colorful froth around NFTs, the tradable digital assets whose market has exploded over the last year off the backs of bored young gamers, sneakerheads, day traders, and others prone to gambling. Newly minted and would-be crypto millionaires looking for new bets or places to stick their bulging ethereum wallets are naturally attracted to DAOs, whose exclusivity and premium on early adoption can offer the same kind of social cachet as the scenes ubiquitous and expensive NFT Twitter avatars, called PFPs. DAOs also offer a kind of next step into the Web 3 scene, for those who discovered it via NFT speculation: a way to further immerse yourself in the ideology, culture, and, especially, the community of the blockchain. (Dapper Labs, a major player in the NFT world, recently purchased FWB founder McFedriess start-up, Brud; McFedries will lead a team focused on DAOs.)

The first generation of cryptocurrency devotees tended to oversample privacy paranoiacs and antisocial cranks attracted by the technologies trustlessness  the supposed ability to do business with people over the blockchain without needing to trust them or even know who they were. The scene around Web 3 and DAOs certainly claims a set of political commitments  to sovereignty, ownership, and decentralization  but in place of constitutional mistrust and skepticism is a bubbly, earnest, exhaustingly enthusiastic sociability. Congregating in Discord chat rooms and on Twitter, NFT traders, DAO members, and other Web 3 enthusiasts wish each other gm (good morning) and reassure their compatriots wagmi (we are gonna make it).

When I spend 10 min on Instagram, I always end up feeling like shit and depressed, as if everyone else's life was better than mine.



When I spend 10 min on Twitter, I always end up feeling motivated to create more, because WAGMI.



LFG!!  Johan Lolos (@LeBackpacker) October 21, 2021

We should start the *third* largest GM thread ever. No other words allowed - only GM.



I'll start...



GM  dheerajshah.eth  (@DheerajShah_) October 13, 2021

If youre a young person (the world of DAOs skews young, for obvious reasons), sick of culture-war stalemate and alienated by the dominant social platforms online, why wouldnt you be drawn toward an endlessly upbeat community like this, promising you both vast wealth and positive change? Especially if that community is able to provide you some kind of socially valuable exclusive membership? (This may be one reason why the potentially quite high environmental costs of a crypto-token-based economy rarely get much attention among Web 3 devotees.) I mean, I get it: Hanging out with cool people, changing the world for the better, and becoming a millionaire are three of my top interests, as well. But for all the promises of social revolution, the basic rhetoric of the DAO movement is extremely familiar: Its a merger of Silicon Valleys techno-optimism, televangelists prosperity gospel, and your high-school classmates Facebook posts about Herbalife. Well-known figures, like Friends With Benefits co-founder Cooper Turley, a 25-year-old self-described crypto millionaire, use their Twitter accounts as motivational seminars, LinkedIn style:

NFTs are a full time job.



The more you tap in, the more you win.  Coopahtroopa  (@Cooopahtroopa) October 4, 2021

Looking for the next market trend?



Join a DAO.



Looking to make friends?



Join a DAO.



Looking to go beyond pure speculation?



Join a DAO.



In case it isnt obvious



Join a DAO.  Coopahtroopa  (@Cooopahtroopa) October 3, 2021

Treat life as a positive sum game.



Give without expecting anything in return.



Share your blessings with the homies.



Learn together, grow together, win together.



Gn.  Coopahtroopa  (@Cooopahtroopa) October 22, 2021

Turley and the many other seemingly earnest boasters who populate the Web 3 scene will profit quite handsomely if their evangelical tweets drive up the value of their tokens, NFTs, and other crypto holdings. But if its hard to separate out genuine commitment to the political and social vision of Web 3 from token-holders talking their books  well, isnt that the whole point?

Max Read is the author of Read Max, a newsletter about technology.
According to the lawsuit, Ramirez Ruiz tried to dodge the question multiple times, not wanting to share his specific immigration status and knowing that he was not required to share anything other than he was legally authorized to work in the U.S. However, he finally disclosed that he was a DACA recipient.

The recruiter responded, Ooh, that might be an issue, telling Ramirez Ruiz that he would check out the issue internally before sending his resume to a hiring manager. Two days later he received an email from the recruiter saying, [It] does not look like we can move forward due to immigration. Ramirez Ruiz sought a further explanation from the recruiter but did not receive a response.

The allegations in the lawsuit provide helpful guidance to employers. Although the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 allows employers to ask whether an applicant is legally authorized to work in the U. S. and whether sponsorship is required, the recruiters in this case allegedly went far beyond that, asking whether Ramirez Ruiz was a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident, and the program under which he was authorized to work.

After he disclosed he was a DACA recipient, he was told that might be an issue and was ultimately denied employment because of his immigration status.

Under IRCA, an employer may not question an employees documents or responses if they meet I-9 requirements. If Ramirez Ruiz was legally authorized to work in the U. S., did not require sponsorship, and was the most qualified candidate for the position, he should have been hired and allowed to choose the documents to submit to prove his identity and employment authorization in accordance with IRCA.

Tammy C. Woolley is Senior Counsel in the Opelika, Alabama, office of Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP, and can be contacted at twoolley@constangy.com. This article is adapted from a recent Legal Bulletin written by my colleague Will Krasnow and published to our clients.
General Hospital

Days of Our Lives

The Young and the Restless

The Bold and the Beautiful

This Week in Soaps history...

October 23-27, 2006

This week on the US Daytime Soaps...Annie breathed a sigh of relief when the judge ruled in her favor and didn't order a DNA test for Emma, but she was unaware that the judge had also asked Child and Family Services to open an investigation into the matter. Emma disappeared.Krystal told Tad that Adam was the father of her child. David ordered a DNA test to compare Krystal's baby's DNA to Tad's DNA. David told JR that Josh and Babe had slept together, but JR later assured Babe that he didn't believe David's claim. Josh confronted David.Erica assured Jack that their marriage wasn't in trouble, but his concerns grew when he discovered that Jeff's room was right next to hers.Amanda made the mistake of telling Del that she loved Jonathan, much to Jonathan's dismay. When Jonathan told Amanda that he didn't feel the same way about her, she claimed that she had only told Del that she was in love with Jonathan to get Del off of her back.Sean felt guilty about the fact that he had been Colby's first lover.Spike developed a fever.Oakdale was devastated to lose one of its most beloved residents when Detective Hal Munson died in the line of duty. The tragedy drew some couples closer together, including Gwen and Will, and Carly and Jack. Margo decided to hold a memorial service at Yo's, since Hal would have wanted everyone to have a good time and not be sad and mourning him. Many shared their wonderful memories of Hal and talked about how he had touched their lives. Later, Jack and Carly broke the news to Parker at the police station and gave him Hal's badge.Meanwhile, Simon feared for Carly's life after Spiro threatened to harm her if his loan wasn't paid up. When he couldn't find Carly, Simon rushed to the police station and was jealous to see her there with Jack and Parker.Katie fought her growing feelings for Simon, and Margo encouraged her to stick with Mike. Carly and Simon plotted to steal Vienna's crown jewels in order to pay Spiro back, but Jack put a damper on their plans.Adam arrived in town because of his father's death and decided to stay. When he bumped into Jade, not realizing who she was, he invited her to go with him to the ball.Even though Lily warned her not to, Jade couldn't resist the offer. Tom decided to accept Craig's job offer so he could keep an eye on his brother-in-law. Paul hired a private detective to follow Craig, and continued to be jealous of Craig's obvious attraction to Meg. Emily agreed to spy on Craig for Dusty. At the ball, everyone was convinced that Craig was up to something, then a magician made him disappear.Shane appeared in court with Stephanie to testify on Taylor's behalf as to what he had witnessed on the night that Darla had died. Having told Stephanie that he had done his part, Shane said that he still intended to be rewarded as promised. Even though the two prior counts of a DUI and obstruction of justice stood, Taylor was allowed to change her plea of guilty to not guilty.Stephanie and Jackie argued over which one of their sons should end up with Brooke. Brooke, talking to both Nick and Ridge, separately and at different times, warned them both that things had to change between them. At her dinner party, Bridget told Felicia and Dante that she was not carrying Nick's child, but Dante's. As the tension between the two women continued, Jackie and Stephanie became mentally and physically abusive with each other. Saying more than what was necessary to Stephanie, Jackie received a slap across the face from Stephanie, and Jackie went to her son. Having seen the bruise, Nick confronted Stephanie and told her to keep clear of his mother, or she would live to regret it.Donna brought the children over to see Stephanie as Ridge was headed over to Brooke's. As the children arrived, shortly behind them, arriving within minutes of each other, was Jackie, who carried on with the argument again. Donna and the children did a quick exit to the ice cream store, but Donna realized that she didn't have the keys to the car and headed back inside for them. Stephanie, trying to stop Jackie from talking, headed upstairs to be rid of her; Stephanie told Jackie that she could remain downstairs, but when she left, to please shut the door behind her. Jackie, in a huff, followed Stephanie upstairs instead, where a push and shove match began. With one shove from Jackie and one back at her from Stephanie, Jackie fell over the railing and onto the floor below, where Donna saw Jackie land. Jackie was rushed to the hospital, where it was determined that she was suffering from bleeding on her brain, which could lead to permanent damage.Just as Brooke was about to tell Nick and Ridge who she was picking, Stephanie called with an urgent plea for Ridge to tell Nick that his mother was in the hospital. Nick told Stephanie that his mother's fall had better have been an accident, or he would make her life hell. Ridge surprised Brooke by taking her into a supply room, where he told her that he wanted to be a family again with her, and he wanted her answer immediately.Thorne told Taylor that he needed answers from her about Darla's death. Shane looked at Phoebe and told her that since she was 18, she was considered a woman.Carrie destroyed Lexie's career by reporting her to the medical board, but Abe decided to stand by his wife. Tek was determined to find a way back into Lexie's life.Sami received no sympathy from Marlena and Roman and fell right into E.J.'s trap, until Lucas and Will decided that they should all live together as a family, even if Sami and E.J. were not a romantic couple. Carrie and Austin were married and left Salem for Switzerland, but not before Sami tried to disrupt the wedding. Marlena and John were scheduled to be married as well, but the attack on Steve and Kayla by the "gloved hand" postponed the ceremony. that the residents of Salem were unaware that E.J. Wells was the "gloved hand" and that Patrick was taking orders from him to destroy the Bradys. Bo and John worked together to try to uncover Patrick's actions.Stephanie was crushed when she learned that Max wanted to break up with her. Max stood up for Mimi in front of Shawn.Lorenzo offered Diego the opportunity to join the family business. Diego accepted.During a confrontation with Ric, Alexis finally revealed that she knew about him sleeping with Sam. She ended their marriage and threw him out. She had a similar confrontation with Sam, who decided to leave before Alexis could ask her to. Ric tried to snatch Molly, but Sonny, Jason, and Sam intervened and quickly returned her to Alexis. Carly found Alexis in bad shape and rushed her to the hospital. Sonny and Carly suggested to Alexis that they could care for the girls while she was in the hospital.Carly told Jason that the paternity test had revealed that Lucky was the father. Later, Jason admitted to Sonny that he was disappointed with the results of the paternity test. Liz later burned the paternity test.Skye introduced her daughter, Lila Rae, to the family.Luke authorized Robin and Patrick to give Laura the experimental drug LS-49. He didn't want the children to know so that they wouldn't be burdened with the responsibility if things should go wrong. Laura emerged from her catatonic state. Her last memories were of preparing for the wedding. She seemed to have no recollection of Rick's death or the events that had precipitated it. She was shocked when she saw her children, realizing for the first time that significant time had passed.Ava allowed Olivia to go free, but both women could not seem to find any ground to accept their mother/daughter relationship.Jonathan broke up with Tammy so that he could be a husband and father to Lizzie, even though he was sacrificing his happiness. Lizzie admitted to Tammy that she had always had feelings for Jonathan.Josh asked Cassie if he could move in with her. Harley and Gus were excited about their pregnancy news.Reva's farewell party turned disastrous as Billy went off the wagon, Jonathan met her at the bridge where she planned to end it all, and, minutes before she was to take the plunge, Josh called her cell phone to plead with her to retrieve Billy. Reva returned, but she collapsed and needed to be rushed to Cedars, where Billy finally had to reveal Reva's secret to Rick, Lillian, and Mel: Reva was dying from breast cancer; Billy called Josh, who rushed to Cedars and was shocked to find Reva on the brink of death.Meanwhile, Cassie and R.J. had no idea that their trip to Paris would be cancelled due to the devastating news.Natalie tried to go back to work but realized quickly that there were too many reminders of John. She turned to her mother for advice. Viki and Natalie both took off their rings as a symbolic gesture to let go of their grief. Natalie kissed Vincent but later rebuffed him when he made a confession.Evangeline took over Nora's case at her request.Kelly went into premature labor. Spencer took responsibility for her premature labor and warned that he was the only one who could help her.Cole and Starr grew closer. Her parents were impressed with Cole when he defended Starr's honor. Todd and Blair drew close to kissing.Rex continued to search for Todd's son.Dorian told David that she was starting to fall in love with Clint.Renee took the news that Asa might have fathered a child with Emma badly.Theresa finally tracked down J.T. and was about to pay him off, but Gwen foiled her plan.Chad was still sneaking around in motel rooms with his mystery lover.A murder was committed at Sheridan's cottage, and Chris was the prime suspect.Fox managed to outsmart Miguel in the finance department. He was capable of giving Kay stability and financial security, but all Miguel had to offer was love.Ivy's secret was out in the open. Miguel pressured Kay until she spilled the beans. She admitted that she had known Ivy had hired David to pose as Grace's first husband and that John was not really Grace's son. Sam was devastated by the news, and the entire family put most of the blame on Kay.Rebecca and Julian reconnected and returned "passion" to Passions.Nick and Phyllis got married in New Mexico.Michael and Lauren found out that before Sheila had died, she'd had plastic surgery to look like Phyllis.Victor admitted to Nikki that he had trusted Jack too much.Professor Korbel continually interrupted Colleen and J.T., claiming to need Colleen's help with work.Billy and Kevin fought over Jana.Drucilla worried that she might go to jail.Michael found out that Carmen had had affairs with married men. When Carmen discovered Jack's secret about owning Jabot, Jack schemed to get her out of town. Brad worried that Carmen's case would reveal the secret about his identity.Aaron Neville appeared for the opening of Neil's new club, Indigo. Neil found Carmen lying dead by a Dumpster near his club. Source 3 and
A timely post by the Financial Times covers the threat to the global auto industry as a result of the power crisis in China limiting supplies of key components used across a range of industries. But specific to the post is the making of aluminum alloys. Almost 90% of the worlds magnesium production comes from China, the Financial Times reports. The Chinese government ordered roughly 35 of its 50 magnesium smelters to close until the end of the year due to power shortages.

The report quotes Barclays analyst Amos Fletcher, who said: Thirty-five percent of downstream demand for magnesium is auto sheet  so if magnesium supply stops, the entire auto industry will potentially be forced to stop.

Rising aluminum alloy costs

The threat is real enough. Unfortunately, as we wrote recently on this issue, flagging up the risk to supply contracts and the potential for cost pass-throughs by aluminum mills, it is not confined to magnesium.

Since our last post, MetalMiner has seen first-hand examples of mills seeking to renegotiate extrusion contracts due to rapidly escalating raw material costs  specifically silicon, manganese, and magnesium. All of those rely on high power consumption smelting or refining processes. Furthermore, the world has become dangerously reliant on China for these materials.

Related: Forget $100, Options Traders Now Betting On Oil Prices Hitting $200

Power costs have always been a driver of aluminum prices. However, if one metric ton of aluminum takes 16-megawatt hours (MWh) of power, then by comparison one ton of magnesium takes 35-40 MWh, making power costs an even more critical cost driver for the metal.

Chinese export prices rise, inventory lags elsewhere

Price rises are due to both a rapid escalation in Chinese export prices and to the lack of backup inventory in Europe and elsewhere.

The U.S. has one major domestic producer. However, it relies in part on imports. While aluminum mills are unlikely to go short in the U.S., prices could certainly rise.

Europe is not so fortunate.

The Financial Times reported European Aluminium has asked the EU and national governments to work urgently towards immediate actions with their Chinese counterparties. It fears Beijing will now direct the remaining production to its vast domestic aluminum industry, as reserves in Europe are likely to run out by the end of November (if not before).

So far, examples of aluminium mills seeking to renegotiate prices or postponing deliveries are few and far between. However, price increases and supply shortage are a recent development. Most mills are, for the time being, issuing advisories, taking the first steps to warn clients of an impending problem, positioning themselves for what could be to come if they either cannot get supplies or the cost increases become so exorbitant that mainstream mills need to apply alloy surcharges, or possibly both.

By AG Metal Miner

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Govt-and-politics

Who is the Nigerian billionaire at the heart of Fortenberry's indictment?

At the center of allegations against Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who was indicted this week by a federal grand jury, is a 75-year-old Nigerian billionaire of Lebanese descent named Gilbert Chagoury.

For reasons that remain publicly unclear, Chagoury funneled $30,000 to the Nebraska congressman, who is charged with three felonies related to an ensuing FBI investigation. It is not the first time Chagoury, who lives in Paris and is a player on the international stage, has sought to purchase influence or been linked to corruption.

Chagoury

Chagoury is not a household name in Nebraska, but hes certainly a household name in Nigeria, Matthew T. Page, a former State Department expert on Nigeria, said in a phone interview this week.

The tycoon is well-known among people who look into corruption challenges around the world and among people who know about some of the most corrupt episodes in recent Nigerian political history, Page said. Chagourys role of adviser to a notorious Nigerian dictator in the 1990s is well-documented, and he has had other brushes with scandal since.

Page said he didnt expect to see a Nigerian  and especially not this particular Nigerian  at the center of the story about Fortenberrys alleged crimes. But, he said, it demonstrates that dodgy lobbying or dodgy connections between foreign figures who have been implicated in corruption and U.S. officials happen more often than one might think.

Chagoury, the oldest of eight children whose father emigrated from Lebanon to West Africa, was not born into wealth, according to a PBS Frontline story. He went into business with his father-in-law. Later he went into business with his brother, according to Frontline.

Chagourys family now controls a conglomerate of businesses that includes construction companies, flour mills, insurance, water bottling and purification, hotels  the list is sprawling.

The billionaire also has a legacy of large philanthropic donations. His gifts landed his name and his wifes on a gallery at the Louvre Museum in Paris. In court documents, he has mentioned financial support of St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital and establishing a medical school at Lebanese American University among his causes.

In the '90s he contributed money to a group supported by Democratic Party officials. Hes also donated at least $1 million to the Clinton Foundation.

Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry pleads not guilty to federal charges The defense attorney representing Rep. Jeff Fortenberry against allegations that he misled and obstructed a federal investigation came out swinging during the congressman's initial court hearing.

More recently he funneled money to the campaigns of four Republican U.S. politicians, including Fortenberry and former Nebraska Rep. Lee Terry, according to an analysis of federal election filings by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Because hes a foreign national, Chagoury is barred from contributing to U.S. elections. According to Fortenberrys indictment, Chagoury arranged for $30,000 to be contributed via other people to the congressmans campaign during a February 2016 fundraiser in Los Angeles.

One of those conduits was Toufic Baaklini, who the indictment describes as a U.S.-based businessman who was a consultant for Chagoury and helped him with financial dealings in the U.S. Both Baaklini and Chagoury agreed to cooperate with the federal investigation and pay fines  Baaklini agreed to pay $90,000, Chagoury $1.8 million.

Baaklini is listed as president and chairman of the board of directors at In Defense of Christians, a group aimed at protecting Christianity in the Middle East. Chagourys website links him to that organization, too. It states that Chagoury instigated and funded a convention in 2014 to keep Christians where Christianity was born and was named Honorary Chairman of In Defense of Christians, which held its first historic summit in Washington, D.C.

Fortenberry has championed that same cause and has ties to the same organization. In Defense of Christianity posted a video of his remarks at one of its roundtables on social media earlier this year and had also posted a video of his remarks at a dinner hosted by the organization in 2018.

Former Rep. Lee Terry speaks about Fortenberry indictment "You got to know these people ... they tell you they're citizens, and then all of a sudden they're not," said former Rep. Lee Terry, who said he donated the money that originated from Gilbert Chagoury.

How many of you have ever been able to tell Toufic Baaklini no? Fortenberry asks in opening his remarks, looking into the audience for a show of hands. Its unanimous: no one, he said, before joking that Baaklinis wife had raised her hand.

Like Fortenberry, Chagoury is devoutly Catholic  hes ambassador to the Vatican for the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia. According to Chagourys website, which features several photos of the occasion, he was knighted in December 2016 in the Order of Pope Pius IX and had already been knighted in the Order of Saint Gregory the Great.

Fortenberrys wife, Celeste, has said her husband went to California in 2016 to accept an award from a Lebanese community group in Los Angeles for his work 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.

Fortenberry, an eight-term Republican from Lincoln, is accused of lying and misleading authorities who investigated Chagourys donations. The congressman has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty during a court hearing this past week. For now at least, the congressman has forfeited his committee assignments, as is required by House GOP rules.

Chagourys illegal campaign contributions do not represent the first time he has been implicated in a money-funneling scheme.

He was once an adviser to Nigerian military ruler Gen. Sani Abacha, who seized power in 1993. Abacha ruled the country with an iron and corrupt hand, a Washington Post story said. He was known for overseeing a web of corruption, says another Post story, and stealing billions of dollars from the country. Hes also known for the execution of writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who opposed the military regime and criticized the oil industry for environmental harm.

Federal grand jury issues indictment for Rep. Jeff Fortenberry A federal grand jury indictment charges U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry with one count of scheming to falsify and conceal material facts and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators.

According to the Post, Chagoury thrived and profited during Abachas regime, which lasted until his death in 1998  securing contracts to build government buildings, supply the countrys fertilizer, buy its crude oil.

In the PBS Frontline story, Nigerias top anti-corruption prosecutor said Chagoury enabled Abacha to steal billions while making money for himself. The editor of an influential energy industry newsletter called him the gatekeeper to Abachas presidency.

After Abacha died, lawyers tracked billions in stolen money to bank accounts across the globe, and some were under Chagourys control, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Chagoury was convicted in Switzerland of laundering money and aiding a criminal organization in relation to the stolen money, according to Frontline, and he agreed to a plea deal in which he would pay a fine of a million Swiss francs and give $66 million to the Nigerian government. Swiss authorities later expunged his conviction. In a separate case in Nigeria, he won immunity from prosecution by agreeing to return money.

Page, the former U.S. State Department expert on Nigeria, called this time of life, during Abachas reign, Chagourys rise. The businessman became influential during the corrupt dictatorship, Page said  and he has continued to be a power player both in Nigeria and internationally.

During Abachas rule, Chagoury also tried to gain influence with the administration of President Bill Clinton. According to the Post, Chagoury gave $460,000 to a voter registration group that he was steered to by Democratic Party officials. After that, he had meetings with National Security Council officials and a seat at a White House holiday dinner, according to the Post.

Political insiders split on potential fallout from Fortenberry indictment Fortenberry has said the allegations, linked to a federal investigation into illegal campaign contributions from a Nigerian billionaire, are untrue and a betrayal after he cooperated with the FBI.

Chagoury is listed on the Clinton Foundations website as cumulatively giving between $1 million and $5 million through 2020.

In 2013, the former president attended a celebration of Eko Atlantic, a Chagoury Group development project on land reclaimed from the ocean in Lagos, Nigeria.

And, especially, I thank my friends Gilbert and (Gilberts brother) Ronald Chagoury, for making it happen and keeping their commitment, Bill Clinton said at the podium.

A 12.2-acre site in Eko Atlantic has since been chosen for a new U.S. consulate.

According to the Los Angeles Times, by 2015, U.S. diplomats had selected property there as the preferred site. A State Department spokeswoman did not answer questions about whether the Clintons had recommended the location, according to the Times, but said it was on a list of possibilities a real estate firm submitted in 2012.

On May 15, 2019, during the Trump administration, the U.S. Mission in Nigeria signed a contract to acquire the site, according to an announcement on its Facebook page. Just this month, the U.S. Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations announced a design-build contract had been awarded for the new consulate.

During Hillary Clintons presidential run, the Los Angeles Times reported, based on information from government agencies, that Chagoury was denied a visa in 2015 due to allegations that linked him to Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

Chagoury sued the agencies. The suit ultimately settled, with the government confirming that Chagoury had never been on a U.S. sanctions list and that financial institutions could work with him.

An attempt to reach Chagoury was unsuccessful, and his brother, Ronald, did not respond to an email.

Mark Corallo, who was listed on In Defense of Christians board of directors until this week and was once Chagourys spokesperson, said in an email that hes no longer representing him.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry expects to be indicted for lying to FBI but says charge is false A source said an indictment could come as early as Tuesday. The nine-term Republican from Lincoln said he is being wrongly accused. We will fight these charges. I did not lie to them, he said.

In the Times story, Corallo called Chagoury a peace-loving man who has been unfairly scrutinized because of his ties to the Clintons. He also has denied involvement in providing material support to any terrorist organization.

Officials have not explicitly said why Chagoury chose Fortenberry for the illicit donations. Justice Department documents said Chagoury 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.

Someone like Chagoury  a wealthy individual seeking to to gain influence in Washington, D.C.  could target a politician who he thinks might be more easily influenced, Page said. Or the connection could be circumstantial, driven by the people lobbyists know well or the product of a chance meeting.

Regardless of motivations, the episode illustrates the perils of politics being fueled by money, Page said. Dirty money from elsewhere can percolate to far-off places, including Nebraska, he said. In this case, it has had an outsized impact: It could potentially jeopardize the career of one of the states longest-tenured politicians.

After The World-Herald published this story on Sunday, Oct. 24, In Defense of Christians announced that Toufic Baaklini had resigned from all responsibilities at IDC. The press release also noted that Mark Corallo left the board in 2017 and that the organization had failed to remove his name from its website. As of Monday, the group's website no longer lists members of its Board of Trustees, Board of Directors, Executive Team, Board of Advisers and Emeritus Board. It also no longer shows its Religious Advisory Board, Congressional Advisory Board and 2021 Congressional Champions.

Fortenberry got $30,000 from illegal foreign donor; spokesman points out he wasn't charged Fortenberry hired a lawyer and set up a legal expense fund  but was not charged  after being named in reports about a foreign national who illegally gave money to U.S. campaigns, the spokesman said.

Related
Powell didnt run in 1996, and Hagel was elected that year to the U.S. Senate.

Colin thought a lot about running, Hagel said, but he told me it just wasnt who he was. He never had that ambition. He talked frankly about the racial issue and thought America just wasnt ready for a Black president. His wife, Alma, was absolutely opposed to his running and what it would do to their family. She even feared assassination.

President George W. Bush named him secretary of state in 2001. On 9/11, Air Force One landed at Offutt and Bush spent an hour and a half at the underground command center before flying back to Washington to address the nation.

In a United Nations speech in 2003, Powell contended that Iraq possibly had weapons of mass destruction, which turned out to be untrue. Colin regretted it, Hagel said He lived with it every day. He said, This will be on my tombstone.

The cumulative contribution of his work was great, said Hagel, a Republican who served as secretary of defense (2013-15) under President Barack Obama. Hagel last spoke with Powell by phone two months ago and knew that his friends health was failing.
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (AP)  A former West Virginia sheriff's officer filed a lawsuit Friday afternoon accusing the Wood County sheriff of making derogatory and sexist comments about her and another officer, inappropriately touching a female officer and creating a hostile work environment, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel reported.

The suit was filed by former Sgt. Della D. Matheny, who said Sheriff Steve Stephens' behavior eventually led her to quit the department in July 2021. It alleges the problematic behavior dates back to around 2012, when Stephens first made inappropriate comments to (her) about her weight and appearance. He made comments to (her) about how her butt looked in the pants she wore.

The lawsuit also claims Stephens added Mathenys ex-husband as a friend on Facebook and asked him questions about Mathenys sex life. And it says Stephens was obsessed with another officer, Chief Deputy Tasha Hewitt.

Calls to Stephens by the newspaper were not returned.

Fridays lawsuit says Hewitt filed a formal complaint in March 2020. The investigator recommended the Wood County Commission implement sexual harassment training, which was never done, the lawsuit states.
Making the latest of several trips to the country during his 30 years in office, Bartholomew is expected to address concerns ranging from a pending restructuring of the American church to his churchs status in his homeland, Turkey.

Bartholomew is scheduled to receive an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame on Thursday in an event highlighting efforts to improve Orthodox-Catholic ties, centuries after the two churches broke decisively in 1054 amid disputes over theology and papal claims of supremacy.

Just as his influence is limited in Turkey, it is also limited in the Eastern Orthodox communion, rooted in Eastern Europe and the Middle East with a worldwide diaspora. Large portions of the communion are in national churches that are independently governed, with the ecumenical patriarch having only symbolic prominence, though he does directly oversee Greek Orthodox and some other jurisdictions.

The Russian Orthodox Church, with about 100 million adherents, has in particular asserted its independence and influence and rejected Bartholomews 2019 recognition of the independence of Orthodox churches in Ukraine, where Moscows patriarch still claims sovereignty.
Abarry said that Goita assured the delegation that the transitional authorities are not here to stay in power and any commitments the transitional authorities will make will be in the interest of Malians.

Goita seized power in August 2020 by overthrowing Malis democratically elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who had only served two years of his five-year term after being reelected in 2018. Goita eventually agreed to a transitional government led by a civilian president, but ousted those leaders in May after they announced a Cabinet reshuffle that sidelined two junta supporters without consulting him.

Goita was then sworn in as president of the transitional government in June. He has pledged to keep the country on track to return to civilian rule with an election in February 2022.

The U.N. diplomats also raised the issue of security in Mali. The peacekeeping mission in Mali remains the deadliest of all the U.N. missions since 2013.

The Malian authorities have insisted that they are putting much emphasis on security challenges, and MINUSMA (the U.N. mission in Mali) is ready to help them, especially in Central Mali where there is the highest threat of terrorism, said Nicolas de Riviere, Frances ambassador to the U.N.
Indeed, to witness politicians openly rigging the electoral process by installing loyalists to count votes, to watch them lionize insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol, to see them wheedle and rationalize rather than stand up for the country they purport to love and to know all of this happens while we, the people, watch TikToks, play Madden and otherwise go on with business as usual  as if the nation did not face a threat to its very existence  is to realize that not only can it happen here but that arguably, it already is.

Its a realization that forces a choice: Shall we embrace fidelity or surrender to the storm? For some of us, thats no choice at all. Hence, you people  less a call for division than a belated recognition that division has already come, that some of us have seceded from common cause, common ideals, common hope  and that the rest of us must recognize that, if only so that we can be clear-eyed about saving ourselves.

To put that another way: If I never see another cable-news reporter doing interviews in some red-state diner to help the rest of us understand the people there, it will be too soon. How about we send that reporter to a blue-state shopping mall to help the people in the diner understand the rest of us? What they will learn is they have no monopoly on frustration or anger.
There is an answer  a reason why its right to remove Robert E. Lee from his pedestal in Richmond, Virginia, yet wrong to exile Thomas Jefferson from a place of honor in American life. It requires grappling with the full complexity of human beings and the mixed legacy of history. We must, as William Shakespeare said, Take them for all in all, that is, judge them for their entire lives, not just a part.

People who defend monuments to Lee on the grounds that he played an important role in our history are confusing significance with honor. Lee surely played a huge role in our history, but as the leader of an army whose aim was to destroy the union. That made him a textbook traitor. As Ulysses Grant put it in his memoir, recalling his feelings upon accepting Lees surrender at Appomattox Court House, Lee had fought valiantly but for a cause that was one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.
The encouraging news is that methane is relatively short-lived in the atmosphere. As a result, a reduction in methane emissions, scientists explained to The World-Herald, can provide one of the quickest and most effective ways to reduce climatic warming. Nebraska cattle producers have an important opportunity to contribute to this environmental progress.

To address these multiple challenges, producers must embrace innovation. Such a course will be nothing new for the industry. Adaptive change has been the story of Nebraska cattle production for generations. Thats why the beef sector is generating more product today than in 1975 but with 29% fewer cattle. Its why U.S. cattle producers as a whole use 19% less feed and 12% less water per pound of beef compared with production 30 years ago. And its why, over the past three decades, the the beef sector has increased its water efficiency rate by about 80%.

That innovative spirit is needed now to help producers move past the current challenges. On the environmental front, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is a vital partner. UNL has long been in the forefront of natural resources analysis, and its current field work on cattle methane reduction offers great promise. Through this collaboration between university and producers, Nebraska can be a global leader in demonstrating the beef sectors significant help on the climate front.
Political money corrupts

I have no idea if Jeff Fortenberry may be guilty of the current charges against him. I am quite sure, however, that as long as politicians have to rely on donations from interested parties in order to get elected or reelected, we will continue to have the best elected leaders that money can buy.

We must eliminate political contributions for all sources, open or dark in order to have any hope of having officials who have any real devotion to serving the public interest. There are other ways to do this! They may not be cheap, but corruption costs more.

Richard Beam, Omaha

System is broken

Wake up, Nebraska! We are about to go the way of Arizona (purple), they are taking down Jeff Fortenberry and get ready for him to be replaced by a Democrat. I am in no way defending him. Im conservative and have plugged my nose and voted for him because the party doesnt put anybody else up but him. He needs to go, and this is just more evidence why term limits are needed.
Streetwise: Giving Thanks in 2017

by Frank Dunnigan

November 2017

As we gather in the month of November to give thanks, this columns usual remembrances of jellied vs. whole cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with-or-without lumps, and the merits/horrors of mincemeat pie will be put aside temporarily. Instead, it is time to reflect on how thankful all of us should be for those individuals who have occupied special places in our lives, but who have now left us.

Among my own classmates from St. Cecilia School, St. Ignatius, and University of San Francisco, several have passed on this past year. Out of hundreds of former co-workers, at least one familiar name appears among the Chronicles obituaries every week or so. Many of my long-time Parkside and Sunset District neighbors have also departed San Francisco for the very last time recently. With the loss of each one, I am reminded of the many shared moments that we enjoyed together as our paths crossed in this life.

One of those people in particularwhose passing on Fathers Day this past June left a considerable void in the lives of many of usis Paul Rosenberg.

Born to a Richmond District couple in 1945, just a week after VE Day, Paul was a true San Franciscan with deep roots. His parents were also San Francisco nativesand one set of his grandparents held their wedding ceremony at the old Temple Beth Israel on Geary near Fillmore Street well over 100 years ago. Paul spent his entire life in the Richmond District, eventually returning to the home that he once shared with his parents as his family expanded to include his beloved wife Sherrie and their son Coleman. Three generations of his family all attended the same neighborhood elementary school, and over the years, three generations of Rosenbergs have been active members of various San Francisco labor unions.

A precocious only child, Paul graduated from Lafayette School, Presidio Junior High, and Lowell High Schoolwith many of his cousins as fellow Lowell alums. At this point, he would likely interrupt me to chime in with three-and-a-half years of old Lowell at Hayes and Masonic, and final semester at new Lowell on Eucalyptus (which he deliberately pronounced YOU-CAL-IH-PEE-TUS) Drivefrom the fall of 1962 until mid-year graduation on January 29th of 1963. Paul was a faithful attendee at the annual meal hosted by that first graduating class from new Lowell on the exact date of their graduation. The group also met on several other occasions each year.

From an early age, Paul took an interest in state and local politics, often memorizing the names of candidates and ballot propositions from the daily newspaper. He also studied the winners and the runners-up, along with dates and offices held by previously elected officials, as well as the outcomes of hundreds of old propositions and ballot measures. Most of this encyclopedic knowledge was contained in his vast mental storehouse, but he admitted to having extensive paper and photo files, too.

Continuing in his own words, I went back East to collegeCal-Berkeley. It came as no surprise to anyone who knew him that his 1967 Bachelors Degree was in bio-statisticsa rare and difficult field in which he achieved great success while many of the rest of us ended up pursuing far less arduous courses of study as Liberal Arts majors.

Following college graduation, Paul began his career as a statistician with University of California-Berkeley. He then moved to a new position in the health industry for nearly a decade before joining the City & County of San Francisco Human Services Agency in 1976. There, he worked for the next 33 years at a series of increasingly responsible assignments managing computer systems that controlled the income and daily well-being of tens of thousands of local residents. At his retirement ceremony nearly a decade ago, lavish praise was made for his technical talents, along with his fairness and just treatment of co-workers and members of the public who depended upon his departments work.

Paul was nearly 40 years old when he and Sherrie Katz were married in 1984. When friends questioned him about why he waited so long, his answer was simple: Its an important life step, and you have only one chance to get it right. To everyone who saw the couple together, it was clear that both of them made excellent choices in selecting one another. Sherrie recently pointed out an amazing piece of trivia, When Paul traveled to my familys home in Michigan for our engagement party in 1984, it was literally his very first visit to a place outside the Pacific Time Zone. He hated to travel, saying that he did not need to go anywhere else because he was completely happy living in San Francisco.

Five years later, their son Coleman was born just one week prior to the Loma Prieta earthquake, thus rounding out the family. Paul and Sherrie were two only children who had an only childand the three of them formed a warm and loving family unit.

Just like his late father, Paul was an avid local tour guide for visiting family and friendswith a detailed knowledge of all things San Francisco. My own introduction to Paul came 10 years ago at a WNP evening get-together at the Cliff House. When I approached him for some background on a man named Sullivan who once served on the Board of Supervisors. Pauls quick response convinced me that he was the master of this subject: Which one: J. Joseph, James J., John J., or John T?

He was certainly the only person in the world who could name every single member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors since 1850, along with the years that they served, and he could tell stories about many of them. In fact, when a city-run website was established several years ago, Paul was astounded to find that it included a grossly inaccurate listing of previous Board members, and that some Supervisors of recent vintage, including Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, had not been included at all. He quickly provided City Hall with a corrected listing of all previous Supervisors and their terms in office, going back more than 160 years.

Even after taking this extraordinarily generous step, Paul shook his head in silent disbelief when a City Hall employee stated publicly that the Boards 6-to-5 female majority that was seated in January 2017 was a first for San Francisco. He quickly reminded the Clerk of the Board that women had held an identical majority more than 35 years earlierfrom 1981-85: Ella Hill Hutch (succeeded by Willie B. Kennedy), Wendy Nelder, Louise Renne, Carol Ruth Silver, Nancy Walker, and Doris Ward. Paul then noted that there was an even larger 7-to-4 female majority serving from 1993-97: Roberta Achtenberg (succeeded by Susan Leal), Angela Alioto, Sue Bierman, Annemarie Conroy (succeeded by Mabel Teng), Barbara Kaufman, Willie B. Kennedy (succeeded by Leslie Katz), and Carole Migden.

Pauls favorite Supervisor was almost certainly the late James B. McSheehy (1874-1944) who served on the Board from 1918-1942. Among McSheehys numerous mangled quotations, Paul (and also the late Herb Caen) loved to cite these classics:

 This building has all the earmarks of an eyesore.

 The handwriting on the wall is just as clear as a bell.

 You cant straddle the fence and still keep your ear to the ground.

 This comes with a few cents of being a vast and fabulous sum.

 Let us take the bull by the tail and look the matter squarely in the face.

 This is crouched in language which is perfectly oblivious.

Several years ago, when members of a lunch group were lamenting the 1963 closure and subsequent demolition of Market Streets Fox Theatre, Paul announced, You can place the blame on those mean old grown-ups who were living and voting in San Francisco back then, and he then related the story behind Proposition I (eye) on the November 1961 ballot. That measure called for the City & County of San Francisco to buy the Fox and to operate it as a performing arts center. Paul explained that passage required only a simple majority of the votes cast50% plus one votein order to save the classic theater. Astoundingly, given the public lamentations both then and now about the loss of this architectural treasure, the measure was rejected with nearly a 60% NO vote. Sadly, the steel ball and bulldozers were on the scene just 18 months later.

Among Pauls many hobbies, he was deeply devoted to all things related to MUNI, which was his preferred mode of daily transportation. As an historian, he could look at a vintage photo of rolling stock and immediately name the model, route number, and street location of the image. He was also often able to identify the year, based on the political ads displayed on the side of the vehicle, and someone once joked that given a few minutes, he could probably name the operator as well. In 1977, Paul was among a small group of rail fans and history enthusiasts who helped found the non-profit Market Street Railway, serving as president and remaining active in its operations for decades, often wearing the groups distinctive logo in the lapel of his coat.

These and other historical interests led to Pauls involvement as a founding member of the San Francisco History Association in 1982. That group began after several memorabilia collectors met at the first San Francisco Fair at the Moscone Center. While exhibiting their collections, these individuals began discussing their shared interest in local history. They decided to form a group, the San Francisco History Collectors Association, to exchange stories and information about historical artifactsand as the group grew, the word Collectors was dropped from the name. Paul was a regular attendee and also a speaker at many of the groups monthly meetings, and in 2013, he received the organizations prestigious Dr. Albert Shumate Memorial Award. In October of 2017, that group announced the formation of the Paul Rosenberg Legacy Fund.

Paul was naturally drawn to Western Neighborhoods Project soon after its founding in 1999. He was an early member of the groups Board of Directors and continued to serve on its Advisory Board. Over the years, he researched and wrote about topics ranging from a mysterious Richmond District bombing in 1927 to the so-called fake rocks on Point Lobos Avenue opposite the Cliff House, to paved-over, forgotten streetcar tracks at 22nd Avenue and Balboa. In addition, he was an invaluable resource and fact-checker extraordinaire for many of the rest of us involved in WNP. He was a popular guest on the groups podcast, participated in a number of History Minute videos, assisted as a regular commentator on walking tours, provided much-needed staffing at public events, and was a dedicated volunteer who helped identify thousands of vintage images on the OpenSFHistory site for the enjoyment of others.

In 2008, Paul and his long-time friend Noah Griffin (the two were only a few months apart in age and grew up near one another on 40th and 41st Avenues in the Richmond District) teamed up as co-Masters of Ceremony at an early Richmond History Day event. The gathering, which supported local libraries, also served to remind residents of the long and varied history of an important San Francisco neighborhood.

Everything Paul was interested in, he was interested in passionately. He was a true Renaissance man, active in many circles, a generous benefactor of numerous causes, and great friend to many. In Yiddish, he might be called a menschwhich translates to a person of honor and integrity.

We are fortunate to have passed this way together with himsomething for which we can all be grateful as we sit down around the Thanksgiving table with family and friends this November.

Not surprisingly, Pauls life accomplishments are far too numerous to be contained in a single column, so tune in next month for the conclusion, "Remembering a Life Well-Lived."

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There are two kinds of people in this world: those who love seeing movies by themselves and those who dont. Personally, I find it depressing, like the FearDotCom incident of 2002 that served as a real sobering glass of cold water to the face about my life at that point.

But let me tell you about a certain movie I probably should have seen on my own, and for that I bring to you, from the May 9, 2003, Journal Gazette, House of 1000 Corpses, a movie whose tale is just as much a story of 90s nostalgia as it is oughts-stalgia.

See, by the early 90s, horror movies were in the doldrums; stalwarts Freddy, Jason and their respective slasher ilk had run their respective courses and had yet to be reclaimed by nostalgia; meanwhile slick, lurid thrillers marketed to your parents like Basic Instinct, Single White Female and (the insane) Color of Night, among many others, had risen to take their place.

Then in 1996, Drew Barrymore, in a legendary sweater, got iced before the opening credits of Scream, and boom, horror movies were back!

Or  at least a certain kind of horror movie was. For while there were a few creative outliers such as the Invasion of the Body Snatchers in high school trifle The Faculty or the R-Rated Mad Magazine gross outs of Idle Hands, most were, as dudes like your older brother who still lived in the basement told you, essentially cookie cutter, teen-oriented Agatha Christie mysteries with blood, all chock-a-block full of freshly-scrubbed actors from the CW Network farm system, all perfectly fine with getting sliced-up onscreen, but all with obvious no-nudity clauses in their contracts.

But for those who still remembered the era of forbidden VHS sleaze, there were hushed rumors going round that Rob Zombie, front man of the 90s metal band White Zombie, was toiling in secret on a throwback 70s-style return to that old-school debauchery. Some of us even saw glimpses of it in the form of effectively shoddy trailers before movies as forgotten as 2000s The Watcher, perhaps the only movie in history where one of the stars was contractually obligated to be in it because someone forged their name on the contract.

But after that: silence. And for those of us that cared so deeply  we waited. Meanwhile numerous production deals fell through until eventually House of 1000 Corpses limped into theaters about five years after when it would have had the most impact.

I had to practically beg two of my friends to go see it with me. What a sales pitch that was; trying to convince them that they were about to see a real horror experience. Ridiculous. Ive learned since then that anytime someone comes up to you to tell you what the real anything is, the first thing you should do is give them a real shove out of your face.

House involves a car full of idiots driving through the south in the 70s hoping to get material to write a book on obscure roadside attractions when some local yokels suggest they try investigating the legend of Dr. Satan, and eventually all their poking around gets them is a stay at what I guess is the titular house, a rickety mansion in the sticks populated by a psychotic family who proceeds to trap, taunt, and torture all of them.

It only took about fifteen minutes before any excitement I had was replaced with the gnawing fear that I had, indeed, dragged my friends to a bad movie. Truth is, its amazing how woefully inert an 80-minute parade of deep-fried rubber-masked atrocities can seem after its been passed from editor to editor in an attempt to save it.

We stumbled out of the movie, still daylight outside, and I realized I had a lot of explaining to do about what I just made them sit through. I continued to say that I thought it was pretty good, even though I realize now I wanted it to be better than it was.

Positive takeaways were limited to some neat monsters at the end, the introduction of Sheri Moon Zombie, who justifiably became the femme fatale horror icon of the era, and the grubby, random interstitial segments that had the drive-in greasiness to them I wish the whole movie had. As I always suspected, these bits were filmed by Zombie himself in his basement while waiting for studios to decide if they wanted to give him more money.

Released in the trashy nu-metal era of horror that gave us Saw, Wrong Turn, Jeepers Creepers, and um, FearDotCom, 1000 Corpses should have fit right in, but it failed to find its niche and thus seemed like time wasted on everyones account, including the director who continues to show good taste by rebuffing claims its a lost cult gem by dismissing it as a lost opportunity.

Since then, Zombie has bravely continued on as a director, finally getting that big studio money rebooting Halloween in the great 2000s remake boom, making one almost-classic with The Lords of Salem and yestwo sequels to House of 1000 Corpses, both actually getting some mainstream critical respect.

A few years ago, at a wedding shower for a friend, someone went from table to table with slips of paper telling us to write down a nice memory we had of either the bride or groom to be. So, I wrote down the only thing I could think of: Sorry I made you sit through House of 1000 Corpses. It really was a lousy movie.

At which point a friend sitting next to me looking over my shoulder said, Wheres my apology?

Fair enough. Im sorry. Well, for the above and for what happened with Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2.

"The Throwback Machine" is a weekly feature taking a look back at items of interest found in the JG-TC online archives. For questions, comments, suggestions, or his "Song of the Day" recommendation, contact him at cwalker@jg-tc.com.

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BLOOMINGTON  The McLean County Detention Facility is nearly back to pre-pandemic staffing levels, but officials say a national shortage of health care workers could impact future recruiting efforts.

Jail Superintendent Diane Hughes said the medical department currently employs 11 staffers, ranging from full-time employees (two registered nurses, one licensed practical nurse, one office support specialist) to part-time LPNs or RNs who work on an as-needed basis.

By Nov. 8, there will be two full-time registered nurses employed at the jail, putting that figure at pre-pandemic totals.

At 12 employees, that means the facility will be just one employee shorter than they were in October 2020.

"What I'm told is part of it is the ... the nursing shortage, overall," Hughes told The Pantagraph. "Part of it is because of the nurses who are retiring. As far as COVID goes, obviously there's been some effect, but I don't think it's significant because we've covered all of the nurse hours."

The hardest part, she said, is recruiting early-career nurses to consider correctional facilities as a potential workplace.

Watch now: After Democratic criticism, Illinois redistricting map poised to change When Illinois Democrats released the first draft of their proposed congressional map last week, it was lambasted in familiar corners with Republicans and good government groups decrying it as a partisan gerrymander intended to elect 14 Democrats and only three Republicans.

"I think a lot of the newer nurses coming out of school, they just don't think of corrections. We try to do some recruitment for nursing when we go to job fairs for corrections," she said. "We will have nursing staff there whenever possible to help attract people."

The jail is at 104 W. Front St. in Bloomington.

Hughes said when staffing levels aren't full, extra work falls onto the shoulders of the employees who are still around.

"You're doing more with less people, but we do it," she said. "Once we get up to 12, it may only just be one (employee) down."

What adequate staffing means may differ depending on who's doing the defining. According to Camille Bennett, ACLU director of corrections reform, having a full staff depends on the need of the inmates.

"It comes down to how many people they have to care for and whether they have medical coverage," Bennett said. "People come into jail with a higher percent of medical issues than the rest of the general population. In some cases, it's dramatically higher. If you dont have access to medical care, on a 24-hour basis, for emergent issues, then you dont have adequate staff. Especially, you just cant neglect somebody whos having a heart attack. There always needs to be access to medical care."

Hughes said that the best way to subvert a potential shortage of jail-based medical workers is by convincing those starting out in the field that the work is rewarding.

"You're helping people who obviously are in a situation in which they need the support and the care while they're here," she said. "It's very rewarding and (inmates) are so appreciative of that. I think that's a huge aspect: serving the community, being able to help people who are at a time in their life that may not be the best time, but making sure that they get the care and the treatment and the support that they need while they're here."

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MACKINAW  The Tazewell County Sheriff's Office said Saturday afternoon that three are in custody on murder charges after a woman died in a shooting Friday night near Mackinaw.

A press release from the sheriff's office said dispatchers were told at 9:15 p.m. Friday that two people had been shot at a home on American Legion Road in rural Mackinaw.

Deputies got to the scene and found the victims inside the residence, the release said. Police identified them as 51-year-old Rebecca Bolin and 52-year-old Douglas Bolin.

The release said Rebecca Bolin was dead when police arrived, and Douglas Bolin was taken to an OSF hospital in critical condition.

The sheriff's office said two teenagers and a female juvenile are charged with first-degree murder.

Sage Raeuber, 19, and 18-year-old Nathaniel Maloney were named in the release as two of the murder suspects.

The sheriff's office, Illinois State Police and the Tazewell County State's Attorney's Office are investigating.

No further information was available at press time.

Contact Brendan Denison at (309) 820-3238. Follow Brendan Denison on Twitter: @BrendanDenison

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Illinois Democrats have unveiled a revised congressional map that sets up the potential for a second Latino district, two primary matchups featuring Republican incumbents and, surprisingly, a one-on-one primary battle between Democratic incumbents.

Unlike the first version of the map, the revision appears to more solidly entrench a 14-3 Democratic advantage over Republicans as the party seeks to maintain its solid majority in the U.S. House for the next decade.

The new map was released on Saturday afternoon, when Democrats could be assured little attention would be paid to the once-every-decade redistricting of the states U.S. House boundaries that could shape Illinois and Washington politics.

Reflecting a growing Latino population in the state, the new map would create an opportunity for a second Latino district in Illinois along with 4th District now held by U.S. Rep. Jesus Chuy Garcia.

The proposed 4th District would see much of its Northwest Side Latino population moved into a new district that stretches into the west suburbs to capture growth in the Latino community in Cook and DuPage county suburbs.

One prominent resident of the proposed 3rd District, which goes from the Logan Square neighborhood in Chicago westward to include parts of Wheaton, Winfield and West Chicago in the suburbs and would likely become a second Latino district, is Chicago Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, who chairs the City Council Latino Caucus.

With Democrats holding a narrow U.S. House majority, Illinois Democrats were under pressure to try to maximize their advantage over Republicans in the delegation in drawing new map lines

Still, Democrats created a one-on-one Democratic suburban primary pitting two-term U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove against freshman Democrat Marie Newman in a revised 6th District that runs from Lombard on the north to include the southwest suburbs that had been part of Newmans current 3rd District.

Newman would lose Chicago communities that would be moved into districts now represented by Democrats Garcia and Danny Davis of Chicago, and Robin Kelly of Matteson. Bridgeport residents testifying about the initial map complained that they were being split up, dividing Southwest Side and south suburban areas with common interests.

Newman also had complained about the original reconfiguration of her district in the map that was released Oct. 15. That map removed several city neighborhoods from her district and stretched westward to include rural areas along Interstate 80 around LaSalle and Ottawa. The district as originally drawn also put her in competition with six-term Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon.

With Illinois population loss hitting downstate rural areas hardest, the revised map now puts Kinzinger and Darin LaHood of Peoria in a sprawling district that stretches from the Wisconsin border south to include areas around Rockford, Peoria and Bloomington and east to Morris.

LaHood, a four-term congressman and staunch conservative, has been a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump. Kinzinger, a six-term congressman, has been an outspoken critic of Trump and his continued leadership role in the GOP, voted for the former presidents impeachment and sits on the Democratic-led panel reviewing the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

The Democrats original map had put LaHood in the same district as Mary Miller, a controversial freshman Republican from Oakland in east central Illinois who has embraced the far right elements of the Republican Party. Miller now finds herself mapped into a district which extends into deep southern Illinois area represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro, a four-term congressman.

In the city, Rep. Bobby Rushs district would run from parts of Bronzeville south and southwest to include Braidwood and Bourbonais. Kelly, the state Democratic chair, would be in a district running from North Kenwood south to Danville in east central Illinois.

These new proposed congressional boundaries are historic and reflect the great diversity present throughout the state, said state Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez of Cicero, the Democratic chair of the Illinois House Redistricting Committee. The proposal ensures minorities, as well as the rest of Illinoisans, have an equitable voice in representation in Washington.

Democrats are expected to approve the new map when state lawmakers reconvene in Springfield this week for the final week fall session  though it is possible the lines could change before a final vote.

The current U.S. House delegation makeup is 13 Democrats, five Republicans, but the state will only have 17 House districts for the next decade because federal census data showed Illinois losing population for the first time in state history.

Democrats control the legislature and the governors office, meaning no Republican votes are needed to pass a map.

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CHICAGO  Illinois Democrats have unveiled updated congressional maps that propose a second Latino-leaning Chicago area district and could mean primary matchups for two Democratic incumbents in the suburbs and in two other races featuring Republican incumbents.

Democrats, who control state government and redistricting in Illinois, released the revised maps Saturday. The maps come weeks after their first draft of boundaries that were also aimed at giving Democratic candidates an advantage in elections as the party fights to keep control of the U.S. House in 2022.

State legislators are scheduled to meet in Springfield on Tuesday and Wednesday to consider the maps, which are redrawn every decade based on census data. Illinois, which currently has 18 U.S. House members, will lose a congressional seat because of population loss.

Under the new maps, a proposed congressional district would connect Latino populations on the northwest side of Chicago with the city's West Side and western suburbs for a second Latino-leaning district, in addition to the one currently represented by U.S. Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, a Chicago Democrat.

"The changes made in this updated congressional map will help ensure the diversity of Illinois is reflected in Washington," state Sen. Omar Aquino, a Chicago Democrat who is chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee, said in a statement. "We appreciate the many advocacy groups and individuals that continue to guide our work with passion and dedication, as we remain focused on the creation of a fair map that will provide equal representation for all."

The new proposed maps also mean some potential incumbent matchups next year. The Illinois primary is in June.

First-term Rep. Marie Newman of LaGrange and two-term Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove, both Democrats, would be in the same suburban Chicago district. That's different from the first version of the maps in which six-term Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump, was drawn into Newman's district. The revised maps would put Kinzinger's hometown into the same sprawling district as four-term Republican Rep. Darin LaHood of Dunlap, a strong Trump supporter.

The revised map also means a potential GOP primary matchup between first-term Rep. Mary Miller of Oakland and four-term Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro.

The Illinois Republican Party and advocacy groups have blasted the mapmaking process as partisan and lacking transparency. Democrats held several public hearings, but almost all were without any draft maps for the public to comment on and were attended mostly only by lawmakers.

An Illinois GOP spokesman didn't immediately return a message seeking comment Sunday.

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GRANITE CITY  The number of patients from Texas visiting an abortion clinic in Granite City hasn't changed much, even since the state effectively banned abortions in September.

The reason?

"We've always seen those patients," said Alison Dreith, the clinic's deputy director.

Illinois has long been a destination for those seeking care, predating Texas' Senate Bill 8 and its drastic new legal precedent. Even since the Supreme Court found abortion constitutional in 1973, it has been easier to drive hours or fly to Illinois.

As Illinois has increased abortion rights while other states whittled away at them, out-of-state patients have increasingly sought services here. In 2015, they accounted for 8% of all abortions in the state. In 2016, that number increased to 12%, and it has risen every year since.

"This reality is actually one that we have been living for a very long time," said Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood's St. Louis region.

With more states planning restrictive laws  including an effort in Missouri to ban most abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy  and a decision on Roe v. Wade looming, abortion rights leaders say they're prepared for Illinois to assume an even larger role as a point of access for patients in the Midwest and south, or beyond.

If Roe is reversed, Planned Parenthood expects upwards of 14,000 patients from Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee, to travel to southern Illinois for abortions. The organization's analysis estimates all the states bordering Illinois would move quickly to ban it.

"It's bad in and of itself that people for generations have had to do this," Dreith said. "It's worse in some places, and it only stands to get worse from here."

Why do people come to Illinois for abortions?

About 60% of Hope Clinic's roughly 3,000 to 4,000 annual patients come from out of state. There's financing available. Flights to Chicago can be relatively cheap and convenient. The drive to the metro-east region across from St. Louis is doable from restrictive states to the south.

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law in 2019 protecting abortion care in the state, calling it a "fundamental right." A 2017 law signed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner allowed Medicaid and state health insurance to cover abortions for Illinois residents. In the General Assembly's upcoming veto session, lawmakers are expected to consider repealing a law that requires parental notice when a child seeks an abortion, the Associated Press reported.

But patients aren't just driving across the Mississippi River from Missouri. They're traveling increasingly longer distances. So far this year, Hope Clinic has seen patients from 19 states, and from 24 last year. It's a ripple effect caused by a shrinking pool of access.

"The insult right now is in Texas," said McNicholas, "but it is causing a wave of displacement of patients out of their communities."

Measures like the Texas law lead Illinois to become more protective of abortion care, says state Rep. Amy Elik, an anti-abortion Republican from Fosterburg.

"Unfortunately there are lawmakers that have a knee-jerk reaction to pro-life laws in other states and try to make Illinois more abortion-friendly than it already is," Elik said.

Life after abortion

As she protested outside Hope Clinic on a recent sunny October afternoon, Liz Cordes, a 72-year-old retired teacher's aide from Godfrey, said abortion is a "scourge upon us."

"Life is precious," said Cordes, who is there regularly. "This is a curse upon our world, our society. It's a total disregard for human life."

Madeline Petrosky, a 25-year-old medical assistant at Hope Clinic, says she has a life because of abortion. She had one after becoming pregnant at 13 years old. When she cares for patients that age at Hope Clinic, she tells them there's life after abortion.

"I tell them they're going to be fine. They're going to grow up," said Petrosky, who grew up in Granite City and now has a 9-year-old daughter.

She hopes society can normalize abortion, which technology has made safe and effective. The term "surgical abortion" is a misnomer, since access through the vagina means the procedure takes only five to 10 minutes. Medication abortion is as simple as swallowing a pill. Even the large surgical rooms at Hope Clinic aren't always necessary. Most abortions could be performed in a doctors office, said Dreith, the clinic's deputy director. Stigma and strict laws push the procedures into barricaded, specialized clinics, creating fear.

Petrosky was able to stay in her hometown for an abortion, but thousands have to seek care far outside their communities. Dreith was living in St. Louis in 2016 when she needed an abortion. She crossed into Illinois, but wishes she could've sought care from her regular doctor.

"It's unfortunate that I couldn't get it at my general practitioner and had to come to an abortion clinic like this and travel outside my own community," Dreith said.

Though she expects providers like Planned Parenthood to continue marketing Illinois as a haven for abortion care, the Republican representative from Fosterburg says she's "not giving up in the fight." She plans to oppose the repeal of the parental notice law, but there aren't many more options as a lawmaker.

"I hope for a world where all babies are welcomed and loved from the moment they're conceived," Elik said.

Future of abortion in Illinois

Planned Parenthood and Hope Clinic have already invested $10 million in their metro-east clinics in anticipation of Roe's demise. They are planning to increase staff and "thinking broadly" about how to support patients when they're coming from hundreds of miles away, McNicholas said.

Basic preventative health care such as birth control isn't readily available for some low-income communities. Child care is a challenge even middle and upper middle class people struggle with.

"Abortion does not exist in a silo," she said.

Cordes, the anti-abortion protester, said she believes "the Holy Spirit came down to counsel" lawmakers in Texas who passed SB8. She said she hopes God will do the same in Illinois, and help those seeking abortions realize "there are other options for everybody."

While patients with resources may find a way to travel, others may have no choice but to remain pregnant.

One 2018 study by the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research estimated if a clinic within a mile moved 25 miles away, it decreased the abortion rate by 10% because of transportation issues and a backlog in appointments. The New York Times estimated the average distance a patient would have to travel would increase to 279 miles from 35, according to the newspaper's analysis of researcher data.

A lack of access to abortion could "move across the country very quickly," McNicholas said.

"Abortion is really an important tool right now for how (patients) are going to survive to the next day and live out their own dreams," McNicholas said. "We hear that every single day from patients when their procedure is done."

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COVID-19 has become the deadliest pandemic in the U.S. history, claiming more lives than HIV/AIDS, according to news website The National.



The U.S. government's initial approach to both HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 was "denial and indifference," The National wrote in a report published on Friday.



When AIDS rampaged through communities in parts of the United States in early 1980s, the federal government looked the other way and even slashed spending on public health agencies, the report said.



As to the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was reported in the United States, the White House played down the risks, dismissing it as akin to "a regular flu," the report said.



Both crises, the report added, have disproportionately affected minority groups and poorer communities.



The COVID-19 pandemic has so far killed about 730,000 people in the United States, while it is believed that at least 700,000 people in the country have died as a result of HIV/AIDS.

Source: Xinhua/GNA









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Featured Video
An Adentan Circuit Court has cautioned an evangelist accused of fondling a lady and inserting his finger into her vagina, to desist from such conduct.



Peter Mensah is said to have anointed the lady with Borges oil with the intent of delivering her from spiritual marriage.



When the judge asked Peter if he would be happy if such an act was done to any of his three daughters, the accused replied in the negative.



Mrs Sedinam Awo Balokah, the Judge, cautioned Mensah saying, Go and sin no more.



The judge said if the accused continued with such acts, he would not go free.



According to the Judge, the punishment for such an act, when found guilty, was a custodial sentence.



The Courts caution came after Prosecuting Superintendent Patience Mario informed the court that the complainant was not in court and that Police had received a letter of withdrawal in respect of the matter.



The accused told the Court that the matter had been dealt with by some elders and victim aged 25 years had been compensated.



Mensah, who is also a carpenter, was charged with indecent assault.



The GNA gathered that the complainant resides in Accra and the accused is also a resident within the Accra metropolis.



On August 11, this year at about 8:30am, the accused, under the guise of praying for the complainant lured her into his room and administrated a spray on her during which she felt weak and helpless.



Accused allegedly undressed the complainant and smeared Borges oil all over her body.



Accused inserted his fingers into the complainants vagina on the grounds that he was exorcising an evil spirit from her.



After the act, the complainant reported the matter to the Police and the accused was arrested. A caution statement was taken from him.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Former Head of Monitoring Unit of the Forestry Commission, Charles Owusu, has called on Ghanaians to cut President Nana Akufo-Addo some slack over some comments regarding a promise he made to the people of Cape Coast.



The President is said to have promised that he will construct a new harbour in Cape Coast when elected President but upon his election, the residents have seen no progress yet.



Clarifying his promise to the residents, the President in an interview on Eagle FM in Cape Coast stressed: the commitment was never to a harbour; it was to a landing site.



In terms of the harbour, we have to be clear in our minds; we never committed ourselvesI never stated that I intended to build a harbour in Cape Coast. I said I was going to build a landing page and that it would begin next year, he added, but these comments have shocked the residents.



Speaking in an exclusive interview on Peace FMs 'kokrokoo' on Thursday, October 21, 2021, the President apologized to the Cape Coast residents.



He indicated that the actual plan was to build a landing site.



''Let me confess, I made a mistake on the Cape Coast. Even with the mistake, we have to have a rethink. We cannot have a harbour at Takoradi and Elimina and have another one at Cape Coast. But I have to apologize to the people of Cape Coast. Presidents are humans and they can make mistakes," he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi.



Making his submissions on the programme on Friday, October 22, Charles Owusu noted that whether the President apologized or not is inconsequential to what he promised to do for the people of Cape Coast.



Therefore, he would like that the focus should be on constructing the landing site in the Central Region as promised by the President.



''Whether he apologized or not is not so important to me but rather constructing it. He has apologized. Let's accept it and move forward.''

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Featured Video
Charles Owusu has urged Ghanaians to desist from playing tribal politics with President Nana Akufo-Addo's response to the Chief of Aflao, Torgbui Adzonu-Gaga Amenya Fiti V.



The Chief, pouring out his worries over an abandoned E-Block Community Day Senior High School in his community, issued a four-month ultimatum to the Minister of Education to ensure completion of the school.



Torgbui Adzonu-Gaga Amenya Fiti V made this demand among others during a tour of the Volta Region by the Minority members on Parliament's Education Committee.



The President, reacting to the Chief's request during an interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'' Thursday morning, questioned the Chief's audacity to issue an ultimatum to the Education Minister.



''Is he the one going to give the Minister of Education ultimatum?'', he queried.



He humorously replied that the Chief should ''complete the project himself'' if he feels frustrated.



The President has come under a barrage of criticisms over his reply to the Chief.



According to North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the President's comments are ''disrespectful and condescending'', therefore asking him to retract and apologize to the Chief.



Torgbui Fiti V rather deserves commendation for his courage in speaking out against the reckless wasteful culture of abandoning inherited projects.



We are one people united in our collective successes and challenges; intemperate language from the President who ordinarily should be strengthening national cohesion with his pronouncements ought to be condemned by all well-meaning Ghanaians, Mr Ablakwa stated.



"I think he was frustrated or may have made his comments in jest just as the President also said his jovially. So, let peace prevail . . . We shouldn't make this the Nana Addo or President vrs the Chief," he said on 'Kokrokoo' on Friday, October 22.



To him, "the most important thing is that the government will take steps towards the school and open it for the school children".





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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" " Traditionally hypergamy has been when a man has married a woman of lower status than himself. The practice has shifted since early times partly because of the changing roles of women in education and the workplace. sesame/Getty Images

You've heard the terms before: Gold digger. Trophy wife. They most often apply to women whose social or economic status is "lower" than their husbands.' You might even know of a few couples where these terms could apply.

But this act of a woman vying for "higher status" when marrying also has a scholarly name and a long history. It's called hypergamy (hi-purg-me). And while the Oxford dictionary defines hypergamy in neutral terms  "the action of marrying or forming a sexual relationship with a person of a superior sociological or educational background"  social scientists explain it in a more gendered way.

"[Hypergamy] is when men marry women of lower status than themselves," says Christine Schwartz, professor in the department of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Or in other words, when women marry men of higher status, whether it's related to education, income or occupation.

Scholars have also looked at marrying up in other ways, for example geographically. In the introduction to the journal article "Cross-Border Marriages: Gender and Mobility in Transnational Asia," author Nicole Constable explains global hypergamy as "the movement of brides from more remote and less developed locations to increasingly developed and less isolated ones."

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History of Hypergamy

We might not know just how far back the tradition of men partnering with women of lower status than themselves goes. Hypergamy can be seen as a natural response to women's inability in early history to earn a living and "marriage was the only way a woman determined her status in life," Kay Hymowitz wrote for the Institute for Family Studies.

What we do know is the term hypergamy likely has origins in the Hindu tradition of women wanting to marry men from higher castes. It was first used in 1881 in the "Panjab Castes," a book based on the census report of the Panjab province of British India by Sir Denzil Ibbetson. It describes a situation in which a man sought to marry his daughter to a "member of a tribe" superior to his, anthropologist T. Mohanadoss explains in the article "Hypergamy and Its Inherent Contradictions." Mohanadoss writes that hypergamy is associated with "the assumption that man is superior to woman." Interestingly, while this type of marriage raises the status of the bride-giver  the father  it also admits his inferiority to his in-laws.

But if all women are striving to marry up, hypergamy must eventually lead to a situation where the women at the top of the social ladder won't have anyone to marry, and the men at the bottom won't have women to marry either. That's what scholars in the 1970s found anyway, Mohanadoss writes.

But that's where hypogamy comes in.

" " The term hypergamy likely has origins in the Hindu tradition of women wanting to marry men from higher castes. This vintage illustration shows an Indian couple in the Palace of Delights, in 19th-century Mughal India. duncan1890/Getty Images

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Hypergamy vs. Hypogamy

It does happen that men marry women of a higher status, and women "marry down." There's a name for that too: hypogamy. The sociology dictionary defines it as "a marriage between a male of low status to a female of higher status." There is even a word for marriage between people with similar characteristics and statuses. Did you figure out that it has to be homogamy?

What's changed since that 19th-century anthropological study in the Panjab? Are we more homogamous today? Or are women still focused on marrying up?

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Hypergamy Today

In many countries, the practice of hypergamy has shifted since the earlier research, and part of the reason has to do with the changing roles of women in education and the workplace.

"We see that all over the world, this isn't true in every case, but the general pattern is that there's much less hypergamy than there has been in the past," says Schwartz, who contributed to an article on this topic, "The End of Hypergamy: Global Trends and Implications."

In plenty of societies, it is now more common for women to be more educated than men. That's been the trend in the United States since around the 1990s, but it wasn't really recognized until the early 2000s. But women in the United States now have higher average education attainment than men.

That means women sometimes have little choice but to marry men with less education than they have. In fact, according to Margarita Chudnovskaya and Ridhi Kashyap, who wrote the academic journal article "Is the End of Educational Hypergamy the End of Status Hypergamy? Evidence from Sweden," in the United States and most European countries, "the prevalence of educational hypogamy (women 'partnering down') now exceeds that of educational hypergamy (men 'partnering down')."

Add to that the 2020 finding from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that women make up more than half of the non-farm labor market in the U.S., and it might seem like hypergamy is on its way out, at least in America.

But there is another factor to consider, and that is economic  a gender pay gap to be more specific. "It is true that in the United States it's now more common for a woman to have more education than her husband than the other way around, but it's still less common for women to outearn their male partners," says Schwartz.

For couples married between 2005 and 2009, just 30 percent of wives made more money than their husbands, she says. "There is a definitely a difference in the U.S. at least between education and income."

Chudnovskaya and Kashyap's Swedish study found that in various types of couples, even when the woman had higher education, occupational prestige and social class, the man was still a higher earner. "One reasonable guess is that men's income advantage is due not to the persistence of hypergamy but rather to the gender wage gap, which sits at about 14 percent in Sweden," writes Hymowitz.

Today, educational hypogamy is more common, but hypergamy still rules in the financial realm.

" " Today in many countries it's more common for women to be more educated than men. That means women sometimes have little choice but to marry men with less education than they have. Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

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Non-hetero Hypergamy

With all this gender-specific hyper- and hypogamy, where does that leave same-sex or non-binary couples? Schwartz says we can still talk about these types of relationship statuses.

"It's just when one partner has higher status than the other," she explains. And research has shown that members of same-sex couples tend be more different from each other in terms of education.

In her article "Cruising to Familyland: Gay Hypergamy and Rainbow Kinship," sociologist Judith Stacey says that hypergamous relationships happen more frequently among "those who breach sexual norms" than among heterosexuals and "gay men can cruise their way to creative, multicultural permutations of hypergamous kinship."

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Do Hypergamous Relationships Last?

"There is a perception that still exists that successful women who are highly educated and highly paid won't be able to find partners," Schwartz says. But societies around the world have changed. In response to these demographic trends, increasingly relationships are forming where women have higher status than their partners, and studies are showing that these marriages do last.

A study published in 2018 used Belgian census and register data for 458,499 marriages contracted between 1986 and 2001. It found that neither hypogamy nor homogamy was associated with higher divorce rates. It was educationally hypergamous marriages  those in which the husband was more highly educated than the wife  that had the highest rates of divorce.

Now That's Interesting How do men feel about economic hypogamy? Better and better it seems. In 1980, 41 percent of male college students said it wouldn't bother them at all if their female partners earned more than they did. By 1990, 60 percent of them said they were OK with it.
In this Sept. 13, 2021, file photo, students board a school bus on New York's Upper West Side. Even as most students return to learning in the classroom this school year, disruptions to in-person learning, from missing one day because of a late school bus to an entire two weeks at home due to quarantine, remain inevitable as families and educators navigate the ongoing pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Richard Drew, File

Even as schools have returned in full swing across the country, complications wrought by the pandemic persist, often falling hardest on those least able to weather them: families without transportation, people with limited income or other financial hardship, people who don't speak English, children with special needs.

Coronavirus outbreaks in school and individual quarantine orders when students get exposed to the virus make it a gamble on whether they can attend classes in person on any given day. Many families don't know where to turn for information, or sometimes can't be reached.

And sometimes, because of driver shortages, it's as simple as the school bus not showing up.

Keiona Morris, who lives without a car in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, outside Pittsburgh, has had no choice but to keep her boys at home on days when the bus didn't arrive. Her two sons have missed about two weeks' worth of classes because of such disruptions, she said.

Taking her older son to school on the civic bus system those days would mean not making it home in time to get her youngest to elementary school, she said.

"I feel like they're leaving my kid behind," Morris said. "Sometimes, he feels like he's not important enough to get picked up."

For some families, it's a matter of not having the private resources to deal with breakdowns in the public education system. For others, language barriers or other communication issues leave them uninformed about things like programs that let students return to school despite virus exposures, as long as they test negative for infection.

In this Sept. 13, 2021, file photo, a student has his temperature taken as he arrives at PS811 in New York. Even as most students return to learning in the classroom this school year, disruptions to in-person learning, from missing one day because of a late school bus to an entire two weeks at home due to quarantine, remain inevitable as families and educators navigate the ongoing pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Richard Drew, File

And while some students can keep up with school remotely during quarantines, others receive little to no instruction, or they lack internet or devices to connect.

As districts seek solutions, they have to consider that disproportionate burden, said Bree Dusseault, principal at the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington.

"If you're going to be using a test as a tool to shorten quarantine, then all students have equal and free and easy access to that test," she said.

The first day the shortages affected her son's route, Morris did not see an early morning email notification that her son's bus would be canceled, and the two of them waited at the stop for a ride that never came.

Staying at home has taken a toll on her kids, who are both more engaged when learning in person. On the days their bus was canceled and they had no access to the day's lesson, the makeup work built up, putting them behind in class, she said.

COVID-19 Response representative Hadja Bah administers a test to a child, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021, in Marietta, Ga. When Marietta City Schools started the 2021-2022 school year, the Georgia district that serves 9,000 quickly had to quarantine about 10% of its students and staff. Credit: AP Photo/Mike Stewart

For her older son, she said, the transition to middle school and missing social aspects of being with peers have been especially hard.

The effects of unpredictable stretches at home can mirror those of chronic absenteeism and lead to long-term harm to learning, said Robert Balfanz, a research professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education.

"The irregularity of your attendance is as important as the total amount you miss," Balfanz said. "It lingers with you because you miss key moments of learning that everything else builds upon, and that can even lead to later frustrations."

Some families have had more guidance than others in navigating unexpected, unstructured periods of learning at home.

In Seattle, Sarah Niebuhr Rubin's son was sent home for two weeks when he was identified as a possible virus exposure. Because the exposure counted as an excused absence, Rubin said her son received no live instruction and no consistent services for his reading disability, except for two sessions with specialists who went out of their way to meet with him.

COVID-19 Response representative Hadja Bah administers a test to a child, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021, in Marietta, Ga. When Marietta City Schools started the 2021-2022 school year, the Georgia district that serves 9,000 quickly had to quarantine about 10% of its students and staff. Credit: AP Photo/Mike Stewart

Without those services, she said, he struggles to complete work without constant supervision, which she could not provide while working from home.

"There really was nothing," Rubin said. When her son returned to the classroom, she said it felt like the school year was "starting all over again."

To minimize days out of school, some districts have implemented a "test to stay" option, where children can remain in school despite exposures to infected people as long as they continue to test negative for COVID-19.

In Georgia's Marietta City Schools, students who are being tested go to a central location, where they are given a rapid antigen test in the parking lot. A negative test means they can go to school that day, while those who test positive are directed to quarantine.

Roughly 30% to 40% of eligible students participate, Superintendent Grant Rivera said, and the district has begun to identify some barriers to access for families. Some cited transportation hurdles or time constraints, such as work schedules.

COVID-19 Response representative Hadja Bah prepares for testing, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021, in Marietta, Ga. When Marietta City Schools started the 2021-2022 school year, the Georgia district that serves 9,000 quickly had to quarantine about 10% of its students and staff. Credit: AP Photo/Mike Stewart

About a quarter of families said they weren't aware of the program, Rivera said. Parents are notified of the testing program when they learn their child is a close contact, and the district follows up with an email.

"When we make this initial phone call, there's kind of like input overload and shock of, 'What am I going to do about my kid and childcare and work?'" Rivera said. "We're following up with an email, but in a district with a high ESL immigrant population, the email may not be understood by everybody in the family, or they may not be getting it."

Rivera said he hoped to expand messaging through community partners, as well as through other methods like texting.

A school bus moves past a COVID-19 teacher test site, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021, in Marietta, Ga. When Marietta City Schools started the 2021-2022 school year, the Georgia district that serves 9,000 quickly had to quarantine about 10% of its students and staff. Credit: AP Photo/Mike Stewart

The possibility of further disruptions keeps some parents on edge.

For a while, firefighters in McKeesport were volunteering to drive children to and from school. Recently, Morris' children's bus has been on time. But she worries she and her son will be left waiting again.

"I have that worry in the back of my mind that it's going to happen again," Morris said. "And if it does, I'm just going to be ready to pull my kids out of school and homeschool them, even though it'll be more tough for me."

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Saudi Aramco's Dhahran oil plants, pictured on February 11, 2018the kingdom is the world's biggest oil exporter.

Saudi Arabia's pledge to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2060 must go hand-in-hand with a plan to phase out fossil fuels, experts said on Sunday.

They questioned plans by the world's top oil exporter to raise its production capacity despite the pledge, and Greenpeace raised doubts over the timing of Saturday's announcement.

The watchdog accused Saudi Arabia, one of the world's biggest polluters, of trying to divert criticism at next week's COP26 climate-change summit in Glasgow.

With increasing global urgency to limit global warming, COP26 aims to set the world on a path to net zero by mid-century.

"We question the seriousness of this announcement, as it comes in parallel with plans for the kingdom to increase its oil production," Greenpeace MENA campaigns manager Ahmad El Droubi said in a statement.

Saudi state oil firm Aramco said this month it plans to increase production capacity from 12 million to 13 million barrels a day by 2027.

Riyadh's net zero pledge "seems to simply be a strategic move to alleviate political pressure ahead of COP26", El Droubi said.

For Ben Cahill, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the kingdom "will have to make a massive push on energy efficiency and decarbonising the power sector."

Saudi Arabia also said it would join a global effort to cut emissions of methaneanother planet-warming gasby 30 percent by 2030, while Aramco committed to being a carbon net zero enterprise by 2050.

The United Nations says more than 130 countries have set or are considering a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by mid-century, an objective it says is "imperative" to safeguard a liveable climate.

Carbon neutrality is a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere.

Saturday's Saudi pledge came after neighbouring United Arab Emirates, also one of the world's biggest oil exporters, said it was targeting carbon neutrality by 2050. Bahrain, which exports refined petroleum, made a promise similar to Saudi on Sunday.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the Saudi Green Initiative forum on October 23, 2021, in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Oil for water

Saudi Arabia, the largest crude producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, also draws heavily on oil and natural gas to meet its growing power demands and desalinate its water.

The sun-drenched desert kingdom, population 34 million, is estimated to belch about 600 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per yearmore than France (population 67 million) and slightly less than Germany (population 83 million).

Crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, who made Saturday's announcement, in 2016 announced his Vision 2030 to end Saudi Arabia's addiction to oil by diversifying the economy through foreign investments, business opportunities and other measures.

But the wide-ranging initiative has been further complicated by the coronavirus and falling crude prices, and oil still makes up more than 70 percent of the kingdom's export value.

In its announcement on Saturday, Saudi Arabia also said it plans to invest in "new energy sources, including hydrogen".

However, hydrogen "maintains the status quo of dependency on fossil fuels", which are used in its production, said El Droubi. He urged the Saudis to "prioritise phasing out fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy".

Waiting for detail

In his announcement, the crown prince targeted reducing carbon emissions by 278 million tonnes annually by 2030, and said more than 450 million trees would be planted in the first phase of a plan to grow billions in the coming decades.

Aramco's goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 only includes emissions from its own operations. According to Bloomberg, more than 80 percent of the company's total emissions come from customers burning its fossil fuels.

The Saudi announcements were hailed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the COP26 host.

He said the "landmark pledge to reach net zero emissions by 2060 is a major step forward".

COP26 president Alok Sharma also welcomed the news, adding: "I look forward to the detail."

Cahill, of CSIS, was more cautious.

"Direct crude burn in power generation will have to be phased out, and renewable energy will have to gradually displace gas," he told AFP.

Explore further Saudi to invest $20 billion in AI by 2030

 2021 AFP
GLENS FALLS  Time changes everything, and the citys Downtown Revitalization Initiative has been no exception.

Awarded in 2016, the $10 million state grant was designed to spark economic activity in the downtown area by using public funds to spur private investment.

After a fast start, progress appeared to slow, but work to complete the multi-phase project has never stopped, according to Jeffrey Flagg, the citys economic development director tasked with overseeing the various components of the DRI.

I think the biggest dilemma that weve got is the time lag, he said. Its not just time lag. The time lag creates changes  circumstances change. Well, circumstances have changed.

Rising prices forced officials to reexamine plans that have sat idle for more than two years as the state worked to complete a series of environmental reviews, delayed by the pandemic.

While details have yet to be finalized, Flagg believes the city has developed a new concept that would address the growing need for housing in the city and bring much-needed parking into the downtown area, all while putting a number of city-owned parcels back on the tax rolls.

The fact of the matter is this is a pretty big change, Flagg said. And I think it does solve a lot of the needs we have.

Original concept

Plans for how the city would spend the funds were unveiled in 2017 and it wasnt long before visible progress had been made.

In 2018, SUNY Adirondack officially relocated its culinary program to 14 Hudson Ave., completing a major component of the multi-phase project.

Around the same time, the city began taking steps to demolish a series of buildings along South Street to make way for the Market Center building  touted by officials as the centerpiece of the citys economic redevelopment plans.

A concept rendering of the 10,000-square-foot facility was unveiled in 2019, showing a hub of activity near 59-62 South St., where the glass building would be erected.

City officials, at the time, said the structure would not only be the future year-round home of the Glens Falls Farmers Market, but would host community events and other gatherings.

The renderings also showed a pair of privately owned, fully restored buildings next to the market, along with a towering parking structure and a brand new mixed-use building at 25-33 South St., the current home of the farmers market.

Plans also called for developing a pocket park along South Street at the corner of School Street, next to Dizzy Chicken.

Rising prices and delays

But more than two years after the plans were unveiled, officials have been forced to retool its Market Square concept due to a number of compounding factors that resulted in a $6.6 million price tag, nearly twice the allotted budget.

The price of materials have gone up since the original concept was revealed, an issue that has been exacerbated in the last year and a half because of supply chain disruptions brought on by the pandemic.

State lawmakers have since approved the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2019. The legislation seeks to achieve net-zero carbon emissions from 1990 levels by 2050 and requires publicly operated buildings to be free of emissions by 2040, forcing the city to incorporate costly geothermal heat and other climate-friendly designs into the plans, further increasing the price, Flagg said.

Amid all of this, Ed Bartholomew, the citys longtime economic development director responsible for securing the DRI funds, died last year, sending city officials scrambling to pick up the pieces and advance the project.

Flagg was appointed economic development director earlier this year.

The rising prices and pandemic-delayed plans forced the city to essentially start over, drawing criticisms from some and questions about how the city is using the funds from others.

But Flagg said the process was necessary and forced to city to take a harder look at its original concepts.

Its taken us a little time to find out how much we need to change the direction, and its forced us to be a little more creative in what were looking to do with the space, he said.

Moving ahead

In the weeks since learning their original plans would need to be scuttled, city officials have been working with architects and developers from Bonacio Construction  the company that will ultimately purchase and renovate the city owned parcels surrounding the Market Center  to develop new plans for the project.

The concepts are still in the early stages, but the proposed changes are significant.

Gone are the plans for a large 10,000-square-foot Market Center facility along South Street and a multi-story parking structure at the corner of South and Elm streets.

The city is now seeking to construct a parking structure on the existing Elm Street parking lot, about a block from where the Market Center will eventually stand and just a short walk from the heart of downtown. Conversations on the size of the structure and how cover the cost remain ongoing, Flagg said.

Instead, Bonacio has proposed constructing either a pair of multi-story buildings or one large mixed-use facility where the parking structure would have been built along South Street.

The property is currently city-owned and would be put back on city tax rolls once a contract between the construction company and the city is finalized, Flagg said.

He said its still unclear how large the new facility, or facilities, would be or what the final cost would be, but noted the proposal would address the growing need for housing in the city and bring much-needed parking to the downtown area.

Im confident well have a commercial building here, he said. Commercial meaning not a parking garage.

As far as the much-talked about Market Center facility, Flagg said the new plan is for a downsized structure of about 5,000 square feet that is somehow incorporated into the first floor of 36 Elm St., an adjacent building scheduled to be renovated as part of the DRI.

Bonacio Construction is currently in negotiations with the city to purchase and rehab the three-story, 15,000-square-foot facility along with the adjacent 45 South St. building, which will be turned into a mixed-use facility.

Both properties would be put on the citys tax rolls once purchased by the construction company.

Flagg said the city would likely have to work out some type of lease agreement with Bonacio to use the facility, but noted by doing so, the Market Center would still be the original 10,000 square feet as originally planned.

The new structure would likely be three seasons and wouldnt include any of the acoustics and costly heating the original year-round concept incorporated, but would still host the farmers market and a number of other events throughout the year, Flagg said.

The city is also trying to figure out how to incorporate green initiatives into the building concept, including examining whether a pocket park could be constructed on the property, Flagg said.

He noted the city is waiting to view design concepts and determine how to clear a number of logistical hurdles when it comes to construction, but believes the new concept will likely advance in some form.

Theres a lot of moving parts, he said.

Chad Arnold is a reporter for The Post-Star covering the city of Glens Falls and the town and village of Lake George and Washington County government. Follow him on Twitter @ChadGArnold.

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As we continue to raise the awareness of the impact of breast cancer on our society during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we recognize this past year and a half has presented particular challenges that created setbacks in screening and early detection of breast cancer. The risk of delaying your annual breast exam is very real, and health care providers like Glens Falls Hospital are taking all necessary precautions to keep our patients and staff safe.

Whether youre getting back on track with your annual screening or youre being screened for the first time, the nationally accredited Breast Center at Glens Falls Hospital offers comprehensive care under one roof with compassionate, highly skilled team members to support your health journey.

While the people at the Breast Center are what sets us apart, were always exploring opportunities to improve the patient experience by ensuring we have the right resources and technology under one roof to provide comprehensive, world-class care. In the Breast Center, that has meant investing in technology, like 3D imaging for mammography, and moving resources from disparate locations into the hospital so that we can provide a more seamless, coordinated and comprehensive experience for our patients.

We know that 3D imaging is the gold star in breast cancer screening. 3D imaging allows us to capture the best possible image, increasing our chances of catching breast cancer early on, when its easiest to treat. By having two 3D imaging machines in the Breast Center on the Main Campus of the hospital, were able to perform additional exams, accommodate add-ons during the day and increase access to life-saving screenings in our community.

In addition to increasing our ability to perform 3D imaging, the Breast Center has recently transitioned our DEXA machine, or bone density scanner, into the hospital to provide more convenient access to bone density screening. Now, individuals can receive their annual screening mammogram and, if needed, bone density screening without having to travel to different Glens Falls Hospital locations.

In addition to screening and diagnostic mammograms and bone density scanning in one location, at the Breast Center we can also perform breast ultrasounds and breast biopsies. Breast ultrasounds are an additional breast cancer screening tool used to get information necessary to complete a diagnosis. If something is identified in a 3D mammogram or breast ultrasound, were able to complete a biopsy onsite, which allows us to expedite diagnostic care.

Separately, these advancements and technologies elevate the clinical care we provide to our patients. Together, and in partnership with our compassionate, knowledgeable team members, they create a comprehensive experience for anyone who visits Glens Falls Hospitals Breast Center.

If youre due for an annual screening, dont delay the opportunity to remain in control of your health. We have the resources, staff and expertise to care for you  whatever your needs may be.

Michelle C. Swartz, RT(R)(M)(CT), is operations manager for The Breast Center at Glens Falls Hospital, and Donna Winchell, RN, BSN, OCN, is oncology service line administrator for the C.R. Wood Cancer Center at Glens Falls Hospital.

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Govt-and-politics

AP top story

New Jersey governor race tests Murphy's progressive politics

Frank Franklin II, Associated Press FILE - This photo from Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021, shows incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy, D-N.J., right, during a gubernatorial debate with Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J. Murphy moved New Jersey to the left since he won election four years ago, but goes under a test that Democrats have not passed in recent years as he seeks re-election in this year's race for governor. Provided Murphy Matthew Strabuk, For The Press Ciattarelli

New Jersey has taken a decidedly liberal shift under first-term Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, increasing income taxes on the wealthy, expanding voting rights and tightening the states already restrictive gun laws. Its a notable change from his predecessor, Republican Chris Christie, who spent two terms pushing more moderate policies.

Murphys agenda will be on the ballot Nov. 2, when voters will decide whether to give him a second term or steer the state in another direction by electing Republican Jack Ciattarelli. History isnt necessarily on Murphys side: New Jersey hasnt reelected a Democrat as governor in four decades and hasnt elected a governor from the same party as the president in three decades.

Its one of the big, animating reasons why were running like were 10 points behind, Murphy said in an interview. Were taking nothing for granted. I mean, history has proven that this can be a very fickle year in terms of politics.

But Murphy does have some sizable advantages. He is leading in public polls and has raised more money than Ciattarelli, and New Jersey has 1 million more registered Democratic voters than Republicans. Hes also welcoming some Democratic heavy-hitters to the state: Former President Barack Obama was due Saturday, and President Joe Biden is visiting Monday to promote his spending plan.

The race has national implications, though it has gotten less attention than Virginias high-profile governors contest. A loss for Murphy would be shocking in a state that Biden won over Republican Donald Trump by nearly 16 points last year. It would also raise questions about whether moderate voters repelled by Trump were returning to the Republican Party now that the former president is no longer in office.

New Jerseys left turn has been years in the making: The state has voted Democratic in every presidential contest since 1992. It hasnt elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since Clifford Case in 1972. But governors races have been continually in play for the GOP. The last three Republicans elected governor have won two consecutive terms.

My focus is solely New Jersey, Ciattarelli said in an interview. To win as a Republican, youve got to be focused on what it is thats bothering the people of New Jersey, and thats exactly what Ive done for the past 22 months.

Public polls show Murphy has gotten high grades from voters for his response to COVID-19, even though New Jersey was one of the hardest-hit states at the beginning of the pandemic. About 35% of the states nearly 25,000 deaths came from nursing and veterans homes. Murphy held daily news conferences about the pandemic at the beginning and is now holding two a week. He ordered most nonessential businesses to shut down early in the pandemic, including restaurants, theaters, gyms and most retail stores. Masks were required and social distancing was encouraged. Schools shuttered and then went mostly remote.

Many people are very happy with the way he handled the COVID-19 era. The numbers are very clear, said Republican state Sen. Michael Testa, R-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic.

Some Republicans are also concerned that Trumps unpopularity could be dragging down Ciattarellis approval numbers. Since a bruising June primary with rivals who claimed Trumps mantle, Ciattarelli has sounded more like the moderate he was while in the Legislature, speaking about his support for the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion and for immigrants without legal status to get drivers licenses, for instance.

Hes been playing up his credentials as an accountant and the founder of a small business while campaigning in Democratic-leaning cities as well as GOP strongholds.

GOP candidate Ciattarelli stresses vocational training and jobs in Atlantic City ATLANTIC CITY  Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli on Thursday pledged to focus on vocational training amid labor shortages in the state, as he spoke to county workers on the final day of the three-day New Jersey Association of Counties annual conference at Caesars Atlantic City.

Ciattarelli has also had to balance the more traditional GOP wing with the Trump faction. Thats meant calling for lower property taxes, a perennial issue in New Jersey, and decrying COVID-19 restrictions. But it has also meant confronting questions about his appearance at a rally centered on Stop the Steal, a reference to Trumps false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Ciattarelli said he didnt know the rally was focused on the former presidents false claims.

Asked whether he would welcome Trump campaigning for him, Ciattarelli said he does his own campaigning and isnt into endorsements. He has also said he accepts that Biden was legitimately elected.

The states political environment shifted decidedly to the left during the Trump administration, with Democrats picking up all but one House seat in the state in 2018. They lost a second one when Jeff Van Drew left the Democratic Party over Trumps first impeachment. Murphy himself won election in the first year of Trumps presidency running on a self-styled progressive platform. His win was helped by the unpopularity of Christie, whose top lieutenant ran against Murphy in the 2017 race.

When you look which way the wind is blowing, it is very tough for a candidate to be a good candidate if the wind is not blowing at your back, said Assembly Republican leader Jon Bramnick. And in New Jersey, the wind is blowing definitely more Democratic.

Shavonda Sumter, a Democratic Assembly member and chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, said the push for more progressive policies like early in-person voting and expanded vote by mail began at least a decade ago. Those policies, vetoed by Christie, became law after Murphy became governor.

Sumter sees the real turning point coming in 2020 during the national reckoning on racial injustice followed the killing of George Floyd by police. She said white peoples increased consciousness of the role race can play in politics has helped Democrats politically.

Murphy promotes early voting in Atlantic City; Ciattarelli to visit Thursday ATLANTIC CITY  Gov. Phil Murphy made a quick appearance at the New Jersey Association of Counties annual meeting Wednesday morning at Caesars Atlantic City, thanking county workers for making early voting happen in the general election.

Folks woke up and realized this fight is not done, she said.

For Toby Sanders, a Trenton resident who attended a recent Murphy gun control rally in Bloomfield, this years governors contest is more than just a state race.

Its a bellwether for the nation. Its a foundation to build on, said Sanders, who considers himself a progressive.

For other voters, state and local issues are more important.

Mike Gardner, a municipal party official and retired attorney who worked at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said his top issue is getting rid of the high property taxes. He backs Ciattarelli.

Jim Arakelian, a real estate agent and retired law enforcement official, said he doesnt think police officers have been respected by the Murphy administration, citing the decision to release certain police disciplinary records as a big concern. Hes also skeptical about the media and the polling in the race, citing 2016 and Trumps surprise victory.

NJ Department of Human Services announces $700 million child care plan The New Jersey Department of Human Services announced Wednesday a $700 million plan to help make child care more accessible for working families.

Polls can be skewed anyway the press wants, said Arakelian, who attended a Ciattarelli campaign stop at a New Milford pizzeria.

In their own way, some Democratic voters are also skeptical about polls, not wanting to take them for granted.

America is contested space right now. There is a battle quietly and loudly going on, Sanders said.

Related
Souls to the Polls has been an event for Black communities in Southern states for years. They were typically held on the Sunday before Election Day. The implementation and extension of early-voting periods in states across the country in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has seen to the growth of the movement nationwide.

Sundays event in Atlantic City was organized by the Fellowship of Churches of Atlantic City and Vicinity, the Atlantic City NAACP, local fraternities and sororities, and other local civic groups.

Its important for us to understand the power that we have within Atlantic City, and the power that we have as voters, in order to put the right people in place to represent our city, said Days-Chapman, whose father, the Rev. Collins A. Days Sr., is the pastor at Second Baptist. Were going to show them that early voting in the state of New Jersey was worth it, because were going to take advantage of it.

Atlantic City resident Eunice Clarke said she believed the event was part of an important effort to get people acquainted to early voting  and ultimately more engaged in democracy.

Its important and vital, because nobody can do it for us  we have to do it for ourselves, Clarke said. The only way things are going to change is if we, ourselves, change them.
HACKENSACK  Two Hackensack police officers accused of a warrantless search should not have been fired, a New Jersey appeals court has ruled. The court upheld the decision to fire a third.

The city had long sought to fire officers including Mark Gutierrez, Rocco Duardo and Victor Vazquez following the December 2016 search. The Civil Service Commission fired Gutierrez this year but imposed a six-month suspension on the other two and ordered Hackensack to reinstate them.

Three Superior Court appellate judges on Thursday affirmed the suspensions of the two officers, saying the commissions decision was not arbitrary or capricious, NorthJersey.com reported.

The judges upheld the decision to fire Gutierrez, saying the commission found his actions severe enough to warrant his removal from the police department.

A total of seven officers were suspended in 2017 after they were accused of an unlawful search of an apartment and then falsifying a police report to cover it up.

Stafford Township man charged with lewd acts in front of school bus STAFFORD TOWNSHIP  A Manahawkin man was charged with four counts of lewdness Thursday after
A rebranding could work in Facebooks favor if it involves some kind of structural change, and isnt like the brandwashing attempted by Philip Morris and Blackwater. That would make it look like Googles move to rename itself as Alphabet Inc. in 2015, which turned Google into a wholly owned subsidiary along with several other businesses. From an ethical point of view, Facebook ought to focus on more urgent issues, like cleaning up the swathe of medical and political misinformation on its sites, rather than building a new platform destined to host similar harms.

There was a hint of a rebrand four months ago when Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg told the Verge in July that Facebook would shift from being seen as a social media company to being a metaverse company. He appears to have shifted his priority to building the new-reality platform. Hes posted videos of himself wearing virtual-reality headsets on his Facebook page,

If a makeover is indeed in the offing, Facebook will likely have started preparing much earlier than July. Rebranding a conglomerate the size of Facebook cant sensibly be done in a couple of weeks. A vast array of legal and logistical factors need to be taken into consideration  from trademarks and copyright to URLs and SEO  even before potential new names get tested internally or among focus groups.
Republicans themselves dont all realize it, but theyre winning the political debate over voting laws.

Its not just that Republicans are pushing through the laws they favor in multiple states while Democrats in Washington have not been able to enact anything. That difference is mostly a result of the Senates 50-50 tie and the filibuster. Whats worse for the Democrats, their attack on Republicans as vote suppressors who are instituting a new Jim Crow does not seem to be inflicting any political damage.

Republicans arent on the defensive on the issue. They feel entirely comfortable defending their position. They have some polling to back them up. And they have forced their critics to make concessions.

The first major political battle over voting laws came in the swing state of Georgia in the spring, and it set the tone for the nationwide debate. So it was all the more helpful for Republicans that the opponents of their election changes made critical mistakes.

President Joe Biden helped bring the Georgia Republicans new law to national attention by denouncing it. But he also endorsed taking the All-Star game from Atlanta, which predictably went over poorly in the state.
Mazzeo said the future cost of natural gas is unknowable and diversifying energy use makes the state less dependent on it and cuts back emissions. Diversifying energy sources is a safe bet going forward as far as being fair on costs, he said.

Both were asked whether it was appropriate that the state had stopped local law enforcement from cooperating with federal enforcement of immigration laws. Both began by saying national immigration reform was needed, as well as a path to citizenship for those born to parents here illegally. On enforcement, Mazzeo said he would defer the issue to the state attorney general who made the decision. Polistina said all laws should be enforced, including on immigration, and the border closed to illegal entry.

One thing about the campaign has puzzled us. Half of the mailers weve received in the district have been from a New Jersey Education Association political action committee (all of it negative, nasty and with some obviously false accusations).

Mazzeo wisely declined to comment on the actions of others over which he has no control. Polistina said the teachers want to help ensure Senate President Steve Sweeney, leader of the South Jersey Democrats, has the supporting legislators he needs to keep his presidency and eventually run for governor.
An astute marketing strategy, almost coinciding with moderate Sen. Joe Manchins acceptable upper limit of $1.5 trillion, would be a proposal of $1.75 trillion to be paid out over five years. Bear in mind, the period of time for its disbursement, as in the original proposal, would not be emphasized for public consumption.

Both Manchin and Arizona moderate Sen. Kyrsten Sinema might agree to vote for a $1.75 trillion progressive legislative product albeit almost guaranteed to continue after its presumed sunset. We know once a benefit is granted, it is a daunting task to take it away.

Thus the progressive infrastructure legislation would pass through the Senates reconciliation process, requiring all 50 Democrats to be on board along with the vice president ready for President Bidens signature, along with the linked $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure legislation.

Furthermore, Democrats could point to the less formidable yearly price tag of $350 billion, being under half the $703 billion allocated for the 2021 military budget.
NEW CHAMPIONS CROWNED & MORE: COMPLETE IMPACT WRESTLING BOUND FOR GLORY 2021 COVERAGE

Welcome to PWInsider.com's live, ongoing Impact Wrestling Bound for Glory 2021 coverage from Sam's Town in Las Vegas, Nevada!

Impact is currently broadcasting their This is Bound for Glory! special.

COUNTDOWN SHOW:

Matt Striker and D'Lo Brown welcomed everyone to Bound for Glory. They ran down the lineup for the PPV.

They aired a Hall of Fame induction video for Awesome Kong.

Gail Kim came out on stage to induct Kong. She said that tonight is a special night, so special that she was going crazy to find the perfect words for her friend Kia Stevens. She knew Kia was special before she ever met her. She remembers Low Ki coming out pre-Knockouts about this incredibly talented woman from Japan and Gail knew the company needed her.

She knew Kia was special the first time she came out to face Gail for the first time. Gail said, "Oh sh**" when Kong first stepped out on stage. They had more matches and created better chemistry every time. They had something to do and something to prove to better women's wrestling. In wrestling, you have an opportunity to create wrestling and with Kong, they were able to do that.

Kim said that when you look back at 2007, who would have known that two woman of color would have had that opportunity and thanked management at that time - Scott D'Amore, Jeff Jarrett, Dixie Carter and Dutch Mantel. She said wrestling Kia has taken a year off her career but she would do it again and again a million times over. She thanked Kong from the bottom of her heart and thanked her for being so Awesome.

Kong inspired and opened the door for the next generation. Kim introduced Awesome Kong. The crowd chanted, "Thank you Kong."

Kong thanked everyone but said that everything she had planned in her speech, Gail sort of said, so she's going to go on the fly. She thanked Impact for believing she was worthy of this award. She thanked everyone who bought DVDs and shows and kept Impact's buzz going on the Internet so they could keep going from the days of the six-sided ring and on. She said her feud with Gail Kim is the reason she is getting this award today and thanked the Lord above for gifting her that opponent.

Kong thanked Scott D'Amore and Dutch Mantel for being the original producers for the Knockouts division for allowing them to have the opportunity, the time and for defending them and making sure they got the same chances and didn't lose them or time because they were women. She thanked her husband. She thanked SHIMMER Wrestling, run by Dave Prazak. She said a lot of the women in the business you see today are because SHIMMER planted the seeds in Chicago. She thanked Lexie Fyfe for helping making sure the women were employed during the lean times. Kong said that if anyone tells you that you can't accomplish your dreams, don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it. Go out and do it.

She thanked Impact dor putting her into the Hall of Fame. The Knockouts roster came out and embraced her after the speech. Cheerleader Melissa aka Raisha Saeed who managed Kong was on stage as well. She, Kong and Gail posed together on stage.

They aired a "Tag Me In" PSA.

First Digital Media Champion to be crowned: John Skyler vs. Crazzy Steve with Black Taurus vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Fallah Bahh vs. Chelsea Green vs. Madison Rayne with Kaleb with A K (replacing Tenille Dashwood).

The referees have new shirt designs for tonight's event.

Everyone attacked John Skyler and sent him to the floor. It settled down to Grace and Bahh with Grace getting the better of the exchange. Skyler nailed Grace but was challenged by Green. Green nailed a missile dropkick. Steve snapped Green's neck. Steve set up for a charge but was tripped up by Kaleb. All big spots with one talent hitting a move but being cut off by another talent's big move. Grace began stacking talents up in the corner, whipping them in one by one. Bahh reversed a whip and sent Grace in. Bahh hit a big Avalanche into all of them. Skyler tossed Bahh to the outside but was clotheslined by Steve in the corner. Steve went for a superplex but was caught and drilled off the top by Skyler for a two count. Green slapped Skyler. He came back and struck her. Grace caught him with the Grace Driver and scored the pin.

Your winner and the first Digital Media Champion, Jordynne Grace!

This was fine but with six talents (plus Kaleb) and not much time, they were doing this Spaceballs style - Ludicrous Speed!!!

Matt and D'Lo ran down the lineup for the show as they closed out the Countdown show.

Impact Wrestling Knockouts Tag Team Champions Decay vs. The IInspiration, making their Impact debut.

The IInspiration were sung to the ring by the singer of their theme song, Harley Cameron. They looked BEYOND happy walking down to the ring, literally like someone who had escaped Alcatraz Island happy. It was a big time entrance. They did mic work saying they were here to inspire you. I always loved their WWE act and this was just a few small tweaks on it and it worked.

Decay had new outfits and makeup style for the PPV. Cassie and Rosemary went back and forth. Jessie tagged in but was overwhelmed by Havok. Decay nailed a series of charges in the corner on McKay. Rosemary then bit her. The IInspiration were able to cut off Rosemary and doubleteamed her, tagging ina dn out. Jessie and Rosemary went for a double hair mare and tossed each other.

Havok and Cassie tagged in and well, it didn't go well for Cassie at first. The IInspiration were tossed into the corner and Havok nailed a hip attack and Facewash on them at the same time. Havok covered Cassie, but got her shoulder up at the last second. Havok was knocked out. Rosemary drilled Cassie but Jessie tagged in. She controlled Rosemary and knocked Havok back off the apron again. They worked over Rosemary, who kept kicking out.

Havok returned and they worked over Cassie. Cassie clotheslined Rosemary over the top to the floor. They tried to double-team Havok to no effect, but then they avoided a charge and she hit the ring post. That seemed to be a turning point. Rosemary returned and rolled up McKay but Cassie made the blind tag. She wiped out Rosemary with a leaping knee. They nailed a combination powerbomb/neckbreaker on Rosemary and scored the pin.

Your winners and new Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champions, The IInspiration!

Matt Striker and D'Lo Brown ran down the lineup.

Gia Miller interviewed Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo and Matthew Rehwoldt. Purrazzo said it's just like Impact to punish them for taking the fight to Mickie James after everything Mickie has done to her. Their relationship is best on respect but Purrazzo won her Knockouts titles on her own. This might be the most high profile fight of her title reign but she's not star struck. She's going to do what she does best, breaking both of James' arms.

Coverage continues on Page 2!

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
For the most part, Illinois has seen an improvement in the pandemic over the last month.

The number of cases has fallen, and Gov. JB Pritzker is even talking about the possibility of backing off the states mask mandate.

However, hospitals around the state still are reporting an elevated number of Covid cases, which is all the more reason that people should follow the latest bit of advice from health care experts: Get your flu shot.

Americans have become accustomed to being told to get a Covid vaccine, and 69% of all Illinoisans (81% of those 12 and up) have gotten at least one jab, according to the New York Times tracker.

Still, it has been a hard road getting to this point, with vaccine mandates and other steps aimed at encouraging the resistant to get inoculated. In Chicago, unvaccinated police officers have been arguing with Mayor Lori Lightfoot over her order that they report their vaccination status.

Luckily, flu shots dont carry as much controversy. Nonetheless, its important that people get inoculated. Last year, during the worst of the pandemic, we saw a dramatic decline in the flu as Americans trying to avoid Covid washed their hands, kept out of crowds, wore masks and distanced themselves from others.
Nina: Yes. She let herself be saddened, or almost mourning. In the first half of the book, particularly in the first 10 pages, shes so, so angry. And by the end of the book, you feel she can allow herself to be sad and to mourn what she didnt have and even go a step further and start to mourn what her mother didnt have. She comes to this realization that her mother and all of their sisters  because they didnt have the power of choice in their husbands, and when they had kids  they could not have a loving relationship. In some sense a loving relationship was reserved only for the wealthy and the privileged. There was a great quote in there, about her mom saying, love goes out the window when youre poor.

Q. How much do we know about her time in the psychiatric hospital?
"The insult right now is in Texas," said McNicholas, "but it is causing a wave of displacement of patients out of their communities."

Measures like the Texas law lead Illinois to become more protective of abortion care, says state Rep. Amy Elik, an anti-abortion Republican from Fosterburg.

"Unfortunately there are lawmakers that have a knee-jerk reaction to pro-life laws in other states and try to make Illinois more abortion-friendly than it already is," Elik said.

Life after abortion

As she protested outside Hope Clinic on a recent sunny October afternoon, Liz Cordes, a 72-year-old retired teacher's aide from Godfrey, said abortion is a "scourge upon us."

"Life is precious," said Cordes, who is there regularly. "This is a curse upon our world, our society. It's a total disregard for human life."

Madeline Petrosky, a 25-year-old medical assistant at Hope Clinic, says she has a life because of abortion. She had one after becoming pregnant at 13 years old. When she cares for patients that age at Hope Clinic, she tells them there's life after abortion.

"I tell them they're going to be fine. They're going to grow up," said Petrosky, who grew up in Granite City and now has a 9-year-old daughter.
In the average lifetime there are a handful of major transitions during which an individual can reinvent themselves and their place in society. These are moments that stay with us forever, like moving to a new city, starting a new job, or joining the military. Or voting for the first time.

Reams of social science have demonstrated humans' powerful commitments to our identities. In any given situation, we ask ourselves, "What does someone like me do?" and then decide accordingly how we act, dress and, increasingly, how we engage with our democracy.

That's why the long-term health of our country depends on our ability to foster democratic participation as a core tenet of our population's identity. To do that, we need to create successful "civic transitions" for every American. Once someone has voted for the first time, they tend to adopt an identity as a voter, and then vote again in subsequent elections. Getting young people to adopt voter identities by inviting them to participate in our democratic processes can create a lifetime of civic engagement.
Those of us who love sitting in a duck blind at the edge of a marsh are likely to find that the experience is much more than a pursuit of waterfowl. We find that our batteries are recharged by enjoying a view of the sun rising with a misty fog gently peaking above the cattails, or the almost sweet fragrance of the marsh.

The noises of a marsh, to me, can be the most exciting. It might be the whistling of a flock of widgeon overhead, or the distant call of a sandhill crane. The sound of a marsh, or marsh music, as I call it, invokes calmness. Some of the sounds you hear in a marsh are less familiar, yet once you learn the call you will not likely forget it.

Two less familiar calls come from what biologists refer to as secretive marsh birds, better known as the Virginia and sora rail. Appearing about quail sized with generally brown speckled plumage, rails were a popular hunted species in the early 1900s. While they still have a recognized hunting season in 31 states, few hunters in the west have ever pursued the bird.

For me, catching a glimpse of either species is always a thrill, as the bird quickly departs back to the safety of thick emergent vegetation near the marshes edge.

Of the two species found in Montana, the sora rail is the most common throughout North America. At Teller, as well as other wetland habitats throughout the Bitterroot, both species can be found. By winter, however, the sora has already retreated south while the Virginia rail might stick around as late as Christmas.

My favorite time of year for rail sightings is the spring. Linked to their courtship, both species are quite vocal during this time. Equipped with a recording of either species calls, venture out to a marsh in the early morning or evening and play the recording. Not only will you hear them call back, but, if you sit motionless near the marshes edge after playing, within minutes one of the species will almost certainly appear out of the bulrush or cattails and look for the intruder, or perhaps, mate.

Recently at Teller we attempted to call in both species. To our delight both the sora and Virginia rail appeared seconds after the recording was played. True to their reputation they only briefly, quickly darting back to a thick cattail stand.

Both species of rails often look as though they are walking on water. In reality they use any portion of floating or submerged vegetation to skip across a marsh with their long, extended toes. While capable of flight, these birds spend most of their time maneuvering within dense stands of emergent wetland plants.

Most frequently they will be found near the edge of thick cattails or bulrush stands where abundant insects can be found near the water surface on floating wetlands plants. Both species do migrate to areas south as far as South America, where warmer temperatures provide for abundant food and open water habitat.

The Virginia rail has been observed occasionally on Teller during the Christmas Bird Count but the majority of both species migrate earlier in the year during annual nighttime flights south. Both species nest in dense wetland stands of vegetation, with Virginia rails constructing a floating mat nest while the sora tends to build its nest above the water surface surrounded by cattail or bulrush stocks.

The sora rail is known for its bright yellow bill and black mask around its eye and forehead. The juvenile bird pictured has not yet achieved those mature color features. The Virginia rail is more of a cinnamon brown color, with a longer and slightly reddish bill. The calls of these birds can be used to identify the species without an actual visual observation. The sora has a distinct whistle that tends to taper off while the Virginia has more of a clicking repetitious call. With todays modern cell phone technology, you can even access several calls from both species right in the palm of your hand to test your luck in attracting the secret of the marsh.

From a conservation perspective, both species appear to have stable populations across North America, but due to their secretive lifestyle it is difficult to accurately determine population trends. As can be imagined, any continued loss of wetlands across their range of either species will impact overall population numbers. Here in the Bitterroot, critical wetland habitats associated with the Bitterroot flood plain will continue to provide habitat for both species. So, venture out to a marsh in the spring or fall and see if you can lure one of these marsh secrets into your view.

Sam Lawry, Teller Wildlife Refuge Executive Director has 35 plus years in the wildlife conservation profession. His contributions to the Ravalli Republic are intended to share some of that knowledge of wildlife in the Bitterroot with the community. If you would like more information about Teller Wildlife Refuge please visit our website at www.tellerwildlife.org.

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Devyn Hundley has always been a bull rider.

From the time he was big enough to climb on the back of a calf and tell the gate holder to let it go, the young man from Darby has lived for the adrenaline that comes from trying to stay astride a powerhouse of muscle and torque.

The man behind building Darbys once run-down arena into something that now draws some of the best cowboys, cowgirls and national sponsors to the tiny town had long ago noticed Hundley.

From the time he was a little boy, he was always the one wearing Wranglers, boots and a cowboy hat, Cal Ruark said. Hes been living the dream all this time while riding calves, steers and bulls. He and I have gotten pretty close.

Coming off a record-breaking year of rodeo events that included a special recognition by the National Rodeo Association, Ruark has already started looking for something that would make next year even more memorable.

After the 15-year-old Hundley placed fourth overall in the bull riding for Montana high school rodeo, first at the Ravalli County Fair Rodeo and was invited to ride with the big boys at the NILE Stockshow and Rodeo in Billings this weekend, Ruark came up with an idea that could some additional excitement to whats already one of the highlights of rodeo in Ravalli County.

Several years ago, Ruark bought a bull that its owners had named Droopy because of its long eyelashes.

Of course, he renamed it.

Darbacious became the official mascot of the Darby Rodeo Association. The huge bull that no one could ride turned out to be a buttercup when it was outside the rodeo arena. Ruark took the bull to store parking lots and other places where people gathered. Folks enjoyed watching Ruark reach through the fence to scratch the perfectly docile bull behind its ear.

Hundley came to know Darbacious well over the years. He saw quite a few bull riders come flying off his back. But the young man had ridden some pretty good bulls by now and he was ready to give Darbacious a try.

I thought about it a long time, Ruark said. If he got on that bull and got hurt, Id have a hard time living with that. But Devin has been doing so good, we both thought the time might be right.

The annual bull riding event hosted by the Darby Rodeo Association had for years focused on Tough Enough to Wear Pink to raise money for Marcus Daly Memorial Hospitals breast cancer screening program. The event has raised thousands of dollars toward that cause.

For the last two years, they focused on supporting similar efforts for testicular cancer screening at the bull riding event they renamed the Twisted Nut Festival.

The rodeo always brings a packed house of folks anxious to watch some of the best bull riders in the country riding spectacular bulls in the arena that features seating that puts everyone at eye level for the action.

Ruark, with Hundleys help, plans to offer an extra exhibition ride this year that will pit the hometown bull against a hometown bull rider. At stake will be a purse that could reach up into the $10,000 mark. If the bull wins, the money would go to the hospitals testicular cancer program. If Hundley wins, then it will be his choice where that money ends up.

Its been a year since Darbacious has come out of a chute.

Up to this point, no one has ever ridden him, Ruark said. Hes pretty wicked when he comes out of the chute. At the first crack, he back winds. Its pretty severe.

Devyn and Darbacious have kind of grown up together, he said. I think it will be fun for people at the rodeo to see who comes out on top.

On a recent afternoon, Hundley and Darby Rodeo Queen Elle Bucher stepped up alongside Darbacious in the corral where hes been living in semi-retirement for a photo shoot. The bull was far more interested in the trough of grain than he was with the two young people giving him a pet.

But Ruark said he becomes a different animal when he gets into the arena.

A few years back, a rodeo bullfighter met Ruark and Darbacious at the Darby arena with the idea of getting his photograph with the well-known bull. As soon as the bull saw the bullfighter dressed in his clown attire, he lowered his head and charged.

He saw how he was dressed and he just changed, Ruark said, with a smile. That guy was lucky to be able to get out of there.

While Ruark was telling that story, his telephone rang. He took one look at the number and told those standing around that he was going to have to take that call. It was from Wrangler and they were interested in being a sponsor at some of next years rodeos.

Thats something that Ive noticed as rodeo has continued to grow here in Darby, Ruark said. Its amazing how people want to be part of a winning team. Theres something happening here. I think its just going to continue to get bigger and bigger.

In addition to the regular rodeos that start in June with the one-of-a-kind Riggin Rally followed by the Senior Pro Rodeo and then the Twisted Nut in July and the NRA sanctioned Wild West Rodeo in August, the arena will also host the state junior high rodeo in May.

Last year was the best year that weve ever had at the Darby arena, Ruark said. I think this upcoming year might just top that.

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Its been less than two months since Ravalli County started its first treatment court that aims to break the cycle of addiction, crime and incarceration.

District Judge Howard Recht feels like hes already seen its potential.

Every week, its participants stand before the judge for a face-to-face talk about the progress theyve made in changing their lives. No matter how small those steps may have been, those enrolled in the program are given a round of applause by the treatment team that attends the weekly hearings for progress.

From my standpoint as the judge who sees these people week in and week out, Ive seen something in their eyes that I dont often see in others appearing before me, Recht said. I see hope in the eyes of those in treatment court.

Treatment courts have a long history in the United States that dates back 30 years to their beginnings in Florida.

Recht proposed starting a treatment court in 2019 in Ravalli County. The idea had widespread support from the judiciary, county commission, sheriff, county attorney, adult probation and parole and local health care and mental health providers.

A $365,000 grant from the Montana Department of Justice will pay for the first three years of the program.

While there were general guidelines under the terms of the grant, Recht tailored the program to the countys needs, including adding support after a client graduates.

In Ravalli County, candidates for the treatment court are people who have struggled with addiction and committed crimes like felony DUIs or criminal possession of dangerous drugs. People who have committed violent or sexual crimes are not eligible.

It offers people a second chance to get their lives back on track while living in their communities and with their families, but the path toward graduation isnt easy. If the client isnt able to meet strict conditions that include steering clear of old habits and bad influences while finding secure employment and housing, they could face incarceration with the state Department of Corrections.

Its challenging for the participants, Recht said. They have to change the people, places and things that have served as a trigger for them in the past. Its a requirement that they change who they associate with, where they go and what theyve done in their past addictive life in order to establish connections with people and places that no longer serve as triggers for their addiction.

Its very difficult, he said. But we are getting reports back from some of the participants they can see that its a good thing. They can see the benefit of making those changes.

Ravalli County Treatment Court Coordinator Scott Hoffman said the fledgling program currently has six enrollees. The first started on Sept. 7.

Most of these folks have been in and out of the system quite a bit, Hoffman said. Without intervention, most would likely cycle. They would get out of jail, use, and then go back to jail.

So far, Hoffman said it appears that all six are on track to move to the second phase of the program.

That says a lot, he said. There are some in the program that people in the community have told us would never make it. Well see.

The first phase focuses on getting people stabilized. They are all drug/alcohol tested twice a week. They meet with treatment providers. And once a week, they stand before the judge and tell him about their progress.

I like to call that hearing the icing on the cake, Hoffman said. Its different than any other court hearing. They dont have an attorney doing all the talking for them. The only people who talk are the judge and the participant. The judge engages with them on a personal level.

The treatment team attends the weekly hearings.

The whole program is based on incentives as opposed to sanctions, Hoffman said. Those incentives may be as little as applause from the group for doing a good job during the week. Or it could be a $10 gas card to help them be able to get to work.

The grant doesnt allow funding to pay for small incentives like gas cards or a gift card for a pizza. The treatment team is asking the community for help in raising about $2,000 that would pay for small incentives.

Donations can be sent to: Treatment Court Coordinator, 21st Judicial District Court, Department One, 205 Bedford St., Suite A, Hamilton, MT 59840.

These incentives may seem like a small insignificant thing, but to these folks its huge, Hoffman said. So many have kids and families who have been decimated by addiction. We are seeing families coming back together and actually talking again.

Being able to take their children out for ice cream or a pizza means a lot to them, he said.

Hoffman said the program has the potential to grow. It saves taxpayers the $100 a day it costs to keep someone in jail.

Over the past five years the Billings municipal treatment court has tracked the recidivism rate of people in the criminal justice system who have completed treatment court and those who havent. They found 86% of the people who didnt go through treatment court ended up being charged with a new crime.

Only 15% of those who successfully completed treatment court found themselves back in jail on a new charge. Clients with both mental health and substance abuse disorders who went through treatment court had an even lower recidivism rate of 12%.

According to the National Institute of Corrections, in 2013 every $1 spent on drug court programs yielded $9.61 in benefits over a 10-year period.

There is a potential significant savings for taxpayers, Recht said. And not just immediately. There could be a reduction in recidivism, addiction and the number of crimes committed would provide for a savings down the road.

The real purpose for acquiring incentives is so we can reward success and progress, he said. Modest things like a card to get a cup of coffee or a little gas money can be helpful in encouraging their success. Many of them have never been recognized for any progress or success in their lives.

Recht is encouraged with the programs progress so far.

So far, so good is all I can say, he said.

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KERRVILLE, Texas (AP)  A driver lost control during a Texas drag racing event on an airport runway and slammed into a crowd of spectators, killing two children and injuring eight other people, authorities said.

A 6-year-old boy and an 8-year-old boy were killed in the crash Saturday afternoon at an event called Airport Race Wars 2 at the Kerrville-Kerr County Airport, police said in a news release. The organized event was attended by thousands and involved drivers speeding down a runway as they competed for cash.

The driver lost control and left the runway, crashing into parked vehicles and striking spectators who were observing the races, Kerrville police said.

The injured victims were taken to various hospitals, including a 46-year-old woman who was listed in critical condition. The majority of the other injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, although the condition of a 26-year-old man was unknown, authorities said. A 4-year-old boy and a 3-month-old girl were taken to a hospital for precautionary evaluations.

Authorities have not released the identities of the two children who were killed at the event about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of San Antonio.

The Kerrville Convention and Visitors Bureau's website promoted the event as an action packed, family-friendly day in which fans could watch the fastest drag cars compete for over $8000 in total prizes.

Upward of 3,500 people were in attendance, according to Louis Amestoy, a freelance journalist who was at the event.

The race was an eighth of a mile (0.2 kilometers) long, and water-filled plastic barriers lined the course. But Amestoy said they didnt extend past the finish line, leaving no protection between spectators and cars as they were slowing down at the end of the race.

Spectators could get within about 15 feet (4.6 meters) of the track, and many watched the race from lawn chairs in the absence of stands. Organizers reminded people to stay in the grass and off the asphalt, Amestoy told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

The driver was nearing the end of the strip when the car veered off course, Amestoy said.



Associated Press writer Bryan Gallion contributed to this report from Roseland, New Jersey.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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A specialty insurance company is planning to set up its headquarters in Henrico County and hire about 70 people over the next three years.

Richmond National Group Inc., a start-up specialty property and casualty insurance holding company, announced Friday that it plans to invest at least $175,000 to establish its headquarters in Henrico.

The company is expected to create 70 new jobs over the next three years. Virginia successfully competed with Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington, D.C., for the project, Gov. Ralph Northams office announced on Friday.

The Commonwealth is always looking to create an environment that supports startups and businesses of all sizes, Northam said. Greater Richmonds world-class higher education institutions, talent pipeline, and quality of life have made the region a hotspot for economic activity.

We welcome Richmond National Group to Virginia and look forward to supporting the firms future success.

Richmond National Group and its affiliates were established to provide insurance to small businesses that have difficulty obtaining insurance in the standard market.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch is searching to find the best places to work in the region for its ninth annual Top Workplaces program.

The newspaper again has partnered with Energage to determine the regions best places to work based on employee survey feedback.

The research firm has conducted these types of surveys in 59 markets across the country, surveying more than 2 million employees at more than 8,000 organizations in the past year.

The Times-Dispatchs annual employer recognition program is accepting nominations. Any Richmond-area organization  business, nonprofit or government  with 35 or more employees is eligible.

Nominations may be made at www.Richmond.com/Top-Workplaces or (804) 977-9367. The deadline is Nov. 19.

Anyone can nominate a business. There is no charge to participate.

Eighty-one companies in the Richmond region were recognized this year as Top Workplaces businesses. In May, the coveted top rankings of first-, second- and third-place in each of four size categories  mega, large, midsize and small  went to 12 businesses.
Some Republicans held a rally in Henrico County on Oct. 13 in which former President Donald Trump called in. Participants said the Pledge of Allegiance to a flag that the emcee said was carried at Trumps Jan. 6 rally in Washington, after which many of his supporters led a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of Bidens election.

Obama called Jan. 6 the biggest threat to democracy in my lifetime. (Youngkin, who did not attend the Henrico rally, called it weird and wrong to pledge allegiance to a flag connected to January 6.)

Obama said Youngkins attempts to cultivate support from those who believe in election conspiracies raised a question about Youngkins character.

You cant run ads telling me youre a regular old hoops-playing, dish-washing, fleece-wearing guy, but quietly cultivate support from those who seek to tear down our democracy, Obama said. Either he actually believes in the same conspiracy theories that resulted in a mob, or he doesnt believe it, but hes willing to go along with it to say or do anything to get elected. And maybe thats worse.
The results of a long awaited study on the feasibility of an Amtrak stop in Bedford will be revealed at a community meeting at the Bedford Welcome Center hosted by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation set for Monday.

The Bedford/Franklin Regional Passenger Rail Stop Study kicked off in 2019. That year Virginias Commonwealth Transportation Board approved $300,000 to conduct a planning study on adding a train platform in the town.

Efforts to add a Bedford stop have also been pushed by the Bedford/Franklin Regional Rail Initiative committee for several years before the study was announced. The group even held an early-morning demonstration in 2017 holding signs that read stop here as a Amtrak train passed through Bedford from a newly created stop in Roanoke on its way to Lynchburg.

Emily Stock, chief of rail transportation for the Virginia Department of Transportation, said the Oct. 25 community meeting will provide the results of the feasibility study which will include potential costs to create the stop, foretasted ridership and the results of a survey of potential riders held in 2019.
True patriotism is serving in defense of freedom, Kitts said. I dont think she [March] knows the first thing about it.

March dismisses questions about her patriotism. Throughout her campaign, she has espoused her support for veterans and has specifically referred to her grandfather, who she said was a surgeon who served during World War II on a Navy battleship. She has said her father served in the Air Force.

Still, Kitts and March do stand far apart on a number of issues.

One recent issue that has sharply divided many Democrats and Republicans is the question of whether vouchers should be provided to public school students who decide to switch to private or homeschool.

March strongly favors vouchers, whereas Kitts opposes the idea.

March said shes for vouchers due, in part, to what she sees as excessive state and federal government interference in the functions of public schools. She specifically referred to issues such as the enactment of policies in the schools for transgender students, a subject she called deeply personal and argued shouldnt be imposed by government.

Groups on both sides of the issue have cited safety in their arguments for or against the policies.
Mary Biggs, a Democrat and member of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, said she was disappointed by the event but also believes Hurst has since made up for his mistake.

He never tried to use his power as a legislator during the stop. The camera footage shows that. He owned up to the mistake and apologized for his actions.

Horton also gave his thoughts on the matter.

I dont like how Republicans have portrayed the police throughout all of this," he said. They made a decision to do what they thought was best without giving him any favoritism. I think it's insulting to law enforcement to question their decision or insinuate that he got special treatment.

I also think people make mistakes. Obviously nobody should drive under the influence, and Chris has acknowledged that.

When asked about the incident, Hurst said he was deeply regretful of his decisions that night and it wasnt something that would be a problem in the future.

Hurst has also been under scrutiny about what he does for a living from local Republicans, including Ballard.

I have a lot going on, but he doesnt seem to work, so Im not sure what all of that is about, Ballard said.
According to the latest statistics, homelessness in the Roanoke region occurs at about one-tenth of the rate seen in major cities of California, Massachusetts and New York where homeless populations have increased. California, which has four times the population of Virginia, has nearly 162,000 homeless people compared to about 6,000 in this state, according to data released by the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

The annual homeless head count for the Roanoke area has posted lower numbers for years  including a 9.4% drop between the January 2020 count and the January 2021 count. Homelessness means a person lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence. The count estimates the number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless people in the counties of Alleghany, Botetourt, Craig and Roanoke and the cities of Covington, Roanoke and Salem.

Between 2012 and 2021, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the Roanoke region fell by 55.4% from 561 to 250, according to the Point-In-Time report by the Blue Ridge Interagency Council on Homelessness.

This years count, which took place in January, found 238 people in shelters and a dozen outdoors. That could point to the possibility that some of those not yet sheltered will move indoors as temperatures decrease and this balmy fall ends.
Facebook did not respond to four emails from The Roanoke Times asking whether it had complied with the subpoena. Two emails were sent last month, shortly after the documents were filed, followed by two more last week.

The social media giants webpage for news media inquiries does not include a phone number.

On its website, Facebook says it shares information with regulators, law enforcement or others if it has a good faith belief that the law requires us to do so.

That decision is made if there are legal requests such as a search warrant, court order or subpoena, the website states. Some the reasons listed for disclosure include the prevention of fraud, unauthorized use of products, violations of Facebook policies, or other harmful or illegal activity that could result in imminent bodily harm or death.

The site does not specifically address subpoenas filed in civil cases, such as Mountain Valleys request for an injunction that would keep pipeline protesters away from its blasting work.

Facebooks silence to date does not mean the issue is over, Kelley said.
Youngkins claims are meant to provoke outrage in people who wrongly believe their kids are being brainwashed by leftist teachers in public schools. In fact, their kids are being brainwashed, but in a benign way, because they dont yet have the intellectual and emotional confidence in the classroom  much less in Sunday school or at home  to question what they are taught. Unfortunately, some of what children are conditioned into thinking is simply not true, and it happens at home as well as in school.

Im not suggesting that kids be taken from their parents and raised in schools taught by philosophers, as Plato suggested some 2,000 years ago. Today philosophy classes are few and far between in secondary schools and disappearing in higher education as administrators shut them down for declining enrollment, even when that discipline is the foundation of critical thinking. But if Youngkin really is serious about making kids smarter, he should campaign to hire professional philosophers to teach in Virginias schools. Students would then learn not only to take their place in American life but also how to improve society by investigating the still unexamined beliefs that founded it.
Investigators combed through all his belongings, and a federal grand jury was convened, yet no charges were ever filed against Bowman.

By 2006, two men had been convicted in federal court of lying to investigators by making claims they had seen Bowman at the Shorts home the night of the slayings. Prosecutors said the men were after the reward money, and that the lies they told led to hundreds and hundreds of hours of misguided investigation before their stories unraveled.

Still, a cloud of suspicion hung over Bowman until his death in 2014. Even today it lingers, despite the fact that in 2007, both Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry and an FBI agent publicly stated that Bowman was not a suspect in the case.

As Bowman himself lamented, This will live with me until the day I die, or until its solved.

The question must be raised: compounding the horrific tragedy of the Short familys deaths, was an innocent mans life destroyed?

To those who have the answer: Please, do the right thing.

Regarding the handling of the Short case, the Henry County Sheriffs Office has had a cloud of its own to contend with.
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" " Sting /Wikimedia/(CC BY-SA 4.0) The Pacific Ocean's infamous Ring of Fire is about 24,900 miles (40,000 kilometers) long and is where most of the world's earthquakes and volcanic events occur.

When the explorer Ferdinand Magellan visited Earth's biggest ocean in 1520, he found the waters pleasantly calm. And that's why  to this day  most people call it the Pacific Ocean, as "pacific" is a synonym for "peaceful."

Oh, the irony. Magellan didn't know it, but there's a vast loop of volcanoes, trenches and seismically active places running through and around the Pacific. This would be the (in)famous "Ring of Fire." About 24,900 miles (40,000 kilometers) long, it's where most of the world's earthquakes and volcanic events take place. Here's a seven-part crash course on the region as a whole. Spoiler alert: It's got nothing to do with that Johnny Cash love song. Unfortunately.

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1. It's an International Sensation

More than 15 countries are pierced by this geologically interesting area. In the New World, it hugs the western coasts of South, Central and North America. Then it spans Alaska's Aleutian Island Arc. From there, the ring invades Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula before shooting through Japan. Next in line are the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. The ring completes itself down below in northwestern Antarctica, where a number of volcanoes are present.

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2. Plate Tectonics Make the Whole Thing Possible

You and I live on top of the Earth's lithosphere, our home world's rocky exterior. But this layer isn't some rigid shell. Instead it's divided into 15 to 20 tectonic plates that drift over molten materials deeper in the planet. Boundaries between them come in three major categories  and the Ring of Fire includes examples of each one. Let's start with divergent boundaries. These occur when two neighboring plates move in opposite directions. Because they generate new crust (the outer portion of our lithosphere), they're extremely important.

Under the ocean, the huge Pacific Plate is being pushed away from four of its counterparts by the powerful East Pacific Rise. The boundary's northern tip stretches into the Gulf of California, putting it well within the Ring of Fire.

And up in California proper, we have the San Andreas Fault. That's a classic transform boundary: an area where two plates sideswipe each other horizontally. California straddles the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. The latter is headed south; the former's moving north. Friction between them causes earthquakes, such as the 1906 San Francisco quake that killed about 3,000 people.

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3. It's Home to World's Deepest Ocean Trench

What happens when plates collide head-on? A convergent boundary, that's what. At this very moment, the Nazca oceanic plate is being driven underneath the South American continental plate. The point of contact is called a "subduction zone." Because the ocean plate isn't going down smoothly, the convergence process sets off a lot of earthquakes in western South America. It's also uplifting mountains and sending up the magma necessary for volcanoes.

Subduction zones can also appear where two ocean plates meet. Remember the giant Pacific Plate? Well right now, the Philippine Sea Plate is overriding a western portion of it. This interaction forged the Mariana Island Arc. It also created a yawning underwater chasm called the Mariana Trench. Part of a larger subduction zone, it contains the deepest point of any ocean on Earth. Called the "Challenger Deep," that area's floor lies 36,070 feet (10,944 meters) below sea level.

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4. It's Littered With Volcanoes and Prone to Earthquakes

National Geographic reported that there are some 452 active and dormant volcanoes spread out across the Ring of Fire (including plenty of submarine vents and fissures that erupt underwater). As far as we know, these account for 75 percent of all the world's volcanic activity. Meanwhile, around 90 percent of the earthquakes on this planet occur in the Ring's general area. Some of the worst natural disasters in recorded history  like the 1883 Krakatoa eruption, the Chile Earthquake of 1960 and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami  had their origins along its tectonic boundaries.

" " On Dec. 26, 2005, a village near the coast of Sumatra was destroyed by a tsunami triggered by a massive earthquake off the country's western coast that registered a magnitude of 9.19.3 on the Richter scale. Philip A. McDaniel/U.S. Navy

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5. Its Quakes Aren't Always Interconnected

The Ring of Fire has been described as a "coincidence." Really, it's just a collection of independent plate boundaries that happen to exist around the same ocean. So when disasters break out on opposite sides of the ring, you can bet they're unrelated. Case in point: A series of earthquakes rocked Japan's Kyushu Island in April 2016. That same month, Chile suffered a quake with a Richter scale magnitude of 7.2.

Did one set off the other? Hardly. As the University of California, Berkley's seismology lab pointed out, the epicenters were almost 10,000 miles (16,093 kilometers) apart. Although a strong earthquake can trigger weaker ones in nearby places, the gap between Chile and Japan is way too big for their quakes to be linked.

While we're here, the evidence suggests volcanoes erupt independently of each other. Good to know.

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6. It's a Great Producer of Geothermal Energy

Solar and wind power grab more headlines, but the Earth's interior produces another renewable energy source. By harnessing natural hot water reservoirs, engineers can produce electricity without emitting greenhouse gasses. Potential geothermal energy reserves are often located around subduction zones, making this an attractive option for communities in the Ring of Fire. The United States, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines and several other countries have long capitalized on the resource.

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7. The Ring of Fire Could Help Set Up a Future "Supercontinent"

The Pacific is the world's largest ocean  but how long will it retain the title? Due in no small part to all the subduction zones on its flanks, the Pacific might close within the next 250 million years. As Asia, Australia and the Americas converge, planet Earth may wind up with a new supercontinent, not too dissimilar from the giant landmass Pangea that started breaking apart around 200 million years ago. But that's just one hypothesis. Some geologists think the Atlantic or the Arctic Oceans are more likely to disappear than the Pacific.

Now That's Interesting Mount Everest's peak is 29,026 feet (8,848 meters) above sea level. That means the Mariana Trench is significantly deeper than the storied mountain is tall.

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Originally Published: Mar 9, 2020
" " Astrocat Felicette blasted from Algeria to nearly 100 miles (161 kilometers) above Earth. HowStuffWorks

In the 1950s and '60s, scientists around the world launched a veritable menagerie of creatures into space. The idea was to gauge the effects of spaceflight on living creatures in the hopes that humans could follow.

The Soviet Union sent a stray Moscow dog named Laika into space, and subsequently, the pooch was honored as a national hero. Ham the chimpanzee was famously buried at the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico following his contributions to the U.S. space program.

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And then there was France, which sent the first (and so far only) cat into space. She was ignobly forgotten until just a few years ago.

So, who was this hero cat, anyway?

Felicette was one of 14 cats summoned to the French space program. Each cat had electrodes implanted into their brain, and all were subjected to many of the same activities included in human astronaut training. French scientists decided to use cats as they already had a lot of neurological data on them.

First cat in space #Felicette to get memorial statue after successful crowdfund: https://t.co/zh8oh8K44Ypic.twitter.com/p7bQ6o4xou  collectSPACE (@collectSPACE) November 17, 2017

At the conclusion of training, the petite tuxedo Felicette got the green light, in part because she had such a calm demeanor (and possibly because the other cats got too chubby during training).

On Oct. 18, 1963, Felicette (who was officially known as C 341), was strapped into a Veronique rocket and blasted from Algeria to nearly 100 miles (161 kilometers) above Earth. She experienced about five minutes of weightlessness followed by the terror of a turbulent, spinning descent via parachute.

Just 15 minutes later, the flight was complete. A helicopter crew dashed to the landing site, threw open the cabin, and found Felicette alive and well.

Two months later, scientists rewarded her heroism with euthanasia  they wanted to examine her body to observe the effects of spaceflight. Then, Felicette was all but forgotten.

So forgotten that in the '90s, when three former French colonies celebrated her story by issuing stamps with the cat's likeness, they mistakenly turned her into a boy by using the wrong name  Felix.

But thanks to a clever Kickstarter campaign, the story's finally been set straight. Londoner Matt Guy stumbled upon the tale of Felicette and was shocked that she wasn't already properly recognized for her accomplishments.

"Over the last 54 years, the story of the first and only cat to go to space has been largely forgotten. She deserves a proper memorial," Guy wrote on Kickstarter in 2017. His online pleas netted around $57,000, enough to fund a 5-foot (1.5-meter) tall bronze statue.

On Dec. 18, 2019, the statue was finally unveiled at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. Felicette's bronze likeness stands on a statue of Earth, her keen kitty eyes fixed on the skies where she once soared higher than any cat in world history.

NOW THAT'S INTERESTING Why was Felicette not remembered for so long? France was the third nation to establish a civilian space agency and  like Felicette  is often regarded as an afterthought in the feverish space race between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

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Originally Published: Feb 13, 2020
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!
While much is still unknown about what tax changes may or may not be included in any Congressional tax legislation this year, it appears most of the scary stuff for farmers is off the table as the country heads toward Halloween.

What has come to light is that a lot of rural lawmakers listened to their constituents and came to the conclusion there was a lack of support  for some of the proposed changes to the tax system, says Kristine Tidgren, director of the Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation at Iowa State University.

To be clear, as of last week, Congress had not passed any changes to the tax system. Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have been in negotiations over spending and tax bills throughout the summer and fall and thus far they have not reached agreement.

But the most dramatic changes that were put on the table last spring appear to be off the table now, Tidgren says, and that shows that both Democrats and Republicans in rural areas have had an impact on the proposals.

President Joe Biden campaigned on the ideas of investing in infrastructure, recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and revising the tax code. Early in 2021, he and Democrats in Congress pushed through a COVID-19 relief bill, but his broad proposals to revise the tax code and spend large amounts of money on infrastructure ran into early roadblocks, and some of the tax code ideas sent farmers and landowners into a state of near-panic.

One of the biggest of those items was a proposal that would have effectively eliminated stepped-up basis.

That was a big concern from the agricultural industry and farmers, says Krista Swanson, a research associate with the University of Illinois.

Concern might even be an understatement. Farm groups immediately jumped on the issue and made their voices heard, telling lawmakers in no uncertain terms that they didnt want an end to stepped-up basis. The idea is this: Currently, when a farm or other asset is passed on at death, the heir is not taxed on the increase in value of the land since it was purchased (or previously passed on). If a farm was bought for $1,000 an acre in 1970 and is now worth $10,000 an acre, there was not a capital gains tax on that difference.

As of last week, stepped-up basis changes were not included in any of the various legislative proposals being discussed in either the House or the Senate. Neither chamber appears likely to eliminate the 1031 exchange program either, Tidgren says.

There are a number of ideas still being proposed or discussed in regards to tax law, but the bottom line is that some of them may hurt some farmers and some of them may help some farmers, Tidgren says.

On Aug. 10, the Senate reached a compromise on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package. That bill passed by a 69-30 vote, and most analysts expect it to eventually pass in the House, where Democrats have the majority.

But it has been tied to a reconciliation bill that would potentially include as much as $3.5 trillion in money for infrastructure, dental and vision benefits for Medicare beneficiaries, climate items, free pre-school, and free community college education. The size of that package has drawn opposition in the Senate, where Democratic moderates Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and Kyrstin Sinema, D-Arizona, have been in the lead in pushing for a smaller package.

A group of progressive Democrats in the House have held up a vote on the Senate package until they get a vote on the larger bill. That has led to a deadlock and negotiations.

Meanwhile, Congress did pass short-term extensions of the nations debt limit and funding of the government, both of which had more to do with past spending bills than with this one.

What tax changes might be included in any final piece of legislation is still up in the air, Swanson says. As of last week, some of the proposals being discussed yet included:

The corporate tax rate could be increased from a top rate of 21% (it was 35% before the 2017 tax cut legislation) to 26.5%. It is important to note that the present 21% level is a flat rate. Before 2017 it was graduated, with some people paying only 15%. The new proposal would again put it on a graduated basis, meaning some people could actually see their corporate tax rate drop to as low as 18%.

The top personal income tax rate could go up from 37% to the old level of 39.6% and taxpayers would hit that percent when their income tops $400,000 for an individual and $450,000 for a couple.

Capital gains taxes could go up. Right now the top rate is 20%. That could go up to 25%.

The health care tax addition of 3.8% could be applied to more and different taxes and could in that way raise rates for some taxpayers.

The unified credit, also known as the exemption level to be met before estate tax is owed, could be changed. The 2017 legislation upped that to $10 million per person and $20 million per couple. That was indexed and is now at about $11.7 million per person and $23.4 million per couple. That exemption could be dropped back down to $5 million or $6 million for an individual and $10 or $12 million per couple.

It is worth noting, Swanson says, that in 2020 only 0.16% of U.S. farm operator estates owed any tax. Even if that law were changed, it would only apply to a very small percentage of farm estates.

All of this is written in pencil at the moment. But Swanson and Tidgren both say that the more onerous ideas for farmers that were proposed are no longer being actively discussed.

The discussion now is important, they say, but the tax ideas now on the table could benefit some farmers or hurt some farmers, depending on the size and structure of their specific farm operations. It is evident that both parties have listened to farm voices in the course of the debate.

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REMSEN, Iowa -- Remsen will host its 47th annual Remsen Oktoberfest Celebration on Oct. 30. The festival was cancelled last year due to the pandemic.

The festival starts with the Oktoberfest Fall Frenzy Craft/Retail Vendor Event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the MMCRU Middle School in Remsen. More than 70 vendors will be onsite to sell handcrafted items, and local organizations will be offering breakfast and lunch. Souvenirs will be available beginning at 11 a.m. at the Remsen St. Mary's gym.

Members of the Luxembourg Heritage Society will be displaying family histories from 9 a.m. to noon at the downtown Remsen Heritage Museum, and then from 3 to 8 p.m. at the Remsen St. Mary's gym.

The tapping of the Golden Keg will be held at 1 p.m. in the Remsen St. Mary's gym, followed by the Children's Bavarian Costume and Dance Contest at 1:30 p.m. Children will be dressed in their finest Luxembourg attire and will answer questions related to local heritage. The Oktoberfest Prince and Princess will be crowned at the conclusion.

Live polka music will be played the remainder of the day at the gym. An All You Can Eat Bavarian Feast will be served at the Remsen St. Mary's cafeteria from 4 to 7 p.m. Meal tickets are $15 and can be purchas1ed at the door beginning at 11 a.m. The meal will be served buffet-style and will include Luxembourg treipen, bratwurst, headcheese, German potato salad, German kraut along with some American favorites such as roast beef, chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, coleslaw, rolls, milk and coffee.

For more information visit remseniowa.org or like Remsen Oktoberfest on Facebook. You can also email remsenoktoberfest@gmail.com.

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NORTH SIOUX CITY -- In recent years, North Sioux City has had to pass on certain commercial and industrial development projects.

With the city's Flynn Business Park near capacity, there just weren't available parcels of land big enough for some of the companies interested in locating here.

That shouldn't be a problem much longer.

North Sioux City leaders hope to embark as early as next spring on what they're calling a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop hundreds of acres of vacant land on the South Dakota city's north side. Plans include industrial and commercial development, some much-needed affordable housing and relocation of a flood-protection levee.

Not one shovel of dirt has been turned yet, but all those available acres already are attracting potential developers.

"I have my first site visit coming up this week," North Sioux City Economic Development Corporation executive director Andrew Nilges said Thursday. "It's clear that there's good interest."

The North Sioux City Council last month approved two agreements to buy approximately 439 acres of land from Graham Aviation, which operates the private Graham Airport, for more than $13 million.

The sale will facilitate Graham Aviation owner Stephen F. Jones' plans to expand the airport and put even more land in the area on the development table. His Graham Airpark Development master plan includes construction of commercial and residential properties with runway access on airport-owned land.

"The city has some great plans, and we have some great plans, and together we're going to be very successful," Jones said.

It was a collaboration that happened almost by chance, city administrator Eric Christensen said.

As Christensen tells it, when he arrived in North Sioux City in June 2020, he was informed that Jones was looking to expand. Christensen contacted Jones to see how the city could assist. Discussions evolved into an agreement in which the city will buy land to the east and west of the airport that Jones himself had been planning to develop.

"We made an offer to buy it because we had the ability," Christensen said. "It became obvious this was something we could get involved with."

It also was perfect timing. Nilges said the city has just 7 acres of available land, plus another privately owned 8 acres, left in the Flynn Business Park, not enough for some of the developers inquiring about North Sioux City.

"There's been plenty of projects that have come along that we haven't been able to throw our hat in the ring," Nilges said.

Almost overnight, the city has an abundance of available land.

"It's the perfect opportunity," Nilges said. "We were looking for land, and the airport was looking for an opportunity to grow. It's not often you have something like that come together so nicely.

"We had a common goal to see North Sioux City grow in the right way."

Site surveying has begun, and Nilges said engineering work such as soil sampling could be done yet this fall. If financing falls into place, the city would begin installing utilities and infrastructure on the first 94-acre tract in the spring.

The city also will seek U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permission to remove three miles of flood levee running through the property and rebuild it closer to the Big Sioux River. Cost estimates have not been developed yet, Christensen said, but the city will pursue financing and funding for the levee relocation. The land to be developed lies between the levee and the river, but Christensen said it's accessible and the levee's current location will not hinder development.

"It won't stop us from what we're going to develop," Christensen said.

The purchases represent two development phases:

-- In the first phase, the city expects to close on the 94 acres north of Waters Road and Flynn Business Park by the end of the year. The purchase price is $3 million. Like the Flynn Park, the tract is near South Dakota Highway 105, Interstate 29 and rail access.

Nilges said the city has applied to the South Dakota Governor's Office of Economic Development for $15 million in aid, which could be in the form of grants and/or loans, to help with land acquisition and infrastructure costs. The state's decision on the application is expected in early November.

Christensen said a city budget surplus would allow for easy repayment of loans, and reserves in the city's water and sewer funds also could help pay for the extension of utilities to the site.

-- The second purchase, expected to close in January 2023, includes approximately 345 acres for approximately $10.35 million, totals that will be finalized once surveys are completed. A portion of the land is located west and northwest of the 94-acre site. The rest stretches east and northeast of the airport to the Big Sioux River.

The land will be phase two of the development, and there are no immediate plans for extending infrastructure to that area unless a buyer shows interest in it, Christensen said.

Approximately 125 acres are planned for housing, which will be developed separately from the industrial property and built to the west and northwest of the 94-acre site. Nilges said a housing study currently is identifying the city's most pressing needs. Results are expected in early 2022, he said, at which time the city can begin developing a housing master plan to build affordable housing, which currently is in short supply. It's hoped that by the time the city closes on the property, plans will be in place to begin housing construction in 2023.

Nilges said the city is not limiting the types of businesses that might locate at either site. With the amount of land soon available, North Sioux City could accommodate projects of just about any size.

"It can attract a significant user or industry, or it could be a number of medium or smaller users," Nilges said.

Jones' Graham Airpark Development, separate from the city's, would transform the airport into an executive airport, Jones said. Plans call for the expansion and enlargement of the runway, making it large enough to handle "sizeable corporate aircraft" in addition to the current general aviation and smaller aircraft at the airport, which dates back to 1916, was the second airport in South Dakota and the first with a paved runway.

A master plan posted on the project's website, fly7k7.com, shows new hangars and taxiways and lengthening of the 5,300-foot runway to up to 8,690 feet. The plans include 31 commercial hangar lots east of the runway providing businesses with an airplane hangar and runway access. Other commercial lots without runway access are planned to the east of the airport.

Also in the plans are 24 residential airpark lots southwest of the runway that will have private hangars from which owners can taxi to the runway. No such property currently exists in the Sioux City metro, said Jones, who manages the airport.

"We've had a lot of interest in it," he said of the runway-accessible property. "A lot of folks asked me about it."

The master plan also shows residential development east of I-29 and adjacent to the city's planned housing development, plus another housing development north of the Dakota Valley schools to the west of I-29.

Jones, who also is general manager of Claussen Group, a property management company, said he was not ready to divulge the cost of the project, and it's too soon to say when construction could start. He said he plans to collaborate with the city on its development efforts.

"We're going to work in unison and be good stewards of the community," Jones said. "The airfield's goal is to help the community grow."

Rather than considering the planned airpark expansion a competing development, Nilges said it complements the city's plans. Commercial and residential development, on city-owned land or private property, benefits the whole city.

"Overall, we want to see development in our community, whether it's on the airport development site or on the city's development site," Nilges said.

Christensen said the two developments -- hundreds of acres with the potential for several new businesses and dozens of homes -- are the kind of opportunity that rarely comes along.

"It's a project that's probably going to define the city for the next 20 years," he said. "We really think this is a game-changer for us."

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JACKSON, Wyo. (AP)  Dozens of U.S. fellow Marines joined hundreds of Wyoming residents to bid a final farewell at a memorial for Rylee McCollum, one of 13 U.S. servicemen killed in a suicide bombing as they guarded a gate at a chaotic Kabul, Afghanistan airport during the final U.S. evacuation from that country.
CHICAGO (AP)  Illinois Democrats have unveiled updated congressional maps that propose a second Latino-leaning Chicago area district and could mean primary matchups for two Democratic incumbents in the suburbs and in two other races featuring Republican incumbents.

Democrats, who control state government and redistricting in Illinois, released the revised maps Saturday. The maps come weeks after their first draft of boundaries that were also aimed at giving Democratic candidates an advantage in elections as the party fights to keep control of the U.S. House in 2022.

State legislators are scheduled to meet in Springfield on Tuesday and Wednesday to consider the maps, which are redrawn every decade based on census data. Illinois, which currently has 18 U.S. House members, will lose a congressional seat because of population loss.

Under the new maps, a proposed congressional district would connect Latino populations on the northwest side of Chicago with the city's West Side and western suburbs for a second Latino-leaning district, in addition to the one currently represented by U.S. Rep. Jesus Chuy Garcia, a Chicago Democrat.

The changes made in this updated congressional map will help ensure the diversity of Illinois is reflected in Washington, state Sen. Omar Aquino, a Chicago Democrat who is chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee, said in a statement. We appreciate the many advocacy groups and individuals that continue to guide our work with passion and dedication, as we remain focused on the creation of a fair map that will provide equal representation for all.

The new proposed maps also mean some potential incumbent matchups next year. The Illinois primary is in June.

First-term Rep. Marie Newman of LaGrange and two-term Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove, both Democrats, would be in the same suburban Chicago district. That's different from the first version of the maps in which six-term Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump, was drawn into Newman's district. The revised maps would put Kinzinger's hometown into the same sprawling district as four-term Republican Rep. Darin LaHood of Dunlap, a strong Trump supporter.

The revised map also means a potential GOP primary matchup between first-term Rep. Mary Miller of Oakland and four-term Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro.

The Illinois Republican Party and advocacy groups have blasted the mapmaking process as partisan and lacking transparency. Democrats held several public hearings, but almost all were without any draft maps for the public to comment on and were attended mostly only by lawmakers.

Illinois GOP spokesman Joe Hackler on Sunday called the latest maps an even more aggressive plan to protect Democrats.

As we said for the last version of the map, Illinois Democrats, led by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, have made it clear that they are willing to disenfranchise Illinois voters and break repeated campaign promises to do the bidding of (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and (Washington) D.C. power brokers," Hackler said in an email.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (AP)  A former West Virginia sheriff's officer filed a lawsuit Friday afternoon accusing the Wood County sheriff of making derogatory and sexist comments about her and another officer, inappropriately touching a female officer and creating a hostile work environment, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel reported.

The suit was filed by former Sgt. Della D. Matheny, who said Sheriff Steve Stephens' behavior eventually led her to quit the department in July 2021. It alleges the problematic behavior dates back to around 2012, when Stephens first made inappropriate comments to (her) about her weight and appearance. He made comments to (her) about how her butt looked in the pants she wore.

The lawsuit also claims Stephens added Mathenys ex-husband as a friend on Facebook and asked him questions about Mathenys sex life. And it says Stephens was obsessed with another officer, Chief Deputy Tasha Hewitt.

Calls to Stephens by the newspaper were not returned.

Fridays lawsuit says Hewitt filed a formal complaint in March 2020. The investigator recommended the Wood County Commission implement sexual harassment training, which was never done, the lawsuit states.

Earlier this month, the Wood County Deputy Sheriffs Association wrote to the County Commission, stating that they had taken a unanimous vote of no confidence in Stephens leadership. In response, Commissioner Blair Couch said he thought Stephens was "capable of regaining the deputies confidence, the suit said.

By not taking action, Matheny said the Commission continues to condone the misogynistic culture created by Sheriff Stephens." Mathenys lawsuit names both Stephens and the County Commission as defendants. She is seeking a jury trial.

On Friday afternoon, commissioners told the paper they had not yet read the suit and could not comment until it had been reviewed by the county prosecutor. They planned to discuss the issue during Mondays regularly scheduled meeting.

For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, News and Sentinel (Parkersburg, W.Va.).

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DES MOINES  Four inmates serving life sentences in Iowa prisons have hopes of someday breathing free air once again.

Those hopes rest with getting Gov. Kim Reynolds to agree to commute their sentences but, if history is any indicator, they face long odds at best.

Prison lifers Denise Rhode, Gary Bear, Otis Jenkins and Jerry Osborn applied for commutation and cleared the first hurdle when the Iowa Board of Parole unanimously recommended the governor consider reducing their sentences to a period of years, making them potentially eligible for eventual release.

The governor already in August rejected the boards recommendation that she grant a request from inmate Clyde Johnson, 88, to commute the life sentence he began serving in 1969 for a first-degree murder conviction in Polk County.

Objectively, every governor has been very reticent to grant commutation because it is an extraordinary remedy, said Andrew Boettger, chair of the Iowa Board of Parole. Dating to former Govs. Terry Branstad, Tom Vilsack and Chet Culver, he noted, there just havent been a lot of commutation grants. For good reason because its not something, in my opinion, that should be handed out lightly.

Commutation  a form of clemency in which a governor converts a mandatory life sentence into a fixed-length term with a possibility of parole  is rare in Iowa, with governors reducing the legal penalty for only 40 people in the last 52 years. Most of the commutations cut mandatory life sentences to fixed-length terms with a possibility of parole. The most recent case was in 2013 when Branstad commuted the life prison term of Rasberry Williams, who was convicted of first-degree murder in a 1974 shooting outside a Waterloo pool hall and paroled in 2014.

The latest parole board recommendations were based on remorse and ownership demonstrated by the inmates for their capital offenses, their complying with prison rules during their incarcerations, taking steps to better themselves while in prison by developing employable skills and improving their educational achievement, and having a plan if they are released to be productive citizens and avoid the propensity to reoffend. No representatives for the victims spoke at any of the four separate video commutation hearings with the inmates  who are allowed to petition for a commutation hearing once every 10 years.

Theres lots of criteria: amount of time served, what kind of rehabilitation, what have you done for programming in the institution  were looking for substantive change in the person, said Boettger.

In essence, these are the riskiest people to have loose in public if they were to reoffend, he added, so we have to ask really hard questions.

In pre-pandemic days, the board has turned down 42 lifers applications and 15 were subject to split board votes that failed to move the inmate requests to the governors desk, Boettger noted. As of the end of September, there were 745 inmates incarcerated in Iowa serving mandatory life prison terms without the possibility for parole on a Class A felony conviction, according to the state Department of Corrections.

At her Sept. 2 commutation hearing, Rhode told board members she has "changed a lot" from January 1989 when she was accused and later convicted of first-degree murder and child endangerment in the death of her nephew, Matthew, whom she was babysitting with her own three children in Norwalk. She told the five-member panel she lifted up Matthew in frustration when he was crying and could not be consoled and she swung him through her legs by his feet, causing the child's head to hit the bed frame. He died a few days later.

It took me years to accept the truth, the mother told the state board.

"I know that I was immature. I know that I was irresponsible at that time and my emotions got the best of me and thats what brought me here," she said.

"Ive learned my strengths, my weaknesses, my triggers. I make better choices and judgments than I made years ago," added Rhode, who earned an apprenticeship in cleaning and an associate of arts degree during her years behind bars. "I feel like I could be a productive person in society one day."

Likewise, Jenkins said he has matured after living in foster home situations during a tough growing up period that culminated in a 1985 sexual assault in Emmet County that landed him a life prison term.

I was an arrogant young man at 19, Jenkins told his July 28 commutation panel. I believe Ive matured significantly in that 35 years of time.

He said he earned an associate of arts degree and spent hours honing his woodworking skills while trying to stay out of trouble.

Every chance Ive had, I tried to better myself, he added.

I believe I have matured and grown up. Im not the same person that I was. Im sorry for what I did, said Jenkins, who hoped he would get the opportunity to spend time with his mother before she passes if he is granted a release.

Osborn broke down talking about the events that led up to a 1988 incident in which he and two other co-defendants talked an acquaintance into giving them a ride to a party but then shot and robbed him in a rural area, which netted the inmate a kidnapping conviction from the Scott County incident.

I know what I did was horrible, he told an Aug. 5 commutation panel. I regret it every day, what I did. There is no excuse for what I did. I apologize. If I could take it back, I would.

During his July 28 hearing, Bear said he has faced his demons from Vietnam in battling post-traumatic stress disorders while in prison, saving up $14,000 in hopes of eventually gaining release and living in Keokuk with his wife of three years.

Im not the same man I was 40 years ago, he said in talking about a November 1981 crime for which he was convicted of first-degree kidnapping

The boards commutation interviews and pertinent documents were delivered to the governors office in August and September. She has 90 days to decide the pending applications.

In denying Johnsons application earlier this year, Reynolds wrote in an Aug. 25 letter to the Anamosa State Penitentiary inmate seeking release after 52 years that her review concluded the extraordinary remedy of commutation was not appropriate.

I cannot commute your sentence when the facts you relayed in your most recent parole interview changed substantially from what you told the board in your 2008 interview, the governor wrote.

In August 2020, Reynolds  who has not commuted any life sentences since she took office in May 2017  denied the commutation request of Judy White, a now 75-year-old grandmother convicted in a 1979 murder-for-hire plot in West Branch.

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CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said she has introduced a bill to address a so-called pink tax in the military, a reference to the higher prices women service members often pay for their uniforms.

Hassan, a Democrat, and Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, of Iowa, recently introduced the bill together.

Hassan said the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that women paid more in out-of-pockets costs for their uniforms than their male counterparts. It also found that while all branches of the military provide an annual clothing allowance for uniform items, some items in certain branches are not eligible for reimbursements and can drive up costs.

It is absurd that we are forcing service members to fork over thousands of dollars in order to pay for necessary clothing items that they wear while serving our country, Hassan said in a statement.

"This disparity in uniform costs is particularly stark for women," she added.

The bill would require the Department of Defense to develop consistent criteria for determining which uniform items are considered uniquely military, so as to reduce differences in out-of-pocket costs across services and by gender. It also would require the department to review each service's plans for any uniform change.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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BAMAKO, Mali (AP)  A U.N. Security Council mission that is visiting Mali this weekend to assess the security situation is urging the country's authorities to set elections for February to meet agreements reached with a West African regional bloc after a coup last year.

The mission led by Kenyas ambassador to the U.N., Martin Kimani, met with civil society organizations, groups that have signed a peace agreement, Malis prime minister and transitional president Col. Assimi Goita during their weekend visit.

I was struck by the thirst for reform (both political and institutional) that is desired by most of the Malian population, Kimani Sunday said at a news conference. We are now waiting for the end of the transition period which should lead to the organization of elections.

However, Malian authorities have said after the meetings with the U.N. Security Council mission, they want to organize days of consultations in December amongst Malian groups to determine a path toward elections.

The Malian authorities have spoken to us about these meetings as a prerequisite for the elections. These meetings will take place in December, said Abdou Abarry, Niger's ambassador to the U.N. who was a part of the delegation. We are not opposed to it, but only insist it does not delay the end of the transition and give Malians the opportunity to choose their leaders.

Abarry said that Goita assured the delegation that the transitional authorities are not here to stay in power and any commitments the transitional authorities will make will be in the interest of Malians.

Goita seized power in August 2020 by overthrowing Malis democratically elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who had only served two years of his five-year term after being reelected in 2018. Goita eventually agreed to a transitional government led by a civilian president, but ousted those leaders in May after they announced a Cabinet reshuffle that sidelined two junta supporters without consulting him.

Goita was then sworn in as president of the transitional government in June. He has pledged to keep the country on track to return to civilian rule with an election in February 2022.

The U.N. diplomats also raised the issue of security in Mali. The peacekeeping mission in Mali remains the deadliest of all the U.N. missions since 2013.

The Malian authorities have insisted that they are putting much emphasis on security challenges, and MINUSMA (the U.N. mission in Mali) is ready to help them, especially in Central Mali where there is the highest threat of terrorism, said Nicolas de Riviere, Frances ambassador to the U.N.

Mali has been fighting growing insecurity since 2012, when al-Qaida-linked groups took over parts of the north. Despite a French-led military operation that forced many rebels from their northern strongholds in 2013, insurgents quickly regrouped and have been advancing year after year toward the south of the country, where the Malian capital is located. They also launch frequent attacks on the Malian army and its allies.



Carley Petesch contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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SIOUX CITY -- Nichols, Rise & Company LLP, one of the oldest accounting firms in Sioux City, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this fall.

Or, perhaps, this will be their 101st anniversary. Several versions of the firm's history place the founding date in 1920, while other sources, including the firm's website, claim it was 1921.

"In the firm there was always this (uncertainty) -- was it 1920, or was it 1921?," said Richard W. Grenko, the firm's managing partner. "It looks like (founder) Sidney Taylor started in the fall of '20. So -- really, last year, in the middle of COVID, would have been the start of the 100th anniversary. Now, we're still in our 100th year right now. We really turn 101 here in October or November."

Unlike some other firms celebrating a centenary, Nichols, Rise & Company isn't planning any sort of public party for clients -- the nature of their work makes such an event untenable, Grenko said.

It'd be comparable to a doctor hosting a party and inviting all his patients to mingle.

"We had talked about that, but, you know there's an awful lot of confidentiality," he said with a laugh. "We're like, well, if we have a party, we'd have a whole bunch of clients show up, and they might not -- client X and client Y and client Z don't necessarily know that each one is a client of the firm, and that's kind of confidential information."

Nichols, Rise & Company has two offices, each staffed by about 10 people -- one in downtown Sioux City in the United Center, 302 Jones St., and one in South Sioux City at 1000 West 29th St. They moved their Sioux City offices to the United Center a decade ago from the Benson Building, where the firm had been based since its founding. The South Sioux City office opened in 1977.

The firm specializes in tax services, bookkeeping, consulting and accounting services and has several clients in the construction industry and ag manufacturing, as well as nonprofits and other organizations and businesses.

Currently Nichols, Rise & Company has four active partners: Grenko, Danielle L. Brown, Benjamin J. Kooiker and Lynette K. Meyer, plus two senior partners who are on the cusp of retirement, Scott B. Bieber and Linda M. Shoemaker. Meyer and Grenko work in the Sioux City office, while the others work in the South Sioux City office.

History of the firm

In the fall of 1920, 32-year-old Sidney L. Taylor, a former IRS agent from Omaha, moved to Sioux City to start an accounting practice, according to a history of the firm written by the late Elleroy C. Nichols in 1991.

An item that appeared in the Sioux City Journal in 1923 suggests, however, that Taylor began his Sioux City practice as early as July 1, 1920. At the time, according to that report, Taylor had "agents at Washington" who "keep him in touch with all legislation relative to income tax matters." By that early date he had clients in 12 states and apparently kept a satellite office in Washington.

During the early 1920s, Taylor regularly advertised his services as an accountant and "income tax expert" or "income tax specialist" -- which at the time was a relatively new area of expertise. The 16th Amendment, which allowed Congress to levy an income tax, had been ratified only seven years before he arrived in Sioux City.

Taylor's office was in the then-brand-new Warnock Building (today called the Benson Building) at 705 Douglas St. He was one of the building's earliest tenants; legend has it that the building's elevators weren't yet running when Taylor set up shop there, Grenko said.

In 1929, the state of Iowa passed a law regulating the accounting profession, and began requiring accountants take an exam. Taylor passed the exam and received his CPA.

His work and reputation were fairly prominent by the low-key standards of the accounting profession -- Taylor's full name appeared in a 1934 Journal headline announcing an impending audit his office was conducting on the books of the Sioux City board of education. According to that article, a member of the board had publicly recommended Taylor be given the assignment, and he evidently agreed to a fee of $7 a day for the audit.

In 1938, Taylor was elected vice-president of the Iowa Society of Certified Public Accountants. The following year, he was named president.

The "Nichols" of what later became Nichols, Rise & Company arrived at the firm in 1938, when Taylor hired Elleroy Nichols, a recent graduate of the University of Iowa, to be a CPA-in-training. After his required one year of training under Taylor, Nichols received his CPA certificate on Dec. 31, 1940.

The duo formed a partnership in 1946, and the firm was renamed Taylor & Nichols. The firm's net income for that year, Nichols later wrote, was $14,019.

Robert M. Lincoln, a Morningside College graduate who was later placed in charge of the Kansas City-based Payless Cashway chain of lumberyards, was employed at the firm starting in 1950.

Upon Lincoln's 1955 departure for a position with Payless Cashway, the firm hired veteran accountant Clayton L. Rise, who played a key role in the firm's focus on construction contractors and ag manufacturers as clients. The following year the firm was re-named Taylor, Nichols & Rise. Sidney Taylor's retirement coincided with change to the firm's renaming.

In 1962, the firm was renamed Nichols, Rise & Palmquist when Frank L. Palmquist, who had been with the firm since 1951, was admitted to the partnership. John M. Swanson, a former IRS employee, started with the firm in 1964 and made partner in 1969.

In 1972 and 1973, the firm suffered what Nichols later recalled as a "double blow," with the abrupt loss of the younger two of its four partners, leaving only Nichols and Rise.

On Aug. 12, 1972, Palmquist was riding his motorcycle in on Highway 12 in Plymouth County, just north of Sioux City, when a dog ran into the roadway. He swerved to avoid it, lost control and careened into the ditch, where he laid injured for about six hours before he was discovered, according to a contemporary Journal report. He died of his injuries less than a week later at age 45.

In September 1973, Swanson suffered a fatal heart attack at his desk. He was 38.

The following May, William F. Sibley and Robert K. Crayne were admitted to the partnership to fill the vacancies of Swanson and Palmquist. Crayne had joined the firm only a few months earlier, while Sibley had been on the staff since 1969. Crayne left to form his own practice in 1979.

Richard L. Stinger, who joined the firm after Palmquist's death, became a partner in May 1979. He was in charge of the recently opened South Sioux City office.

Douglas L. Lacey, who had been with the firm since September 1973, was made partner in May 1982. Scott Bieber, who joined the firm as a staff accountant in 1980, made partner in May 1987. Craig Merry and Lynelle Bieber made partner in May 1991. Merry joined the firm in 1978, and Bieber had started in 1982. Linda Shoemaker was with the firm from 1985 to 1987, then returned in July 1995 and made partner in July 1999.

Grenko, who had previously worked in Minneapolis, joined the firm in July 1991 -- Elleroy Nichols and Clayton Rise were still regular a presence in the office at the time -- and was made partner in July 1996. He was named managing partner (a position he jokingly described as "non-glamourous") three years ago.

Meyer joined the firm in July 1999 and became partner in July 2008; Kooiker joined the firm in September 2005 and made partner in July 2011; Brown joined the firm October 2011 and made partner in July 2020.

Conversations arose at points during the late 20th century and into the 21st century on the subject of renaming the firm, particularly with the addition of more partners and the eventual retirement of both Nichols and Rise in the 1990s. Some accounting firms and law practices consistently change their nameplates with the addition or departure of partners, while others do not.

Nichols, Rise & Company falls in the latter camp. The firm, Grenko said, is known for a stable staff and little turnover (Nichols worked there almost 60 years) -- and keeping the name the same is a reflection of that culture of stability.

"We have talked about it of course," Grenko said.

"We've all just kind of felt like -- we're just going to keep it the way it is. Maybe somewhere down the road, somebody'll change (it), but it's not going to be until after I'm gone," he added with a laugh.

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https://sputniknews.com/20211024/about-50-german-neo-nazis-wielding-machetes-clubs-reportedly-detected-at-polish-border-1090176792.html

About 50 German 'Neo-Nazis' Wielding Machetes, Clubs Reportedly Detected at Polish Border

About 50 German 'Neo-Nazis' Wielding Machetes, Clubs Reportedly Detected at Polish Border

BERLIN (Sputnik)  A group of almost 50 German right-wing radicals armed with pepper sprays, baseball bats, a bayonet, and machetes was stopped and inspected... 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

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The neo-Nazi supporters belong to the right-wing group Third Way. Leaders of the group urged their followers to head to the German-Polish border to stop illegal migration from the East.About 30 radicals, residing in Mecklenburg and other German states, were detected on early Sunday near the village of Gross Gastrose, and the others in the town of Guben and in the Neisse-Damm district. All of them were forced to leave the border regions when police went on patrolling later on Sunday, according to Spiegel.Earlier this week, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told Germany's Bild tabloid that he supports Poland's decision to construct a fence at the Belarusian border to stop illegal migrants. The situation affects Germany and entire Europe too, Seehofer said, adding that hundreds of border guards are patrolling the German-Polish border around the clock.In the past months, Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania repeatedly complained about a spike in the number of illegal migrants trying to cross the border from Belarus and accused Minsk of facilitating the migration crisis. Poland even declared a state of emergency in its border regions and deployed army and police forces to control the situation. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that his country will no longer contain migration flows to the European Union over the lack of money and resources. Minsk has made numerous claims that migrants are forced from Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania into Belarus.

https://sputniknews.com/20210920/poland-claims-russia-and-belarus-behind-well-directed-action-to-send-migrants-over-eu-border-1089240482.html

vot tak Ahhh...german trumpettes. :-D 1

md101 only illegal immigrants coming in from the turkey and libya route are tolerated by the neo nazi's in germany. 0

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https://sputniknews.com/20211024/as-israel-preps-to-vaccinate-kids-against-covid-19-some-say-they-will-be-against-coercion-1090166846.html

As Israel Preps to Vaccinate Kids Against COVID-19, Some Say They Will Be Against 'Coercion'

As Israel Preps to Vaccinate Kids Against COVID-19, Some Say They Will Be Against 'Coercion'

According to reports, the Jewish state will be offering a Pfizer vaccine to children below 12 starting in December. But a recent study showed that only 23... 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T06:11+0000

2021-10-24T06:11+0000

2021-10-24T06:11+0000

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The US Food and Drug Administration said Friday that the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine for children under 12 was safe for use.Although the agency flagged the risk of heart inflammation conditions associated with the inoculation, it said that overall, the benefits of the jab would outweigh the potential complications caused by the vaccine.Pfizer also said that its vaccine for children below 12 was 91 percent effective.In Israel, where nearly four million out of its 9 million people have already been vaccinated with three shots of Pfizer, authorities have already started eyeing the option of offering jabs for younger kids. Those are reportedly to become available from December.Not for My KidsThe government is also mulling the option of making the experts' discussions on kids' vaccination open to the general public, but for Masha Yaron, a resident of the north and a mother of two, this is hardly enough.Yaron, who buckled under pressure and vaccinated herself for the first time only two months ago, says she will not rush to inoculate her two children. And the reason for this is that she believes that the younger generation is not at risk.However, there is yet another reason that keeps Yaron from vaccinating her kids -- the fear of possible side effects and the complications that may follow.Even though there is not enough research to support those fears, social media networks abound in claims of possible health complications that include heart disorders and infertility problems.Yaron's views are not rare in Israel, where demonstrations against the inoculation continue to take place. But recent research conducted by Bar-Ilan University showed that 57 percent of Israelis who participated in the study were willing to vaccinate their kids. 27 percent of those even said that they would be rushing to do so, as soon as the jab was made available to the general public. Only 23 percent said they would refrain from inoculation their children.Vaccines as a Means of Pressure?The catch is that those, who object the idea of vaccinating their youngsters, might not really have a choice.Soon after Israel's government decided to offer a third jab to the general public, it also started to implement a number of measures that aimed at pushing the masses to get the jab. Those who abstained were warned that they would not be allowed to enter public places or government officers. They will also have travel restrictions and would need to quarantine themselves should they leave the country.Now, as the inoculation for kids is drawing closer, that same policy might repeat itself, and the general fear is that those children who will not be vaccinated, will not have access to schools and will be forced to study at home."These vaccines have become a political tool, and as long as it depends on me, I will not be vaccinating my kids. Neither will I accept any coercion."

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https://sputniknews.com/20211024/british-military-brings-over-100-people-who-had-left-afghanistan-to-uk---defense-ministry-1090164928.html

British Military Brings Over 100 People Who Had Left Afghanistan to UK - Defense Ministry

British Military Brings Over 100 People Who Had Left Afghanistan to UK - Defense Ministry

LONDON, October 24 (Sputnik) - The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) has flown more than 100 people who had fled Afghanistan to the United Kingdom, via third countries... 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T00:12+0000

2021-10-24T00:12+0000

2021-10-24T00:12+0000

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uk

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"The RAF has airlifted over 102 people who had already left Afghanistan from a neighbouring third country," the ministry said on Saturday, emphasizing that "these flights are the first military relocation of eligible Afghans and British nationals since the end of the evacuation from Kabul, known as Operation PITTING."The transported individuals include British nationals and Afghans who are eligible for relocation to the UK, the defense ministry specified."Further flights are due to arrive in the UK in the coming weeks with more eligible people on board," the ministry said.In early August, the Taliban stepped up their offensive against the Afghan government forces and entered the capital city of Kabul on August 15. The US military withdrawal from Afghanistan was completed at the end of August, ending the nearly twenty-year American military presence in Afghanistan. Fearing reprisals from the militants, thousands of Afghans have fled their country since the Taliban takeover.The United Kingdom completed the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan on August 29. In September, British media reported that the number of UK citizens remaining in Afghanistan was in the low hundreds.

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https://sputniknews.com/20211024/cant-do-it-anymore-man-asks-police-to-send-him-to-jail-to-escape-living-with-his-wife-1090172884.html

'Can't Do it Anymore!': Man Asks Police to Send Him to Jail to Escape Living With His Wife

'Can't Do it Anymore!': Man Asks Police to Send Him to Jail to Escape Living With His Wife

The man had been under house arrest for drug crimes for several months and was facing a few more years, a police officer told AFP. 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

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A man under house arrest in Italy went to a police station because he could no longer face living with his wife at home. According to the Carabinieri in the town of Tivoli near Rome, the 30-year-old Albanian citizen living in the neighbouring town of Guidonia Montecelio "was no longer able to cope with the forced cohabitation with his wife."The man had been serving house arrest for drug crimes and was staring down the barrel of a few more years. After he begged the police for help, he was immediately arrested for violating his house arrest and a judge later ordered him to be transferred to prison.

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https://sputniknews.com/20211024/extremely-concerning-china-bhutan-mou-could-spell-disaster-for-india-warns-congress-party-1090172689.html

'Extremely Concerning': China-Bhutan MoU Could 'Spell Disaster' For India, Warns Congress Party

'Extremely Concerning': China-Bhutan MoU Could 'Spell Disaster' For India, Warns Congress Party

China shares a 477-kilometre border with Bhutan and lays claim to more than 700 kilometres of Bhutanese territory. 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T17:19+0000

2021-10-24T17:19+0000

2021-10-24T17:19+0000

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The new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Bhutan and China could be a "disaster for India," senior Indian lawmaker and Congress party Spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said on Sunday.The MoU on the "three-step roadmap for expediting boundary negotiations" was signed by Bhutanese Foreign Minister Lyonpo Tandi Dorji and China's Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Jianghao in a virtual ceremony on 14 October. The Bhutanese Foreign Ministry said that both Thimpu and Beijing "agreed on a three-step roadmap" that will "expedite the ongoing border negotiations" in a meeting held in Kunming in April this year. From 1984 to date, Chinese and Bhutanese officials have held 24 rounds of "boundary talks and 10 rounds of "expert group" level meetings.Singhvi said that India could not afford to "lose Bhutan" after having "lost Nepal" to China.The remarks by Singhvi, a federal opposition lawmaker, reflect sentiments shared among several observers in Indias strategic and political circles over the Bhutan-China MoU. For India, the Doklam Plateau, a region controlled by Bhutan but claimed by China, is crucial from the perspective of national security. During the previous round of border negotiations between China and Bhutan, Beijing offered to forego its territorial claims in other parts of Bhutan in exchange for control over Doklam, which also lies at the trijunction of India, Bhutan, and China.So far, Bhutan has rejected the offers from Beijing.The India-China military crisis in 2017 on the Doklam Plateau was precipitated after Chinese workers started constructing a road that could have potentially provided PLA troops with access to the nearby Jhamperi Ridge. The Jhamperi Ridge overlooks Indias chicken-neck corridor, a narrow strip of crucial land that connects Indias western states to the northeast of the country. Sensing a threat, the Indian troops (back in 2017) crossed over into Bhutan and prevented Chinese workers from carrying out their road construction activity near the Doklam Plateau.According to a 1949 treaty between Bhutan and India, New Delhi has to guide its land-locked Himalayan neighbour (Bhutan) on matters of foreign policy and defence. While Bhutan enjoys diplomatic ties with 54 nations, it still hasn't established formal relations with China.The boundary talks between Bhutan and China were put on hold after the Doklam standoff, with the meeting in Kunming in April the first time that the sides met to resume their stalled dialogue.Singhvis party colleague and India's former federal minister Manish Tewari pointed out in a column, published in the English daily Asian Age on Sunday, that the Doklam Plateau represented a critical and a vulnerable point for India.The Indian Foreign Ministry said on 14 October that it had taken note of the memorandum between Thimpu and Beijing.You are aware that Bhutan and China have been holding a boundary negotiation since 1984. India has similarly been holding boundary negotiations with China, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, when asked about New Delhis stance on the announcement.Meanwhile, the Chinese state media, in a commentary published on 15 October, blamed India for the unresolved boundary question between Thimpu and Beijing.Unsolved China-Bhutan boundary issues were used as an excuse by India to attack China during the Doklam standoff in 2017. If China and Bhutan make progress in solving boundary disputes, India will have fewer chances and excuses to make troubles on border areas, Global Times quoted Wang Shida, deputy director of the South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania Research Institute of Contemporary International Relations Research Academy of China, as saying.Accusing India of putting pressure on Bhutan, the Chinese scholar also warned that India could stonewall the final boundary agreement from being signed once the border protocols between the two nations are agreed upon.Signing the MoU is not as sensitive as signing a concrete agreement. It is highly possible that India would exert great pressure on Bhutan when Bhutan's negotiations with China are at a crucial point to prevent its final success, or India may mess up the negotiations," Shida told Global Times.India and China have also been embroiled in a year-long military standoff in the eastern Ladakh region since May last year. Over a dozen rounds of military commander-level negotiations and several rounds of diplomatic parleys have failed to resolve the standoff.While China blames India for instigating the standoff by ramping up border infrastructure, New Delhi accuses Beijing for unilaterally altering the status quo of the boundary line.

https://sputniknews.com/20201123/rahul-gandhi-attacks-modi-govt-over-reports-of-a-new-chinese-village-at-bhutans-doklam-plateau-1081246874.html

https://sputniknews.com/20200217/p-8i-naval-jets-were-deployed-to-track-chinese-troops-in-doklam-face-off-indian-chief-of-defence-1078336823.html

https://sputniknews.com/20211021/india-deploys-modern-howitzers-in-ladakh-region-bordering-china-1090089259.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20211024/father-of-sinematographer-shot-dead-on-set-by-alec-baldwin-blames-armoury-team-for-tragedy--1090171317.html

Father of inematographer Shot Dead on Set by Alec Baldwin Blames Armoury Team For Tragedy

Father of inematographer Shot Dead on Set by Alec Baldwin Blames Armoury Team For Tragedy

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot by actor Alec Baldwin on the set of his movie 'Rust' earlier this week. An investigation is ongoing to... 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T10:58+0000

2021-10-24T10:58+0000

2021-10-24T17:35+0000

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The father of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, Anatoly Androsovych, has put the blame for his daughter's tragic death on the film's armoury team who were responsible for handling actor Alec Baldwin a loaded gun. He added that he is now busy organising visas for his wife Olga and daughter Svetlana to go to the US to support Halyna's husband Matthew and 9-year-old son Andros. Halyna's younger sister Svetlana believes her sister died because of the "negligence" on the film set.42-year-old Halyna Hutchins, the Director of Photography, was accidentally killed by actor Alec Baldwin on a ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Thursday. He fired a single round from a Colt revolver that fatally struck Hutchins in the chest and also injured the movie's director, 48-year-old Joel Souza, who was released from hospital the other day. An investigation into the deadly incident is ongoing.

vot tak See also at RT: "Why are we still doing this? Hollywood calls for ban on real guns on set after Alec Baldwin kills cinematographer". 2

Dang! Looks like Baldwin's already making payments to try to avoid a rightful manslaughter imprisonment?? 1

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https://sputniknews.com/20211024/iaea-warns-iran-nuclear-deal-partners-to-know-where-theyre-putting-feet-amid-site-access-spat-1090176338.html

IAEA Warns Iran Nuclear Deal Partners to Know Where Theyre Putting Feet Amid Site Access Spat

IAEA Warns Iran Nuclear Deal Partners to Know Where Theyre Putting Feet Amid Site Access Spat

Irans nuclear programme is subject to a safeguard regime enforced by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Last month, the agency complained about... 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T15:31+0000

2021-10-24T15:31+0000

2021-10-24T16:39+0000

international atomic energy agency (iaea)

iran

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IAEA director general Rafael Grossi has warned that members of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Iran nuclear deal should know what theyll be getting into if the agreement is restored amid the agencys inability to establish direct communication with the Islamic Republics new government, and problems with the monitoring of one of the countrys nuclear facilities.So when there is a problem, when there is a misunderstanding, when there is a disagreement, we can talk about it. I used to have it before, and I would assume it that it would be a normal thing, the official said.Commenting on the lack of full access to Irans nuclear facilities amid Tehrans ongoing probe into a suspected Israeli sabotage attack in June targeting a centrifuge assembly facility in Karaj in the countrys north, Grossi stressed that so long as the IAEAs access wasnt complete, the monitoring programme could no longer be considered intact.Grossi also expressed hope about the agency being allowed to return to North Korea  which has an active nuclear weapons programme, and which kicked inspectors out of the country in 2009, if diplomatic talks were restarted. So there will be a possibility to go back there with our inspectorsIt would be a very big effort, he said.Earlier this week, in a separate interview with a US think tank, Grossi said he had no information to suggest that Iran was covertly enriching uranium, and said he had very high confidence in the ability of his agencys inspection regime to know what is going on if we are allowed to do that.Grossis remarks come amid reports by Israeli media that the countrys military was training intensely for an attack on facilities central to Irans nuclear programme. The Jewish State has repeatedly alleged that the Islamic Republic is on the brink of obtaining nuclear weapons, but has recently scaled back these claims, with a recent estimate by the Military Intelligence Directorate indicating that Tehran was not heading toward a bomb right now.Iran has long denied any intention to pursue nuclear weapons, and has accused the IAEA of focusing intently on its peaceful nuclear activities while ignoring Tel Avivs nukes (which Israel neither confirms nor denies possessing) in a policy known as nuclear ambiguity.Iran, the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union signed the JCPOA in 2015, with the treaty promising Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for limitations on its nuclear enrichment and stockpiling activities. In 2018, the Trump administration unilaterally pulled out of the agreement and restored sanctions, with Tehran ramping up enrichment in response after the agreements European signatories failed to find a workaround to the crushing restrictions.After stepping into office in January, the Biden administration moved to resume talks with Iran and other JCPOA parties on restoring the treaty to fully working order, holding six rounds of talks in Vienna. The talks hit a wall in June  as Iranians prepared to go to the polls to elect a new president, after both Tehran and Washington demanded that the other party be the first to take good will steps to return the JCPOA to full working order. The US side says Iran must first reduce its uranium enrichment and stockpiling activities back to JCPOA norms. The Iranian side insists that the US first drop its "illegal" sanctions, and stop trying to include a clause about Irans conventional missile programme or its regional activities into the treaty.Iran has expressed hopes to restart the JCPOA talks in Vienna early next month, but has also warned that its looking for result-oriented negotiations and not talks for the sake of talks. On Monday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that Washington was neither optimistic, no[r] pessimistic about the prospects for reaching an agreement, adding that negotiations could not go on indefinitely.

https://sputniknews.com/20210930/irans-nuclear-chief-says-june-sabotage-inflicted-severe-damage-on-karaj-facility-1089554371.html

https://sputniknews.com/20211022/idf-training-intensely-for-strike-on-iranian-nuclear-facilities-israeli-media-claims-1090117595.html

https://sputniknews.com/20211015/iran-asks-why-israel-allowed-to-run-amok-with-nukes-with-no-international-oversight-1089949977.html

Golem Iran should keep the scum out, the israelis more than likely gained access to Irans nuclear facility through the IAEA "monitoring" mission there, Iran should never trust the western scum, nothing good ever comes from them. 13

NthrnNYker59 so long as the IAEAs access wasnt complete, the monitoring programme could no longer be considered intact. ---- Nor should they be, as those 'monitoring programs' were part of the JCPOA, and for the moment, the JCPOA is dead. 6

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https://sputniknews.com/20211024/more-than-10000-sequoias-must-be-removed-after-california-wildfires-national-parks-reveal--1090165409.html

More Than 10,000 Sequoias Must Be Removed After California Wildfires, National Parks Reveal

More Than 10,000 Sequoias Must Be Removed After California Wildfires, National Parks Reveal

The KNP Complex fire has been burning in California's Sequoia National Forest and the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks since September 9, when the... 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T02:30+0000

2021-10-24T02:30+0000

2021-10-24T02:30+0000

sequoia

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california

environment

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Tourists in California may want to hold off on making immediate visits to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, as upwards of 10,000 hazard trees are believed to be lining the roads of the parks' vital Generals Highway. Sequoias in the area have become hazardous after weakening due to a variety of factors, including drought, age, disease and/or fires, according to the National Park Service (NPS). Saw crews have been "strategically placed" along the highway to address the identified hazards to those who need to use the highway. Containment has remained at 60%, and the fire has not gained any acreage, according to the NPS' Saturday release on the KNP Complex fire. Kimberly Caschalk, a spokeswoman for the KNP Complex fire team, explained to the Associated Press that the Generals Highway connects to the Giant Forest, which is home to the General Sherman Tree. The 275-foot (83-meter) tall tree has a base diameter of 36 feet (11 meters) and is regarded as the world largest tree, measured by volume. "Were confident that tree is relatively safe," Caschalk said, speaking of recent efforts around the General Sherman Tree. The General Grant Tree, the world's second-largest tree, is located in Grant Grove, which is also off Generals Highway. The list of impacted roads and areas will be updated as teams respond to the incident. Additional hazard trees are said to be located in the backcountry, but a count for those trees was not provided by the service.On Saturday, the NPS stressed that many affected areas are located in areas with steep terrain, which complicates containment efforts and increases the possibility of the blaze spreading. Social media footage uploaded by the Rio Vista Fire Department provided a glimpse into what emergency and fires responders faced late last month. While some areas of Kings Canyon National Park have been reopened, "it is not possible to drive into Sequoia National Park, with the exception of South Fork Road," according to the NPS website.

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https://sputniknews.com/20211024/moscow-says-cannot-prevent-ukraine-from-joining-nato-but-can-minimize-its-consequences-1090172550.html

Moscow Says It Can't Prevent Ukraine From Joining NATO But Can Minimise Its Consequences

Moscow Says It Can't Prevent Ukraine From Joining NATO But Can Minimise Its Consequences

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKIY, Russia (Sputnik) - Russia cannot prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, but it is possible to minimise the consequences of such steps... 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

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2021-10-24T11:21+0000

2021-10-24T12:14+0000

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"We cannot prevent it. It is impossible. But we can minimise the consequences of such steps for our country. I have no doubt that should the rapprochement between Ukraine and NATO continue, everything that is necessary will be done in Russia," Peskov told Rossiya 1, a Russian state broadcaster.Russia has always advocated the development of relations with NATO despite the alliance's aggression, but all of Moscow's efforts for cooperation have been in vain, the Kremlin spokesman said, commenting on Moscow's move to suspend the work of its mission to the bloc.NATO considers Russia to be its adversary, therefore, there is nothing wrong with suspending relations with the organisation, the official added.There is an understanding that Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden should meet in the foreseeable future, Peskov added."After the presidents make a decision, we will inform you. So far, let us not get ahead of things. There is an understanding that the next high-level contact should take place in the foreseeable future. Accordingly, now it will be implemented," Peskov told Rossiya 1.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced earlier that Moscow would suspend the work of its permanent mission to the alliance from 1 November. These actions were a response to the reduction in the number of employees of the Permanent Mission of Russia to the bloc.

anne00marie Was that why Atlantic Council Member Nuland was in Moscow? Ukraine could not join NATO, back in 1997, owing to the borders between Russia and Ukraine, that have never been ratified, in accordance with international law. Even the UN have confirmed that, during a UK Government funded News Channel interview, with Bank Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, back in 2014. So what has changed now? 17

vigilante NATO has already an embarrassing member: Turkey. Ukraine will be a more embarrassing one as it would find any pretext to force NATO to attack Russia. The USA must wonder if this member won't be more of a trouble maker... 10

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world, russia, nato
https://sputniknews.com/20211024/on-the-verge-of-sadism-moscow-slams-state-dept-as-us-classifies-russians-homeless-nationality-1090175346.html

On the Verge of Sadism: Moscow Slams State Dept as US Classifies Russians Homeless Nationality

On the Verge of Sadism: Moscow Slams State Dept as US Classifies Russians Homeless Nationality

The latest spat comes amid the ongoing slide in Russia-US relations, which has been accompanied by the expulsion of hundreds of diplomats from each country... 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T14:06+0000

2021-10-24T14:06+0000

2021-10-24T14:39+0000

us

russia

homeless

state department

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Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused the US of turning a technical procedure thats banal in the 21st century into a real hell  at the heart of which is mockery on the verge of sadism  after the State Department listed Russians as a "homeless nationality."Zakharova suggested that the listing will not only hurt tourism and cultural exchange but serve as a blow to families with members living in the two countries.Her comments follow a move by the State Department to list Russians as a homeless nationality alongside other countries with which the US has little to no relations and those which have turned into failed states in a document detailing guidelines in the processing of Immigrant Visas (IVs).Along with Russians, other homeless nationalities include Cubans, Eritreans, Iranians, Libyans, Somalis, South Sudanese, Syrians, Venezuelans, and Yemenis. Citizens of each of these nations have their immigrant visa applications processed at US embassies and diplomatic facilities in other countries  with Warsaw, Poland listed in Russias case.The update to the immigration processing manual appeared on 21 October, with no formal explanation provided.In mid-April, the Biden administration expanded anti-Russian sanctions and expelled ten Russian diplomats, prompting Moscow to retaliate in kind and to ban Russian nationals and the citizens of third countries from working at the US Embassy in Moscow.The move prompted the embassy to reduce its staff to 120 and to lament that it could no longer provide consular services in full. Moscow emphasised that its cap on the number of American diplomats at the embassy was set at 455 people and that it would not object if Russian employees were replaced with American nationals.However, some others seemed genuinely upset by the designation and its implications, with one user complaining that Russia has been listed among other "third world countries," and others lamenting that it would make getting visas for ordinary people more difficult.The Russian-US back-and-forth drama of diplomatic expulsions began in late 2016, when then-President Barack Obama kicked out 35 Russian diplomats and ordered the shutdown of two Russian-owned recreational compounds in retaliation to alleged Russian election meddling. Moscow did not retaliate after the incoming Trump administration urged it not to do so. However, in mid-2017, after Donald Trump signed off on a new sanctions bill, Moscow responded by ordering the US diplomatic mission to reduce its staff by 755 people. A month later, Washington ordered the closure of Russian diplomatic annexes in New York City and Washington, and a consulate in San Francisco. In 2018, after Britain accused Russia of poisoning an ex-spy, the Trump administration expelled 60 more Russian envoys and closed the Russian consulate in Seattle, prompting Moscow to respond by kicking out 60 US officials and closing the US consulate in St. Petersburg. The State Department then shut down its consulates in Ekaterinburg and Vladivostok.Earlier this month, a bipartisan group of senators urged Biden to expel 300 more Russian diplomats from the US if Moscow did not issue more visas for Americans representing Washington in Russia.

https://sputniknews.com/20211005/us-senators-urge-biden-to-expel-300-russian-diplomats-amid-moscow-embassy-dispute-1089688242.html

USSuxRuskyNuts The same old TurdMunchingSodomites are still spewing their same old regurgitated shit like the above comment! LOL 18

koursk koursk russia and china spend too much energy on diplomacy with nato and euro territories under the control of the big mafia *** russia and china must further strengthen their states, and especially the financial apparatus to bankrupt billionaires who rule the nato zone *** the faster the gangsters of the nato zone are ruined, the better will be life on earth 12

13

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us, russia, homeless, state department
https://sputniknews.com/20211024/smoke-in-the-cabin-forces-american-airlines-flight-to-make-an-emergency-landing-1090179954.html

Smoke in the Cabin Forces American Airlines Flight to Make an Emergency Landing

Smoke in the Cabin Forces American Airlines Flight to Make an Emergency Landing

American Airlines Flight AA3 was forced to make an emergency landing on Sunday at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wisconsin. 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T22:01+0000

2021-10-24T22:01+0000

2021-10-25T05:33+0000

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The flight took off from New York's JFK Airport and was en route to Los Angeles LAX. The flight was forced to make an emergency landing halfway across the country at 2:19 p.m. because of smoke in the cabin.According to SKYbrary, common causes of smoke in an aircraft include a short circuit or other electrical equipment failure, overheating of equipment caused by malfunction, a hot air leak from a pneumatic duct, a spillage of combustible fluid, or overheating in a galley oven.According to a spokesperson, all 190 passengers and crew on board the plane are accounted for and safe. The plane spent five minutes on the runway before being evacuated.The plane will be held at the Dane County Regional Airport until it has been inspected by American Airlines. Passengers will reportedly be taken to LAX in a separate aircraft.The plane, an Airbus 321, has one of the safest records of any aircraft family.

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american airlines, emergency landing, airbus a321, news, us
https://sputniknews.com/20211024/snowflakes-sad-snl-takes-jab-at-president-biden-receiving-shoulder-massage-from-vp-biden-1090168204.html

'Snowflakes Sad': SNL Takes Jab at President Biden Receiving Shoulder Massage From VP Biden

'Snowflakes Sad': SNL Takes Jab at President Biden Receiving Shoulder Massage From VP Biden

The NBC "Saturday Night Live" variety show opened Saturday's episode with three versions of Joe Biden. 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T09:38+0000

2021-10-24T09:38+0000

2021-10-24T09:38+0000

joe biden

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viral

snl

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The latest episode of Saturday Night Live took aim at US President Joe Biden, poking fun at the recent CNN town hall meeting in Baltimore, which became a fertile ground for Biden-related memes.Former cast member Jason Sudeikis returned to the show for the episode, where he played the 2013 version of the 46th US president. A March 2021 version of Joe was played by Alex Moffat, while the contemporary President Biden was portrayed by James Austin Johnson.The sketch starts with contemporary Joe Biden receiving bad news from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki saying that the CNN Town Hall meeting was watched by no one, and that the president's approval rating is in the dumpster.This joke was made in a reference to a recent town hall meeting, where President Biden among other things, at one point asked himself what he was doing there while struggling to answer a question from the audience.At that moment, Vice President Biden from 2013 appears in aviator sunglasses and doing finger guns. President Biden wondered how the man who just appeared in front of him could be himself.Sudeikis Biden explained that where I am from, we are still VP. Easiest gig in the world. Were like Americas wacky neighbour, you know. Just pop in with an ice cream cone, some aviator shades, finger guns. Shake a few hands and rub a few shoulders.Moments later the 2013 Biden rubs the presidents shoulders and smells his neck, in a nod to strange habits Biden had been repeatedly criticised for in the past.At the end of the sketch, the two Bidens briefly meet a third version of the US president, from March 2021.Netizens reacted to the sketch differently.While some Twitterati were angered that SNL took a shot at the incumbent president......others seemingly enjoyed the sketch, with some pointing out that if SNL made President Joe Biden their target that means that the 46th's "crashing failure could no longer be ignored".

R Bell Its a sign the Joey switcha roo has begun. Harris goes as well. Enter the US navy transgender 4 star Admiral who had his dick surgically removed... Putin chokes on pop corn the giant panda shouts..mortar rice wine. Mercia maintains the free fall and enters the terminal impact kind of scenario. 0

koursk koursk the billionaires mobsters who control the nato zone, above all do not want the public money of the territories of the nato zone to be spent on education and health *** so they burn it in televised shows on the fuhrer of the nato zone *** so we will see the biden, macron, johnson, merkel ... in front of the cameras 0

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joe biden, us, viral, snl
https://sputniknews.com/20211024/sudan-blocks-oil-tankers-from-docking-over-protests-energy-minister-says-1090173383.html

Sudan Blocks Oil Tankers From Docking Over Protests, Energy Minister Says

Sudan Blocks Oil Tankers From Docking Over Protests, Energy Minister Says

CAIRO (Sputnik)  The Sudanese authorities temporarily barred oil tankers from coming to the country, as the vessels that arrived earlier can not be discharged... 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T12:11+0000

2021-10-24T12:11+0000

2021-10-24T12:11+0000

sudan

middle east

oil

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''Sudan decided to suspend the flow of ships carrying oil into the territorial waters to avert fines,'' the minister said, adding that his country is running out of strategic oil supplies, as Port Sudan is closed by protesters. Moreover, the oil tankers that already arrived can not be discharged, leading to Sudan's growing debts.The rebels demand to amend the peace treaty of Juba, claiming their interests allegedly were not respected. On Saturday, the protesters threatened to separate the East of the country if their requirements are not met.The country's largest port, Port Sudan, an airport, and a railway station have been blocked by the protesters from the high council of the Beja tribes since late September. They also blocked the road between the capital of Khartoum and Port-Sudan, and the oil pipeline connecting Khartoum and the town of Haiya is suspended.The peace agreement between the transitional government of Sudan and armed groups was signed in the capital of South Sudan, Juba in October 2020. The document entails sharing power and natural resources with former militants who also must be included in the national army and federal and local authorities.

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sudan, middle east, oil
https://sputniknews.com/20211024/sudanese-police-fire-tear-gas-at-protesters-demanding-transfer-of-power-to-civilian-govt-1090173485.html

Sudanese Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesters Demanding Transfer of Power to Civilian Gov't

Sudanese Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesters Demanding Transfer of Power to Civilian Gov't

KHARTOUM (Sputnik) - Police have deployed tear gas against demonstrators demanding a transfer of power from the military to the civilian government in the... 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T12:12+0000

2021-10-24T12:12+0000

2021-10-24T12:13+0000

sudan

news

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protest

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Protesters had gathered near the presidential palace, blocking several streets in Khartoum downtown.On Thursday, several thousand demonstrators held protests in the cities of Khartoum, Omdurman, Nyala, Ed Dueim and others, shouting the slogan "Hand over power, Burhan" addressing the head of the council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.The term of the eleven-member transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan expires next month. After that, the military council is to transfer power to the civilian government.Sudan saw a military coup in April 2019, which was prompted by popular protests amid a deep economic crisis and a steep decline in living standards. As a result, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who ruled for 30 years, was ousted and later imprisoned.Later that year, the head of the transitional military council of Sudan, al-Burhan, took office as head of the country's Sovereignty Council, which promised to hand over power to the civilian authorities after a transitional period.

https://sputniknews.com/20211003/us-warns-sudan-that-bilateral-relations-depend-on-civilian-led-transition-1089615088.html

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sudan, news, africa, police, protest, tear gas
https://sputniknews.com/20211024/top-uk-army-bosses-accused-of-covering-up-killing-of-kenyan-woman-by-british-soldier--1090168795.html

Top UK Army Bosses Accused of 'Covering Up' Killing of Kenyan Woman by British Soldier

Top UK Army Bosses Accused of 'Covering Up' Killing of Kenyan Woman by British Soldier

21-year-old Kenyan woman Agnes Wanjiru disappeared in March 2012; her body was later discovered in a septic tank of the Lions Court Inn in Nanyuki, close to a... 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T07:34+0000

2021-10-24T07:34+0000

2021-10-24T07:34+0000

kenya

news

uk

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Top UK military officials have been accused of covering up the murder of a 21-year-old woman by a British soldier in 2012 near an army base in Kenya. The identity of the man had been widely known almost immediately after the incident, states The Sunday Times, as his fellow soldiers reported the killing of Agnes Wanjiry, a sex worker, after a night of rowdy partying, but were told by authorities to shut up. The mother of a five-month-old daughter went missing in March 2012; her naked body was discovered at the Lions Court Inn in Nanyuki, some 122 miles (196km) north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, two months later. The town is close to the British Training Unit Kenya, known as BATUK. Under an agreement with Kenya, the UK sends six infantry battalions annually for eight-week exercises there. Cover-Up Claims The alleged killer from the Duke of Lancasters Regiment, referred to as Soldier X, is said to have been identified by at least five different soldiers. One of them, known as "Solider Y", insisted he informed the proper people about the alleged killing after a visibly distressed Soldier X had told them: Help me, help me. Ive killed her.The man is said to have taken his fellow soldiers to a septic tank behind the hotel, opened the lid and showed them the womans body.He added that he informed the senior command, but got called a liar, while Soldier X himself remained silent on the matter. Soldier Y claimed he was prepared to go on record before the British police, court, and all the proper authorities, to ensure that justice is served. Another purported witness, Soldier Z, said Soldier X told his fellow military he had killed Agnes by accident during sex by choking her. Just days after the womans disappearance, the regiment returned to the UK. According to the report, the British Army has never held an inquiry into the incident or questioned the British soldiers ostensibly present on the scene that night. UK Troops Face Questioning The body of the woman was discovered when a maintenance worker noticed a smell coming from a septic tank at the hotel. A post-mortem examination revealed she died of stab wounds to her chest and abdomen. Witnesses told a Kenyan police investigation in 2012 that Agnes left the bar with a British soldier, says the outlet.Another witness reportedly heard a fierce fight in the hotel room used by the soldier and Agnes. According to hotel logs, nine soldiers had checked in that day and checked out the following one. Kenyan police in June 2012 sent a request to the British Royal Military Police (RMP) seeking the questioning of the nine soldiers. However, the request appeared to had gone missing. An investigation after an inquest in 2019 came to the conclusion that Wanjiru was unlawfully killed, according to The Sunday Times. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) was stated as saying: In 2012, Special Investigation Branch carried out initial enquiries in Kenya, including providing information about British personnel to the Kenyan Police. No further requests were received at that time Following the conclusion of a Kenyan inquest in 2019, we are aware that the Kenyan authorities are looking into this incident. The jurisdiction for this investigation rests with the Kenyan police, and we are currently in discussions with the Kenyan authorities to determine what support is needed.Labours shadow defence secretary John Healey was stated as deploring the reports of "grave failings by the British military exposed in this case". The new allegations have triggered a murder probe by the British Royal Military Police.

Hess The Kenyan regime is a British vassal regime. Do not expect a vassal regime to do anything. In China, the English soldier would have been rightly executed after a short trial. 7

r8106990 Just like Australia bird with the same feathers flocks together 1

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kenya, news, uk
https://sputniknews.com/20211024/us-imported-tens-of-millions-of-used-medical-gloves-from-thailand-reports-say-1090175977.html

US Imported Tens of Millions of Used Medical Gloves From Thailand, Reports Say

US Imported Tens of Millions of Used Medical Gloves From Thailand, Reports Say

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Tens of millions of already used nitrile medical gloves were imported into the United States from Thailand during the pandemic, CNN... 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T15:25+0000

2021-10-24T15:25+0000

2021-10-24T15:25+0000

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In Thailand, numerous illegal enterprises sprung up during the pandemic, where migrant labourers have been washing and trying to restore the original appearance of disposable medical gloves given their high global demand, CNN said. The product was then shipped to different countries. A months-long investigation revealed that millions of such counterfeit and second-hand nitrile gloves ended up in the US, according to import records and distributors who bought them."There's an enormous amount of bad product coming in, an endless stream of filthy, second-hand and substandard gloves coming into the US of which federal authorities, it seems, are only now beginning to understand the enormous scale," Douglas Stein, an industry expert, was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.The investigation was prompted by a report by a US company, which had contacted the US Customs and Border Protection and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)early this year after receiving a shipment of dirty-looking gloves from Thailand. However, the Thai firm responsible for the shipment continued operation until at least July, according to CNN.In August, the FDA ordered a seizure of shipments of personal protective equipment from a Thai company on the US border, five months after the agency received first complaints from American entrepreneurs.The FDA told the broadcaster it does not comment on individual cases but has taken "a number of steps to find and stop those selling unapproved products."There have been no reports of whether any medical personnel or patients were injured due to the use of contaminated gloves. The US and Thai authorities have launched an investigation into the network, CNN noted. The Thai health regulator has reportedly conducted at least 10 raids in recent months against used gloves traders.

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thailand, news, us, import, gloves
https://sputniknews.com/20211024/whats-he-trying-to-say-snowdens-tweet-in-russian-with-soviet-poster-puzzles-netizens-1090174668.html

'What's He Trying to Say?': Snowden's Tweet in Russian With Soviet Poster Puzzles Netizens

'What's He Trying to Say?': Snowden's Tweet in Russian With Soviet Poster Puzzles Netizens

In 2013, Snowden leaked highly classified data from the US National Security Agency (NSA) revealing global surveillance programmes run by the agency together... 24.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-24T17:16+0000

2021-10-24T17:16+0000

2021-10-24T17:16+0000

news

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On Sunday, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden shared a post on Twitter, reading "Good morning" in Russian, with a picture of a Soviet-era poster showing a family of three, all smiles. The caption on the poster reads: "Mutual respect in a family. Caring about children's upbringing."The post has left netizens baffled, with many speculating about what it means. Many of those who follow Snowden's Twitter have pointed out that not so long ago the former NSA contractor tweeted in another language  Persian. Interestingly, many comments under the recent Russian post are in Persian. In another tweet posted on 22 October, Snowden commented on a previous tweet, also in Persian, writing "I am just saying that cats are so popular." His comment followed previous tweet made a day earlier, which contains the Iranian proverb "Walls have mice, mice have ears."In 2013, Snowden leaked classified data while working for the NSA and CIA. His disclosures focused on global surveillance programmes run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance in cooperation with some telecommunication companies and European governments. After quitting his job at the NSA, Snowden flew to Hawaii where he passed over thousands of classified documents to journalists. Later, stories based on his revelations were published in The Guardian and The Washington Post. In June 2013, the US Justice Department charged Snowden with violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and government property theft. The Department of State revoked his passport. Snowden flew to Russia where was subsequently given the right of asylum and permanent residency in October 2020.

fluttershield mlp An American hero has to seek shelter from our criminal government in Russia. Sad that Russia and China are safer than the USA for people who do the right thing. 8

kolja senior Cestitke obema :) In cestitke za nacin sporocanja lepe novice. 1

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news, twitter, edward snowden, viral
Former trainer and driver Paul St. Clair Rogerson of Truro, N.S. passed away peacefully on Saturday, Oct. 16 in Wynn Park Villa, Truro at the age of 78.

Born and raised in South Maitland, he later moved to Halifax to complete a Mechanical Fitter Apprenticeship at the Halifax Naval Dockyard. Paul then relocated to Pictou County, working 22 years at Michelin Tire in Granton, where he served many different roles in a distinguished career.

Paul also had a great passion for harness racing starting back from the 1960s at the old Halifax Commons. Paul drove, trained and raised several harness racing horses over the years, including a few Maritime Champions.

Paul is survived by his beloved wife of 56 years, Judith (MacDonald); sons, Andrew and Scott (Stephanie); grandchildren, Zachary and Nicholas.

Cremation has taken place under the direction of Colchester Community Funeral Home, 512 Willow Street, Truro, N.S. A Graveside service will be held on Friday, Oct. 29 at 2 p.m. in the Springville Cemetery, Pictou County.

COVID-19 restrictions are in place. Proof of full vaccination with photo ID is required at the cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia.

Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting ColchesterCommunity.com.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Paul Rogerson.
Students can take advantage of a wide selection of books in the classroom and school libraries through a recent round of grants to Culpeper County Public Schools designed to boost reading. The awards are targeted to combat COVID-19 learning loss.

The Virginia Education Foundation over the summer donated more than 13,000 books that will be delivered this month throughout Culpeper County Public Schools.

In recent weeks, Warrenton-based PATH Foundation donated nearly $6,500 to Quick Start Central that will buy books for public school kindergarteners in Culpeper.

The books from Virginia Education Foundation have a retail value of $193,429, according to Laura Hoover, CCPS spokeswoman. Teachers will highlight the books with students, using them for reading aloud, independent reading and group discussions. Teachers will also use the books to demonstrate skills, such as setting a purpose for reading and making predictions.

When lessons are completed, the books will be sent home with students for them to keep. The majority of the books are going to elementary students, with some going to middle and high school students, Hoover said.

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Anyone stopping in at Battlefield Ford on Route 29 just south of town can get an eyeful of classic Culpeper all in one shot, now that local artist and graphic designer Crystal Burnham has finished a mural in the car dealerships showroom.

Battlefields owner, Gary Fay, commissioned the mural, after being referred to Burnham for the project by a downtown Culpeper business owner.

Ive reached a part of life now I dont want any more dealerships, I just want to do some good things, Fay told the Star-Exponent in an interview. After starting my dealership here in 2000 I wanted to put something up that would represent this great place where we live and that has been so generous to me and my family.

Fay said the central feature of the mural, the Battlefield logo, was given to him as a gift by his employees to thank him for taking good care of them during the pandemic, he said.

But to add favorite features of the Town and County of Culpeper, Fay said he needed to find an artist with an eye that agreed with his vision for the project.
Frank Reaves Jr.

Background: Law enforcement career with the Virginia Department of Corrections (retired), Culpeper County Sheriffs Department and Town of Culpeper Police Department. Serve currently as a town councilman, have served on the Town Council since 2010. My entire career has been in service to my community and the people within it. Being able to live and serve in my hometown of Culpeper for my entire life has been a privilege and an honor.
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?
JACKSON, Wyo. (AP)  A memorial service and celebration for a soldier from Wyoming who was among the last U.S. troops killed in the war in Afghanistan will be held in Jackson Hole.

Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, 20, of Bondurant, was among 13 U.S. soldiers killed in a suicide bombing Aug. 26 at the Kabul airport.

A public memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Jackson Hole Hereford Ranch and will include a 21-gun salute and military flyover, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reports.

A reception starting around 7 p.m. will include appetizers, drinks and storytelling. Country music artist Jenny Tolman will perform.

McCollum grew up in the Jackson Hole area.McCollum played with toy rifles as a toddler and was interested from an early age in becoming a soldier, according to relatives.

He was a high school wrestler known for working hard, even before Marine training.
It was classic hugger-mugger spy talk, which appears to be Steeles specialty. In response, Cohen issued a statement saying, I eagerly await [Steeles] next secret dossier which proves the existence of Bigfoot, the Loch News Monster, and that Elvis is still alive.

Stephanopoulos asked Steele whether his refusal to accept the findings of FBI and Justice Department investigators might hurt his credibility. Im prepared to accept that not everything in the dossier is 100% accurate, Steele answered. I have yet to be convinced that [the Cohen story] is one of them.

Nor did Steele give an inch on another completely unproven allegation, the so-called pee tape story in which he claimed that in 2013, then-private citizen Trump watched as prostitutes performed a kinky sex act in a Moscow hotel room, with Russian spy cameras catching the whole thing on tape. A Justice Department inspector generals report said the source for that tale told the FBI he warned Steele the story was rumor and speculation and had not been confirmed by anyone, as Steele claimed. Then, the source told the FBI that some of the information, such as allegations about Trumps sexual activities, were statements he heard made in jest. It was bar talk, the source suggested -- a joke.
Owen said while Section 8 and other programs can help, the cost of housing, and finding suitable living spaces, is difficult. While she wasnt speaking directly to Quezadas situation, she said someone who was living off disability would roughly have $800 to spend for all their costs.

That means often people are looking at the open market. While there are homes under $700 to rent, the supply is limited. Even so, low-income renters are looking at spending most of their income on housing. She also said other factors, such as the cost of utilities in older homes, can quickly turn even affordable rent into a tougher financial situation.

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Theres a lack of what most people would consider affordable housing, especially for people that have low income and arent able to add to it for whatever reason, Owen said. Until you really get into it and try to do what we do here day today, (then) you can really see the amount of rent that has gone up in the past two years or year.

Its supply and demand.

Darbah T. Skaf, the executive director of the Statesville Housing Authority, said that is an issue that affects what those owning properties are willing to do to improve the quality of housing. While some do invest regularly in upgrades, the market allows some to handle some issues with less urgency.
This particular piano originally traveled from the lush mountain country to the flatlands of central North Carolina without the assistance of any of the Adams boys, craftsmen or artisans. There a young keyboard prodigy learned Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the opening notes to the theme from Hill Street Blues.

And that was it.

Thirty years later, our kid, daughter of the aforementioned keyboard prodigy, came along and banged on that piano every time she visited her grandparents house. Enduring that endless barrage of discordant noise, someone  certainly not me  said, We need this piano at our house.

That was my first tangle with the behemoth. Gathering enough family members with strong backs, we managed to get it on a U-Haul truck and maneuver it back to lush mountain country.

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With sweating, grunting and cursing the day John Quincy Adams was born, we wrangled the piano into a room in the house where I swore it would stay until the end of time or I learned to play Great Balls of Fire, pushed it into the front yard and set it ablaze with lighter fluid while maniacally pounding the keys like a hopped-up Jerry Lee for the amusement of the neighborhood.

A dozen years went by, and that is not what happened.
Caribbean

S till reeling from the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, on 7 July, the country was crippled on 14 August by a deadly 7.2 magnitude earthquake that affected over 800,000 people in its southwestern peninsula.



Helen La Lime, Special Representative and head of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) said that long awaited national and local elections have now been further postponed while insecurity has become rampant in Port-au-Prince, as kidnappings are once again on the rise and gangs have extended their control over large swaths of the city.



She also noted the recent forced return of thousands of Haitian migrants from the US-Mexico border, many of whom had simply sought better living conditions in neighbouring countries.



While the countrys seemingly never-ending crises have pushed the resilience of the Haitian people to the brink, there is some good news, said Ms. La Lime.



In a positive step towards reviving democratic institutions, politicians from across the spectrum, including former opposition and ruling coalition groups, reached an agreement on 11 September, to form a new Provisional Electoral Council, with a view to holding elections no later than the second half of 2022.

And a large national consensus wishes to reform the 1987 Haitian constitution, a charter widely viewed as contributing to the recurrent political and institutional instability.



One can only hope that Haitian political and civil society leaders will continue to work together to find common ground around a common project that will contribute to fostering a more appeased climate in which decisive action can be taken and essential reforms enacted, said the BINUH chief.



Meanwhile, security must be re-established, especially in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, as a significant and sudden increase in gang violence has caused the displacement of some 19,000 people from the communes of Cite-Soleil, Croix-des-Bouquets, Delmas and the Port-au-Prince neighbourhood of Martissant.



The control that gangs exercise around strategic entry and exit points of the capital has had a detrimental impact on Haitis economy and the movement of people and goods, said the UN official.



However, an over-stretched, under-resourced police force cannot stem the rise in crime without being strengthened and accompanied by Government services to impoverished neighbourhoods.



The Government must implement a more holistic approach to addressing gang violence, within the framework of the national strategy for community violence reduction, she stated.



Although Haitian citizens have unanimously condemned President Moises assassination and called for a thorough investigation, Ms. La Lime flagged that judicial actors must be allowed to work independentlywith reassurance that they will be protected while undertaking the delicate task of identifying and prosecuting the perpetrators.



The August earthquake added another layer of complexity to an already dire humanitarian situation. Amidst ongoing relief operations, the Special Representative said that early recovery and restoring jobs, must be supported in the affected areas.



We must ensure that Haiti does not become a forgotten crisis, continued the UN official, urging Member States to contribute to the $187.3 million Flash Appeal launched for those affected by the earthquake and the $235.6 million 2021-2022 Humanitarian Response Plan.



It is a race against time to ensure that children can return to school, that farmers do not miss the next planting season, and that people currently living in spontaneous displacement camps return to their homes as quickly as possible, she said.



Ms. La Lime underscored that, through urgent, determined and concerted action, Haiti can address its deep structural challenges and governance and development deficits that feed the countrys instability, insecurity, and ever-growing humanitarian needs.



Along with the United Nations, the entire international community must continue to steadfastly stand alongside the Haitian people and their Government as they endeavour to forge a path towards stability, security and sustainable development, she concluded.



Currently, about 70 per cent of all schools in the Southwestern part of the country are still damaged or destroyed, according to the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF).



I am shocked to see how many schools are flattened or damaged due to the earthquake, said Bruno Maes, UNICEF Representative in Haiti.



Kicking off a back-to-school campaign, about 300,000 students are gradually starting to resume classes in the three earthquake-stricken departments, because with or without schools, learning and teaching must continue now, he added.



If classrooms remain closed, UNICEF estimates that more than 230,000 children are at risk of dropping out of school in the Great Southern departments of Haiti.



The longer children wait, the more difficult it will be to get them back to school, warned Mr. Maes.






Squid Game is the latest super hit series out of the Netflix stables and viewers around the world are hooked - the show which cost $21 million to make will reportedly generate $891.1 million in value, according to Bloomberg. With the series only gaining in popularity, hackers and malicious users are working overtime to take advantage of viewers and fans. After a security firm flagged an app on the Play Store that was being used to spread malware, Google has removed the app from the Play Store and users will have to remove the app from their devices. Read on to know more about how to keep your devices safe.

The malware that is directed at fans of the popular Netflix series Squid Game was spotted by ESET researcher Lukas Stefanko, who studies malware at the security firm. The app, known as Squid Game Wallpaper 4K HD was reportedly being used to spread the notorious Joker malware. We have covered the Joker malware before, this is not the first instance of an app infecting an app on the store, but it is the first time that it is being used to target viewers and fans of the new hit series.

Also read: Looking for a smartphone? Check Mobile Finder here.

Squid Game themed Android Joker



1) downloads and executes native lib

2) native lib downloads and executes apk payload



Running this app on device might result in malicious ad-fraud and/or unwanted SMS subscription actionshttps://t.co/PTDtPlUkBy pic.twitter.com/AFs8gkEuab  Lukas Stefanko (@LukasStefanko) October 19, 2021

According to the researcher, the app could result in malicious ad-fraud and/or unwanted SMS subscription actions. If this sounds like the modus operandi of the Joker malware, that is likely because they both function in the same manner. This means that users could not only be bombarded with advertisements but they might also be signed up for some premium services which will cost them a lot of money.

While Google has now removed the app from the Play Store, Android users who have downloaded the app must immediately remove it from their device as their devices might be at risk. They must also remain alert about similar apps that appear in the future, and avoid apps that are not officially released by the original company, even if the app or game is being offered for free. As the researcher notes, over 200 apps with the same theme are currently available on the Play Store, and users must remain cautious about downloading these apps in order to keep their devices safe.
In this Sept. 27, 2015, file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, right, hugs Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi at Facebook in Menlo Park, Calif.. Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as the internet giant's own employees cast doubt over the motivations and interests. Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File

Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as its own employees cast doubt over the company's motivations and interests.

From research as recent as March of this year to company memos that date back to 2019, the internal company documents on India highlight Facebook's constant struggles in quashing abusive content on its platforms in the world's biggest democracy and the company's largest growth market. Communal and religious tensions in India have a history of boiling over on social media and stoking violence.

The files show that Facebook has been aware of the problems for years, raising questions over whether it has done enough to address these issues. Many critics and digital experts say it has failed to do so, especially in cases where members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, are involved.

Across the world, Facebook has become increasingly important in politics, and India is no different.

Modi has been credited for leveraging the platform to his party's advantage during elections, and reporting from The Wall Street Journal last year cast doubt over whether Facebook was selectively enforcing its policies on hate speech to avoid blowback from the BJP. Both Modi and Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have exuded bonhomie, memorialized by a 2015 image of the two hugging at the Facebook headquarters.

The leaked documents include a trove of internal company reports on hate speech and misinformation in India. In some cases, much of it was intensified by its own "recommended" feature and algorithms. But they also include the company staffers' concerns over the mishandling of these issues and their discontent expressed about the viral "malcontent" on the platform.

According to the documents, Facebook saw India as one of the most "at risk countries" in the world and identified both Hindi and Bengali languages as priorities for "automation on violating hostile speech." Yet, Facebook didn't have enough local language moderators or content-flagging in place to stop misinformation that at times led to real-world violence.

In this Sept. 27, 2015, file photo, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, speaks next to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook in Menlo Park, Calif.. Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as the internet giant's own employees cast doubt over the motivations and interests. Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File

In a statement to the AP, Facebook said it has "invested significantly in technology to find hate speech in various languages, including Hindi and Bengali" which has resulted in "reduced the amount of hate speech that people see by half" in 2021.

"Hate speech against marginalized groups, including Muslims, is on the rise globally. So we are improving enforcement and are committed to updating our policies as hate speech evolves online," a company spokesperson said.

This AP story, along with others being published, is based on disclosures made to the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided to Congress in redacted form by former Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen's legal counsel. The redacted versions were obtained by a consortium of news organizations, including the AP.

Back in February 2019 and ahead of a general election when concerns of misinformation were running high, a Facebook employee wanted to understand what a new user in the country saw on their news feed if all they did was follow pages and groups solely recommended by the platform itself.

The employee created a test user account and kept it live for three weeks, a period during which an extraordinary event shook Indiaa militant attack in disputed Kashmir had killed over 40 Indian soldiers, bringing the country to near war with rival Pakistan.

In the note, titled "An Indian Test User's Descent into a Sea of Polarizing, Nationalistic Messages," the employee whose name is redacted said they were "shocked" by the content flooding the news feed which "has become a near constant barrage of polarizing nationalist content, misinformation, and violence and gore."

Seemingly benign and innocuous groups recommended by Facebook quickly morphed into something else altogether, where hate speech, unverified rumors and viral content ran rampant.

In this Tuesday, March 31, 2020, file photo, Indian paramedics after screening take down the names of Muslims wearing face masks before they are being to a bus that will take them to a quarantine facility, amid concerns over the spread of the new coronavirus at the Nizamuddin area of New Delhi, India. Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as the internet giant's own employees cast doubt over the motivations and interests. Credit: AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File

The recommended groups were inundated with fake news, anti-Pakistan rhetoric and Islamophobic content. Much of the content was extremely graphic.

One included a man holding the bloodied head of another man covered in a Pakistani flag, with an Indian flag in the place of his head. Its "Popular Across Facebook" feature showed a slew of unverified content related to the retaliatory Indian strikes into Pakistan after the bombings, including an image of a napalm bomb from a video game clip debunked by one of Facebook's fact-check partners.

"Following this test user's News Feed, I've seen more images of dead people in the past three weeks than I've seen in my entire life total," the researcher wrote.

It sparked deep concerns over what such divisive content could lead to in the real world, where local news at the time were reporting on Kashmiris being attacked in the fallout.

"Should we as a company have an extra responsibility for preventing integrity harms that result from recommended content?" the researcher asked in their conclusion.

The memo, circulated with other employees, did not answer that question. But it did expose how the platform's own algorithms or default settings played a part in spurring such malcontent. The employee noted that there were clear "blind spots," particularly in "local language content." They said they hoped these findings would start conversations on how to avoid such "integrity harms," especially for those who "differ significantly" from the typical U.S. user.

Even though the research was conducted during three weeks that weren't an average representation, they acknowledged that it did show how such "unmoderated" and problematic content "could totally take over" during "a major crisis event."

A girl looks at the face book page of Rashtriya Swayamevak Sangh or RSS, in New Delhi, India, Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021. Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as the internet giant's own employees cast doubt over the motivations and interests. Credit: AP Photo/Manish Swarup

The Facebook spokesperson said the test study "inspired deeper, more rigorous analysis" of its recommendation systems and "contributed to product changes to improve them."

"Separately, our work on curbing hate speech continues and we have further strengthened our hate classifiers, to include four Indian languages," the spokesperson said.

Other research files on misinformation in India highlight just how massive a problem it is for the platform.

In January 2019, a month before the test user experiment, another assessment raised similar alarms about misleading content. In a presentation circulated to employees, the findings concluded that Facebook's misinformation tags weren't clear enough for users, underscoring that it needed to do more to stem hate speech and fake news. Users told researchers that "clearly labeling information would make their lives easier."

Again, it was noted that the platform didn't have enough local language fact-checkers, which meant a lot of content went unverified.

Alongside misinformation, the leaked documents reveal another problem plaguing Facebook in India: anti-Muslim propaganda, especially by Hindu-hardline groups.

India is Facebook's largest market with over 340 million usersnearly 400 million Indians also use the company's messaging service WhatsApp. But both have been accused of being vehicles to spread hate speech and fake news against minorities.

In this Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020, file photo, relatives and neighbors wail near the body of Mohammad Mudasir, 31, who was killed in communal violence in New Delhi, India. Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as the internet giant's own employees cast doubt over the motivations and interests. Credit: AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File

In February 2020, these tensions came to life on Facebook when a politician from Modi's party uploaded a video on the platform in which he called on his supporters to remove mostly Muslim protesters from a road in New Delhi if the police didn't. Violent riots erupted within hours, killing 53 people. Most of them were Muslims. Only after thousands of views and shares did Facebook remove the video.

In April, misinformation targeting Muslims again went viral on its platform as the hashtag "Coronajihad" flooded news feeds, blaming the community for a surge in COVID-19 cases. The hashtag was popular on Facebook for days but was later removed by the company.

For Mohammad Abbas, a 54-year-old Muslim preacher in New Delhi, those messages were alarming.

Some video clips and posts purportedly showed Muslims spitting on authorities and hospital staff. They were quickly proven to be fake, but by then India's communal fault lines, still stressed by deadly riots a month earlier, were again split wide open.

The misinformation triggered a wave of violence, business boycotts and hate speech toward Muslims. Thousands from the community, including Abbas, were confined to institutional quarantine for weeks across the country. Some were even sent to jails, only to be later exonerated by courts.

"People shared fake videos on Facebook claiming Muslims spread the virus. What started as lies on Facebook became truth for millions of people," Abbas said.

Criticisms of Facebook's handling of such content were amplified in August of last year when The Wall Street Journal published a series of stories detailing how the company had internally debated whether to classify a Hindu hard-line lawmaker close to Modi's party as a "dangerous individual"a classification that would ban him from the platformafter a series of anti-Muslim posts from his account.

In this Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020, file photo, an Indian woman walks past as Indian paramilitary soldiers patrol a street vandalized in Tuesday's violence in New Delhi, India. Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as the internet giant's own employees cast doubt over the motivations and interests.Credit: AP Photo/Altaf Qadri,File

The documents reveal the leadership dithered on the decision, prompting concerns by some employees, of whom one wrote that Facebook was only designating non-Hindu extremist organizations as "dangerous."

The documents also show how the company's South Asia policy head herself had shared what many felt were Islamophobic posts on her personal Facebook profile. At the time, she had also argued that classifying the politician as dangerous would hurt Facebook's prospects in India.

The author of a December 2020 internal document on the influence of powerful political actors on Facebook policy decisions notes that "Facebook routinely makes exceptions for powerful actors when enforcing content policy." The document also cites a former Facebook chief security officer saying that outside of the U.S., "local policy heads are generally pulled from the ruling political party and are rarely drawn from disadvantaged ethnic groups, religious creeds or casts" which "naturally bends decision-making towards the powerful."

Months later the India official quit Facebook. The company also removed the politician from the platform, but documents show many company employees felt the platform had mishandled the situation, accusing it of selective bias to avoid being in the crosshairs of the Indian government.

"Several Muslim colleagues have been deeply disturbed/hurt by some of the language used in posts from the Indian policy leadership on their personal FB profile," an employee wrote.

Another wrote that "barbarism" was being allowed to "flourish on our network."

It's a problem that has continued for Facebook, according to the leaked files.

This May 16, 2012, file photo, shows the Facebook logo displayed on an iPad. Facebook in India dithered in curbing hate speech and anti-Muslim content on its platform and lacked enough local language moderators to stop misinformation that at times led to real-world violence, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File

As recently as March this year, the company was internally debating whether it could control the "fear mongering, anti-Muslim narratives" pushed by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a far-right Hindu nationalist group which Modi is also a part of, on its platform.

In one document titled "Lotus Mahal," the company noted that members with links to the BJP had created multiple Facebook accounts to amplify anti-Muslim content, ranging from "calls to oust Muslim populations from India" and "Love Jihad," an unproven conspiracy theory by Hindu hard-liners who accuse Muslim men of using interfaith marriages to coerce Hindu women to change their religion.

The research found that much of this content was "never flagged or actioned" since Facebook lacked "classifiers" and "moderators" in Hindi and Bengali languages. Facebook said it added hate speech classifiers in Hindi starting in 2018 and introduced Bengali in 2020.

The employees also wrote that Facebook hadn't yet "put forth a nomination for designation of this group given political sensitivities."

The company said its designations process includes a review of each case by relevant teams across the company and are agnostic to region, ideology or religion and focus instead on indicators of violence and hate. It did not, however, reveal whether the Hindu nationalist group had since been designated as "dangerous."

Explore further Facebook labeled 167 million user posts for COVID-19 misinformation

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Hussam Hammo founded Tamatemwhich means tomatoin 2013.

Its logo is a tomato, not an apple, but in just eight years Jordanian company Tamatem has already bitten a chunk out of the lucrative market for Arabic mobile games.

"Less than one percent of internet content is in Arabic, even though there are 400 million Arab users," said the company's founder and CEO Hussam Hammo.

"There is a very big gap in this market that we are trying to fill," added the 38-year-old entrepreneur, sitting in his elegant Amman offices.

Hamo founded Tamatemwhich means tomatoin 2013 and it was the first Arab company to win investment from the "500 Startups" programme based in Silicon Valley, California.

Eight years on the company has grown to about 80 staff who convert mobile phone games into Arabic, also adapting content to fit Arab culture.

"Language was a barrier to mobile games growth" in the region, said Nour Khrais, founder and chief executive of games developer Maysalward.

"The Arabic language connects (the player) emotionally."

With offices now in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Tamatem has published more than 50 mobile games, which have been downloaded more than 100 million times on Apple and Google Play stores.

"Seventy percent of smartphone users in the Arab world have set their phones in Arabic, which means they like to use content in their mother language," said Hammo.

"Sadly when you search in English for a game in app stores you will find millions of games, but when you search in Arabic there are only a few thousand," he added.

Tamatem has grown to about 80 staff who convert mobile phone games into Arabic, also adapting content to fit Arab culture.

'Billion-dollar industry'

But competition is fierce, and Khrais said the Middle East and North Africa region was "the largest growth region in the world in the field of electronic games".

Market analysts Mordor Intelligence said the global gaming market in 2020 was valued at $174 billion, and was expected to reach $314 billion in 2026.

Tamatem, which has partnerships with companies in the US, China, France, South Korea, Bulgaria and Croatia, converts games by replacing characters' voices and names, adapting music and clothing, adding Muslim holidays like Ramadan and even changing car licence plates.

"We don't only do translation, we do the most important thing which is educating by making the content relevant to the Arab culture," said chief operating officer Eyad Al Basheer.

"Hollywood Story" from Nanobit.com, in which players can become movie stars, strut the red carpet, hang out with fans and even shoot blockbusters, was renamed "Malekat al Moda"or "Queen of Fashion".

Instead of locations in New York and Los Angeles, the avatars travel between Dubai, Beirut and Cairo, in an Arabic game which has now been downloaded more than 15 million times.

Strategy multiplayer and civilisation-building game "Clash of Empire" from developer Leme Games launched its Arabic version "Tahadi Al-Molouk" or "Challenge of Kings" this year.

Market analysts Mordor Intelligence said the global gaming market in 2020 was valued at $174 billion, and was expected to reach $314 billion in 2026.

'Next industrial revolution'

To fit Arab audiences, the figure of the notorious crusader Richard the Lionheart has been replaced by legendary dynastic Muslim leader, Salah al-Din al-Ayubi.

One of the company's biggest hits is "Shake the Metal" which taps into the popular sport of drifting. Featuring car models beloved in the Arab world, it has now been downloaded five million times.

The most popular of Tamatem's Arabic mobile games however, is "VIP Belote", which is based on the French card game and has been downloaded more than 20 million times.

In a 2019 report by the World Economic Forum, Tamatem was chosen as one of the best 100 Arabic companies "shaping the fourth industrial revolution".

And the Covid-19 pandemic has proved a boon, with the number of mobile gamers soaring by 150 percent, Hammo said.

"Tamatem made games easier, and we understand things that we didn't understand before, because it was in English," said player Khader Hamid, a 28-year-old civil engineer.

In a 2019 report by the World Economic Forum, Tamatem was chosen as one of the best 100 Arabic companies 'shaping the fourth industrial revolution'

Mona Rummaneh, a 30-year-old working in e-marketing, said Arabic games left her "confident that all the content is appropriate for our culture and morals".

She recalled how after the Beirut port explosion in August 2020, she and other gamers voiced their solidarity with Lebanese players.

"So it is more than just a game," she said.

Explore further FIFA video game maker mulls rename

 2021 AFP
The field of eight candidates vying to be Brunswicks next mayor was reduced to two on Nov. 2 with Cosby Johnson and Ivan Figueroa emerging from the pack to qualify for the runoff.
Its reminiscent to me of the reading Ive done on what Austin experienced in the 70s and 80s, maybe a little even earlier than that when they kind of dug their heels in and said, We dont want to grow; we want to stay the size we are, he said. Growth is coming, whether we want it or not, so being ready to handle that and handle it in a way that protects the institutional memory of College Station, but allows us to move into the 21st century and really embrace that growth thats coming.

He does not believe College Station residents need the City Councils help in making decisions, saying voters know what is best for them and their families. He said the councils decision on the restricted occupancy overlay was made without logic.

They seem to bow to societal pressure or emotional pressure more than Lets look at the data, lets look at the facts and lets see what the best decision that may not make everybody happy, but will be the long-term health of the citizens and the community, Levine said.

Levine wants to look at the city like a business and make sure the money is being spent wisely and on the right things to handle future growth and challenges, such as a winter storm and global pandemic.
The shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of the set of the Alec Baldwin movie Rust is a reminder of the dangers that can exist on film and television sets. As authorities investigate why a crew member handed Baldwin a loaded gun instead of one safe to use, industry leaders will look for ways to avoid similar tragedies.

On-set fatalities have led to safety reforms in the past. Here are some of the productions that experienced industry-altering accidents:

Twilight Zone: The Movie

A 1982 helicopter crash that killed actor Vic Morrow and two child actors on the set of Twilight Zone shook the film industry and led to new safety standards for the use of choppers during filming. Morrow and the children were killed while filming a scene set in Vietnam for a film based on the popular television series. The helicopter came down after debris from explosions staged during the scene rose 100 feet in the air and damaged the aircrafts rotor. Director John Landis and four others were acquitted of involuntary manslaughter charges in a rare case of prosecutors targeting a film production for on-set deaths. The families of the child actors killed settled civil lawsuits years later, and federal agencies enacted new rules for filming with helicopters.

The Crow
William Wright is running for College Station City Council, Place 4, and his youthful perspective would be a valuable addition to the council. He is hard-working, dependable, and committed to both neighborhood integrity and planned business growth.

William was reared in College Station, went through school in the College Station school district, and graduated from Texas A&M, Class of 11, with a degree in history.

Williams career is in business in a leadership role. He is a production supervisor who deals daily with 30 direct reports spread across multiple teams in a large company located in South College Station.

I met William Wright while serving on the College Station Historic Preservation Committee and I have seldom met a person of his age who is so dedicated to the city in which he lives.

Not only has he attended the Citizens Academy, the Citizens Fire Academy, and the Citizens Police Academy, he currently is serving on the Historic Preservation Committee and the Planning and Zoning Commission.

William is also on a committee looking into ways to preserve the history and the future of the McCulloch Subdivision, the first African American residential area of College Station.
Karen Bortz introduced speaker, Lynda Fickes. She presented the program for her cousin, Dr. Margie Heier, who was the doctor and missionary in Zambia, Africa, at the Chfundo Clinic in southern Africa. This is the clinic Caring Women has been sending pill bottles to through Dr. Heier, who takes the bottles, cleans them and then uses them to refill with medications that are used for patients in the clinic. The clinic saw/treated 46,000 patients in 2020. Due to shipping problems, the project is on hold.
LINCOLN  Continuing implementation of Nebraska Legislative Bill 572 will include the waivable citations for statue violations which becomes effective Nov. 1.

The citations will be used for several situations including sale, slaughter or disposal of a live animal or carcass without inspections; transportation of live animals without proper documentation inside the brand area; or movement of livestock outside the brand area without inspection.

These infractions will be issued by law enforcement staff only. The investigator can fine per offence or as a whole based on the situation. If an infraction is observed during a routine inspection, the inspector files a violation form with the Investigator in that area that allows them to then research the situation before creating a citation. Per the statue the fine shall not exceed $200 per head for each offense.

Waivable citations are much like traffic tickets in that you can opt to pay the fine and waive a court date. If you believe the citation was given erroneously the complainant has the right to appear in the county court where the violation was issued. A date will be set, and the case will be heard before a judge.
Heartland Bank has opened a new branch at 2106 N. Webb Road, after being delayed due to the pandemic.

We are delighted to have the opportunity to expand our presence in Nebraska and welcome the customers, associates and the Grand Island community to the Heartland Bank family, said John Wilkins, CEO and chairman of Heartland Bank. We look forward to continuing our mutual commitment to relationship banking, family ownership and building strong relationships with our customers and community.

The Grand Island branch continues the banks lending and mortgage services, a full suite of deposit banking services, online and mobile banking, and industry leading trust, insurance, and wealth management services.

Heartland Bank in Grand Island has five associates to efficiently service the needs of the community: Kevin Hynes as vice president/ relationship manager; Mike Peck, vice president/relationship manager; Sheri Lyons, assistant vice president/customer service supervisor; Jeanette Anderson, senior customer service associate; and Michaela Dehart, customer service associate.

The bank will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4 p.m. Thursday. An open house will follow the ceremony with door prizes and refreshments.
But others joined in. People prayed in other states, other towns  everywhere, Jenny said.

Valdezs daughter, Grace, feels that the prayer benefited her mother a lot.

Grace, 14, says her mother is outgoing, funny and very caring. She always puts people before herself, she said.

The Champions 11-year-old son, Malykai, says Valdez is nice and has a huge heart. Shes pretty sweet, too.

When the Champions were finally able to speak to Valdez in person, they told her how much theyd missed her, how much they loved her and how much she was covered in prayer.

They told her how proud of her we were, Eddy said.

They informed Valdez that shes a miracle right now, and that weve got a ways to go, but were going to get there, Jenny said.

Standing outside the hospital, the group prayed not just for Valdez, but for other people battling COVID, as well as doctors, nurses and staff members.

This thing has been horrible, and we wanted to cover anybody we could in prayer, Eddy said. They also prayed for all those who were sick.
MINDEN  The city of Minden has added 42 housing units in a new subdivision on the towns west side, but that development is just the beginning.

Determined to build on the momentum from the Minden West Estates, the Minden City Council voted Oct. 12 to launch a second phase of Minden West Estates. Soon, new streets and utilities will crisscross vacant land near the water tower on Mindens west side. With water, sewer, electricity and streets in place, the City Council believes homebuilders will get busy filling lots in Phase 2 of the development, just as they did in Phase 1.

The goal is to add 30 housing lots and a handful of commercial properties on the 20-acre, Phase 2 tract, City Administrator Matt Cederburg said. Building all of that infrastructure will cost about $3.7 million, but its considered an investment in Mindens future.

We are anticipating an additional population increase with Phase 2, and hopefully it will bring more businesses to town, Cederburg said.

The homes built in Phase 1 has benefited Minden in a number of ways, according to one of Mindens community leaders.
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:
NAPERVILLE  A Naperville publishing house is giving University of Chicago graduate Gertrude Beasley back the voice that had been silenced nearly a century ago.

Sourcebooks, founded in 1987 by CEO Dominque Raccah, reissued the feminist's 1925 memoir, "My First Thirty Years," which had been banned after the time of its original publication. It is a frank view of life growing up as one of 13 children in an impoverished Texas farm family.

"We work diligently with our partners at libraries and bookstores to effectively bring books broadly to the readers without any banning needed. That was the thinking behind this particular publication date," Raccah said.

Equally unique is that the reissue was a family affair inspired by Raccah's daughter-in-law, Nina Bennett.

After moving to Lonestar State, where she has roots, Bennett said she was searching used bookstores for stories that reflect the different dimensions of women in Texas.

She stumbled across an intriguing extract of Beasley's memoir and struggled to find a complete copy of the book.

"Gertrude's prose is just so dark and compelling and eloquent," Bennett said. "She was very abrasive, and her opinions were very inconvenient. Not only was the book basically banned, but she herself was imprisoned."

Because the issues Beasley raised in the memoir are as poignant today as they were 100 year ago, others should have the chance to read the full text, she said.

All in the family

Like many families during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Raccah's relatives didn't gather but kept in touch through online video conferences.

It was during one of those family chats that Bennett mentioned Beasley's forgotten memoir.

Raccah said as the 10th largest publisher in the country, Sourcebooks traditionally has promoted texts from women who have been silenced and marginalized.

When her daughter-in-law shared about Beasley's story, Raccah said she found it "absolutely staggering ... I thought this was absolutely up our alley."

Her company is very much fact-based, science-based and feminist-oriented, she said. "We are an organization that believes that we should be proselytizing and developing new voices, outsider voices," she said.

As the largest woman-owned book publisher in the United States, Raccah said, "we have been an outsider the whole time we've been in business."

"We spent a lifetime doing this work, and, I'm really thrilled with adding Gertrude's book to the work that we've been doing," she said.

Timing is everything

Hopping on a family video call a couple minutes after her sister-in-law and stepmother, Marie Bennett, of Aurora, was surprised to hear the pair hatching a plan in which Marie could put to use the editing certificate she earned from the University of Chicago a few years earlier.

The full-time professional classical musician and flute teacher had the time.

Because of the pandemic, Marie Bennett wasn't performing at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora or offering much instruction. She taught at Naperville's North Central College for 15 years and now teaches at the College of DuPage and Aurora University.

Beasley's memoir required a lighter level of editing because the author was deceased, Marie Bennett said. Some it involved cleaning up the scanned copy to make it legible or deciding what could or couldn't be changed, she said.

"Can I break this four-page paragraph off into a couple paragraphs?" Marie Bennett said.

That work took about a month, allowing them to time the release with banned book week, she said.

Looking forward

Nina Bennett said Beasley's is a quintessentially American story until she is committed to a psychiatric hospital, where she is forgotten and dies in 1955.

"She's young, scrappy, she's hungry. She's a career woman; she doesn't need a prince charming to be fulfilled. It's really energizing," Nina Bennett said. "And then you get to this hard ending knowing that she was institutionalized."

Republishing Beasley's memoir can never change that ending, Nina Bennett said. "But this feels like a better ending for the narrative arc. (Her book) gets rereleased, she's given her voice by a group of women, and (she) is given the distribution that she always should have had," she said.

A different voice also can change the narrative itself.

Marie Bennett said she grew up reading "Little House on the Prairie" books. "Gertrude's story was not that. I think it really helps fill out our view of lots of areas of life when you get these different voices of different perspectives," she said.

While the project pulled them closer together as a family, the three women doubt it will happen again.

"This was just such a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence that brought all of our different interests and strengths together, along with the time available thanks to COVID," Nina Bennett said. "I'm really glad that we were able to make it happen."

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GALESBURG  Fifteen years after plans for a $60 million National Railroad Hall of Fame visitor attraction off Interstate 74 were first announced, the project is now envisioned as a smaller facility adjacent to the Galesburg Amtrak station with a $7.7 million fundraising goal.

Due to fundraising challenges related to location and the COVID-19 pandemic, the NRRHOF capital campaign, which had secured commitments of around $5.5 million as of last year, is currently on hold  and organizers are now deciding whether to move forward with a building at all.

Julie King, executive director of the NRRHOF, said as the pandemic abates, the organization will decide how to proceed.

"The NRRHOF's capital campaign committee is assessing whether the time is right to resume efforts to create a visitor attraction or whether the organization can be equally effective and more fiscally sustainable without a building," King said.

King said if the group determines that building is not the best course, the NRRHOF will continue to create programming that celebrates railroading and work to bring economic benefit to the community through events, such as railroad-themed festivals, conferences and traveling exhibits.

"We expect this decision to be made in the next several months," King said.

Beginning in the early 1990s over breakfast meetings, a group of city leaders began pondering ways to improve Galesburg.

The concept for the National Railroad Hall of Fame  a large-scale visitor attraction honoring Galesburg's rail history and the industry at large  came out of those gatherings.

"The project had been conceived by a small group of local volunteers, and while the word 'national' was in the organization's title, it was anything but," King said.

Organizers began inducting people into the hall of fame in 2002.

After securing recognition from the city, county, and state, NRRHOF founder Bob Bondi worked for more than a decade to gain congressional recognition for Galesburg as the official site of the NRRHOF.

Congress formally recognized the NRRHOF through a resolution passed on Oct. 8, 2003, and the Senate passed its resolution on April 28, 2004  a few months before Galesburg's Maytag factory would close its doors.

The organization's board set ambitious goals over the next few years, King said.

Those goals included gaining notoriety across the rail industry, elevating the induction process to a recognized, peer-reviewed honor and building a visitor attraction in Galesburg to tell the stories of American railroading.

"Today, the organization has succeeded in meeting its goals on the national level while facing challenges in bringing a visitor center to our community," King said.

In February 2006, plans for a $60 million bricks-and-mortar NRRHF visitor attraction were announced to the public in a Register-Mail exclusive.

The early vision was to situate the building near Interstate 74, with a location secured at Kiwanis Park, and organizers believed it could attract 200,000 visitors to Galesburg a year.

King said the promise of building a facility to complement Galesburg's existing visitor attractions and generate additional tourism dollars drove the NRRHOF's local fundraising effort of 2006.

Approximately $1.5 million was raised locally in that early campaign.

King said those private donations launched the project, funding philanthropic and economic feasibility studies, securing fundraising and planning counsel and supporting exhibit design and architectural plans.

"The NRRHOF board is grateful for the generous, early support of this community that launched the project and enabled the organization to achieve the national footing necessary for long-term growth," King said.

In February 2008, two years after the initial plans were announced  and at the start of the Great Recession  the project was scaled back and re-envisioned.

Instead of a $60 million facility near the interstate, it would be a smaller, $30 million building located downtown.

Organizers believed it could still attract 160,000 visitors to Galesburg a year.

After completing a master plan for the building, the NRRHOF launched a national capital campaign in 2014, with the majority of donors having ties to the railroad industry  and King said initial results were encouraging.

With that initial success, organizers said in 2017 they would break ground on the project in 2019.

"Generous six- and seven-figure gifts were received, but by 2017 fundraising efforts stalled short of the goal," King said.

The NRRHOF then shifted the focus to other parts of its mission.

"The decision was made to pause the capital campaign and focus on creating programming to raise additional awareness and cultivate engagement among the donor community," King said.

King said NRRHOF programming  both online and live  expanded significantly over the next two years.

An oral history archive entitled "Spirit of the Railroaders" includes video interviews with industry leaders. Other programming covers topics from whistlestop campaigning to women in railroading along with detailed educational resources.

King said the increased visibility paid off, with online traffic to the oral history archive increasing 700% and teacher resources emerging as the most frequently visited section of the NRRHOF website.

Also over the last couple of years, the NRRHOF tripled membership on its industry advisory panel, which is made up of railroad executives, authors and scholars.

"These individuals steer the project, offer expert advice on programming, fund operations and make up the lead donors to the capital campaign," King said.

In late 2019, after two years of focusing on programming, the 20-member advisory panel decided it was time to start thinking about a building again.

The advisory panel's recommendation in late 2019 was to again rescale the size of the NRRHOF visitor attraction and to restart the stalled capital campaign.

The project  to be located next to the Amtrak station  was redesigned in early 2020 with a $7.7 million fundraising target to include a building, exhibits, operating reserve, endowment and owner's contingency.

Then, the pandemic hit, and fundraising efforts were once again put on hold.

"Events of that year directly impacted commitments to the hall of fame as two large donors either paused giving or turned their focus to fundamental human needs such as food and housing," King said.

King said the national supporters have funded the last six years of NRRHOF operations and established a building fund.

"At the same time, the NRRHOF has encountered significant fundraising challenges related to location," King said. "Some in the industry would prefer to see the project located in a major city like Chicago that is served by all the nation's Class 1 railroads."

Some of the $5.5 million in pledges to the NRRHOF will also need to be confirmed post-pandemic, King said.

"Regardless of how the project evolves, Galesburg will always be the home of the National Railroad Hall of Fame," King said.

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Farming is one of South Carolinas leading industries. It directly contributes to the states economy and residents health and quality of life.

To help South Carolina farmers remain competitive both nationally and globally, McCall Farms is supporting Clemson University with a $3 million contribution for critical research, establishing the McCall Farms Vegetable Breeding Endowment.

Agriculture is part of our DNA at Clemson, and our research helps the more than 25,000 farms located throughout South Carolina in a variety of areas, including specialty crops, responding to weather and environmental changes, modernizing technology and field practices and managing invasive species, Clemson President Jim Clements said. I am incredibly grateful to McCall Farms and the Swink family for their generous support of the important work our faculty and staff are doing in vegetable breeding. This donation will make a tremendous impact on farming across the state and beyond.

The McCall Farms Vegetable Breeding Endowment will support and enhance the vegetable breeding program within the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences (CAFLS), specifically as part of the Advanced Plant Technology (APT) Program. The vegetable breeding program uses genomics-assisted breeding to develop improved vegetable varieties for production in the Southern United States. The APT Program is a statewide network of researchers supporting crop breeding and genetics in the Clemson University Agricultural Experiment Station.

Over the period of its operation, the APT Program, led by Stephen Kresovich, the Robert and Lois Coker Trustees Endowed Chair of Genetics, has made significant advancements to both the intellectual and operational capabilities of the University in crop agriculture. As an example, significant improvements have been made in upgrading the research facilities at the Pee Dee Research and Education Center (REC) as well as other RECs across the state. Meanwhile, Clemson has hired some of the best and brightest new faculty for research positions at the RECs as well as the main campus.

Funds from this endowment will be used to support the research, improve equipment, provide supplies, fund technical personnel salaries and graduate student research assistantships.

While South Carolina farmers are some of the most efficient and productive in the world, this partnership with McCall Farms will be a catalyst for CAFLS efforts to provide research, teaching and Extension programs that continue to support the states agriculture industry as we tackle the challenge of sustainably feeding a growing state and global population, said CAFLS Dean Keith Belli.

According to Sandra Branham, assistant professor of vegetable breeding and genetics, the Southeastern region of the United States plays a significant role in vegetable production in terms of diversity of cropping systems and total quantity for the entire nation. South Carolina has taken a lead role in the region since the founding of the U.S. Department of Agricultures Charleston County research lab in 1936. The USDA Lab is co-housed with the Coastal Research and Education Center in Charleston.

As we seek to expand well-established and emerging markets to improve agricultural profits and crop diversity both locally in South Carolina and regionally in the Southeastern U.S., locally adapted germplasm  particularly heat tolerance and disease resistance  will have to be identified to ensure a sustainable production system, said Branham.

Current projects in the vegetable breeding program include improving heat tolerance in green beans and disease resistance in leafy greens, muskmelon and watermelon.

Located in Effingham, McCall Farms understands the need for crop diversification and catering to consumer tastes. They established a canning operation in 1954 and work with a network of farmers throughout South Carolina in Cameron, Summerton, Kingstree, Scranton and Coward. With several national brands, including Glory Foods, Margaret Holmes, Allens and Peanut Patch, McCall Farms Southern-style fruits and vegetables are staples in kitchens across the United States.

McCall Farms is owned by Henry Swink 68 and Marion Swink 72 and operated by Woody Swink 00, McCall Swink 98 and Thomas Hunter 06  all university alumni.

The McCall Farms and Clemson relationship will further the land-grant mission and continue advancing the field and serving the state of South Carolina with research, training and improved product.

Clemson and the Advanced Plant Technology Program have established a strong foundation for future collaborations to address targeted problem-oriented research with public- and private-sector partners interested in expanding the quality, sustainability and economic viability of crop agriculture in the state. These collaborations will help reestablish crop agriculture preeminence for the Eastern United States, as it was originally in the earlier history of the nation.

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Local

editor's pick alert featured

Orangeburg County

'The people here deserve it': Orangeburg County Library, Conference Center to be place for everyone, meet multiple needs

LARRY HARDY, T&D Preparing for the opening of the new Orangeburg County Library and Conference Center are Laura Champy, tech assistant and youth volunteer coordinator, left, and Deandria Bennett, tech assistant, Friends of the Library liaison and adult volunteer coordinator. LARRY HARDY, T&D A dedication and ribbon cutting for the Orangeburg County Library and Conference Center at 1654 Russell St. is set for 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 29.

An art studio, computer lab, meeting rooms, outdoor amphitheater and walking track are among the amenities included in a new $9.2 million 50,000-square-foot library and conference center located in the heart of downtown Orangeburg.

A dedication and ribbon cutting for the Orangeburg County Library and Conference Center at 1654 Russell St. is set for 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 29.

OCL Director Anna Zacherl said a program is being worked on to include, but not be limited to, several members of the Orangeburg County Legislative Delegation and Orangeburg County Council, along with other state legislators, the county administrator and OCL board members. The Rev. J.P. Sibley, pastor of New City Fellowship in Orangeburg, will dedicate the facility.

"We will actually be open that day until 6 p.m. So by the time the ribbon is cut, we'll be open and able to serve the people until 6 p.m. Depending on how many people come in, they will probably be brought in in groups and travel around the library and get to meet the staff," Zacherl said.

Light refreshments will also be served at the ribbon-cutting event.

The OCL's 9th annual S-Book-Tacular event will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, but the library will not be open then.

"Our very first full, normal working day will be Monday, Nov. 1. We'll be open from 9 to 7 p.m." Zacherl said.

She said the facility not only has more parking, but a plethora of other items that the older facility at 510 Louis St. did not have.

"We've got special story time spaces, an outdoor movie screen with an amphitheater, a dedicated art studio and a dedicated computer lab that's got that more than twice the number of computers we had in the previous location.

"We've got computer training rooms, we've got the Friends of the Library Inc. here with their bookstore so they can be open very easily and, of course, we have all of the great people coming over from the old location," Zacherl said.

"It's been a challenge because we lost about a third of our staff during COVID due to illness and then other reasons, people just retiring and leaving. So we're very short staffed, but we're also very motivated to make sure that the people get what they need," she said.

OCL Circulation Supervisor Amy Ridgeway said, "We're here to meet the needs of the community, and this building allows us to do that in a much broader way. It is something that Orangeburg County deserves. The people here deserve it."

After stepping through the glass doors of the Lowman Street entrance, individuals will most likely notice the new library's high ceilings, brilliant lighting and spaciousness.

"The circulation desk has been hand carved. They are going to be greeted by the circulation staff when they come in, which is also the desk where we do a lot of checking items in and out and directing patrons where they need to go," Ridgeway said.

The library has color-coded and wheelchair-accessible levels which take individuals up to each service area, including its 2,500-square-foot CREATE art room.

"It's a beautiful space with beautiful art tables and stools. It's got an area where people can walk outside and actually do painting outside. There is also seating on each level, where people can set up computers, laptops, or charge their cell phone," Ridgeway said.

The nonprofit Friends of the Orangeburg County Library also has a FRIENDS SHOP within the library.

"There will be books and DVDs that are on that side of the area and on the inside of the shop, where patrons can actually purchase items. That money comes back to aid with the library and things going on within it. There is also an area that people can sit down and charge cell phones, get on the laptop and that sort of thing," Ridgeway said.

Two meeting rooms are also included in the new library, one which holds approximately 200 people and a smaller one accommodating 10 to 15 people.

"The meeting room is a free space that people can just call us and reserve the space and have a meeting or whatever they need. We do programs in there as well. There's also going to be a projector screen in there so that if someone needs to project a PowerPoint, show a movie or something like that, they would be able to do that," Ridgeway said.

A computer lab area is also included in the library, she said.

"There are 48 public computers in there, and then we have two lab monitors currently working in there. Javon Moore, who is head of digital literacy, is also in that area. She has a room that is separate from the actual computer lab, where she (or the two lab monitors) can do classes for people.

"Javon also does a lot of one-on-one with people in the lab, where she takes the time to help someone who doesn't know how to work a laptop, or needs a little more help with updating their resume. They help with job applications. It is just unlimited in what they're able to help with, and what they do for our community," Ridgeway said.

The library's books and collections are located straight past the circulation desk.

"Large-type books are now at the front of the collection. Everything is spread out. We have DVDs, adult fiction, adult nonfiction ... reference, magazines. Then you go into a Young Adult area. That's actually a glassed-in area that is a designated area for teens to have the freedom to go and read the books they want. There's a computer in there. So they will have a really good area that they can hang out in," Ridgeway said.

She continued, "The very last area is our children's area. ... The collection is spread out and there is lower shelving. There's windows bringing in beautiful lighting and artwork on the walls that just really creates a more inclusive environment."

A family room is also included further back in the children's area, along with an area where anyone, including those accompanied by children needing to work on a computer, can access one.

Public restrooms, including a family restroom, are located to the left of the circulation desk.

Jennifer Chatto, OCL programming and outreach coordinator, said she is excited about the library's art studio.

"Art is my passion. I have been teaching a Get Art, Get Smart program for children for the past eight years. It's just crazy. So many people come. We had to double the amount of classes that we had so we can serve everyone, but now I have a beautiful arts studio that's about 2,500 square feet, and it is great," Chatto said.

"I just want to teach everyone in Orangeburg how to paint," she said, noting that art classes for adults to children ages 0 to 2 will be offered.

Deandria Bennett, a technical assistant in the children's department, started her job in February 2020, just ahead of the pandemic's start.

"As soon as I started, we had to close down. So I'm just super excited about the fact that I was able to witness a brand-new building coming in and now being able to serve these people and this beautiful space, I mean, I'm just ready."

Marcia Snyder, coordinator of the Friends of Orangeburg County Library, said, "I would just like to thank Anna and the library planning committee for providing us with our own designated space."

Snyder continued, "Libraries make me get all choked up. I am so impressed with the staff of this library. They will treat a homeless gentleman the same way they treat the lady who drives up in a Cadillac.

"I am thrilled that the Friends (of OCL) are going to have the opportunity to raise more funds to provide for additional programming and more interns and special pieces of equipment that their normal budget doesn't allow for, as well as having more volunteer opportunities, which is exciting for membership."

Laura Champy, a technical assistant in the children's department, said she is excited about seeing the children she had served in the past and the ability to host programs in multiple rooms.

"We are capable of hosting more programs for the kids, and one I'm super excited about being able to bring back is Subarashi, an anime club for teenagers," Champy said.

Roderick Gass, a computer lab monitor, said, "I'm super excited because I get to work around computers all day and serve the community as well, which is what I wanted to do when I came back to Orangeburg."

"I'm originally from New York. I just love what I do. It's great because the library is the face of the community. You can't walk around anyplace in town without somebody asking, 'When is the library open?' or 'How soon can we come into the lab?' I hear that everywhere I go," Gass said.

Orangeburg resident Keela Glover said, "I think I'm excited most about the brand-new space and all of the opportunities that come with it. Compared to the old building, it's bigger, better and there's more rooms for activities in the children's and teen rooms."

"I'm excited that we're modernizing and our citizens in Orangeburg get a taste of something new and great," she said.

Ridgeway said the library's outside area will also include a walking track with exercise equipment in its center.

"There's also going to be a play area for kids," she said.

The facility's adjoining conference center, complete with a separate parking area, can seat approximately 400 and accommodate approximately twice as many standing.

Ridgeway said, "They have a coordinator who will be running that area. They'll be separate from us and we'll have nothing to do with managing, bookings or anything like that, but the conference center has a kitchen that people will be able to use if they want catered events and that sort of thing,"

Zacherl said, "It was great to work with Studio 2LR, who was the architect, and O'Cain Construction. They were going gangbusters out there for a long time. We've got some beautiful landscaping, and the place has really come together beautifully."

The library director said individuals will be expected to abide by city and county ordinances which will require all visitors to wear face masks inside the building.

TheTandD.com: Full access for 6 months for just $1 Support local journalism by becoming a member at www.TheTandD.com The editor's limited time offer is full access to all the website has to offer for just $1 for six months. https://go.thetandd.com/june3

"However, the hours are not going to be changed, but will actually be extended a little bit. We're planning on staying open until 7 p.m. every night. We will be open most days at 10 a.m., but on Monday and Fridays, we'll be open at 9 a.m.," she said.
Brayla Sanai Davis proudly released her first published book, A is for Amazing, last month at age 5 and hosted her first book-signing event on Saturday, Oct. 9, at the Blair D. Crosby Wellness Center in her hometown of Bamberg.

The daughter of Ladovia Washington and Brad Davis has a busy schedule as she attends school in Orangeburg, performs in YouTube and TikTok videos and designs her own merchandise.

I saw children on YouTube writing a book and I wanted to be like them and write books too, said Brayla, social media newbie who is in the process of building her fan base.

My books make people feel happy and love themselves, she said as she intends to publish a B and a C book in this three-book series that according to the description on Amazon.com uses real-life situations to demonstrate the process of going through self-doubt to manifesting positivity through affirmations.

This A book is one that aims to promote self-esteem and confidence in youth, said her mother, Ladovia, who is listed as a co-author on the paperback.

In her answer to the question, Who inspires you?, Brayla said, Mommy, Daddy, Dessi, Nana, MeMa, my family, Simone Biles and Adley from YouTube.

Among her favorite activities, she lists dressing up, making YouTube videos, doing gymnastics and designing her merchandise.

Brayla is an actress represented by NutRageous Productions in Atlanta, Georgia. She has been acting for about a year, said Ladovia.

She has been in gymnastics for three years, and this is her first year competing. She attends Capital City Gymnastics in Cayce, S.C., and is preparing for her first competition in November in Rock Hill, S.C.

Braylas merchandise line is brand new. It is called Amazingly Dope, and she is selling girls tights, backpacks and water bottles right now but plans to add so much more by the end of the year such as leotards, sweat suits, different style shirts and anything that represents a fun girl. Her ideas are all her own. She is creating her own self-identity.

The young author is currently working to secure book-signing opportunities at book fairs and local community events.

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The following property thefts were reported around The T&D Region:

 10/18/21  Russell Street, Orangeburg: A bag of DeWalt tools was stolen. The value of the tools is $1,000.

 10/18/21  Maxcy Street, Orangeburg: Someone stole a 9 mm Sig Sauer P938 handgun from an unsecured vehicle. The value of the firearm is $750.

 10/18/21  Columbia Road, Orangeburg: A yellow CAT 7500 generator was stolen. It is valued at $1,500.

 10/18/21  Landfill Road, Orangeburg: The following items were stolen: A 55-inch television, a 40-inch television, a laptop computer, a Sony Playstation4 and $20 in loose change. The value of the stolen items is $1,399.

 10/18/21  Interstate 26, Orangeburg: A 2010 gray Nissan Rogue was stolen. It is valued at $10,000.

 10/18/21  Lawton Street, Orangeburg: Someone stole a 6-foot utility trailer and a 48-inch TroyBilt riding lawnmower.

 10/15/21  Columbia Road, Orangeburg: A Tractor Supply Co. 5-foot-by-8-foot trailer along with a tri-ball trailer hitch were stolen. They are valued at $950.

 10/15/21  Foliage Street, Bowman: A 9 mm KeltecP11 pistol, a .380-caliber Bernadelli Interarms pistol and a Stevens shotgun were stolen. The value of the firearms is $800.

 10/14/21  Tugtown Road, Holly Hill: A disabled 2006 orange/red Dodge Charger was stolen. It is valued at $5,000.

 10/14/21  Mill Street, Orangeburg: Someone stole 10 Apple iPhone 13 devices. The phones are valued at $13,110.

 10/13/21  Old Edisto Drive, Orangeburg: The following items were stolen: a green U.S. General toolbox containing tools, two spray paint guns, a black cargo trailer for a motorcycle, an office light fixture and the radio from a 2004 black Chevrolet Avalanche that was there for repairs. The value of the stolen items is $3,300.

 10/13/21  Glover Street, Orangeburg: Tires and rims were stolen. They are valued at $3,000.

 10/10/21  Lillie Beth Lane, Bowman: Someone stole a catalytic converter and battery. The value of the stolen items is $1,000.

 10/10/21  Willow Swamp Road, Norway: A catalytic converter was stolen. It is valued at $500.

 10/10/21  Goff Avenue, Orangeburg: Someone stole three rolls of carpet. The carpet is valued at $3,000.

 10/8/21  Waring Street, Orangeburg: The following were stolen: a 55-inch television, a 70-inch LG television, a TCL portable camera and 10 pairs of Nike Air Jordan Retro sneakers. The items are valued at $3,900.

 10/8/21  Pops Drive, Orangeburg: A cellphone and two pairs of Apple AirPods were stolen. They are valued at $800.

 10/8/21  Cattle Creek Road, Branchville: A Google Chromebook and book bag were stolen. They are valued at $535.

 10/4/21  Sullens Street, Orangeburg: Someone stole a brown and black German Rottweiler dog and a gold Cuban bracelet. The value of the dog and jewelry is $2,600.

 10/4/21  Interstate 95 mile marker 92: A disabled 2004 silver Lexus IS 300 was stolen. It is valued at $5,000.

 9/30/21  Old Number Six Highway, Vance: Someone stole $3,100 in cash and a gold chain necklace with a rose gold Virgin Mary medallion. The value of the cash and jewelry is $4,271.

 9/30/21  Good Farm Road, Holly Hill: An orange and silver U-Haul tow dolly was stolen. It is valued at $4,500.

 9/30/21  Valerie Drive, Orangeburg: Someone stole an air conditioning unit. It is valued at $6,500.

 9/30/21  Jasper Street, Orangeburg: A 2018 black Kia Soul was stolen. It is valued at $18,000.

 9/28/21  Dawsey Street, Cordova: Someone stole a 65-inch Vizio television, two Canon video cameras and another video camera. The value of the stolen items is $1,570.

 9/28/21  Podium Road, Cordova: A 2008 gray/blue Chevrolet Impala LS was stolen. It is valued at $1,999.

 9/27/21  Old Number Six Highway, Eutawville: Someone stole a Samsung Galaxy S10E cellphone. It is valued at $1,000.

 9/27/21  Lakewood Drive, Orangeburg: The following items were stolen: a vanity, an Allen Roth vanity, toilet tissue holder, Selia Pfister faucet, four towel bars, a Shop-Vac, hand tools, lumber, a small box fan and a Lowes bathroom light fixture. The value of the items is $2,424.72.

 9/24/21  Bennett Street, Orangeburg: A blue, 7,500-watt Yamaha generator was stolen. It is valued at $850.

 9/24/21  Ellis Avenue, Orangeburg: Someone stole a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic .223-caliber rifle, a Holosun red dot optic sight, two semi-automatic rifle magazines and 50 rounds of .223-caliber ammunition. The value of the stolen items is $880.

 9/24/21  North Road, Orangeburg: The following items were stolen: a carburetor, engine head, engine intake and toy cars. The value of the items is $3,200.

 9/24/21  Interstate 26, Orangeburg: A disabled 2011 white Dodge Nitro was stolen. It is valued at $8,000.

 9/20/21  Bamberg Road, Cope: Someone stole a 2015 orange Ford Fiesta. It is valued at $9,500.

 9/20/21  Fletcher Drive, Cope: A 16-foot black, double-axle, wood-floored trailer was stolen. It is valued at $1,000.

 9/20/21  Presidential Drive, Orangeburg: Someone stole a 9 mm Glock firearm. It is valued at $600.

 9/20/21  Campground Road, Eutawville: A 2005 gray Mercedes E320 wagon was stolen. It is valued at $2,000.

 9/20/21  Wertz Street, Orangeburg: An unsecured 2011 blue Ford Fusion was stolen. It is valued at $8,000.

 9/17/21  Whitman Street, Orangeburg: Someone stole a 2005 GMC Sierra and two funeral tents belonging to Thompson Funeral Home. The truck and tents are valued at $10,000.

 9/17/21  Windsor Street, Orangeburg: The following items were stolen: two 36-inch flatscreen televisions, all the food that was in the kitchen, a Michael Kors pocketbook, a Michael Kors makeup pouch, two pairs of duck boots, two Columbia jackets, 10 Simply Southern T-shirts, a zebra-print blanket, all of a womans undergarments, five pairs of American Eagle jeans and a pair of black Nike sneakers. The value of the stolen items is $2,305.

 9/17/21  Five Chop Road, Orangeburg: Someone stole 40 vehicle keys and a 2006 gray Chrysler 300 from Orangeburg Auto Auction. The value of the Chrysler and keys is $43,000.

 9/17/21  North Road, Orangeburg: Someone stole a Samsung Galaxy Z-fold 2 5G cellphone. It is valued at $2,000.

 9/17/21  Joe S. Jeffords Highway, Orangeburg: A catalytic converter was stolen from a 2011 gray Jeep Cherokee belonging to OCAB. The catalytic converter is valued at $500.

 9/17/21  Ashley Street, Orangeburg: Someone stole a 1995 red Chevrolet Lumina. It is valued at $3,000.

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Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College is providing incentives to students and employees who receive the coronavirus vaccine, Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College President Dr. Walt Tobin said last week.

We are raffling off iPads, AirPods and Apple watches to students who are selected from the raffle and show their vaccine card. We're also giving a $250 incentive to both full-time and part-time employees who demonstrate that they have gotten the vaccine, Tobin said.

We're also going to raffle off some items as well in a push to make sure that we get as many folks vaccinated as possible," he said.

Tobin spoke to Area Commission members at their meeting last week, describing how tech and four other colleges in the South Carolina Technical College System have joined Complete College America.

It is a consortium network of two-year colleges who are working collectively to increase the success of underrepresented groups and low- to moderate-income students, Tobin said.

He said a kickoff call was scheduled for Oct. 22, with another scheduled for Oct. 29 with groups of students and employees who support success in areas such as, for example, advising and tutoring.

Over the course of the next year, we'll get some more information around that," Tobin said.

The president said everyone on campus had a unit plan to help achieve the colleges goals. He said it was his plan to foster a culture of inclusive excellence with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion on campus.

This semester, it is our intention to have a listening session with students of color sometime in October. There's a webinar planned for members of my staff and academic deans, and then right now we're working on a schedule that we will have a session for all of our faculty and staff on implicit bias and microaggression, Tobin said.

He continued, This is kind of a two-year plan for us. We'll do some webinars in the fall. We'll do a couple more in the spring, and then there's some specific workshops that we'll engage in with an organization out of California at San Diego State to address some of the inequities that we've got with students of color on campus.

The president also reported he met with the Orangeburg County Legislative Delegation on Oct. 11 to discuss the colleges legislative agenda for the upcoming year.

For the system, that includes $28 million in recurring funds, $30 million in equipment for high-wage, high-demand programs (and) $80 million for maintenance and repair on campus, Tobin said.

He said the agenda also includes $51 million for lottery tuition assistance, $16 million for workforce scholarships and grants and $17 million for SC Wins, a statewide technical college scholarship program designed to address workforce shortages in South Carolina.

Collectively, we need those three pots of money in an attempt to offer tuition free or, in some cases, almost free to our students who are enrolled with us that are in-state students, Tobin said.

He noted that he also mentioned the colleges plans for a new advanced manufacturing building.

We had our recent master plan study updated as part of our 50-year SACS reaffirmation, and the proposed plan is somewhere around 32,000 square feet of space. We think that might cost somewhere between $12 million and $15 million, Tobin said.

So we are still in our infancy. It is a wish list, but we understand that this will be a good session upcoming for the state, and it might be a good time to put that wish list on the delegation's radar, he said.

The president also reported the college had the following vacancies: EMT instructor and program coordinator; a project manager for SC-PRIDE, a grant OCtech received in partnership with Williamsburg and Denmark technical colleges; a full-time nursing instructor and an assistant director of admissions.

Also during last weeks meeting, commissioners learned OCtech received a clean audit report.

External auditor Randy Cooper of West Columbia-based Brittingham Group L.L.P. said the college received an unmodified opinion and auditors received full cooperation in their efforts.

The college did receive an unmodified audit opinion in both the financial area, as well as single audit. The college finished the year with a net deficit of $9.8 million. Again, there was an increase in net position of $953,000, and there were no internal control findings noted in our audit, Cooper said.

OCtech Vice President of Financial Affairs Kim Huff noted that a net deficit of $9.8 million was driven by the colleges share of the states unfunded pension, as well as its share of the states funded other post-employment benefit, or OPEB, liability, both of which the college is required by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board to report on its financial statements.

Cooper said, The items reflected $23 million in pension and $20 million in OPEB. So that takes away from your net assets, and that's what creates your biggest deficit. So if you didn't have those items  you'd definitely have a surplus.

Contact the writer: dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5534. Follow "Good News with Gleaton" on Twitter at @DionneTandD

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South Carolina State University sits about 80 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, but you might think the campus was beachfront based on the number of graduates who have gone on to become U.S. Coast Guard officers.

Four of those officers  Captains Pat Burkett, Rick Howell, Eric Jones and Andre Murphy  returned to their alma mater on Tuesday to visit with Interim President Alexander Conyers and other SC State officials about shoring up the long relationship between the two entities. They were accompanied by recruiters who hope to show SC State students just what the Coast Guard has to offer.

Do not be fearful by any images you see about what the Coast Guard does, Capt. Rick Howell, a 1997 SC State graduate, said of his message for SC State students. We have 11 statutory missions. You can follow any one of them. You see ships, migrant interdiction and drug interdiction -- those are just a small part of our portfolio.

Learn the diversity, depth and breadth of what we do in the Coast Guard, and you will probably be surprised. I promise you, if you have a passion for something, we can find a place for you in the Coast Guard, Howell said.

Over the years, SC State has produced more than 25 Coast Guard officers, at least 10 of whom are in the current ranks. The alumni who visited SC State account for four of an estimated 18 African-American captains serving in the Coast Guard.

Conyers, a retired U.S. Army colonel, recognized the significance in those statistics and pledged to aid the Coast Guard in recruiting students from SC State academic disciplines that match the Coast Guards needs. Areas of study include but are not limited to engineering, computer science and cybersecurity.

You tell us what you are looking for and we will get them to you, Conyers told the Coast Guard delegation.

The interim president said he was committed to maximizing students choices as they matriculate through SC State and decide on career paths. Conyers said exposure to role models would allow students to see the benefits of Coast Guard careers.

In November 2019, SC State and the Coast Guard signed a memorandum of agreement solidifying SC States participation in the Coast Guards College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (CSPI) scholarship program. Students who are accepted into the scholarship program will be enlisted into the Coast Guard, complete basic training during the summer and receive full funding for up to two years of college. Funding includes not only payment of tuition, books and fees, but also a full-time Coast Guard salary, housing allowance and medical benefits.

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic delayed implementation, but both SC State and the Coast Guard remain committed. On Tuesday, university officials and the Coast Guard delegation had a planning session to formalize the commitment in October.

The Coast Guard officers and recruiters wrapped up Tuesdays visit with a presentation to SC State deans, directors and student leaders.

For more information about the U.S. Coast Guard, visit uscg.mil.

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This story is by Stephen Hobbs and Thad Moore of The Post and Courier and Kayla Green of The Item in Sumter. The Item is an Uncovered partner.

SUMMERTON  The sludge grew inch by inch with each passing year inside the water tank that fed a nearby housing complex. The blanket of grime was at least a foot deep in some places, and turned the tanks white interior black and brown.

Apparently no one noticed it. Not the Town of Summerton and the company it hired to operate the water system. Not the company employee who also happened to work as a county water official. Not the state health department, which did not look inside the tank during regular visits.

The revelation only came after residents complained about their water quality. Summerton hired a new water operator this year who found the tank hadnt been cleaned in more than a decade. He had it inspected.

The mucky buildup found inside is a striking example of the disarray the town of Summertons water systems were in. Earlier this year, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control found broken equipment, concerning test results and records that were allegedly falsified. DHEC ordered fixes, and the town became the subject of state and federal investigations.

The episode also shows a gap in how drinking water is protected in South Carolina and across the country, an investigation by The Post and Courier and The Item of Sumter found. The state and federal governments dont require the inside of water tanks to be inspected, instead only recommending it. That leaves it up to local officials to carry out inspections. If they dont, layers of sediment that sometimes harbor harmful bacteria can go undetected.

The newspapers reported in June that a member of Town Council was employed by Blackman Laboratory, the company hired to operate Summertons water systems. Although he was checking on some of the towns systems, the councilman apparently did not warn Summerton officials that they needed major repairs. The town also did not appear to have a written contract with the company until this year. That has created confusion to this day about who should have been doing what, especially with the dirty water tank.

The newspapers' collaboration is part of Uncovered, an initiative by The Post and Courier to team up with community news outlets across the state. The goal is to explore voids in oversight and questionable conduct in areas with few watchdogs. So far, the effort has found officials disregarding state laws and engaging in nepotism, conflicts of interest and excessive spending.

Even as Summerton works to fix the mess, residents who drank water from the dirty tank have struggled to shake the distrust it bred. After all, state regulators and the town missed the blanket of muck at the bottom of the tank.

Somebody failed along the way, or the system failed them, said Beth Gladden, who lives in the condominium complex the tank feeds. I dont know which.

At the waters edge

The row of three-story buildings that make up the North Shore Villas complex sit near where Interstate 95 crosses Lake Marion. Each home is just a few hundred feet from the lake.

Beth and Bubba Gladden moved to the community last year. The couple had hoped to spend their retirement years taking in views of the water from deck chairs and entertaining grandchildren.

Their new home was a little over an hours drive northwest of Charleston, far away from the headaches of traffic backups along Highway 17 near where they lived in Mount Pleasant.

We thought wed died and gone to heaven, Bubba, 71, said in an interview.

But then they noticed issues with their water. It was discolored when it flowed from faucets and filled up their toilets. Shower curtains turned brown. A conversation over drinks with some of their new neighbors told them they werent alone.

John Peace, 59, had moved to the complex in September 2019. He found sediment in toilets and sinks, and he noticed white clothes came out beige after they went through his washing machine. So Peace stopped drinking the water and giving it to his dogs. He stocked up on bottled water, storing stacks of 5-gallon jugs in a nearby shed.

The Gladdens grew concerned, too. They worried their grandchildren might accidentally drink the water when they bathed. They installed a filtration system and talked to more neighbors.

The minute that we learned it was not just us  that is a facilitywide issue, a communitywide issue  we started knocking on doors and asking questions, Beth, 65, said.

They werent alone. On Goat Island, a section of development along a creek that feeds into the lake, residents noticed strange health issues and sediment in the water.

Eventually, the town hired a new water operator, Jay Kates, to investigate its systems. He documented a troubling comment from North Shores property manager: Out of 72 water customers there, 70 had complaints.

Later, the state health department noted violations across six town water systems and mandated changes.

At North Shore, that included inspecting the systems 132,000-gallon tank.

Looking inside

When Kates took over North Shores system, he quickly suspected that residents complaints of discolored water meant there was a problem in the storage tank.

The complexs water had lots of iron, which caused a problem hed seen before. Treating iron-heavy water with chlorine causes a reaction that produces a rusty sediment. When the treated water comes to rest in a tank, layers of muck settle on the bottom.

A blanket of sediment can make the water treatment process less effective and foster bacteria. Experienced water system operators know that when lots of iron is present in water, tanks need to be cleaned regularly, Kates said.

So when a tank inspector opened a hatch on the roof and peered in, the scene inside was predictable.

I cant see the bottom, the inspector called down.

Inside, at least a foot of sludge had accumulated, Kates said. When the tank was finally cleaned with a pressure washer in August, a steady flow of water the color of chocolate milk streamed out. The floor of the tank turned white again. And the volume of complaints began to fall, Kates said.

When Peace saw videos of the tank being cleaned  of the grime rolling off its walls  he felt nauseated, he said. The water he cooked with, brushed his teeth with and gave to his dogs used to pass through there.

The cleaning was the tanks first in at least 12 years, according to a report by Kates. The town also failed to produce any records of past inspections when DHEC asked for them; Kates said he hasnt found any documentation either.

In hindsight, the lack of cleaning is not altogether surprising. Neither the town nor Blackman Laboratory, the company it hired, was required to check inside the tank or clean it out.

DHEC requires that tanks be inspected from the outside once a year. The agency also recommends that the interiors be inspected and cleaned every three to five years, which is in line with what the water industrys top trade group suggests. But that isnt a requirement.

At North Shore, that recommendation was not followed.

Don Johnson, who co-founded Blackman Laboratory, did not respond to emails requesting comment.

Larry McDowell operated the system for years as a Blackman Laboratory employee. He also worked as Clarendon Countys director of water and sewer. In an interview, he said he remembered it was the towns job to have the tank cleaned.

But William Brailsford, the towns former longtime public works director, said that isnt his understanding.

Still, DHEC signed off on the North Shore tank on at least five occasions since 2013, records show.

DHEC inspectors are not required to look inside tanks, in part because climbing on top of them poses a safety concern. An agency spokeswoman said DHEC uses water testing to identify health risks.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency only requires states to include storage tanks in their drinking water inspections. It doesnt tell them how thoroughly to investigate. And while some states do look inside tanks, they are in the minority, according to the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators.

Colorado is one of them. It made changes after an estimated 1,300 people in a small city got sick with salmonella in 2008. Investigators connected the outbreak to a water tank that hadnt been thoroughly inspected. The state suspected the bacteria could have hidden in a thick layer of sediment. It now requires regular inspections  inside and out.

The EPA acknowledges that sediment could be a problem nationwide. A document it published this year said that without thorough inspections, contamination in storage tanks could go undetected. It cited links between gunk in tanks and the bacteria that causes Legionnaires disease. It is considering rule changes, but wont make a decision for a few years.

Kates said the buildup of slime in North Shores tank speaks to a failure to set better expectations for drinking water systems and the people who run them. If DHEC doesnt enforce best practices and towns dont write contracts requiring inspections, he doesnt expect water operators to push for them either.

Yet Kates is stepping into the void of responsibility. He cites a duty to do so: Water operators in South Carolina are licensed by the state, and they agree to follow an ethical code to protect the safety, health and welfare of the public.

With the tank now clean, Kates plans to have it washed out at least every three years. Even so, undoing the damage to residents trust will be a tougher task: Some said they are still wary of the water that comes from their taps.

Regardless, Kates said, someone will be looking inside their tank from now on.

For more on the UNCOVERED project, visit https://www.postandcourier.com/uncovered/

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When a plane carrying baseball fans to a playoff game crashed in Houston Tuesday, one passenger remembered hearing the words "get out, get out" as flames started to engulf the aircraft.

"It was already on fire before we got out of it!" the passenger, who didn't want to be named, told CNN affiliate KHOU.

The 21 people on board evacuated safely, and no major injuries were reported.

"It's not as rare as you think," CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo said of the fact that no one died.

Modern aircraft are designed for passengers to be able to evacuate within 90 seconds, according to Schiavo, former inspector general of the US Department of Transportation and a lawyer who has represented fliers and crew members of several aviation accidents.

"I'm going to give credit to both the Federal Aviation Administration... and the International Civil Aviation Organization, which put in place the evacuation rules you have to have enough doors and emergency exits on modern planes to get people out," Schiavo said. "And that has been documented to saving thousands of lives."

Schiavo pointed to the fiery 2005 crash of an Air France flight in Toronto, where nearly 300 passengers and twelve crew members survived.

And to an Aeromexico flight carrying 103 people that crashed in 2018 just after taking off from an airport in northwestern Mexico, forcing passengers to escape via emergency slides before the aircraft went up in flames. No one died.

In July 2013, Schiavo noted, just three passengers died when an Asiana Airlines flight carrying more than 300 people crashed at San Francisco International Airport.

"If you put the pictures of those four flights together ... you will be stunned how similar the pictures look because it's just total devastation," Schiavo said. "That people got off is a testament to exit protocols and having exits on planes."

The FAA standard requires that aircraft manufacturers demonstrate all passengers and crew can evacuate an aircraft within 90 seconds by conducting live demonstrations of simulated evacuations or through testing and analysis.

'We thought it was going to explode'

On Tuesday, an MD-87 carrying Houston Astros fans to their team's game against the Red Sox in Boston never gained altitude at takeoff and crashed into a fence before bursting into flames.

"Going down the runway, and it just all the sudden they slammed on the brakes," the unidentified passenger told KHOU.

"Things were flying around and when it finally came to a stop, they just said 'get out, get out' because we thought it was going to explode," the man said.

The emergency slides deployed and passengers were able to slide down to safety.

Two people were transported to a hospital with minor injuries, officials said.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators arrived at the site on Wednesday morning. The cause of the crash hasn't been determined.

The plane traveled about 500 feet on the runaway before the crash, according to Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Sgt. Stephen Woodard.

"This is a good day. This is actually a day of celebration for a lot of people," Woodard told reporters on Tuesday.

'It is technology that saves lives'

Experts attribute the high rates of survivability during airline crashes to the use of more flame resistant cabin components such as fabric and padding, safer and sturdier seat designs and improved floor lighting.

"It is technology that saves lives, and it did in all four of these crashes," Schiavo said.

Aviation accidents are infrequent and, according to experts, most are survivable. Most commercial aviation accidents, they add, occur on take-off or landing.

"One thing you can say for sure is that the evacuation rule and having an adequate number of aircraft exits and having materials that don't immediately catch fire in cabins with more flame resistant materials without a doubt saves lives, and that's been well documented," Schiavo said.

Schiavo said the first thing she does on a flight is to find the exits.

"When I board that plane, I note to myself and I say, 'My nearest exits are three rows up and two rows back,' or whatever they happen to be," she said.

"I know where the exits are. And I also always try to get myself as close as I can to an exit," she said. "And if I'm in an aisle and my exit is not an exit row then I look for my pathway to get out."

Schiavo also recommends keeping shoes on during a flight.

"Please wear sensible shoes and leave them on until after takeoff," she said. "I see people boarding with with flip flops and I think if you have to get up and run and you fall down or you can't run, you're not only going to hurt yourself, you're going to hurt dozens of other people on this plane. So get some shoes."

***

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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, 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) ten 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.

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(TBTCO) - Mot ngay khong the thay the hay bu ap cho tat ca uoc, Le tuong niem ong bao tu vong va can bo, chien si hy sinh, trong ai dich Covid-19 uoc to chuc vao luc 20 gio toi qua 19/11 tai hai iem cau TP. Ho Chi Minh va Ha Noi khong nhung phan nao am long nguoi ra i, nhe long nguoi o lai ma con la luc canh tinh cho tat ca chung ta, nhac nho chung ta ve noi au va trach nhiem.
I really didnt want to write about COVID again today.

But even though its easy to forget about the virus when youre out and about in Wyoming, you cant ignore it from inside our newsroom. This week, I covered the biggest coronavirus surge to date in Wyomings prisons, which has seen one in five incarcerated people in the state test positive in the last two weeks.

Our health and education reporter, Morgan Hughes, reported on this weeks record number of deaths, record number of hospitalizations, and Wyoming having the highest rate of vaccine hesitancy in the nation.

Victoria Eavis, our state politics reporter, covered the lead-up to next weeks special legislative session, which will look at bills proposing ways to skirt federal, local and business-imposed mandates that largely dont even exist yet.

Among 20 bills that will be heard, just one promotes mitigation strategies for the spread of COVID, which has recently returned to Wyoming like we havent seen since the winter surge. And that proposal  a vaccine incentive program with $1,000 payouts  would only affect state employees.

The governor has made it clear that the state wont impose any vaccine mandates, and its days of requiring masks are long gone.

That means that those orders will be coming either from the federal government  which the Legislature will be working hard to make sure doesnt get enforced here  or from local bodies like city and town governments, businesses and medical facilities.

And while the courts and the news will likely soon be flooded with challenges to the big, federal mandates, Im hoping we dont see too much animosity towards local people who are acting in good faith, trying to protect their workers, families and friends.

More local regulation also means that the places, and the people, enforcing these mandates are a lot more visible in our community. A Casper nonprofit that recently imposed a vaccine mandate for people staying in its apartments has already had two demonstrations outside its offices, protesting the policy.

Community reporter Mary Steurer and I went to one of those demonstrations last weekend and talked to the people protesting, holding sparkly, patriotic signs calling for medical freedom and purporting to speak for the voiceless. Most of them said they werent convinced that the vaccines work, and said that they were worried that the people relying on the nonprofit would be in danger of losing that support if they didnt want to get the shot.

Many of the protesters, most of them nurses or other employees at Wyoming Medical Center, said theyd either already quit their jobs or were waiting for the hospitals Nov. 1 vaccination deadline to be let go.

They also said that without a job, they could spend more time protesting and trying to fight these mandates. A lot of them had already attended other demonstrations, at Casper College during a legislative meeting or across the street from the hospital when owner Banner Health announced its vaccine requirement for staff.

So in the next couple weeks, we may see our hospital staffing get a lot shorter than it already is. We might see a dozen bills protecting the unvaccinated pass, or the session might fizzle instead of bang. And we might  I hope not, but we might  see our numbers continue to rise.

If you know of any other local mandates coming down the pipe, let me know what to look out for at ellen.gerst@trib.com or (307) 266-0544.

Follow city and crime reporter Ellen Gerst on Twitter at @ellengerst.

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NEW DELHI, India (AP)  Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as its own employees cast doubt over the companys motivations and interests.

From research as recent as March of this year to company memos that date back to 2019, the internal company documents on India highlight Facebooks constant struggles in quashing abusive content on its platforms in the worlds biggest democracy and the companys largest growth market. Communal and religious tensions in India have a history of boiling over on social media and stoking violence.

The files show that Facebook has been aware of the problems for years, raising questions over whether it has done enough to address these issues. Many critics and digital experts say it has failed to do so, especially in cases where members of Prime Minister Narendra Modis ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, are involved.

Across the world, Facebook has become increasingly important in politics, and India is no different.

Modi has been credited for leveraging the platform to his party's advantage during elections, and reporting from The Wall Street Journal last year cast doubt over whether Facebook was selectively enforcing its policies on hate speech to avoid blowback from the BJP. Both Modi and Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have exuded bonhomie, memorialized by a 2015 image of the two hugging at the Facebook headquarters.

The leaked documents include a trove of internal company reports on hate speech and misinformation in India. In some cases, much of it was intensified by its own recommended feature and algorithms. But they also include the company staffers' concerns over the mishandling of these issues and their discontent expressed about the viral malcontent on the platform.

According to the documents, Facebook saw India as one of the most at risk countries in the world and identified both Hindi and Bengali languages as priorities for automation on violating hostile speech. Yet, Facebook didnt have enough local language moderators or content-flagging in place to stop misinformation that at times led to real-world violence.

In a statement to the AP, Facebook said it has invested significantly in technology to find hate speech in various languages, including Hindi and Bengali which has resulted in reduced the amount of hate speech that people see by half in 2021.

"Hate speech against marginalized groups, including Muslims, is on the rise globally. So we are improving enforcement and are committed to updating our policies as hate speech evolves online, a company spokesperson said.

This AP story, along with others being published, is based on disclosures made to the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided to Congress in redacted form by former Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugens legal counsel. The redacted versions were obtained by a consortium of news organizations, including the AP.

Back in February 2019 and ahead of a general election when concerns of misinformation were running high, a Facebook employee wanted to understand what a new user in the country saw on their news feed if all they did was follow pages and groups solely recommended by the platform itself.

The employee created a test user account and kept it live for three weeks, a period during which an extraordinary event shook India  a militant attack in disputed Kashmir had killed over 40 Indian soldiers, bringing the country to near war with rival Pakistan.

In the note, titled An Indian Test Users Descent into a Sea of Polarizing, Nationalistic Messages, the employee whose name is redacted said they were shocked by the content flooding the news feed which has become a near constant barrage of polarizing nationalist content, misinformation, and violence and gore.

Seemingly benign and innocuous groups recommended by Facebook quickly morphed into something else altogether, where hate speech, unverified rumors and viral content ran rampant.

The recommended groups were inundated with fake news, anti-Pakistan rhetoric and Islamophobic content. Much of the content was extremely graphic.

One included a man holding the bloodied head of another man covered in a Pakistani flag, with an Indian flag in the place of his head. Its Popular Across Facebook feature showed a slew of unverified content related to the retaliatory Indian strikes into Pakistan after the bombings, including an image of a napalm bomb from a video game clip debunked by one of Facebooks fact-check partners.

Following this test users News Feed, Ive seen more images of dead people in the past three weeks than Ive seen in my entire life total, the researcher wrote.

It sparked deep concerns over what such divisive content could lead to in the real world, where local news at the time were reporting on Kashmiris being attacked in the fallout.

Should we as a company have an extra responsibility for preventing integrity harms that result from recommended content? the researcher asked in their conclusion.

The memo, circulated with other employees, did not answer that question. But it did expose how the platforms own algorithms or default settings played a part in spurring such malcontent. The employee noted that there were clear blind spots, particularly in local language content. They said they hoped these findings would start conversations on how to avoid such integrity harms, especially for those who differ significantly from the typical U.S. user.

Even though the research was conducted during three weeks that werent an average representation, they acknowledged that it did show how such unmoderated and problematic content could totally take over during a major crisis event.

The Facebook spokesperson said the test study inspired deeper, more rigorous analysis of its recommendation systems and contributed to product changes to improve them."

Separately, our work on curbing hate speech continues and we have further strengthened our hate classifiers, to include four Indian languages, the spokesperson said.

Other research files on misinformation in India highlight just how massive a problem it is for the platform.

In January 2019, a month before the test user experiment, another assessment raised similar alarms about misleading content. In a presentation circulated to employees, the findings concluded that Facebooks misinformation tags werent clear enough for users, underscoring that it needed to do more to stem hate speech and fake news. Users told researchers that clearly labeling information would make their lives easier.

Again, it was noted that the platform didnt have enough local language fact-checkers, which meant a lot of content went unverified.

Alongside misinformation, the leaked documents reveal another problem plaguing Facebook in India: anti-Muslim propaganda, especially by Hindu-hardline groups.

India is Facebooks largest market with over 340 million users  nearly 400 million Indians also use the companys messaging service WhatsApp. But both have been accused of being vehicles to spread hate speech and fake news against minorities.

In February 2020, these tensions came to life on Facebook when a politician from Modis party uploaded a video on the platform in which he called on his supporters to remove mostly Muslim protesters from a road in New Delhi if the police didnt. Violent riots erupted within hours, killing 53 people. Most of them were Muslims. Only after thousands of views and shares did Facebook remove the video.

In April, misinformation targeting Muslims again went viral on its platform as the hashtag Coronajihad flooded news feeds, blaming the community for a surge in COVID-19 cases. The hashtag was popular on Facebook for days but was later removed by the company.

For Mohammad Abbas, a 54-year-old Muslim preacher in New Delhi, those messages were alarming.

Some video clips and posts purportedly showed Muslims spitting on authorities and hospital staff. They were quickly proven to be fake, but by then Indias communal fault lines, still stressed by deadly riots a month earlier, were again split wide open.

The misinformation triggered a wave of violence, business boycotts and hate speech toward Muslims. Thousands from the community, including Abbas, were confined to institutional quarantine for weeks across the country. Some were even sent to jails, only to be later exonerated by courts.

People shared fake videos on Facebook claiming Muslims spread the virus. What started as lies on Facebook became truth for millions of people, Abbas said.

Criticisms of Facebooks handling of such content were amplified in August of last year when The Wall Street Journal published a series of stories detailing how the company had internally debated whether to classify a Hindu hard-line lawmaker close to Modis party as a dangerous individual"  a classification that would ban him from the platform  after a series of anti-Muslim posts from his account.

The documents reveal the leadership dithered on the decision, prompting concerns by some employees, of whom one wrote that Facebook was only designating non-Hindu extremist organizations as dangerous.

The documents also show how the companys South Asia policy head herself had shared what many felt were Islamophobic posts on her personal Facebook profile. At the time, she had also argued that classifying the politician as dangerous would hurt Facebooks prospects in India.

The author of a December 2020 internal document on the influence of powerful political actors on Facebook policy decisions notes that Facebook routinely makes exceptions for powerful actors when enforcing content policy. The document also cites a former Facebook chief security officer saying that outside of the U.S., local policy heads are generally pulled from the ruling political party and are rarely drawn from disadvantaged ethnic groups, religious creeds or casts" which "naturally bends decision-making towards the powerful.

Months later the India official quit Facebook. The company also removed the politician from the platform, but documents show many company employees felt the platform had mishandled the situation, accusing it of selective bias to avoid being in the crosshairs of the Indian government.

Several Muslim colleagues have been deeply disturbed/hurt by some of the language used in posts from the Indian policy leadership on their personal FB profile, an employee wrote.

Another wrote that barbarism" was being allowed to flourish on our network.

Its a problem that has continued for Facebook, according to the leaked files.

As recently as March this year, the company was internally debating whether it could control the fear mongering, anti-Muslim narratives pushed by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a far-right Hindu nationalist group which Modi is also a part of, on its platform.

In one document titled Lotus Mahal, the company noted that members with links to the BJP had created multiple Facebook accounts to amplify anti-Muslim content, ranging from calls to oust Muslim populations from India and Love Jihad, an unproven conspiracy theory by Hindu hard-liners who accuse Muslim men of using interfaith marriages to coerce Hindu women to change their religion.

The research found that much of this content was never flagged or actioned since Facebook lacked classifiers and moderators in Hindi and Bengali languages. Facebook said it added hate speech classifiers in Hindi starting in 2018 and introduced Bengali in 2020.

The employees also wrote that Facebook hadnt yet put forth a nomination for designation of this group given political sensitivities.

The company said its designations process includes a review of each case by relevant teams across the company and are agnostic to region, ideology or religion and focus instead on indicators of violence and hate. It did not, however, reveal whether the Hindu nationalist group had since been designated as dangerous.



Associated Press writer Sam McNeil in Beijing contributed to this report.



See full coverage of the Facebook Papers here: https://apnews.com/hub/the-facebook-papers

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
VATICAN CITY (AP)  Pope Francis on Sunday made an impassioned plea to end the practice of returning migrants rescued at sea to Libya and other unsafe countries where they suffer inhumane violence."

Francis also waded into a highly contentious political debate in Europe, calling on the international community to find concrete ways to manage the migratory flows in the Mediterranean.

I express my closeness to the thousands of migrants, refugees and others in need of protection in Libya,'' Francis said. I never forget you, I hear your cries and I pray for you."

Even as the pontiff appealed for changes of migrant policy and of heart in his remarks to the public in St. Peter's Square, hundreds of migrants were either at sea in the central Mediterranean awaiting a port after rescue or recently coming ashore in Sicily or the Italian mainland after setting sail from Libya or Turkey, according to authorities.

So many of these men, women and children are subject to inhumane violence,'' he added. Yet again I ask the international community to keep the promises to search for common, concrete and lasting solutions to manage the migratory flows in Libya and in all the Mediterranean."

How they suffer, those who are sent back after rescue at sea, the pope said. Detention facilities in Libya, he said are true concentration camps.

We need to stop sending back (migrants) to unsafe countries and to give priority to the saving of human lives at sea with protocols of rescue and predictable disembarking, to guarantee them dignified conditions of life, alternatives to detention, regular paths of migration and access to asylum procedures," Francis said.

U.N. refugee agency officials and human rights organizations have long denounced the conditions of detention centers for migrants in Libya, citing practices of beatings, rape and other forms of torture and insufficient food. Migrants endure weeks and months of those conditions, awaiting passage in unseaworthy rubber dinghies or rickety fishing boats arranged by human traffickers.

Hours after the pope's appeal, the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders said that its rescue ship, Geo Barents, reached a rubber boat that was taking on water, with the sea buffeted by strong winds and waves up to three meters (10 feet) high. It tweeted that we managed to rescue all the 71 people on board.

The group thanked the charity group Alarm Phone for signaling that the boat crowded with migrants was in distressed.

Earlier, Geo Barents, then with 296 migrants aboard its rescue ship, was awaiting permission in waters off Malta to disembark. Six migrants tested positive for COVID-19, but because of the crowded conditions aboard, it was difficult to keep them sufficiently distant from the others, Doctors Without Borders said.

In Sicily, a ship operated by the German charity Sea-Watch, with 406 rescued migrants aboard, was granted permission to enter port. But Sea-Watch said that a rescue vessel operated by a Spanish charity, with 105 migrants aboard, has been awaiting a port assignment to disembark them for four days.

While hundreds of thousands of migrants have departed in traffickers' boats for European shores in recent years and set foot on Sicily or nearby Italian islands, many reach the Italian mainland.

Red Cross officials in Roccella Ionica, a town on the coast of the toe of the Italian peninsula said on Sunday that about 700 migrants, some of them from Afghanistan, reached the Calabrian coast in recent days on boats that apparently departed from Turkey.

Authorities said so far this year, about 3,400 migrants had reached Roccella Ionica, a town of 6,000 people, compared to 480 in all of 2019. The migrants who arrived in the last several days were being housed in tent shelters, RAI state television said.

Italy and Malta have come under criticism by human rights advocates for leaving migrants aboard crowded rescue boats before assigning them a safe port.

The Libyan coast guard, which has been trained and equipped by Italy, has also been criticized for rescuing migrants in Libyan waters and then returning them to land where the detention centers awaited them.

On Friday, Doctors Without Borders tweeted that crew aboard the Geo Barents had witnessed an interception by the Libyan coast guard and that the migrants will be forcibly taken to dangerous detention facilities and exposed to violence and exploitation.

With rising popularity of right-wing, anti-migrant parties in Italy in recent years, the Italian government has been under increasing domestic political pressure to crack down on illegal immigration.

Italy and Malta have lobbied theirs European Union partner countries, mainly in vain, to take in some of those rescued at sea.



Follow APs global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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CHEYENNE  Wyoming legislative leaders have set the agenda for a quick three day special session this week to pass legislation to pokes the feds in the eye.

The final straw for the states Republican leaders was the Biden White Houses proposal to mandate private businesses with more than 200 employees to mandate vaccinations of workers or weekly tests for the COVID-19 virus.

With any legislation, state or federal, the rules are what matters.

The Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has not yet released the official rule or rules.

Also awaiting the rule or rules is Gov. Mark Gordon who plans to sue the feds for overreaching with the vaccine mandate.

But the Attorney Generals office cannot fashion a lawsuit until the rule or rules are known.

Meanwhile, the Supremacy clause in Article VI of the U.S. Constitution declares the laws of the federal government are the supreme law of the land and judges are bound to recognize this regardless of state law to the contrary.

I suspect the success of this special session will depend on how Wyoming businesses react to the proposed legislation.

It could put them in the old catch-22 box where they are vulnerable to punishing fines by the feds if they dont mandate the vaccine or tests pf their employees or by the state if they do.

Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, one of seven senators (out of 30) who voted against the special session, said in an interview that he did so because of the potential adverse impact on businesses.

The Legislature, he said, could put businesses in a mess, by having to deal with federal and opposing state mandates.

Legislation at this point also is premature.

I fail to see what we can do, he said.

Former legislative leader Eli Bebout, a Riverton Republican who served as both Senate President and House Speaker, said in an interview he fully agrees with the current GOP leaders when it comes to trying to combat federal over-reach. Mandating vaccination policies for private business, he said, is the most egregious action to date by a Democratic administration.

I dont know what they can do. We know about the federal Constitution.

Anyway, I wish them well, he added.

Phil Roberts, long-time history professor at the University of Wyoming, said that historically, Wyoming special sessions have been called for financial issues and other needs like the 1919 session to allocate money for veterans returning from World War I.

Those were for important issues, not frivolous efforts like this, Robert said of the current pending special session.

Its kind of a huge waste of money that could be put to good use, including at the University of Wyoming, he said, referring to the consolidation of departments planned to cut costs.

The special session will cost an estimated $25,000 per day for the three-day session due to begin at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 26.

The seven Democrats in the 90-member Legislature voted against the special session.

Meanwhile legislative leaders are aware of the problem with business.

We want to be careful to avoid making a law where Wyoming citizens and employers have to decide between violating a state law or a federal one, Senate Majority Leader Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, told Cowboy State Daily. Its really hard to deal with rules that arent out there yet.

Meanwhile last week the Texas Legislature failed to pass bills intended to block any Texas entity, including hospitals and private businesses, from mandating COVID-19 vaccines for employees before lawmaker adjourned a third special session.

Signs that the legislation was in trouble came early as business groups spoke out against the proposals, according to online sources.

According to the National Conference on State Legislatures (NCSL), more than 300 vaccine-related bills have been introduced in every state and the District of Columbia since last year.

Of them 16 have been enacted primarily to authorized federal or state funds supporting vaccine efforts or to authorize more providers to administer vaccines.

During the 2021 sessions more than 200 bills were introduced.

The majority related to prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Joan Barron is a former capitol bureau reporter. Contact her at 307-632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan.net

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Editor:

We love freedom in Wyoming. That freedom is currently under assault. We need our legislature to defend our freedom. Defend our right to work. Defend our right to decide for ourselves what to wear and how to breathe. Defend our right to trade and travel. And absolutely defend our right to determine what goes into our bodies.

Government mandates are contrary to our founding principles of individual liberty and limited government. The federal government has absolutely no business mandating that experimental drugs be injected into our bodies. Our legislators should demand that the federal government stay out of it.

Faith, family and freedom are some of the most precious things in this life. And they have all been put at risk by the actions of government. We must put a stop to federal over-reach. Weve had enough of our representatives, at all levels, trampling our individual rights and trying to steal our Liberty.

Weve had enough of mask mandates that dont work, forced business closures that destroy our economy and depressing social isolation. We will not tolerate forced injections.

To our legislators we say: Please do your job. Protect our lives, liberty and property. Defend our rights and freedom... then go home.

Remember, millions have sacrificed to give us our freedom, and without it, Wyoming and America are just places on a map.

Long live our republic and may God continue to bless America.

DENNIS FOX, Ranchester

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Editor:

As Americans try to understand how twenty years of blood and treasure went wrong in Afghanistan, it is worth remembering how we got there. There is talk now of bad strategy and bad tactics, but at the bottom of the U.S. move into Afghanistan was strong emotion.

There was fear in the U.S. after 9/11. More attacks were anticipated. Americans didnt want to fly. But fear was not what sent the U.S. to Afghanistan. Greater than fear was anger.

A study by Back, Kufner and Egloff examined millions of words of pager texts sent by Americans on Sept. 11, 2001. Anger-related words increased throughout the day, their incidence ending six times higher than fear-related words.

But what to do? Bin Laden was in hiding, and the Taliban would not hand him over. If we couldnt reach him, we would attack the Taliban.

This was the result al Qaeda was hoping for.

Ayman al-Zawahiri frankly explained the strategy of the 9/11 attacks in Knights under the Prophets Banner, published in December, 2001. Attack the U.S. at home, he predicted, and the U.S. response will be to send troops into Muslim countries, mobilizing Muslims around the world for jihad against the U.S.

The jihad al-Zawahiri predicted continues today.

Anger is thus the foundation of jujitsu politics  using the enemys strength against him. An outrageous attack provokes an over-reaction that forwards the terrorist cause.

Bruce Riedel, Special Assistant to President George W. Bush when the 9/11 attack occurred, recently revealed that on Sept. 14, just three days after the 9/11 attack, President Bush told a stunned British PM Tony Blair: "We are also going to attack Iraq" The speed of this decision indicates, not strategic thinking, but the impulsive power of emotion.

The lesson of Afghanistan is the lesson of jujitsu politics. When next Americans are victims of outrageous attack, we need to recognize our anger but not let it dictate policy. Political leadership and public opinion must agree that doing something smart is more important than doing something fast. Or we can move on to the next Afghanistan, the next Iraq.

CLARK McCAULEY, Lander

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THE murder toll continues to rise following the shooting deaths of three men in separate incidents between Thursday evening and yesterday morning.

The killings took place in Laventille, San Juan and Freeport.

Two of the victims have been identified as Aaron Thomas and Nathaniel Phillip, while the victim in the Freeport incident remained unidentified up to yesterday evening.
The pre-election splurge by the PNM-led Tobago House of Assembly (THA) draws attention to constitutional loopholes that should be addressed.

Here is an administration which went in with a comfortable majority for the election which was held in January this year and came out in a dead heat with the challenger party.
Grant Woods, former attorney general for Arizona, died unexpectedly Saturday at the age of 67, according to Phoenix media reports. The cause was a heart attack, The Arizona Republic reported.

Woods served as attorney general from 1991 to 1999.

He also previously served as congressional chief of staff to John McCain, and spoke at the senator's memorial service in Phoenix in 2018.

Gov. Doug Ducey issued this written statement:

My deepest sympathies go out to the family and loved ones of Grant Woods. He was well-known in the Arizona community for decades, including serving as Attorney General and a chief of staff to John McCain before moving on to private practice. Arizona honors his life and years of public service. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Marlene and five children.
Woods said although he opposed the 1996 initiative, he did not think it was right for lawmakers to second-guess what voters had enacted. The measure, approved in 1998, became the Voter Protection Act.

He did support and campaign for some Republicans, including Gov. Jan Brewer in 2010.

Out of office for nearly two decades, Woods formally broke with the GOP in 2018. He said at the time, much of that was due to his frustration with the Republican Party and that its members would not stand up to then-President Donald Trump.

He also endorsed Kyrsten Sinema in her 2018 bid for U.S. Senate, when she became the first Democrat elected from Arizona in two decades.

In 2020, Woods weighed his own bid for the U.S. Senate seat formerly occupied by McCain but ended up backing out. That race subsequently was won by Democrat Mark Kelly.

While on the political sidelines since then, Woods stayed involved in politics, becoming a verbal critic of the the state Senates audit of the 2020 election returns, calling it a clown show and saying those hired have no idea what theyre doing.

There are other issues where Woods did not go along with what at the time was the prevailing GOP philosophy.
There are no answers yet about what happens after 2026, he said.

So, in the interim, what does $30 million buy  or lease  in water that can be left in the river each year?

Within Arizona, we are probably targeting a couple of hundred thousand acre-feet, he said.

He acknowledged thats not enough, even as a short-term solution. So Buschatzke said Arizona is working with California and Nevada, the other lower-basin states, to see what they could do to lower their demand, though the director said he has no specific numbers in mind.

That still leaves the question of all the water being used by farms.

The 2019 deal did reduce what farmers get from the Colorado River. But that did not result in a commensurate decrease in farmland, as they were allowed to replace some of what they lost with groundwater.

The assumption was that by the time the first cuts in river water came, much of the farmland in Pinal County would have been converted to new home subdivisions. But that didnt happen, as population growth last decade slowed at times to a crawl.

Karamargin said Ducey sees no need to address any cutbacks in three of the five Cs that define Arizona: cotton, citrus and cattle.
Many people choose not to enroll because they believe they cannot afford health care, but the ACA was created specifically to lower costs and expand access to health care, Hammond said. He encouraged people to go to a navigator like Cover Arizona or to use tools like the Kaiser Family Foundations calculator that estimate how much financial assistance a person may qualify for, based on their income, family size and more.

Theres still a lot of people out there who are eligible for no-cost coverage, but they just have not tried, Gjersvig said.

Hammond said another problem is the stigma around public health insurance that dissuades people from enrolling, something navigators will have to work against.

The sad thing is that many of these people eventually face a medical emergency that will put them over the edge, Hammond said. This could have been avoided if they had health insurance.

The Census Bureau said that 11.3% of people in Arizona were uninsured in July 2019, compared to 9.2% in the U.S. who were uninsured at the same time.
LONDON (AP)  The husband of U.K. charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been detained for more than five years in Iran, has gone on a hunger strike again after a court decided she has to spend another year in prison.

Richard Ratcliffe started his fast on Sunday outside the British government's Foreign Office in central London.

He plans to maintain a constant vigil by sleeping in a tent outside the building's main entrance in an effort to pressure Prime Minister Boris Johnson to secure the release of his wife and other detained dual British-Iranian nationals, Amnesty International said.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe served five years in prison after being taken into custody at Tehran's airport in April 2016 and convicted of plotting the overthrow of Irans government, a charge that she, her supporters and rights groups deny.
Q: Last year, I bought tickets to fly from San Francisco to Stockholm on Air France. I booked the tickets through Cook Travel, a travel agency in New York. I paid for the tickets with my credit card.

Air France canceled the flight because of the pandemic. Cook Travel promised me a full refund. That was one year ago. Cook Travel has asked me to be patient, but now they are not responding to my inquiries. Ive tried to dispute the charges with Citibank, my credit card issuer, but a representative told me too much time has elapsed. Ive tried to reach out to executives at Air France and Cook Travel but have gotten no response. Can you help me?  Jim Shea, San Mateo, Calif.

A: If an airline cancels a flight, it has to send you a refund within seven business days. Thats not my rule; its the U.S. Department of Transportations (www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/refunds). If I had my way, Id make them refund it as quickly as they took your money, which is within a few seconds. So, for Air France to make you wait one year is outrageous.
Along with kickball and pushups, gym class includes plies and jetes for Pawhuska third-grade students thanks to a partnership and a grant.

Pawhuska Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Beverly Moore received a Dreamstarter Teacher award for the 2020-2021 school year through the Running Strong for American Indian Youth Foundation.

Those funds will support a partnership with nearby Dance Maker Academy to bring an instructor to Pawhuska Elementary School once a week to teach ballet to about 60 third-grade students.

Initially launched in 2016, the partnership between the school district and the studio has been funded exclusively by grants, including awards in previous years from the Oklahoma Arts Council.

That partnership originally brought in junior high and high school students, but adjusted its focus toward younger grades in order to have a broader reach at an earlier age.

Any funding we can get to help them and support them (the students), that was my drive and passion to go on ahead and write the grant so we can support them and continue this partnership, Moore said.
A bar owner died following an altercation early Sunday that led to two arrests, Tulsa Police said.

At 2:53 a.m., officers were dispatched to the Miami Nights Club, 6510 E. 21st St., on a report of assault with a deadly weapon in progress.

Multiple witnesses told officers that once the club closed, there were a few people who were refusing to leave the parking lot and were fighting, police said in a social media post.

The owner broke up the fight and attempted to make them leave the parking lot, police said.

The combatants redirected their aggression to the owner and began to assault him. He fell to the ground and the suspects began to kick him. The victim then went into cardiac arrest, police said.

Security guards were outside attempting to assist when a suspect vehicle accelerated towards one of them. The security guard jumped up onto the hood avoiding injury and the suspect vehicle fled the scene.

The owner, whom police had not identified Sunday, was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
I am totally convinced that we have an innocent man on death row right now, and executing him would be a complete miscarriage of justice, McDugle said. Our justice system needs to be completely sure of a persons guilt or innocence before someones life is taken.

Side effects: State representatives skeptical of efforts to vaccinate Oklahomans against COVID-19 quizzed public health officials on their messaging campaigns, including Tulsa County Health Department Executive Director Bruce Dart and Communications Director Leanne Stephens.

The bulk of the questions dealt with why the public wasnt being warned more about possible side effects of the vaccine, why more instances of death and serious injuries such as paralysis and appendicitis arent being reported, and why the messaging encouraged vaccination instead of warning people off of it.

All clinical studies of the vaccines used in the United States have found very low risk of serious side effects and only a handful of deaths attributable to vaccination, but skeptics believe the numbers are being underreported or suppressed.
There are a lot of victims, including (offenders) themselves, Humphrey said. We must start addressing behavior.

Former House Speaker Kris Steele, who led the push for state questions 780 and 781 and remains their strongest proponents, says they allow what he calls graduated sanctions, which can include up to a year in jail for repeat offenses or failure to meet the terms of supervised release.

He said SQ 780 also provides for full restitution for theft and property damage, but added: If theyre sitting in jail, they cant do that. Why would we spend $19,500 a year to punish someone who stole less than $1,000?

Damion Shade of Tulsa-based Oklahoma Policy Institute said SQ 780 as a matter of statistical fact, accomplishes exactly what it was supposed to do by reducing arrests and the prison population.

What we have not seen, that the voters asked for, is that investment in county-based, local mental health and addiction treatment services, Shade said. We need that money going to communities.
LANGSTON  When Michael Boyles was elected mayor of Langston in April, he knew it was not going to be a flashy job.

Being a mayor in Langston is more a labor of love than anything else, Boyles said. You get a small stipend, but its not much. My day job is what really pays my bills. But I say its a labor of love because, if you dont love your own community, who will? I didnt get elected as a politician; Im an activist. I want to get something done. 
Recently, Scott Pilgrim, the CEO of the Diakonos Group, which provides long-term care options to Oklahomans, wrote a plea to state Legislators. Pilgrim requested increased Medicaid reimbursement dollars for long-term care facility providers. Pilgrims suggested increase would allow for the wages of long-term care staff to be increased. This staff deserves a livable wage.

However, money alone will not solve the worsening problem long-term care facilities currently experience. Their resident occupancy levels are at an all-time low.

Older Oklahomans desire more options for living out their sunset years. Many elders wish to age in place by remaining in their homes. The COVID-19 pandemic made this desire more visible. Family members are supporting the option. Rather than risk their parents' contraction of COVID in a congregate setting, family members are choosing to keep them safely at home.

What older Oklahomans currently need is information about what state and local support and services are available to help them remain in their homes. Virtual telehealth visits are a new reality. So is 24/7 virtual monitoring technology. Safely remaining at home is being accomplished.
I welcome Joy Hofmeister's declaration to run against Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt next year. Oklahoma politics have forced Hofmeister's move to the Democratic Party and should signal that the Republican Party has moved too far to the right.

My daughter teaches in the Tulsa Public School system and she had expressed surprise that any Republican, including Hofmeister, would be so supportive of educational issues, made even more urgent during the recent pandemic.

Currently, political moderates have no chance of winning most Republican primaries and Democrats offer the only moderate candidates in statewide races. In her current position as state superintendent, Hofmeister's support for education and health issues has often placed her at odds with our governor and a majority of Republicans.

The Tulsa World relates that former Gov. Brad Henry feels a kinship with Hofmeister and her moderate candidacy, as she seeks to defeat our erstwhile governor, who ran a positive campaign, but has since governed like an uncaring extremist.
Tourism authorities in Binh Thuan Province, located in south-central Vietnam, have issued a set of safety assessment criteria for lodging accommodations, tourist sites, and food establishments to reopen in new normal conditions.

On Wednesday night, the Binh Thuan Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism allowed the tourism sector to reopen while adhering to the COVID-19 control requirements in the locality.

Tourists who wish to travel to the coastal province have to be fully vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19.

To avoid the transmission of the virus, travel agencies must plan tests for guests on the first and seventh days after their arrival.

Each facility must have at least one designated 'quarantine room' and 'waiting room,' both of which must have some personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff.

Managers and employees can come into contact with tourists only if they have been fully vaccinated for at least 14 days or have recovered from COVID-19.

Staff who do not have contact with tourists must have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Unvaccinated staff can merely work remotely.

In low-risk zones, establishments from all types of services are exempt from all operating restrictions. The remaining areas are still barred from returning to normal operations.

Aside from tourism, the municipal government allows facilities that meet all safety requirements to host weddings, ceremonies, or any other form of gathering.

Vietnam has gradually reopened its economy after daily infections have plummeted over the past weeks and the country's vaccination campaign has accelerated, with almost 72 million vaccine shots have been administered to a population of about 98 million people.

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The movie director who was wounded on set when Alec Baldwin discharged a prop gun said on Saturday he was "gutted" by the death of the film's cinematographer, as more details emerged suggesting the production was troubled even before the accidental shooting.

Joel Souza, who was hit in the shoulder on Thursday when Baldwin fired a prop gun that unexpectedly contained a live round while rehearsing a scene, broke his silence as the investigation entered its third day, with multiple questions remaining over how the mistake happened.

"I am gutted by the loss of my friend and colleague, Halyna. She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch and always pushed me to be better," Souza said in a statement.

The shot hit cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in the chest, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office. She died of her wounds and Souza, who was behind her, was injured but later released from the hospital.

Just hours before the incident on the New Mexico set of "Rust", a low-budget Western, several crew members quit in protest at what they saw as poor working conditions, according to multiple news outlets.

The Los Angeles Times reported that last week Baldwin's stunt double accidentally fired two rounds with a prop firearm after being told it was "cold", an industry term meaning a weapon is not loaded with ammunition, including blanks. At least one employee complained to a production manager about gun safety on set, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed crew members.

The entrance to the film set of 'Rust' is seen through a barbed wire fence after Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer and wounded a director when he discharged a prop gun on the movie set in Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S., October 22, 2021. Photo: Reuters

The same mistake may have occurred on Thursday, according to court records. An assistant director, Dave Halls, handed Baldwin the prop gun and told him it was a "cold gun", according to an affidavit from the sheriff's office that was filed as part of a search warrant application.

Halls could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

A Santa Fe judge on Friday approved the warrant, allowing authorities to seize firearms, clothing, cameras, video tapes and ammunition from the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe.

Rust Movie Productions said in a statement on Friday it had not been aware of any safety concerns but was investigating the incident.

"Though we were not made aware of any official complaints concerning weapon or prop safety on set, we will be conducting an internal review of our procedures while production is shut down," the company said. Baldwin is among the film's producers.

It is unclear why the gun contained a live round. The person in charge of weapons on set is known as an armorer; the armorer for "Rust", Hannah Gutierrez, had set up the gun and two others, according to the affidavit.

Director Joel Souza (R) is pictured with Josh Hopkins during an interview session at the uInterview.com offices in Manhattan, New York, U.S., April 26, 2019, in this handout photo released to Reuters on October 23, 2021. Photo taken April 26, 2019. Photo: Erik Meers/uInterview.com/Handout via Reuters

Gutierrez could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

No charges have been filed in the case, and police have said the investigation remains active. Security guards were posted at the road leading to the ranch on Saturday.

The International Cinematographers Guild planned to hold a candlelight vigil for Hutchins, 42, on Saturday evening in Albuquerque, about 40 miles (64 km) from the ranch. A second vigil was scheduled for Sunday in the Los Angeles area.

"Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words. Our loss is enormous," her husband Matt Hutchins wrote on Twitter.

The American Film Institute set up a scholarship fund for female cinematographers in Hutchins' honor.

Baldwin, 63, best known for his roles in TV comedy "30 Rock" and his "Saturday Night Live" impersonations of former U.S. President Donald Trump, said on Friday he was shocked and heartbroken at Hutchins' death and was fully cooperating with authorities.
Peru, which has the world's highest COVID-19 death rate per capita, has surpassed 200,000 deaths from the coronavirus, the health ministry said on Friday.

The ministry announced 25 new deaths over the previous 24 hours, taking the South American country over the symbolic threshold with 200.003 deaths since the pandemic started in March 2020.

The Andean country of 33 million has also recorded 2.2 million infections.

With 6,065 deaths per million population, Peru's Covid mortality rate is the highest in the world, according to an AFP count based on official data.

The news comes at a time of falling daily cases and deaths attributed to the increase in vaccinations, although authorities remain worried about a potential new wave of infections due to the Delta variant that is now predominant in the country.

"We're maintaining a high level of control," health minister Hernando Cevallos said recently.

"It is probable that the first and second waves have generated immunity in part of the population, as has vaccination."

The fall in infections has allowed the government to relax some healthcare measures and reactivate parts of the economy.

The nighttime curfew has been reduced to just two hours while restaurants are now allowed to operate at full capacity.

Peru's number of deaths is only surpassed in Latin America by Brazil and Mexico, although those countries' populations are almost seven and four times greater respectively.

Before the pandemic, Peru enjoyed one of the most dynamic economies in the region but in 2020 GDP fell by 11 percent and more than 2.1 million people lost their jobs as Peru entered recession.

"We need to get vaccinated so there is no more sadness in homes and no more orphans," Mirtha Garcia Espinoza, a 39-year-old mother of two widowed by the pandemic, told AFP.

Peru's virus death rate has been falling since April when it reached 2,500 a week.

Last week that was down to 169, according to official figures.

Experts blame Peru's problems on its large informal economy and an ineffective healthcare system.

The government hopes to vaccinate 70 percent of its population over 12 by the end of the year.

More than 14.2 million people have so far received both vaccination doses, accounting for 51 percent of those aged over 12.
Provinces in central Vietnam will experience torrential rains, as well as chances of typhoon and tropical depression landing, which threaten flooding and landslides in the next few days, the Vietnamese government has warned.

On Saturday, Vietnams Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh conveyed an official notice from the prime minister, warning lower-level leaders of flooding risks in central provinces.

According to the document, heavy rains over the past few days in central and Central Highlands provinces, namely Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Quang Nam, and Quang Ngai, have enkindled flooding and mudslides, which in turn led to human casualties.

The premier sent his condolences to citizens over their suffering in catastrophe-hit areas, specifically families of flood and landslide victims.

Such provinces must prepare measures to curb the damage of flooding and its consequences through rescue efforts, evacuation of residents from flood-prone areas, food rationing for flood victims, and consolidation of dams, the document stated.

On late Friday night and early Saturday morning, the central provinces from Thua Thien-Hue to Binh Dinh reported intense downpours with precipitation exceeding 300 millimeters in several areas, according to Tran Quang Nang, head of weather forecasting at the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF).

The coastal districts of Quang Nam and Quang Ngai Provinces have also recorded inundation after experiencing rainfall for a few days straight, Nang added.

From Saturday to Monday, mid-central provinces, particularly Quang Nam and Quang Ngai Provinces, would see precipitation ranging from 200 to 400 millimeters or even more, while Quang Tri Province, Thua Thien-Hue Province, and Da Nang are forecast to experience rains of 50-150 millimeters and beyond, the center said.

Meanwhile, Binh Dinh, Kon Tum, and Gia Lai Provinces would see precipitation of 100-200 millimeters, even going up to 250 millimeters.

By the Saturday morning, flood levels had risen in the rivers of Thua Thien Hue and Quang Ngai and been poised to reach alarming levels, said Phung Tien Dung, an NCHMF staff member.

From now to Monday, flooding is likely to emerge in the rivers of Quang Nam, Binh Dinh, and Kon Tum Provinces, Dung said.

Dung also notify the public of threats of flash floods and landslides in upland areas, as well as inundation in lowland and waterfront areas in the provinces from Thua Thien-Hue to Quang Ngai.

The situation in these areas may be exacerbated with the arrival of a tropical depression, which is likely to form in the East Vietnam Sea on Sunday and Monday before hitting central provinces in the next two days, according to Nang.

This circumstance, coupled with a cold front and the turbulence of high east winds, may bring heavy rains to central areas from October 27 to 31, Nang said.

The downpour directly impacted by the tropical depression may arrive on October 27-28.

From now to the end of October, central provinces may experience up to three bouts of downpours, with total precipitation reaching 1,000 millimeters.

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Microsoft on Saturday added Vietnam's CyRadar Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) to the list of security software recommended for use on Windows operating systems.

CyRadar EDR is a next-generation antivirus solution developed by CyRadar, a Vietnamese pioneer startup in developing network attack prevention and detection systems using big data analysis, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

As a member of the Microsoft Virus Initiative, which brings together antivirus software developers, CyRadar saw its anti-malware solution successfully pass all the six consecutive evaluations by Microsoft, achieving an accurate detection rate of 100 percent and a false identification rate of zero percent.

The software has also got through a performance test by Microsoft to confirm its superior performance and high compatibility with Windows operating systems.

CyRadar EDR has not only been recognized by Microsoft to run smoothly on Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, but it has been awarded VB100 certification by the UK's Virus Bulletin (VB).

Such certification is well-respected recognition in the anti-virus and malware communities due to the VB's stringent testing requirements.

CyRadar EDR is the only Southeast Asian software put on the recommended list of Microsoft, alongside the worlds leading cybersecurity service providers such as Kaspersky, Avira and TrendMicro, among others.

Such recommendation by Microsoft will help CyRadar get closer to international customers and improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese software products in the world.

Hanoi-based CyRadar got investment from FPT Ventures, a venture capital arm of FPT Corporation, the largest ICT enterprise in the private sector in Vietnam.

CyRadars security solutions were awarded the High-Quality Information Security Products title by the Vietnam Information Security Association in 2015 and 2017.

The company was among the top 20 Innovators in Cyber Security 2019, as selected by U.S.-based Technology Innovators magazine.

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Torrential rains on Saturday afternoon, happening in tandem with high tides, inundated many streets of Ho Chi Minh City and impeded the commutes of local citizens.

A witnessed by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper correspondents, Saturday's rainfall first reached the downtown and northern areas in the afternoon before spreading to other parts of the city.

The precipitation flooded many streets, including District 12s Phan Van Hon Street, Binh Thanh Districts Binh Loi Street, and Thu Duc Citys Nguyen Van Huong and Quoc Huong Streets, the real-time flooding alert application by the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Drainage Company suggested on Saturday.

A man rides his electric bike through the flood in Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, October 23, 2021. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre

Downpours were also reported in many Mekong Delta provinces, including Long An, Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Vinh Long, An Giang, Kien Giang, and Ca Mau, according to the Southern Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Coupled with rising tides, the rains caused floods in low areas and waterfronts in these areas.

A person drives a scooter through the flood in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, October 23, 2021. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre

A woman drives her scooter through the flood in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, October 23, 2021. Photo: Le Phan / Tuoi Tre

In the next few days, the weather in southern provinces will be influenced by a southbound cold front, bringing northeast winds of increased force.

Changing clouds and sporadic sunlight will be seen during the day, followed by chances of heavy rains and thunderstorms during twilight hours.

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Vietnams Ministry of Health confirmed 4,045 additional COVID-19 infections on Sunday, along with 1,314 recovered patients and 53 fatalities.

The latest cases, including 17 imported and 4,028 local infections, were found in 47 provinces and cities, the health ministry said, pointing out that 1,599 patients were detected in the community.

Ho Chi Minh City recorded 966 of the domestically-infected cases, Binh Duong Province 524, Dong Nai Province 429, An Giang Province 297, Soc Trang Province 296, Dak Lak Province 193, Bac Lieu Province 155, Tay Ninh Province 132, Tra Vinh Province 113, Kien Giang Province 83, Can Tho City 48, Khanh Hoa 43, Ba Ria-Vung Tau 16, Hanoi 14, and Da Nang nine.

Vietnam had documented 3,361 locally-acquired infections on Saturday.

The country has recorded 884,177 community transmissions in 62 out of its 63 provinces and cities since the fourth virus wave emerged on April 27.

Ho Chi Minh City tops the caseload with 425,121 patients, followed by Binh Duong Province with 228,840, Dong Nai Province with 61,532, Long An Province with 34,227, Tien Giang Province with 15,626, Dong Thap Province with 9,440, Khanh Hoa Province with 8,754, Da Nang with 4,953, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with 4,507, and Hanoi with 4,403.

Vietnam registered only 1,570 locally-transmitted infections in total in the previous three waves.

The health ministry logged 1,314 recoveries on Sunday, bringing the total to 805,978.

The toll has mounted to 21,673 deaths after the ministry confirmed 53 fatalities on the same day, including 30 in Ho Chi Minh City and 12 in Binh Duong Province.

Vietnam has found 888,940 infections since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit it early last year.

Health workers have given almost 73 million vaccine doses, including 936,739 shots on Saturday, since vaccination was rolled out on March 8.

More than 21 million people have been fully inoculated.

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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A local man is being hunted for allegedly killing his family members earlier this week, police in Vietnam said on Friday.

The suspect in question, Tran Van Hieu, 47, is believed to murder his own parents and younger sister the same day after over a week being released from prison in Bac Giang Province, said Nguyen Anh Son, a senior police officer.

Local authorities were informed at around 1:30 pm on Friday of Hieus father, mother, and younger sister found dead at their house with serious slash wounds on their bodies.

He was not at the scene, having reportedly fled wearing a helmet, long white striped pants, and a blue long-sleeved shirt on a brown Honda Dream motorbike with number plate 98H5-2868.

Hieu had been sentenced to six years behind bars for intentionally causing injury to his wife and just finished serving his prison term on October 13, police said.

Officers are searching for him, encouraging anyone spotting him to call 0913 258 127 or 0984 225 793.

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Tyler, TX (75702)

Today

Clear skies. Low near 45F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low near 45F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
Covid-19

top story

East Texas businesses wait for direction on vaccine, testing mandates

Michael Cavazos Eastman Chemical Company on Tuesday April 16, 2019. (Michael Cavazos/News-Journal Photo)

Waiting.

Thats what some of the areas largest employers say they are doing  waiting for final direction from federal regulators before determining how they will respond to possible employee requirements for COVID-19 vaccination or testing.

We understand that the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing and will soon issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that will require regular COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated employees of companies with more than 100 employees, said Kristin Parker, spokeswoman for Eastman Chemical Co. Eastmans Texas Operations just outside Longview, which employs almost 1,500 people.

Until OSHA releases this ETS, we are unable to make further comments about its impact on our team members. Once the ETS is issued, we will gather all relevant information available and determine what these new rules mean for our company and team members throughout the U.S.

However, Parker said the company has no plans at this time to make vaccinations mandatory for employees.

We continue to encourage vaccination as the safest and most effective way to prevent complications and hospitalization from COVID-19, and we continue to see the percentages of fully vaccinated team members increase company-wide, including in Longview, she said. We have held onsite vaccination clinics and have offered several educational opportunities for our team members to learn more about the COVID-19 vaccines to help them make their decision.

In Texas, the looming federal mandates will be measured against an executive order issued by Gov. Greg Abbott banning any entity, including private companies, from issuing vaccine mandates for employees or customers.

Longview Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kelly Hall said companies with more than 100 employees have reached out to her seeking guidance. She refers them to the Society for Human Resource Management, which has issued some recommendations for companies.

Currently, companies are watching to see if ETS passes in its current form. There are many concerns with the existing OSHA recommendations, Hall said. While our team is in D.C. on Nov. 2 and 3, we will be visiting with elected leaders and policy groups about this issue.

It is confusing, Hall said, to understand the governors executive order weighed against the potential of the federal vaccination/testing mandate.

Yet, I believe the supremacy clause of the constitution of the United States is pretty clear (Article VI, Clause 2), she said, referencing the part of the U.S. Constitution that generally gives federal law authority over the states.

An article on the Society for Human Resource Management agrees, saying, When employers are covered by conflicting federal and state laws, the federal rules will generally pre-empt state law.

Bottom line, companies care about their employees. Human capital is our No. 1 asset, Hall said. Companies want to keep employees safe and employed. Balancing the COVID disruption has been and continues to be challenging.

Tyler-based Brookshire Grocery Co. is evaluating all of those pieces of the puzzle, according to company representative Morgan Countryman. The company has more than 1,600 employees.

As an essential business through the ongoing pandemic, Brookshire Grocery Companys top priority is the health and safety of our employee-partners, customers and communities, Countryman said. Our company leaders are evaluating the recent federal mandate and actions by our state governor while waiting for further guidance from OSHA before finalizing our company position.

The companys focus will remain on the safety and well-being of our partners, customers and communities we serve while dealing with pandemic issues.

Tyler Pipe General Manager Greg Simmons said the company does not require employees to be vaccinated but will continue to monitor all local, state and federal COVID-19 activity.

Tyler Pipe continues to place the safety and well-being of our team members and community in the forefront of our COVID-19 response, he said. Since the start of the pandemic, our protocols have closely followed CDC and OSHA guidelines and have ensured our ability to work and grow while effectively reducing risk to our team and their families.

Longview Regional Medical Center also has not made COVID-19 vaccines mandatory, said spokeswoman Libby Bryson. However, the hospital, which employs close to 1,200 people, does require everyone in a health care setting to use face masks.

We will work to comply with the presidents order requiring COVID-19 vaccination and look forward to receiving further guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) about its implementation , Bryson said. A majority of our caregivers have chosen  and some are continuing to choose  to be vaccinated. To ensure the safety of our patients, colleagues and others, last month we began routine COVID-19 testing of all unvaccinated hospital and clinic staff.

TriMas, the parent company of Norris Cylinder in Longview, said the company that employs about 160 people will review the OSHA standards to determine how it applies to the company.

With respect to the vaccine mandate, like all U.S. companies with more than 100 employees, we plan to follow federal or state laws, as appropriate, said Sherry Lauderback, TriMas vice president of investor relations and communications.
Cargo transiting through Kazakhstan is expected to double in volume by 2025 from 2010, said Deputy Minister of National Economy Alibek Kuantyrov in a recent interview with Nikkei Asia in the capital of Nur-Sultan, pointing to the country as a "very important link" between Europe and Asia.

Kuantyrov emphasized the importance of building an "efficient transportation infrastructure" to the economic development of landlocked Kazakhstan, which is celebrating the 30th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union this year. He hopes the establishment of a transportation network will help Kazakhstan to form closer economic ties with countries in Central Asia and Russia.

Kazakhstan's strategic location makes it crucial to China's Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to create a massive economic zone linking China to Europe by land and sea, "undoubtedly bringing advantage" to the country.

Rail transport accounts for about 90% of current cargo traffic. Container traffic volume is rising particularly sharply, totaling 876,000 TEU, or 20-foot equivalent units, in 2020, up 32% from the previous year.

He attributed the growth in cargo volume and the development of industrial infrastructure to the BRI. Kazakhstan's transit cargo volume totaled 22.7 million tons in 2020, a 1.5-fold increase from 2010. Kuantyrov predicted that cargo volume passing through the country will reach 30 million tons in 2025.

Kazakhstan's rail transport is also benefiting from rising maritime shipping costs, and shipping delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the grounding of the Ever Given container ship in the Suez Canal that blocked traffic for days, and a surge in online shopping.

Rail transport is preferable to many companies as it takes only about two weeks to shift cargo from China to the European Union, whereas maritime shipping between the two markets takes more than a month.

The deputy economic minister said that Kazakhstan will "continue to enhance its competitiveness as a transit hub." Kuantyrov pointed out that Kazakhstan has constructed rail lines totaling 2,500 kilometers since its independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and roads totaling over 3,000 kilometers between 2015 and 2020.

Kazakhstan has also focused its efforts on the construction of transportation terminals. The country now has a transportation terminal in Khorgos on the border with China and also terminals in Lianyungang, a city in the Chinese province of Jiangsu, and at a port in Batumi on the Black Sea. Infrastructure has also been built in Aktau in the west of Kazakhstan on the Caspian Sea.
Tajikistan has formally accepted a $125 million grant from China to upgrade a key highway. The amount is far less than Dushanbe expected to receive a few months ago. As Eurasianet writes, little of the money will pass through Tajik coffers. Instead, China will pay Chinese contractors to reconstruct a particularly devilish 80-kilometer section of highway along the Afghan border in the Pamir Mountains. The stretch, from Kalai-Khumb to Vanj, is the only road connecting the Tajik capital with China. It is a dangerous, narrow path clinging to cliffs and prone to landslides.

The road was built during the Soviet period, but has not been renovated since independence.

Tajikistans lower house of parliament ratified the grant for 800 million yuan (or $125 million) on October 18. Back in June, Tajikistans Transportation Minister Azim Ibrohim said China would provide $204 million toward the project, leaving Tajikistan with a shortfall of about $30 million. The ratification document seen by Eurasianet does not explain how the figure fell from $204 million to $125 million.

The eventual objective is to revamp the entire highway all the way to the Kulma Pass, which lies at a height of more than 4,300 meters above sea level on the border between Tajikistans Murghab district and Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Province.

A Chinese company will oversee the work, Radio Ozodi has reported; construction material and equipment will be exempted from import duties. So the grant amounts in substance to a subsidy to Chinese companies. And it is eventually Chinese freight companies that will by and large benefit from completion of the trans-Pamiri route.

It is not known how many workers will be brought in for the job or if Tajikistan will offer any other concessions. A Tajik government spokesperson declined to comment. The Chinese Embassy in Dushanbe does not answer questions from independent journalists.

China is Tajikistans largest source of finance. According to government figures cited by Asia-Plus, Tajikistan's external debt totaled $3.3 billion, 38 percent of GDP, on July 1, 2021. Of this, $1.2 billion is owed to China.

In recent years, China has stopped issuing the kind of large infrastructure loans that had mired Dushanbe in debt and turned instead to grants. In return, China gets tax breaks and access, often with little public oversight. China is heavily involved in mining in the country.

For example, TBEA, which completed a $349 million coal-fired power plant in the capital in 2016, is, in return, exempt from levies on equipment and technology being imported to develop the Upper Kumarg and Eastern Duoba gold mines.

According to Radio Ozodi, TBEA is entitled to develop the Tajik gold mines until it makes back all the money it spent on the construction of the power plant.

TBEA chairman Zhang Xin was cited in Chinese media saying that if the mines proved not to contain sufficient gold to cover the costs, Tajikistan would grant a development license to yet another deposit.

Before that, parliament voted to exempt another Chinese company, Kashgar Xinyu Dadi Mining Investment, from all types of taxes and customs duties for a period of seven years. The miner was in June granted development rights over a silver deposit in the high-altitude Pamir region.
Nabiyev made the remark during the 15th session of the TRACECA Intergovernmental Commission held via videoconference, at which the chairmanship of the commission passed to Bulgaria, Trend reports.

The minister spoke about the work done by Azerbaijan while chairing TRACECA, as well as work on the development of the Europe-Caucasus-Asia international transport corridor.

Nabiyev noted that the restoration of transport and economic ties after the 44-day second Karabakh war, as a result of which the occupied territories of Azerbaijan were liberated, will contribute to the further development and expansion of the TRACECA corridor.

The meeting participants were informed about the reconstruction and construction of the Azerbaijani infrastructure destroyed as a result of the Armenian occupation
The Azerbaijani Army launched a counter-offensive operation, later called the "Iron Fist", on September 27, 2020, in response to the large-scale provocation of the Armenian armed forces along the frontline, Trend reports.

The erupted 44-day second Karabakh war ended with the liberation of Azerbaijans territories from nearly 30-year Armenian occupation and the restoration of territorial integrity.

Chronicle of the 28-th day of the second Karabakh war:

- President Ilham Aliyev was interviewed by French Figaro newspaper.

- The stockpiles of weapons, ammunition and fuel of Armenian armed forces were destroyed, and Armenian UAVs were neutralized.

- The Armenian armed forces shelled Azerbaijani settlements.

- Video of the destruction of Armenian military equipment during the night was published. An Armenian fighter jet was destroyed.

- Azerbaijan's Gubadly district was shelled using artillery from the territory of Armenia.

- Azerbaijani artillery units continued to inflict crushing blows on the Armenian armed forces.

- Armenian armed forces attempt to attack Azerbaijani units was prevented. The Azerbaijani Air Force destroyed Armenian military equipment and infrastructure, as well as combat equipment.
The husband of late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins announced the formation of an American Film Institute (AFI) scholarship fund in his wifes name early this morning, AV Club reports.

On Twitter, Matt Hutchins, Halynas husband, has asked anyone seeking to honor her memory to donate to the AFIs Halyna Hutchins Scholarship Fund, which supports aspiring female cinematographers.

The 42-year-old cinematographer was killed on the set of the western Rust on Thursday night in New Mexico after a prop gun fired by Alec Baldwin was accidentally discharged. The incident also left director Joel Souza hospitalized with injuries.
Russian President's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the refusal of the Russian side from relations with NATO would not entail anything terrible, since Moscow's efforts to develop cooperation with the alliance were still in vain.

"NATO's aggressive position has never been a secret. This is a bloc that was created against our country ... And therefore, nothing terrible will happen if we, against the background of aggravation of aggressiveness, against the background of such declarations that the main task is to restrain us, we will simply refuse from these relations," he said, noting that despite the aggressiveness of the NATO bloc, Russia has always stood for the development of relations.

In conclusion, he noted that only by now, when it became obvious that all our efforts were in vain, we just made what was real official, Interfax reports.

Let us recall that at the beginning of the week it became known that Russia is suspending the work of its permanent mission to NATO.
With natural conditions and advantages of traditional medicine, Vietnam has great potential for developing wellness tourism.

During three years studying in Japan, Vu Nam, Deputy Director of the Tourism Market Department of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) visited Yufuin village (Oita, Japan), a popular tourist site.

The village has a natural area of only 1,800 hectares, and a population of about 10,000 people, but in 2019 it welcomed more than 4.4 million visitors. Nam said that 60% of visitors returned, and 10% visited the village more than 10 times. It is estimated that Yufuin village welcomes more than 12,000 people every day, more than its entire population.

Yufuin's tourism income in 2019 reached more than 16 billion Japanese yen, equivalent to nearly US$15 million.

This is one of the most successful tourist sites not only in Japan but also in the world in exploiting hot mineral resources to develop healthcare tourism that Vietnam can follow," Nam said.

There are about 27,000 hot mineral bath service sites (Onsen) in Japan and the Japanese Onsen hot mineral bath service has become a "billion-dollar business" with an annual revenue of about $13 billion.

Great potential

Healthcare tourism is becoming a major source of revenue for many countries around the world, because it lies at the powerful intersection of two booming industries: the $2.6 trillion pure tourism industry and the health care market worth $4.2 trillion.

According to a report by Global Wellness Institute (GWI), healthcare tourism reached a value of $639 billion in 2017 and is forecasted to hit $919 billion in 2022. If maintaining the average growth rate of 7.5%/year, healthcare tourism will contribute 18% of total revenue of the world tourism industry.

On average, for every $6 spent on travel globally, $1 belongs to the wellness market. Over the past five years, Asia has led in terms of both number of trips and revenue. Some countries pay special attention to healthcare tourism and have obtained great success, typically Japan with its hot mineral spas, Indonesia with nature resorts, and India with meditation and yoga.

Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh said there are two ways to understand: Wellness tourism or medical tourism. If medical tourism is primarily about treatment, then healthcare tourism focuses on disease prevention. In fact, it is difficult to distinguish clearly and absolutely between these two types of services. Countries around the world sometimes also use the term medical tourism or wellness tourism for both.

In Vietnam, Dr. Truong Sy Vinh, Deputy Director of the Institute of Tourism Development Research (VNAT), said that with natural conditions and advantages of traditional medicine, Vietnam has great potential for developing wellness tourism.

For example, Vietnam has rich and diverse mineral water resources, valuable for medical treatment, nursing and health care. It is reported that the country has about 400 hot mineral water sources ranging from 40-80 degrees Celsius, which have both therapeutic effects and can be processed into drinking water.

Many hot mineral springs in Vietnam are being exploited by big investors, such as: My Lam - Tuyen Quang hot spring resort invested by Vinpearl (Vingroup), Quang Hanh hot spring resort in Quang Ninh province of Sungroup, Thanh Thuy mineral spring in Phu Tho invested by YoKo group, which provide the Japanese Onsen model. Some resorts provide mud bath, spa, sauna, and massage services such as: Tram Trung (Khanh Hoa), V-resort (Hoa Binh), Saigon - Binh Chau (Vung Tau) ...

Vietnam also has an extremely rich and diverse system of medicinal plants with about 3,850 species of plants and 406 species of animals used as medicine. The Ministry of Health has granted registration numbers to more than 2,000 traditional medicine products produced by more than 450 traditional medicine and pharmacy establishments.

In addition to a system of historical relics, Vietnam has many pagodas and monasteries with attractive landscapes that can be exploited to develop tourism in general and develop tourism associated with meditation and yoga in particular.

Vietnam is gradually becoming a new medical tourism destination in Asia thanks to the low cost of travel, accommodation services and medical manpower compared to the US, Europe and other countries in the region.

About 350,000 foreigners came to Vietnam for medical examination and treatment and brought in $2 billion in revenue in 2018. That is not counting the large amount of money tourists spent on health care services while traveling. In addition, tens of thousands of Vietnamese people traveled for medical treatment each year (before the Covid-19 epidemic), with an amount of approximately $2 billion.

Vietnam just set a foot

In the context of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Vu Nam said that tourism combined with health care is a future tourism trend, especially when the epidemic appears, the demand for health care is greater. This is an opportunity for Vietnam to focus on developing healthcare tourism products.

However, according to Le Hong Thai, Deputy Director of Hanoitourist, Vietnam is lacking specific criteria and guidelines for business, service and tourism establishments to welcome guests.

Vu Nam cited that at hot spring resorts, visitors mainly come to bathe and sauna, the experiences are not abundant, and there is no high-class experience for tourists.

Although a number of 5-star resorts in the Central and Southern regions have recently promoted the development of spa services, most other spas develop spontaneously, so the quality of facilities and services is still low.

Regarding tourism combined with medical treatment, in Ho Chi Minh City, most foreign tourists using this service were Cambodians and Laotians. In Hue City, the Hue Central Hospital every year (before 2020) provided medical examination and treatment for about 5,000 Lao tourists and some international visitors.

However, Dr. Tran Huu Thuy Giang, Director of Hue Department of Tourism, admitted that tourists still know little about medical tourism services. The locality also lacks professional medical and healthcare tourism service facilities.

Dr. Do Hai Yen (Faculty of Tourism Study, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi), said that healthcare tourism is still new in Vietnam and due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, businesses have not really focused on this.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, VNAT Deputy General Director, said that healthcare tourism in Vietnam exists but only at an early stage, with few products. It is necessary to fully research the potential and develop healthcare tourism products in Vietnam.

Ha Yen
DORA, Ala. (AP)  A rural Alabama town voted to offer its employees a $200 incentive to get the COVID-19 vaccine using federal pandemic relief money.

Leaders in the Walker County town of Dora said they hoped the move would boost the vaccination rate in the city of 2,200, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Birmingham, the D aily Mountain Eagle reported Thursday.

Mayor Randy Stephens, who is retired from the medical profession, said providing the vaccine bonus with federal funding is a really good idea.

I understand some people are opposed to it. It wouldnt make any difference if we gave them $1,000. They wouldnt take it, he said.

Opposition to vaccinations against the coronavirus has been persistent in some areas, particularly those with mostly white, conservative makeups. About 42% of the population is fully vaccinated in Walker County, roughly in line with the statewide average, according to statistics from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The city's 40 workers have until Dec. 31 to provide verification that they are vaccinated.
MARTINDALE, Texas (AP)  A Central Texas man has been charged with murder in the driveway shooting of a motorist who had pulled into his driveway.

Terry Duane Turner, 65, of Martindale, Texas, turned himself in Friday after an arrest warrant accused him of murdering Adil Dghoughi in the early morning of Oct. 11.

Investigators said Turner shot the 31-year-old Moroccan immigrant as the man was backing out of Turners driveway about 3:40 a.m. After the shooting, Turner told a 911 operator that the motorist had pulled a gun on him. Investigators said they found no firearm in the car.

Turner turned himself in the day after a warrant was issued for his arrest and was released on a $150,000 bond. No listed telephone number could be found for Turner, and a Caldwell County jail official said the name of Turner's attorney was unavailable Sunday.

Martindale is a town of about 1,200 residents about 30 miles (48.28 kilometers) south of Austin. The almost two-week delay in Turner's arrest by Martindale and Caldwell County authorities drew criticism from Dghoughi's family and supporters, including the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Supporters of Dghoughi and his family held a vigil at the Texas Capitol on Saturday, and another was scheduled for Sunday evening in Martindale.
It is no secret that the reconciliation bill proposed by Congress has many elements that have become points of great contention as President Bidens first year in office comes to a close.

The history here is important.

Budget reconciliation is a tool that is used and often abused by both parties. In 2007, the U.S. Senate under Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., changed the rules so that no budget reconciliation bill increases the deficit. Then Republicans took back the majority in the Senate and immediately changed the rules to pass the Trump tax cuts, which again did increase the deficit. And now this year Democrats have used the same rule change to increase the deficit by $1.9 trillion in spending to alleviate the COVID-19 economic effect.

One main area of discussion currently is the proposed punitive tax measures that would affect Americas and Texas oil and gas sector.
There can be no ambiguity on testing. It must be available seven days a week and free to everyone. Insurance should play no role.

It should also stay put. Mobile vaccination clinics around the city and county make sense. Alternating testing sites do not.

Weve now seen three case surges during this pandemic, each more severe than the one before it. Its naive to think there wont be another while we argue over masks and vaccinations. In the meantime, the virus is still here and circulating in our community. The delta variant spread more quickly than previous variations of the virus  too quickly to wait weeks for testing sites to become operational.

September saw record highs for total cases (6,220), active cases (2,151), deaths (107) and hospitalizations (average 179 per day) as the delta surge punished a largely unvaccinated population. Too many of us are no longer interested in applying public health standards to daily life.

Even as health officials continue to increase vaccinations among our neighbors, co-workers and friends, federal funding makes it viable to make COVID-19 testing a convenient constant in our community until the pandemic ends.
The gun was one of three that the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez, had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being acted, according to the records. Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in the search warrant application.

It was unclear how many rounds were fired. Gutierrez removed a shell casing from the gun after the shooting, and she turned the weapon over to police when they arrived, the court records say.

Halls did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment. The Associated Press was unable to contact Gutierrez, and several messages sent to production companies affiliated with the film were not immediately returned Friday.

The film's script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, said she was standing next to Hutchins when she was shot.

"I ran out and called 911 and said 'Bring everybody, send everybody,' " Mitchell told The Associated Press. "This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman."

Mitchell said she and other crew members were attending a private memorial service Friday night in Santa Fe.

Baldwin described the killing as a "tragic accident."
The UAW strike of Deere & Co. has lasted into its second weekend. Heres a roundup of happenings from the first full week of the strike.

Monday Oct. 18: Day 5

Deere & Co. and Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) representatives headed back to the negotiating table.

The voted-down, 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 line

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 towards workers while they advocate for higher benefits.

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 along Airport Road. Hopefully after this you know well be stronger for it.

Tuesday Oct. 19: Day 6

In a show of continued support, small businesses in the Quad-Cities and Waterloo are offering free or discounted goods and services for union workers and their families ranging from free burgers and alcohol to discounted haircuts and furnace repair.

It honestly just helps 100% with the stress, one striking UAW worker said while getting their hair trimmed. Knowing that weve got the backing of the community to help throughout all of this  it was this or shave my head.

On the picket line

Moline Police said a semi-truck entered Gate 24 of the John Deere Seeding plant in Moline driving too fast on the morning of Oct. 19 and near a group of union workers on the picket line.

Union members were near the driveway when the truck entered the gate. A night shift officer in a squad car was at the intersection when the truck entered the plant and asked the driver to drive slower upon entrance to the site.

Union workers at the Milan and Davenport Deere plants continued to line the roads on Tuesday, creating clumps of blue and white UAW on strike signs against a clear, blue sky.

One worker hoped for a reasonable outcome that was fair for all parties.

There has to be some common ground, said a worker at the Milan plant.

Wednesday Oct. 20: Day 7

Deere sought and received a temporary injunction, which limited the ways in which union workers can conduct themselves on the picket lines at Davenport Works.

Deere advised the chief judge of the district court in Scott County that picketers conduct has disrupted access to its properties and put others, including UAW members, at risk.

Deere & Co. was granted an order for temporary injunction to maintain a safe environment for all our employees and contractors  including those reporting to work and those exercising their right to strike, said Jen Hartmann, director of public relations & enterprise social media. This temporary injunction was put in place to provide safe entry and exit to the John Deere Davenport Works facility.

Chief Judge Marlita Greve granted the injunction Wednesday, ordering the UAW to limit to four the number of picketers that can be near each gate of Davenport Works, banning the use of chairs and barrel fires by picketers and prohibiting harassment and intimidation tactics that at least five trucking companies have said they encountered.

On the picket line

When union members heard of the injunction around 1:30 p.m., they immediately rushed to comply with the new regulations, according to two employees.

Union members rushed to pack up chairs, tents, and the stockpiles of food and firewood to comply with the order. The supplies were then moved to the Local 281 office, according to the employees. The crowds thinned to just four members per gate at the Davenport plant. The fire barrels were kept in place overnight, because they were still live fires and would have been dangerous to try and transport, the union members said.

Thursday Oct. 21: Day 8

After a week on the picket line outside of the John Deere Davenport Works, strikers are now under strict restrictions over how and where they can picket. Experts said some terms of the injunction are unusual.

Labor law experts whove reviewed the Deere injunction say the ban on chairs and fire barrels is unusual and the injunction lacks sufficient evidence to prove their role in impacting the ingress and egress out of the Davenport Deere plant.

James M. Cooney, a labor and employment law expert in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, said since the alleged exhibits lack a direct mention of fire barrels or chairs being used to create dangerous situations, there isnt a basis for the ban.

I would think that there is no basis for prohibiting the fire cans unless there was some evidence that they were using the fire source to intimidate and block, Cooney said. From the materials I read, even the company is not alleging that.

Cooney said this might open up the potential for UAWs council to argue for modifications in the injunction.

Specifically, the UAW can file a motion for modifications or to dissolve the injunction completely. In order to argue for modifications or dissolvement, they would have to provide evidence to counter what was alleged in Deeres injunction.

Lawyers could potentially argue that since there was no specific mention of how fire barrels and chairs were used to create a dangerous situation or impact ingress and egress out of the gates, there is no basis to ban them, according to Cooney and Iversen.

Community solidarity

More than 20 people are gathered outside of the Scott County Courthouse on Fourth Street to show solidarity with UAW members on strike.

Community leaders, union retirees, people with union family members and local government officials attended and spoke out in support of the strike and criticized Deeres injunction.

Were here to say as a community John Deere doesnt have the power, you have the power, said Honda Wang, a union organizer that initiated the event.

On the picket line

Shane Lindburg and Dave Crosiar were two of the four union members on the picket line at the main gate to the Davenport Works plant bracing the 46-degree weather without fire barrels for the first time since the start of the strike.

The scene this morning is a stark contrast to Monday, where over 50 people were gathered on the picket line. Lindburg and Crosiar said a community member dropped off hot chocolate for the picketers to help them stay warm.

Crosiar said he is comfortable out on the picket line despite the lack of a heat source.

(The injunction) doesnt scare me, Crosiar said. We do what we have to do.

Friday Oct. 22: Day 9Workers outside of the East Moline plant clustered around a fire barrel, feet away from the large, inflatable, black rat named Scabby.

Unlike the Davenport plant, they are still able to have fire barrels, cluster in groups of more than two, and stockpile snacks and firewood at the site.

Among the crowd was a younger worker who had just completed his third day at the East Moline plant when workers went on strike.

We are trying to get him his fourth day, one union worker joked.

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Kids are guaranteed a spooktacular Halloween with special events and trick-or-treating hours set in Waterloo, Cedar Falls and surrounding communities.

On Saturday, Main Street Waterloo will host its annual downtown trick-or-treat event from 10 a.m. to noon. Waterloos Urban Farmers Market will host spooky fun and trick-or-treating during market hours. More than 30 businesses and organizations will hand out candy and host activities.

In addition to trick-or-treating, the event will include contests, crafts, games and activities. A costume parade will take place through Lincoln Park at 12:30 p.m. To participate, preregister at https://www.mainstreetwaterloo.org/halloween-more-info, or on the day of the event. Prizes will be awarded in child, group and pet categories.

In Waterloo, trick-or-treating will take place throughout the community from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 31.

On Friday, the Cedar Falls Downtown District businesses will host trick-or-treating from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Merchants will be set up outside their stores, ready to hand out candy and applaud the creative and fun costumes theyll see throughout downtown.

The city of Cedar Falls has set trick-or-treating hours from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 31.

Citywide trick-or-treating in Waverly will take place from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

In Raymond, Hudson and Denver, ghosts and goblins will be out begging for candy from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 31. Evansdales trick-or-treating hours are 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 31. Elk Run Heights will have trick or treating Oct. 31 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Residents should turn on their porch light if they are participating in trick-or-treating hours. An adult should accompany children during trick-or-treating, and children should not enter a strangers home or eat any treats before returning home.

Costumes worn should fit properly to prevent tripping and be bright and reflective. Masks and makeup should not obstruct vision. Costumes, wigs and accessories should be flame-resistant. Use trick-or-treat bags or buckets with reflective tape and carry a flashlight for safety.

Walkers should obey all traffic signals and signs and stow electronic devices to remain alert to drivers. Drivers should proceed with caution and watch for pedestrians.

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ADEL  Gov. Kim Reynolds continues to signal her desire to take on the federal governments coming COVID-19 vaccine requirement for large businesses.

But one legal expert in Iowa said any such legal challenge likely faces an uphill battle.

President Joe Bidens administration plans to issue a requirement that all U.S. businesses with more than 100 employees require its workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to regular testing. Roughly 2,000 businesses in Iowa employ more than 100 workers, according to federal data.

When asked about the pending federal rule last week at a news conference held at a spring manufacturing plant, Reynolds said she is discussing with her administration how they might challenge the rule in the courts.

I do not believe in mandating vaccines. Ive been very clear about that, Reynolds said. I believe that is a personal choice.

Reynolds received the COVID-19 vaccine during a press conference in March, and she has encouraged Iowans to get the vaccine as well.

However, Reynolds also has generally opposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates, saying that decision should be allowed to be made individually.

Were going to see what is the best route (for a legal challenge), what are our options moving forward and how do we get this stayed so were not mandating that an individual make this decision between feeding their family or getting a vaccine that they fundamentally do not believe they should, Reynolds said last week.

That comment drew applause from many of the plant workers who had assembled for the press conference, even though it was not completely accurate. The federal rule does not force workers at large employers to decide between the vaccine and their jobs; workers who decline to be vaccinated have the option to retain their job if they get tested weekly for the virus.

Biden defended vaccine mandates during a recent town hall forum televised by CNN on Thursday night.

I waited until July to talk about mandating, because I tried everything else possible. The mandates are working, Biden said, referring to major U.S. companies that have required vaccines and seen small percentages of their workforce opt to quit.

Regardless, any legal challenge to the pending federal rule faces a difficult road, said Prof. Denise Hill, director of Drake Universitys health law program and an expert on health care policy, law, ethics and compliance.

I think most courts would be persuaded, regarding precedence in public health, that this (federal rule) should be upheld, Hill said. People who have appealed vaccine mandates across the country  have not been very successful in getting a stay.

Hill said she expects any legal challenge by the state would center on the Biden administrations use of the Emergency Temporary Standard, under which the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration, or OSHA, can issue a rule that goes into effect immediately.

Hill said the states legal challenge could also attack the fact the Biden administration implemented the rule only for large employers, exempting those with fewer than 100 employees.

But the federal government could defend both of those arguments, Hill said, for example by pointing out that the government first and for more than a year tried advocating for voluntary vaccine participation before deciding to move to a requirement for large businesses.

When it comes to the federal government, because so many companies are national in scope and theres interstate interactions, we have OSHA, where Congress made it very clear and gave very wide discretion to the secretary in the (U.S.) Department of Labor and OSHA to take those steps necessary to protect people in terms of their safety on the job, Hill said. And of course, OSHA is about safety on the job.

Hill said even conservative justices have declined to halt vaccine requirements. In August, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, declined to block Indiana Universitys requirement for all students to be vaccinated from COVID-19.

The fact that even very conservative justices are not finding this to be such a fundamental breaking down of peoples rights that theyre not taking the step to put a stay in place suggests to me that (the courts) are not going to change that tune, Hill said.

Almost two-thirds of Iowans 12 years and older  the segment of the population that is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine  is fully vaccinated, according to federal data. That is the 24th-highest rate in the country.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who appears to be in the witness protection program when it comes to her assigned role of restoring our southern border, has resurfaced in a video she sent to 300 Black churches in Virginia. In it, she calls on congregants to vote for Democratic candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe. She even reminds them they can vote on Sundays and urges them to do so following their church service, presumably after worshipping an authority higher than the state.

Did Harris just violate the Hatch Act? The Hatch Act says of employees of the federal government: an employee may not use his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election. Im sure getting out the vote for McAuliffe qualifies.

In the video, Harris touts what she says was McAuliffes record during his previous governorship from 2014 to 2018. She claims he brought thousands of jobs to the state. Former President Donald Trump also made this claim. But the Biden administration gives no credit to Trump for anything, though it has quietly restored some of his policies, such as requiring migrants to remain in Mexico while their asylum claims are processed.

In the video, Harris says when she attended church in Oakland, California, it was our sacred responsibility to raise our voice and to lift up the voices of our community. Translation: Vote for Democrats, though their track record is less than admirable when it comes to serving Black and brown communities. For Democrats, African Americans never seem to succeed and are always in need of government. Why? To do what? Reduce shootings in the streets of our major cities? Create and keep families together? Give parents an opportunity for their children to escape failing public schools and allow them to choose a school that provides a real education in a safe environment? None of the above. It is in Democrats self-interest to keep African Americans loyal and beholden to their party, though so little is given in return.

When a liberal Democrat talks God there is no criticism from the advocates of church-state separation because the left, which now dominates that party, knows they arent serious. Thats why Roman Catholics like President Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi seem to get away with proclaiming themselves faithful Catholics yet ignore  even oppose  their churchs teaching on abortion, marriage and homosexuality. As long as you are for the same policies advocated by secular progressives you can be religious, and the left doesnt care.

Democrats who have told conservative Christians they should not try to impose their beliefs through government obviously have no problem imposing misinterpretations of Scripture and even non-beliefs through government and judicial fiat. Some are even inconsistent in those beliefs, accepting their churchs teaching when it opposes the death penalty for murderers, but rejecting teachings that seek to protect unborn human life.

By sending a video to Black Virginia churches, Harris is guilty of the same condescension we have seen for years within her party when it comes to certain demographics. If government is the answer, would it not have succeeded by now with so many programs enacted and so much money spent?

Email Cal Thomas at tcaeditorstribpub.com.

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Politicians run the risk of damaging their credibility when they relinquish a long-held position on a critical issue. In 2012 Donald Trump tweeted that the Electoral College was a disaster for a democracy. But in 2016 he tweeted that the Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg once championed the notorious policy of stop and frisk. Now he disavows it. In 2019, after 40 years of opposing the federal funding of abortion, Joe Biden promised to support it.

Would Trump claim the Electoral College was a work of genius had he not won the 2016 election? Would Bloomberg have apologized for stop and frisk had he not been a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president? Would Biden favor federal funding of abortion if he did not have presidential aspirations? These cases are troubling. In the current climate, they call into question the motive and timing involved in a politicians change of heart. It is one thing to change your mind because of new evidence. It is quite another to change your mind because it serves your interests.

In the Clinton impeachment trial Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz took the view that certain non-criminal acts are impeachable. But in the Trump impeachment trial he took the opposite view. He claimed he had a good reason for changing his mind: What happened since 1998 is that I studied more, did more research, read more documents, and, like any academic, altered my views. We may disagree with Dershowitzs view on impeachment, but we cannot fault him for not providing reasons for his modified position.

In his famous essay, Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson claims that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With the passage of time, different circumstances and events, our beliefs can change. So, Emerson can say, Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradicts ever thing you said today. Between now and tomorrow you might discover a reason or argument that persuades you to revise your belief.

Ones motivation for being consistent is key. Emerson thinks conformity is at the root of foolish consistency. We want desperately to live up to the expectations others: The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them. Among the members of the political class conformity to the expectations of ones peers often resides in the safety net of politically correct speech, block voting, and occasionally bowing to demagogues and other radical voices. The price of conformity can be high: the loss of integrity.

It would do well for politicians, academics, and the rest of us to heed Emersons advice: Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. If you relinquish a cherished position or belief tomorrow that you hold today or in the past, do so because you find the new evidence convincing. In this way you avoid the charge of hopscotching from one belief to another, retain credibility, and preserve your reputation. It is when you cling to a belief in the face of compelling evidence to the contrary in order to please others or satisfy your own interests that you succumb to a foolish consistency and deadening conformity. At the end of the day, nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.

John Kearney is professor emeritus of philosophy at Saint Josephs University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has been a resident of Waterloo since August 2017.

John Kearney is professor emeritus of philosophy at Saint Josephs University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has been a resident of Waterloo since August 2017.

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There are nearly 14,000 public school districts in America that collectively educate approximately 55 million students. Critical race theory is not part of the curriculum or standards of any K-12 American school district, asserts Jeanne Dyches, a CRT expert and Iowa State University professor of education.

The public school CRT hoax and disinformation campaign was created by Christopher F. Rufo, senior fellow of Koch Brothers Manhattan Institute.

Whats the history behind CRT? Its roots began in the 1970s when law classes like critical legal studies were taught to prospective lawyers. CRT became a component of such courses and continues to educate lawyers to address the role of racism in their ensuing law practices and endeavor to eliminate racism (American Bar Association, Jan. 11).

Only gullible parents and legislators  who didnt check their sources  are raising hell in school board meetings and in state Legislatures over a concept that only exists in their minds, because someone with their political preferences told them a falsehood; they are lemmings at heart.

Rufo even admits to his CRT scheme. A March 15 tweet stated, We have successfully frozen their brand  critical race theory  into the public conversation and are steadily driving up negative perceptions. We will eventually turn it toxic, as we put all of the various cultural insanities under that brand strategy. The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think critical race theory. We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire race of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans (https://twitter.com).

Ponder who is touting the conspiracy theory that CRT is being taught in public schools and ask yourself if their platitudes are fair and balanced: Fox News, The Daily Wire, Breitbart, Newsmax, Koch Brothers Americans for Prosperity, Center for Renewing America, Freedom Works, American Legislative Exchange Council, The Heritage Action Foundation, Faith and Freedom Coalition, and White Christian Nationalists.

Americans may recall on Sept. 22, 2020, former president Donald Trump signed Executive Order 13950 banning the use of CRT by federal departments and contractors in diversity training. A federal judge knew the truth and overturned Trumps fictitious executive order (USA Today, Dec. 23). President Joe Biden formally rescinded the order the first day he took office. But by then CRT was part of the right-wing conservatives fraudulent campaign.

It is well known there are more than 20 high-profile conservative organizations, including ALEC, who GOP legislators purposely copycat their proposed legislation  word-for-word - into law (Triple Pundit, July 21). In the spring of 2021, Republicans from 26 states were duped into introducing ALEC-supported anti-CRT legislation.

Republican legislators and governors from the following eight states got sucked in  hook, line and sinker  and signed into law the CRT ban in public K-12 schools: Arizona, Iowa, Indiana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas (Understanding the Attacks on Teaching, Aug. 5).

Conservative lawmakers, governors and the GOP have seen early on that their caricatures of curriculum for racial and gender justice could indeed serve as a hot-button culture war ... mobilizing the Republican base that will influence not only the 2022 midterm elections ... but also the less visible elections to control school boards.

With Nov. 2 being the date to elect school board members, beware of candidates who are touting the ban on CRT in K-12 schools as they have proven they didnt do their homework and are false prophets. Also let your GOP legislators and the governor know your thoughts and that their constituents being hoodwinked with the disinformation, misinformation and false public school CRT curriculum campaign.

Steve Corbin is an emeritus professor of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa and former Denver Board of Education member. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not reflect those of the University of Northern Iowa.
Every four years, Albuquerque voters convene to elect city leaders whose vision best meets the needs of our community. In 2017, my husband and I were humbled when he was chosen by the people of Albuquerque to serve as mayor, and I was honored to assume the role of first lady. To be sure, the challenges in our path were many. Rising crime plagued our neighborhoods and the unhoused population was the highest it had ever been. Despite these challenges, we set out to build a better future for everyone in Albuquerque.

Since he took office four years ago, Tim and his team have built a foundation to combat crime, hiring 100 new police officers each year, tripling the staff in our citys homicide unit, and creating an innovative new Community Safety Department to respond to some 911 calls with social workers. The city has started on the new Gateway Center to bring integrated, compassionate services to the unhoused. And, when New Mexicans were faced with an unprecedented public health crisis and subsequent economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, this administration stepped up to protect both lives and livelihoods. The city provided care for 10,000 kids of essential workers, delivered over 1 million meals to seniors, and invested $300 million in construction projects to help stimulate small business, create jobs and improve our infrastructure.

I am proud of Tim for all we have accomplished  not just as a family or an administration, but as a community. Unfortunately, another candidate and his team have attacked our family with malicious and unsubstantiated claims about Tim and our police officers. While I am confident that our friends, neighbors and community members are able to see through these blatantly untrue accusations, it saddens me to see their political discourse has become so toxic. As a working mom and champion for civic engagement, I feel that it is important to push back against lies like these, which are designed to turn people away from public service and the political process that belongs to all of us. Our family, and everyone in Albuquerque, deserves better.

Looking ahead to the next four years, there is still much work to be done. As we continue to recover from the pandemic, we will need ongoing investments in housing services, criminal justice reform and good jobs. Now, more than ever, we need a mayor who will address these complex challenges with honesty and integrity, and we need a leadership team with the vision, knowledge and experience to work together for a better future for all. I am incredibly proud of my husband and  of his teams leadership and unwavering values, and I know Im voting to Keep Keller on Nov. 2.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Being married to a New York City guy means we are always on the hunt for the best pizza  the best New York-style pizza. And what an adventure its been.

We once took a one-hour train ride from Manhattan to Coney Island so I could be introduced to the best pizza, Totonnos Pizzeria Napolitana  home of the oldest, continually run, family-owned pizzeria in America. It was everything I had imagined.

A thin, crispy and chewy crust generously blistered in the coal-fired brick oven, topped with just enough red sauce and homemade mozzarella cheese for a pizza I will never forget. Nor will I forget the two sisters, Cookie and Antoinette, third-generation owners whose cantankerous, but lovable, personalities were worth the trek. The dedication to their craft and their family legacy as pizzaiolos was palpable.

While there are ample pizza restaurants in and around Santa Fe, the New York variety is not the prevailing style. Rather, every pizza joint seems to have its own take on pizza, ranging from thick crusts to flatbread-style to other pizza interpretations.

It wasnt until we stumbled into Brunos one day at lunch, hungry for a quick slice of pizza, that I learned we have authentic, third-, fourth- and fifth-generation Italian pizza-makers in northern New Mexico. Though they are multi-generation pizza-makers, this is their first commercial pizza venture.

Nestled off Paseo de Peralta between Guadalupe and Cerrillos behind two big food trucks is a hidden gem for anyone who misses a taste of New York-style pizza. This family-owned and -operated pizzeria, open only during the week for lunch, has a casual outdoor setting that features four well-worn wooden picnic tables with umbrellas where diners congregate to wait for their to-go order or to eat.

What started as a family hobby in 2015 with a food truck continues to evolve. We launched the food truck as a labor of love to share the food we eat, which is as close to New York as you can get, says Vincenzo Bruno-Marchi, third-generation patriarch and Brunos wood-fired pizza artisan.

He tells the story of how his grandfather, Giordano Bruno, a boxer whose nickname was Punchy, emigrated from Varese, Italy, to New York. Punchy worked at a pizza restaurant on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, and this was the beginning of the familys multi-generational dedication to pizza.

The family then moved to Chicago, where Punchy continued to make pizza, but struggled to find an ingredient that replicated the famous New York City water for the dough. After a lot of trial and error, Punchy added IPA beer and a few other secret ingredients and the dough was as good  if not better  than what he had produced in New York.

During the Prohibition era, the family relocated again to Salida, Colorado, and eventually landed in northern New Mexico, where they have remained. Born in 1946 at St. Vincents hospital on Palace and Paseo de Peralta, Vincenzo continues to make pizza the way his grandfather taught him and he is determined to keep the tradition alive.

The family business comprises Vincenzo at the helm; his wife, who handles the business side of things; and their daughter, who is the hostess and hustles to take care of the hungry customers. There are also two sons involved  one who operates Punchyz food truck at breweries and distilleries in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque at night and on the weekends, and another who helps out during the weekends when needed. There are times when there are seven or eight of us working during busy weekends at festivals and events, Vincenzo says proudly.

Even though their New York connections are long gone, they pride themselves on sourcing many of their essential ingredients from The Big Apple. This includes pizza flours, a New York-style cheese blend, ricotta and Chianti-infused sun-dried tomatoes. Everything else, they make from scratch using family recipes.

The kitchen is an outdoor tent where the Italian, wood-burning Valoriani pizza oven sits on a trailer so that its prepped and ready during the week, and ready to roll at night and on the weekends. Using only oak wood, Vincenzo gets the fire flaming to an impressive 900 degrees, which is how the pizza crust attains the gorgeous blackened edges and cooks in 90 seconds. Quick on his feet, this septuagenarian is constantly on the run as he dashes to and from the kitchen carrying hot slices of pizza on paper plates or whole pies in big pizza boxes to customers.

Over several visits, we tried the lunch specials  a gigantic slice of pizza for $5 and the $7 special that includes a frozen lemon granita. These huge slices come from a pre-made 20-inch cheese pizza with your choice of toppings added before it goes back into the oven to reheat it to a bubbly perfection. We also ordered the $10 lunch special, an 8-inch individual margarita pizza made in the familys Neopolitan style, which also comes with a frozen lemon granita, as well as a mini-cannoli. Though the pizza size is perfect for one, we found the crust entirely too thick and doughy for our thin-crust, New York pizza taste.

If you want more than a slice, the menu offers plenty of combinations of toppings, as well as vegan and gluten-free crust options. Or, let Vincenzo make you a custom pie just the way you want it. We were so smitten that we returned for a gigantic 20-inch sausage #3 pie ($34.75) that easily feeds a group, with leftovers for breakfast the next day.

With three salads on the menu, my dining companions and I easily committed to Caesar salad. Made with crispy hearts of romaine and topped with shredded Parmesan, croutons and big anchovies, the dressing is served on the side. The large $8 salad was generous enough for three people and good, but dimmed in brilliance when compared to the stellar pizza. For those who want to eat on the go, try the $16 stromboli and calzones, which come with an arugula salad.

If you need something sweet after a savory, cheesy pizza, the cannolis are the real deal. Stuffed with ricotta cheese, sugar and cinnamon, each single-serving mini-cannoli is sprinkled with powdered sugar and is a terrific two-bite treat.

Each day, the familys goal is to replicate traditional New York-style pizza in Punchys honor. Knowing that the upcoming generation, 5-year-old Gianni, is already learning to throw skins (thats Italian for tossing dough in the air), means we can rest easy and trust that the family legacy will continue to feed future generations of New York pizza lovers in northern New Mexico.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

The dueling abstractions of Sharon Booma and Sammy Peters reveal the deeper instincts of their nature.

Worlds Within, a two-person exhibition of mixed-media paintings at Santa Fes LewAllen Galleries, explores their work through Oct. 30. While both artists hint at allusions to the physical world, they center their work in tension, balance and emotion.

Based in northeastern Florida, Booma fell in love with abstraction during a college still life class. She began painting the set scene realistically, then took the work home for winter break with radical alteration.

When I came back, they professor said, Who did this? I thought he was going to yell, but he was really pleased, Booma said in a telephone interview.

I wanted to explore more than was right in front of me.

Booma taught herself to draw when she was 7 years old and has been working in abstraction ever since.

What happens on the canvas is unpredictable and surprising, she said. The surprise is what makes it very stimulating and exciting to me.

Booma paints directly onto the canvas. To create her current work, she mixed oil paint with cold wax in layers on board.

Eventually, you can etch through and uncover the first surface, she said. Its very exciting.

You discover the history of the painting when you scrape away, she continued. You have to be willing to take that unknown path.

Booma considers herself somewhat of a voyeur. She discovers pure forms and colors around her in nature, hummingbirds, even the Boston docks. She cites the great colorist Henri Matisse as a supreme influence, as well as Agnes Martin, Robert Motherwell and Cy Twombly.

Many of the pieces are very meditative, Booma said. Its a reflection of my meditative state and my experience with color. Most of the work grows from the canvas.

Peters web page reads Paintingalways painting. Using a complex interplay of expressive brushwork, sweeping gestural marks, drips and collage, he creates painterly geometric shapes in jazzy rhythms. Critics have compared him to the lyrical abstraction of Richard Diebenkorn and Phillip Guston. As a child in Little Rock, Arkansas in the 1950s, Peters was encouraged by his father, who owned a sign-painting business and painted portraits for the neighbors.

The family could throw crayons and a piece of paper at me, and keep me busy for hours, he said in a telephone interview from Little Rock.

Today, he says, Its something that, if I dont do, Im not as good a friend or husband. It sort of keeps me grounded.

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At first, he was shocked when he discovered the paintings of the Abstract Expressionists Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline. Then, he revelled in their muscular bravado. He thought of moving to New York, but the family sign company beckoned as a free studio.

Peters work combines cold wax with collage in an animated cadence of shapes and lines.

I like to see the marks and struggles of a painting as they come into fruition, he said.

His is a subtle use of collage with paper and fabric, adhered by the cold wax. Reminder modified sphere, 2021, features a piece of his granddaughters polka dot Sunday school dress in the left corner. People often stop by his studio on the way to Good Will to show him old clothing before its recycled.

Most people dont even notice the fabric swatches, he says. He avoids symbolism and any hint of representationalism.

Its the way I see nature, Peters said. Humans try to make these perfect rectangles. Sidewalks are perfect, then, years later, trees start breaking through and, eventually, Nature fights back all the things we build. Its beautiful to me.
While Santa Fes mayoral election has become increasingly nasty, theres one issue on the Nov. 2 ballot  with early voting already underway  that everybody should be able to rally around and support.

That issue is making sure that local students have good buildings and up-to-date equipment in order to provide the best learning environments possible.

The Santa Fe school district has two funding measures before voters. No new property tax increases are proposed, although tax rates would go down a bit if voters say no to the funding proposals.

One of the ballot measures would authorize issuance of $100 million in general obligation bonds, pitched as renewal of a similarly sized bond in 2017.

Some of the bigger projects slated for bond money include a $22.5 million rebuild/expansion of Mandela International Magnet School; $16.4 million for a new commons area, drop-off zone and breezeway at Santa Fe High School; and more than $14 million in spending at the Early College Opportunities High School, the districts vocational, trades and early college credit school that needs to expand, with a building for core academic programs and a cafeteria/gym.

Capital High School would get a new roof, Sweeney Elementary is in line for upgrades to security, restrooms, the drop-off area and its electrical system, and Ortiz Middle School would see more than $5 million in overall renovation. An estimated $23.5 million goes to various districtwide projects, including $4.7 million in such sustainability efforts as solar power and water conservation.

While no new taxes are needed to back the GO bonds, the impact on tax rates should the bonds be rejected has been hard to nail down. A ballpark estimate might be something in the neighborhood of $80 a year on a house with a market value of $300,000, which was the tax increase approved for districts 2017 bond issue, also totaling $100 million.

The other ballot proposal, known as the House Bill 33 Mill Levy, would renew a 1.5 mill property tax, or $1.50 on every $1,000 of taxable value. On a $300,000 home, where taxable value is $100,000, that means $150 a year.

The state-authorized tax raises about $9 million a year for Santa Fe schools, and helps pay for school maintenance, custodial services, repairs, playground equipment and fencing. Funds go to every school in the district, including charter schools.

District officials say the mill-levy money gives the district flexibility to respond to emergencies and that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it paid for such safety improvements as plexiglass barriers, disinfecting machines, HEPA air purifiers, outdoor learning spaces and upgraded HVAC filters.

More than $2.5 million in new money on the ballot is targeted at creating more outdoor learning spaces and improving playgrounds. Nothing on the funding list sounds unnecessary, or like a luxury.

After a big boost in graduation rates last year, the Santa Fe schools still have a long way to go to get academic performance up where everyone wants it, particularly in math and reading proficiency. Providing decent facilities and equipment for students and staff is one way taxpayers can help continue the progress toward achieving Santa Fes public education goals.

Here are the Journal Norths endorsements for the four Santa Fe City Council seats on the Nov. 2 election ballot:

District 1: Incumbent Signe Lindell, an avowed animal lover who is seeking a third four-year term. There are other good choices in this multi-candidate race, but Lindell has proven to be a intelligent councilor who puts in the time, knows what shes talking about, adheres to no clique and, by many accounts, is responsive to constituents.

District 2: Incumbent Carol Romero-Wirth has no opponent, but she deserves an endorsement, anyway, as another smart councilor who prepares for the job. She says that, if reelected, she will emphasize creation of a sustainable fund for affordable housing, strengthening the citys water resources and development of the city-owned Midtown Campus.

District 3: In a race with two good candidates, incumbent Roman Abeyta gets the nod, mainly because of his tireless and passionate advocacy for his south Santa Fe district. A major feather in his cap is the recent groundbreaking for a Southside teen center.

District 4: Amanda Chavez offers appropriate experience as a city planning commissioner and as a product of Santa Fe Public schools who went on to become a teacher, elementary school principal and, now, director of special education for the district. She should bring a sharp focus to the councils discussion on how the city can better serve young people.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

CERRILLOS  In Italy, from the 1500s to the 1700s, the bite of a tarantula was suspected of causing hysteria whose victims were cured by frenzied dancing, giving rise to the lively folk dance called the Tarantella.

But no one was bitten and no frenzied dancing was evident last week when almost 100 people showed up for a 1-mile, 1-hour guided tour/hike at Cerrillos Hills State Park, all with an interest in the subject of the day: tarantulas.

Eighty-seven people of all ages hiked and listened with rapt attention as Park Manager Peter Lipscomb led the hike and, at stops along the way, gave animated talks laced with humor about the fuzzy creatures.

Its one of those things thats special about being here in New Mexico, just like the smell of roasted chile in the autumn, the turning of the aspen leaves, there are things that we get used to and kind of set our own little personal calendars with, and tarantulas  out for a mating season  are, for some people, one of them, Lipscomb told the crowd.

He warned he could not predict wildlife behavior to assuage hopes and none of the creatures was sighted.

This is an annual event, but the first one held since 2019. While many locals from around the area showed up, Pattie Chouinard and Cheryl Rodzen, both paralegals from Connecticut, on a two-week New Mexico tour, had their interest piqued enough to drive down from Santa Fe. Rodzen is a huge Green Bay Packers fan and the twosome were looking for an after-game activity.

We saw it on some website, Chouinard said. We were looking for something today and we are staying in Santa Fe, and thought we would take a trip down to Madrid and walk around, and this popped up and it happened to be today, she said.

We love it up here (New Mexico), said Rodzen, noting it was their fourth or fifth visit. We certainly dont have them (tarantulas) in Connecticut, and we have seen two so far on this trip. Those were spotted in southern New Mexico. We thought it would be a cool time to maybe see some more, said Rodzen.

After a short walk up the road to the trailhead, Lipscomb stopped to address the group. After he corrected someones assertion that the tarantulas were migrating (they dont), one man called out the answer to why they are out and about now: Looking for love.

This is mating season, cherchez la femme (French for look for the woman), said Lipscomb, adding a touch of romance language to romantic endeavors. Thats why tarantulas are active this time of year, he said.

Before leading the group up a moderately steep trail under deep blue autumnal skies, Lipscomb pulled out a glass frame containing Mr. Boris, a male western desert tarantula he spared from a road squashing a few years back. A reporter asked to get a close-up photo of Boris. Thats Mr. Boris, Lipscomb corrected him.

He launched into some anatomical arachnid details, such as their 10 appendages, and put aside any biological debate about whether they are spiders or not.

Two of those appendages are called pedipalps, like little hands, which is what they use to get things or to move things back and forth.

The females have much larger abdomens and can live from eight to 10 years, while males life expectancy, if they can avoid a car, is three to four years.

Lipscomb said he has only seen one female in 12 seasons.

Male tarantulas are the only ones we see out this time of year, said Lipscomb. They are looking for the females, so trying to find a female tarantula is kind of tricky because they are in their burrows and the only way the males will find them is generally by a drumming that the females will do, he said. If they are interested in a gentleman caller, they will start rooting around and making some sounds, and the males will maybe be able to detect that.

The hikers, including Judy Robinson and her husband, Neil, of Santa Fe, seemed to enjoy the camaraderie of the tour and Lipscombs expertise.

We like to hike, anyway, and I love guided tours with somebody knowledgeable so you can learn something, said Judy Robinson.

Lipscomb called tarantulas really amazing animals and, using the framed Mr. Boris, charts and a soft tarantula animal, he regaled the unenlightened with more esoteric tarantula trivia.

They have eight eyes, four in the front, one on each side and two in the back, and they rub their rear legs when endangered to shed barbed hairs that can irritate and ward off potential predators.

There appears to be some ambiguity regarding tarantula folklore, as is often the case in folklore. While some sources say it was a tarantulas bite that set off hysterical attacks in ancient Italy, Lipscomb has a slightly different take, attributing the frenzy to the wolf spider, which shares some tarantula characteristics.

Its actually the wolf spider that caused the level of toxicity that made people crazy, tarantulas got a bad rap, man, they definitely did, said Lipscomb.

Both spiders have a toxic bite, but, for humans, it is generally considered equivalent to a bee sting.

Even the young in the group garnered some knowledge from the day in the fresh air, and perhaps an experience to share with classmates.

Steven Zappe, 7, of Santa Fe, was out with his dad, Christopher. I liked it, Steven said of the hike.

I didnt know there was such a thing as the tarantula hawk wasp, he added, alluding to Lipscombs description of a tarantula predator.

Robert Gear and his wife, Jolene, of Eldorado, also enjoyed their day out. A neighbor, who had taken the tarantula tour previously, told them about it. Hiking and nature, and so forth, thats always nice, said Gear. Id liked to have seen some tarantulas, but we were warned  and now we know where it is, I suppose we might come out again on our own some time.

The Connecticut tourists Pattie Chouinard and Cheryl Rodzen, also enjoyed their day and plan on returning to the state. It was a good hike. I guess I had hoped that we would see tarantulas, but I learned a lot about them, even if I didnt see any, said Chouinard.

I thought it was very interesting, I think it was a great turnout, said Rodzen. It was great to see a lot of people, especially locals, who are interested in the local insects. Im happy we did it.

But how did it compare to Packers-Bears? The Packers game was a little different, said Rodzen. The Packers stung the Bears, 24-14.
The innovations of Luis Tapia and Rose B. Simpson take on traditions with a contemporary twist.

Both New Mexico artists are the recent winners of $60,000 Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowships.

The Santa Clara Pueblo-based Simpson and Santa Fe resident Tapia are two of 15 artists chosen nationally for the unrestricted award. According to the foundation, they were picked from 166 applicants from across the U.S.

For mixed-media artist Simpson, the nod caps years of applying for multiple fellowships. Her artwork investigates the complex issues of past, present and humanitys tenuous survival in our current ecological condition.

Simpson learned about the fellowship in a phone call from the foundation.

I was shocked, she said in a telephone interview from Santa Clara Pueblo, because I thought applications were like gambling. I said, Are you for real? 

The foundation will distribute the money incrementally over five years.

Any kind of predictable income is an incredible feeling, Simpson said.

Simpson is best known for her sculptural work Maria, a 1985 Chevy El Camino painted in San Ildefonso black-on-black in tribute to the legendary potter Maria Martinez. From 2019-2020 it traveled nationally with the exhibition Hearts of Our People.

Simpson studied auto body at work at Northern New Mexico College after earning her masters in fine arts degree at Rhode Island School of Design. She wanted to learn how to build low riders.

Car culture in northern New Mexico and Espanola is the aesthetics of the every day, she said. This one was totally beat up. I found her on the side of the road in Nambe.

Her figural sculpture The Remembering, (2020) emerged from her reflections on the abuses at Indian boarding schools. Simpson wrapped a trio of identical figures in fabric.

Theyre very cocoon-like, she said. Theyre wrapped in cocoons or blankets. Theres a sense of remembering the children who were taken and remembering thats how they survived.

Tapia is a self-taught artist best known for his innovative wood carvings blending the Hispanic bulto tradition with contemporary culture.

He had heard someone had nominated him for the fellowship.

I came home one day and there was a message on the phone, he said. I had totally forgotten about the application. The nomination in itself was an honor.

According to Kay Takeda, deputy director of the foundations artistic programs, the jury wanted to honor Tapias longevity and his practice of building dialogue around his art. He has been working for more than 40 years.

Tapias Trump Day Care, (2020) is a carved and painted wood sculpture of children locked in a prison cell.

Its really a sad thing because all the Mexican kids taken from the border and taken from their families, he said. These are infants and small children, and their whole life beginning is incarceration for nothing.

I had promised myself I was never going to connect my name with his, Tapia continued. But then I had to say something.

Broken Promises (2017) continues the theme, with the Statue of Libertys skeletal arm raised above the countless faces of immigrants.

All the people painted on the Statue of Liberty are the people who built the Statue of Liberty, Tapia said. But again, they shut the doors on all the beautiful people. Even the statue; shes dying.

Tapias work can be found in the Albuquerque Museum, the Autry Museum of the American West, the Denver Art Museum, New Yorks American Folk Art Museum, the Heard Museum in Phoenix and more.

Simpsons work has appeared at SITE Santa Fe, the Heard Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, the National Museum of the American Indian and the Denver Art Museum.

Joan Mitchell was an artist whose career spanned more than four decades, from her first professional solo exhibition in New York in 1952 until her death in France in 1992.
Any big event has to start somewhere, so reasoned Carmen Medrano.

Medrano has organized the first Noche de Altares, set for Oct. 29 within the John Dunn Shops between the Taos Plaza and Bent Street.

Also known as the Night of Altars, it is a cultural experience that brings Mexican tradition and identity to the fore as part of the Dia de los Muertos.

People are invited to build an altar for lost family members and friends, honoring them, remembering them and lighting a path for their brief return, said Medrano, 39.

Im a first generation Mexican American but my husband is a Taoseno and Im raising two Taosenos myself, she said.

But a lot of traditional culture get lost when integrating into the U.S., Medrano said, and she wants to try and preserve some of that.

Being a first generation Mexican American, your parents want the best for you and they think the best thing for you is assimilation, she said. They dont want you to have the burden of being different.

As a matter of fact, Medranos mother would go out of her way to hand-make stunning costumes for Halloween.

Some of that assimilation comes with the cost of losing who you are, she said. Because of that, I learned a lot about New Mexico history. It is something that is very deep-rooted. Theres so much death here. So much conquest and so many forgotten things.

When Medranos grandmother died about 10 years ago, she lit candles as called for under Catholic tradition, but there was this feeling that something was missing, she said.

We had this feeling that there was this part of her that needed to be celebrated, Medrano said. Her mother needed to be celebrated. So my mom and I started to create altares for Dia de (los) Muertos. Wed make mole and other traditional Mexican food and wed tell stories. Its something that weve been doing for the last 10 years.

Given New Mexicos multi-cultural heritage, she said, it just made sense to expand the celebration beyond her family, welcoming all local resident and visitors who might happen to wander past.

Were not expecting it to be anything grand or huge, Medrano said. Its the first year, so were just hoping to have it become something, but right now we dont know how the community is going to be.

Still, Medrano and a few other organizers knew they if they wanted to get it going, it had to start somewhere.

We just wanted to get together, create some altars and represent what Dia de los Muertos is about, Medrano said. I think some traditions have been lost in this area.  The day is not just a day of costumes. I think sometimes things get overlooked.

The festivities will include music, dancers and plenty of mingling, as people are encouraged talk about the altares, ask questions and have a good time, she said.

Its fun and exciting and the party is there and supposed to be there but lets not forget the root of why were celebrating, Medrano said. Its a great way to show this is our culture. That culture is who we are and its a good way to represent who we are.

Medrano said she plans to display a seven-level altar that will include an homage to her grandmother, including a traditional sugar skull.

Its a 3,000-year-old tradition where you decorate a skull that represents each dearly departed, with their name on the forehead, she explained. The idea is for people to walk by and if they have questions, that individual can talk about it and say what they have to say. Every altar is unique to each individual. Theres no wrong way or right way to do this.

Noche de Altares

WHEN: 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29 WHERE: John Dunn Shops, 120-124 Bent St., Taos
Jannis Schelenz, a camera assistant, and Sarah Minnich, an actress, hold hands and candles in a crowd gathered to remember cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. (Nadav Soroker/For the Albuquerque Journal) Candlelight illuminates an image of Halyna Hutchins at a vigil in Albuquerque on Saturday. (Nadav Soroker/For the Albuquerque Journal) Melvin Prescott, a special effects artist, relights candles at an impromptu shrine for Halyna Hutchins. (Nadav Soroker/For the Albuquerque Journal) A crowd gathers at Civic Plaza in Albuquerque to remember Halyna Hutchins. (Nadav Soroker/For the Albuquerque Journal) Prev 1 of 4 Next

New Mexicos film and television community came together to remember cinematographer Halyna Hutchins at a candlelight vigil at Civic Plaza in Albuquerque on Saturday evening.

Hutchins, 42, was killed Thursday by a prop gun fired during the filming of Rust on a movie set near Santa Fe.

Lets gather together to honor Halyna and her accomplishments, and grieve together as one, Local 600 International Cinematographers Guild said on Facebook.

The group is also planning a memorial on Sunday in Burbank, California.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Incumbent Tim Keller has a sizable lead over his challengers in the homestretch of the Albuquerque mayors race and may be poised to win a second term without a runoff, according to a new Journal Poll.

Over half of the citys likely voters  53%  say they already have or would vote for Keller, more than the two other candidates on the ballot combined. Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales polled at 20%, while radio host Eddy Aragon is at 13%.

Results of the poll, conducted by Albuquerque-based Research & Polling Inc., show 12% of voters remain undecided.

Keller has campaigned as a candidate with a practical plan, citing his four years of experience and a number of programs already in motion, while Gonzales has touted his tough-on-crime approach as the answer to the citys current challenges. Aragon, who has never held elected office, has cast himself as an alternative to career politicians who can tackle the issues with a new perspective.

Although the mayoral and Albuquerque City Council races are technically nonpartisan, the new poll indicates strong differences based on party.

Keller, a Democrat, has a commanding lead among Democrats, with support from 78% of those polled.

Gonzales is also a registered Democrat but has far more conservative stances and actually fares better among Republicans than with those in his own party. He has support from just 8% of Democrats compared with 38% of Republicans.

Keller is a progressive Democrat, and many Democrats are progressive, so theyre sticking with Keller, said Research & Polling Inc. President Brian Sanderoff. (Gonzales) is a Democrat, but he hasnt been advertising it.

Aragon, a radio station owner and conservative talk show host, is the only Republican on the ballot, a fact he has heavily touted. He has 29% of the Republican vote, the poll shows.

Gonzales and Aragon are battling for Republicans, who Sanderoff said will represent approximately a third of the voters in this election. That works in Kellers favor.

For Keller to lose, at a minimum youd need for the Republicans to get behind a particular candidate, and thats not happening, Sanderoff said.

Aragon entered the race late, waiting until late July to mount his ballot-qualifying push. He has likely attracted voters who would otherwise have cast ballots for Gonzales, the pollster said.

(Gonzales) supporters are more likely to have Eddy Aragon as the second choice and vice versa, whereas Keller suppo rters are more likely to have no one as a second choice, Sanderoff said.

That was supported by the poll, which showed that more than half those who planned to vote for Gonzales selected Aragon as their second choice and those who planned to vote for Aragon named Gonzales as their second choice.

Albuquerques city charter requires that mayoral candidates get at least 50% of the vote to win the office; in cases where no candidate reaches that threshold, the top two contenders move to a runoff.

Keller won his first mayoral campaign in 2017 in a runoff, but Sanderoff said the results show theres a good chance he can avoid that second round in 2021.

The election is Nov. 2, although early voting commenced Oct. 5 and is offered in-person at 20 locations in the Albuquerque area through Oct. 30.

The 2021 mayoral race has been a wild ride, from a flying sex toy interrupting an early Gonzales campaign event to the sheriffs high-profile  and ultimately unsuccessful  fight to get public financing for his bid. Each mayoral candidate has faced at least one campaign ethics complaint, some of which will not make it before the citys Board of Ethics & Campaign Practices until after Election Day.

The Journal Poll is based on a scientific, citywide sample of 536 likely regular local election voters, including those who voted in the 2017 and/or 2019 local elections and a small sample of newly registered voters likely to vote in 2021.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 15 through Oct. 21. The voter sample has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. The margin of error grows for subsamples.

All interviews were conducted by live, professional interviewers, with multiple callbacks to households that did not initially answer the phone.

Both cellphone numbers (82%) and landlines (18%) were used.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Deep inside the towering Lovelace Medical Center, Dr. Teri Heynekamp walked past room after room of intensive care patients.

Then a nurse asked for help.

Heynekamp stepped in as the nurse and others gripped bedsheets and tugged hard to shift an intubated mans position in bed  an effort to ensure oxygen reaches every part of his lungs.

It was Day 587 of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Mexico, just another brief hospital scene amid 19 months of loneliness, fatigue and grief.

We feel exhausted, Heynekamp said in an interview, like a type of exhaustion that Ive never experienced in my life.

As New Mexico approaches 5,000 COVID-19 deaths, doctors and other health care providers say their workload has hardly let up. Besides coronavirus infections, providers say, patients are showing up sicker with all kinds of conditions after having delayed their care earlier in the pandemic.

Even the arrival of safe, effective vaccines, some doctors say, has provided little relief, introducing a new dynamic instead  the knowledge that most of todays COVID-19 deaths are preventable. People who werent fully vaccinated accounted for 96% of the deaths in a recent four-week period.

We feel like they didnt need to die, said Heynekamp, a pulmonologist and critical care physician who works in the intensive care unit at Lovelace.

In interviews last week, Albuquerque doctors made it clear that, for them, the 5,000-death threshold is more than just a number.

Its a reminder of traumatic scenes played out over and over again  straining to turn a sedated patient in bed, watching someone die alone, loved ones saying goodbye over a video call.

Were prepared for sick people, said Dr. Jason Mitchell, chief medical officer at Presbyterian Healthcare Services, the states largest private employer. What were not prepared for is to have people die alone and be the only person who talks to the family.

Moral injury

The trauma adds up.

Dr. Steve McLaughlin, chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, said hospital leaders throughout the country are trying to address burnout among their workforce and moral injury  a concept usually applied to refugees and soldiers in wartime.

In health care, moral injury refers to the distress endured by doctors and others as theyre forced to provide less care than normal.

Patients might face delays in receiving care or die as they await transfer to a bigger hospital.

After 19 months of this, to be honest, everyones tired, McLaughlin said. COVID was terrible, and its not over. At the same time, weve moved into another phase where the hospital is also busy with other kinds of patients.

Steve Nuanez, director of Employee Well-Being at UNM Hospital, said some providers report feelings of failure or inadequacy as they try to accommodate patient loads beyond the hospitals normal capacity.

Over the last four to five months, he said, weve seen more and more people reaching out for help, and more and more leaders reaching out and saying, Our staff, theyre struggling. 

In the early days of the pandemic, Nuanez said, health care workers were incredibly busy and focused on the task at hand. Later, he said, they found optimism in the knowledge that vaccines were nearing approval. But now many providers are simply exhausted.

Health care workers  last year, they were heroes, Nuanez said. This year, theres also this controversy around vaccines and so many different things. Theyre not always viewed in the same light.

Above water

The stress on health care providers goes well beyond coronavirus infections.

New Mexico has had a long-standing shortage of doctors and nurses, especially in rural areas, and fewer beds per capita than the nation as a whole.

But the pandemic has increased the pressure.

Dr. Michel Boivin, a critical care physician at Lovelace, said a key challenge now is the scarcity of space available in larger hospitals to accept patients from smaller ones.

I had a guy who needed a pacemaker, Boivin said, and he was sitting in a rural New Mexico hospital for a whole day with his heart barely beating.

Before the pandemic, he said, there would have been no wait for a pacemaker-related transfer.

The state Department of Health last week issued an order allowing hospitals to activate crisis standards of care. The move provides some legal protection for doctors called on to work outside their normal scope of practice and standardizes decision-making at hospitals for how to ration care when demand exceeds the supply of beds or other resources.

New Mexico has been stuck in a six-week plateau  perhaps even a gradual rise  in new COVID-19 infections detected each day. State officials had hoped a late-summer surge fueled by the delta variant would have receded by now.

The outlook for hospital capacity is unclear.

Mitchell, the Presbyterian doctor, said health care leaders will be closely watching for a wintertime rise in flu and RSV, a respiratory virus that often spreads among children.

Were at a plateau right now, Mitchell said. We are able to keep our heads above water, but barely. We could tip over very fast.

Lies, sadness

The preventable nature of most COVID-19 deaths, some doctors say, has added to the psychological toll.

Heynekamp and Boivin  who are married and work at Lovelace  said they and other providers have faced patients and family members who doubt the severity of the disease. Some families ask for a specific medicine, such as ivermectin, an anti-parasite drug not approved for COVID-19 treatment.

A recent ICU patient, Heynekamp said, insisted his COVID-19 infection wasnt worse than the flu. Others want to go home against medical advice, she said, and some families reject vaccination even after a loved one dies.

Theres so much anger toward health care providers, Heynekamp said. Theres so much animosity. Theres so much mistrust.

Weve never dealt with that before.

Boivin put it this way: The way that social media rewards disinformation and spreading lies at the expense of peoples lives has been unbelievably frustrating, as well as time consuming.

McLaughlin, the UNM physician, said he recently cared for a middle-aged man about his own age. The patient had a COVID-19 infection, hadnt been vaccinated and was having trouble breathing.

Really the feeling is just one of sadness that the person is sick and that it was preventable, McLaughlin said.

Vaccines, masks

It was once shocking to think hundreds of people could die of COVID-19 in New Mexico, much less thousands. Skepticism greeted an early statistical model that projected 500 deaths in the pandemics first few months.

But as the state prepares to pass 5,000 fatalities, the doctors who talked to the Journal urged New Mexicans to reflect on the magnitude of the loss and take steps to limit spread of the disease.

They urged people to get vaccinated, wear masks indoors and wash their hands.

I feel a lot of empathy for the families who are still losing their loved ones, McLaughlin said. I think its important to remind people that the pandemic is not over, and we have to continue to focus on the things we know can keep people safe and prevent additional deaths.

As Heynekamp walked through the seventh-floor ICU at Lovelace, she noted that she had stood in many of the rooms and watched patients say goodbye, often through a video call to loved ones.

It was, she said, a lonely way to die.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Slightly more Albuquerque voters are willing to cast ballots for Tim Keller this fall than think he is doing a good job as mayor, according to a new Journal poll.

Although 53% of likely voters in the city say they have voted for Keller or will vote for him, his approval rating in the same poll is 50%.

Thirty-six percent of likely voters disapprove of the job he is doing, and 12% say they have mixed feelings.

Keller, who is now wrapping up his first term in office, has historically enjoyed higher ratings; his job approval rating was 60% a year ago and 61% in 2018.

Brian Sanderoff of Research & Polling Inc. said there are likely several reasons for the decline, including crime. With months still to go in 2021, Albuquerque already has broken its annual homicide record. Meanwhile, Kellers mayoral opponents have spent months highlighting the citys ongoing crime challenges.

The pandemic may be a factor too. Surveys have shown most residents thought the city government did well responding to COVID-19, which could have contributed to Kellers 60% rating a year ago but might not be a large consideration in voters minds today.

Even beyond that, Sanderoff said, is the normal waning of support.

Its hard to maintain high approval ratings during a mayors term, said Sanderoff, whose Albuquerque-based firm conducted the poll.

Not surprisingly, voters from the Democratic mayors own party perceive his job performance better than Republicans.

Among Democrats, Keller has a 72% approval rating and 14% disapproval rating. It is nearly the opposite with Republicans  18% approve, and 70% disapprove.

Just a year ago, 33% of Republicans had given him a favorable review. Sanderoff attributes the falloff at least in part to Kellers more conservative mayoral challengers, Manuel Gonzales and Eddy Aragon, hammering the message that hes not done well combating crime.

Independents are split on Keller, with 40% approving and 41% disapproving.

In other demographic breakdowns, women are more likely to give him positive reviews, with 56% approving, compared with 44% of men.

Although 80% of survey respondents who said they were voting for Keller in the Nov. 2 election say they approve of how hes doing as mayor, 12% say they have mixed feelings and 7% say they disapprove.

That is likely a statement on the overall mayoral field, Sanderoff said.

They dont like the alternatives, he said.

The Journal Poll is based on a scientific, citywide sample of 536 likely regular local election voters, including those who voted in the 2017 and/or 2019 local elections and a small sample of newly registered voters likely to vote in 2021.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 15 through Oct. 21. The voter sample has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. The margin of error grows for subsamples.

All interviews were conducted by live, professional interviewers, with multiple callbacks to households that did not initially answer the phone.

Both cellphone numbers (82%) and landlines (18%) were used.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

As Manuel Gonzales campaigns to become Albuquerques mayor, more voters say they disapprove than approve of the way he is doing his current job as the Bernalillo County sheriff.

Now in his second term as the countys top law enforcement official, Gonzales has a job approval rating of 34% and a disapproval rating of 43%, a new Journal Poll shows. Another 15% of voters have mixed feelings.

Gonzales first won the sheriffs job in 2014 and then scored a 10-point win in his 2018 reelection bid.

How voters view the sheriffs current job performance is heavily linked to their political party.

Although Gonzales was elected as a Democrat and remains registered with the party, he has little support within it.

Only 19% of Democrats approve of how hes handled his job, compared with 59% who disapprove.

He rates better with independents  44% approve, compared with 28% who disapprove  but ranks the best with Republicans. Fifty-four percent approve, and 23% disapprove.

Research and Polling Inc. President Brian Sanderoff said the numbers are not surprising, given Gonzales policies and stated philosophies.

Im sure there are lots of Republicans who dont know hes a Democrat, and they may not care, said Sanderoff, whose Albuquerque-based firm conducted the Journal Poll. He does present himself from a more moderate to conservative perspective.

Sanderoff said he thinks many liberals are still rankled by Gonzales high-profile 2020 trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with then-President Donald Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr. The visit  tied to a federal crime-fighting operation that targeted certain cities, including Albuquerque  drew a harsh rebuke from some Democrats.

Thats the kind of thing that might be bothering liberals, but applauded by conservatives, Sanderoff said.

People from his own party also may view Gonzales unfavorably because he did not outfit his deputies with body cameras until state law required it, Sanderoff said.

He has handled the Sheriffs Office in a particular way that I think conservatives are perhaps more supportive of and liberals are more critical of, Sanderoff said.

Approval also broke on other lines, including gender. Forty percent of men rate his performance positively but only 29% of women do the same.

Meanwhile, older voters are particularly unhappy with the sheriff, with 51% of those ages 65-plus expressing disapproval  considerably higher than any other age group.

The Journal Poll is based on a scientific, citywide sample of 536 likely regular local election voters, including those who voted in the 2017 and/or 2019 local elections and a small sample of newly registered voters likely to vote in 2021.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 15 through Oct. 21. The voter sample has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. The margin of error grows for sub samples.

All interviews were conducted by live, professional interviewers, with multiple callbacks to households that did not initially answer the phone.

Both cellphone numbers (82%) and landlines (18%) were used.
RALEIGH, N.C.  A decade ago, North Carolina Republicans redrew their legislative districts to help their party in a way that a federal court ruled illegally deprived Black voters of their right to political representation. A state court later struck down Republican-drawn maps as based on pure partisanship.

So, as the GOP-controlled legislature embarks this year on its latest round of redistricting, it has pledged not to use race or partisan data to draw the political lines. Still, the maps Republicans are proposing would tilt heavily toward their party. Several publicly released congressional maps dilute Democratic votes by splitting the states biggest city, Charlotte  also its largest African American population center  into three or four U.S. House districts and giving the GOP at least a 10-4 advantage in a state that Donald Trump narrowly won last year.

As the once-a-decade redistricting process kicks into high gear, North Carolina is one of at least three states where Republicans say they are drawing maps without looking at racial and party data. But those maps still happen to strongly favor the GOP.

Democrats and civil rights groups are incredulous, noting that veteran lawmakers dont need a spreadsheet to know where voters of various races and different parties live in their state. Plus, under certain scenarios, the Voting Rights Act requires the drawing of districts where the majority of voters are racial or ethnic minorities.

This is the first redistricting round Ive ever heard of this, said Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is suing Texas Republicans over maps that the GOP said it drew without looking at racial data. I suspect theyre trying to set up a defense for litigation. Because they know the race data  they know where the Black community lives. They know where the Latino community lives.

Jason Torchinsky, general counsel to the National Republican Redistricting Trust, said ignoring racial data is proper in certain circumstances, as in the cases of North Carolina and Texas.

It depends on where you are, Torchinsky said.

The drawing of legislative lines is often a raw partisan fight because whichever party controls the process can craft districts to maximize its voters clout  and scatter opposing voters so widely they cannot win majorities.

In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Cour t ruled that federal courts cannot overturn unfair maps on the basis of partisanship. But state courts still can void maps for being too partisan and race remains a legal tripwire in redistricting.

If mapmakers explicitly try to weaken voters power based on race, they may violate the U.S. Constitutions guarantee of equal protection under the law. But the Voting Rights Act requires them to consider race if the state has racially polarized voting, in which white people consistently vote against candidates backed by a minority racial or ethnic group. The mapmakers must then create a district in which that minority comprises a plurality or majority of voters so they can elect their preferred candidates.

Republicans complain they cannot win.

Its truly a conundrum and has been for the last decade for the GOP, because when we look at race, we were told we shouldnt have, and those maps were struck down, said North Carolina state Sen. Paul Newton, who co-chairs that states redistricting committee. Now that were not looking at race, the Democrat Party is telling us, Oh, you should be looking at race.'

North Carolinas redistricting legal fight is part of why the new race-blind approach caught on.

The Republican-controlled legislature has complete control of redistricting; its maps cannot be vetoed by its Democratic governor. A federal court in 2016 found North Carolina Republicans improperly crammed Black voters into two congressional districts to dilute African American votes elsewhere. It ordered the map redrawn, and in a separate case another panel of judges found that dozens of state legislative districts were illegal racial gerrymanders as well. The updated congressional map was the basis of the 2019 Supreme Court case.

But, barely two months later, a North Carolina state court found the GOP advantage in some of the redrawn state legislative maps still violated the state constitution. Based on this and other rulings, Republicans redrew the maps once again in late 2019, this time saying they werent looking at racial or partisan data, and they passed legal muster.

Then, in August, the legislature formally adopted a rule that it wouldnt consider race or partisanship in its latest line-drawing that would begin after the U.S. Census Bureau released data on population changes over the past decade. Lawmakers noted that, during the epic litigation of the prior decade, a federal court had found the state didnt have racially polarized voting and didnt require special attention to racial data.

Democrats and civil rights groups strenuously objected. The Southern Coalition for Social Justice wrote Republicans a letter warning they would be disenfranchising Black and Latino voters. Theyre not listening, said Allison Riggs, head of the groups voting rights program.

Other GOP-controlled states have followed North Carolinas example. For the past five decades, Texas has been found to have violated federal law or the U.S. Constitution in redistricting, including by shortchanging Black and Latino voters. This time, Republicans who control the state Legislature said they wouldnt consider racial data and their lawyers said that was OK.

Ive stated it, and Ill state it again  we drew these maps race blind, Texas state Sen. Joan Huffman, a Republican who drew that states maps, said in one Senate hearing.

Although almost all of Texas population growth has come from Latinos, African Americans and Asian Americans, the maps do not create any new majority Black or Latino districts. That latter omission is at the heart of suits by Latino civil rights groups last week as Texas approved its maps.

The only time that communities of color can get justice is going to the courthouse, said Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchia, chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.

Ohio Republicans are also enmeshed in litigation over their state legislative plan, which they said was drawn with no racial or partisan data. Its illegal to use race in drawing districts. Thats a violation of federal law, Republican state Senate President Matt Huffman told reporters last month.

Ohio Republicans said that even though they didnt use partisan data, they were targeted in a suit by several community and anti-gerrymandering groups for drawing a partisan map anyway.

The way the map performs is to really skew partisan outcomes in Ohio, said Freda Levenson, legal director of the ACLU of Ohio, one of the plaintiffs. Its very likely they did use partisan data.

___

Riccardi reported from Denver. Associated Press writers Acacia Coronado in Austin, Texas, and Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

___

Anderson is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Dear J.T. & Dale: Im concerned about my son who is a senior in college. He told me that most of his friends have done internships (mostly virtually), and they have already been offered jobs when they graduate this coming year. He is an art history major, has not done internships and has no idea what he wants to do when he graduates. Advice?  Contessa

J.T.: An art history degree is difficult, in that, on the surface, it may not seem like there are a lot of transferable skills. If hes not looking to work in a museum or go on for some sort of advanced degree, then he should meet with the career counselors at school and start to inventory his skill sets. One of the biggest mistakes college students make is not doing enough self-assessment to understand how theyd like to create value at work. Just because youre interested in a subject and do well in it in school, it doesnt mean you would do that for a job. The sooner he figures out the skill sets to leverage in a paid position, the sooner he could start to find job opportunities and even possibly do an internship this year to prepare him for finding a full-time job upon graduation.

DALE: Meanwhile, theres no need to blame art history. It turns out that nearly three-quarters of college grads take a job outside their major. Less reassuring is another stat: 41% of recent grads are underemployed in the sense that theyre working at jobs that dont require a degree. (Both numbers are from a Federal Reserve Bank of New York study.) One way to avoid being underemployed is to do internships, because those are firms that want college grads and use interns as trial employees. While it may be too late for your son to land an internship, the good news is that his friends did, and they are all potential connections to organizations who hire recent grads. In addition to working with the schools career center, he can conduct his own background research among his friends, and among yours, too. Now is a great time to set him up to visit with people you admire; not to ask for a job, but to ask for reflections on career decisions and on finding meaning in work. Urge him to follow the energy.

J.T.: If you see your son struggling, I would encourage him to check out the free resources at workitdaily.com. Weve worked with thousands of college students online and helped them determine not only what to look for in a job, but also how to design a resume and other tools to find that first job out of school.

Dear J.T. & Dale: I worked for my boss during the entire pandemic, and we didnt hire anybody. Multiple times, he told me he was worried that business would go under. Now, business is booming again, and hes hiring. He asked me to train the newbies and as I was working with one, I found out that the person is making more than me. Im furious. What can I do?  Chase

DALE: This situation has been coming up a lot lately, and Im beginning to think that some employers have developed a Lost Year mindset: Its like they started fresh when the economy began to reopen. What should you do? Be happy. You just need to get yourself refreshed like a stalled website and move your bosss thinking about you into the new economy, post-pandemic.

J.T.: To do that, put a list together of all the things that you accomplished during the pandemic for your organization. Then sit down with your boss and explain that you stuck by him and created a lot of value and that you have learned that the new hires are making more than you. I would ask him what it will take for you to have your pay adjusted. The key is to stay calm, stay reasonable and really sell your value. Hopefully, he will be able to see whats going on and rectify the situation.

Jeanine J.T. Tanner ODonnell is a career coach and the founder of the leading career site www.workitdaily.com. Dale Dauten is founder of The Innovators Lab and author of a novel about H.R., The Weary Optimist. Please visit them at jtanddale.com, where you can send questions via email, or write to them in care of King Features Syndicate, 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803. (c) 2021 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
While the pandemic has brought challenges to New Mexicans, federal legislation has brought financial assistance in the form of lower health care costs.

Its such an opportunity, said Ernie CdeBaca, president of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce. New Mexico is the kind of state that can really take advantage of this.

BeWellnm, the states health care marketplace, has partnered with the Hispano Chamber this year to spread the word about health care coverage options for individuals, families and businesses in New Mexico.

Extra financial help is available this year through the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus passed by federal lawmakers in March.

People who did not qualify for financial assistance in the past may now be eligible. Those who did qualify previously may be eligible for even more financial subsidies as a result of the legislation, according to Maureen Manring, director of communication and outreach of beWellnm.

There are more than 56,000 uninsured New Mexicans who currently qualify for financial assistance in the form of premium reductions, according to Manring.

In fact, four out of five New Mexicans can get a plan for less than $10 a month, says Jeffery Bustamante, CEO of beWellnm. Theres even no-cost health insurance available for some people.

Weve seen substantial savings, over $70 a month for some folks, and sometimes even more, Bustamante said.

The open enrollment period for beWellnm begins Nov. 1 and ends Jan. 15, 2022. Existing enrollees can log in to their account at beWellnm.com to update their application or call 1-833-862-3935. Folks new to beWellnm, whether uninsured or interested in pursuing a more affordable option, can create an account at the website.

Outreach efforts

The Hispano Chamber and beWellnm have 13 in-person events planned to bring information and support to the areas of the state with the highest percentage of uninsured people. From November until January, theyll be covering the four corners of the state, from Farmington to Artesia and Las Cruces to Taos, CdeBaca said.

Whether live, online or over the phone, beWellnm is available to give guidance on how to apply and provide specifics on the financial assistance thats available.

Things that have happened this past 18 months  we know theres a lot of individuals that need some help, CdeBaca said. And theres a lot of people that are making different choices, as we know,

not going back to work, and so they need coverage.

The Hispano Chamber, a nonprofit member-based organization focused on improving economic development and job training, has been working with beWellnm to reach out to New Mexicans about their health insurance options since January.

Theyre the brains and were the brawn, so to speak, CdeBaca said, referring to beWellnms expertise in what assistance is available from the federal government.

The chamber is using its experience and reach in the communities of New Mexico to relay beWellnms message.

New Mexico is 48% Hispanic, 12% Native American, CdeBaca said. That blends perfectly into (the) Hispano Chamber, thats exactly what we do here with our small-business community and people that we serve.

The chambers brawn is bolstered by a team of local talent with experience in marketing, web design and health care that includes K2MD Health, New Mexico Primary Care Association, Real Time Solutions, Research & Polling Inc. and James Korenchen Public Relations.

Together, they are working to reduce the number of uninsured New Mexicans.

The majority of our counties have free local help, and that can be an agent, a broker, an enrollment counselor, Bustamante said. These are certified, trained professionals ready to help folks through that journey. Doesnt cost them anything, but can help them identify what works best for them.

The beWellnm marketplace is offering New Mexicans 48 different health insurance plans to choose from for 2022.

All plans cover the 10 essential benefits, such as doctor visits, hospital stays, maternity care, emergency room care, prescriptions and more, according to a beWellnm press release. New Mexicans can enroll regardless of health status, age or gender.

The exchange added a sixth insurance company to the five carriers that provided plans to New Mexicos 33 counties last year. Presbyterian Health Plan joins Ambetter from Western Sky Community Care, Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico, Friday Health Plans, Molina HealthCare and True Health New Mexico for 2022.

Thats more options for New Mexico, Bustamante said. So, thats the ultimate win for all of us.

Health Exchange Open Enrollment

BeWellnms open enrollment period runs from Nov. 1 to Jan. 15 WHAT YOU CAN DO: Enroll in a new beWellnm health plan, apply for financial assistance or confirm your existing account TO BEGIN: Visit bewellnm.com and click GETTING STARTED TELEPHONE HELP: Call 1-833-862-3935. ONLINE HELP: To schedule a free meeting with a broker or enrollment counselor, go to bewellnm.com and click VIRTUAL APPOINTMENT IN-PERSON HELP: To find an event in your community, go to bewellnm.com/calendar

Editors note: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect phone number where New Mexicans can access help learning about beWellnm. The correct number is 1-833-862-3935. The story has been updated.
Open Enrollment for individual, family and small business health insurance coverage begins Monday, Nov. 1, and runs through Jan. 15, 2022.

This is the time that thousands of New Mexicans will be signing up for health coverage for 2022. If people dont enroll during this time, it could mean losing coverage or not being able to make changes to current coverage until late in 2022.

As an employer, you will see many benefits for offering health insurance coverage to your employees, including:

Employee retention: Offering health insurance attracts and retains valuable workers. That means cost-savings on recruiting and training, not to mention opportunity costs for your business.

Reduce absenteeism: Employees with insurance are more likely to take advantage of preventive care and screenings. These actions keep employees healthy and on the job.

Boost morale: Providing health insurance shows your commitment to the health and well-being of employees and their families. In return, employees may feel a greater sense of security and loyalty.

Tax advantages: Employers can take a tax deduction for the cost of health insurance premiums paid on behalf of employees.

Today, the world we live in has so many confusing messages, questionable news sources and information overload. Fortunately, New Mexicans are lucky to have multiple, reliable sources to get accurate and important information on health insurance options. The first resource is beWellnm (bewellnm.com), which is a consumer portal to health insurance plans being offered for 2022. Other options for information that you can trust can be obtained from the New Mexico Office of the Superintendent of Insurance (OSI.state.nm.us), health insurance brokers, health plans and even your medical professionals.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the importance of having health insurance. Good health care coverage continues to be needed now more than ever as the coronavirus continues to cause harm from both health and economic perspectives. Just as getting vaccinated and wearing masks reduces risk for individuals and communities, having reliable health insurance coverage provides additional protection to reduce the risk of additional financial hardship in the midst of our pandemic challenge.

Comparing health insurance plans can be challenging and sometimes anxiety-producing or even sleep-inducing. The first thing an individual, family or business should consider is what health services are most important. While cost can often be a determining factor, opting for a plan that saves you a few dollars a month can be costly in the long run if the health services being covered are inadequate in number or difficult to access or if you or your employees have large out-of-pocket costs when you seek those services. This is where a health insurance broker is worth their weight in gold. Find one you trust and look at the options and what will work best for your particular situation.

The biggest takeaway is to start planning now for 2022. Unfortunately, the likelihood of the pandemic rolling into the new year is high. So, get with an insurance professional now or the folks at beWellnm and start planning so that you can secure quality coverage and healthy outcomes for you, your family and your employees.

Dr. Mark Epstein is a former emergency room doctor and holds an MBA. The executives desk is a guest column providing advice, commentary or information about resources available to the business community in New Mexico. To submit a column for consideration, email gporter@abqjournal.com.
Instagram Music

The British band fronted by Chris Martin are celebrating as they have reportedly locked this year's fastest-selling album with their latest hit studio installment.

Oct 24, 2021

AceShowbiz - Coldplay's new LP, "Music of the Spheres", has become the fastest-selling album of 2021.

The release, which dropped last week (15Oct21), has also earned the band its ninth consecutive U.K. number one album.

According to NME, the band is also the first to rack up more than 100,000 chart sales in one week since Ed Sheeran's "No. 6 Collaborations" in 2019.

"Music of the Spheres" has also topped the vinyl albums chart.

The unbroken run of number one studio albums for the British hitmakers has now tied the record of The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers, whose solo albums also shot to number one.

The "Yellow" hitmakers are also now neck and neck with ABBA and Bob Dylan, who each have nine consecutive number one records.

Meanwhile, former Oasis star Noel Gallagher still holds the record with 10 consecutive chart-toppers, according to NME.

Coldplay are scheduled to hit the road in 2022 to promote "Music of the Spheres" and the band vow to be eco-friendly for their upcoming jaunt by planning to cut emissions by 50 per cent compared to their previous live shows.

"Music of the Spheres" is the group's ninth studio album. Frontman Chris Martin recently said they would quit music for good after making their 12th LP.

"I think that in a few albums time we will finish making albums," he said. "This is not a joke, this is true, I think after 12 that will be the end of our catalogue."
WENN/ITV TV

The 'Snowpiercer' actress teams up with Kerry Washington for a new television show while Blumhouse bosses are adapting 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here' into a spooky series.

Oct 24, 2021

AceShowbiz - Octavia Spencer and Kerry Washington are teaming up to bring Bobby and Cheryl Love's amazing story to the small screen.

Spencer will executive produce "The Bobby Love Story" and star as his wife while Kerry will produce.

The one-hour drama will be a true account of how an escaped convict, Bobby Love, was able to keep his prison past a secret from his wife of 35-plus years.

The Loves' story was featured in Brandon Stanton's "Humans of New York" blog in 2020.

Master thief Bobby was convicted as a young man but escaped to New York, changed his name, and committed to life as a model citizen, working multiple jobs, getting married, starting a family, and becoming the perfect neighbour, church member, husband, and father.

Bobby and Cheryl Love and photographer and blogger Brandon Stanton will also serve as executive producers.

Meanwhile, bosses at horror movie production group Blumhouse are working on a frightfest revamp of long-running British TV hit "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!".

Jason Blum and his partners have teamed up with the show's producers at ITV to pitch a new U.S. series, titled "Celebrity Castle", which will feature stars competing for glory in spooky surroundings.

According to Deadline sources, the idea took shape when the COVID pandemic forced "I'm a Celebrity" bosses to relocate the show from an Australian jungle setting to a castle in Wales, where the 2020 and upcoming 2021 seasons were shot.

"I'm a Celebrity" ran for two separate seasons on two different networks in the U.S. in 2003 and 2009, and featured Caitlyn Jenner, Lou Diamond Phillips, Janice Dickinson, and Stephen Baldwin.
WENN Celebrity

The 'Woman in Gold' actress has been named the official ambassador for University of Salento in Italy, which the British star proudly calls her 'second home.'

Oct 24, 2021

AceShowbiz - Oscar winner Helen Mirren has been appointed an ambassador for an Italian university in a region she calls her "second home."

In photos shared by University of Salento officials to Twitter on Thursday (21Oct21), the British actress is proudly holding up the certificate confirming her new assignment.

"By attributing this role to her, we recognize her as a representative of our university, of our territory, recognizing in her the qualities that characterize our community: pride, determination, passion," a university rector said of Helen's appointment, according to the Daily Mail.

"We saw her fight alongside us to reconstruct the beauty of our landscape..., we read in her eyes the love for this land, for its history, for its humanity," he added.

"I love this land, it's my second home," said Helen, who owns a 16th century farmhouse in the region with her director husband Taylor Hackford.

According to the university's social media post, Mirren was "honoured by the recognition" and "excited to collaborate on university projects."

She also stressed the "importance of this generation of students," calling them, "Architects of the future."

Helen Mirren's latest feature film is the ninth installment of "Fast and Furious" franchise. She reprised her role as Magdalene "Queenie" Shaw.

She will next star in an upcoming war drama titled "White Bird: A Wonder Story". She is also tapped for DC superhero flick "Shazam! Fury of the Gods".

Her other upcoming big-screen projects include "Sniff".
President Biden tells many lies. I despair of listing all of them; nobody can. The Apostle John wrote of the words and deeds of Jesus, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." Same principle with Biden's infinite lies.

Among Biden's lies are a lot of Walter Mitty, Paul Bunyan, Baron von Munchhausen tall tales about himself. I want to write here about four autobiographical lies that, despite previous public rebuttal, he keeps repeating. He did so again during the single week of October 1521.

1) Biden claimed he "got started" at (which means attended) Delaware State College, a Historically Black College/University.

At the tenth-anniversary celebration of the dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington on October 21, Biden said, "The best HBCU (Historically Black College & University) is Delaware State [University]! That where I got started! C'mon!"

FACT CHECK TIME: That is a lie. It is not where Biden "got started." Biden attended Archmere (Catholic) Academy in Wilmington, then the University of Delware at Newark, then Syracuse Law School.

Neither is this the first time he has iterated this lie. According to The Western Journal on September 26 (2020):

"I got started out at an HBCU (Historically Black College University), Delaware State," [Biden] told the audience, eliciting laughter  as well he might. "Now I don't want to hear anything negative about Delaware State here. They're my folks."

DSU, however, says it has no record of Biden ever having attended.

"Vice President Biden did not attend DSU," Delaware State director of news service Carlos Holmes told The Washington Times in a Thursday email.

2) During the same speech, Biden also falsely claimed he'd been a civil rights activist when he was young. Biden told the MLK Memorial gathering, "This [voting rights] what got me involved in civil rights as a kid when I was 26 years old."

Someone "26 years old" is not a "kid." Biden may also have been thinking about another false claim he'd made in 2020 to the effect that when he was a teenager in the 1950s, after Sunday Mass, he moseyed over to Otis Henning's Black Baptist church in Wilmington to engage in civil rights activities  despite the fact that nobody from the church recalls him from that time.

More importantly, we know that this is a false claim because we have Biden's own words for it. In a speech filmed by C-SPAN on September 17, 1987, Biden said, "During the 1960s ... I was not an activist. I worked at an all-black swimming pool in the east side of Wilmington, Delaware. I was not out marching. I was not down in Selma, I was not anywhere else."

Furthermore, Biden was 26 years old for most of 1968. He graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965 and attended Syracuse Law School for the following three years. He graduated in the middle of 1968 and thereafter clerked at a Wilmington law firm, then worked as a public defender in 1969.

3) The previous day in Avoca, Pennsylvania, Biden repeated the false claim that Amtrak employee Angelo Negri greeted him and tweaked his cheek either in 2015 or 2012 or 2013, depending on the version (and the fact there are variant versions is itself a sign of mendacity).

FOX News was on top of this falsehood. According to FOX, this is the fourth time this year Biden has iterated this lie. On this most recent occasion, Biden said all this happened at Negri's retirement dinner, and Biden said, "Lemme tell ya [quoting Negri], we were at the retirement dinner"  which happened in 1993! And there is a photograph from the occasion, with Biden holding the brown-frosting retirement cake.

In the version of the falsehood Biden iterated on April 30, he took Amtrak at this time to visit his ailing mother. But she died in 2010!

In Avoca, PA, Biden assured his audience, "It's a true story." No, it is not "a true story."

4) Then, most of all, there is what Jews call a bubbameisseh (a granny's tall tale), about Biden allegedly bringing his children and grandchildren to Europe when they turned of age to visit Nazi concentration camps.

This fable came up most recently on October 15, when Biden participated in the opening of the Dodd Center in Connecticut and reminisced about the elder Senator Tom's participation in the Nuremburg Trials of 1946. Biden claimed that he has seen to it, and continues to see to it, that he personally brings not only his children, but now even his grandchildren to central Europe to tour Nazi camps to see for themselves the evidence of the Holocaust as soon as they turn age 15.

Here it is necessary to quote Biden verbatim.

At the 14:45 mark  "When each of my children, and now my grandchildren turn the age of 15, the first thing I've done, my word as a Biden ..."

Which means we already smell a dead rat here.

"... is put 'em on an aircraft, and fly to Dachau, one at a time!, at age 15. 'Work sets you free' ... as you go through the entrance. But that's not what I wanted them to see! [his emphasis]. Want them to see the lovely homes that were right up against the fence line ... with their beautiful roofs ..."

That is a lie.

I just now consulted Google Maps, and here is what KZ (Konzentration Lager) Dachau looks like today:

There are no "lovely, homes, that were right up against the fence line ... with their, beautiful [red tile] roofs." There is a vacant wooded strip on the west and the north, where there is a Carmelite nunnery. The east side is a commercial strip. The south side is half-wooded with a number of block apartment buildings.

And even if these houses with "the beautiful roofs right up against the fence line" did exist today, when Biden claims he was there, who is to say they were there in 1933 when the camp was built? As a matter of fact, they were not there; the apartments are postwar, and in 1933, the site was lonely and secluded. I mean, why on earth would Nazis consciously build such a camp in any residential zone? It makes no sense. This often is the fate of lies.

This isn't the only time this lie has arisen. On September 2, Biden had a pre-Jewish High Holidays Zoom conference with rabbis, where he claimed he'd visited not Dachau, but Auschwitz, and his kids weren't age 15, but age 16.

I myself have visited Auschwitz/Birkenau several times. There are no homes there, either, with lovely roofs, though there are a number of postwar apartment buildings.

Lies unravel when they are repeated and the details differ. Such is the case here.

Why does Biden keep telling these lies when they are so easily fact-checked? Surely his crack White House communications team is aware of the lies and has so informed their boss.

I dunno. I just don't know...

Photo of Biden by Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
Halloween season is here, and for me, that means horror movies. Among the bill of fare this year was the new Candyman, which follows in the footsteps of 2018s Halloween in the sense that it is a sequel that both exists in the same universe and timeline while also sharing the name of the original film.

In this case, that original film was 1992s Candyman, starring actors Virginia Madsen as the curious folklorist, Helen Lyle, and Tony Todd as the ghostly killer, the Candyman. Nostalgia undoubtedly fuels much of my affection for that movie, and it was almost enough to carry the 2021 sequel.

Almost. And it wasnt until the movie was over that I realized what the problem was.

It wasnt the politics of it all, to be clear. Yes, it overtly messages that gentrification of urban communities is destroying communities of color, and that cops are racist murderers that are hell-bent on murdering innocent minorities, and lots of other blah, blah, blah social commentary that requires much less thought to compose than any common Bazooka Joe comic strip of yesteryear. The social messaging lacked any subtlety whatsoever, making it more a caricature reflecting a warped vision of reality than any artistic representation of it. This all prompted more than an occasional eyeroll, but hey, its a supernatural slasher flick. Copious eyerolling at some stupid things you see on screen isnt something thats ordered, it just comes with the meal.

There were more important questions. What made the first movie so scary for me, and what was the new one missing, I began to wonder?

Well, for one, I was a kid in 1992. That helped. But even as a child, I knew very well about urban gang culture and government-funded ghettoes like Cabrini-Green, which was depicted in the movie, where life was truly a horror movie.

Today, this seems a distant past, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s, drug and gang violence pervaded every aspect of the American consciousness. We all knew it, even us kids, and it wasnt just horror films portraying it.

Here are a few examples in the popular culture of the time.

Take 1988s Colors, starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall, in which the Los Angeles gangland was brought to the big screen. In the 1990 sci-fi sequel Predator 2, Los Angeles was experiencing full-on wars between gangs and police in a dystopian near-future before an alien hunter begins picking off the combatants. In 1993s Demolition Man, starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, Los Angeles in the late 90s was imagined as our relying upon renegade cops like Stallones John Spartan to defend us against urban drug and gang kingpins like Snipes Simon Phoenix.

I was too young to see Candyman in theaters in 1992, but I caught it on VHS a few years later. And I can honestly say that the projects of Cabrini-Green in that movie scared the ever-living hell out of me.

It only now occurs to me that my colloquially referring to government-designed ghetto of Cabrini-Green as the projects is archaic, but essentially, such housing projects were subsidized housing initiatives. And these projects, created by progressive social engineers, created the worst kind of ghettoes that were the stuff of horror in the wider culture.

These projects were heavily discussed and joked about by people that never lived near these horrors and have never even visited, writes Chicago Gang History, continuing to say that [h]earing the very name Cabrini Green would send shivers up suburbanites spines.

There are those who argue that those suburbanites and kids were influenced by the movie to believe that the movie made a monster out of a Chicago housing project. Ben Austen writes, generally agreeing with my contention about what made the original Candyman scary:

Whats most terrifying [in the 1992 film] is really the idea of the inner-city location. Decades before writer-director Bernard Roses horror flick arrived in theaters, public housing for many Americans had come to represent the unruliness and otherness of U.S. cities. And Cabrini-Green stood as the symbol of every troubled housing project -- a boogeyman that conjured fears of violence, poverty, and racial antagonism.

There are too many fallacious assumptions in those sentences to fully address them here. But suffice it to say, Americans in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century are not alone in deeming cities as unruly places relative to the places outside of cities. The rural-urban dichotomy preexists America by millennia (see: Aesops Town Mouse and Country Mouse). And it certainly wasnt racial antagonism that prompted a younger me to fear places like Cabrini-Green. It was the fear of violence against those innocent people who were living in poverty there and potential victims to the criminals that the setting bred.

Just as you do while watching any horror film, you do not feel fear because you actually believe that you are in danger while sitting in your seat. You feel fear on behalf of the characters that we imagine to be there. What made Cabrini-Green so damned scary is that it was so easy to imagine, and, indeed, to know, that there were actually people living there who were experiencing such danger.

To be clear, I grew up in a place where it was clear to me that poverty and such horrors were not conjoined conditions. Many of my friends would have been classified as poverty-stricken in our youth, but none lived with the fear of homicide experienced in Democrat-devised ghettoes like Cabrini-Green.

Only the original rowhouses of Cabrini-Green appear in the new Candyman film. These are the only buildings left after demolition of the projects, and these scenes still manage to steal the show.

In the 1992 film, however, those towers that once existed loom menacingly. When Helen ventures alone and upward into the vacant, dilapidated stairwells of the Cabrini-Green projects, she is extraordinarily out of her element as an academic, a woman, and, yes, as a non-minority who may be a targeted for all of those reasons. It remains very scary.

Tony Todds Candyman rightfully, in my opinion, became a household slasher name along with Freddy Krueger and Michael Meyers and Jason Voorhees. But Cabrini-Green, that horrific place that was the product of collectivists good intentions that turned out to be horrible ideas, was the inspiration for it all. And it was Cabrini-Green that was the real star of that horror movie.

And if we have any sense as a nation, well seek to avoid having such failed political and social experiments inspire any great horror art of the future.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
As local school board elections across the country head into the final week, it may be difficult for those with no school-age children to totally relate to the passion, anxiety, and dedication on the part of parents in the midst of the struggle.

It may seem outrageous to consider that school districts charged with the functioning of a public school system are as seriously deceitful or shady as angry moms portray them to be or that those moms who believe they are defending their children from a Marxist agenda are so contentious as to be regarded as "domestic extremists" and a danger to American society.

From the Puritans' earliest days in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, education of citizens was a priority, with establishment of the country's first educational system committed to public and Latin education in order to read the Bible. It was no coincidence that Harvard College became the country's first institution of higher learning in 1636.

Before the American Revolution, Virginia and Massachusetts required towns to teach the basics as well as Latin grammar in preparation for higher education. Not surprisingly, it was Thomas Jefferson, after the Revolution, who suggested the creation of a centralized educational system and that tax dollars should be used in its creation.

By 1867, President Andrew Johnson created the first Department of Education with a budget of $15,000 and four employees for the sole purpose of collecting and analyzing statistics about the nation's schools. The department was almost immediately demoted in 1868 to an "office" due to concerns of exercising too much control over local schools.

With the launch of the USSR's Sputnik in the 1950s questioning America's lack of science education, followed by LBJ's War on Poverty (1965), education funding increased to $1.5 billion along with more than 2,100 federal employees. By 1979, the head of the U.S. Department of Education was elevated to a Cabinet-level role incorporating multiple agencies spread across the federal bureaucracy.

By 2010, the DOE had 4,300 employees with a budget of $60 billion. Today, $1.15 trillion is spent nationally on the U.S. educational system, 92% from non-federal sources.

While federal government responsibility in education has mostly been limited to Title I and special ed students, the states and local school districts have always made the day-to-day decisions about instruction and curricula.

In recent years, there has been more political support to extend federal ed programs into areas that were once the sole discretion of the states, like adding new classroom technology, after-school programs, Common Core Standards, new textbooks, new teacher qualifications, and how to teach reading.

As school board races across Colorado are down to the wire, the thirteen-page Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS) for middle school students in Colorado's 9-R District surfaced, to the panic of many unsuspecting parents. Those parents were already questioning the district's previously unknown policy on diversity, which was adopted in January with no public hearing. There is also a comparable survey for high school students.

Widely administered by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) every other year, the survey targets 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade students (ages 1114) as voluntary and promises to be "completely anonymous" with its answers "kept private." There appears to be no requirement for parental permission, so presumably, the parents may remain unaware that the student has taken the survey, with no knowledge of the invasion of their child's privacy (and constitutional) rights that have been violated.

Questions range from the mother's (but not the father's) highest level of education, identifying any long-term emotional problems, weapon and violence experience, details of consensual or non-consensual sex, all manner of bullying, threatening or "teasing," dealing with stress in all its manifestations, such as suicide and depression, all potentially addictive behavior including drugs/alcohol/cigarette/vaping use, healthy/unhealthy eating habits and physical activity, and whether the parents are providing adequate and nurturing parental care.

Clearly, if there was any intent to prove a parent insufficient or neglectful for a Child Protection Services agency to step in or to cajole an innocent student to blindly follow authority, here is the blueprint.

At about the same time, a brochure from Birds and the Bees for Youths offering "positive sexuality education" workshops for fourth- and fifth- graders was emailed from Escalante Middle School to its parents. It should be shocking that a school district would consider it appropriate to offer a sex workshop for an 8- to 10-year-old child or allow such material to be circulated from an online stranger with no credentials or references. The parent who contacted BnB was told that the organization was founded by the Unitarian Universalists Church. How 9-R came to solicit BnB's brochure remains a mystery, even though there was a disclaimer that "The following materials are neither supported nor endorsed by 9R School District."

It is understandable when a parent's red flags are hoisted, as it is the children who are always the vulnerable  our most fragile and precious assets, who are threatened as they may be sought as participants of very questionable, very intimate, and personal attention under the guise of legitimate school related activities. It is our children who may in reality be prey for a pedophilia network or exploitation by human-traffickers or a greedy Big Pharma industry, as Biden now plans to force vaccinations on the most defenseless of all: our very young children.

As the National School Boards Association has backed off its overreach when it requested an investigation into rowdy parents who dare defy a board that is more committed to being politically aligned than in protecting every child from every possible threat  it is those school board members who must be removed from office.

Renee Parsons served on the ACLU's 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 U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. She can be found at reneedove3@yahoo.com.

Image: Chris Bede via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 (cropped).

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
I believe it was Gaylord Nelson, then governor of Wisconsin, who first recognized the right of public employees to collectively bargain, and it was another governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, who decades later under state law virtually eliminated it with wonderful results for teachers, local governments, and pupils.

Our reforms in Wisconsin -- known as Act 10 -- changed that by all but eliminating collective bargaining for government employees. This puts the taxpayers and the officials they elect back in charge of their state and local governments, instead of unelected union bureaucrats.

I have no doubt that local, state, and federal governments, including school boards, are under the control of teachers unions which contribute significant amounts of time, campaign workers, and money to left-wing politicians.

Teachers unions have steadily amped up their political involvement: From 2004 to 2016, their donations grew from $4.3 million to more than $32 million -- an all-time high. Even more than most labor unions, they have little use for Republicans, giving Democrats at least 94 percent of the funds they contributed to candidates and parties since as far back as 1990, where our data begins. Two organizations account for practically all of the contributions made by teachers unions: The National Education Association (about $20 million in 2016) and the American Federation of Teachers (almost $12 million). Both groups -- which compete for members, but also collaborate with each other through the NEA-AFT Partnership -- are consistently among the organizations that contribute the most money to candidates and political groups.

In turn, collective bargaining with the unions is carried out by persons selected by those same politicians whom the unions support to give the unions what they ask for. The true employers -- the parents and taxpayers -- are not at the table. This has allowed these unions extraordinary power to be free of any meaningful parental control of teaching materials and school operational policies. Any school board member who dares to disagree can expect a well-funded targeting by the unions in an atmosphere where too many parents lack enough interest to defend the members actions and work to retain him.

The outrageous directive by Attorney General Merrick Garland that ordered the FBI to investigate as domestic terrorists parents who objected to the public-school boards policies had only highlighted the overweening power of the unionized teachers. As I explained last week, operatives in the White House colluded with left-wing officers of the National School Boards Association to draft a letter to Garland seeking such federal chilling of the growing parental dissatisfaction with curricula (particularly sex education and Critical Race Theory), failed disciplinary procedures, library offerings of clearly pornographic materials, and transgender restroom policies. Garland admitted in congressional hearings this week that his sole basis for targeting parents as domestic terrorists for demonstrating their concerns about what their kids were being taught was the very letter from the NSBA which the White House had had a big hand in instigating.

Friday, a day after Garlands testimony, the Association apologized for that letter. The apology was addressed to the members of the association and not to the parents or the general public.

Its rather mealy mouthed, saying that the process involved was faulty and they will try to do better in the future, but the apology means more than just protecting the Association from further criticism and withdrawals from the Association by local and state school boards around the country. It seems to me they just pulled the rug out from under the attorney general and his ill-considered directive to the FBI. His was a policy that has infuriated parents, including suburban housewives who so often blindly vote Democrat without fully appreciating the effect Democrats' policies have on their families and lives. (I think it infuriated some DoJ attorneys, too. Where do you think the reports that theyd objected to this directive came from?)

What do you think is the backstory? I think Terry McAuliffes surprisingly tight battle -- in which he sided with the unions, saying parents had no right to decide on school library offerings and curricula and the outrageous lies and the conduct of the Loudoun County, Virginia school board and superintendent -- has scared the dickens out of the Democrat-Teachers Unions cabal, and theyre trying to tamp down the flames they self-destructively set.

Until now, as the great Thomas Sowell writes, no one has paid much attention to the disaster in Virginias public schools.

Although Virginia has been a politically blue state for years, this year's election has the Democrats' governor facing a serious challenge. One of the reasons is that many Virginia parents are outraged by the "woke" propaganda their children are being subjected to in the public schools -- and the governor has sided with the education bureaucrats and the teachers union. Very few politicians in any state dare to go against the teachers unions, which have millions of votes and millions of dollars in campaign contributions. This is one battle in a much bigger war, and the stakes are far higher than the governorship of Virginia or the Democrats and Republicans. The stakes are the future of this nation.

As Sowell observes, the CRT propaganda which teaches black kids to hate white people, is a danger to all Americans of every race. It will tear this country apart, and it does no favor to children of any race.

As pernicious as this warped propaganda is, the lack of discipline in schools also hurts every child. In part it began with Obamas ill-considered policies on disparate outcomes, where discrimination was held to be the reason why more Black kids than others were being disciplined. (In every case I can think of, disparate outcomes is an irrational measure of discrimination. Are there more Blacks than Whites in the NBA, more Asians in the top ranks of mathematicians, because of discrimination or varying talents, interests, and behaviors?) Administrators had the choice of being unduly harsh on non-Black students to even out the record, to ignore all students disciplinary problems, or to simply transfer the offending student to another school as was done in Loudoun County where the alleged rapist went elsewhere and repeated his offending behavior there.

I am heartened to learn of Dads on Duty:

After a violent week of fighting in school that saw 23 students arrested in three days, Southwood High School parents knew something had to change. Some dads decided to take matters into their own hands. They formed Dads on Duty -- a group of about 40 dads who take shifts spending time at the school in Shreveport, Louisiana, greeting students in the morning and helping maintain a positive environment for learning, rather than fighting. The students say it's working -- and the numbers prove it. There hasn't been a single incident on campus since the dads showed up.

I hope that in other places where school disciplinary procedures prove inadequate to the task, parents would step up like this. But its not the best solution. Sowell is right -- we have to allow more charter schools where, free of union interference, children, including those who parents lack the time and ability to step up to the plate by volunteering their efforts or holding school boards and administrators accountable for bad acts, have an option to obtain valuable learning skills in a safe environment. Until that happens, enact laws prohibiting or sharply limiting the scope of collective bargaining with public teachers unions.

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Through many years of contacts and acquaintances, Walter Russell Mead has become a quintessential insider to the political establishment. As such, he's privy to the thinking of many people in Washington, including those in the Biden administration.

In a Wall Street Journal piece, Mead lays out the Joe Biden strategy on climate issues. And when I say "Biden," of course I don't mean Joe Biden the man. Unless otherwise specified, I use Biden as an alias for those who installed Biden the man in office and who direct his policies. The only decision Joe is probably allowed to make on his own is what flavor ice cream he's having each day...but for politically correct reasons, it had better not be vanilla.

With that out of the way, we can begin. The Chinese sage Sun Tzu taught that one key to success in war is to know your opposition. Taking that advice, strap on your seat belts and take a drive with me into Crazy Town to hear the Biden strategy on energy.

The nub of their thinking is that pushing the transition from fossil energy to renewables will strengthen the administration's hand both domestically and abroad. On the domestic side, Mead writes, "The Bidenites think the climate offers an opportunity to pry Democratic greens and harder-left progressives apart." This is necessary to give Biden a stronger hand in dealing with China. How so?

The "thinking" goes that the progressive left wants to diminish the military and redirect defense spending to leftish domestic social programs. This does not bode well for confronting China. The greens, on the other hand, are "more centrists in their foreign-policy approach and, if satisfied that the administration is actively pursuing a hard-hitting climate agenda, will with varying degrees of enthusiasm support such Biden goals such as a tougher policy towards China." So the thinking is that a green agenda will solidify the Democratic base and thereby give Biden the ability to deal more forcefully in foreign affairs.

But Mead points out that there are two flaws in the Biden strategy. First, it's grounded on the assumption that pursuing a climate agenda vigorously enough to satisfy enough greens can be done at a "modest and manageable cost." Unfortunately for this plan, it's facing worldwide energy shortages and skyrocketing fuel prices.

And then there's an even more fundamental contradiction in the strategy. Again Mead: "By artificially depressing fossil-fuel production and investment in the democratic world faster than renewables and other fuels can fill the gap, the Biden policy promotes a multi-year, multi-trillion-dollar windfall for countries like Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia." These are among the authoritarian regimes the president has made it his mission to oppose. Needless to say, China smiles when America deliberately shoots itself in the foot by curtailing its fossil energy production and exploration. And Biden's green agenda can only tighten Moscow's grip over Europe's energy needs.

Mead further laments that Biden's green strategy undoes what Mead calls the "greatest American achievement of the past decade." That was eliminating the Middle East as the world's swing energy producer and thus shifting economic leverage from the U.S. to authoritarian monopolies.

There are several things we can expect from Joe Biden in the near term. Already he has humiliated himself and the U.S. by unsuccessfully begging Saudi Arabia not to jack up oil prices too high. Then there will be the farce at the upcoming United Nationssponsored "Conference of Parties" (COP26), set to begin, appropriately enough, on October 31 (Halloween) in Glasgow. Biden, the man, announced he'll "be there with bells on." To appease the greens at home and to earn a pat on the head from the bureaucrats in Europe, Biden can be expected to over-commit to reducing America's carbon emissions. He'll do this even though Chinese president Xi Jinping, leader of the world's greatest emitter of greenhouse gases, won't even bother attending COP26. Furthermore, news reports say China, Australia, India, and Russia are refusing to make any real promises to cut carbon emissions. Can that be a surprise?

I warned you we were going to Crazy Town. It is staggering to think such a cockamamie strategy was concocted by the supposed adults in the room who took over when President Trump left office. As long as Biden and his crew are in power, America will suffer on the energy front.

Image: lalabell68 via Pixabay, Pixabay License.

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It takes a lot to mobilize a truly bi-partisan group of Congressional Reps to take action, especially against something being done by the Biden administrations golden boy of COVID mis-information, Dr. Anthony Fauci. However, twenty-four of these elected federal officials who wrote to the head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, demanding that Fauci make a full accounting of a nearly half-million-dollar grant given to a research lab in Tunisia to fund the torture and murder of  wait for it  at least 44 beagle puppies.

Yeah, I saw the list, and while more than half of the Congressional Reps are Republicans, nine are Democrats, including Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), one of the most powerful, vocal and partisan Representatives in Congress. Apparently, opposition to the cruel, tax-funded extermination of adorable, inoffensive beagles is finally something that both parties can agree on. After all, 38.4% of American households have a dog as part of the family.

Some news reports suggest that beagle research may have been conducted in Tunisia and at least three other off-shore locations over the past three or four years. However, this story is just starting to emerge, and while several prominent UK-based newspapers are already covering it, American media  starting with The Hill and Newsweek  are just beginning to focus on it. As with many other scandal-ridden Washington stories, Beagle-Gate will likely dribble out over a period of weeks or months. It may remain alive (unlike those mutilated beagle pups) through the mid-term Congressional elections.

Should this story find traction with the media and the public, expect a bi-partisan tidal wave of support for the inquiry into this truly awful story of taxpayer-funded animal cruelty on a wholesale basis.

Why was this allowed to happen? As the news media keeps telling Americans, we all have to follow the science. This, according to two different Presidents  Trump and Biden  as well as their on-again off-again, sometimes-favorite COVID mouthpiece, Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD (which in his case may stand for Murders Dogs).

But cmon, man, as Biden might say, what kind of science comes from drugging adorable beagle pups, then exposing their heads to carnivorous and infectious desert sand fleas. To make it all scientific-seeming, people in white lab coats watched closely as those voracious sand fleas proceed to eat those cute pups alive.

What word is strong enough to describe the horror of this research?

Extermination?

Execution?

Liquidation?

Slaughter?

Butchery?

Seriously, is there even one single word in the English language strong enough to encompass the bizarre and vicious nature of acts that  if conducted in the US  would almost certainly have violated a host of animal cruelty statutes. No wonder Fauci off-shored the research to Tunisia. I mean, where better to torture dogs than in a North African nation which has no qualms about torturing dogs. After all, canines are not favored by the Islamic religion. So where better to capture these dogs, cut out their vocal cords  yes, the researchers did that, but only because their barking and howling disturbed the researchers  then torture them to death. All in the name of science, they forced these darling young pups to endure agonizing deaths.

To recap this research: First, the beagles were put in cages and cast adrift on the desert sands for nine consecutive nights. With the temperature approaching freezing in those dark desert nights, the dogs shivered and moaned and howled as hundreds  perhaps thousands  of infectious sand fleas were drawn to their warmth. So these poor dogs were responsible for literally capturing their future murderers.

Then, the forty-four pups were given cordectomies  the same surgical procedure used on humans who have laryngeal cancer. They couldnt howl or bark or even whimper  the pups heads are put into small cages holding the infectious sand fleas. Finally, researchers watched as the sand fleas literally ate their beagle hosts alive, from the inside out. That, apparently, is something Dr. Fauci considers not just science, but science worthy of a $375,800 grant from Americas too-generous taxpayers.

Your scientific tax dollars at work!

Beyond the sheer monstrosity of these foul deeds, face it  sometimes, Faucis just plain stupid. I mean, funding virus research in the heart of the Peoples Republic of China? Or using American tax dollars to fund this vile research into the dining habits of Saharan sand fleas? That, alone, is pretty damn stupid, but if youre going to experiment on dogs, why not try working on Pugs or Bulldogs or Shar-peis or some other less broadly appealing breed. Picking one of the cutest and most cuddly of mans best friends seems like adding insult to injury.

Frankly, these beagle serial murders seem way more than a bit extreme, even for the not-so-good Doctor Fauci and his NIAID, refuse to issue a statement on this heinous farce (in the name of science).

Those who, like me, are old enough to remember this  back in around 65, then-President Lyndon Johnson was caught on camera picking up a beagle by its long and floppy ears. That created a minor media firestorm and public outrage, and may have contributed  at least in a minor way  to Johnsons almost unprecedented decision to not seek a second term. But he didnt kill the dog in question.

In what is almost certainly to be called Beagle-Gate, at least by the media, Faucis researchers killed nobody-knows-how-many beagles. While Biden so far seems shielded from most actions taken under his leadership, this might prove to be a bridge too far. Ironic if Fauci loses his job because of Beagle-Gate, instead of for funding viral research in Wuhan that gave us COVID, or for his colossally-inept bungling, giving us Americans the fruits of his follow the science wisdom that changes on a daily basis.

Im known as a cat man  I havent had a pet dog since the early 80s  but I still have nothing but compassion for the suffering those poor pups endured. This tortures courtesy of the guy who funded the viral research facility in Wuhan. Of course, this experimentation on dogs was meant to be kept secret, which may be why Fauci out-sourced this research to Tunisia. Perhaps because even someone as tone-deaf as Fauci knows that killing cute little beagle pups in the name of science would play in the American media, or even with the American Congress, Fauci authorized $375,800 in the form of a grant to a lab in Tunisia. Now I cant be sure, but last time I checked, Tunisia isnt exactly a leader in cutting-edge scientific research.

This article is based on material from Ned Barnetts forthcoming book, The COVID Diaries. This, his 40th published book, is scheduled for publication early in 2020, by Sidekick Press. Barnett heads Barnett Marketing Communications in Las Vegas, an agency that helps conservative candidates and causes, as well as pro-free-enterprise corporations and non-profits. Barnett also serves as a writing coach and editor for book-length authors on a variety of topics, including fiction and non-fiction. He can be reached at ned.barnett@gmail.com.

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Maybe it took a woman who grew up in the South to make this point. Former secretary of state Condi Rice was right on target at The View:

Rice brought up her upbringing in segregated Birmingham, Alabama. Still, she did not think the way the issue of race was addressed in schools was helpful to Black or white students. In particular, she believed that white students were being put in a position to feel guilty for the country's racist history. "The way we're talking about race is that it either seems so big that somehow white people now have to feel guilty for everything that happened in the past," said Rice. Rice continued that she didn't feel this approach was to the benefit of anyone. "I don't think that's very productive or Black people feel disempowered by race. I would like Black kids to be completely empowered to know they are beautiful in their Blackness, but in order to do that, I don't have to make white kids feel bad for being white. So, somehow this is a conversation that has gone in the wrong direction," she said. Rice added that Black children could be taught about their history but it could not be without progress being highlighted or making their white counterparts feel bad.

It's hard to believe we have not heard this before. Maybe we have, but Secretary Rice's comments are a welcome relief.

As Secretary Rice said, blaming people today for the sins of the past is not productive. It does not erase history and may in fact promote more racial division. I've heard several friends say they are afraid to talk about race because it's not worth the potential misunderstanding.

Also, telling young whites they are the problem is a dishonest version of history. As I recall, it was Africans who captured the men who were sold to the Europeans as slaves. Furthermore, it was whites who wrote the documents that outlawed slavery.

How do we move on? We teach history and then tell kids that the opportunities are out there for those who want to work and apply themselves. We don't limit their dreams by turning them into victims or oppressors. And we remind them that character and family are important to growing up successfully  frankly, a lot more important than your skin color.

Thank you, Condi Rice. I hope a lot of people see your comments and learn something from them.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).

Image: TechCrunch via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.

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Its astonishing that this must even be said. We are deeply immersed in a monumental battle of good versus evil.

God warns people about evil. It is real, He says. It is not just a difference of opinion. It is the opposite of good. It is harmful, destructive and merciless.

But people are naive. They prefer to believe people are basically good. Because of that erroneous assumption, they refuse to see evil intent. They want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. They dont want to believe that people are motivated by evil. When there are differences of opinion, they attribute the differences to benevolent disagreement.

But God says otherwise. Evil exists. People are not basically good, He says. People are basically evil. They are born in sin, naturally preferring sin over what is good. People instinctively lie, cheat, steal. They murder. They call evil good and good evil. And they do all that to advance evil. As Jesus said, these evildoers act out the will of their father, the Devil.

This is the fundamental difference between people. Some are children of the Devil, doing his will, committing evil acts, destroying, oppressing, killing, and compliantly supporting such vile behavior as if it is a good thing. Others are children of God, adopted by Him to learn and to do His will, which is to oppose evil in all things, to resist the Devil, not to obey him.

God warns that evildoers are deceived by Satan, whom God identifies as The Deceiver.

As has often been written, the Devils best trick is to make people believe he does not exist.

But once people accept that Satan is real, that evil exists, that people are inherently sinful, not good, then the battle between good and evil comes into focus. Suddenly, people see evil acts as evil acts, not as innocent differences of opinion. The murder of babies in the womb is seen as murder, not a beneficent choice. Sexual depravity is seen as a blatant offense to Gods natural order, not an artificial right bestowed by manmade laws. Oppression, tyranny, slavery, mass murder, denial of the natural right to worship God, all these forms of evil are seen as what they are: the tools and outcome of following the will of Satan.

How is it possible for people to turn blind eyes to such evil as practiced today by governments of the world, such as in North Korea, communist China, false-god worshipping Iran? It is possible because people refuse to see the evil being done by governments that enslave, torture and murder their own people. But these evildoers can be known by their fruits.

In the 20th century, dictatorial socialist-communist countries murdered 100 million people. Not enemies in war. Their own people, their own citizens. And the world largely looked on, often even applauding the tyranny. A New York Times reporter won a Pulitzer Prize for writing about the intentional mass starvations of millions in the USSR, explaining that to make an omelet some eggs must be broken.

Men inspired by evil have followed suit, committing such evil acts in supposedly free nations that also supposedly honor God-given rights.

When many Americans see their own government committing similar evil acts, their inclination is to deny that they are evil acts. They refuse to identify their rulers by their wicked fruits. Our people wouldnt do something thats evil, they tell each other. Our people are basically good. What they do is for our benefit.

Our scientists wouldnt invent medical means to inflict evil on our own people, they tell each other. They only do what they do to help us, not to hurt us.

The devils greatest trick is to make people believe he doesnt exist.

Heres a tip: if it looks like evil, it probably is. If it results in evil being done, it isnt good. If those doing it demand that people must conform to their diktats, it isnt voluntary free will. It is tyranny. If its tyranny, it isnt godly. It is the work of Satan and evil people.

Finally, when people inspired to do evil gain control over other people you can be certain of two things: they wont relinquish control once theyve obtained it, and once they get it, their number one motivation is to increase their control. History is replete with examples, from ancient despots to todays political Utopia-seekers.

You may be familiar with Lord Actons words describing it: Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

It starts with the power to lockdown everything for only 15 days to flatten the curve. It quickly escalates to injecting everyone with unproven, unprecedented vaccines that are actually RNA-modifying drugs, even children and even those who dont want the vaccination. And it quickly ratchets up to government-required approval to leave your home, to work, to buy food, to worship God, and ultimately to being segregated in concentration camps to corral dissenters, just as done by Nazis, Soviets and Chinese communists.

It cant happen here, you protest? Thats what Germans, Russians and Chinese thought too.

If it looks like evil, its not good. And God has warned us. Flee from the Devil. Resist him. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them (Ephesians 5:11)

God has explained the way Satan tricks vulnerable, gullible people who prefer to believe that people are basically good and that people who take control must be benevolent. God says you are being deceived.

Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:14-16)

Because the Devils greatest trick is to make you think he doesnt exist.

And, as has been suggested, The second greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he is the good guy.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.

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Terry McAuliffe, memorably characterized as "the unkillable cockroach of the Democratic Party" by PJMedia's Stephen Kruiser, is not faring well in the polls in his campaign for governor of Virginia. Apparently, neither is New Jersey's Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy, who's also running for a second term as governor and who at last count had just a six-point lead, plus a toxic endorsement from The Nation, which declared him "the most progressive governor in America." That won't go over well in Jersey City or Weehawken.

Democrats think these elections are important to their wretched 2022 prospects in Congress and have whipped out their big guns -- not flailing Joe Biden, of course -- but Barack Obama. New Jersey's a blue state that's been the hardest hit by Democrat COVID policies, including the seeding of nursing homes with COVID patients, a man-caused disaster that killed off thousands of elderly people. It's also been subject to tax hikes. Virginia's a purple state and Obama's the man who expanded Washington's bureaucracies and handed its bureaucrats gargantuan salaries; creating Virginia's Washington suburbs and turning the historically red state blue. Obama is there to remind such voters of all those good times.

He's back, and spewing his banal platitudes as well as Trump hate, in the perfect picture of leftist establishment hypocrisy.

Start with the first forked-tongue idiocy, from Fox News:

Former President Barack Obama traveled to New Jersey on Saturday to campaign for Gov. Phil Murphy and claimed that he understands why Americans are questioning when COVID-19 mandates will end. "The science says it's the right thing to do," Obama said in reference to COVID-19 mask and vaccine requirements to a crowd of Murphy supporters in Newark. "You do it because you're not just protecting yourself, but people you love, people who are vulnerable. But, you know, I don't know how folks just decide everything's got to suddenly be political." "But I understand why people want to know when this is all going to end," Obama added.

It's as if 2020 never happened. His argument, like a lot of them coming from him, is old and hackneyed. It's what officials were saying back in March 2020 when the pandemic began. The nursing home seedings were just beginning and the bodies were being rolled out, but according to Obama, anything that comes out of the mouth of an incompetent, power-hungry bureaucrat with a one-size-fits-all mentality is 'science.'

Grosser still, he 'understands.' It sound like 2008 now, that's the kind of nonsense he spewed to convinced voters he was a 'moderate.' He understands nothing, he just wants credit for 'understanding' and dismisses all inconvenient facts as well as public discontent and moves on with his socialist power-mongering. Little guys are never a factor except at election time and for them, he offers 'I understand.'

These days, it's flaming hypocrisy.

As Obama pontificates about masks and the importance of doing whatever bureaucrats say because "science," voters have got to be remembering that not too long ago, Obama held a big super-spreader event at his 60th birthday party on Martha's Vineyard. The elite minions at the huge event (supposedly pared down after an outcry, but not really) wore no masks, partied hearty in the closed tent, and sure enough, Martha's Vineyard got its first large outbreak of COVID in the aftermath. Officials denied that there was a connection, but gave no details. No COVID, then after Obama, lots of COVID? Sounds a little funny. Obama hasn't said anything about it, of course. His message now? Masks for thee, but not for me.

The other problem is his obnoxious claims to favor science, which of course he doesn't. What he favors is bureaucratic edicts, which often go against science, and are dictated by labor unions. As various commentators have noted, first it was 'two weeks to stop the spread.' Then it was 'don't wear masks.' Then it was 'wear masks.' Then it was 'wear two masks.' Then it was 'no vaccine can come because Trump.' Then it was 'get vaxxed.' Then it was 'get vaxxed with a lottery ticket.' Then it was 'get vaxxed or lose your job and be cast as a pariah in society.' None of this sounds like science. It's bureaucratic caprice, premised on what serves bureaucratic, political and union interests best at the time. For Obama to hollering about 'science' is just a little ... tired. Been there, done that.

As he declares he 'understands,' it's pretty obvious he doesn't understand or pay attention to a thing. It's like he's lost his touch, and can't read a room. Maybe it'll work in blue New Jersey, but I have my doubts.

However, he's lost none of his wiliness.

Spewing more banalities, he decried "meanness" in Virginia. The old "Trump does mean tweets" translated to Virginia politics. Or, Clinton-redux, recall how Bill and Hillary Clinton used to whine about mean-spiritedness, in contrast to that pair's supposed big-spiritedness.

According to NBC News:

RICHMOND, Va.  Former President Barack Obama, campaigning Saturday for Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Virginias closely watched race for governor, framed the Nov. 2 election as an opportunity to decisively reject the rhetoric and politics of another former president, Donald Trump. "Were at a turning point right now, both here in America and around the world," Obama told a crowd of about 2,000 gathered outdoors on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. "Because there's a mood out there. There's a politics of meanness and division and conflict, of tribalism and cynicism. That's one path. But the good news is there's another path where we pull together and we solve big problems."

Meanness? Tribalism. Does he mean bitter clingers? As far as 'path where we pull together' that's already been taken by Joe Biden and just look at the country.

It's obnoxious as heck, given the Democrat record with full control of the House, the Senate and the White House. If that's unity and pulling together (read: shutting out dissenting voices, same way one of the airlines achieved 99% vaxx rates by firing the unvaxxed), Americans know what that means now. While the Obama argument is old and hackneyed, it might work among Democrats, given that seems to have been effective in California during the recall election of loathsome Gov. Gavin Newsom. It's just fake claims with sleazy underhanded tactics to achieve it, all in a bid to look big and above it all. Tell that to the parents protesting at school board meetings who've since been declared domestic terrorists, an act so unpopular most of the school boards and their advocates are trying to walk it back.

Obama essentially is running the 2020 election all over again, this time campaigning against Trump, without the useless baggage of Joe Biden to front for him. The response of his GOP opponent, Glenn Youngkin, is kind of flat-footed, given that I am not aware of any bid from him to flip the tables on Obama and warn voters that a McAuliffe victory means another Joe Biden to plague their lives. He ought to be doing that instead of "distancing" himself from Trump which Elder did, too, and which didn't stop Democrats from running away with it as their big idea to voters. Youngkin is also making the same mistake Larry Elder did by campaigning solely on local issues -- which is important, but insufficient -- while Democrats are taking the campaign national and making it all about Trump. The race is close, and now with Obama playing the Newsom team playbook, he might succeed.

But none of this halts the reality that he's a banal guy with zero new ideas, zero ability to recognize what voters are thinking, and the same-old, same-old, repeating himself over and over. In that regard, he's following the trajectory of Hillary Clinton, who was a same-old, same-old until her party got tired of her. Obama is supposed to be a Democrat star in his party, but he's constantly trotted out to bolster fading Democrat dotards with far less political talent than he had -- from Hillary, to Biden, to now cockroach McAuliffe.

It might work in New Jersey and Virginia, but I suspect this has a limited shelf life. There are too many hypocrisies and contradictions. There's also too much living in the past in this palaver. At some point, the voters are going to catch on to this one-trick pony and one can only hope it happens in New Jersey and Virginia first. If it doesn't happen there, I think it will happen in the rest of country.

Hard fact here is, Obama's act is getting old.

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License

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Irineo Mujica is back in business.

He's leading an aggressive new caravan into the U.S. on a wave of God-is-on-our-side' messianism alongside crusader-like 'we are ready for war' exhortations.

You can see his handiwork here:

En localidad de #VivaMexico cerca de #Tapachula #Chiapas rompe el cerco de elementos de @INAMI_mx y @GN_MEXICO_ la #CaravanaMigrante que avanza por la Carretera costera en su objetivo de llegar a la #CDMX para pedir respeto al derecho a migrar pic.twitter.com/D1l745o0lG  Gabriela Coutino (@GabyCoutino) October 23, 2021

And here he is. You can tell from his photo that he's never missed a meal.

Now, his caravan, possiblly sponsored by his group, "Pueblos sin Fronteras," is not as big as previously advertised in the press -- a "mother of all caravans" at 95,000 as it had been grandly called by some outlets in recent weeks.

It looks like he drew somewhere between 1,500 and 5,000 would-be illegals to his caravan this time, virtually all of them military-aged young men with no single moms with babies in expensive designer strollers placed out front for the cameras as had been seen in the past.

Mujica in fact has led a lot of these caravans, including the first big one at the San Diego border in 2018. He's a far, far leftist with an Aztlan-style mission to "conquer" the U.S. He's a U.S. citizen, but not one with any scrap of loyalty to the U.S. Apparently it's a get-out-of-jail card for him given the times the Mexicans have tried to pick him up without success.

In 2018, Mujica promised the caravan migrants he was leading into the states paradise. He didn't deliver. He had run up against President Trump's resolve to not let them through, and his doings led to Trump's 'remain in Mexico' asylum policy to prevent this sort of loopholing that was bringing the migrants looking for jobs into the country on phony asylum claims as an immigration shortcut. Trump saw through him and cut the scam off.

After running up against Trump, and being surprised by it, Mujica dumped his caravan migrants and left them stranded in Tijuana, a city that offered them jobs and livelihoods if they wanted them, but no cheap and easy admission into the U.S. The migrants then set up a fetid refugee camp in a residential area, which drew protests from the Tijuana locals. It was worsened by seasonal rains, then diseases and hunger, then crime spinning out of control, and finally many would-be illegal migrants took the Mexican-offered free bus trips back to Honduras. As for Mujica, who created the bona fide humanitarian disaster, he became a pariah in Tijuana, before cutting out and leaving the migrants hanging. The Mexican cops caught up with him at least once, charging him with extorting money from migrants and human trafficking, but apparently weren't able to make the charges stick. His name, though, still stinks among many migrants based on all his phony promises to them and word gets around. That may well be why his caravan size wasn't anything like 95,000. But he still had enough shock troops to get the press coverage he thrives on.

What he has this time -- and it might be why he's resurfaced -- is Joe Biden's incompetence.

According to National Review's Caroline Downey:

Irineo Mujica, the leader of the caravan in Tapachula told independent journalist Oscar El Blue in an interview that there is perceived ineptitude in the Biden Administration on immigration policy. While former President Trump tightened immigration control which decreased migrant influxes significantly, his management of the issue was at least predictable, Mujica suggested. If I tell you the truth . . . at least with Donald Trump we knew what we had. With Biden, we dont know. He doesnt seem to have a clue what to do with immigration because he says one thing and does another. Tell me something different that Joe Biden has done? He promised immigration reform. He hasnt done it, Mujica said.

Hear that? He's counting on Biden's incompetence to ensure the caravan business he's got stays booming.

While Mujica is a false prophet of open borders, a charlatan, an opportunist, and a rabid leftist, he's now up against a bigger charlatan, sitting in the White House. He mistakenly assumed that Trump was a paper tiger and got some comeuppance for it, but now he knows for sure that Joe Biden is a paper tiger and making it a selling point for would-be migrants. That's what's driving him to herd in his migrant caravans in the current day. Migrant caravans disappeared after the first one that was conducted on Trump, but now the rabid leftists are jumping in with Joe Biden.

What does this say about Joe Biden that he can be rolled by a crazed America-hating leftist with messianic dreams such as this one?

Image: Grupo Formula, video screen shot, via YouTube
Bryson Gray, a rapper and Trump supporter, recorded a rap song called Lets Go Brandon (not to be confused with Loza Alexanders hip-hop chart-topping Lets Go Brandon song). Grays song was doing well on the charts so, two days ago, YouTube figured out a way to remove it. It claimed that the song contains medical misinformation. Aside from being untrue, YouTube managed to take the song from being well-ish-known and turned it into a massive hit. Talk about a censorship fail.

To be honest, because Im not a fan of rap, I hadnt heard of Bryson Gray before now. This is an important point because Im not the only one. But thanks to Google/YouTubes heavy-handed censorship, a lot of people whod never heard of the song made a point to buy it, pushing it into the musical stratosphere.

Gray is a seriously devout Christian. On his Twitter page, he describes himself as the Most censored rap artist in America. Torah keeper. Christ follower. Whats significant is that hes not getting banned for obscenity or violence. (There would be a good, and legal, reason to ban all the gangsta rappers polluting young childrens minds. Censorship is allowable to protect children.) According to Grays description of his latest album, theres No profanity. No unbiblical idea. Its rap, but its clean and uplifting.

If you go to Grays online store, you can find all sorts of MAGA and Christian gear. Hes a Second Amendment supporting, clean living, no swearing, America loving rapper. Whats not to like? Well, if youre YouTube, the thing not to like is a song wrapped around the Lets Go Brandon meme.

Very quickly, if youve been locked away from the media for a couple of weeks, Lets Go Brandon came into being when Brandon Brown unexpectedly won a NASCAR race and was being interviewed by an NBC reporter. In the stands behind him, the Eff Joe Biden chant broke out. The reporter, no doubt thinking she was cleverly protecting Joe, said, You can hear the chants from the crowd, Lets go, Brandon.... And so, a clean meme was born. (Ive even got the t-shirt.)

Because it was a clean meme, Gray, working with Tyson James & Chandler Crump, was able to record a rap song thatand this is importantis still available on iTunes. Ive embedded the lyrics at the bottom of this post and youll see that theres not a single obscenity. So, what about the song upset YouTube? These lines:

Pandemic ain't real, they just planned it Biden said the jab stop the spread, it was lies

Regarding the pandemic, is it really a pandemic if theres only a 1.6% mortality rate thats heavily skewed towards people over 80? No.

And regarding Biden saying the jab stops the spread, thats untrue too. Even CDC Director Rochelle Walensky conceded it doesnt stop the spread. If it did, vaccinated people like Biden, Kamala Harris, and the whole panoply of vaccinated Democrats wouldnt be wearing masks all the time. Google/YouTube is just making things up.

However, the story about YouTubes censorship got picked up in multiple media outlets, including Fox News, Breitbart, the Post Millennial, MediaPlugAfrica, and the Daily Mail, with its ginormous readership, to name but a few. All this media attention alerted people to an easy way to push back against the Tech Tyrants censorship over anything countering the narrative, and people began to buy the song.

In fact, so many people from around the world have bought the song that as of midnight as October 23 turns into October 24, Lets Go Brandon is second only to Adeles massive bestseller, Easy on Me. Moreover, along the way, it seems to have given a boost to Loza Alexanders version of Lets Go Brandon, which is now in third place.

According to Grays Twitter feed, as of shortly after midnight on October 24, his song was only 50 sales away from taking the number one spot. For all I know, by the time youre reading this, YouTubes decision to cancel Lets Go Brandon turned it into the number one selling song on iTunes.

Once again, this is a reminder (as if we need one) that, while the left has accrued massive power, people around the world are not happy with how the left is using this power. And at long last, theyre rebelling. In every institutionthe internet, schools, the media, etc.the voice of the people is getting louder and louder.

However, the left is continuing to consolidate power, so we have a small window of time within which to act. Theres no time or space for complacency. We just must push back against Critical Race Theory, LGBTQ porn in schools, the effort to keep the world on pandemic status, broken borders, and the use of relativism to destroy morals, families, and culture. Dont give up. Get louder.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
Fighter aviation has come a long way from the crude old days when pilots shot down their own planes as often as the enemys. In those early days pilots had to shoot their machine guns through the spinning blades of their aircrafts propellers. Many pilots ended up shooting holes through their propeller blades. This problem was solved with the invention of a synchronization gear, which prohibited the guns from firing when the spinning propeller was in the way of the muzzle.

Modern fighter planes have overcome many of the technological limitations that dogged early aviators and engineers. Modern fighter jets are complicated and sophisticated machines that have been carefully designed and built to the highest degree of precision. But technology has been known to fail. In 2019, an F-16 of the Royal Netherlands Air Force ripped bullets through the fuselagebullets that came from the planes own guns. It wasnt the first time a pilot had shot itself. The first recorded incidence and the most dramatic example of a fighter plane bringing itself down took place in 1956.

An F-11 Tiger in flight.

On September 21 that year, Thomas W. Attridge, a young U.S. Navy ensign took off in a Grumman F-11 Tiger from a test facility in Long Island, New York, for a weapons test over the Atlantic Ocean. He flew some 20 miles out over the open ocean and then climbed to 20,000 feet in preparation for test firing the aircrafts four 20mm cannons. Attridge began a shallow dive, and at 13,000 feet he fired 70 rounds during a four-second burst. Immediately after, Attridge engaged the afterburner and entered a steep dive, and at 7,000 feet, fired again emptying the gun belts.

Moments later, the windshield of his aircraft was shattered by some object. Attridge assumed it was a bird strike. He immediately throttled back and pulled up to reduce speed and turned back towards the Grumman airbase near Calverton, New York. While flying back to the airbase, Attridge noticed that the object had also left a sizeable gash on the right engine's intake lip. Soon the engine began to give him trouble and he realized that he could not get more than 78 percent of the engine's maximum available power. Pushing the throttle pass this figure caused the engine to growl like a Hoover vacuum cleaner picking up gravel from a rug.

Attridge continued flying towards the airbase, but he rapidly lost altitude. Eventually, with less than a mile to go, the aircrafts engine gave out and the Tiger sliced through a forest for 300 feet before coming to a stop. Attridge broke a leg and three vertebrae on impact, but he managed to free himself from the blazing plane. A rescue helicopter whisked him away to a hospital.

An investigation revealed that the object that struck the Tigers cockpit was not a bird but the rounds that Attridge had fired during the first burst. When Attridge accelerated his plane and began a steep dive, he inadvertently overtook his own bullets, which had slowed down considerably because of drag and was following a curved trajectory. Attridge was flying underneath the trajectory of the bullets, and eleven seconds later as he began to pull out of the descent, he flew into the stream of projectiles. One 20 mm round crashed into the windshield of the cockpit from above. Another round hit the right engine intake, and a third punctured the nose. The bullet that disabled the planes engine got lodged in the first compressor stage where it ricocheted between the fan blades breaking the blades and other components.

When the bullets left the aircraft's guns, they had a muzzle velocity of 2,000 miles per hour, but their speed was slowed down after a short distance because of air resistance. Meanwhile, the airplane accelerated to 880 miles per hour (about Mach 1.1) and dived sharply down. In the time both met, the airplane had less distance to cover than the bullets, while also travelling at about twice the speed of the (slowed down) bullets.

The Navy claimed that it was a million-to-one shot, but Attridge disagreed. At the speeds we're flying today, it could be duplicated any time, he said.

Sure enough, on June 20th, 1973, Pete Purvis, a test pilot for Grumman, was flying out of Point Mugu, California, in an F-14 Tomcat, when his plane was hit by its own 'Sparrow' missile. The missile had failed to drop and properly clear the airframe after launch, and then pitched up and punctured the plane's fuel tank. At the time of firing, the F-14 was travelling at nearly Mach 1. Fortunately, the missile was a dummy and the damage was purely from impact. Nevertheless, Purvis lost control of his aircraft and had to bail out.

A sequence of photos showing the Sparrow missile misfiring on a F-14 Tomcat piloted by Pete Purvis.

Tom Attridge returned to flight status a little under six months after the incident. In subsequent years Attridge would become the project manager for LEM-3, the first lunar module rated for human flight. He then became vice president of Grumman Ecosystems. He passed away in 1997.

References:

# An Unlucky First... The Shootdown of Tiger #620, Check-Six.com

# J.D. Simkins, Dutch F-16 makes emergency landing after plane shoots itself, Military Times
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Talladega, AL (35160)

Today

Mainly clear skies. Scattered frost possible. Low 33F. Winds light and variable..

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Ageing Border Force vessels will be replaced by new cutters as part of a 700 million investment to improve the safety of Britains borders, the Treasury said.

The current fleet, which is 20 years old, will be retired and 11 new vessels will come into service to help tackle organised crime and illegal migration at a cost of 74 million.

The announcement was made ahead of Chancellor Rishi Sunaks budget and also includes 628 million to modernise and digitalise the border, with proposals including a US-style Electronic Travel Authorisation for tourists wishing to come to the UK.

Electronic authorisations will launch in 2023 and be fully in place two years later and, like the American system, will allow authorities to decide if people should be allowed to travel to the UK prior to their arrival.

In a statement issued by the Treasury, Mr Sunak said: Protecting our borders and making it easier for us all to travel to and from our great nation is at the heart of our ambitions as a government.

It comes just over a month since figures, compiled by the PA news agency, showed the number of people who have made the dangerous journey across the English Channel in small boats this year has doubled the total for all of 2020.

A system, similar to the US Esta programme, will be brought in (Lauren Hurley/PA)

Since the start of the year, more than 18,000 people have succeeded in reaching the UK on board small boats, according to data.

Small boat arrivals in 2021 now stand at more than double the figure for the whole of 2020, when 8,417 people crossed the Dover Strait.

The Spending Review will also include just over 1 billion to be spent over the next three years on new UK sovereign functions following Brexit.

This will include money for more than 1,000 Border Force officers to deliver customs and transit checks, the Treasury added.
A great grandfather was left lying in a pool of his own blood for two-and-a-half hours while waiting for an ambulance, his family have claimed.

The family of Charles Hall, 85, said they were "shocked and upset" after the incident, which happened a day before he then died in hospital, and have now lodged a complaint.

Hall, was found lying in a pool of blood by daughter Joanne and husband John after a suspected fall at his home on 4 October.

After kicking down the door to get to him, they called an ambulance but said they had to wait for two-and-a-half hours for an East Midlands Ambulance Service to arrive at the address in Hinckley, Leicestershire, as they desperately tried to give him first aid.

The 85-year-old was taken to hospital but died the following day. The cause of death was given as kidney failure due to a fall, which eventually lead to a cardiac arrest.

The family, who described the scene when they found the widow as 'like a crime scene', think he had a fall in his kitchen and was trying to reach the phone near his front door.

Son-in-law, John, 56, who is first aid trained and tended to his father-in-law as he drifted in and out of consciousness, said: "My wife rang me at around 5.30pm to tell me that her dad was on the floor, and that she couldn't get in the door.

"My brother and sister-in-law arrived and kicked down the door - and there he was, on the floor covered in blood."

"We, as a family, are still trying to piece together exactly what happened. It was utter carnage - the kitchen table had been shoved out the way, one slipper in one corner of the room.

"We think he may have had a fall in the kitchen and tried to make it to the telephone stand and couldn't. That's where we found him.

"He was in a right old state, bless him. It wasn't dignified at all."

He said when they rang for an ambulance they were told nobody could come for two-and-a-half hours, leaving him to administer first aid.

"I did all the usual checks and made sure he could move his fingers and legs, I helped put him in the recovery position - very responsive, we had a chat.

"But over the two-and-a-half hours, I rang the ambulance and said he is having a trouble breathing and in and out of consciousness.

"They still said then, the ambulance will be another hour. I was thinking they cannot do this.

"When they arrived at around 8pm, they said to us 'this is a priority'."

He said he did not blame the paramedics who arrived on the scene, but said it would have been helpful to have more advice as to how to help make Hall more comfortable.

The family have lodged a complaint with East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) and an investigation is set to take place, which could take up to 60 days.

Richard Lyne, divisional director of EMAS, said: "I would like to offer my deepest condolences to Mr Halls family, all of whom we understand have faced a deeply difficult time.

"Patient care and safety is always our priority and I am sorry that on this occasion the service provided to Mr Hall was not to the standard he rightly expected.

"At the time of Mr Halls call there was continued high demand on EMAS and the wider NHS system, and we were responding to a number of people whose life was reported to be at immediate risk.

"We are currently in contact with Mr Halls family through our Patient Advice and Liaison Service and are fully investigating the reason for this delay."
The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has gone on hunger strike for the second time in two years due to the Governments inaction and failure in its handling of her case, their MP has said.

Richard Ratcliffe is beginning a hunger strike outside the Foreign Office in London and intends to sleep in a tent at night following his wife losing her latest appeal in Iran.

Non-profit organisation Redress said that, while Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has not yet been summoned to prison, it is unclear whether she will be returned to prison or house arrest with an ankle tag, or whether she will be left in limbo in Iran indefinitely.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual national, has been in custody in the country since 2016 after being accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

Richard Ratcliffe outside the Foreign Office in London (Aaron Chown/PA)

She was taking her daughter Gabriella to see her family when she was arrested and was sentenced to five years in prison shortly afterwards, spending four years in Evin Prison and one under house arrest.

According to her family, she was told by Iranian authorities that she was being detained because of the UKs failure to pay an outstanding 400 million debt to Iran.

On a petition on Change.Org, which has more than 3.5 million signatures as of Sunday afternoon, Mr Ratcliffe has written: Two years ago I went on hunger strike in front of the Iranian Embassy, on the eve of Boris Johnson taking over as Prime Minister.

Two years ago we were allowed to camp in front of Iranian Embassy for 15 days, much to their considerable anger.

But it got Gabriella home.

Richard Ratcliffe and his daughter Gabriella hold signs in Parliament Square in September to mark the 2,000th day Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained in Iran (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

We are now giving the UK government the same treatment.

In truth, I never expected to have to do a hunger strike twice.

It is not a normal act.

It seems extraordinary the need to adopt the same tactics to persuade government here, to cut through the accountability gap.

Of course Iran still remains the primary abuser in Nazanins case.

But our family is caught in a dispute between two states.

The UK is also letting us down.

It is increasingly clear that Nazanins case could have been solved many months ago, but for other diplomatic agendas.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (Family/PA)

The PM needs to take responsibility for that.

Who does the Government answer to for the choices it makes?

Who takes responsibility?

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq tweeted on Sunday afternoon: My heart breaks to write this, but once again my constituent Richard Ratcliffe has been forced to go on hunger strike because of the Governments inaction and failure to #FreeNazanin.

It should never have come to this.

Rupert Skilbeck, director of Redress, said: Its deeply worrying that Richard Ratcliffe has felt compelled to resort once again to a life-threatening measure to bring attention to the desperate plight of his family.

Richard Ratcliffe outside the Foreign Office (Aaron Chown/PA)

Five years on, we have only seen setback after setback.

The UK Governments approach is clearly not working.

Its time to stand up to perpetrators of hostage-taking by sanctioning those who perpetuate this reprehensible practice, and to bring Nazanin home.

Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, said: Its so incredibly upsetting that its come to this.

Like Richard, weve grown tired of hearing ministers saying theyre doing all they can for Nazanin and other arbitrarily-detained Britons in Iran  it doesnt look like that to us, and it certainly hasnt produced results.

He said the Government should set out a clearly articulated strategy for how it intends to secure the release of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other British nationals detained in Iran.

We call on Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and other ministers to take the time to come out of their offices to visit Richard at his tent. Ministers need to hear first-hand how desperate this situation is, Mr Deshmukh said.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), said: Irans decision to proceed with these baseless charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is an appalling continuation of the cruel ordeal she is going through.

Instead of threatening to return Nazanin to prison Iran must release her permanently so she can return home.

We are doing all we can to help Nazanin get home to her young daughter and family and we will continue to press Iran on this point.
A rare syndrome that affects the nervous system has been added to the list of possible side effects from the AstraZeneca Covid jab.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has added Guillain-Barre syndrome as a possible side effect of the vaccine.

Guillain-Barre (GBS) is a rare, autoimmune disorder where a person's own immune system damages their nerves, causing weakness and sometimes paralysis.

It affects nerves mainly in the feet, hands and limbs, according to the NHS, and symptoms can last for a few weeks up to several years. Most people recover fully, but some can be left with permanent nerve damage.

The MHRA added Guillain-Barre syndrome to the potential side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine. (Getty)

The syndrome was added to the list of potential side effects from the AstraZeneca jab by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) last month, and now the MHRA has also added it to its list after a review of available data.

But the syndrome falls into a category of "very rare" potential side effects, according to the government website, which means those which may affect up to one in 10,000 people.

Within this category sits blood clots, which the site says have prompted "extremely rare reports", as well as "serious nerve inflammation, which may cause paralysis and difficulty breathing (Guillain-Barre syndrome [GBS])".

According to reports, a government document revealed that up to 13 October, the MHRA had received 432 reports of the syndrome with the AstraZeneca Covid jab, 59 following use of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and four reports connected to the Moderna vaccine.

Health officials maintain that vaccinations is the best way to combat Covid-19, with the government urging anyone who hasn't had a jab to get one.

Government data up to 23 October shows that of the 95,226,529 Covid jabs given in the UK, 49,684,322 were first doses, a rise of 36,171 on the previous day.

Some 45,542,207 were second doses, an increase of 29,804

Watch: Do coronavirus vaccines affect fertility?
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fired a fatal gunshot from a prop gun that he had been told was safe, a camera crew for the movie he was filming walked off the job to protest conditions and production issues that included safety concerns.

Disputes in the production of the Western film Rust" began almost from the start in early October and culminated with seven crew members walking off several hours before 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed.

The crew members had expressed their discontent with matters that ranged from safety procedures to their housing accommodations, according to one of those who left. He requested anonymity for fear that speaking up would hurt his prospects for future jobs. Rust Movie Productions did not answer emails Friday and Saturday seeking comment.

At a rehearsal on the film set Thursday at Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe, the gun Baldwin used was one of three that a firearms specialist, or armorer, had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed, according to the court records.

Court records indicate that an assistant director, Dave Halls, grabbed a prop gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating incorrectly that the weapon didn't carry live rounds by yelling cold gun.

When Baldwin pulled the trigger, he unwittingly killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her inside a wooden, chapel-like building.

Baldwin, 63, who is known for his roles in 30 Rock and The Hunt for Red October and his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, has described the killing as a tragic accident. He was a producer of Rust.

Halls did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment.

A 911 call that alerted authorities to the shooting at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe hints at the panic on the movie set, as detailed in a recording released by the Santa Fe County Regional Emergency Communications Center.

We had two people accidentally shot on a movie set by a prop gun, we need help immediately, script supervisor Mamie Mitchell told an emergency dispatcher. We were rehearsing and it went off, and I ran out, we all ran out.

The dispatcher asked if the gun was loaded with a real bullet.

I cannot tell you. We have two injuries, Mitchell replied. And this (expletive) AD (assistant director) that yelled at me at lunch, asking about revisions....Hes supposed to check the guns. He's responsible for what happens on the set.

The Associated Press was unable to contact Hannah Gutierrez, the film's armorer, and several messages sent to production companies affiliated with Rust did not receive responses Friday.

Court records say that Halls grabbed the firearm from the cart and brought it inside to the actor, also unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in a search warrant application.

It was unclear how many rounds were fired. Gutierrez removed a shell casing from the gun after the shooting, and she turned the weapon over to police when they arrived, the court records say.

Guns used in making movies are sometimes real weapons that can fire either bullets or blanks, which are gunpowder charges intended to produce little more than a flash and a bang.

New Mexico workplace safety investigators are examining if film industry standards for gun safety were followed during production of Rust. The Los Angeles Times, citing two crew members it did not name, reported that five days before the shooting, Baldwins stunt double accidentally fired two live rounds after being told the gun didnt have any ammunition.

A crew member who was alarmed by the misfires told a unit production manager in a text message, Weve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe, according to a copy of the message reviewed by the newspaper. The New York Times also reported that there were at least two earlier accidental gun discharges; it cited three former crew members.

Mitchell, the script supervisor, told The Associated Press she was standing next to Hutchins when the cinematographer was hit.

I ran out and called 911 and said Bring everybody, send everybody, Mitchell said. This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman.

Filmmaker Souza, who was shot in the shoulder, said in a statement to NBC News that he was grateful for the support he was receiving and gutted by the loss of Hutchins. She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch and always pushed me to be better, he said.

Santa Fe-area District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said prosecutors will be reviewing evidence in the shooting and do not know if charges will be filed.

Hutchins husband Matthew Hutchins posted on social media to mourn his wifes loss, ask for privacy for his family, and thank her friends and mentors at the American Film Institute, who he said nurtured the success we had only just begun to see flourish.

The institute's conservatory canceled cinematography classes Friday in response to Hutchins' death.

At a vigil Saturday around 200 film crew workers gathered for a candlelight vigil as the sun set. They shared grief at the loss of one of their own, and fear of accidents on their own film sets.

Several in attendance lit candles, held a moment of silence, read poetry and made brief comments including one testimonial to her artistic spark and generosity.

Her death shouldnt have happened, Union sets should be safe sets, said Liz Pecos, president of IATSE Local 480.

Production on Rust was halted after the shooting. The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website.

The crew member that spoke to the AP said he never witnessed any formal orientation about weapons used on set, which normally would take place before filming begins.

He also said only minimal COVID-19 precautions were taken even though crew and cast members often worked in small enclosed spaces on the ranch.

The crew was initially housed at the Courtyard by Marriot in Santa Fe, according to the crew member. Four days in, however, they were told that going forward they would be housed at the budget Coyote South hotel. Some crew members balked at staying there.

We packed our gear and left that morning, the crew member said of the Thursday walkout.

The Los Angeles Times and Variety also reported on the walkout.

Gutierrez, the films armorer, is the daughter of a longtime Hollywood firearms expert. She gave an interview in September to the Voices of the West podcast in which she said she had learned how to handle guns from her father since she was a teenager.

During the podcast interview, Gutierrez shared that she just finished her first movie in the role of head armorer, a project in Montana starring Nicolas Cage titled The Old Way.

I was really nervous about it at first and I almost didnt take the job because I wasnt sure if I was ready but doing it, like, it went really smoothly," she said.

In another on-set gun death from 1993, Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was killed by a bullet left in a prop gun after a previous scene. Similar shootings have occurred involving stage weapons that were loaded with live rounds during historical re-enactments.

Gun-safety protocol on sets in the United States has improved since then, said Steven Hall, a veteran director of photography in Britain. But he said one of the riskiest positions to be in is behind the camera because that person is in the line of fire in scenes where an actor appears to point a gun at the audience.

___

Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Jake Coyle and Jocelyn Noveck in New York; Lizzie Knight in London; Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine; Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles; Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Walter Berry in Phoenix; and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report.
ISTANBUL (AP)  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that he had ordered 10 foreign ambassadors who called for the release of a jailed philanthropist to be declared persona non grata.

The envoys, including the U.S., French and German representatives in Ankara, issued a statement earlier this week calling for a resolution to the case of Osman Kavala, a businessman and philanthropist held in prison since 2017 despite not having been convicted of a crime.

Describing the statement as an impudence, Erdogan said he had ordered the ambassadors be declared undesirable.

I gave the instruction to our foreign minister and said You will immediately handle the persona non grata declaration of these 10 ambassadors, Erdogan said during a rally in the western city of Eskisehir.

He added: They will recognize, understand and know Turkey. The day they dont know or understand Turkey, they will leave.

The diplomats, who also include the ambassadors of the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and New Zealand, were summoned to the foreign ministry on Tuesday.

A declaration of persona non grata against a diplomat usually means that individual is banned from remaining in their host country.

Kavala, 64, was acquitted last year of charges linked to nationwide anti-government protests in 2013, but the ruling was overturned and joined to charges relating to a 2016 coup attempt.

International observers and human rights groups have repeatedly called for the release of Kavala and Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas, who has been jailed since 2016. They say their imprisonment is based on political considerations. Ankara denies the claims and insists on the independence of Turkish courts.

The European Court of Human Rights called for Kavala's release in 2019, saying his incarceration acted to silence him and wasn't supported by evidence of an offense. The Council of Europe says it will start infringement proceedings again Turkey at the end of November if Kavala is not released.

The current U.S. ambassador, David Satterfield, was appointed in 2019. The nomination of his replacement, Jeff Flake, was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.
NEW YORK (AP)  With computer-generated imagery, it seems the skys the limit in the magic Hollywood can produce: elaborate dystopian universes. Trips to outer space, for those neither astronauts nor billionaires. Immersive journeys to the future, or back to bygone eras.

But as a shocked and saddened industry was reminded this week, many productions still use guns  real guns  when filming. And despite rules and regulations, people can get killed, as happened last week when Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after he was handed a weapon and told it was safe.

The tragedy has led some in Hollywood, along with incredulous observers, to ask: Why are real guns ever used on set, when computers can create gunshots in post-production? Isnt even the smallest risk unacceptable?

For Alexi Hawley, it is. Any risk is too much risk, the executive producer of ABCs police drama The Rookie announced in a staff memo Friday, saying the events in New Mexico had shaken us all.

There will be no more live weapons on the show, he wrote in a note, first reported by The Hollywood Reporter and confirmed by The Associated Press.

Instead, he said, the policy would be to use replica guns, which use pellets and not bullets, with muzzle flashes added in post-production.

The director of the popular Kate Winslet drama Mare of Easttown, Craig Zobel, called for the entire industry to follow suit and said gunshots on that show were added after filming, even though on previous productions he has used live rounds.

Theres no reason to have guns loaded with blanks or anything on set anymore, Zobel wrote on Twitter. Should just be fully outlawed. Theres computers now. The gunshots on Mare of Easttown are all digital. You can probably tell, but who cares? Its an unnecessary risk.

Bill Dill  a cinematographer who taught Hutchins, a rising star in her field, at the American Film Institute  expressed disgust in an interview over the archaic practice of using real guns with blanks in them, when we have readily available and inexpensive computer graphics.

Dill, whose credits include The Five Heartbeats and Dancing in September, said there was added danger from real guns because people are working long hours on films and are exhausted.

Theres no excuse for using live weapons, he said.

A petition was launched over the weekend on change.org for real guns to be banned from production sets.

There is no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century, it said of the tragedy. This isnt the early 90s, when Brandon Lee was killed in the same manner. Change needs to happen before additional talented lives are lost. Lee, the actor son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was killed in 1993 by a makeshift bullet left in a prop gun after a previous scene.

The petition appealed to Baldwin directly to use his power and influence" in the industry and promote Halynas Law, which would ban the use of real firearms on set. As it stands, the U.S. federal workplace safety agency is silent on the issue and most of the preferred states for productions take a largely hands-off approach.

Hutchins, 42, died and director Joel Souza was wounded Thursday on the set of the Western Rust when Baldwin fired a prop gun that a crew member unwittingly told him was cold or not loaded with live rounds, according to court documents made public Friday.

Souza was later released from the hospital.

The tragedy came after some workers had walked off the job to protest safety conditions and other production issues on the film, of which Baldwin is the star and a producer.

In an interview, British cinematographer Steven Hall noted that he worked on a production this year in Madrid that involved lots of firearms."

We were encouraged not to use blanks, but to rely on visual effects in post (production) to create whatever effect we wanted from a particular firearm, with the actor miming the recoil from the gun, and it works very well, he said.

He noted, though, that special effects add costs to a productions budget. So its easier and perhaps more economic to actually discharge your weapon on set using a blank, said Hall, a veteran cinematographer who has worked on films like Fury and Thor: The Dark World. But, he said, "the problem with blanks is, of course  something is emitted from the gun.

Besides financial concerns, why else would real guns be seen as preferable? There are advantages to using blanks on set that some people want to get, said Sam Dormer, a British armorer, or firearms specialist. For instance, you get a (better) reaction from the actor.

Still, Dormer said, the movie industry is likely moving away from real guns, albeit slowly.

The term prop gun can apply to anything from a rubber toy to a real firearm that can fire a projectile. If its used for firing, even blanks, its considered a real gun. A blank is a cartridge that contains gunpowder but no bullet. Still, it can hurt or even kill someone who is close by, according to the Actors Equity Association.

Thats why many are calling to ban blanks as well, and use disabled or replica guns.

Really there is no good reason in this day to have blanks on set, director Liz Garbus wrote on Twitter. CGI can make the gun seem real, and if you dont have the budget for the CGI, then dont shoot the scene.

Megan Griffiths, a Seattle-based filmmaker, wrote that she often gets pushback when demanding disabled, non-firing weapons on set.

But this is why, she said on Twitter. Mistakes happen, and when they involve guns, mistakes kill. ... Muzzle flashes are the easiest & cheapest visual effect.

Why are we still doing this?

___

Associated Press writers Lindsey Bahr, Lynn Elber in Los Angeles, Hillel Italie in New York and Lizzie Knight in London contributed to this report.
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PM Modi hailed healthcare workers for the vaccine milestone

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting with COVID-19 vaccine makers in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the success of India's Covid vaccination drive shows its capability and noted that the country is moving ahead with new energy after crossing the 100 crore vaccine doses milestone.

In his monthly Mann Ki Baat broadcast, Modi hailed healthcare workers for the vaccine milestone and said he knew that they would leave no stone unturned to vaccinate the people of the country.

The success of our vaccination drive shows India's capability and the strength of 'sabka prayas' (collective effort) mantra, he said.

Modi said the country is moving ahead with new energy and enthusiasm after crossing the 100 crore Covid vaccine doses milestone.

On October 21, India achieved a major milestone in its vaccination programme against COVID-19 as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 100-crore mark.

In his Mann Ki Baat radio programme, Modi also said India has always worked for world peace and this is seen in the country's contribution to the UN Peacekeeping forces.

India is also working to make Yoga and traditional methods of wellness more popular, he said.

The prime minister also praised the rise in number of women police personnel and noted that it has jumped to over 2.15 lakh from 1.05 lakh in 2014.

Referring to the 'vocal for local' campaign, the prime minister urged people to buy local products in the festival season.
Defends security in J&K under Modi regime

Srinagar: Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday sought to strike a deep chord with the people of Jammu by assuring them that they will not be sidelined or discriminated against any longer, but at the same time made it emphatically clear that Jammu and the Valley, which comprise the Union territory of J&K, will be developed together.

I came to Jammu today to say that the time of injustice to the people of Jammu is over. Now no one can do injustice to you. Jammu and the Kashmir Valley will now see equal growth, he said, while addressing a public meeting in Jammus Bhagwati Nagar area.

The home minister reiterated what he had said in Srinagar a day ago that those who are trying to disrupt the era of development in J&K, which started after the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A, will be dealt with severely. Some people are trying to interrupt development here, but I want to assure you that no one will be able to or allowed to disturb the era of development, he said.

He said it (October 24) was the birth anniversary of Prem Nath Dogra, co-founder of Jammu Praja Parishad and former president of the Jan Sangh, who worked for the total integration of J&K with India. The people of India cant forget him. He along with Syama Prasad Mookerjee gave the slogan that in a country two Vidhan (constitutions), two Nishan (flags) and two Pradhan (prime ministers) will not work, he said.

He added: Jammu is the land of temples, of Mata Vaishno Devi, of Prem Nath Dogra, the land of the sacrifice of Syama Prasad Mookerjee. We wont let the people disrupt the peace in J&K.

Mr Shah, who is on a three-day visit to J&K, reiterated that questions were being raised about security, but those who do it should know that the violence has only reduced in the Union territory in recent years. He said: As many as 2,081 civilians were killed between 2004 and 2014, which is 208 every year, while between 2014 to 2021 only 30 civilians a year have lost their lives. We are not satisfied as we want to build a situation where nobody loses their lives and terrorism ends completely.

Talking about the economic growth of J&K, he said that when a new industrial policy was introduced in the UT, three families that exploited you used to mock us saying who will come here, but due to the Prime Ministers feat, Rs 12,000 crores in investments has come till now. He added: I want to tell you that Rs 51,000 crores in investment will come before 2022, giving lakhs of jobs to the youth. Making an appeal to the young people of J&K to be part of this growth, the home minister said: If the youth join the development of Jammu and Kashmir, terrorists will fail in their sinister design.

Criticising the politicians who ruled J&K until 2018, he said: What did these three families give to Jammu and Kashmir for 70 years -- 87 MLAs, 6 MPs. Modi Ji has done the work of making 30,000 people elected representatives, a panchayat has been formed in every village. Now the dadagiri of these three families will not work.

Later in the day, the home minister inaugurated the new campus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Jammu. Built at a cost of Rs 210 crores, the campus has all the facilities like a hostel, gymnasium, indoor games, along with higher education for students. He also laid the foundation stone for various development projects and paid obeisance at a gurdwara in the Digiana area on the periphery of Jammu city. On Sunday evening, Mr Shah had a meeting with several political leaders, including MPs and former legislators of the BJP.
Doklam plateau. Both the Chumbi valley and the Siliguri Corridor in West Bengal are key tactical chokepoints

In sharp divergence, China has resolved none of its maritime border disputes, with the exception of the Gulf of Tonkin dispute with Vietnam that was partially resolved after protracted negotiations spanning three rounds. Representational Image. (AFP)

On October 14, 2021, China and Bhutan entered into a memorandum of understanding crystallising a three-step roadmap for intensifying parleys to resolve their outstanding border disputes. The MoU encapsulates the understanding reached between the two countries at the 10th meeting of the expert group held in Kunming in the April of 2021. The signing of this MoU comes 48 months after a 73-day Sino-Indian military confrontation at the Doklam trijunction. China endeavored to extend a road in an area that Bhutan asserted belonged to it.

Bhutan and China share an over 400-kilometre long border. Beijing lays claim to around 765 square kilometres of Bhutanese territory dispersed across the northwest and central regions of the Himalayan kingdom. Incidentally, Bhutan is the only neighbour of China with which it does not have a formal diplomatic relationship.

Direct bilateral talks to resolve the contested boundary question commenced in 1984. Over the past three-and-a-half decades, 24 rounds of boundary negotiations and 10 rounds of confabulations at the level of an expert group have been held between the two countries.

In the year 1997, China proposed that it would forgo the claims it had laid to expanses of territory in central Bhutan. In exchange it demanded that the terrain on its western flank that included the contested trijunction of Doklam be handed over to it. Bhutan rebuffed the offer then in deference to Indian sensitivities over the possibility of Chinese transgressions that have the potential of lopping off the narrow Siliguri Corridor that connects the rest of India with the northeast. This is one of Indias two chicken neck dilemmas. The other one being in Akhnoor just north of Jammu christened chicken neck by India and baptised as the Akhnoor dagger by Pakistan.

Historically, Sino-Bhutanese border disagreements involved territory in the western and central parts of the latter only. Beijing argued that 495 square kilometres in the Jakurlung and Pasamlung valleys, respectively, situated in north-central Bhutan and another 269 square kilometres in western Bhutan belonged to it.

However, in the June of 2020, China also staked claim to the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, covering an area of 650 square kilometres. The sanctuary is situated in Bhutans eastern district of Trashigang. The claim has its genesis in the purported Indian proposal to construct a road link between Guwahati and Tawang that would ostensibly traverse the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary. The planned motorway would curtail travel time between Guwahati in Assam and Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh by five hours allowing India to mobilise overland its troops for deployment on the Line of Actual Control in sectors bestriding Tawang.

The Sino-Bhutanese border dispute is intricate given that it is enmeshed in the geopolitics of South Asia and intractably linked to the Sino-Indian border dispute, given the special relationship between Bhutan and India.

Bhutan will be in a delicate situation in its border negotiations qua China. A non-coastal realm, it is reliant on India for its approach to the sea. This special relationship amongst Bhutan and India is constructed upon the base laid by the Treaty of Perpetual Peace and Friendship signed in 1949. It was subsequently substituted by the India-Bhutan Friendship Treaty in 2007.

Article Two of the 2007 covenant states that both nations acquiesce to cooperate closely with each other on issues relating to their national interests. They are further proscribed from permitting their territorial spaces to be used for activities harmful to the national security and interest of the other. This would require Bhutan, in its border negotiations with China, not to negotiate in a manner that hands over any strategic advantage to China to the detriment of Indias national security imperatives.

Both the 1947 and the 2007 pacts are preceded by a historical legacy of covenants between British India and the Kingdom of Bhutan, namely, the Treaty of Sinchula in 1865 and the Treaty of Punakha in 1910.

What India would need to be very hawk-eyed in the Sino-Bhutanese negotiations about is how the play develops in the region around and abounding Chinas Chumbi Valley that lies north of the Doklam plateau. Both the Chumbi valley and the Siliguri Corridor in West Bengal that is situated to the south of Doklam, are key tactical chokepoints. They constitute both a criticality and vulnerability for both the nations. It is towards this end that the Tibetan-populated Chumbi Valley has often been delineated as the most tactically significant piece of real estate in the Himalaya region. It provides Beijing with the maneuverability to cut off the 24-kilometre wide Siliguri Corridor between Nepal and Bangladesh, that connects the rest of India with its northeast.

If negotiations between China and Bhutan fructify it would mean that, to the exclusive exclusion of India, China would have resolved all its other land boundary disputes. Of its 23 ongoing territorial disputes from 1949, China offered substantial markdowns in as many as 17 of them. It has frequently settled for half the land it initially claimed.

A classical example is the Sino-Tajik border dispute that was settled by an agreement between the two countries in January 2011. The agreement that resolved a 130-year-old territorial dispute required Tajikistan to cede around 1,000 square kilometres of land in the Pamir Mountains to China. It mandates that China will receive only 3.5 per cent of the 28,000 square kilometres of land it had asked for by declaring them as historical Chinese lands. Under its boundary settlements with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, China settled for just 22 and 32 per cent, respectively, of the land it had initially claimed. This goes to demonstrate that the Chinese really do not care much about territory.

In sharp divergence, China has resolved none of its maritime border disputes, with the exception of the Gulf of Tonkin dispute with Vietnam that was partially resolved after protracted negotiations spanning three rounds, i.e., in 1974, 1978-1979, and 1992-2000, spread well over 60 years.

This situation then begs the obvious question: Why have the Sino-Indian border talks not made progress despite myriad rounds of talks between the special representatives of both sides and why are the border talks currently stalemated? Is it a lack of flexibility and cussedness on both sides or does China consider it a convenient lever to keep India off-balance? In either case, India should revisit its China strategy with a fresh pair of eyes.
The Hammerhead 1190 is just about ready to enter production, and a small army of about nine other motorcycles from the same brand are coming our way soon. What better time, then, to dig out incredible custom builds based on older models of the company.Like the Bumblebee on two wheels we have here, originally an XB9S Lightning from 2003. Now, Buell was never one to shy away from using the color yellow, so that analogy could have been made for any of the bikes made by these guys. Yet, the moniker seems particularly fitting on this XB9S, as the custom modifications made to it really make it stand out.The build is the work of an Estonia-based guy named Fredy Jaates . Thats right, a little European country few of us know anything about, but from where amazing things like this here bike come from.Draped in only two colors, yellow and black, the Buell features quite the number of modifications. They start with the custom wheels, sized 18 inches front and rear and covered in custom fenders. Fredy himself contributed the body kit, wrapped in House of Kolor hues of yellow and black, but also the front fork and brake rotors, fitted with Brembo calipers front and rear.You can find the full list of modifications made to the bike here , but be warned, what youre also going to find is a steep price. Fredy is asking 24,000 euros for it, which is about $28,000, and almost ten times more expensive than what a used, unmodified Buell of this kind is worth on the open market.
The Battle of Britain ran from July to October 1940, but todays pilots do not shy away from celebrating it every chance they get. The lates tribute flight in honor of the wartime event took place back in September, when a bunch of American aircraft performed a so-called missing man formation flight.Thats how people in the industry call a kind of aerial salute that usually occurs during a funeral or memorial event dedicated to a fallen or veteran aviator, or some other important figure. This formation calls for a space to be left in the chosen flight formation to signify the absent pilot from the ranks.In the image we have here (click main photo to enlarge), we see one F-15C Eagle and two F-15E Strike Eagles flying over the RAF Lakenheath base in the United Kingdom, in honor of the Battle of Britain Day  that is celebrated in September, the month when RAF Fighter Command claimed victory over the Luftwaffe.As per the U.S. Air Force, which just recently released the photo, the F-15C is pulling away from its siblings to create said missing man formation. The three planes together also make for one amazing underbelly shot of modern-day fighter jets flying together.The F-15 family of planes was born way after the war ended, in the early 1970s. Close to 1,200 of them have been made since, and are presently fielded by the militaries of seven allied countries  the United Kingdom is not among them.
The coastal city of Pescara is home to sunny beaches, historical architecture, and Filippo Barbacanes Officine Rossopuro  an esteemed motorcycle customization enterprise whose portfolio weve visited several times in the past. Filippo started modifying two-wheeled entities all the way back in 1993, long before there was any sort of developed customs culture on Italian soil. With no internet and limited access to information, he had no choice but to hone his skills using the good old trial and error formula.After he had gained the necessary knowledge, Barbacane took things to the next level by establishing Firestarter Garage in 1998, which marked the starting point for his career as a professional moto craftsman. Three years later, this ambitious fellow decided to present his very first Guzzi -based exploit (aka Ciclope) at the Padua Bike Show, thus gaining the public attention he truly deserved.As of 2009, Firestarter became Officine Rossopuro, and Filippo began focusing solely on Mandello del Larios machines. What had followed were numerous appearances at some of Europes most prestigious custom motorcycle shows, including the 2019 edition of Bike Shed London and Veronas Motor Bike Expo, to name but a couple. Just over a month ago, we had the pleasure of introducing you to Rossopuros startling  Tridente , a reworked 1000SP Spada that manages to look absolutely divine.If you found the aforementioned showstopper as thrilling as we did, the creature were examining today will certainly tickle your fancy. In its previous incarnation, this sexy thing was a factory-spec 2009 MY Griso 1200 from Moto Guzzis lineup, featuring a longitudinally-mounted 1,151cc V-twin mill thats good for up to 108 ponies and 80 pound-feet (108 Nm) of torque. Upon reaching the rear wheel, the engines untamed force enables the Griso to hit a top speed of 130 mph (210 kph).Long story short, the beast in question is one competent piece of machinery, so its not hard to understand why the owner of this Griso simply couldnt let it go, even though his heart called for a fresh ride. Instead of abandoning his beloved Guzzi altogether, he entrusted Barbacanes experts with a thorough overhaul, but the bikes frame and engine were to be left untouched.As such, Filippo and his crew oriented their attention toward the fiends aesthetics. First things first, the Rossopuro pros worked their magic at the rear end, where they removed the standard tail section and two-up saddle to make room for their own bespoke (and arguably better-looking) setup. Although most builders would cover the subframe with a single-piece tail, the Italians chose to leave the skeleton exposed and fabricate a selection of aluminum panels to fill the spaces in between the tubes.The following step consisted of upholstering a unique leather saddle that fits within the contour of Griso s stock fuel tank like a glove. To round things out at six oclock, Pescaras aftermarket architects went about installing a tiny taillight, LED blinkers, and a custom license plate holder. With these goodies in place, they fabricated a set of aluminum side panels for the Guzzis flanks, sporting mesh-covered air inlets and Officine Rossopuro emblems.Up in the cockpit, we find an LSL handlebar adorned with premium switches and round mirrors, while an LED headlight can be seen taking pride of place between the fork legs. The stallions 90-degree V-twin powerplant exhales via a shiny pair of headers and a titanium muffler from QD Exhaust. To top it all off, Filippos specialists wanted to ensure that plentiful grip will be achieved on the tarmac, so they wrapped the donors three-spoke hoops in Metzelers irreproachable Roadtec rubber. Upon completion, the specimen had been nicknamed  Impetus , which is basically another way of saying momentum.
The first Shelby GT350 to ever hit the market came out in 1965, and it had a 4.7-liter V8 that was capable of just over 300 horsepower. 50 years later the world witnessed the launch of the third generation GT350 , powered by the mighty 526 horsepower Voodoo V8 engine. An ever fiercer version was presented with the GT350R. In 2015, 100 units of the standard GT350 were built, while the R version was much rarer at 37 cars.In 2016, 5,643 GT350s left the factory floor. Shelby built an extra 526 GT350R units for that year. For 2017, those figures went up to 6,173 and 942, respectively. But it was all downhill from that point on. A total of 3,745 GT350 s came out for 2018, while 2019 saw the number going down to 2,789. With the R version, things were slightly different. 633 cars were produced in 2018, and 806 in 2019.People are still arguing over the exact production numbers for the 2020 model year, but most estimate it to be around 2,180 vehicles all in all. One thing's for sure. There are less than 30,000 of these cars out there, which means they might make a good investment for the future. But, of course, if that doesn't sound exclusive enough, we've tracked down an exciting option for you.This yellow 2016 Shelby GT350R has quite the story to tell. The seller states that this car used to belong to John Hennessey, the president of Hennessey Special Vehicles. Also, this seems to be the first-ever Shelby GT350R to receive the Hennessey HPE850 treatment. That means this is now rated for 858 horsepower and 673 lb-ft (912 Nm) of torque! That's more than you get in a Shelby GT500. And it's just enough to help you gap a GT500 if one ever attempts to do a pull on you.It's also good enough for terrorizing Hellcat owners , as proven by Hennessey in one of their previous tests.But the story doesn't end here. This car was also featured on Top Gear in episode 1 of Season 25. Matt LeBlanc drove this car as part of a test involving a Jaguar F-Type SVR and a McLaren 570GT. The vehicle was sold to a dealer in the United Kingdom, but it has spent some time in Spain as well.Underneath the yellow and black wrap, this was a Wimbledon White GT350R. But it's hard to believe anyone would want to revert to that color, considering the way it looks now. So far, it has only been driven for 13,392 miles (21,553 km). With four days to go before the auction is over, 13 bids have been placed so far. The highest one stands at 40,000 ($46,587) . But this is most likely going to fetch a 6-figure amount by the end of it all.
BEV

Known as Renault 4, 4L, or R4, the 4 was marketed as a short station wagon but was a hatchback. It was designed to meet increased demand for a low-cost everyday vehicle that could double as a workhorse when needed, and it delivered just that. It was the peoples car, at a time when people could not afford to spend a fortune on one but were just as eager to be introduced to motoring.Introduced in 1961 and in production in most territories until 1992, the 4 saw over 8 million units produced. It was the first front-wheel-drive family car from Renault, and it is the 17th longest living single generation car. Over the years, the 4 saw adjustments to demand and feedback, from three-speed transmission to four-speed, a more powerful engine, and phasing out exterior chrome for plastic. But the essence of it never changed: the 4 was the family car you could use for businesspleasure, it was reliable, and it was affordable. Renault plans to bring back the 4 with electric powertrain, with 4ever and the 5, both of which will be based on the new electric platform CMF-, offering ranges of up to 400 km (248.5 miles). Until then, the carmaker is celebrating 60 years of the classic 4 with a series of one-offs meant to highlight the versatility and the importance of the original.Suite N4 is one such one-off  the second to last in the series. Its a concept vehicle that exists in the physical world as well, designed with multi-disciplinary designer Mathieu Lehanneur. It is, if you will, a very modern take on the iconic family car, which updates and makes it able to meet the needs of todays travel-hungry owner. Lehanneur calls it a hotel room on wheels, hence the name of Suite N4.To be sure, compared to actual recreational vehicles , Suite N4 is almost silly-looking. The claim that its a rolling hotel suite only makes sense if you think of a suite as nothing but a bed, because thats the only thing the compact footprint of the 4 will fit. That said, Suite N4 is more of a testament to the 4s long-lasting popularity and an art piece, than a practical application that would make sense in real life. As both these things, its gorgeous.Lehanneur decided to completely reimagine the rear end of the 4, replacing the roof with glazing  actually polycarbonate surfaces , and putting transparent solar panels on it, to charge up the battery whenever this hotel suite is on idle. Like the upcoming 4ever, this reinterpreted 4 is fully electric. In his desire to turn the 4 into an architectural design, Lehanneur changed nothing about the original dimensions and classic lines, but was still able to highlight the concept of art de vivre inside and out.According to Renault, Suite N4 is the epitome of the Renaulution philosophy, that of creat[ing] modern and innovative cars that provoke emotions. Fancy words aside, this translates into a car whose rear end and trunk have been repurposed , so that it becomes a comfortable and almost-luxurious lounge whenever you reach your destination, one that is furnished elegantly by Parisian artisans.The seats and dashboard are upholstered in yellow velvet, while the space in the rear (the proper lounge , if you will) is contrasting, light ribbed chenille fabric. You get pillows and bolsters, because you cant talk about a comfortable living room without at least a couple of throw pillows. At the rear, theres a retractable wooden bench, which can serve as table for two or sheltered seat.For Suite N4, Lehanneur kept the iconic headlights but recreated the grille in polished aluminum, his signature material. The result is striking and, were told, evokes fluidity and dynamism, but also evasion. For the paintjob, Lehanneur applied three different coats of paint to get the exact color and aspect of cement.Suite N4 made its debut at Christies in Paris, France, and will be included in the collection Atelier Renault.
Israeli national security adviser Eyal Hulata secretly visited Paris several days ago for talks with his counterparts at the Elysee aimed at ending the crisis around the alleged use of Pegasus spyware developed by Israeli firm NSO to hack the cell phones of President Emmanuel Macron and other top French officials, Israeli officials tell me.

Why it matters: The alleged misuse of NSO software has become a major diplomatic headache for Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's government. The crisis led to a partial freeze on diplomatic, security and intelligence cooperation between Israel and France and the suspension of high-level bilateral visits.

Driving the news: Hulata met in Paris with Macrons national security adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, briefed him on the ongoing Israeli investigation into Pegasus and presented him with a proposal to end the crisis.

The Israeli proposal included a commitment to ban the hacking of French mobile phone numbers in any future spyware deal between an Israeli firm and a third country.

A similar ban already exists on hacking U.S. and U.K. numbers.

The backstory: An international consortium of investigative journalists reported in July that Pegasus  designed to track terrorists and criminals  had become a valuable tool for governments to spy on journalists and critics.

Among the countries listed in the reports as NSO clients are Hungary, India, Mexico, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

Some of the most explosive media reports at the time involved Morocco's alleged use of Pegasus to hack the phones of Macron and other French officials.

Flashback: Macron called Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to seek an explanation.

Bennett told Macron he had inherited the NSO issue from his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, and was conducting an investigation.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz traveled to Paris at the time and briefed his French counterpart about that investigation.

Whats next: The talks between Israel and France are ongoing but Israeli officials say they hope a solution to end the crisis could be reached soon.
U.S. envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman will visit Khartoum this week amid what Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has called the worst and most dangerous" crisis of Sudans transition to democracy, two sources with direct knowledge tell Axios.

Driving the news: Roughly 2,000-3,000 people had joined a sit-in in Khartoum as of this afternoon, per Reuters, after protesters massed over the weekend to call on the military to bring down the government. The protests came just four weeks after a failed military coup.

Larger pro-democracy protests are expected on Thursday.

The big picture: After a mass uprising toppled dictator Omar al-Bashir in April, 2019, a joint military-civilian council took power to preside over a 3 -year transition toward democratic elections.

But the current turmoil is exposing tensions between the civilians and the generals, and endangering that transition.

Leadership of the ruling council is due to pass from Gen. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to a civilian in the coming months, though the exact timeline is disputed.

A blockade in Eastern Sudan led by a tribal leader who is also demanding the government be dissolved is further fueling the crisis.

The Biden administration has thrown its weight behind Hamdok and the civilian leadership, with Secretary of State Tony Blinken tweeting in support of Hamdok on Saturday and national security adviser Jake Sullivan calling the prime minister after the coup attempt and issuing a warning to those seeking to thwart the transition.

Feltman will arrive in Khartoum later this week for his second visit in three weeks. He also called Hamdok and Burhan last week to stress the importance of adhering to the transitional order. The State Department declined to comment for this story.

The U.S. removed Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list after Bashir's ouster and has promised aid and to help re-integrate the former pariah state into the global economy  all of which gives Washington leverage.

The other side: Key regional actors oppose the democratic transition.

Egypt has been deepening its engagement with the Sudanese military, while the UAE and Saudi Arabia are allied with the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary group that is also vying for power in Khartoum, says Yezid Sayigh, who runs the Carnegie Endowments program on program on Civil-Military Relations in Arab States.

Behind the scenes: The divisions aren't just between the civilians and the military, but within those camps.

"The coup attempt opened the door for discord, and for all the hidden disputes and accusations from all sides, and in this way we are throwing the future of our country and people and revolution to the wind, Hamdok said on Friday.

"It's the tensions, lack of consensus on really personal and ideological grounds between the civilians that have contributed to this opening," says Joseph Tucker, a Sudan expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

The bottom line: Sudan is having the most open and vibrant debate since independence about the roles of the state, of religion and of the armed forces in politics and the economy, Tucker says.
Venezuelan opposition leader Freddy Guevara has lost his freedom twice at the hands of Nicolas Maduros regime, but he now sees a "window of opportunity" to bring about free and fair elections.

Why it matters: Guevara and other opposition delegates have been holding negotiations in Mexico with officials from Maduro's government since September. The opposition is pressing for free presidential elections, while Maduros side wants sanctions relief and access to Venezuelan assets overseas.

Some of those assets are frozen, while others are held by the government of Juan Guaido, whom the U.S. recognizes as Venezuela's legitimate interim leader.

What hes saying: Four previous sets of negotiations with Maduro since 2014 have collapsed, and the opposition "cannot guarantee that [the current talks] are not going to fail, Guevara told Axios in an interview.

Yes, but: We are convinced we need to  attempt right now because we see a window of opportunity.

We are convinced we need to  attempt right now because we see a window of opportunity. We believe they need to happen and we need to try with good faith and effort, but without being naive, said Guevara, who was released from jail in August in order to take part in the talks.

The state of play: The negotiations, mediated by Norway, have already yielded agreements on humanitarian issues, such as child nutrition programs and the pandemic response. Now, Guevara says, the main topics will be on the table.

The opposition is specifically asking for the next presidential elections, not scheduled until 2024, to happen "as soon as possible," Guevara says, since the results of the 2018 election, which Maduro won, were not recognized by the opposition, the U.S. and most Western countries.

They're calling for reform of the National Electoral Council  which is fully controlled by the Maduro regime and has overseen a series of fraudulent elections  and for a new judicial system with independence from Maduro.

Maduro and his top lieutenants are under international sanctions, which they hope will be lifted. They also want the opposition to recognize the government as legitimate, and to access the overseas funds.

Guevara says now is the time for negotiations, while Maduro is under strong international pressure  including a U.S. indictment on drug trafficking charges and accusations of crimes against humanity.

Between the lines: The opposition has tried to generate new international momentum against Maduro after a nearly three-year stalemate, but Venezuela has become a relatively low priority in Washington, and backing for Guaido in Europe has faltered.

The backstory: Guevara was arrested in July and accused of terrorism and treason, among other charges. He was released a month later to replace Carlos Vecchio, Guaido's ambassador to the U.S., at the negotiating table.

Maduro's delegates opposed Vecchio's participation, but the opposition said Vecchio would only step aside if Guevara was freed from imprisonment and allowed to replace him.

Guevara previously spent three years living inside the Chilean embassy while facing the threat of arrest by the government.

Meanwhile, the opposition is planning to take part in state and local elections in November after three years of boycotting all elections.

Guevara argued that, because these were not federal elections, they would not compromise the oppositions core position that the Maduro regime is illegitimate.

He said the opposition recognizes that the elections will be fraudulent, but believes they offer an opportunity to mobilize the Venezuelan population against Maduro.

What to watch: The opposition estimates that the negotiations will last approximately six months, according to Guevara.

Go deeper: The inside story of the failed uprising against Maduro.
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 48F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 48F. Winds light and variable.
Brenda Ruth Street Mitchell, age 71, of the Peapatch area of Jewell Ridge, VA, went home to be with our Lord and Savior on Friday, November 19, 2021 at home on Peapatch surrounded by her loving family. She was born and raised in Whitewood, VA and was a daughter of the late Arthur Street and 
King Tides: What's Different on Oregon / Washington Coast, Photos Needed

Published 10/21/21 at 6:26 PM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Manzanita, Oregon)  Once again, king tides are set to descend on the Oregon and Washington coast, and in both states there is a need for photographers to hit the beaches on these enormous, highest tides of the year and do some snapping of pics. Scientists around the world need these  and shots of normal tides of the same area  for the purpose of comparison. Sea level rise is a real threat in the coming decades and the Pacific Northwest coastline is already seeing it, so experts need to compare what these places normally look like and what happens to them at king tides. (Above: Westport, courtesy Washington King Tides / Shian Klassen)

King tides happen on the Oregon and Washington coasts on November 5  7, while inlet areas of Washington have them offset by a day.

This year, there are some different things going on: La Nina may exaggerate the tidal events, safety is a much bigger concern, Washington is pushing its king tides project more into the public eye, and there's a tiny controversy about the term "king tides."

Washington's King Tides Project is a partnership between Washington Sea Grant and Washington Department of Ecology. There, you are asked to snap pictures of the highest tides of that day, everywhere from Long Beach to La Push, and into the inland seas as well.

Post king tides photos to the free app called MyCoast under king tides: https://mycoast.org/wa. This is for Washington coast pics only.

For the Oregon coast, organizers need the same thing: photos of the massive king tides. Post photos and reports to https://www.oregonkingtides.net/.

Look for some mammoth tidal action this time around  although it's not always guaranteed. This year is a La Nina year, which typically brings more storm action to the coastline. Last year's king tides saw the events coincide with big storm surges, which resulted in enormous inundation of many places and more than 30 feet of ocean waves at times.

Bridget Trosin with Washington Sea Grant, who oversees the Washington king tides project, is keeping a close eye on this one because of a greater possibility of flooding. She said during La Nina years there are typically more storms happening just as a king tide occurs.

La Nina Year

Tyler Kranz with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Portland said there is no direct correlation between La Nina and the tides, but those conditions can increase the frequency of storms systems, and thus increase wave height.

"If a storm were to occur at the same time as a king tide, then the storm surge could be high enough to warrant concerns related to coastal flooding/high surf conditions/beach erosion," he said. "If a high-end storm system is pushing inland or if one is out to sea but generating a large swell for our coastal waters at the same exact time as a king tide, then the threat for coastal flooding and beach erosion would increase significantly."

How much could a La Nina storm exaggerate wave height? Kranz said that's impossible to forecast ahead of time as it depends on a myriad of factors, and usually that's only firmed up after the fact.



Some places will get higher wave action than others. For example Westport, Washington will see ten-foot tides over the three days, while just down the coast, Ilwaco will get nine-foot high tides. However, storm surges could add another ten feet or more to those numbers and cause flooding.

Safety is a big concern this year, especially given last year's higher numbers of participants and how chaotic wave action turned out to be.

Jesse Jones, one of the coordinators with Oregon King Tides Project, said they're urging caution much more adamantly.

" Stay off the beach' is a message even more than Take photos from a distance,' " she said. "How can we ask people to come to the beach during these tides when they are so dangerous? It's a tricky one. The public needs to know about tides in general."

Impact

King tide inundation at Coquille Point, south coast, courtesy Rick Poecker

Meg Reed, with Oregon Coastal Management Program, is another head of Oregon's king tides project. She said each season seems to bring a bigger wallop.

"I have noticed observationally that the last few seasons of king tides have been bigger and more impactful than previous years," she said. "However, our program has not done any quantitative analysis to see how the heights of the king tides have changed from year to year since we started gathering photographs."

Participation has grown considerably over the decade, Reed said. It more than doubled between the 2018-19 season and the 2019-20 season.

"I observed that newcomers to the king tides project were more plentiful last season because it was still an activity that people could do safely during COVID," Reed said.

Name Controversy

The term "king tides" has a bit of a divide between the public sector and the scientific community.

According to Kranz: "By the way, we no longer use the term king tide.' Instead, we use the term "perigean spring tide.' " This is because these are high tides affected by the moon's orbit.

Yet the King Tides community  which coined the term in Australia decades ago  has no plans to change it.

"King Tides have always been the same as perigean spring tides,' " Reed said. "That is the scientific term for these events but it is not very user friendly, which is why the term king tides' was adopted."

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Oregon Coast Lessons Learned the Hard But Comical Way, Part II

Published 10/14/21 at 5:36 AM PDT

By Andre' GW Hagestedt

(Oregon Coast)  Way back when, the Oregon coast seemed like the wild west. And I'm just talking the 80s, 90s and early 2000's here. Becoming a seasoned beach professional took living through some crazy, even trying moments, especially in a place with the rougher edges it once had compared to now. Lessons were learned the hard way at times, but some sure wound up funny in the end.

This is part II of the Learning Lessons on Oregon Coast The Hard But Amusing Way, Part I, where I described a few events, but especially the first rather difficult lesson that involved not dropping your keys in the sand.

Lesson Number Two: Buy enough gas to head out to the coast. Late one November night in 1994, my friend Ruth and I had been carousing a bit at the bars in Salem, and against all better judgment we decided to zip on over to Lincoln City about 1 a.m. About halfway there, I noticed we were running low on gas, but assured her Lincoln City had 24-hour gas stations.

Oops. It turns out they didn't. At least back in 94 during the dead season of November they did not.

We were both in a bit of a panic.

Luckily, I remembered hearing a weird little secret about taxi companies in Newport back then: they would store gas cans for just such a rescue occasion. So I called one in Lincoln City (yes, from a payphone), and lo and behold, they did as well. Whew.

I was sworn to secrecy back then, and though I've written about this before I never mentioned who my savior was that night. It was against the rules for them to do this, but I think now after nearly 30 years I can reveal the secret. I believe it cost us something like 30 or 40 bucks for a ten-gallon can of gas. A pretty penny, to be sure.

These days, luckily, most of the coast has 24-hour gas stations within some 30-mile range or another. The bigger towns do, so watch it if you're out zooming around in the wee hours in remote areas like the National Dunes Rec Area between Florence and Reedsport, or farther down the south in between burghs.

Do rideshares or taxis do this now? I doubt it, but it's a worth a shot if you find yourself stranded. These days, at least there are cell phones.





Lesson Number Three: Watch out for karma. In the late 90s, my girlfriend at the time, Kathy, and I went out on one of those whale watch tours in Newport. We overheard one lady tell the crew she was a journalist doing a story on the tour.

Of all the 20 or so people onboard, she was the one who got horribly sea sick within 15 minutes. Kathy and I snickered about this a bit and were rather proud that we felt just fine.

Yes, I even did that stupid Titanic impression of standing at the bow with arms outstretched. It hadn't been overdone yet in those years, and it was almost ten years before Michael Scott would turn it into a shameful secret you should keep to yourself.

By about the second hour or so, we too started feeling increasingly ill and queasy. It felt like karma for making fun of the journalist lady.

Lesson Number Four: Follow your intuition. It's the fall of 2004 and I take my little Toyota Camry onto that same beach near Cape Kiwanda where I lost my keys. Some little voice in the back of my head mumbled maybe this isn't a good idea. Maybe this place is bad luck for automotive goofiness.

Sure enough, I get totally stuck. If it weren't for a family from Coos Bay who were used to pulling others out of the sand at home, I would've spent the night on this beach. How dopey I felt admitting to them that my job was editor of a coastal publication back then.

Other times I witnessed the hard lessons. Like the period in the mid 90s I hung with a punk band called The Stanleys, following them on gigs to the coast. This would inevitably mean plenty of bar hopping after the show, then hangovers be damned, we'd hit the beaches for raucous fun in nature.

There was the time I learned even on day trips, bring along a change of clothing  just in case. We five were bouncing around Driftwood Beach near Waldport, and one of them falls into a creek, completely soaking himself. Apparently, he had to sit in the car in this sopping wet state all the way home.

Often to the strain of my DMV record, I managed to wrack up enough speeding tickets to finally clamp down on my natural energy level, especially when it came to transferring that into my vehicle. I did, however, thoroughly learn all the speed trap spots and was able to warn people over the years about those.

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees nearly 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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Bradly J. Boner/AP

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP)  Dozens of U.S. fellow Marines joined hundreds of Wyoming residents to bid a final farewell at a memorial for Rylee McCollum, one of 13 U.S. servicemen killed in a suicide bombing as they guarded a gate at a chaotic Kabul, Afghanistan airport during the final U.S. evacuation from that country.

Many of the Marines were members of the 20-year-old McCollum's unit serving in Afghanistan when he was killed on Aug. 26. McCollum, a Marine lance corporal, grew up, went to school and enlisted for the Corps in the mountain valley area known as Jackson Hole, home to the town of Jackson. He was honored during Saturday's Jackson service attended by more than 400 people.
WINCHESTER, Va. (AP)  Its National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, a time to give thanks to the people who bring dignity to our final days.

In Winchester, the nonprofit Blue Ridge Hospice has 250 staff members and 160 active volunteers who work every day to help the dying and their loved ones.

Hospice Month is an opportunity for us to make the community more aware about hospice services, how they can access them and the benefits of having them at the end of life, Blue Ridge Hospice President and CEO Cheryl Hamilton Fried said on Monday. Its also an opportunity for us to thank our employees and volunteers for the time and sacrifices they give in order to care for people at the end of life, which can be very challenging work.

Hospice staff and volunteers step in shortly before a patients death to ease his or her suffering and help family members during a tragic time. Services are offered to anyone in need, regardless of a patients or familys ability to pay, but Fried said only about 50% of people in the United States take advantage of what hospice can deliver.

Blue Ridge Hospices chief medical officer, Dr. Brendan Flynn, said it takes a special kind of person to work in hospice, but the rewards can outweigh the harsh reality of knowing that, barring a miracle, every patient is going to die in the very near future.

The death rate in America is still 100%, Flynn said. But you can have a good outcome from something you know is coming.

When it comes to end-of-life care, a good outcome is one that allows the patient to retain his or her dignity and pass away in the location of his or her choosing while ensuring the clients loved ones receive full emotional and material support.

An example: Fried recalled a 43-year-old patient at Blue Ridge Hospices in-patient care center at 333 W. Cork St. in Winchester whose greatest wish was to celebrate one more Thanksgiving and Christmas.

We utilized our volunteer department and marketing department, and lots of folks around here pitched in to make sure that we had decorations in her room, Fried said.

Hospice staff and volunteers also reached out to Cracker Barrel restaurant at 200 Front Royal Pike near Winchester to order turkey dinners for the woman and her loved ones. Cracker Barrel responded by donating all the meals free of charge.

Flynn, who is also a family care physician, admitted there are definitely bad days in hospice, but if weve done our jobs right, weve made an indelible difference in that familys life and that patients life. ... Its worth those tough days because the difference we make is astounding.

In 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic, Blue Ridge Hospice staff and volunteers cared for 1,298 patients, made 68,697 client visits and drove a collective total of 845,260 miles to perform their duties.

Our staff is just fearless, Flynn said. We are so indebted to them.

Blue Ridge Hospice also sees to the needs of people who are elderly or ill but still have a lot of life left. For example, when Viola Brown of Berryville turned 110 earlier this month, hospice staff spearheaded a birthday celebration at her home with gifts and a cake.

The nonprofit also offers free bereavement services to anyone in need regardless of whether their loved one was involved with hospice.

Its part of our mission to provide that type of service because weve got the expertise, Fried said.

Additionally, Blue Ridge Hospice operates eight thrift stores throughout the region that sell donated items to raise money for the organization. Last year, 19% of the nonprofits operating revenues came from its thrift stores.

Just as Blue Ridge Hospice is there for the community, it is also there for its staff and volunteers. Due to the sometimes difficult nature of their jobs, Fried said the organization requires a significant amount of training when a person is hired, then offers bereavement services to them as necessary.

We make sure to care for our own and to help them when they have those difficult days, Fried said.

It can be hard for patients, their families and even their doctors to admit that death is near, but the sooner a person reaches out to Blue Ridge Hospice, the easier the end-of-life transition can be.

Its very important to get us involved as early as possible so that we can develop relationships and help them live their last days the way they want to live them, (and) the family can go through a proper grieving process afterward, Fried said.

Getting us involved early on to help with that quality-of-life aspect is always a good thing, Flynn added.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  Maine forestry officials are asking residents who want to decorate for the fall to be on the lookout for common invasive plants.

The plants are sometimes used in wreaths and garlands and other decorations, according to the Maine Department of Agricultural, Conservation and Forestry. State law prohibits the import or sale of invasive plants in any form.
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us

We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.
Authorities say driver lost control during a Texas drag racing event and slammed into a crowd of spectators, killing two children and injuring eight other people
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin appears to be on board with White House proposals for new taxes on billionaires and certain corporations to help pay for President Joe Bidens big domestic policy bill
Pope Francis has called for an end to the practice of returning migrants rescued at sea to Libya and other unsafe countries
The stage was set. CNN had the evening nicely positioned for a Town Hall with President Biden. A liberal audience in Baltimore along with the very friendly Anderson Cooper who's been there before. What could go wrong?



Nothing. Well, maybe one thing.



Nobody watched.



Just 1.3 million viewers tuned in. Fox News crushed the Biden exposition, even the hapless MSNBC had significantly more viewers. Now, that circumstance happens daily on the Cable News Network because it's largely boring and biased. But when you heavily promote a 90 minute special with the President of the United States, you expect more than 1.3. Come on, man, there are 330-million people in this country!



Joe Biden, himself, was energetic and fairly relaxed on camera. He understood that CNN had gathered audience questions in advance and there would be few of a challenging nature. Mr. Biden also knew that Cooper would save him if he faltered - and old Anderson came through by quickly getting away from the border issue.



From the start, Mr. Biden stayed on message by promising to give Americans trillions of dollars in government subsidies. Even when a civilian asked when gas prices would drop, Joe predicted next year but don't worry about it. There are government giveaways that will compensate for higher fuel costs. Joey Warbucks is on the case.



Sadly, the question and answer format was tedious. Largely because the President has no solutions to problems and Cooper wouldn't ask probing questions because the fix was in.



Example. Mr. Biden adamantly supports Covid mandates and the left-leaning audience applauded his opinion. At that point, Anderson Cooper could have asked a very simple but necessary question: "Mr. President, if mandates suppress the spread of Covid, why does Florida have the lowest transmission rate in the nation. As you know, Florida passed a law BANNING mandates."



Again, Mr. Cooper could have asked that question. And CNN could apologize for totally botching the "Russian-collusion" thing.



Neither will ever happen.



My favorite moment was when Joe Biden actually told the world he hasn't had time to visit the southern border, which is under siege from foreign nationals. No joke, Mr. Biden said he has no time. Anderson Cooper just stood there, mouth closed.



And now you know why the American people don't have time to watch the President on CNN.
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After Initially Accepting 30 Second TV Ad, Comcast Attorneys Kill it at Last Minute

Mother Set to Testify at FDA Meeting Tuesday

In 2019, Pfizer Spent $2.4 Billion in Advertising

Ive waited 7 months for Pfizer or the FDA to acknowledge what happened to my daughter and they havent. They tried to ignore her injuries. With these ads, she will finally have the chance to be in the room with them, to be seen by them, and for her voice to be heard.

WASHINGTON, DC, OCTOBER 23. 2021  A new television ad that spotlights Pfizer vaccine-related injuries suffered by 13-year-old Maddie de Garay was killed Friday late afternoon by Comcast attorneys after initially accepting the ad on Thursday. The ad was slated to run multiple times before and during the FDAs VRBPAC Meeting on Pfizer Data on its COVID-19 Vaccine for Children 5-11.

Despite almost no publicity, the public can submit public comments to the FDA for its VRBPAC meeting on Pfizer Data taking place 10/26 for Children ages 5-11. A link to submit a public comment can be found here.
You know how weve all been ridiculed and lambasted for suggesting there may be an ulterior motive behind these COVID-19 vaccines? Well, the next time someone questions your sanity, you may want to refer them to the following article published in the satisfactorily mainstream publication, Scientific American. The article is titled How the CIAs Fake Vaccination Campaign Endangers Us All.

The article, referring to the 2011 Navy SEAL operation to eliminate Bin Laden, states the following:

In its zeal to identify bin Laden or his family, the CIA used a sham hepatitis B vaccination project to collect DNA in the neighborhood where he was hiding.

I dont know about you, but for me, thats a bombshell. Essentially what we have here is confirmation that the US government (and by extension, all governments) can and would use a vaccination program to accomplish an alternate objective.

Curiously, the article does not state how the CIA used a vaccination program to gather genetic information (or how they planned to use this to find Bin Laden) only that they did indeed do so. In other words, the US government used healthcare as a front for an altogether different agenda, one that they had no intention of revealing to the people, and one that had absolutely nothing to do with the health of the population. Why, then, should anyone be surprised when encountering vaccine hesitancy or outright skepticism, especially in the third world?

The article goes on to stress an important point, one that concerns the moral and ethical obligations of physicians and medical personnel.

The vaccination ruse also poses a moral problem. Physicians take a Hippocratic oath to do no harm. Humanitarian workers adhere to an international code of conduct that requires that their services be provided independently of national agendas, on the basis of need alone.

If youve been paying attention, the Hippocratic oath is something that has been twisted and inverted by the pro-agenda cult, claiming that it requires health workers to recommend, or even mandate, the Covid jabs. Some have even claimed that it is unconstitutional not to impose vaccine mandates. This moral and philosophical inversion is incredibly disturbing and we should all be on guard when encountering these types of ill-minded arguments.

Words like unconstitutional, freedom and yes, the Hippocratic oath are thrown around and their meanings are altered depending on the agenda at hand. For example, the above-cited article rightly asserts that healthcare workers are required to do no harm, provide services independently of national agendas and administer such services on the basis of need alone. Ill let you decide for yourself whether recommending, mandating, or even administering experimental vaccines for a disease with a 99.9% recovery rate falls in line with any one of those obligations.

Anyway, lets return to the central focus of this article  that the US government used a vaccination program as a means of accomplishing an alternate objective, in this case collecting DNA in order to find someone. Putting the vaccines aside for a moment, consider the Covid-19 PCR tests, which involve the use of a cotton swab to collect mucous samples. What happens to those samples after the test? Beyond being a means of inflating case numbers, could the tests themselves be a cover for some kind of alternate agenda? In other words, could the mass Covid testing be a massive DNA collection experiment? And if so, what would they be looking for?

I think there is one very important concept that we all need to consider  that false flags, like the Covid scamdemic, are set up to accomplish a multitude of objectives. In other words, the transhumanist agenda is part of this, we know that. But in order to fully comprehend whats going on, we have to be willing to think outside the box.

At the end of the day, the leaders of the free world can and did use healthcare and vaccination as a cover to accomplish a completely separate agenda, one that affected thousands of innocent people. These people operate without moral accountability. They are diabolical and they certainly do not care about your health.
In my honest opinion, Dave Chappelles latest comedy special The Closer wasnt that funny. At times, there were glimpses of early Chappelle, the one that was relentlessly hilarious. However, these moments did not last long. Clearly, being funny was not Chappelles top priority.

The Closer was about proving a point. And it only took a few days to see this point proven to an absurd degree.

The Closer was about proving that some words cannot be uttered in media  even if they are factually true  under the threat of public persecution and financial ruin. And Chapelle committed the ultimate thoughtcrime: He said that gender is a fact.

Like the vast majority of people on Earth, Chappelle believes that men have male reproductive organs and that women have female reproductive organs. That is why the word gender and genitals share the same root word.

However, this basic fact of life, which was an unquestioned, universally accepted truth only a few years ago has become taboo. Even worse, it is now considered offensive and transphobic. Not by regular people, but by a powerful agenda that is looking to completely redefine the meaning of gender and human sexuality in general.

This agenda is backed by unlimited funds and heavy political influence. It forced governments around the world to redefine how they categorize genders. Indeed, gender is now an identity, not a fact that relates to genitalia.

This agenda became so aggressive that weve seen the word woman being replaced by the most absurd and dehumanizing expressions one can think of.

So, Chappelle committed the ultimate blasphemy. Even worse, he defended JK Rowling who was canceled for being a TERF. As Chappelle pointed out, they like to create words to win arguments.

TERF stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. This word was created specifically to insult and attack feminists who state that women have female reproductive organs. This goes against the agenda that claims that anyone who identifies as a woman is an actual woman.

So Chappelle said:

Im team TERF. I agree. Gender is a fact. () Every human being in this room, every human being on Earth had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on Earth. That is a fact. Chappelle knew very well that stating these words would prompt calls for his immediate termination. Because, in 2021, using the true, valid, and factual definition of the word woman is now transphobic. But Chappelle did it anyway so we can all witness the insanity that would ensue.

And, sure enough, it happened. GLAAD  the media monitoring organization whose admitted goal is to shape the narrative tweeted the following:

The keyword in this tweet is platforming. This is how they control the narrative. Those who do not comply with their doctrine are de-platformed, meaning that they are banned from mass media and all of its platforms.

In other words, GLAAD outright called for the termination of Chappelles career. Nothing less. This is the type of oppression we see in China against dissenters.

Shortly after, countless media outlets revealed their true faces. Despite the fact that theyre literally THE PRESS, theyve sided against free speech and FOR censorship.

To make sure that the controversy doesnt die out and that free speech doesnt prevail, the people behind the gender agenda staged a walkout in front of the Netflix headquarters. Many of these people work at Netflix, the same company that produced horrific media such as Cuties  a movie that glamorizes the sexualization of children.

However, the exploitation of children is not a cause they care about. They even promoted the hell out of it. What they really care about is shutting up a black man making jokes.

Heres a telling video from the protest.

This short video sums up the insanity of this agenda and the people behind it. As you can see, theres a guy holding a We like Dave sign  the least threatening sign in protest history. As soon as he enters the crowd, a protestor immediately destroys the sign. That very same protestor then starts yelling Hes got a weapon! while holding up the guys hand which is still holding the broken wooden stick. Then, the protestors use the fact that he has a weapon to push him out of the crowd and to silence him.

This is exactly how they work in all spheres of society. They force a false label on their opponents. Then, they use that false label to demonize and silence them.

The protest came with a list of asks presented to Netflix. It puts on full display the tyrannical tendencies of this agenda.

Eliminate references/imagery of Chappelle inside of the workplace, including but not limited to murals, posters, room names, swag;

Acknowledgement that the special causes harm to the trans community and Netflixs responsibility on it so we keep the conversation around transphobia evolving internally;

Trans and non-binary content investment

* A new fund to specifically develop trans and non-binary talent

*This fund should support both above-the-line (ATL) and below-the-line (BTL) talent

*This fund should exist in addition to the existing Creative Equality Fund

Investment in trans or non-binary content on Netflix comparable to our total investment in transphobic content, including comparable investment in the promotion of content

The comparable class of investments should include but not be limited to works produced by Dave Chappelle (such as the investment in The Closer and Sticks and Stones), Ricky Gervais After Life, etc.

Investment in multiple trans creators to make both scripted and unscripted programs across genres;

Revisit internal processes on commissioning and/or releasing potential harmful content, involving numerous and diverse parties that can speak on its harm, including consultation on 3rd party venders;

Revisit the ERG role in conversations around potential harmful content and develop materials to ensure we have the best in class regional support on complicated diversity issues

Hire transgender content executives in leading positions and promote and inclusive environment for them;

Recruit trans people for leadership roles in the company (director, VP, etc) and promote and inclusive environment for them;

The ability for Trans* employees and allies to be able to remove themselves from company promotional content (e.g. allyship videos, etc.);

A disclaimer before The Closer specifically saying it contains transphobic language, misogyny, homophobia, and hate speech;

Boost promotion for Disclosure and other trans-affirming titles in the platform

Netflix is already 100% sold to this agenda. Most of its contents push this agenda to an absurd degree. Chappelle was one of the only artists who had some artistic freedom to stray away from it. But, in this climate of oppression, no exceptions are allowed. All dissenting views must be crushed. Even the CEO of Netflix Ted Sarandos, who originally backed Chappelles show, had to backtrack and say that he screwed up.

Clearly, Chappelle knew this insane backlash was going to happen. But he did it anyway.

Throughout the years, Chappelles had been dropping hints regarding the elites agenda. For instance, in 2006, Chappelle asked Oprah why there was so much pressure for black comedians to wear dresses.

In Conclusion

Was The Closer transphobic? No. Chappelle made jokes. Thats his job. He also made jokes about white people, black people, and R Kelly urinating on girls faces.

Chappelle even dedicated the last part of his show to Daphne Dorman, a trans comedian he took under his wing. Chappelle also noted that Daphne committed suicide after being viciously bullied by trans activists.

The main point of Chappelles show was that labels, definitions, and pronouns do not matter. It is the actual, living, breathing human behind all of this that matters.

Clearly, the agenda-pushers do not care about that message. Because, in fact, this entire scandal has nothing to do with real, actual transgender people. It is all about the gender agenda.

The powers that be are actively trying to destroy the very concept of male and female to replace them with fake, artificial constructs. The trans movement is used as a pawn in this battle to make these concepts offensive, which justifies censorship.

The Closer aimed to prove that one cannot state facts regarding the most basic building blocks of human life without being attacked and demonized. And sadly, it succeeded.
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Chief executive of biotech giant CSL, Paul Perreault, told this masthead last month that there could be a few of his staff that leave the business over the companys requirement to be fully vaccinated to visit its Australian sites by December 31. However, he says the vast majority of the companys workforce understands the value of vaccination. We are a science-based company, we make the vaccines and we believe in vaccination. There are always going to be a few who may want to raise their hand and say, I dont want to do that and Im leaving - but I hope thats not the case, he said. Alex Badenoch, group executive, transformation, communications and people, Telstra says some of her conversations with the 1 per cent of staff who dont wish to be vaccinated have been challenging. Across the country, human resources and people managers have faced some of the toughest decisions of their careers as companies grapple with the question of vaccine mandates. Telstra executive Alex Badenoch says 99 per cent of the telcos staff are on board with coronavirus vaccination, but that doesnt mean the decision to mandate jabs for frontline staff was easy.

The company was an early mover when it confirmed in September it would mandate vaccination for around 8,300 frontline roles. Chief executive Andy Penn said at the time that Telstra wanted to be on the right side of history. Ms Badenoch and her team have been working behind the scenes to set up Telstras vaccine policies. She had no illusions about the challenge of the task. Its a really emotive issue...But one of the things that has really driven us from day one is starting from that position of what is the best decision we can make to keep our people safe? While the vast majority of Telstra staff agreed with the companys frontline mandates, Ms Badenoch says her team has been working with the remaining one per cent. This is where it gets tough. Within that one per cent, there are lots of different stories, she says.

For many of these workers, their reluctance to get a vaccine comes down to a temporary medical issue or genuine exemption. For others, it is more philosophical. I think for the remainder, it is really challenging, Badenoch says. Work from home rules Along with the challenging issue of vaccine mandates, companies are also grappling with other changes to how and where its workforce operates. The Age and Herald survey shows hybrid working models will be a permanent feature of the Australian workforce, with 42 of the nations 50 largest employers confirming earlier this year they plan to let staff work from home for at least part of each week from now onwards. The work from home revolution gives employers more flexibility when it comes to workers who are not vaccinated against the virus, but many are reluctant to allow staff to work from home indefinitely.

Of the companies surveyed, only two  Medibank and Goodman Group  explicitly said they would allow unvaccinated workers to continue their employment from home, provided they were part of fully remote teams. Even businesses that encourage high levels of remote work note that their workers are most likely to have to come into the office eventually, whether for collaboration on projects or for team building exercises. Employers are conscious that for those who object to their company-wide policies, there may be no other option than to let their staff go. Seven companies - CSL, Sonic Healthcare BHP, Newcrest, Medibank, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and mining company IGO - all flagged that termination of employment would be an option for staff who dont comply without a valid medical exemption.

Any employees without an approved exemption at the specific dates will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment, a CSL spokesman confirmed. A spokesman for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank said while it wanted to afford staff flexibility post-pandemic, its workers would likely have to come into head offices at some point in their employment. Our people will be expected to attend the office for the moments that matter such as collaboration, planning, development conversations and when someone joins our team, they said. We will work closely on a case-by-case basis with staff who choose not to comply with our proposed policy (without an exemption). In circumstances where we are unable to satisfactorily resolve the matter, it may result in the termination of the staff members employment. The great unknowns

Despite the strong show of support for vaccine mandates, not all businesses approached via the Age and Herald survey were willing to reveal their policies. Eight companies: Australian Super, A2 Milk, Washington H. Soul Pattinson, ResMed, Magellan, Charter Hall, JB Hi-Fi and Dominos Pizza Enterprises declined to comment on their policies for staff or stated that they were still working through the detail, so it was not appropriate to weigh in. Loading And while many other companies have now set up clear policies for the first two doses of the vaccine, none of the businesses surveyed had a definitive view on whether booster shots would be a requirement when they become available. Nineteen companies said they were open to a policy on booster shots, but were still waiting federal or state government health advice on boosters before they decided any policies.

Medical exemptions under the microscope All companies that responded to survey questions agreed that provisions should be in place for those with genuine medical exemptions to vaccination. However, these cases are expected to be very rare and a high level of evidence will be required for employees to be cleared. As experts explained earlier this year to this masthead, there should only be very few Australians with a genuine reason for not getting one of the vaccines on offer, such as an allergy to key ingredients. All companies surveyed that had mandated policies said they would require medical certificates and the appropriate state government form to be filled out before one of their workers could be excused from the vaccine mandate.

We will require a written report or letter prepared and signed by a registered medical practitioner in the approved Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) medical exemption form (IM0011). We may also accept any relevant State/Territory-based forms, a Commonwealth Bank spokesman said. Beyond the 90 per cent Australia might be aiming for 80 per cent vaccine targets across the country, but corporate Australia has higher aspirations. Several large employers told this masthead they are not concerned about lack of compliance with vaccination mandates because they are already confident the vast majority of their staff have received the jab. Goodman Group, Mirvac, Stockland, CSL and GPT Group have said staff surveys indicate more than 90 per cent of their staff have already received both their doses or intend to do so.
Taxpayers will provide $1.9 billion to help Telstra buy South Pacific telco operator Digicel from Irish billionaire Denis OBrien, under an agreement that will ensure it is kept out of Chinese hands and boost Australias footprint in the region.

Telstra will own 100 per cent of the new entity as part of the $US1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) deal, which is expected to be completed within six months. The sale follows almost a year of discussions between the telco giant and the federal government about the asset, which was subject to interest from Chinese telco operators.

The sale follows almost a year of discussions between the telco giant and the federal government about the asset, which was subject to interest from Chinese telco operators. Credit:Getty

While Telstra called it a commercially attractive asset, there is concern among some in the government and industry that the threat of the asset falling into Chinese hands was hyped up to drive a sale to an Australian company with the help of the government.

Industry and government sources confirmed that a Chinese company was never close to buying Digicels Pacific assets. But senior figures within the Australian government believed Chinese companies such as China Mobile may have been interested and they assessed it was important to help Telstra purchase the asset for strategic reasons.
Let me be sure Ive got this right. Scott Morrison is ending his Coalitions deep divisions over climate change by agreeing to pay billions in regional boondoggles in return for the Nationals refusing to lift their veto of any increase in Australias commitment to reduce emissions by 2030.

The usual way blackmail works is that the blackmailer returns to you something you really value in return for you paying the blackmailer an arm and a leg.

Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud, at right, expects a majority in the party room will decide the position on net zero. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But the way Morrisons deal with Barnaby Joyce and the Nationals will work is that Morrison  or rather, the taxpayer  spends billions on projects of doubtful value in return for the Nats agreeing to nothing more than symbolism: to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, which will be after all the signatories are dead and gone.

The first point is that agreeing to net zero emissions in 29 years time is a decoy and a fig leaf if thats all you do. To make it real you have to make a commitment you can be held to: a much bigger progress payment in the next nine years to 2030.
Holed up in a palatial home deep in Californias Santa Monica Mountains, Gwyneth Paltrow is holding court. Basking in the glow of her movie star wattage are six normal couples of different ages, races and sexual orientations.

Its an appropriately mixed bag, the kind of crowd that would make for an interesting dinner party: a pair of smiley seniors, a hip lesbian couple, attractive young mixed-race parents.

From the outside looking in, it could easily be mistaken for a fancy dinner party at Paltrows home, but we soon learn there will be no first course, or second course, only intercourse.

Gwyneth Paltrow in Sex, Love & Goop. Credit:Netflix

Were having sex, this is a show about sex, were going to talk about sex, Paltrow promises during the opening credits of her new Netflix series, Sex, Love & Goop.
Sadia Alvi had two good years in Australia before the pandemic struck.

As Victoria entered lockdown and the country shut its border, Mrs Alvi was apart from her husband and family.

PhD student Sadia Alvi. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

She could not fly back to her home country of Pakistan. It would be nine months before Mrs Alvi saw her husband, who was in NSW.

She was not allowed to send her daughter to kindergarten during Victorias long second COVID-19 wave and fell behind in her research.
Cleo went missing from a remote campsite in WA. Credit:Ellie Smith Instagram He said another car driving past the Blow Holes Road and North West Coastal Highway t-junction saw the vehicle turn right onto the highway somewhere between 3am and 3.30am on October 16. The witnesses have told us they observed that vehicle, it turned out of the t-junction there, right into the North West Coastal Highway and headed south down toward Carnarvon, he said. Mr Wilde said the two people who made the report struggled to identify the vehicle because it was so dark at the time, but police believe it was the size of a passenger car. I dont want to narrow it down to sedan as well, we dont believe its a truck or large vehicle, we believe its a smaller vehicle which probably would be a passenger vehicle, he said.

Mr Wilde said the person or people in the vehicle were not suspects, but police wanted to know what they were doing in the area at that time of the morning. We want to speak to the driver and persons, if there were more than one person in that vehicle, to establish exactly what was going on and what they were doing at that time, theres no more than that, he said. Theyre not a suspect as such we just want to establish who they were and what they were doing at that time. The revelation is a significant development for police who have been scouring thousands of pieces of evidence including CCTV and firsthand reports submitted by the public since Cleo went missing. Blow Holes Road is the main road to the Quobba Blow Holes campsite where police believe Cleo was abducted from her tent in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Loading Earlier on Sunday, Police Commissioner Chris Dawson revealed the investigation had not turned up any information to suggest she had been taken out of Western Australia. He said the states strict measures on borders that have so far kept COVID-19 out, would also have made it difficult for someone to travel undetected across the states border into the Northern Territory or South Australia. Weve had very strict border controls in place for now for over 18 months, he said. Im confident weve got the main thoroughfares thoroughly controlled, and thats whats kept COVID out, but at the same time its a very large area, thats why we want the communitys assistance.

Commissioner Dawson would not comment on whether he believed the child was alive. He said if anyone suspected someone they knew could be involved, or had noticed someones behaviour change, it was essential they came forward. What we all of course want is to be able to locate Cleo. Its a tragic situation, and we are leaving no stone unturned ... someone does know something about this, and we want them to come forward. He said the remote location of the campsite where Cleo disappeared gave police some advantages. Western Australia was the largest police jurisdiction by landmass in the world. It is a very remote locality, he said of the Quobba blowholes campsite.

Cleo Smith is still missing. Credit:Ellie Smith So, in one sense, weve got an opportunity here to put a very large footprint around whoever was in the area, and its that sort of level of investigation and effort that we are capturing now. And we will painstakingly go through every vehicle movement. Every bit of technology that we get, any forensic exhibit that we collect. Police want anyone who travelled near Carnarvon around the time Cleo went missing to come forward. If youre in that locality, let us know who you are, where youve travelled and what you saw, the Commissioner said.
My Safta  my grandmother  spreads a crocheted lace cloth on the floor between us, and carefully lays documents across it. Are you sure that you want to know? she asks me one last time. Its a very sad story. She is speaking to herself more than anyone. I gently place my hand over hers.

Year 8 student Olivia Campbell, winner of the Whitlam Institutes What Matters? Writing Competition for young Australians.

Well, she says, I suppose I should tell you. Once Im dead, someone needs to be there to remember.

Safta strokes old fingers against the worn blanket and begins to speak. A yellowed family portrait. Eight women. Four men. Five children. Safta bites her lip and digs her fingers into her collarbone as she tells me their story. Two emigrated to Australia before World War II broke out in earnest. On August 25, 1942, the Einsatzgruppen  the mobile killing squad of Nazi Germany  rounded up the rest and shuttled them to the Treblinka concentration camp. They were dead on arrival, slowly asphyxiated in the gas vans that transported them.

Safta shows me the picture of a boy who built a radio from spare parts in the Lodz ghetto in Poland and was shot by a firing squad where he stood when he warned his friends of what would happen to them.
Victorian health officials are concerned for the safety of 46 asylum seekers and refugees detained at Park Hotel in Melbourne after almost half had tested positive to COVID-19 by Sunday afternoon.

Federal authorities are yet to provide adequate information to the states public health team about the levels of infection prevention and control in place to protect the detainees, prompting state Health Minister Martin Foley to write to the Commonwealth about Victorias concerns.

Health Minister Martin Foley has contacted the Commonwealth about safety measures at the Park Hotel. Credit:WayneT Taylor

Three more asylum seekers tested positive to the coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the outbreak tally to 20.

Were quite concerned about that facility, and the infection prevention and control team met and sought some assurances from the Commonwealth and operator, and were looking forward to those issues being addressed, Mr Foley said.
This is not the first time hes done it. Leopards dont change their spots and thats why they use these NDAs. I believe the basic facts of the case should have been made public. My wife would have been traumatised by the release of the finer details, but the public should know if a sexual assault or an indecent assault has taken place, he said. Lawyers say non-disclosure agreements have become standard practice for employers dealing with sexual harassment complaints, to prevent disclosure about an incident. As investigations into Harvey Weinsteins behaviour gained traction, more of his alleged victims came forward to break their enforced silence. Credit:Getty Images While the contracts can protect a companys commercial interests, keep cases out of courts and provide anonymity to complainants and accused perpetrators, the agreements can have perverted effects. Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, for example, bought the silence of women he was accused of assaulting, using confidentiality clauses that prevented his conduct from being exposed.

Ms Blandthorn, an employment lawyer at Slater and Gordon, has had clients with agreements so broad that they prevented survivors explaining why they left a workplace, or even from speaking to their families and friends about what had happened. Deeds of release as part of agreements routinely attach no fault to the perpetrator. Workplace Safety Minister Ingrid Stitt (right) in March announced the ministerial taskforce, which will be co-chaired by Liberty Sanger (centre) and Bronwyn Halfpenny. Credit:Simon Schluter Many [survivors] are angry that while they have to leave the workplace as part of the legal resolution, the alleged harasser often remains in their role at the workplace as if nothing has happened, Ms Blandthorn said. The taskforce, established by Victorian Workplace Safety Minister Ingrid Stitt and chaired by parliamentary secretary for workplace safety Bronwyn Halfpenny and lawyer Liberty Sanger, is expected to soon finalise recommendations, including on the use of non-disclosure agreements, that will go to the state government.

Ms Sanger, a workplace injury lawyer at Maurice Blackburn, said confidentiality clauses could still be used in settlements to protect identities and settlement sums while doing away with non-disclosure agreements. Its an agreement without the punitive work of an NDA, which effectively cuts out the tongue of the worker, forever rendering them mute, she said. The taskforce has looked closely at what has occurred in Ireland, where a bill banning the use of non-disclosure agreements in workplace sexual harassment cases, except when requested by an employee, received unanimous support in the Parliaments upper house. Last years Respect@Work report from Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins has also been integral to the taskforces work.

Victorias Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner Niki Vincent is examining, for the first time, the use of non-disclosure agreements in sexual harassment cases in the public sector. Loading What were looking at is how widespread the use of non-disclosure agreements is ... because we actually dont know that, she said. Dr Vincent said data collected would be publicly available and searchable on the commissions website. Were hoping this transparency will drive change, she said.
Australia will make a formal pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 after Nationals MPs backed the goal in a tense meeting on Sunday that cleared the way for policies within days to adopt cleaner fuels, electric vehicles, and more renewable energy.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is expected to ask federal cabinet to endorse the target on Monday and finalise a policy package with measures such as investments in hydrogen energy and rewards for farmers to offset emissions. The package will be revealed before he departs on Thursday for a G20 meeting in Rome and a United Nations climate summit in Glasgow where he will be asked to commit to net zero.

Senior nationals head towards their party room meeting on Sunday. Credit:Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

But Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce refused to reveal the conditions he had gained from Mr Morrison over the weekend to secure the agreement, leaving the cost of the deal to be confirmed after cabinet has set the target.

The policy package is expected to forecast more use of electric vehicles in a reversal from the Coalition rhetoric from its attacks on Labor for proposing more EV use less than three years ago, highlighting the wider shift inside the government on climate policy.
Paris: One rape victim was asked by Paris police what she wore that day, and why she didnt struggle more. Another woman was forced to fondle herself to demonstrate a sexual assault to a sceptical police officer.

They are among thousands of French women who have denounced in a new online campaign the shocking response of police officers victim-blaming them or mishandling their complaints as they reported sexual abuse.

The hashtag #DoublePeine (#DoubleSentencing) was launched last month by Anna Toumazoff after she learnt that a 19-year-old woman who filed a rape complaint in the southern city of Montpellier was asked by police in graphic terms whether she experienced pleasure during the assault.

Thousands of French women have denounced the shocking response of police officers victim-blaming them as they were reporting sexual abuse. Credit:AP

The hashtag quickly went viral, with women describing similar experiences in Montpellier and other police stations across France. French womens rights group NousToutes (all of us) counted at least 30,000 accounts of mistreatment in tweets and other messages sent on social media and on a specific website.
Tesla CEO has trolled CEO Tim Cook on over Apple's new $19 cleaning cloth.

In celebration of Apple's new store in Istanbul, Cook tweeted on Friday: "Introducing Bagdat Caddesi, our beautiful new store in Istanbul. We're glad to be a part of this vibrant community and we can't wait to welcome customers to this spectacular new space."

Musk replied to the tweet stating "Come see the Cloth TM", adding much to the joy of the internet, reports iMore.

Musk was, of course, mocking the new Apple cleaning cloth the company now sells on its website.

Alongside its new MacBook Pro (2021) and AirPods 3, Apple quietly released a new non-abrasive polishing cloth for cleaning any Apple display that costs an eye-watering $19.

"Made with soft, non-abrasive material, the Polishing Cloth cleans any Apple display, including nano-texture glass, safely and effectively," the company wrote on the website.

Hilariously, the 'Compatibility' section of the product contains every Apple device with a screen, the report said.

While plenty of people have mocked the cloth as a prime example of Apple products at high prices, it is extremely popular and currently won't ship until January 2022 if you try to buy one, it added.

Recently, Apple released its new MacBook Pro featuring the new M1 Pro and M1 Max Apple silicon chips and a 120Hz mini-LED display, setting the new Pro apart as Apple's best MacBook ever.

--IANS

vc/ksk/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Clear (formerly called ClearTax) has raised $75 million in its Series C round led by Kora Capital, alongside global fintech Stripe, Alua Capital, Think Investments and existing investors, the company said on Sunday. According to a source close to the company, the funding happened at a valuation range of $700-800 million. Clear declined to comment on the same.

Its proprietary platform ClearTax, which facilitates the filing of both income tax and GST returns, is currently used by one million small businesses, 3,000 large enterprises and over 50,000 tax professionals. The company aims to serve over 10,000 large enterprises and 10 million small businesses over the next couple of years.

Clear said its SaaS platform has witnessed a 5x growth in the last 18 months adding more than 3,000 large enterprise customers. It also saw a surge in usage with over 1 million small businesses on the platform. The Clear platform now processes over 10 per cent of Indias business invoices with a GMV of $400 billion.

It posted revenue of Rs 60 crore in FY20, a 163 per cent surge over the previous years Rs 22.8 crore. It has not yet filed its FY21 annual returns.

Archit Gupta, founder and CEO of Clear, said the companys revenue doubled in FY21 over the previous financial year and is set to double again in FY22.

Clear recently acquired yBANQ, marking its expansion into B2B payments. Gupta said the company is also planning to enter the invoice discounting space to disburse B2B loans.

Founded in 2011 by three friends -- Archit Gupta, Srivatsan Chari, and Ankit Solanki -- ClearTax was also the first Y-Combinator funded company of India in 2014. "Being the first company to be funded by Y-Combinator is a great turning point in our journey. As far as the potential of becoming a unicorn is concerned, we believe our company will be worth a lot more than a billion dollars one day, and that belief is shared by more people now," Gupta told Business Standard in 2019.
In February 2019, Inc. set up a test account in India to determine how its own algorithms affect what people see in one of its fastest growing and most important overseas markets. The results stunned the companys own staff.

Within three weeks, the new users feed turned into a maelstrom of and incendiary images. There were graphic photos of beheadings, doctored images of India air strikes against Pakistan and jingoistic scenes of violence. One group for things that make you laugh included of 300 terrorists who died in a bombing in Pakistan.

Ive seen more images of dead people in the past 3 weeks than Ive seen in my entire life total, one staffer wrote, according to a 46-page research note thats among the trove of documents released by whistleblower Frances Haugen.

The test proved telling because it was designed to focus exclusively on Facebooks role in recommending content. The trial account used the profile of a 21-year-old woman living in the western India city of Jaipur and hailing from Hyderabad. The user only followed pages or groups recommended by or encountered through those recommendations. The experience was termed an integrity nightmare, by the author of the research note.





ALSO READ: Facebook's independent oversight board seeks more transparency

While Haugens disclosures have painted a damning picture of Facebooks role in spreading harmful content in the U.S., the India experiment suggests that the companys influence globally could be even worse. Most of the money Facebook spends on content moderation is focused on English-language media in countries like the U.S.

But the companys growth largely comes from countries like India, Indonesia and Brazil, where it has struggled to hire people with the language skills to impose even basic oversight. The challenge is particularly acute in India, a country of 1.3 billion people with 22 official languages. Facebook has tended to outsource oversight for content on its platform to contractors from like Accenture.

"Weve invested significantly in technology to find hate speech in various languages, including Hindi and Bengali, a Facebook spokeswoman said. As a result, weve reduced the amount of hate speech that people see by half this year. Today, its down to 0.05 percent. Hate speech against marginalized groups, including Muslims, is on the rise globally. So we are improving enforcement and are committed to updating our policies as hate speech evolves online."

The new user test account was created on Feb. 4, 2019 during a research teams trip to India, according to the report. Facebook is a pretty empty place without friends, the researchers wrote, with only the companys Watch and Live tabs suggesting things to look at.

The quality of this content is... not ideal, the report said. When the video service Watch doesnt know what a user wants, it seems to recommend a bunch of softcore porn, followed by a frowning emoticon.

The experiment began to turn dark on Feb. 11, as the test user started to explore content recommended by Facebook, including posts that were popular across the social network. She began with benign sites, including the official page of Prime Minister Narendra Modis ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and BBC India.

Then on Feb. 14, a terror attack in Pulwama in the politically sensitive Kashmir state killed 40 Indian security personnel and injured dozens more. The Indian government attributed the strike to a Pakistan terrorist group. Soon the testers feed turned into a barrage of anti-Pakistan hate speech, including images of a beheading and a graphic showing preparations to incinerate a group of Pakistanis.

There were also nationalist messages, exaggerated claims about Indias air strikes in Pakistan, fake photos of bomb explosions and a doctored photo that purported to show a newly-married army man killed in the attack whod been preparing to return to his family.



ALSO READ: Facebook to rebrand itself as 'metaverse company', get new name: Report

Many of the hate-filled posts were in Hindi, the countrys national language, escaping the regular content moderation controls at the social network. In India, people use a dozen or more regional variations of Hindi alone. Many people use a blend of English and Indian languages, making it almost impossible for an algorithm to sift through the colloquial jumble. A human content moderator would need to speak several languages to sieve out toxic content.

After 12 days, 12 planes attacked Pakistan, one post exulted. Another, again in Hindi, claimed as Hot News the death of 300 terrorists in a bomb explosion in Pakistan. The name of the group sharing the news was Laughing and things that make you laugh. Some posts containing fake photos of a napalm bomb claimed to be Indias air attack on Pakistan reveled, 300 dogs died. Now say long live India, death to Pakistan.

The report--entitled An Indian test users descent into a sea of polarizing, nationalist messages--makes clear how little control Facebook has in one of its most important markets. The Menlo Park, California-based technology giant has anointed India as a key growth market, and used it as a test bed for new products. Last year, Facebook spent nearly $6 billion on a partnership with Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in Asia, who leads the Reliance conglomerate.

This exploratory effort of one hypothetical test account inspired deeper, more rigorous analysis of our recommendation systems, and contributed to product changes to improve them, the Facebook spokeswoman said. Our work on curbing hate speech continues and we have further strengthened our hate classifiers, to include four Indian languages."

But the company has also repeatedly tangled with the Indian government over its practices there. New regulations require that Facebook and other social media identify individuals responsible for their online content -- making them accountable to the government. Facebook and Twitter Inc. have fought back against the rules. On Facebooks WhatsApp platform, viral fake messages circulated about child kidnapping gangs, leading to dozens of lynchings across the country beginning in the summer of 2017, further enraging users, the courts and the government.

The Facebook report ends by acknowledging its own recommendations led the test user account to become filled with polarizing and graphic content, hate speech and misinformation. It sounded a hopeful note that the experience can serve as a starting point for conversations around understanding and mitigating integrity harms from its recommendations in markets beyond the U.S.

Could we as a company have an extra responsibility for preventing integrity harms that result from recommended content?, the tester asked.
Agnishwar Jayaprakash, the 31-year-old Managing Director of the Chennai-based Garuda Aerospace, a Drones-As-A-Service (DaaS) startup, is on cloud nine after meeting Prime Minister

"Well-informed about drone usage, Modi wants drones to connect the remote areas of the country. Apart from delivery of medicines and others to people living in remote places, he also said drones could also deliver postal packages to them," Jayaprakash told IANS.

"I was astonished over how hands-on he was on drones. He was keen on knowing the industry's reaction to the recent policy initiatives. I said India will become the drone capital of the world soon. The Prime Minister also said the services offered by drones should be affordable," he added.

Like e-commerce, fintech, online food delivery sectors, the revised policies will drive the Indian drone industry, he said.

Jayaprakash, who had created quite a splash in the international swimming pools to win medals for India, also told Modi about Garuda Aerospace's drone activities in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency from which the Prime Minister was elected.

Jayaprakash met Modi on October 22 after clearing the Covid-19 test the previous day.

"I shared a brief on Garuda's ongoing projects in NHAI, NTPC, Survey of India, SAIL & Drone Delivery of medicines, vegetables in Varanasi Smart City and ISRO to which the Prime Minister had insisted that Urban Air Mobility in geographically isolated areas and food delivery using drones are areas we need to work on to benefit the citizens," said Jayaprakash.

Garuda Aerospace was incidentally in the recently for getting SpaceX Founder and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk to notice their New Solar Panel Cleaning Surya Drone and subsequently raised $1 million in Pre-Series A Funding from a UK-based fund.

According to Jayaprakash, Garuda Aerospace has about 300 drones and about 500 pilots and has a valuation of about Rs.400 crore.

The company that offers drone-based services like spraying of pesticides/disinfectants, industrial mapping and others has an order book position of about Rs 23 crore.

"We plan to expand our manufacturing capacity with the fresh funds. Presently, we can make about 25 drones per day. Apart from offering drone-based services, we also sell drones. Farmers in South India, Haryana and Punjab are buying our agriculture drones," Jayaprakash said.

--IANS

vj/svn/ksk/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The prioritisation of domestic coal supply to the power sector has to "some extent" hit but the company has cushioned itself by tying up imported dry fuel supply till March, a top official of the Vedanta group firm said.

Coal India, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of domestic coal output, has been prioritising fuel supply temporarily to the power sector in view of the low stock position at thermal power plants.

The annual coal consumption of is around 2 millions tonnes and it uses the mix of both imported and domestic fuel at its smelters, HZL CEO Arun Misra Misra told PTI in an interview.

When asked if the domestic supply of coal to the company has been hit due to the prioritisation of coal to the power sector, "Yes, to some extent it is hit. So, that may be temporarily. We would see more consumption of imported coal...in another two or three months of time domestic coal should be available in sufficient quantity."



"In terms of price ... it is for the first time it has been impacted on the cost side. The cost increase is also because of availability of coal mix," the CEO said when asked about the impact of coal shortage on the company.

Power, he said, is an important enabler for producing metals in the smelters and coal is the input to the company's power plant.

"Roughly about 20-25 per cent of our cost of production can be attributed to the cost of coal and if you look at coal mix between 70-75 per cent is imported coal and about 20-25 per cent or 30 per cent is domestic coal. If I say between the price of coal and availability, currently to ensure production availability has to be guaranteed so we have tied up imported coal supply till about March," Misra explained.

The government, he said, has clearly focused on energy suppliers first with regard to prioritisation of allocation.

"So at least that (is) good for us as well. Even if we suppose we were to run out of our own electricity production we would have to depend on grid and even if government gives first priority to energy suppliers in a grid in a way that power comes back to us only. So, whether the government allocates coal to us or gives power to us both ways it's ok with us," he explained.

But nevertheless, Misra said, the company would like some amount of more of domestic coal to reduce the cost impact.

"We have booked the coal as far as we are concerned. But the prioritisation by the government currently is more for the energy producers or electricity producers other then metal producers. So, we have protected ourselves by imported coal and whatever is available domestically we are consuming," he said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ashok Leyland, one of the country's leading commercial vehicle manufacturers, on Sunday reinforced its commitment towards the youth under the administration's 'Project Mumkin' by providing them a fleet of 500 small commercial vehicles named 'Dost'.

The keys of some of the vehicles were handed over to youths by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the presence of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, and Union ministers Jitendra Singh and Devender Pradhan at a public rally in Jammu on Sunday afternoon.

The partnership between the company and the administration will encourage entrepreneurship among the youth. The vehicles have been delivered across all district headquarters, officials said.

Managing director and chief executive officer, Ashok Leyland, Vipin Sondhi, said, "This partnership is indeed a privilege and an opportunity for to continue to contribute towards the welfare of the Jammu and Kashmir's youth."



He said that the aim is to promote entrepreneurship among the youth and thereby, create employment opportunities for them through this initiative.

"We are also providing continuous education and upskilling for the holistic development of the youth of Education and technology are necessary pillars of the fabric of the economy and society, and once combined together, one can dream and achieve anything," Sondhi said.

Head for LCV at Ashok Leyland, Rajat Gupta, said, "Through these 500 Dost vehicles, our purpose is to empower our youth who will strive towards our country's brighter and greener future. This will enable socio-economic development driven by livelihood generation solutions for the unemployed youth of J&K between the age of 22 to 35 years. Making every youth atmanirbhar for atmasamman in the true sense.

Project Mumkin has been making progress in enabling the socio-economic development, officials said.

This initiative is driven by livelihood generation solutions for the youth of Jammu and Kashmi between the ages of 22 to 35 years which is almost 65 per cent of the population, they said.

With their passion, eagerness, and skills, these individuals have been trying to transform Jammu and Kashmir through employment, upskilling, and knowledge, the officials said.

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Two persons, including the personal secretary of a Bihar minister, were on Saturday arrested here by a team of crime branch for getting a forged entry pass made to access the

According to Gopalganj Superintendent of Police Anand Kumar, Bablu Arya, a personal secretary to the Minister for Mining and Geology Janak Ram, was arrested along with cyber cafe owner Mahesh Kumar.

Both were named in a case which was registered upon a complaint by local MP Alok Kumar Suman who had come to know about the and written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Speaker Om Birla and the Commissioner of Police of Delhi seeking their intervention.

Notably, Janak Ram, a BJP leader, represented Gopalganj in the previous Lok Sabha. The JD(U), to which Suman belongs, is a BJP ally in the state as well as the Centre.

The SP said both accused have been taken away to the capital by the visiting team.

Meanwhile, the minister said he had "terminated" the services of Arya no sooner than he came to learn of his alleged involvement in the case.

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India, along with Australia, the and small island developing states (SIDS) will be launching a new initiave for Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) on the sidelines of the upcoming Conference of Parties (COP26).

The platform is aimed at creating a coalition for putting in place infrastructure that can withstand disasters and lessen economic losses in island nations.

Australia, and the have committed an initial funding of $10 million for IRIS. More countries, including Japan, are expected to contribute to the initiative. IRIS is currently at the inception stage and resources will be aligned to the requirement of projects, said Kamal Kishore, member secretary, Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is expected to be in Glasgow for the United Nations climate change conference for two days, is likely to launch IRIS.

We have to put the concerns of the most vulnerable nations and communities first. In this regard, the Small Island Developing Nations that are already experiencing the impacts of worsening disasters must have easy access to all the technology, knowledge and assistance that they consider necessary, Modi had said earlier this year at an event in New Delhi.

For SIDS, losses from disaster, including infrastructure, is the highest as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). These countries need critical infrastructure to be connected to each other to have access to the market. The idea is to support the planning process, build capacity as well as infrastructure in an inclusive way that meets the needs of user groups, said Kishore. We are receiving requests to support country-level work in Fiji and Mauritius, he added.

SIDS, comprising 58 countries in the Caribbean, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and South China Sea regions, are among the most vulnerable countries to geophysical and hydro-meteorological hazards.

The impact of climate change in the form of tsunamis, cyclones, earthquakes and heavy rains are more frequent and intense in many of these countries. Susceptibility to very high relative economic losses due to disasters averages in the range of 1-10 per cent of GDP annually.

SIDS accounts for two-thirds of the countries in the world that suffer the highest relative losses due to disasters. According to the Asian Development Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, infrastructure investment deficit in the Pacific and the Caribbean SIDS is $42 billion and $46 billion, respectively, over a period of 2015-2040.

Kishore, who is also the Indian co-chair of the executive committee of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, said 78 rounds of consultations were carried out among SIDS with emphasis on peer-to-peer learning. These include one on building codes more resistant to disasters and also making available technical and institutional capacities. These will ensure that investments in infrastructure projects will systematically manage current and future risks by incorporating appropriate measures.
Prime Minister is expected to pitch for a united global approach in dealing with the situation in Afghanistan and combating challenges of climate change and coronavirus pandemic at the two-day G-20 Summit in Italy beginning October 30, people familiar with the development said on Sunday.

Modi is likely to leave for the visit to Italy and Scotland either on Thursday or Friday, they said.

The G-20 heads of state and government Summit will be held in Rome on October 30 and 31, with the participation of the leaders of the grouping and of representatives of some of the main international and regional organisations.

The G-20 leaders are expected to deliberate on a number of key challenges such as recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, addressing climate change and overcoming poverty and inequality in various parts of the world.

The situation in Afghanistan is expected to figure prominently at the summit, said one of the people cited above.

Prime Minister Modi is likely to present India's perspective to combat the key challenges facing the globe and is expected to call for a united approach to the situation in Afghanistan as well to deal with the pandemic and climate change.

In a virtual address at the G-20 Extraordinary Summit on Afghanistan earlier this month, Modi called for a unified global response to bring about desired changes to the Afghan situation and said the territory of Afghanistan must not become a source of radicalisation and terrorism.

Modi will also have a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, the people said.

The G-20 is a leading global forum that brings together the world's major economies. Its members account for more than 80 per cent of the global GDP, 75 per cent of global trade and 60 per cent of the population of the planet.

The forum has met every year since 1999 and includes, since 2008, a yearly summit, with the participation of the respective heads of state and government. Since December last year, Italy has been holding the Presidency of the G-20.

In Scotland's Glasgow, the prime minister will attend the COP-26 summit, billed as one of the biggest ever congregations of world leaders and experts in combating climate change.

The COP-26 climate conference is taking place from October 31 to November 12 and the leaders and delegates are expected to delve into ways to bring climate change under control.

On Thursday, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, highlighting India's climate action in meeting its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) related to the Paris climate agreement, said that New Delhi intends to go in with a strong message with full commitment to COP26.

"We are perhaps the only G-20 country to have fulfilled our NDCs and outperformed them," Shringla said in a virtual address at the India Global Forum.

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More than 2,000 elderly and differently-abled people have so far received their COVID-19 vaccine doses at home in Gujarat's city, as part of the local civic body's special drive to achieve the target of 100 per cent inoculation, officials said on Sunday.

Under its mega COVID-19 vaccination drive, the Municipal Corporation (AMC) on October 7 launched this special facility for those above the age of 50 years and differently-abled people aged 18 and above.

"Till date, a total of 2,077 beneficiaries have availed the facility of getting their first or second doses of COVID-19 vaccine at their homes," an AMC official said.

He said so far, 2,536 such people have registered for the facility online or by calling on helpline numbers provided by the city civic body.

"Anybody (from the categories specified above) who wants to get the vaccination against COVID-19 done at home can get registered online or on phone numbers provided by the AMC. The zonal health department will verify their registration and send a team of health officials to their houses on the date and time (between 9 am and 7 pm in a day) provided by the beneficiaries," the official said.

A majority of those who have so far availed the home vaccination facility are form the city's west zone (758), followed by residents of the north-west zone (318), south-west (300), south (286), east (162), north (139) and central zone (114), he said.

The city administration is making various efforts to achieve the target of 100 per cent vaccination through initiatives like this.

To encourage people who were unwilling to get vaccinated, specially from slum areas, the civic body recently offered them one litre of edible oil and lucky draw schemes as incentives.

Health department officials have also been deployed at bus stands to vaccinate commuters who are yet to get their jabs against the viral infection.

The civic authority has also identified 21 community halls to carry out vaccination till 10 pm everyday, officials said.

On Saturday, a total of 26,274 people received their first or second doses of vaccines in the city, as per the AMC.

Gujarat on Saturday reported 24 new coronavirus infections, which raised the state's case tally to 8,26,402, the health department earlier said.

District-wise, reported the highest nine new cases, Valsad five, Surat six, Navsari two, Junagadh and Kheda one case each.

No new COVID-19-related fatality was reported in the state on Saturday and the death toll remained unchanged at 10,087, as per official data.

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Chief of Defence Staff General on Saturday stressed that the country needs to ensure that the consequences of instability in its neighbourhood are addressed.

He also said there is a possibility of threat to Jammu and Kashmir as well as to the North-eastern region due to the situation in which the Taliban has taken over a few months ago but the threat can be negated by working on internal monitoring.

India's security landscape is stressed on account of security scenario emerging from subcontinental threats.... We need to address consequences of instability and volatility in our immediate and extended neighbourhood and it remains our immediate priority, Gen Rawat said.

Delivering the first Ravi Kant Singh Memorial Lecture here, he said a close watch should be kept on the situation in Myanmar as well as the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, with the danger of the latter being exploited by fundamentalist elements.

He also said India's relations with Bhutan and Nepal have always been robust and any issues with these countries have been addressed in a positive manner.

Gen Rawat said internal security challenges of the NE region have serious international dimensions as extremist outfits have connectivity, including hideouts across the border, and their members frequently use porous borders to escape security forces.

He, however, added that in recent years there has been a reduction of violence in the NE region and lauded the combined efforts of security agencies and civil society for achieving it.

Gen Rawat said it was crucial that the land link of the region with the rest of the country is maintained through the Siliguri corridor.

This vulnerable corridor will always remain a cause of concern and any attempt to block it by any element must be nipped in the bud, he added.

"India has to be on alert of the possible impact of the situation in in Jammu and Kashmir. We have to seal our borders. Internal monitoring is essential, he told a press conference.

To a question if the change in regime in could pose danger to Assam and the Northeast, Rawat said a likely threat' could be there.

We have to defend ourselves. We need to educate our people on the need to be conscious of their own security, he said.

the North-eastern region, especially Assam, is advantageously positioned to project India's soft power to the world, the chief of defence staff said.

"North East region including Assam is a land of potential. In fact, it has the potential to be the pivot for projection of soft power of India in the regional countries, Gen Rawat said.

He stressed the need for developing multi-model connectivity through development of means of transportations to access ASEAN and other markets.

He also highlighted the potential of developing the manufacturing and services sector in the NE region, which can help it cater to the international market.

(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's first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) Vikrant set sail on Sunday for the second sea trials, ahead of its planned induction into the by August next year.

The 40,000-tonne aircraft carrier, the largest and most complex warship to be built in India, successfully completed a five-day maiden sea voyage in August.

Following the first sea trials, the had said that the performance of key systems of the warship was found to be satisfactory.

"Indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant sailed out on Sunday from Kochi for the second sea trials," said an official.

The warship has been built at a cost of around Rs 23,000 crore and its construction propelled India into a select group of countries having capabilities to build state-of-the-art aircraft carriers.

The warship will operate MiG-29K fighter jets, Kamov-31 helicopters, MH-60R multi-role helicopters.

It has over 2,300 compartments, designed for a crew of around 1,700 people, including specialised cabins to accommodate women officers.

Vikrant has a top speed of around 28 knots and a cruising speed of 18 knots with an endurance of about 7,500 nautical miles, officials said.

The IAC is 262 metres long, 62 metres wide and it has a height of 59 metres. Its construction began in 2009.

The warship has been built by Cochin Shipyard Limited(CSL).

India currently has only one aircraft carrier -- INS Vikramaditya.

The has been focusing on significantly bolstering its overall capabilities in view of China's growing efforts to increase its military presence in the Indian Ocean Region.

The Indian Ocean, considered the backyard of the Indian Navy, is critical to the country's strategic interests.

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UK Foreign Minister Elizabeth Truss on Saturday said her country and believed in freedom and democracy and can make the world safer and prosperous.



She was speaking in Mumbai at a reception held on the HMS Defender where industrialists from the UK and met. Countries like the UK and believe in freedom and democracy and can make the world safer and prosperous.



"That is the mission of UK and India too," she said, adding that the two countries were working on a new trade deal in the areas of economy, defence, trade and climate. India is the second largest investor in the UK and I want to see more UK investment in India.The UK has the third highest number of unicorns while India has the third highest number of start ups. If we bring our resources and assets together, we can do much more. I met the Indian finance minister and foreign minister and talked about how to deepen our partnership in areas like technology, she said.The UK-India economic relationship is already strong with bilateral trade of over 18bn in 2020, supporting nearly half a million jobs in each other's economies, an official from the media department of the British High Commissioner said. The official said the prime ministers of the two nations have set a target to double the value of UK-India trade by 2030, and have also declared their shared intent to begin negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) by the end of this year.

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Security forces on Saturday arrested a militant associate of The Resistance Front (TRF) and recovered incriminating material, including ammunition, from his possession in Baramulla district of

Police along with the Army and CRPF arrested a terrorist associate linked with proscribed terror outfit TRF (LeT) at Kitchama, a police spokesperson said.

He said the arrested person has been identified as Farooq Ahmad Malik, a resident of Kitchama, Baramulla.

Incriminating material, including a Chinese hand grenade, two pistol magazines and 16 live pistol rounds, were recovered from his possession, the spokesperson said.

He said Malik was in close contact with an active terrorist namely Hilal Ahmad Sheikh, a resident of Shrakwara Kreeri, and was providing logistic and other material support to him.

A case has been registered and investigation has been initiated, the spokesperson added.

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Prime Minister will be travelling to Rome, Italy and Glasgow, the United Kingdom from October 29 to November 2 to attend the 16th G-20 Summit and the World Leaders' Summit of COP-26 respectively, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Sunday.

An MEA release stated that Prime Minister will be participating in the 16th G-20 Summit in Rome from October 30-31, 2021 at the invitation of the Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi. The Summit will also be attended by Heads of State/Government of G-20 Member Countries, the European Union, and other invited countries and international organizations.

This will be the 8th G-20 Summit that the Prime Minister would be attending. The G-20 has emerged as the premier global forum for international economic cooperation. India is scheduled to host the G-20 Summit in 2023 for the first time.

The forthcoming Summit under the Italian Presidency is centred around the theme 'People, Planet, Prosperity', focussing on the areas of Recovery from the Pandemic and Strengthening of Global Health Governance, Economic Recovery and Resilience, Climate Change and Energy Transition, and Sustainable Development and Food Security.

Prime Minister will also hold several bilateral meetings, including with the Prime Minister of Italy.

Prime Minister will, thereafter, travel to Glasgow to attend the World Leader's Summit of the 26th Conference of Parties (COP-26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), at the invitation of the Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson. COP-26 is being held from 31 October 2021 to 12 November 2021 under the Presidency of the UK partnering with Italy.

The high-level segment of COP-26, titled the World Leaders' Summit (WLS), will be held on November 1-2. The Summit will be attended by Heads of State/Government of more than 120 countries. COP-26 was originally slated to be held in 2020, but was deferred to 2021 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UNFCCC embodies the global will and vision to combat climate change. The periodic Conference of Parties to this Convention have emerged as global climate summits, providing an opportunity for stocktaking and for charting the way forward.

Prime Minister last attended the COP-21 in Paris in 2015, when the Paris Agreement was concluded, and whose implementation commences this year. At COP-26, the Parties will work to achieve the completion of Paris Agreement implementation guidelines; the mobilization of climate finance; actions to strengthen climate adaptation, technology development and transfer; and keeping in reach the Paris Agreement goals of limiting the rise in global temperatures.

Prime Minister will hold numerous bilateral meetings on the sidelines of COP-26, including with the Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson.

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Several buildings in and Faridabad will have to be demolished if authorities were to remove all structures from 'forest land' as defined by the Supreme Court in its 2018 judgement, said Chief Minister on the fresh affidavit filed before the apex court on 2018 Kant Enclave verdict.

The Supreme Court in 2018 had noted that all notified land in the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), was to be considered ' '

The court on July 23 had directed the state government to raze down all unauthorized structures on the Aravali The state government abided by the direction and demolished a slum colony in Khori Gaon and sent show-cause notices to several owners of commercial structures including farmhouses, banquet halls, etc. Many had claimed that their properties fell outside of the defined 'forest land'. However, that state's forest department had dismissed all objections stating that these lands were notified under the PLPA, 1900 and were to be treated as ' '

Khattar, opposing the top court's directive this time, said that Forest Act and land notified under PLPA are different adding that 40 per of the area of comes under PLPA.

"Area notified under Forest Act and land notified under PLPA (Punjab Land Preservation Act) are different. Due to some mistakes both land were treated as one. 40 per cent of area of comes under PLPA," said the Chief Minister.

Khattar also said, "PLPA was for purpose of conserving and restoring erosion of soil, and was applicable for only a limited period. Several buildings in and Faridabad, will have to be demolished if authorities were to remove all structures from forest land as defined."

The state government on Thursday submitted an affidavit at the top court stating that all land under PLPA cannot be treated as "forest land," taking an opposing stand from what it told the court in 2018.

Khattar further claimed that earlier wrong affidavits were submitted during the hearing.

"Earlier wrong affidavits were submitted. In our affidavit of 85 pages, we have requested Supreme Court to separate this (land comes under Forest Act and PLPA) and to take a decision on it," he said.

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Prime Minister on Sunday lauded India's landmark achievement of 100 crore COVID-19 vaccinations and said that the success of the country's vaccination programme shows the potential and power of the mantra of everyone's efforts.

"The success of our vaccination programme shows the potential of India, shows the power of the mantra of everyone's efforts," PM Modi said during the 82nd edition of his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat'.

He further said that he is well aware of the capabilities of Indians. "I am well aware of the capabilities of my country, the people of my country. I knew that our healthcare workers would leave no stone unturned to vaccinate countrymen," Modi added.

India attained the milestone of administering 100 crore COVID-19 vaccinations on Thursday.

"Mann ki Baat" is the Prime Minister's monthly radio address, which is broadcast on the last Sunday of every month however, this time the programme will be broadcast on the second last Sunday of the month.

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Of the states without a significant production capacity, is the only one that sold electricity in October, shows the latest data on power trading at the countrys two power exchanges.

On October 20, the state sold 635 Mw on the day-ahead market. The other large sellers like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha have large capacities.

Early this month the Union issued a release warning states to ensure there was enough electricity before selling any surplus on the power exchanges.

The data from the National Load Despatch Centre for the past week shows the chronically deficit Northern Region has managed to keep its daily peak shortage at less than 1 Gw. It came down to 280 Mw mid-week. This is an achievement in the middle of the festival season and high weather fluctuations, say government officials.

Responding to the charge from some state governments like that a massive power blackout was imminent and the Centre was unable to prevent it, the ministry had noted: It has been brought to the notice of (the) Ministry of Power that some States are not supplying power to their consumers and imposing load shedding. At the same time, they are also selling power in the power exchange at high price. The peak shortage in the Northern Grid was nearly 5 Gw on October 12, when the release was issued.

The ministry was peeved that some states complaining of electricity shortages were appearing on the sell side of the market to profit from the shortage.

The trade data for the latest full month (August 2021) released by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission showed was the largest seller in the day-ahead market for power on the exchanges after Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. In the all India league Delhi stood at seventh position among the sellers for the month despite having one of the smallest generation capacities among all states  less than 2 Gw.

In October among the top 10 sellers at the IEX were West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar, Telangana, Kerala, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh. The other two were Teesta-3 and Essar Power. On the buy-side were the Western and Southern states, which depend on imported coal-fired plants. The future price of Indonesian coal, which accounts for 60 per cent of Indias import, is running at $144 for delivery in November.

The data for October 20 shows the maximum price in the day-ahead market had shot up to Rs 20 per kilowatt/hour. The average price is an attractive Rs 5.32.

Prices are expected to cool because the coal ministry is able to ensure larger offtake from the sidings of Coal India and Singareni Collieries.




The government and industry needs to act as a combined force to build Brand India in the textiles and apparel sector, according to a report.

The CII-Kearney joint report suggested that the government should focus on putting in place key enablers to attract investments in the domestic textiles sector and optimise operations like improved market access and cost-competitiveness while creating an enabling business environment.

The report also underscored the need for industry players to adopt global best practices in terms of manufacturing competitiveness, enhancement of service levels, capabilities in design, innovation and need for more investments in sustainability and traceability.

It also highlighted that achieving the USD 65-billion exports target up from USD 36 billion in 2019 will require India to carefully strategise actions in five key areas, including apparel, fabric, home textiles, man-made fibre and yarn and technical textiles.

The report calls for targeting a USD 16 billion increase by riding the China Plus One sentiment. India is suitably positioned on this, thanks to its relatively large strategic depth compared with Vietnam or Bangladesh.

Besides, it recommends a USD 4-billion jump by positioning India as a regional fabric hub, starting with cotton wovens and then extending to other sub-categories.

The report also suggests setting a target of USD 4 billion increase by building on existing advantages to expand the global customer base, and targeting a USD 2.5 billion-USD 3 billion jump with a focus on gaining share in MMF (man-made fiber) products.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Director-General Chandrajit Banerjee said, "The Indian textile industry is one of the largest manufacturing sectors by employment. To realise its full potential in the global market, strengthening of the textile industry value chain and broader market access is a must.

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The National Health Commission of has anticipated the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases that resurged in the country lately, according to local media.

The Global Times reported on Sunday citing the press conference of the Commission that the latest surge in the cases has been triggered by the Delta variant. Most of the infections that spread in nearly 11 provinces since October 17 have been found to be due to cross-region tourism activities.

Deputy Director of the NHC, Wu Liangyou said that the epidemiological investigations of the infections, discovered 106 out of 133 infections to be from tourism-related activities.

According to the newspaper, the official said that the increase in the number of cases is going to increase as the screening continues.

The official also urged the public to take the booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccines to reduce the risks of the resurgence of the cases, reported Global Times.

Meanwhile, Gansu, China's Northwest province, has announced the suspension of all tourism activities after a surge in the COVID-19 cases in the region, reported local media.

All tourists in Lanzhou -- where most COVID-19 cases in the province were reported -- required to stay in wherever place they were and be quarantined, said Global Times.Gansu registered -- from October 18 to Saturday night -- a total of 41 confirmed cases, of which 30 are from Lanzhou, seven from Zhangye, two from Jiayu Pass, one from Tianshui, and one from Longnan.

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aims to have non-fossil energy consumption exceed 80% of its total mix by 2060, when the worlds second-biggest plans to be carbon neutral, according to guidelines published by the official Xinhua News Agency.



The measures are part of Chinas larger plan for achieving peak and reaching net-zero by 2060, Xinhua said on Sunday. It reiterated the governments climate goals for 2025 and 2030 and vowed to accelerate a decline in Chinas coal use.

The community is waiting for to make an updated commitment under the as world leaders prepare for a high-stakes United Nations climate summit that starts on Oct. 31 in Glasgow, Scotland. As the worlds biggest polluter, can do more than any other nation at this point to curb the rise in global temperatures.

Xie Zhenhua, Chinas top negotiator, said in July that the nation will publish a plan, called 1+N, that will answer questions about the countrys official road map for achieving its climate goals. According to Xie, N refers to policies addressing all sectors and regions. Xinhua said the document on Sunday was the 1 part of the plan.

The report said China would firmly curb the blind development of projects with high energy consumption and emissions. The government will release capacity control policies for coal power, petrochemicals and coal chemical industries, Xinhua said, without giving a timetable or more details. The nation plans to reach a plateau of oil consumption between 2026 and 2030.

China will also accelerate the development of industries including next-generation materials and clean energy vehicles, according to the guidelines. Investment in coal power, steel, electrolytic aluminium, cement and petrochemicals will be strictly controlled.





Food & energy security are key considerations

China's cabinet on Sunday outlined measures to achieve its goals of reaching peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060 but said food and energy security must be considered amid those efforts. The statement came as severe energy shortages in China threaten to overshadow Beijing's efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, just as countries prepare for a new round of climate talks. (Reuters)
Chinas State Council will expand property-tax reform trials to more areas and start taxing residential property owners, official news agency Xinhua reported.

The plan, approved by the National Peoples Congress Standing Committee, Chinas top legislative body, is designed to guide rational property buying and will last for five years, according to the report. The locations and number of areas where the trials will be undertaken were not specified.

Property prices in have skyrocketed to unaffordable levels since private home ownership was introduced in 1998, and the government has faced an ongoing battle to control speculators. Authorities started trials in 2011 in Shanghai and Chongqing, levying annual charges on second or high-priced homes.

Residences owned by individuals are currently not subject to taxes, according to a law imposed in 1986, while there is an annual tax on commercial properties.

Local governments earn income from developers mainly through land sales, collecting a total of 8.4 trillion yuan ($1.3 trillion) last year.

Industry experts say details of the plan are unclear so far.

We dont know yet what the differences will be in this plan than in the current trials in Shanghai and Chongqing, but its likely to have something new, said Liu Yuan, vice president for property research at Centaline Group. The government may not want to make all the details public immediately for the sake of expectation management. But I think this aims at hedging the ongoing property-market supportive measures so wont rebound again.

Chinas new- fell for the first time in six years and sales plunged 16.9% in September from a year earlier, as the countrys second-largest real estate developer, Evergrande Group, plunged into a debt crisis, which led to a property slowdown nationwide.

The country recently loosened restrictions on home loans at some of its largest banks, Bloomberg reported on Oct. 15.
is getting a longer Loop transportation system from Elon Musks Boring Co., along with more lucrative fees on the Loops sales if ridership booms.



Clark County commissioners approved an agreement for Boring Co. to expand an existing Loop tunnel to more parts of Las Vegas, as far south as Allegiant Stadium, where the Raiders play. The bigger Loop could provide an alternative to clogged above-ground roads.

The proposal covers 51 stations at various hotels and casinos, connected by a network of twin tunnels running 14.5 miles apiece. The company plans to pay for the Loop, but not the individual stations, according to a spokeswoman for the Convention and Visitors Authority. Those will be paid for by each hotel or casino.

Rides on the Loop will cost about $5 to $20, depending on the distance, the spokeswoman said. Boring will pay the county a franchise fee of 0.5% on the first $17.5 million of quarterly revenue and 5% on additional revenue from the Loop.

Thats a little better than the original 1998 franchise agreement Clark County struck with the operators of its seven-station monorail, which is now owned by the LVCVA. Those terms had the unprofitable monorail service paying 0.5% of revenue, which totaled $22.7 million in 2019, before a pandemic-accelerated bankruptcy filing of that system last year.

Passengers in Musks Loop will be driven in Tesla vehicles, which for now have drivers but could eventually be driven autonomously.

The Clark County vote this week was on a special use permit and the franchise agreement, which lays the groundwork for the fee structure for the underground thoroughfare. The individual stations and tunnels need separate land use approvals and building permits. Ground could be broken on some of the routes next year, the LVCVA said.

The northern portion of the Loop, including proposed stops at the Stratosphere hotel and at Fremont Street, stretches into the city of The city council approved the Loops special-use permit in an initial vote last December. A vote on the fee structure between the city and Boring is expected in November, a spokesman for the city said.

The airport is also marked on the proposed map, but an airport spokesman said no proposal had yet been received from the Boring Co. Federal oversight of the airport makes the process more complicated, the spokeswoman for the LVCVA said.

The first part of the Loop, a set of twin tunnels running almost a mile under the Las Vegas Convention Center, opened earlier this year, and is currently ferrying passengers to different areas of the sprawling conference venue. The funding for the convention center Loop came from hotel room taxes.

Las Vegas isnt the only city in which Musks Boring Co. is planning projects. Earlier this month, commissioners in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, approved a resolution to negotiate an agreement with Boring for a Loop connecting the citys downtown to the beach.
Elon Musks Starlink is considering a tie-up with Group Plc to expand its broadband service in the UK, the Telegraph reported on Sunday, citing unidentified people in the industry.



Starlink has been searching for ground station infrastructure and high-frequency spectrum to expand the capacity of its service, the paper said.



A spokesperson told the Telegraph: Regarding spectrum, we can confirm we are in talks with multiple operators. Were close to striking a deal.



Starlink did not respond to the Telegraphs request for comment.



The newspaper cited a filing with industry regulator Ofcom stating that the company is open to approaches from that may want to lease the spectrum it holds under license for use in gateway links to their satellites.



Starlink is competing with UK-backed OneWeb to offer internet from low-earth orbit to consumers and businesses in regions of the world where terrestrial fixed and wireless communications are not profitable. Both are seeking out partnerships with telecommunication as part of the process. In September, OneWeb announced a deal with AT&T Inc. for the latter to use OneWebs satellites to offer broadband to businesses in remote areas. Starlink has previously said it signed deals with two major country telecom operators that it hasnt named, as Musks Space Exploration Technologies Corp. approaches near-global coverage for Starlink.



Musk said in a tweet on October 14 he was in talks with airlines about installing Starlink.



Musk, known for his Twitter banter, announcements and lively interactions with followers, did not provide any details about the talks in his tweet. It was not immediately clear which airlines were approached or when installation would occur.



Starlink, the satellite internet unit of SpaceX, plans to deploy 12,000 satellites. SpaceX has said the Starlink constellation will cost it roughly $10 billion.
said it would use one of the worlds biggest natural-gas projects to make blue hydrogen, as the kingdom steps up efforts to export a fuel seen as crucial to the green-energy transition.



A large portion of gas from the $110 billion Jafurah development will be used for blue hydrogen, according to Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman. It is made by converting and capturing the carbon dioxide emissions.



We are the biggest adventurers when it comes to blue hydrogen, Prince Abdulaziz said at a climate conference in Riyadh on Sunday. Were putting our money where our mouth is on We have a terrific gas base in Jafurah we will use it to generate blue 



The comments came a day after the Saudi government pledged to neutralise planet-warming emissions within its borders by 2060, saying it would use carbon sequestration and to reach that goal. The plans for Jafurah underscore how the kingdom is moving away from a previous strategy to become an exporter of liquefied natural gas, a fuel thats cleaner than oil and coal but which some governments have said they want to phase out.



The kingdom also plans to sell green hydrogen, which is produced using renewable energy  usually solar and wind power in a process that creates no carbon emissions. can make the worlds cheapest green hydrogen, Prince Abdulaziz said on Sunday.
Chief of the Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority has accused the of sabotaging the multi-billion dollar project, the economic lifeline of Pakistan, a media report said.

The ambitious was launched in 2015 when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Pakistan.

It aims to connect western China with the Gwadar seaport in southwestern Pakistan through a network of roads, railways and other projects of infrastructure and development.

From the point of view of the emerging geo-strategic situation, one thing is clear: the supported by India is inimical to It will not let it succeed. That's where we have to take a position, Khalid Mansoor, the Special Assistant to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on affairs said while addressing the CPEC Summit at the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi on Saturday.

Islamabad is the seventh largest recipient of Chinese overseas development financing with 71 projects worth USD 27.3 billion currently underway as part of the CPEC.

Many Western think tanks and commentators have termed the CPEC an economic trap that has already resulted in bloated public debt levels and disproportionately high Chinese influence in Pakistan's economy, a report in the Dawn newspaper said.

The premier's aide said the and India continue to make attempts to manoeuvre Pakistan out of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) a global infrastructure development plan under which the Chinese government has been investing heavily in about 70 countries, the report said.

There's no way Pakistan will forgo any of its benefits. It has more than once burnt its fingers in (the Western) alliance in the past, he said, adding that their attempts to dilute China's strategic influence in the region will fail. Mansoor said the Western powers view the CPEC as a symbol of China's political ambition.

That's the reason CPEC is seen suspiciously by both the United States and Europe they view CEPC more as a move by China to expand its political, strategic and business influence, Mansoor said, noting that China has been able to allay that apprehension to a great extent.

The United States is now taking stock of the economic and political consequences of withdrawing from the region, he reasoned.

I had a detailed discussion with the people in the American embassy. I told them CPEC is available for them as well. They have also expressed their wish that they would like to develop some kind of involvement and see how it can be beneficial for both countries, he said.

Mansoor said Islamabad is seeking the expansion of the CPEC to Afghanistan and has discussed the possibility of Taliban-led Afghanistan joining the multibillion-dollar economic corridor.

He said there has been deep interest in developing economic connectivity between Afghanistan and Pakistan and with other neighbouring countries, including Iran.

Some European countries have started showing interest (in CPEC). Their ambassadors keep on coming, he said.

He referred to fake news and negative propaganda about the viability of CPEC and the pace of its progress.

In terms of its scope, Phase II of CPEC is going to be an order of magnitude bigger than Phase I.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Yousef Saba, Saeed Azhar and Marwa Rashad

RIYADH (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia's crown prince said on Saturday that the world's top oil exporter aims to reach "net zero" of greenhouse gases, mostly produced by burning fossil fuels, by 2060 - 10 years later than the United States.

He also said it would double the cuts it plans to achieve by 2030.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his energy minister said would tackle climate change, but also stressed the continued importance of hydrocarbons and said it would continue to ensure oil market stability.

They were speaking at the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) ahead of COP26, the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow at the end of the month, which hopes to agree deeper global cuts to tackle global warming.

The United States, the world's second-biggest emitter, is committed to achieving net zero, meaning that it emits no more greenhouse gases than it can capture or absorb, by 2050. But China and India, the world's biggest and third-biggest emitters, have not committed to this timeline.

Amin Nasser, chief executive of the state oil giant Saudi Aramco, said it was counterproductive to "demonise" hydrocarbons. He said Aramco aimed to expand its oil and gas production capacity while also achieving net zero emissions from its own operations by 2050.

He called for more global investment to ensure adequate crude oil supplies.

Prince Mohammed said in recorded remarks that the kingdom aimed to reach net zero by 2060 under its circular carbon programme, "while maintaining its leading role in strengthening security and stability of global oil markets".

He said would join a global initiative on slashing emissions of methane by 30% from 2020 levels by 2030, which both the United States and the EU have been pressing.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in a phone call with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, welcomed the kingdom's initiatives to reduce emissions, state media said. [L1N2RJ0FB]

'HYDROCARBONS STILL NEEDED'

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry is due to attend a wider Middle East green summit in Riyadh on Monday.

The SGI aims to eliminate 278 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year by 2030, up from a previous target of 130 million tonnes. The crown prince said the SGI initiative would involve investments of over 700 billion riyals ($190 billion) in that time period.

Saudi Arabia's remains heavily reliant on oil, although the crown prince is trying to promote diversification.

Energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the world needed fossil fuels as well as renewables.

"It has to be a comprehensive solution," he said. "We need to be inclusive, and inclusivity requires being open to accept others' efforts as long as they are going to reduce emissions."

He said the kingdom's younger generation "will not wait for us to change their future".

He said net zero might be achieved before 2060 but the kingdom needed time to do things "properly".

Another Gulf oil producer, the United Arab Emirates, this month announced a plan for net zero emissions by 2050.

The non-profit Climate Action Tracker consortium gives its lowest possible ranking, "Critically insufficient".

Saudi Arabia's first renewable energy plant opened in April and its first wind farm began generating in August.

It does, however, have plans to build a $5 billion plant to produce hydrogen, a clean fuel, and state-linked entities are pivoting to green fundraising.

($1 = 3.7507 riyals)

(Reporting by Yousef Saba and Saeed Azhar in Riyadh, Marwa Rashad in London and Maher Chmaytelli in Dubai; Additional reporting by Raya Jalbi in Dubai; writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Jason Neely, Kevin Liffey and William Mallard)

(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.)
Asserting that people want a change at the helm in municipal corporations, the on Sunday announced that it will launch a massive campaign after Diwali next month to oust the BJP in the 2022 civic body polls.

The party will also start a huge exercise to strengthen its organisational structure in the run-up to the MCD elections, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and Environment Minister Gopal Rai said.

The BJP hit back, saying that the is free to make claims but the people have seen how the Arvind Kejriwal-led city government failed them during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Centre came to their aid.

The BJP has ruled all three municipal corporations of Delhi -- North, South and East -- for three consecutive terms.

"People want a change this time as the BJP-ruled municipal corporations have completely failed in fulfilling their responsibility," Rai said during a press conference at headquarters here.

There is no respite for the people of Delhi from dirt and garbage under the BJP regime. The MCDs also failed to take preventive steps in time to check the spread of dengue this year, he alleged.

"To fulfil people's wish for a change, the party will start a much bigger campaign after Diwali. Along with this, a huge exercise will also be carried out to strengthen the party's organisational structure," he added.

Rai claimed that people expressed their dissatisfaction with the performance of the BJP-ruled MCDs during 'Mohalla Sabhas' (Colony Meetings) organised by the AAP under its 'Aapka MLA Aapke Dwar' (Your MLA at your doorstep) programme.

As part of the programme, which was launched on September 1 and concluded on October 20, a total of 2,532 'Mohalla Sabhas' were organised across Delhi, he said.

"We heard the grievances of the people and work is on to address them at the government level," he said.

Rai said that there was not a single 'Mohalla Sabha' where people did not raise the issue of dirt and garbage.

He said the AAP is preparing its plan of action for the civic body polls based on the report of 'Mohalla Sabhas'.

The party is also reviewing the performance of the organisation in holding 'Mohalla Sabhas', he said.

It seems that the BJP's farewell from the MCDs will be before the deadline it has set for the complete removal of the mountain of garbage at Delhi's border, the AAP leader said.

Reacting to Rai's comments, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that the AAP leader is free to make political claims but only time will tell as to who will win the MCD elections.

"People of Delhi are fed up with the allegation of Aam Aadmi Party leaders," he said.

People have seen how the Kejriwal government failed them during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the BJP-led central government not only provided medical aid but also ensured free vaccination for 2 crore people of Delhi, he added.

"In the 2022 civic body elections, people will again vote for the BJP and give the party a fourth consecutive term," Kapoor said in a statement.

On the AAP's plan to strengthen its organisation structure, the BJP leader said that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party doesn't have one to begin with.

"It is just a bunch of manipulators who have won two (assembly) elections by misleading people with freebies. Now the freebies game of the Kejriwal government stands exposed before the people and they also know that MCDs' services get hindered as the Kejriwal government is denying them proper funds," Kapoor said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In yet another jolt to the opposition in Madhya Pradesh, party MLA Sachin Birla on Sunday joined the ruling BJP, days before the bypolls to Khandwa Lok Sabha seat and three Assembly constituencies in the state.

He is the 27th legislator to have joined the since March last year, when as many as 22 MLA had defected to the BJP, leading to the collapse of the 15-month-long Kamal Nath-led Congress government that saw the saffron party's return to power. Four other Congress MLAs had joined the later.

Birla joined the in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at an election rally for Khandwa Lok Sabha bypoll.

Birla, 40, had won the Assembly election on a Congress ticket from Badwah seat in Khargone district in 2018 by defeating BJP candidate Hitendra Singh Solanki by a margin of about 30,500 votes.

Badwah Assembly seat that is represented by Birla falls in Khargone district, but it is a part of Khandwa Lok Sabha seat, where the bypoll is scheduled on October 30 along with three other Assembly seats in the state.

"MLA Sachin Birla joined the BJP in the presence of the chief minister," BJP's media in-charge Lokendra Parashar said in a tweet while sharing the video that showed Birla being welcomed by Chouhan, Agriculture Minister Kamal Patel and other BJP leaders on stage during a rally at Bedia under Khandwa Lok Sabha seat.

After joining the BJP, Birla trained his guns on state Congress chief Kamal Nath, saying that the latter had no time whenever he tried to meet him on the issue of development.

"On the contrary, Chouhan heard my problems and directed the officials for the development projects in my areas," he said.

After the development, Kamal Nath, in a series of tweets, alleged that the BJP has again tarnished democracy by making deals.

"BJP has sensed the possible results (against it) as their support base has shrunk. People do not want to see them (BJP) in power even for a moment. So, in a bid to save their government and the lost support, BJP once again engaged in tarnishing the democracy by doing bargaining and insulted the right to vote of the people," Nath said.

The Congress veteran said the BJP has formed the state government by making deals by going against public mandate during the last Assembly election.

People will give a befitting reply to this of deal in the upcoming bypolls, he said.

Reacting to Birla's switch-over, Congress's Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh said, "The salable goods will be sold while durable durable goods will last."



Welcoming Birla into the BJP, CM Chouhan said, "What could Sachin Birla have done in Congress, as Kamal Nath plays Twitter-Twitter and doesn't work on ground."



Chouhan said that the Congress earlier defamed Narayan Patel (who resigned from Congress and re-elected as BJP MLA from Mandhata seat) saying that he took Rs 20 crore (for switching side) although he did not get even a penny.

"Kamal Nath ji, Sachin Birla is the son of this soil who can't be purchased by any power in the world. You destroyed the state by forming a government, but you don't have time for Sachin Birla," he said.

Bhupendra Singh, BJP's Minister for Urban Administration, said that the Congress leaders are worried about their political future.

"The Congress is getting weaker and losing its public support, therefore young leaders are leaving the party for their political future. These leaders think they can serve the people in a better way in the BJP and be able to secure their political future," he said.

After the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, the Congress had formed the government in December that year. However, the Congress lost its majority in the House after the resignation of its 22 legislators, who later joined the BJP under the leadership of Jyotiraditya Scindia, now a Union minister in the Modi government.

After these resignations, Congress MLAs from Damoh, Bada Malehra, Nepanagar and Mandhata also resigned and joined the BJP.

If Birla resigns from MLA's post, the Congress's strength in the State Assembly will further reduce to 94. The BJP has 125 legislators, nine more than the simple majority mark of 116 MLAs in the 230-member house.

At present, three-seats including Jobat (Alirajpur), Prithvipur (Niwari) and Raigaon (Satna) are vacant and by-polls for the same are scheduled on October 30.

The Assembly has two BSP, one SP and four independent MLAs.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
People's Democratic Party (PDP) President on Sunday alleged that "repression" is the only method of the Centre to deal with the Jammu and Kashmir situation.

"Even after turning Kashmir into an open-air prison, Bipin Rawat's statement comes as no surprise because repression is GOIs only method to deal with the situation in J & K. It also contradicts their official narrative that all is well here," Mufti said in a tweet reacting to Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat's statement over warning of further curbs in Kashmir.

had on Saturday said that "overflow" of the situation in Afghanistan can happen in Jammu and Kashmir and "we have to prepare for it".

"What is happening in Afghanistan, we know its overflow can happen in Jammu and Kashmir, We have to prepare for it, seal our borders, monitoring has become very important. We have to keep an eye on who's coming from outside, checking should be done," CDS Gen Rawat said on the sidelines of an event in Guwahati.

Talking about internal security, he said that every citizen should be educated about it."Nobody will come to our defence, we have to defend ourselves, defend our people, and defend our property. Internal security is very much, a concern for us and in order to defend, I think we must actually educate our people about internal security," Gen Rawat said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
has no authority at all to get involved in choosing the next Dalai Lama, especially since the Chinese government does not believe in religion, and the succession is entirely a spiritual matter for the Tibetan people, the head of the Tawang monastery in Arunachal Pradesh has said.

Gyangbung Rinpoche, the Abbot of the nearly 350-year-old monastery near India's border with China, also said that it is important to counter Beijing's policy of expansionism and New Delhi must maintain a strict vigil over the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with the neighbouring country.

The head of the second largest monastery in the world after the Potala Palace in Tibet's Lhasa said only the current and the Tibetan people have the right to decide about the succession of the Tibetan spiritual leader and has no role to play in the matter.

"The Chinese government does not believe in religion. How can a government that does not believe in religion decide the next The succession plan is a matter of religion and faith; it is not a political issue," he told PTI in an interview.

" does not have any right to even get involved in the process of choosing the next Only the current Dalai Lama and his followers have the right to decide on the issue," he said.

The comments by the Abbot of the monastery that is located in a region claimed by China came amid strain in ties between the two countries following the eastern Ladakh border standoff. India maintains that its state of Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of the country.

Rinpoche said the Tibetan people will never accept any decision on the issue by China and that Beijing's attempt to get involved is part of efforts to "capture" the Tibetan heritage and "hold control" over the Tibetan people.

"It will be difficult for China to win the hearts of the people of China is tightly controlling The authorities do not even allow people from outside to meet Tibetans. There are so many restrictions. It is important that countries like India support the Tibetans," he said.

The issue of a successor to the 14th Dalai Lama, who has been living in exile in Dharamshala in India since 1959, gained traction as he turned 86 in July. The Dalai Lama is believed to be a living Buddha who is reincarnated after his death.

China has been insisting that the selection of the next Dalai Lama has to be decided within Chinese territory and that it has to have a say in the matter.

Referring to China's aggressive posturing along the LAC, Rinpoche said though India believes in peace and prosperity, its approach in dealing with such belligerence has to be based on the ground reality.

"India believes in peace and prosperity. India does not like to fight or to have hatred against any country. India believes in living in peace with the countries which share a border with it," he said.

"India needs to maintain a strict vigil over the border. Though India believes in peace and prosperity, its approach has to be based on the ground reality. Regions like Tawang and Ladakh are part of India," he said.

The religious leader said it is important to counter China's policy of expansionism.

Beijing has in the past accused the Dalai Lama of indulging in "separatist" activities and trying to split and considers him as a divisive figure.

However, the Tibetan spiritual leader has insisted that he is not seeking independence but "genuine autonomy for all Tibetans living in the three traditional provinces of Tibet" under the "Middle-Way approach".

The Chinese government officials and the Dalai Lama or his representatives have not met in formal negotiations since 2010.

(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 teamed up with to work around Apple's privacy tools in Safari to continue tracking end-users, an update to an antitrust lawsuit claims, with the search engine also doing what it could to slow down other regulatory initiatives surrounding privacy.

A lawsuit was filed against in December 2020 by a group of attorneys general, accusing the search engine of "engaging in market collusion to rig auctions," reports AppleInsider.

While the lawsuit largely focuses on a deal between and to cooperate in the online advertising business instead of competing, an update accuses the two tech giants of trying to work against initiatives by to help protect the privacy of its users.

The amended complaint filed on October 22 and first reported by The Register, expands on the original claim in some directions, revealing more ways that Google may have tried to subvert user privacy.

As part of the complaint, it is alleged Google and "have been working together to improve Facebook's ability to recognise users using browsers with blocked cookies on devices, and on Apple's Safari browser, thereby circumventing one Big Tech company's efforts to compete by offering users better privacy.

This was apparently prompted by the two companies working closely and in integrating their SDKs "so Google can pass Facebook data for user ID cookie matching," the complaint reads.

"They also coordinated with each other to harm publishers through the adoption of Unified Pricing rules," it added.

has implemented many privacy protection measures into its products, including Safari, such as 2018's Intelligent Tracking Protection 2.0.

The system required websites to request tracking privileges from users on an opt-in basis with a culling of cookies 30 days after the user stops visiting relevant sites along with independent tracking of widgets and embeds.

A privacy report in Safari for macOS Big Sur offered users' data on what trackers a website includes, as well as advising on how many trackers were prevented from profiling the user over 30 days.

--IANS

vc/khz

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Jennifer Hubert jumped at the opportunity to get her COVID-19 vaccine, but shes not looking forward to having to make the decision about whether to vaccinate her three-year-old son Jackson.

She recognizes the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, but said she also understands her son is at a much lower risk for serious illness than older adults.

To me it's not a clear benefit, she said.

While many parents were overjoyed at the news that Health Canada is considering approval of the first COVID-19 vaccine for kids age five to 11 in Canada, parents like Hubert are feeling more trepidatious, and public health officials said they are going to have a much more nuanced conversation with parents about vaccination than they did with adults.

While 82 per cent of eligible Canadians aged 12 and up are already fully vaccinated, a recent survey by Angus Reid shows only 51 per cent of parents plan to immediately vaccinate their kids when a pediatric dose becomes available.

Of parents with children in the five to 11 year age range, 23 per cent said they would never give their kids a COVID-19 vaccine, 18 per cent said they would wait, and nine per cent said they werent sure, according to the survey of 5,011 Canadians between Sept. 29 and Oct. 3, which cannot be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered random samples.

Most of the research that I've seen sort of indicates that parents are more hesitant to vaccinate their kids against COVID than themselves, said Kate Allan, a post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Vaccine-Preventable Diseases at the University of Toronto.

There are several reasons parents might pause, she said.

Its true that children are at a much lower risk of serious outcomes associated with COVID-19, and there have been very rare incidents of mRNA vaccines like Pfizer or Moderna linked to cases of myocarditis, a swelling of the heart muscle.

As of Oct. 1, Health Canada has documented 859 cases associated with the vaccines, which mainly seem to affect people under 40 years old, and people whove developed the complication have typically been fine.

I know it's rare, I know it's not deadly, but I also see the risk of severe symptoms from COVID as being rare and not deadly for Jackson, Hubert said when asked about weighing up the risks and benefits of the vaccine.

But public health experts stress that some children do suffer from rare but serious impacts from COVID-19, which can also cause myocarditis as well as the little-understood impacts of the condition known as long COVID.

They say parents should consider the less tangible benefits of vaccination as well.

It's less of a conversation about a direct benefit to them, and more of a community benefit, Allan said.

The pandemic has taken a heavy toll on children, depriving them of school, time with their peers, extracurriculars  and their mental health has suffered as a result, said Dr. Vinita Dubey, associate medical officer of health with Toronto Public Health.

Not one child has been spared from this pandemic. I mean every single child has had to bear a sacrifice because of the pandemic in one way or the other, Dubey said.

So far Pfizer-BioNtech is the only manufacturer to request approval for its pediatric COVID-19 vaccine and Health Canada is still reviewing the data.

The regulator has promised the review will be thorough, and the vaccine will only be approved for children if the benefits outweigh the potential risks.

Policy-makers know theyre going to have to take parents' concerns seriously as well.

On a recent tour of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with Dr. Anne Pham-Huy, a pediatric infectious diseases physician.

Vaccine confidence is going to be the most important part of it this time around, Pham-Huy said, to which Trudeau agreed.

Dubey has published research on improving parents vaccine confidence when it comes to long-established inoculations like mumps and rubella.

While she offered several tips, they mainly come down to building trust. Her research focused on the role of family doctors, but she said during the pandemic anyone can be that trusted sounding board.

It could be a faith leader, it could be an important family member or friend, someone who you trust, to help guide you to the right sources to make that decision, she said.

With that in mind, several students from across North America launched a peer-to-peer education program called Students for Herd Immunity to allow kids to have those conversations among themselves.

The public health experts agree, the debate around vaccines has become polarized and open conversations will be the key to addressing parents' concerns.

I think one thing to say to parents is you don't have to make your decision right away, Dubey said. I mean for those who are ready to make their decision, but it's fine but if you have questions, seek the answers.

Her only advice is to get those answers from a trusted source, and not social media.
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A woman on Wilcox Boulevard called police about seeing a snake on her apartment floor. The officer also saw it partially under the stove. Unable to retrieve the snake, the woman stayed with her caretaker in another apartment.

* * *

Police were dispatched to an open door at an apartment complex on Broad Street. The apartment manager said that the back patio door to an apartment appeared to be open and had broken glass. Officers arrived on scene and observing the broken glass and open door, entered and cleared the apartment. No people were located, but a large amount of clothing and miscellaneous items were found inside. Officers also found $42.25 in the bedroom closet. Officers made contact with the manager, who said that the apartment tenant was going through the process of being evicted. The tenant was not far enough behind on rent per the complex's policy to be evicted yet, but she had not been seen at the location for some time. Suspects remain unidentified due to no camera footage being found, nor any witnesses to the door being broken. The found $42.25 was taken into Property at the CPD Property room.

* * *

A man on Canal Street told police that his car alarm went off at 10:30 p.m. Police attempted to check surveillance video, however the cameras were not functioning.

* * *

Police observed a woman standing between the northbound and southbound lanes of Williams Street on the north side of the intersection of W. 21st St. The woman was holding a sign and panhandling. Police spoke with her and reminded her that she may not panhandle in Chattanooga. She was checked for warrants, which she did not have, and was given a verbal warning. She left the intersection.

* * *

Police observed two people outside of 5850 Ragnar Dr. (a condemned residence). There was a white male in the driveway talking with a white female in a black sedan. The man identified himself and the woman. He told police he was there to "work on his truck," and the woman said she was there to give him a ride when he finished, however she decided to leave after police spoke with her. Police then left the scene, as the man was working with his truck.

* * *

A driver of a Toyota told police that a truck from General Shale lost a portion of its load and a concrete block fell on his vehicle's running board. It was apparent to police that contact was made, but not apparent if there was damage or not. The driver said he would contact his insurance, and General Shale, who was not on scene, said they would cover damages to the Toyota. No injuries were reported.

* * *

A woman on Union Avenue told police the catalytic converter was stolen from her 2004 Honda Element (TN tag). She said the converter had been cut off of her vehicle. No suspect information could be obtained.

* * *

A woman on Calhoun Avenue told police that Sunday morning it was discovered that Ready 2 Hang Art's Instagram had been hacked and a lot of very profane material was posted on it. She said she has traced the IP addresses from which this was done to Nashville. She said they have taken down the profane postings, but have not reported this to Instagram. Police suggested that she report this to Instagram and, since she says that she has the location in Nashville from where this was done, she might check with Nashville PD to see if they can be of assistance to her.

* * *

Police observed a red Mazda SUV parked at the end of Poplar Street with a damaged windshield, no tag, flat tires and a tarp on the windows. Police placed a 48 hours Chattanooga City Notice Sticker on the vehicle. Police will check after the allotted time and tow the vehicle if needed.

* * *

A concerned citizen reported a person had discarded a brown bag near the gas pumps at the Citgo station, 7400 E Brainerd Road. Further investigation found that the bag contained garbage, which was promptly thrown into the dumpster.

* * *

Police spoke with two homeless people on McCallie Avenue, and identified them. They two were behind a business charging their phones. A staff member who works at the business said that they were not welcome on the property and needed to leave and not come back. Police told both men that they were trespassed and not allowed back on the property.

* * *



A woman on Sherry Circle said someone filed for unemployment with her information through her old job. She said she is in need of a report to file a claim.

* * *

Police tried to contact a driver of a black Chevrolet SUV on Hughes Avenue with no license plate that was parked illegally (wrong direction) in front of a residence. The Chevrolet was unoccupied at the time the police tried to make contact. Police spoke with a resident about the vehicle and they told police that they didn't know who it belonged to, it just showed up and hasn't moved since it arrived. Police decided at this time to place an orange 48-hour tow sticker on the front driver's side windshield. That way the owner of the Chevrolet has ample notice to move the vehicle from the area.

* * *

A man told police someone filed for unemployment through his job at Unum using his personal information. He was notified by human resources and was told to file a police report.

* * *

A woman on Hixson Pike told police she had run out of gas and someone was going to get her some more. Police blocked traffic until the gas arrived. Her tank was filled via a jerry can and she left.

* * *

A man on Ashford Villa Circle told police two people who possibly live at the apartment complex continue to play loud music from their cars. The man showed police where it is a breach in the housing contract at the complex. He said he has tried to talk to management, but nothing has happened. The man showed police a video showing how loud the music is. He wanted a report made since management won't do anything.

* * *

A man on Idlewild Drive called police because he wanted a woman to leave, which she did.

* * *

A woman on Rossville Boulevard had gotten lost going home and needed a ride back to Chatt Inn at 2000 East 23rd St. She was transported home without incident.

* * *

A man on Jenkins Road said a white Chevrolet Tahoe pulled up next to him and began to yell at him. The complainant did not specify what the person was saying, however he did say that no firearms were brandished, and the suspect did not follow him into the gas station parking lot once the complainant exited the interstate and called police.

* * *

A man on Jim Snow Way told police a female was on a bike near their company property and talking in an irate manner on the phone. He said he wanted the woman to move along, but said she was not on their property and he recognized the road as a public city road. The man said he was concerned about the woman remaining, due to a gate that would be closing around 5 p.m. to block the road off. While police spoke with the man, the woman started to leave the area on her own accord. The man requested a report documenting the presence of the woman, who never stepped foot on their company property.

* * *

A concerned citizen reported a person had discarded a brown bag near the gas pumps at the Citgo station, 7400 E Brainerd Road. Further investigation found that the bag contained garbage, which was promptly thrown into the dumpster.
Police observed a blue Lexus 350 on E. 28th Street with several small holes in the rear window. Police found a number of pennies scattered around the base of the vehicle and on top of the roof, implying that someone had been launching pennies at the vehicle in order to damage it. Police were unable to locate the owner and left a notice for contact.

* * *

Police stopped a red Chevy truck without a tag on Tennessee Avenue. Police identified the driver and passenger, and they said the truck wasn't registered yet. Police ran the truck and both men. The vehicle wasn't stolen and neither man had warrants.

* * *

Police were dispatched to Georgia Avenue on a disorder call. Upon arrival, police found a man matching the description given by dispatch. Police identified the man and were told that on the previous night, Walden Security had to escort him off the property and he caused a verbal disorder. The man caused another ruckus tonight when he refused to leave after security asked him to. Police told the man that he is not allowed on the property and not to come back. He acknowledged the command in an abrasive manner and left in police presence. The man is aware that he can be criminally trespassed from the location.

* * *

A woman on 6th Avenue said she just wanted her keys back from a man and for him to leave. The man said he didn't have her keys. The keys were later found in the bedroom. The man left and went to his mom's house.

* * *

A woman on West 14th Street Court told police a man whom she did not wish to identify took her phone and other property. She said he then returned her property to her and left the area. She said she no longer needed police assistance.

* * *

Police were called to Circle K at 5710 Lake Resort Dr. on a report of a suspicious vehicle in its gravel lot. The silver Toyota Corolla had a man inside and he was identified. He said he was just parked and resting in his car. He had no active warrants. The officer spoke with the store clerk who said the man could stay parked on the property.

* * *

Police were called to Circle K at 2514 Amnicola Hwy. where the store clerk and a woman were in a verbal disorder. Both of them were calm while speaking with police and no assistance was needed.

* * *

Employees at Public Works, 2444 Hickory Valley Road, told police a blue F10 Ford (TN tag) was left parked in the front of the entranceway to their job site. Police ran the truck's registration and attempted to contact the owner through his number on file. A message was left that his vehicle was towed to Denton's and he was provided the wrecker service's phone number.

* * *

A man on Lookout Street told police that sometime overnight his Nissan Altima (TN tag) was

vandalized. He said the rear windshield of the vehicle had been busted out. It is unknown what type of object was used in the vandalism. No suspect information could be obtained.

* * *

A verbal dispute was reported on Rossville Boulevard. Police met with two men who were speaking heatedly to one another. Officers were able to calm them both down. One man said he had towed the other man's vehicle and the man wanted to get things out of it. The tower said the man was rude and that was why they escalated the argument. The tower agreed to allow the man to get his things. Both men calmed down and left the scene.

* * *

An employee of Dollar General, 2303 E 23rd St., told police a man attempted to use a counterfeit $20 to purchase items. The man was unsuccessful after the cashier marked the bill with a pen, showing it was counterfeit. The man then left the scene on foot. He was described as a black male with dreads. The man was not located in the area. The counterfeit bill was taken as evidence to be placed in CPD Property.

* * *

A woman told police she believes she left her wallet on the counter at Gold Mart Beauty Supply, 5300 Brainerd Road, and she believes that someone stole it. She said that the business has cameras. An employee at the business told police that the owner is the only person to have access to the cameras, and he was not there. Information was left with the employee of where/when the wallet was left and they were told to notify police if the video of the incident was found.

* * *

Police responded to a suspicious female on the back side of the Baymont Inn on Shallowford Road. Once there, police realized the woman was homeless. She was identified and showed negative for warrants in NCIC. Police transported her to the homeless shelter on South Holtzclaw Avenue without issue.

* * *

A man on Thompson Street told police he got a call from a man claiming to be with Archibald Law Group and the man said there was a lawsuit against him from a bank for around $9,000, but they were willing to settle for a lesser amount. He said the man was able to verify his name, SSN, address and other identifying information about him. He then told the man that he would like to confirm this with the court and the man then became belligerent and eventually

hung up. He believes the man was probably trying to get him to send money, since he has all the information on him and he's not sure how he got it in the first place.

* * *

A caller reported a broken down vehicle at 2000 Riverside Dr. Police found a black Chevy Cruz bearing Tennessee tag and attempted to help the driver get his vehicle running. They were unsuccessful and called a wrecker to the scene. Whites Automotive responded and took possession of the vehicle. Police gave the driver a ride to his place of business on Rossville Avenue at Escape Chattanooga.

* * *

A man on Marlin Road told police she noticed scratches on the passenger side front door of her vehicle. She said she is not sure where or when it occurred.

* * *

While on patrol on Signal Mountain Road, officers responded to a possible theft of a cell phone. Officers were informed the victim was following the suspect's car and did so all the way to Rossville Boulevard and Central Avenue, where officers made contact. Officers were informed the phone was pinging to a nearby location and attempted to assist in finding the phone. However, the theft of the phone occurred in Georgia and the victim was told she would need to file a report in Georgia.

* * *

A man on Lake Resort Terrace told police he was backing out of a parking space at his residence when his front bumper struck the concrete barrier underneath it, causing damage. Police observed the damage to the front bumper and informed him they would file a property damage report.

* * *

A man on South Lyerly Street told police that around midnight he sent pictures of himself naked over the Internet to an unknown person he friended on Instagram. He said all he knows is a name "James Duckett" and does not know if that is the person's real name. He said he does not know where this person is or anything else about him. He said after he sent the pictures, the person told him that if he does not send him $1,000 that he will post the pictures. The man said he sent the $1,000 by bank transfer and now this person is demanding another $1,000. He said he has not sent any more money. Police recommended he report this to Instagram and then cancel his account with them since that is the only avenue of communication he has with this person.
Ree Drummond makes her acting debut in a new holiday movie called Candy Coated Christmas, and fans finally got a peek at The Pioneer Woman star in action. A Food Network behind-the-scenes video shows Drummond flexing her acting talents as she plays a bakery owner in the movie.

Ree Drummond | Tyler Essary/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

Fans get a first look at Ree Drummond in Candy Coated Christmas

The Food Network shared a behind-the-scenes video of Candy Coated Christmas on YouTube, and fans got a look at Drummonds acting chops.

Coming this holiday season, only from Food Network and discovery+, our first-ever scripted original movie, the voiceover explained. The video gave an exclusive sneak peek of the new movie.

Drummonds acting is on display in the video as she waits on one of the main characters in a bakery. Today we are shooting in Bees bakery, and I am Bee so this is my bakery, Drummond explained. And Ive got it all decked out for Christmas. The bakery shelves are full of Christmas treats, and I just think it looks absolutely magical in here.

Molly McCook, who plays Molly Gallant, explained how her character comes to the small town of Peppermint Hollow to sell her mothers childhood home because shes broke. Aaron OConnell, who plays Noah Winters, shared how Molly comes in and basically turns his world upside down.

The cast discussed the food that viewers will see in the movie, including some of Drummonds recipes! I contributed some of my own recipes to Bees bakery and its going to be fun to see my recipes come to life, she shared. I think its the perfect first Christmas movie for Food Network and discovery+.

Candy Coated Christmas starts streaming on discovery+ on Nov. 19.

Fans are excited to see Drummonds acting debut

Theres plenty of excitement over Drummonds role in the movie, as evidenced by some of the YouTube videos comments. Ree should do more acting, one fan noted. She seems pretty good at it.

Others commented, This should be cute. Cant wait to watch, Cant wait love Ree Drummond, and Needs to be called Rees bakery not Bees bakery! Looks great!

Im usually not into a lot of new Christmas movies, but this looks fun & I like the actors here, another person commented. Nice! Its like a Hallmark movie but better! Congratulations Ree! Food Network & discovery+ ! Heres to many more like it in the future.

The Pioneer Woman star said shes not planning to do more acting

During an Oct. 19 appearance on The View, Drummond dished a little bit about her acting role, sharing that shes unlikely to pursue this as a career move. OK, so Im not an actor, but I have a role in a discovery+ Christmas movie called Candy Coated Christmas, she said as the audience clapped.

Now, before you applaud too much, Im not pursuing an acting career, she continued. I play a bakery owner in a small town  so its not too much of a stretch.

In an August Instagram post, Drummond admitted how nervous she was about tackling acting. I was nervous filming this movie because I am not an actor and being on a movie set in Utah was a whole different experience than filming a cooking show in my own kitchen, she explained. Fortunately, once a woman hits her fifties, the possibility of embarrassing herself really doesnt keep her from doing anything in life. Anyway, here are some behind-the-scenes shots of my first (and probably last!!!) acting gig.

RELATED: Ree Drummond Loves TikToks Famous Pasta Recipe Trend: The Pioneer Woman Stars Version of Baked Feta Pasta Is a Winner
Former Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle star Patricia Heaton just shared a recipe thats not only ideal for the cooling temps but also allowed her to share a touching memory. The Emmy award-winning actor posted her Winter Corn Chowder recipe recently as it brought to mind another time during which she fed a crowd, but not the crowd you might think.

Former Everybody Loves Raymond star Patricia Heaton | Monty Brinton/CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images

Patricia Heaton marked World Food Day

In a recent post to social media Heaton, who has been active with the humanitarian organization World Vision International since 2015, noted World Food Day. Observed annually on Oct. 16, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FA), World Food Day is a global event where participants noted that while the challenges of global hunger, climate crisis, and COVID-19 remain formidable, there is also a new momentum and energy behind efforts to transform our agri-food systems, making them more fit for purpose.

Heaton tweeted: As we get close to #WorldFoodDay I wanted to share my Winter Corn Chowder recipe and love for @WorldVisionUSA which reached more than 12 million vulnerable people with food last year alone. Find out more about my recipe and my trip to Uganda in 2018: https://bit.ly/3DyFiP0.

She told EW in 2018: I love that 85 percent of [World Vision] donations go directly to helping people. We want to know that our dollars are really making a difference and not just going to run an office. These funds are actually going to help build schools and clean-water pumps.

Heaton was grateful to serve a meal of hope

Heaton wrote on World Visions website of her experience, alongside The Middle co-star Jen Ray (Nancy Donahue), of feeding a literal crowd in Uganda.

My friend and co-star, Jen Ray, and I helped cook for 600 people, she wrote. People who for the first time had just become refugees, many traveling for days on foot, and arrived with next to nothing at a place they would call home for who knew how long.

The meal, she explained, was a simple one intended to nourish and give energy to the exhausted travelers.

As we get close to #WorldFoodDay I wanted to share my Winter Corn Chowder recipe and love for @WorldVisionUSA which reached more than 12 million vulnerable people with food last year alone. Find out more about my recipe and my trip to Uganda in 2018: https://t.co/YYXvaCU78m pic.twitter.com/Q7LtiaDP7J  Patricia Heaton (@PatriciaHeaton) October 15, 2021

The recipe we cooked had simply two ingredients: maize flour and a kind of bean, Heaton said. The maize was basically cornmeal, and the beans looked like kidney or pinto beans. We prepared this meal in an outdoor kitchen under an awning, cooking these two ingredients with water heated in a massive pot. And as everything heated, it thickened. Jen and I helped to stir the mixture as it thickened and thickened and became very sticky and heavy!

The most satisfying part of the experience for her, Heaton revealed, was knowing that after a long, difficult journey into another country, these refugees had survived and could breathe a sigh of relief because they were now safe. And we were there to welcome them and comfort them with a warm meal. There was a different kind of feeling there  one of hope.

Heatons Winter Corn Chowder

The actor wrote for World Vision that the experience brought to mind a favorite warming recipe: Winter Corn Chowder. Her simple and easy-to-make recipe calls for browned and diced bacon, diced potato, chopped onion, vegetable broth, frozen corn, heavy cream, salt, pepper, and fresh parsley.

The ingredients are sauteed in a skillet and then half of the mixture is blended and returned to the pan.

As Heaton shared: I highly recommend when hosting friends or just with your family on a cold winter evening. Made with corn, like the maize porridge we cooked for the refugees (though not nearly as thick), it is a wonderful warm recipe for bringing people together.

RELATED: Everybody Loves Raymond: How Did the Series End?
Article Highlights:

George Harrisons thoughts on the Vietnam War

The Beatles thoughts on religion

More on his disapproval of authority

George Harrison, 1966 | Wolfgang Kuhn/United Archives via Getty Images

George Harrison was not a fan of authority. In an interview with the Evening Standard in 1966, the Beatle shared his thoughts on such subjects as the war in Vietnam and religion. There was a common thread in the topics he spoke to: the people in power dont practice what they preach.

What George Harrison thought about the war in Vietnam

Harrison told writer Maureen Cleave that he thought about the war in Vietnam every day and he thought it was wrong.

Anything to do with war is wrong, he said, as recorded in the book George Harrison on George Harrison. Theyre all wrapped up in their Nelsons and their Churchills and their Montysalways talking about war heroes. Look at [the Granada Television series on World War II] All Our Yesterdays. How we killed a few more Huns here or there. Makes me sick. Theyre the sort who are leaning on the walking sticks and telling us a few years in the Army would do us good.

RELATED: George Harrison Once Said The Beatles Were all Crummy Musicians, Really

Harrisons frustration could be seen at a local level as well. Cleave wrote that Harrison believed his personal taxes were going directly to pay for F111s. He noted that Mr. Wilson, the Prime Minister of England, had a habit of taking all the money and then moaning about deficits here, deficits therealways moaning about deficits.

George Harrisons thoughts on religion

Harrison was born into the Catholic faith. But as he grew up, he formed his own opinions about religion.

And to go on to religion, I think religion falls flat on its face, he said. All this love thy neighbor, but none of them are doing it. How can anybody get themselves into the position of being Pope and accept all the glory and the money and the Mercedes-Benz and that? I could never be Pope until Id sold my rich gates and my posh hat. I couldnt sit there with all that money on me and believe I was religious.

Hypocrisy, in general, frustrated Harrison greatly.

Thats something I want you to get down in my article, he said. Why cant we bring all this out in the open? Why is there all this stuff about blasphemy? If Christianitys as good as they say it is, it should stand up to a bit of discussion.

The Beatles disapproval of authority

Harrison referred to authority figures as Big Cheeses and King Henrys, and he was wary of all of them. He believed these authority figures, and the reality theyd created, were ruining children.

That was the great thing about John and what I got from him, from all those years. He saw that we are not just in the material world; he saw beyond death, that this life is just a little play that is going on. And he understood that. #IMAGINE50 #TimsTwitterListeningParty pic.twitter.com/VxXBzPik6u  George Harrison (@GeorgeHarrison) September 9, 2021

RELATED: George Harrison on What Each of The Beatles Was Really Like: Ringo Starr Was the Party Boy

Babies when they are born, are pure, he said. Gradually they get more impure with all the rubbish being pumped into them by society and television and that; till gradually theyre dying off, full of everything.

He was even skeptical of teachers.

Take teachers, he said. In every class when I was at school there was always a little kid who was scruffy and smelly; and the punishment was always to sit next to the smelly kid. Fancy a teacher doing that.
Have you written your letter to the Great Pumpkin? Linus Van Pelt will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Great Pumpkin  and the presents hes sure hell bring  when Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown airs Oct. 24 on PBS. But when viewers tune in to watch the holiday classic, it wont look exactly the same as the one that first aired in 1966. The original Peanuts Halloween special featured a brief scene highlighting the 25-minute cartoons two sponsors.

Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown | ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

In 1965, Coca-Cola sponsored the first-ever Peanuts animated special, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Its unexpected success prompted CBS to quickly order a follow-up special focusing on another holiday: Halloween. As with the Christmas special, Coke was a sponsor of Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Coca-Cola via Internet Archive), along with snack cake company Dolly Madison.

Both sponsors names were seen in a brief, now-deleted moment at the beginning of the special. At the end of the title sequence, several kids in costume run across a pumpkin patch, darting behind a scarecrow wearing a shirt that reads: Brought to you by the people in your town who bottle The scarecrow holds a sign displaying the Coca-Cola logo. Next, we see another scarecrow, this one with a shirt that says, And the folks who bake Its perched above a sign with the Dolly Madison logo. (You can see the original intro on YouTube.)

Charlie Brown got rocks in the Peanuts Halloween special, but Charles Schulzs kids got plenty of sweet treats

Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown | ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

When Charlie Brown goes trick-or-treating in Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, he gets rocks instead of candy in his treat bag. Some viewers felt so bad for the character that they actually mailed candy to CBS, which broadcast the original special, and to the home of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz.

But there was no shortage of sweet stuff in the Schulz house, the cartoonists daughter Jill Schulz told The Wrap in 2018. Some of it came courtesy of the sponsors of the Peanuts specials.

My parents were from Minnesota, so there was always plenty of ice cream, Hostess cupcakes, Dolly Madison  one of the first sponsors of the Peanuts specials, she said.

The freebies made quite an impression on her as a child, she added.

Even to this day, I still drink Coke if I am going to drink soda, she said.

The Peanuts characters appeared in multiple Dolly Madison ads over the years

Do you believe in the #GreatPumpkin?



Join @Snoopy and the Peanuts gang for the family classic Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! This special one-night event airs on PBS and @PBSKIDS Sun, Oct 24 at 7:30/6:30c. pic.twitter.com/1V4SH3Loye  PBS (@PBS) October 12, 2021

Dolly Madison didnt just sponsor. Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The company also used Peanuts characters on its packaging and in its ads for many years.

In one commercial (via YouTube), Charlie Brown chats with Lucy at her psychiatry/detective booth, explaining that whenever he tries to eat a Zinger, its stolen by the Zinger Zapper (Snoopy, wearing a trench coat and mask as a disguise). In another, Lucy tells Charlie Brown and the other kids that shes going to catch the Zinger Zapper red-handed (via YouTube).

Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown airs on PBS and PBS Kids on Sunday, Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. ET. (Check local listings.) It is also available to stream on AppleTV+.

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RELATED: Woodstock Eating Turkey in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Was A Huge Controversy When It First Aired  And It Still Is
A royal event always draws huge crowds, and the fact of the matter is that one of the most anticipated is that of a coronation. A coronation doesnt happen very often  only when a new king or queen is crowned  and the last one was nearly 70 years ago with Queen Elizabeth II. As anyone can imagine, it is a pretty spectacular event, and even after all these years, people are still fascinated.

When the current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, had her coronation, she was only 27 years old, and she ascended the throne after the death of her father, King George VI. The coronation, which took place on June 2, 1953, at Westminster Abbey, was well-planned, as the royals are known for strictly following tradition. However, some things left people scratching their heads. Here are some bizarre facts about Queen Elizabeths IIs ceremony.

Princess Elizabeths queen crowning happened while she was out of the country

A souvenir of Queen Elizabeth IIs coronation | Robert Alexander/Getty Images

According to LOfficiel, the current monarch wasnt even in the United Kingdom when she became queen! She was the first in 200 years to have been traveling abroad when her father, King George, died. Princess Elizabeth was in Kenya on a tour when it happened, learning that her beloved father had died of coronary thrombosis. Now Queen Elizabeth II, she flew back early to be with her family.

The coronation chair was over 650 years old

Something old makes a special occasion even better, and the coronation chair definitely was. Made in 1300 for Edward I, the chair has been used in every royal family coronation since that time.

Crowning Queen Elizabeth II involved plenty of priceless jewelry

We would expect the queen to be decked out in fabulous jewelry, but many may not know just how spectacular that jewelry was. For her coronation, Royal reports that her majesty wore the St. Edwards Crown, made in 1661 and weighing in at a whopping 4 pounds and 12 ounces of solid gold.

Additionally, the queen sported: an orb of gold surrounded by a cross girdled by a band of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphire and pearls with a large amethyst at the summit. She also wore the coronation ring on her right hand and The Sovereigns scepter, which features a 530.2-carat diamond.

So, what did she have to say about all this? The queen wasnt too happy about her heavy crown, saying that You cant look down to read the speech, you have to take the speech up. Because if you did your neck would break, it would fall off.

There was an interesting story involving the anointing oil

Anointing oil is one of the most important things used in a coronation, but it didnt go so smoothly this time. It turns out that the batch, which is made from the oils of orange, roses, cinnamon, musk, and ambergris, was destroyed by a bomb in 1941, requiring a new batch to be made.

A new refreshment was invented for guests

Naturally, nothing less than the best food and drink was served on that special day. Coronation chicken, now used in sandwiches, was served for foreign guests. It is made using cold chicken in curry powder with a mayonnaise sauce. Sounds delicious.

Queen Mary was the first to see a grandchild take the throne

A grandparent of a monarch never lived long enough to see their grandchild take the throne  until Queen Mary. Although she was alive when her granddaughter became queen, she sadly died before Coronation Day.

Queen Elizabeth coronation was the first to be televised

Today, many royal events are broadcast worldwide, but it wasnt so common in 1953. In fact, Queen Elizabeth IIs coronation was the first to be televised, proving just how important that day was, and watched by a staggering 27 million people in the U.K.

The queen made a huge compromise

Even the queen has to make compromises. It turns out that she was not too excited about the golden carriage that she had to ride in that day, saying that Its only sprung on leather [which is] not very comfortable. Despite these bizarre facts, the queens Coronation Day will live in the memories of millions of fans forever.

RELATED: Queen Elizabeth Didnt Want Her Coronation Televised So She Made a Compromise
A24s The Green Knight was praised for its gorgeous imagery and the ability to transport the audience into its world. The costuming and production design are truly breathtaking in how they bring the 14th-century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to life on the silver screen. Production designer Jade Healy and costume designer Malgosia Turzanska explained how they kept the movie production mostly sustainable.

The Green Knight is visually mesmerizing

Dev Patel | A24 Films

Gawain (Dev Patel) agrees to take part in a challenge with a mysterious green knight. He must strike the entity in exchange for his green axe, although in a years time he must seek him out to receive the same blow. The Green Knight explores various landscapes during Gawains journey.

The forests and castles that fill the gorgeous scenery should look rather familiar. They shot the movie in County Whitlow, Ireland. John Boormans Excalibur was also shot there. Director of Photography Andrew Droz Palermo joked in the Blu-ray featurette that Its hard to point a camera in the wrong direction because of its incredible natural beauty.

The Green Knight costumes and sets were mostly sustainable

The Blu-ray featurettes include Healy and Turzanska explaining how the costumes and the set were mostly sustainable. Healy sought to keep the prices down, so she used salvaged materials to build the sets. She further explained that these materials were sourced from all over. Pieces sourced from other construction or demolition projects established nearly every set.

Healy said, Its just finding whatever we can find thats salvageable to do it because then theres a lot less work to get the textures and the aging  its already there.

However, The Green Knight didnt stop there. The costumes were also vegan. Turzanska ran into an issue with many costumes consisting of faux materials.

I started looking at fake furs and fake leathers and realized that a lot of fake leather or faux leather, and a lot of fake fur is just made from plastic, Turzanska said. So yes, it is cruelty-free, but its terrible for the environment. So I started researching bizarre new, for me at least, materials like mycoleather, for example, which is made of fungus. And it has the texture of leather, or the texture of suede really.

She sourced these materials from various locations to make the production truly green. She further explained that they utilized different materials to give a variety of textures for the costumes.

The material that I think Im the most excited about is bark-cloth, Turzanka said. It looks less like leather and more like wool felt. And its fibers of just tree bark, mushed together and its a material that has been used especially in Africa for hundreds and hundreds of years.

A24 Films is finally bringing the movie home

The Green Knight arrives on 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital 10/12 pic.twitter.com/r5pyhdR7Db  Chris Evangelista (@cevangelista413) August 31, 2021

The Green Knight is finally available after coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic-related delays. Critics and audiences praised the movie as a whole. it has already made many best of the year lists.

The movie can be enjoyed from your own home through digital purchase, Blu-ray, and 4K options.

RELATED: Lamb Director Opens Up About Making Ada, the Lamb-Human Hybrid
Maryland pastor facing federal charges for arranging 60 fraudulent marriages in citizenship scheme

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A Maryland pastor was indicted this week for allegedly arranging fraudulent marriages of foreign nationals with American citizens to give them permanent residence in the United States in exchange for thousands of dollars, the Department of Justice says.

Joshua Olatokunbo Shonubi, a 50-year-old pastor at NewLife City Church, Inc. in Hyattsville, allegedly arranged 60 fraudulent marriages between January 2014 and January 2021 to secure permanent residence for foreigners, according to the indictment, ABC 7News reported.

The indictment alleges that Shonubi, often utilizing his role as pastor of NewLife, directly or through others, recruited and groomed U.S. citizens, including economically disadvantaged citizens, with payments and promises of money in exchange for marrying foreign nationals, then sponsoring the foreign nationals for permanent residence in the United States through USCIS, the Justice Department said.

The accused also allegedly gave dozens of reference letters on his churchs letterhead for the foreign nationals application for permanent residence, falsely stating: his relation to the parties; the nature of the marriage; his role in providing spiritual guidance or counseling; and his belief as to the romantic nature of the marriage, according to the seven-count indictment.

Shonubi also allegedly created fake rental leases showing his company, Jaypro, as landlord to falsely prove that the couples were living together.

If convicted, Shonubi faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit visa fraud and marriage fraud and a maximum of five years in federal prison for each of six counts of presenting false documents to a federal government agency, the Justice Department added.

In April, a pastor in Washington, D.C., was arrested for fraudulently obtaining more than $1.5 million from the Paycheck Protection Program, which he then splurged on personal expenses, including 39 cars.

Pastor Rudolph Brooks Jr., founder and senior pastor of the Kingdom Tabernacle of Restoration Ministries, was arrested after federal authorities seized some $2.2 million he deposited in various bank accounts as well as a 2018 Tesla Model 3.

Court papers alleged that Brooks applied for a PPP loan on behalf of his company Cars Direct on May 9, 2020, in the amount of $1,556,589. To support his application, the pastor allegedly submitted fraudulent tax forms showing $724,469 in payments via Forms 1099-MISC and $7,471,630 in total unemployment payments to employees from Cars Direct.

His churchs website described him as a man after God's own heart and has a passion for God's people.

Pastor Brooks desires to see believers grow spiritually and desires to see the church function according to the word of the Lord. His intense love for the Lord, relentless spirit and ability to tap into the very heart of God make him a memorable speaker. With his love for God and lively preaching style, which can hold even the skeptics attention, Pastor Brooks speaks and shares the heart of God with compassion and conviction, the church noted.
Old monasteries and churches await in Southwest Germany

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A recent road trip across Baden-Wurttemberg, a state in Southwest Germany, took me to old monasteries and churches.

Baden-Wurttemberg, Germanys third-largest state, was created in the aftermath of World War II from the historically separate territories of Baden and Wurttemberg. For centuries they existed as duchies or kingdoms first within the fragmented Holy Roman Empire and later in the unified German Empire until the various monarchies were abolished following the kaisers loss in World War I.

Reminders of the history are everywhere, including in the religious fabric of Southwest Germany. Unlike other parts of the country, where Lutheranism came to dominate after the Reformation, adherents of the old religion still make up a plurality in Baden-Wurttemberg.

My road trip started in Stuttgart, the capital of this state and a city many know for Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. After spending the night at an airport hotel, I picked up my ride from Sixt, a Renault Captur crossover, and embarked upon a four-night trip that took me to Maulbronn, Calw and Alpirsbach in the Black Forest followed by Reichenau Island, Constance and Meersburg near Lake Constance in the foothills of the Alps.

I first stopped at the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Maulbronn Monastery in Maulbronn, about 45 minutes by car from Stuttgart.

The remarkably complete and well-preserved medieval monastic complex dates to the first half of the 12th century and includes the former Cistercian abbey church  a Lutheran church since the Reformation  and assorted outbuildings that have been repurposed over the centuries. Unlike other sights I later visited, a self-guided audio tour in English was available. Not only was this essential, but it allowed me to explore at my own pace and not worry about keeping up with a guide. Hands down the best part of the former monastery is the churchs interior with numerous period architectural and decorative details, including misericords on the underside of the extensive quire stalls.

An hour away is Calw, where I would sleep at the Hotel Kloster Hirsau after visiting the ruins of Hirsau Abbey.

Destroyed during the Nine Years War at the end of the 17th century, the ruins are a blend of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Against the backdrop of the Black Forest, the one-time Benedictine abbey resembles a romanticism painting. What appears to be the surviving church was originally a mere chapel. It was heavily modified in a gaudy and inauthentic attempt at Gothic revival in the 19th century for use by the local Lutheran parish. Without much to do besides a walk around the ruins, you might consider skipping Hirsau for more time at the next destination.

Having woke up early the next day I made my way to Alpirsbach, where a Benedictine monastery existed from its founding in the 11th century until the dissolution in the 16th century by the then-duke of Wurttemberg, a Protestant.

The cruciform-shaped, cathedralesque edifice  a fine specimen of mostly Romanesque architecture  is, in fact, the third iteration of the abbey church and dates to the 12th century. Much of what you see, particularly on the exterior, is original. This includes the circa 1130 tympanum above the west fronts doors. Inside, a masterpiece wooden altar from the early 1500s is in the north transept.

As with the other pre-Reformation monastic churches, the space is presently used for the rites of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Wurttemberg. The entrance for visitors, incorporated in an adjoining building that originally served as the abbots residence, leads to a small gift shop, ticket window and comprehensive museum. While much of the exhibits, including a rare painted wood Romanesque lectern, were self-explanatory almost nothing was translated.

For my second night, I stayed at Hotel St. Elizabeth. The upscale three-star hotel sits on the grounds of a modern-day monastery belonging to the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross, a Roman Catholic religious order.

After one of the best breakfasts of my trip, I drove about 5 miles to Reichenau Island, also on the UNESCO World Heritage List, with its three medieval churches.

Connected to the mainland by a causeway, the island in Lake Constance has had a Christian presence since at least 724, when a Benedictine monastery was founded by itinerant Bishop and later St. Pirmin. What he founded eventually became the Imperial Abbey of Reichenau and was among the richest and most prominent monasteries in the Holy Roman Empire. I was fortunate to receive an extensive, behind-the-scenes tour from Gunter Andres, a retired English teacher-turned-guide. Without him, I would have been lost. Literally and figuratively. I also wouldnt have seen the treasury room with its holy relics, including the bones of St. Mark the Evangelist and a pitcher used during the wedding at Cana.

A short drive away through vineyards and farm fields is the Church of St. George.

The Romanesque church looks mostly unchanged since its founding by the archbishop-elector of Mainz, who built the church after receiving the skull of St. George from the pope in 896. Inside, one finds a nave lined with spectacular wall paintings. Dating to 1000, the eight paintings depict biblical miracles performed by Jesus. They are complemented by a depiction of the last judgment from 1708 or 1709 in the west apse.

Nearby is Constance, a mid-sized university city on Germanys border with Switzerland.

The big draw here is Constance Minster, which hosted the Council of Constance during its centuries-long stint as the cathedral and seat of the prince-bishop of Constance. The pre-Reformation council, held from 1414 until 1418, was presided over by the Holy Roman emperor and, among other things, settled the schism that resulted in competing papal claimants, affirmed papal supremacy, and condemned early Reformer Jan Hus to death by burning at the stake. While its appearance has changed  the churchs exterior was given a Gothic makeover  the Romanesque nave from the time of the council remains largely intact.

Running behind schedule and out of daylight, I retrieved my rental car from the underground parking garage at the Fish Market (Fischmarkt) and drove to the car ferry for the shuttle across Lake Constance to Meersburg. Here, I slept at the family-owned Hotel Lowen (more on that later).

Meersburg, it is claimed, dates to the 7th century when a Merovingian king built a castle here. No trace of that castle exists, though a later medieval castle, called the Old Castle, still stands with a commanding position over the newer lower town and waterfront. The town is largely a result of the Reformation driving the prince-bishop from his see in 1526. Constances loss proved to be Meersburgs gain as the cityscape seen today can be credited to the successive prelates with their dual ecclesiastical and temporal authority. One such landmark is the baroque New Palace, which today houses a fascinating museum. In nicer months, the museum cafe has outdoor seating with million-dollar panoramic views.

The cobblestoned streets have something to discover around every corner  think vines growing in every vacant parcel on the steep slope separating the upper and lower old towns, centuries-old half-timbered buildings, and endless other photo opportunities for the Instagram set. One of my unexpected discoveries was the Bible Gallery, which occupies a 500-year-old former Dominican convent next to the tourism office on the aptly named Church Street (Kirchstrae). Established in 1988 by the Evangelical or Protestant Church in Baden, the multi-floor museum tells the story of the Bible and how it continues to influence daily life even in a highly secular society. Exhibits include countless artifacts and other objects, all of which are intended to have the soft touch of evangelization. There is also a recently revamped English self-guided audio tour.

My fourth and final night in Southwest Germany was spent at a countryside inn on the grounds of Salem Monastery and Palace, a Cistercian abbey-turned-palace-turned boarding school.

The former Imperial Abbey of Salem was founded in 1136 and, as with Reichenau, thrived as one of the most prominent monasteries in the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1803 during the age of Napoleon. The baroque and rococo buildings  the original Gothic abbey church miraculously escaped a great fire in 1697  were expropriated by the former Grand Duchy of Baden, whose rulers kept most of the estate until 2009 when the state government of Baden-Wurttemberg purchased everything except a small wing occupied by the 88-year-old margrave of Baden.

Today, the one-time monastery is split between a small noble residence and an elite boarding school with visitors admitted during normal hours for sightseeing and tours. Unfortunately, the inns location beyond the gate means no after-hours access, not even for an early morning walk.

If you go

Germany is fully open to vaccinated Americans. Visitors should be prepared to show proof  the paper vaccine cards with the CDC logo work  at restaurants, hotels and indoor attractions or sights. Additionally, medical-grade masks are required indoors.

I had no problems driving in Germany, especially on stretches of the autobahn highways without a posted speed limit. Just be sure to get a rental with guaranteed GPS navigation. The built-in navigation on my Renault rental was excellent and easy to use after I changed the systems language to English. Also, you will want to carry some spare change as parking lots dont generally accept credit card payments. In fact, carry plenty of cash because an unusually high number of small shops, restaurants and even hotels in Germany dont accept credit cards.

In hindsight, I would have stayed another night or two at Hotel St. Elizabeth. While overnighting at the heart of Meersburgs old town was memorable, it was also an inconvenience due to the combination of pedestrian streets and extremely limited to nonexistent parking.

Information, including at most of the old monasteries and churches covered in this column, was seldom translated. English-speaking guides can be booked through the local tourism offices in Constance and Reichenau, though tours may not be available every day. Expect to use Google Translate at hotel restaurants as English menus were also rare.

Despite Delta Air Lines discontinuing its nonstop service from Atlanta to Stuttgart, the airport can still be reached from major U.S. airports with just one connection. Alternatively, the airport in Zurich, Switzerland, is about an hour from Constance.

Follow @dennislennox on Instagram and Twitter.
5 pastors' wives share blessings, challenges of their calling for Pastor Appreciation Month From 'relational trauma' to stereotypes: What it's like to be a pastor's wife

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Standing at 6-feet-tall, Jessie Roseberry of Indiana can still recall when she first fell in love with her husband. It was on the campus of her Christian college about a decade ago. She locked eyes with someone amazingly taller than her. At 6-foot-7-inches tall, Eric Roseberry would later become a pastor, her best friend and her husband.

In 2005, the 19-year-old was completing a dual degree in nursing and missionary studies. She said it was his peculiar but attractive height that first grabbed her attention. She couldnt help but notice his wide and bright smile from ear to ear.

Eric Roseberry approached his future wife, and the conversation that ensued instantly revealed an irresistible and romantic chemistry. Jessie Roseberry already had a boyfriend at the time. But immediately after the encounter, she broke things off with her boyfriend because she knew she had met her future husband.

That same year, the two got married and became the Roseberrys. Four years later, in 2009, they founded a church called City of God Church in Lafayette, with Eric Roseberry serving as the head pastor. Now, the couple have four children.

As October marks Pastor Appreciation Month, the 35 year old is reflecting on the blessings and challenges she's experienced being a pastors wife since her early 20s.

As a husband, Eric is very faithful and affirming. He embodies love for me and our kids, and Im not worried about him wishing he was with someone else, Jessie Roseberry told The Christian Post. As a pastor, he is gifted, he preaches wonderfully and he is resilient. He is the most humble and approachable person I know.

Being married to a pastor, she said, has been rewarding and a blessing. Not only is she a pastors wife, but she also helps run the churchs womens ministry. The role hasnt come without what she describes as relational trauma, however.

Although Roseberry praised the blessings, prayers and support she and her husband have received over the years, she's also experienced church members treating her differently because of her husbands role in the church.

But being a pastors wife is a unique position that many people dont understand, and Ive struggled in friendship relationships, she said.

Despite the challenges pastors wives face, Roseberry said she hasn't felt isolated in her experiences. She's been in close contact with many other pastors wives through a support program called Acts 29 Wives Support Program.

The support group is run by five regional wives support coordinators across the United States to build and recruit volunteer teams, check-in with pastors wives monthly, send gifts, host get-togethers, bond over dinners and plan overnight retreats. Roseberry is one of the regional support coordinators.

I grew up in a small community where I saw a lot of pastors' wives, and at first, I never thought I could fit the role when I met Eric because Im not the stereotype of being super quiet, running childrens ministry or the front-row-churchy girl, Roseberry said. But after I joined Acts 29, I learned that I dont have to be the stereotypical first lady of the church, and I dont have to fit into a certain mold that society has created for the role of a pastors wife. I have made a ton of friends, and its been an incredible journey.

Discerning peoples real motives

On a few occasions, Roseberry said congregants have pretended to be her friend, but later discovered they only wanted to spend time with her to get closer to her husband in hopes of having certain sermon topics covered or receiving preferential treatment from the pastor.

They used me to get to the pastor, and because of that, I have had to learn how to have healthy boundaries by refusing to be a liaison between them and my pastor-husband, she said. Sometimes, I experience fears that if I wasnt the pastors wife, would these people desert me. This is a real fear.

It can be painful to feel like an other," Roseberry said, because she's the pastors wife.

People tend to assume that Im supposed to look and act a certain way, she added. Real friendship relationships are possible for pastors wives, but it usually involves digging past all that and discerning what peoples real motives are.

Acts 29 surveyed hundreds of pastors wives about their perception of how their churches treat them. The responses were gathered from two questionnaires sent to Acts 29 pastors wives earlier this year.

Out of 300 responses, the percentage of pastors' wives who strongly agreed that they feel supported by their church family was 44%, and 45% said they agree with that statement.

About 17.2% of pastors wives surveyed said they strongly agree that friendships within the church come easily to them, while 42.45% said they agree, 26.84% responded with neutral, and 11.02% said they disagree. Just over 2% said they strongly disagree that friendships in the church come easily to them.

Acts 29 Director of Wives Support, Kirsten Black, 46, has been married for nearly two decades to her husband, Vince Black, the pastor of The Town Church in Fort Collins, Colorado. The church was planted in 2010.

The two met at a Christian summer camp as young adults and bonded over their love for Jesus. They have been married for 21 years.

Being a pastors wife brings many challenges to relationships because all your church friends are tied to your husbands work, Kirsten Black told CP.

Because she and her husband have a teenage son battling leukemia, she is in and out of hospitals and can't be more actively involved in volunteering within her church.

Black said she's experienced church members being hesitant to talk to her because they think she is holier than other women in the church. She's also experienced people only wanting her friendship because of her connection to the pastor rather than genuine bonds.

People tend to view the pastor as sort of like a celebrity, and they see it as significant to know the pastors wife, she added. Sometimes people even make the assumption that the pastors wife has the same gifting as the pastor or that the pastors wife has more gifting than other women in the church  which is not always the case.

Making friends with congregants as the pastors wife always takes careful navigating and seeing which relationships you have to be more guarded in and which ones you can be more open in, she continued.
David Platt blasts 'superficial Christianity: A 'very skewed' version of the Bible is 'being sold'

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Pastor David Platt of McLean Bible Church in Virginia told his congregation Sunday that it's crucial more Christians move away from practicing a false, superficial picture of Christianity and begin to embrace a biblical picture of Christianity."

Believers can do this, he said, "by not shrinking back in fear when faced with challenges that might come when spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to remote places in the world."

During part five of his sermon series, titled "Following Jesus: Faith That Changes Lives in a World of Urgent Need," Platt shared a list of challenges that missionaries often encounter.

The challenges, he said, consist of but are not limited to: natural challenges, geographic challenges, political challenges, conflicts, wars, developmental challenges, economic instability, illiteracy, lack of access to clean water or medicine, social challenges, slavery, trafficking, violence, crime, ethnic tension, refuge relocation, linguistic challenges and persecution.

Weve said before that unreached people are unreached for a reason. They are hard to reach. They are difficult to reach and, in some cases, dangerous to reach, Platt explained in his sermon.

Some of you might look at this list [of challenges faced by missionaries] and be like, OK, you officially talked me out of it.  If thats you, I would just ask the follow-up question, What kind of Christianity have you bought into? Who told you that following Jesus would lead to greater comfort and ease in this world? Because that didnt come from this Book, said Platt while holding up his Bible. That came from a very skewed version of this Book thats being sold all across our culture.

Platt said that many Christians need God to point them to the reality that the ultimate need of every single person in the world is to be forgiven for their sins. However, he said, in order to be reconciled to God, a person needs to first hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Platt emphasized the importance of Christians not being afraid of difficulties that they might face while spreading the Gospel to remote places because, he said, there are 3 billion people in the world who have never heard the Word of God, and they wont have their sins forgiven if they never hear the Gospel.

God made a way for humans to be forgiven for all their sin, to be reconciled to Him, to eternal life, through faith in Jesus, by what He did on the cross, His resurrection from the grave, he maintained. We have been commanded to show Gods love in a world of earthly suffering, and ultimately, we have been commanded to proclaim Gods Gospel to keep people from eternal suffering  to keep people from Hell.

Somebody has to go and tell them. If no one goes and tells them, they will spend eternity separated from Him. Do you see whats at stake here? Do we see the need? Platt asked rhetorically.

Platt said he is convinced that one of the primary reasons more Christians are not praying, giving to others and going to meet the spiritual needs of those who have never been exposed to the Holy Scriptures is because they are not opening their eyes to the reality of the unreached.

So many Christians can spend years in church and never even hear about unreached people in the world, or maybe [they] just hear and think about them every once in a while, but then go on with business as usual, Platt said while following up with a prayer for God to "open the eyes of the audience to see the urgent spiritual needs in the world."

To start somewhere, Platt said Christians can begin by meeting the spiritual needs of the community where they live. He stressed, however, that the work of spreading the Gospel shouldn't stop there.

If we turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to people in urgent need around us, our faith is worthless. It's in vain. Its as good as dead, he said. This is what I mean by surely God is calling somebody to go to the unreached and maybe many [people] to go. It starts with a willingness to open our eyes and not turn away and just go back to business as usual.

Over 7,000 languages are spoken across the world today, and approximately half of them still have little or no Scripture exposure, Platt added, and many of the remote places in the world will not welcome missionaries or anyone in to speak about Jesus Christ.

At some point, these challenges will have to be overcome in order to reach the nations with the Gospel, he concluded.
Ravi Zacharias daughter launches new apologetics ministry; former employees express concern

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Sarah Davis, the daughter of late apologist Ravi Zacharias and former CEO of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), has left the organization her father founded to launch a new apologetics ministry.

The news elicited disappointment from one abuse survivor and two former RZIM employees, who believe Davis should be disqualified from leading a ministry.

According to a report from investigative journalist Julie Roys, Davis filed articles of incorporation earlier this month with the state of Georgia for a nonprofit corporation titled Encounter, Inc.

The organization has the stated mission of carrying the Gospel invitation to individuals, engaging their questions and training and disciplining messengers of Christs love for their spheres of influence.

Zacharias' oldest daughter became CEO of RZIM in November 2019. She led the organization amid the posthumous scandal surrounding her father and as an independent investigation detailed serious allegations that the late apologist engaged in years of predatory behavior and sexual abuse.

According to Roys, RZIM also backed a fake humanitarian effort called Touch of Hope, which funneled money to four of Zacharias massage therapists.

On Twitter, Carson Weitnauer, a former RZIM director, said he was disappointed by Davis decision to launch a new organization.

He contends that the new name and the new legal structure do not change that this organization is effectively RZIM. He points out that Davis remains in charge, Encounters office is housed in RZIMs building and argues that Encounter likely is funded by RZIMs donors.

Im also disappointed that Sarah believes herself to be a credible and trusted leader of an apologetics organization, he added. Under her leadership, RZIM mismanaged finances, concealed sexual abuse, retaliated against employees, etc., etc., etc. ... she is disqualified for this role.

Ruth Malhotra, RZIMs former public relations manager, also said she was disappointed in Davis decision to launch a new ministry.

Sarah Davis continually drove key aspects of RZIMs destructive actions which enabled leaders to operate without accountability, silenced victims, maligned internal dissenters, & allowed ministry resources to be severely misusedall actions which significantly harmed many people, she tweeted.

Malhotra also stated that "former RZIM speakers comprise the team" at Encounter and that the organization employs the "same attorney as RZIM."

Lori Anne Thompson, who Zacharias sued in 2017 for alleging they had an online sexual relationship, also expressed dismay over the news.

Breathing in new life (inhaling) is difficult to do if we have not properly processed (exhaled) the old, she tweeted. It is simply not possible to breath well individually or institutionally when your tidal volume is full of trauma. Its a time for respiration and rest  not reproduction.

In the fallout from the scandal, the global apologetics ministry downsized and restructured into a grant-making organization.

Davis announced in March that RZIM intended to change its name and remove all content featuring her father from the organizations website.

In an email to supporters, Davis stated that RZIM cannot  indeed should not  continue to operate as an organization in its present form."

Nor do we believe we can merely rename the organization and move forward with business as usual,'" she added. "That, we are convinced, is not right for numerous reasons.

RZIMs board, whose members remain anonymous, decided to stop accepting donations and hired Guidepost Solutions to investigate RZIMs culture and practice. However, the RZIM board of directors has since moved to limit the scope of the investigation and keep any findings from becoming public, according to sources that spoke with Roys.

In May, Davis apologized for her initial reaction to her fathers sexual misconduct allegations, admitting that she erred by ignoring allegations against her father and defending his innocence.

I earnestly wanted the truth, but I recognize that the steps I took didnt always show this, she shared. I should have immediately called for an independent investigation in 2017, but I trusted my father fully, and I carried his narrative, both in 2017 and then initially in 2020, when we were first made aware of those allegations. In both of these, I know that I caused pain. I did not serve well, and I did not love well. And for this, Im deeply sorry.

My goal and my heart were not to attempt to cover up the sins of my father  or any sin  to further a call or a mission, she added. I believed this man, my father, whom I loved and trusted more than anyone else, could not have done these things.  But I was wrong.

At the time, Davis said she hoped to be a conduit of healing and move forward with truth and transparency.

In response to his sisters statement, Nathan Zacharias, who runs a blog dedicated to defending his father, wrote a brief response in which he said that Davis is not speaking for the family.

As has been clear, we do not share her take on this situation, he wrote. A while back she chose the path of doing what she felt was best, strategically, for the organization. We disagree with her opinions and stance very strongly. And we do so for very legitimate reasons.
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.
'Bless Your Pastor': How evangelical churches are helping financially strapped clergy

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As the leader of a small Wesleyan church in Eastern Indiana, Pastor Randy was saddled with $40,000 in debt as he tried to pay off student loans and car payments incurred by his family of seven. He worked two jobs to just make ends meet.

Like many pastors in the United States today, Randy works long hours. He shepherds the flock of a church that draws roughly 40 worshipers on Sundays while taking home relatively little pay.

Facing $15,000 in credit card debt and owing $25,000 on three car payments, Randy also earned income working as a bus driver. But even between the two jobs, Randy says it took nearly every penny he brought home to pay his bills.

But unlike the pastor who served at this church before him, Randy will not be forced to live out his retirement in government housing. Although some concerns were present when Randy began serving the church two decades ago, he let his financial burdens be known to lay leaders in his congregation.

Because of that discussion over seven years ago, Randy's church and denomination helped his family pay off their enormous debt in the course of a few years and have also ensured that his future will be well taken care of through an adequate pension plan and financial stewardship education.

They helped tremendously by matching what we would pay on our credit card debt, Randy, who asked that his identity not to be revealed, told The Christian Post in a recent interview. Because of that, we paid off $15,000 in a year-and-a-halfs time. The church really stepped up and helped us in a tremendous way.

Randy's church is one of many that has teamed up with the Wesleyan Church  a Protestant denomination of about 1,600 churches  to make sure their pastors are well taken care of when many pastors today are earning less than $50,000 a year and working more than 50 hours each week.

While the Wesleyan Church has been working for the last several years to help financially-struggling pastors through its Thrive Financial Initiative, the denomination is joining 11 other denominations and counting in a newly launched movement this summer called the Bless Your Pastor campaign.

The campaign was launched in July by the National Association of Evangelicals, an association of over 45,000 churches from 40 different denominations.

The campaign is backed by a $1 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to respond to the financial struggles facing clergy in the U.S. The movement aims to encourage church boards and churchgoers nationwide to find tangible ways to bless their pastors and their families in ways that dont tax church budgets.

The movement calls on churches nationwide to not only take up a special offering for their pastor but also advises churchgoers on applicable things they can do or provide to make their pastors' lives a little easier at a time when there are many financial concerns.

While some congregants have given things of monetary value to their pastors like money, unwanted cars or gift cards, others have offered services like providing free baby-sitting so their pastors can have a date night, free medical checkups or performing extensive home repairs to spare their pastors from thousands in labor costs.

In Scripture there are times that there was a call for the people of God to be generous, Brian Kluth, national director of NAE Financial Health and spokesperson for Bless Your Pastor campaign, told CP. And people responded gladly. And that's what we're hoping that this movement does, that when people hear about these ideas, they'll respond gladly.

With 50 percent of a church's budget being somewhere around $125,000 a year, there is not a lot of meat left on the bone to pay pastors after the church's funds are divided up among various programs and ministries, Kluth said.

The Bless Your Pastor campaign comes as a 2015 survey of over 4,000 pastors from 19 denominational groups sponsored by NAE indicates that 50 percent of full-time pastors in the U.S. make less than $50,000 a year in combined salary and housing allowance.

Meanwhile, the survey shows that 31 percent of both full-time and part-time pastors are forced to seek revenue from a second job, while three out of four pastors are carrying some form of debt. According to the survey, 44 percent of pastors are holding total debt of at least $20,000 or more.

Sixty-two percent of pastors say they don't have any sort of pension or retirement plan through their church employer, creating fear for what their lives will be like once they retire from ministry. Additionally, only about four out of 10 pastors have a health insurance plan through their church.

We feel that Bless Your Pastor is a way that pastors can be blessed and their financial health can improve but it's not dependent on the church budget, Kluth explained. So it calls on Christians to be generous and church boards to be wise and creative.

Church boards that express interest in joining the Bless Your Pastor campaign will receive a campaign toolkit and a list outlining 50 creative ways that congregants can bless their pastors. The list can be distributed by churches to churchgoers to make them more aware of the stresses placed on their pastors.

Participating churches are encouraged to hold a special offering for their pastors and staff on any week of their choosing to give church members an opportunity to donate money and other resources to bless the pastor and staff.

Many churches already hold such offerings as part of National Clergy Appreciation Month in October. But as part of NAE's new initiative, churches are encouraged to hold offerings on Sundays that work best for them.

The pastors of the first 1,000 churches that inform NAE they held a special offering for their pastor will receive a $150 gift card in the mail.

This has to be driven by laypeople that say to their church board members, Hey, let's do this for our pastor. And then it's on the church board to simply watch a seven-minute video that explains it, Kluth said. We give them a toolkit of resources. We give them the 50 Ways list. We give them a sample template letter that they can customize.

Its kind of easy to do because everything's been prepared. So it simply means the leaders step up, watch the video, use the materials and get this out, he continued. And then, [they] let God's Spirit put the wind in the sails and let people start blessing their pastor."

In just over a month, Kluth said that over a dozen denominations have indicated they will promote the Bless Your Pastor campaign among their churches. Additionally, NAE will reach out to at least 100 other denominations about the possibility of participating in the program.

Denominations that have indicated they will participate in the campaign include the Christian Missionary Alliance, Free Methodist Church, Evangelical Free Church of America, Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Open Bible Churches, Fellowship of Evangelical Churches, International Pentecostal Holiness Denomination and the Wesleyan Church.

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Former Archbishop of Canterbury denounces assisted suicide

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The former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams of Oystermouth has spoken strongly against assisted suicide.

Parliamentarians are once again considering changing the law to permit assisted suicide, having previously rejected an attempt in 2015.

In a statement to the British Medical Journal, Williams said it was "hard to see that any new facts have emerged in recent years that would justify the changes envisaged."

"The arguments remain essentially the same," he said.

The former archbishop said that although he opposed legalizing assisted suicide "on religious principle," there were further strong grounds for maintaining a legal ban.

"The concerns that continue to be expressed are about what we believe to be the unacceptably high price of a change in the law," he said.

Some of these concerns involve pressure on seriously ill patients "which may (very understandably) come from overstrained families as well as overstretched medical systems."

"We should note that fear of such pressure within the medical system may discourage seriously ill patients from seeking appropriate medical help; the issues of doctor-patient trust involved are real," Williams added.

He questioned whether the quality of palliative care in Britain would diminish "if there are less expensive options," and warned of the difficulty in establishing the conditions for an assisted suicide to be granted.

"There are immensely complicated questions around how the law is to identify conditions that would 'justify' medical intervention that has the direct and intended consequence of ending life," he said, adding, "Many disability groups also have strong views on this set of problems."

His comments stand in stark contrast to another former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, who has reiterated his support in recent days.

A recent YouGov poll found that only a third of MPs support changing the law to legalize assisted suicide.

Originally published at Christian Today
India: Human rights groups document over 300 acts of Christian persecution in 2021

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Human rights groups in India say they have documented over 300 incidents of Christian persecution in just the first nine months of 2021, warning that this year might be the worst in terms of the number of such incidents in the countrys history.

While Christians make up only 2.3% of Indias population and Hindus comprise about 80%, radical Hindu nationalists have been carrying out attacks on Christians under the pretext of punishing the minority for using force or monetary rewards to convert Hindus to Christianity,

A.C. Michael, the National Coordinator of the United Christian Forum, said at a press conference in Delhi this week, The brutal attacks have taken place across 21 states. Most of the incidents are taking place in northern states and 288 instances were of mob violence, he added, according to the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.

The press conference was held jointly by the United Christian Forum, the United Against Hate, and the Association of Protection of Civil Rights, which released a fact-finding report titled Christians Under Attack in India.

This is a scary situation, raising critical questions over the role and the position of the National Human Rights Commission and the Home [Interior] Ministry and their failures in stopping this violence, Michael added. Over 49 FIRs [police complaints] have been registered, too, but no substantial action has taken place.

Earlier this month, a mob of 200 radical Hindu nationalists left a church damaged and at least three Christian women seriously injured in an attack in the northern state of Uttarakhand.

The attackers accused the church of illegally converting people to Christianity.

The mob attacked the church on Oct. 3 in Roorkee citys Solanipuram Colony and was comprised of members of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party and radical Hindu nationalist groups associated with the party, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal.

As the service was about to begin, the mob reportedly barged into the church, thrashed the congregants and vandalized church properties, injuring at least three Christian women who were taken to a hospital in Dehradun city.

Several Indian states 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.

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.
Archbishop Justin Welby, former PM Gordon Brown warn against legalizing assisted suicide

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The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the U.K.s former Prime Minister Gordon Brown have warned that a proposed law to allow assisted suicide would undermine the sanctity of life and could pressure the frail and vulnerable to end their lives.

In a joint-letter with Cardinal Vincent Nichols, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, along with Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi, the archbishop expressed our profound disquiet over a bill, tabled by Baroness Meacher in the House of Lords, which would allow adults who are of sound mind and have been told they have six months or less to live to receive life-ending medication if two doctors and a high court judge approve of it.

We acknowledge that Baroness Meacher is seeking the alleviation of suffering, they wrote, according to The Telegraph reported. This motivation we share wholeheartedly, but we disagree on the means advanced to address this very real concern.

The provisions of the Assisted Dying Bill involve risks and dangers and real-life practical inadequacies, they added. By the faiths we profess, we hold every human life to be a precious gift of the Creator, to be upheld and protected.

All people of faith, and those of none, can share our concern that the common good is not served by policies or actions that would place very many vulnerable people in more vulnerable positions."

While announcing the bill, Meacher, chairwoman of the group Dignity in Dying, said: This option would enable terminally ill, mentally competent people whose suffering is beyond the reach of palliative care to die well and on their own terms, should they choose it. And it would also provide comfort and control to countless more who may never avail themselves of this option but would be comforted by the simple fact of its existence.

Gordon also opposed the bill. If death were to become not just an option but something close to an entitlement through the bureaucratic processes that an act of parliaments provisions impose, we would, in my view, be altering fundamentally the way we think about mortality, he wrote in an op-ed forThe Times.

The risk of pressures, however subtle and indirect, on the frail and the vulnerable, who may feel their existence burdensome to others, cannot ever be entirely excluded, the former prime minister added. And the inevitable erosion of trust in the caring professions  if they were in a position to end life  would be to lose something very precious.

Most Christian medical professionals believe God alone should decide a persons death.

Canadas Christian Medical and Dental Society, which represents about 5,000 practitioners in that country, stated in a document in 1995: The time of the giving of life and the termination of life should be Gods prerogative and not ours.  Suffering should always evoke compassionate care and euthanasia should not be used as a way out. Those who suffer are important members of society who should be affirmed. We believe that the courageous bearing of suffering has the utmost moral and social benefit to society and the recognition by society of that contribution affirms the individual.
Mark Driscoll wont be the last

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One of the top podcasts in the country is Christianity Todays Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, a series that explores the founding, dynamics, scandals, and aftermath of Mars Hill Church, founded by Pastor Mark Driscoll in Seattle, Washington. It joins a slew of documentaries, exposes, and historical dramas that explore cults, spiritually abusive groups, and prominent (but ultimately dysfunctional) ministries.

Some of these institutions are Christian in origin and doctrine; others are not. Nevertheless, it is obvious that the watching and listening public of America is fascinated by the nexus of faith, narcissistic personalities, avariciousness, and power dynamics that one finds in such stories. Abusive religious groups and their scandals cannot help but create a reaction.

Many Christians have reevaluated bylaws, canons, institutional structures, rhetoric, and practices to stave off predatory personalities, insatiable egos, and very real harms inflicted upon Christs flock. To see the Lords sheep fleeced in the name of biblical fidelity and Christian discipleship is a particularly ugly blasphemy, with its fair share of sacrileges. Others respond by questioning ancient Christian doctrines and practices; more than a few people question the benefit and validity of religion (or, rather, religious communities) altogether.

Nevertheless, one theme emerges from all of these reactions: a desire that such abusive projects never occur again. There is a deep aspiration to tamp down if not extinguish the popularity of religious gurus, whether they be Rajneesh (the Bhagwan) or abrasive, manipulative pastors who flee from church discipline and accountability. In fact, some seem willing to throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater to achieve such ends, tossing out fundamentals of Christian orthodoxy to ensure safety and sanity.

However, Christians must not be naive about the realities at play when it comes to spiritually abusive groups. People really are driven to strong personalities for leadership and identity, regardless of the era or the place. At the same time, we live in an era of immense disintegration and alienation, even while we are social creatures. We will crave a place to belong. Similarly, relativistic views and secular discourse that stifle deep spiritual investigation and devotional meditation starve us religiously. Biblical illiteracy exacerbates lack of discernment, at least in more Christian societies. And, perhaps most crucially of all, what is normal in our society is deeply contested and, in some areas, deeply wrong. As school boards, parents, and magistrates argue over the reality of male and female, and as Christian norms, values, and teachings are increasingly sidelined, mocked, and suppressed, two important trends will likely arise.

First, sincere, biblically faithful Christians will seek out pastors, speakers, writers, and other leaders who reject such errors forthrightly, boldly, and even dramatically. Brash behavior and rhetoric against the spirit of the age will draw in supporters. Meanwhile, idiosyncrasies and doctrinal confusion not only go unaddressed but are doubled down on as beneficial or even essential. To gain a loyal following, one must often be weird. More seriously, the sins of beloved leaders may receive a blind eye all in the name of the good they do for others and their necessity for an institutions survival. Why kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, even when the goose is preaching poison from the pulpit, exuding a far-from-blameless character, or unjustly enriching himself?

Second, it will be much harder for clergymen and laymen alike to vet religious personalities and their ministries. Simply put, if the average American cannot distinguish between a boy and a girl, then what is now mainstream cannot be used as an accurate gauge of what is normal or acceptable in the Church. When the strange and immoral become normalized, the doctrinal and moral sniff test becomes much more difficult to apply and use. When is someone being counter-culturally faithful, and when is someone leading others in a sectarian, exploitative, or heretical trajectory? Christians cannot trust in the surrounding culture to form and accurately assess what is and is not acceptable in a preacher or teacher.

What is a Christian to say? What are Christians to do?

It is important to remember that corrupt religious figures have haunted historys pages for a long time; similarly, faithful, loving Christians have also exerted themselves in ministry, often at great sacrifice. To this day, there are good people fulfilling their vocations, being salt and light to the world. There is no need to reject religion altogether. In fact, it is almost assuredly impossible to do so. Also, Christians must not feed their fascination for the novel, shiny, and faddish. New doctrine and strange practices, while exciting, do not always belie good intentions  in fact, quite the opposite.

Finally, pastors must be vigilant watchmen and wise gatekeepers for their flocks, which is exactly what ancient Christians expected of pastoral leaders (as outlined in such texts as the Pastoral Epistles). Pastors, along with well-informed laymen, must help congregants exercise discernment. This entails a certain familiarity  if not working mastery  of certain fields of study germane to such sober-minded religious assessments. This means seminaries (if they will still exert major influence in the Church for the coming decades, which seems likely) must double down on the unglamorous traditional subjects required for the M.Div. and equivalent degrees: thorough training in biblical languages, church history, and theology.

General knowledge of logic, philosophy, and history will also prove a helpful foundation. Unfortunately, even evangelical seminaries havent been completely immune to fads or cutting academic corners on helpful subjects, often pushing for fewer years of study or deeply investing in novel counseling theories. Schooling is far from the end-all or be-all of pastoral ministry and ecclesiastical health, but divinity schools of various stripes remain an important and helpful step in the clerical pipeline.

However, even with such preparations, corrupt religious leaders will still gather followers. Certain people have the talents and desire to lead others, and, in this case, they happen to excel at leading others spiritually astray. The hope is that Christians in faithful churches wont be so easily deceived and that they can effectively help others to avoid or escape toxic personalities and organizations for better pastures.

Originally published at Juicy Ecumenism.
Most pastors say adultery shouldn't permanently disqualify clergy from ministry: survey

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Most pastors believe church leaders who commit adultery should withdraw from the pulpit for some time, but only a small percentage believe extramarital affairs permanently disqualify pastors from the ministry.

"Pastors Views on Moral Failure," a new survey of U.S. Protestant pastors by Nashville-based LifeWay Research, finds that most pastors believe a fellow pastor who has committed adultery needs to take time away from the ministry. However, opinions vary when it comes to the duration of the sabbatical.

The survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors found that around one in six pastors (16%) believe an offending pastor should stay gone for at least a year; 3% say for at least three months, and another 3% say at least six months.

Other pastors believe those who commit adultery should remove themselves from public ministry for a longer period of time: 10% say at least two years, 7% say at least five years, and 1% say at least 10 years.

Just 27% of pastors believe those who commit adultery should withdraw from public ministry permanently, and 2% of pastors believe a fellow pastor who has an affair does not need to take any time away. Three in 10 pastors (31%) say they arent sure what the appropriate time frame would be.

Scripture doesnt mince words about adultery, said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. From the Ten Commandments, to the apostle Pauls lists of wicked things, to the qualifications for elders listed in 1 Timothy, adultery is not appropriate for a follower of Christ nor a leader of a local church.

While the Bible is clear that this behavior does not fit a pastor or elder of a church, said McConnell, there is much debate over how long this act would disqualify someone from pastoral ministry.

LifeWay found that the ethnicity, education, and denomination of a pastor influenced the likelihood of their response.

The survey found that African American pastors are the least likely to say one who commits adultery should withdraw from the ministry permanently (8%), while Pentecostal pastors are the least likely to advocate for a permanent withdrawal (6%) and most likely to support staying away for at least a year (35%).

Pastors with a bachelors degree (34%) are more likely to select Withdraw permanently than those with a masters degree (27%) or a doctoral degree (22%).

Church size also impacted respondents' opinions: Pastors of churches with attendance of 50-99 (31%) are more likely to select Withdraw permanently than those with attendance of 100- 249 (23%).

Pastors opinions on the subject are a good barometer for opinions across churches, said McConnell. There is widespread disagreement from pastors across denominations, church size, age, race and education levels to quickly restoring pastors who commit adultery to public ministry positions.

Theologian John Piper previously said that standards can vary for what can disqualify a pastor for life because I dont think the Bible gives a clear instruction about how a disqualified pastor can become qualified again.

I dont think this is the kind of issue where the church as a whole will ever have agreement, Piper said. I think every local church should pray and think and study their way through the Scriptures into a position from which the elders can work in unity with regard to these kinds of things.

Still, the Desiring God founder said he considered sins like adultery that are committed after ones conversion and well into ones Christian life to be more serious indications of unfitness for ministry than our sins prior to the new birth and the new creation in Christ.

Adultery after conversion is sinning against the glory of the light of Christ, he continued. Before conversion, we were all in spiritual darkness; we were acting according to our nature.

The issue is that the offense has been compounded by its deeply multilayered betrayal of God, wife, Christian newness, the Holy Spirit, the people of God, the Gospel, the reputation of the Gospel in the Christian ministry.

Megachurch Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, said it's possible for fallen pastors to return to public ministry  if they have demonstrated true repentance. He also recommended that the offending pastor move to a different church.

"There are too many variables to make a hard and fast rule for every situation. Whether a fallen pastor can or should return to ministry depends not only on the pastor's response, but also the congregation's response. Sometimes a genuinely repentant pastor may be able to lead a congregation again, but it may have to be a different congregation. We must balance the very high moral qualifications for pastors found in 1 Timothy 3 with the possibility of restoration for those who truly repent of their sins," said Jeffress.
Record number of people died by physician-assisted suicide in the Netherlands in 2020: report

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A record number of people were euthanized in the Netherlands last year.

Some who died suffered from psychiatric issues, according to Dutch News NL. Both the Netherlands and neighboring Belgium are known for their progressive euthanasia laws that have expanded the scope beyond patients suffering from a terminal disease.

Each year, the RTE Regional Euthanasia Review Committees analyze all deaths by euthanasia to check whether they met the six criteria dictated by the law for euthanasia or doctor-assisted suicide. In total, 6,938 patients died in this manner in the Netherlands last year. The RTE determined that two cases didn't meet the six requirements.

These requirements stipulate, in part, that the patient's request must be voluntary, their condition is so severe that their body cannot heal, and they are suffering "unnecessarily and this cannot be reduced." The doctor is also required to "perform the euthanasia (or assisted suicide) in a medically careful manner, for example with the right medicines and in the right steps."

2020 saw a 9% increase in deaths by euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide from the previous year, when 6,361 people elected to die amid a culture that, according to RTE chairman Jeroen Recourt, is increasingly accepting of the practice. Before 2020, the previous record of deaths was set in 2017 when 6,585 people were euthanized.

These figures are part of a larger development, Recourt told the Dutch daily newspaper Trouw, noting he was not surprised by the uptick.



More and more generations see euthanasia as a solution for unbearable suffering  and the thought that euthanasia is an option for hopeless suffering brings [many people] peace.

The majority of those who died by euthanasia last year had terminal cancer. Mirroring the data in previous years, dementia was a factor in 2% of the cases, and psychiatric disorders were a factor in approximately 1% of euthanasia deaths.

Contracting COVID-19 was reportedly a contributing factor for four people who requested to end their lives by doctor-assisted suicide. The RTE chairman stressed, however, that social problems such as loneliness do not meet the criteria for euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide.



The increasing number of deaths by doctor-assisted suicide in 2020 comes on the heels of proposed plans announced in October in the Netherlands to expand the euthanasia law to allow children ages 1-12 to be euthanized under certain circumstances. The practice was already permitted for youth ages 12 and older and possible for infants during their first year of life.

In 2004, Dutch medical directives stipulated that doctors would be allowed to perform "active ending of life on infants" without fear of legal repercussions  called the Groningen Protocol  provided they have a serious disability or a terminal illness.

While euthanasia is widely accepted in Dutch society, a proposal that would allow people age 75 or older with no severe illness to choose to end their lives through doctor-assisted suicide is considered controversial. A measure permitting elective dying for over-75s was introduced in July after government research published in January 2020 showed that approximately 10,000 people age 55 and older wanted to die.












The next epidemic is worse than the first

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This Tuesday the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill abruptly canceled classes in an effort to stop the spread of an epidemic. It is not Covid-19. Nonetheless, the deadly disease they were trying to stop is now the second leading cause of death in college- and high school-aged individuals. No immunization is available to stop it, nor will one ever be. There are no nasal, blood, or other quick tests that can screen for the disease.

Classes were canceled in an effort to prevent a suicide outbreak  or suicide cluster. This year, 10 million Americans will wrestle with whether or not to end their lives. One and a half million will be seen in emergency departments for suicide attempts and ideation. Every 11 seconds someone attempts suicide.

Americas suicide rate now ties the all-time high experienced in the Great Depression of the 1930s: 14.5 per 100,000 per year.

But if we look more closely, we quickly see that our current situation is far worse. In the 1930s, they did not have the medical technology to reverse overdoses, dialyze off poisons, and mechanically ventilate those who temporarily lost their respiratory drive. They did not have in-school depression screening, a national suicide prevention hotline, or a 911 emergency system. No effective medical treatment for depression existed. Today, one out of every eight adults takes an antidepressant.

In short, without the invention and intervention of modern medicine and trauma systems, our suicide rate would be 200 to 300 times higher than has ever been experienced at any time in recorded history.

What should we do? For several decades, mental health experts have recommended greater access to mental health screening, counseling, and medications. They have advocated for destigmatizing mental illness and mainstreaming previously marginalized groups and behaviors.

But here is the problem: for the last several decades, America has followed these recommendations, and yet virtually every year, our suicide rate has increased by approximately 2%.

Albert Einstein is credited with saying that to continue doing more of the same thing while expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity. Perhaps it is time that society faces up to the reality that what we are doing is not working.

Just as Einstein needed to free himself from the dictum that time is a universal constant, perhaps we need to free ourselves from the notion that societys unquestioning forward momentum will inevitably lead us to a better world.

Have we built a world that is unlivable? Will continuing down this same road lead us further from sanity? Are those taking their own lives really the sensitive ones  our canaries in the coal mine?

One of western medicines most powerful tools for studying disease is to use an animal model. But in the realm of suicide this method breaks down. There is no animal model of suicide because humans alone are unique in this behavior. Since the dawn of time, no zebra has ever woken up and said, To heck with it. Today I will not run from the lion.

As a result of this phenomenon, the concept of faith was introduced to those of us who attended medical school several decades ago as we studied suicide. This happened even though most of my professors and students like me (at the time) were atheists. Why? Because since Emile Durkheims 1897 study of suicide, it has been known that people who have a committed belief in God are four to six times less likely to die by suicide than atheists. In medical school, I was taught that humans are a combination of mind, body, and soul; today, discussion of the soul has been subtracted.

Recently, I submitted an op-ed for Suicide Prevention Week to my citys newspaper. It ended as follows: Society can continue to try and prevent suicide by doing more of what is not working. But I believe it is time to start allowing things like faith, God, love, and even the concept of suicide as a moral wrong back into our approach to suicide prevention.

The editor responded, Just read through the op-ed, and the only problem is at the end, where he brings up suicide as a moral wrong. Apparently, in our brave new world, suicide as a moral wrong is news unfit to print.

Canceling classes is fine, but our suicide problem is much bigger than a day off can solve. Perhaps living in age where a physician can no longer express the opinion that suicide is morally wrong is one of the reasons our countrys youth are deciding that life is not worth living.
We must never get used to the new cultural craziness

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In their landmark 1990 book After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90's, gay strategists Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen laid out a brilliant plan for changing American attitudes towards homosexuality. They stated that to desensitize straights to gays and gayness, inundate them in a continuous flood of gay-related advertising, presented in the least offensive fashion possible. If straights cant shut off the shower, they may at least eventually get used to being wet.

Looking back from the vantage point of 2021, we can now say that this was not a matter of shutting off a shower and thereby getting wet. It was a matter of not shutting off a continual downpour, thereby getting soaked. And the soaking continues by the hour, with transgender taking the place of gay in the bombardment.

Thats why it is imperative that we refuse to get used to this new normal.

It is not normal. It will never be normal. And we must not accept it as normal.

It violates natural law and it violates Gods design for humanity. Surely, He has a better way.

Last week, I was looking at the CDCs official Coronavirus Self-Checker website seeing what steps they recommended for checking yourself for COVID (which I did not have, for the record).

After filling out my name and age on the site, I scrolled to the next box, which asked, What sex were you assigned at birth, on your original birth certificate?

Yes, this is the level of cultural craziness to which we have descended. The radical idea of having your sex assigned at birth is now considered normal (as opposed to the obvious pronouncement of, Its a boy! or Its a girl!). Since people can actually change the sex on their birth certificate, you must be asked for the data on your original birth certificate. As Ive asked countless times before, what kind of madness is this?

The CDC is asking these questions because there are biological differences between men and women. And in many cases, those biological differences are of great medical importance.

Today, however, even to ask the question, Are you male or female? is to walk into a cultural minefield.

We must not get used to this or accept it as normal. Ever.

Years ago, when doing research for A Queer Thing Happened to America, I first came across the concept of having your gender assigned at birth, as if it was the arbitrary decision of the doctor, as in: Lets assign this kid to be male. (We are not talking here about less than 1 percent of the population that is intersex but about obvious, undeniable males and females.)

As I wrote back in the book, First, the concept of having multiple gender identities is now acceptable (which means that you might consider yourself male and female and even something else, not biologically but psychologically). Second, it is now widely accepted in many LGBT circles that you are not born male or female but you are assigned a gender at birth (by society, through the medium of your parents and the doctors). There is even a regulation concerning this in the San Francisco Unified School Policy: Transgender students shall not be forced to use the locker room corresponding to their gender assigned at birth.

Many readers shook their heads in disbelief when reading this, thinking. This will never become mainstream.

Well, think again. Mainstream it is.

The next box on the CDC website asked, How do you currently describe yourself?, offering four choices: Male, Female, Transgender, I Prefer Not to Say.

And why does the CDC even need to know this? How will this help you self-check for the Coronavirus?

Yesterday, my wife, Nancy, was looking for nutritional information about vegetables, which linked her to the well-known Living Strong website. There, on a page dealing with health and nutrition, she read, The number of servings of vegetables you need depends on your age and sex assigned at birth, according to the USDA.

Even Living Strong cannot simply say, Your sex, since sex is now as malleable as your mind. As for your sex assigned at birth, it appears to have some importance after all. Otherwise, why even refer to it anymore.

To say it again, we must not accept this as normal. Ever.

What about the latest news concerning Richard Rachel Levine? He has now been promoted to four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, earning praise from outlets like the Washington Post, which celebrated the organizations first-ever female four-star admiral.

Except that Levine is a biological male who identifies as female. Yet this is somehow a breakthrough for women? Isnt it really a slap in the face of other women, since the first female to reach this rank is not a female at all?

Sorry, but I refuse to accept this as the new normal, let alone celebrate this as some kind of big moment for women. Not a chance.

Even more seriously, parents are still reeling over the news that Loudon County School officials allegedly covered up the rape of a girl in what should have been the privacy of a school bathroom, all for the cause of transgender activism.

As reported by the Daily Wire, On June 22, Scott Smith was arrested at a Loudoun County, Virginia, school board meeting, a meeting that was ultimately deemed an unlawful assembly after many attendees vocally opposed a policy on transgender students.

What people did not know is that weeks prior on May 28, Smith says, a boy allegedly wearing a skirt entered a girls bathroom at nearby Stone Bridge High School, where he sexually assaulted Smiths 9th grade daughter.

Yet it was Smiths outrage when others did not believe his report that drew the attention of our government, with Attorney General Merrick Garland calling in the FBI to investigate parents like Scott Smith as potential domestic terrorists. We must not accept this as normal!

And what about describing women as non-prostate owners, since all other descriptions have either become ambiguous or are deemed bigoted? There is no way we can accept this as normal, just like we cannot accept chestfeeding displacing breastfeeding or agree with the idea that some men menstruate. Never!

Things have actually become so extreme that Bari Weiss, a liberal feminist married to her female partner, is calling out todays cultural craziness, saying to Brian Stelter on CNN, Well, you know, when you have the chief reporter on the beat of COVID for The New York Times talking about how questioning or pursuing the question of the lab leak is racist, the world has gone mad.

When you're not able to say out loud and in public that there are differences between men and women, the world has gone mad.

When we're not allowed to acknowledge that rioting is rioting, and it is bad, and that silence is not violence, but violence is violence, the world has gone mad.

Very well said!

The world has gone mad, which is why I continue to use scare quotes when referring to gay marriage, not to insult gay couples, but to refuse to accept this as marriage.

And thats why, as much as there were other things I would rather write about, yet again, I needed to raise my voice.

I urge you, my friend. Do not accept this as normal.
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In our age of historical revisionism, the city officials in New York City have set their sights on a statue of our third president, Thomas Jefferson. This is a statue that has been in City Hall since 1833. It was moved about 80 years ago to the actual chamber where the business of the city is conducted.

"Jefferson Statue Will Be Removed From N.Y.C. Council Chambers," declaresTheNew York Times. The story notes: "Black, Latino and Asian City Council members who find the sculpture oppressive and racist may finally win a two-decade fight to remove it from their chamber."

The city's Public Design Commission unanimously voted Monday to remove the statue.

The Times notes, Though Jefferson, one of the nations founding fathers, wrote about equality in the Declaration of Independence, he enslaved more than 600 people and fathered six children with one of them, Sally Hemings.

Of course, there is no justification from a moral and biblical perspective for slavery. Sadly, Thomas Jefferson was born into the tradition of slavery. He did not free his own slaves, even though as a younger man, he did make some attempts to fight it.

Also, there are some who doubt that the DNA testing proved that Thomas was the Jefferson who had children with Sally Hemings.

When Jefferson wrote his first draft of the Declaration of Independence, it contained a strong denunciation of slavery and of the colonists attempt to at least stop the slave trade. A measure that King George vetoed.

Unfortunately, this slavery passage from the Declaration got cut so that all the members of the Continental Congress could unanimously agree on independence.

In my humble opinion, the most enduring legacy of Jefferson is that he helped set the framework by which the slaves could be free one day. As the author of the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, he made it clear that our rights come from the Creator.

Abraham Lincoln was greatly inspired by the truths of the Declaration of Independence. When he delivered his Gettysburg Address, the four score and seven years ago refers to the Declaration of Independence. To paraphrase Lincoln, America in 1863 was now poised in this great conflict to make those words of Jefferson apply to all  that all men are created equal.

Dr. Mark Beliles is a minister in the Charlottesville area. After the melee in his city in 2017, he and a black minister teamed up to create Healing4Charlottesville.

Several years ago, Beliles and I joined forces to write a book on the faith (or lack thereof) of our third president, Doubting Thomas (MorganJames 2014). The book makes two main points: Jefferson was not a lifelong skeptic, and he didnt believe in the separation of God and state.

I asked Beliles, president of the America Transformation Company, for a comment about this plan to remove the Jefferson statue in NYC. He told me that we find this statue-removal phenomenon in areas dominated by the Left, not the Right: It is purely a partisan effort to appease radical elements in their party and get or maintain votes.

Beliles noted, But the whole reasoning is hypocritical since that very party was the one that defended slavery, and gave birth to segregation, Jim Crow, lynchings, and the Ku Klux Klan and erected all the Confederate statues. Never did the Republican Party advocate those things.

Beliles observes the irony in all this: Furthermore, the reasoning for removing these statues is flawed because it requires alignment by historical persons to majority standards that did not exist in their era, and it has no logical end since there will always be found flaws in human leaders.

Beliles adds, There is no way to have a unified social identity as a nation with this flawed standard. In reality, it is a tool of disunion used by Marxists to undermine unity in culture and create an environment for revolution. It must be resisted.

Jarrett Stepman, a writer and commentator with the Heritage Foundation, wrote a book, The War on History. In reference to this NYC-Jefferson controversy, he told me: "Thomas Jefferson was a great man and great American whose words and accomplishments have been a stumbling block to tyrants for the past two centuries.That the New York City Council even considers removing his statue from city hall is an indictment on New York's political leaders, not Jefferson."

If only perfect people can have their statues remain, then how many statues can there be? In fact, the only perfect human being who ever lived was Jesus Christ. And yet just the other week a statue of Him was desecrated outside of a church in the greater Miami area.

In this removal of Jeffersons statue in New York City, the Marxist war on America as founded goes on unabated.
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A favorite argument of those trying to push the boundaries of Christian ethics is an argument from silence. It usually goes something like this: Jesus never talked about [insert issue], so that means He doesnt care.

However, arguments from silence are a type of logical fallacy. The lack of evidence for something does not mean the gaps in our knowledge should be filled with assumptions. Furthermore, every parent who has heard their child say, You didnt see me do it, understands that those who depend most heavily on a lack of proof might not be prioritizing the truth.

When it comes to the Christian life, arguments from silence are more than just sloppy thinking. They might also be evidence of a heart that is more interested in getting its own way than trying to live Gods way.

Fundamental to the Gospel is the idea of submission. Paul expressed this attitude when he wrote, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20, ESV).

When we justify our morally questionable decisions with an argument from silence, we put the cart before the horse. Our goal should not be to do whatever we want until someone says, No, but to affirmatively look for ways to honor God with our lives.

Instead of asking, Is it okay if I do this? we should be asking, Does God want me to do this?

The first instinct of a life surrendered to God is to find out what He wants, not to see if we can justify doing what we want. As Christians, everything we do should be viewed through the lens of honoring God. As Paul said, [W]hatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Col. 3:17).

The instinct to see what we can get away with is evidence that we dont always want God to be in charge. We want Him to supervise and provide help when needed, but mostly we want Him to help us have fun. In his book The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis described that view of God in this way:

"We want, in fact, not so much a father in heaven as a grandfather in heavena senile benevolence who, as they say, liked to see young people enjoying themselves and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, a good time was had by all.

The God of the Bible demands daily submission for His glory and our pleasure because He loves us and understands that our sinful desires promise joy and satisfaction but deliver neither.

Even Jesus, who is fully God and an equal member of the Trinity, was primarily focused on what God the Father wanted Him to do. As Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise (John 5:19).

It is folly to build our moral view of the world around what Jesus did not talk explicitly about. After all, Jesus didnt say anything specifically about sexual assault or flying planes into skyscrapers, yet we can still know what God thinks about them. As Christians, our desire should be to think biblically about everything. Even though the Bible doesnt provide explicit instructions on every issue or question we may encounter in life, the answers are not difficult to find if we actually want to find them.

When considering what Jesus said and thinks, our attitude makes all the difference. Any time we find ourselves saying, Jesus didnt say you cant is a good time to take inventory of our motives and make sure that we are really wanting what God wants and not merely trying to justify doing what we want.

Originally published at the Family Research Council.
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I am overwhelmed, I had no idea, an emotional William Shatner told Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos. I am so filled with emotion at what just happened, its extraordinary. I hope I never recover, that I can maintain what I feel now. I dont want to lose it. Its so much larger than me and life.

Before being interrupted by Jeff Bezos champagne antics, William Shatner went into a very profound reflection on what he witnessed by being the oldest man in history to go into space last week, and yet I was struck by both the depth of what he had to say and the emptiness of what he had to say.

One of the few positive headlines these last few days have been about Captain Kirk from Star Trek lore becoming an actual space-traveling legend, and as a huge William Shatner fan myself, I was caught up in the excitement and euphoria of the moment. In following Shatners career and interviews over the years, I know he has been contemplating his mortality and the meaning of life for some time now. I was curious to hear how this moment of getting a view of our planet and the cosmos  which only a select few have experienced in all human history  has impacted what he believes and how he sees the world. Clearly, this moment has impacted Shatner and many of his words were moving, but I also was disappointed with what he didnt say.

The vulnerability of everything, its just so small, Shatner exclaimed to Bezos, and he proceeded to talk about how incredible the thin atmosphere that makes life even possible on our planet is. He also spoke about how much a miracle our planet and the life on it is. Shatner is right, our planet is precious, vulnerable and the various factors that are so intricately balanced should bring wonder and awe to all of us, but not to our planet itself  or to ourselves, or to nature itself  but rather to the Creator who displays His power and wisdom through all that has been made. The heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1).

The cosmos is telling us that there is a God, and the truth is, deep down, we all instinctively know that. The choice we must make is whether we will acknowledge what is clearly seen or choose to be illogical about what space tells us. There is nothing more illogical than choosing to believe all of life and the universe are the results of an unguided natural process. What would Spock say?

This is life and thats death, in an instant, you go, woah that was death! Shatner said to one of the wealthiest men on the planet. One of the biggest takeaways from what affected Shatner the most from his brief trip to the stars was the realization that within seconds of seeing blue and life, his spacecraft was immersed into the darkness and lifelessness of space. It made him wonder if that contrast is what it will be like to go from life to death.

Is that how it works? All of us wonder about it. All of us are curious about what lies beyond the grave, and all of us do our best to ignore the inevitability of facing the great unknowns of death.

Yet, the Bible tells us that all of us also have an inner longing for more than being puffed out of existence after a handful of years. We search for meaning in our existence. We yearn for unfailing love, and we live in fear of death. God has set eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11) because we were made in His image and we will live forever. However, the only question is whether we live forever with Him or apart from Him. We can face death with dread or we can face it with hope, which every person who trusts in Jesus Christ personally gets to experience. There is a light in the darkness of death because of an empty tomb 2,000 years ago. Death doesnt have to be bleak or hopeless or final. Death doesnt have the last word.

Mr. Shatner emerged from his trip to space with a sense of urgency and a reminder for all of us down here to remember how fragile our planet is. But what Id add is that we should remember that life on this planet is a miraculous gift that is only possible because of the sustaining power of God, and our response to the gift of existence should be to worship Him, to love Him, and to love each other.

Human beings have always had the curiosity to look up and marvel at the wonders of the universe. But those wonders are meant to point the way to knowing a wondrous God, and it would be a tragic shame to fail to recognize the cosmic directional signs pointing toward Him. As Isaac Newton once said, The most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being. The same intelligent and powerful being who arrayed the innumerable stars and galaxies in the heavens knows you by name and He has it engraved on the nail-scarred hands with which He willingly offered his life as a sacrifice.

The real wonder is not even in the cosmos  it's that the One who made the cosmos cares about you and me. Im happy for you, Mr. Shatner, that you got to go up to space. Im glad there were no gremlins outside the window (I had to insert a Twilight Zone reference somewhere). My heart was moved at the words you had to say about what you saw and how it impacted you. My hope and prayer for you are that you reflect on the meaning behind the miracle.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has been a thorn in the side of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top epidemiologist, as Paul has insisted that Covid-19 was created from a lab in Wuhan, China, despite not having definitive proof. But Fauci is steadfast in his denial that the National Institutes of Health knowingly funded gain-of-function research on viruses that could have created Covid-19, telling George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, It is molecularly impossible for those viruses that were worked on to turn into Covid-19.

Paul claimed when Fauci testified before Congress in July that NIH funded gain-of-function research that would increase a viruss transmissibility to humans. And in an interview with Axios set to air Sunday night, Paul reiterated that claim and said Fauci should be fired for lack of judgment.

Hes probably never going to admit that he lied, Paul said of Fauci. Hes going to continue to dissemble and try to work around the truth and massage the truth.

I obviously totally disagree with Senator Paul, Fauci told George Stephanopoulos on Sundays ABC This Week. Hes absolutely incorrect. Neither I nor Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the NIH, lied or misled about what weve done.

The NIH sent a letter to Congress last week describing an unexpected result from research by EcoHealth Alliance that made a bat coronavirus more transmissible, but, according to Fauci, that was not the goal of the research, and it would have been molecularly impossible for that particular virus to turn into Covid-19.

I obviously totally disagree with Senator Paul. He's absolutely incorrect. Neither I nor Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the NIH, lied or misled about what weve done, Dr. Anthony Fauci tells @GStephanopoulos in response to NIH letter on Wuhan lab. https://t.co/8mPfMgivjt pic.twitter.com/YUCB6ihFiF  This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 24, 2021

Fauci, who has been targeted by the right since the start of the pandemic when he dared contradict Trump, continued by explaining the funding that went to the Wuhan Institute of Virology was conducted with strict oversight. Additionally, NIH said in the letter that it did not know about gain-of-function in that study because EcoHealth did not report out those results until this past August, after Fauci testified to Congress in July. But, according to Vanity Fair, EcoHealth says it reported this to NIH in 2018.

The research was very strictly under what we call a framework of oversight of the type of research, and under those conditions which we have explained very, very clearly, does not constitute research of gain of function of concern, Fauci said.

He added, Theres all of this concern about whats gain of function or whats not, with the implication that that research led to SARS-CoV-2, and Covid-19, which, George, unequivocally anything that knows anything about viral biology and phylogeny of viruses know that it is molecularly impossible for those viruses that were worked on to turn into SARS-CoV-2 because they were distant enough molecularly that no matter what you did to them, they could never, ever become SARS-CoV-2.
MORRISVILLE, N.C. (AP)  A Frontier Airlines flight from Norfolk, Virginia, to Orlando made an emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport due to fumes or an odor in the cabin, officials said.

News outlets report that all 102 passengers and crew were evacuated safely on Saturday, but one passenger was taken to WakeMed, RDU said in a statement.
MECHANICVILLE, N.Y. (AP)  A furry, four-legged scourge is wreaking havoc on a Hudson Valley town's water supply, forcing local officials to scramble to keep up.

The culprits are a family of beavers that has been building dams near Mechanicville, impeding the flow of water from the primary stream that empties into the small reservoir the town depends on for drinking water.

I wouldnt call it a fight. I call it a very challenging opponent and we play a game of chess, Mechanicville Public Works Commissioner Anthony Gotti told the Albany Times-Union. I take his dam down. Ive got to figure out where he goes next.

Towns like Mechanicville, about 20 miles up the Hudson River from Albany, don't have the luxury of relying on large reservoirs fed by numerous tributaries. That has made the problem more pressing, as beavers are capable of building a dam in as little as two nights that can slow water flow and create algae in the reservoir.

The challenge is complicated by the fact that the dams, which consist of tightly-wound branches secured by mud and leaves, usually must be removed by hand since work crews can't bring heavy equipment into the forest without building a road, the Times-Union reported.

The beaver became New York state's official mammal in the 1970s and was once nearly extinct. It is a protected species that has made a comeback and is celebrated for its positive effect in creating wetland habitats.

Paul Jensen, the state Department of Environmental Conservation's regional wildlife manager, said he believes beavers that create problems with the water supply should be trapped or killed.

In these cases lethal removal of beaver is an important management tool to ensure human health and safety, he told the newspaper, adding that the state's robust beaver population wouldn't be hurt by the loss of the beavers.

Pierce Hoyt, former director of Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center, said he prefers trapping the beavers and relocating them to an area where they can build dams with no adverse effects, but acknowledged that in some cases they may need to be killed.

Other solutions include tricking the beavers by putting a pipe through a hole in the dam with screens to stop the beaver from plugging it and allowing water to flow through. But that requires a stream of a certain depth, Paul Curtis, a wildlife specialist at Cornell University, told the Times-Union.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  South Dakota lawmakers will be taking a look at a state agency that has been at the center of questions about whether Gov. Kristi Noem used her influence to aid her daughter's application for a real estate appraiser license.

At first glance, the first item of business for the Legislature's Government Operations and Audit Committee on Thursday appears routine: Department of Labor and Regulation to discuss the Appraiser Certification Program.

But it could have a big impact for the Republican governor, who has generated speculation about a possible 2024 White House bid. Noem has come under scrutiny after The Associated Press reported that she held a meeting in her office last year that included her daughter, Kassidy Peters, and the director of the Appraiser Certification Program, which had moved days earlier to deny Peters application for a license. Peters received her certification four months later.

Heres what to know about the committee's meeting:

WHO WILL BE SPEAKING?

Lawmakers have carved out a few hours in a packed schedule to hear from four people.

One is the Appraiser Certification Programs former director, Sherry Bren. She was called into the July 2020 meeting in the governor's office and was pressured to retire shortly after Peters received her license that November.

Another official slated to speak is Secretary of Labor and Regulation Marcia Hultman. She was also in the meeting and later pressured Bren to retire. Hultman has defended her actions by saying there have been positive changes at the agency since Bren left.

Lawmakers have also called the president of the state's professional appraiser association, Sandra Gresh. She has raised concerns about the new direction of the state program.

The director of the state's Office of Risk Management, Craig Ambach, also is expected to appear. His office helped negotiate a $200,000 payment to Bren for her to retire and withdraw an age discrimination complaint. Both Bren and Hultman are bound by a clause in that settlement that bans them from disparaging each other.

WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED AT THE MEETING IN NOEM'S OFFICE?

It is not entirely clear. The governor hasn't answered detailed questions about the meeting. Bren told the AP it covered the procedures for appraiser certification and that she was presented with a letter from Peters supervisor that criticized the agencys decision to deny the license.

Noem has said she didn't ask for special treatment for her daughter. She has cast the episode as yet another way she has cut the red tape" to solve a shortage of appraisers and smooth the homebuying process.

In a YouTube video responding to the AP's report, Noem pointed out that Bren had been in her position for decades, and she charged that the system was designed to benefit those who were already certified and to keep others out.

IS THERE A SHORTAGE OF APPRAISERS?

Yes. Industry experts have long said that's a problem, especially in rural states. In South Dakota, many experienced appraisers are nearing retirement age.

However, the governor's ability to streamline requirements for a license would be limited because they are mostly set at the federal level.

As governor, Noem has worked to ease licensing requirements for an array of professions. She said she had been working on appraiser regulations for years.

Asked for examples of that work prior to last year, her spokesman Ian Fury pointed out that Noem, during her eight years in Congress, twice signed onto GOP-sponsored bills that would have, among other financial reforms, adjusted federal appraiser regulations.

HOW CAN THE SHORTAGE BE SOLVED?

Since Bren's departure, Noem's administration has moved to waive certification requirements that go beyond the federal standards, such as an exam for entry-level appraisers.

But the leadership of the Professional Appraisers Association of South Dakota has raised concerns about those moves. The group says the biggest barrier to becoming an appraiser is a lack of supervisors who can train new appraisers.

Before Bren left her job, she was working to launch a first-of-its-kind program that would allow appraiser trainees to take hands-on courses and avoid the traditional apprenticeship model that has become a bottleneck. Bren helped the state win a $120,000 annual federal grant and later testified in the Legislature in support of a bill to create the training program. Noem signed it into law this year.

WHAT WILL THE COMMITTEE DO?

It's not clear. Republican lawmakers said they will start by asking about the state agency and why there are difficulties to becoming an appraiser. But they also acknowledged that the meeting was an opportunity to question the governor's conduct. Just two Democrats sit on the 10-person committee.

If lawmakers are satisfied, they could move on from the issue.

They also could decide to delve deeper. The committee has the power to subpoena witnesses and records, but that would require approval from the Executive Board, a ranking committee of top legislators.

Kathleen Clark, a law professor who specializes in government ethics at Washington University in St. Louis, said she would not be satisfied with the governor's explanation that she was simply trying to cut the red tape.

"It is conceivable that the agency processes needed improvement," she said. But the presence of the daughter and the timing of the meeting suggest that this was not a meeting aimed at improving processes in general, but instead aimed at pressuring the agency to change its mind.
Kat Becker feeds hundreds of people with the vegetables she grows on her farm, and she wants to expand.

But her ability to grow her business collides with her need for affordable health insurance and child care.

She has had to make difficult choices over the years: keep her farm income low enough so her children can qualify for the states public health insurance, or expand the farm and buy expensive private insurance. To look after her three young children, she could hire a cheap but inexperienced babysitter, or spend a significant share of her income on child care and have peace of mind that the kids are safe from dangers on the farm.

The stable choice for my children to have health insurance is an irrational choice for my farm business, she said.

As farmers continue to age and retire, the U.S. needs young farmers to take their place. The country has 3.4 million farm operators today, roughly 2% of the American population, and their average age is 58.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has made concerted efforts to help young and beginning farmers, particularly with access to farmland, credit and marketing skills. But focusing on the technical side of farming misses a fundamental fact about farms: They are inherently social entities, and their success depends upon social infrastructure as much as biophysical or financial infrastructures. Bolstering food systems resilience means supporting individuals so they can grow food.

Research indicates that health care and child care are two crucial ingredients for a successful food system.

What happens when farmers get sick?

Economists find that healthier workers are more productive, adaptable and better able to cope with stress. Farming, meanwhile, is stressful, risky and physical work.

Research found that two-thirds of farmers have a preexisting health condition, and one in three farms has a family member whose health problems make farming difficult. Farmers prioritize having health insurance  over 90% of farmers are covered  yet this number hides details that plague the entire U.S. health care system.

In addition to farming, half of all farm families have at least one adult working an additional full-time job, often primarily to get health insurance coverage. Its an affordable option, but pulls time and energy away from farm work.

Farmers in states as diverse as Mississippi, California and Nebraska have shared the lengths they have gone to stay eligible for public health insurance. In extreme cases, farmers have said they kept marriages secret. Often, farmers feel trapped: Too much income can put them over the threshold for public benefits.

Nationwide, 68% of all personal bankruptcies are connected to health and medical expenses. Such personal and financial crises can have long-term consequences for farms. One in two farm families reported that they worried they would have to sell farm assets to pay health expenses.

Farmers report that covering health care needs often means working into old age or selling land to the highest bidder. This limits access to farmland, making it even harder for young farmers to get started.

As parents across the country discovered during the pandemic, productivity can suffer when working from home with children around. Magazine and grocery store advertisements of smiling farmers posing with young children obscure the reality that farm parents are working parents who also must navigate the complex world of child care.

Growing up on a farm has many benefits for children, but farms can also be dangerous. Every day, 33 children are seriously injured in agricultural-related incidents, and every three days a child dies on a farm. Child care is rarely discussed in conversations related to farm viability and farm safety, yet it underpins the very foundation of the family farm.

In a national study of farm parents before the pandemic, researchers found that two-thirds had struggled with the cost, availability and quality of child care. Surveying farm parents during the early months of COVID-19, they found 58% reported that taking care of children became harder during the pandemic  especially for women farmers and those with children under age 6.

Women are one of the fastest-growing groups of farmers, and their role as primary caregivers influences a farms success. In research, women were almost twice as likely as men to report that child care was an important factor in farm decisions, 44% compared to 24% among men.

The majority of women farmers with child care problems operate small or medium farms and are significantly more likely to sell directly to consumers, such as at farmers markets. These findings have implications for the food system.

The Biden administrations new $1.8 trillion proposal proposal to support families and women in the workforce includes resources for child care infrastructure. These investments could also deliver much-needed support for American farm families.

Over the past 10 years, farm families have told us that public insurance options, making insurance easier for self-employed people to access, universal health insurance, and affordable rural child care would help them grow better food and stronger businesses.

These challenges parallel those faced by many Americans. Policymakers can leverage lessons from the social and economic crises triggered by COVID-19 to ensure that all Americans, including those who grow the nations food, have access to adequate and affordable health insurance and child care.

The Department of Agriculture announced on April 21 that it was beginning an effort to improve and reimagine the supply chains for food production  including meeting the need of agriculture workers and addressing the needs of mid- to small-size farms. This an opportunity to integrate health insurance and child care as core infrastructure that supports the future of farmers and rural communities, along with the U.S. food supply.
LONDON, Ky. (AP)  A federal jury last week found a former Kentucky teacher guilty of producing child pornography and cyberstalking the student he victimized, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

According to an account of events from the U.S. Attorney's Office in London, in 2018 Charles Evans Hall persuaded the child to set up a secret Snapchat account to send him sexually explicit pictures and videos. The 48-year-old Hall, who taught at Letcher Middle School in Letcher County, also physically molested the minor.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  A glass recycling plant in northeast Portland has consented to either shut down or install pollution control technology, according to an agreement announced between the plants operators and the state of Oregon.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality gave Owens-Brockway, a glass recycling facility located in Northeast Portland, two options after it reached an agreement with the company to resolve the fine of more than $1 million it issued in June. The glass plant was cited for multiple, ongoing air quality violations of particulate matter emissions as well as permitted opacity.

The best thing Owens-Brockway could do to come into compliance and protect the community is to install pollution controls, DEQs Northwest Region Administrator Nina DeConcini said in a press release statement. And if the facility decides to install pollution controls, this agreement requires they demonstrate that the controls achieve a 95% reduction in particulate matter emissions.

Under the agreement, Owens-Brockway must either submit a permit application to install pollution controls by June 30, 2022 or shut down. If the company decides to install pollution control technology, it would have to do so within 18 months of DEQ approval of the application.

DEQ spokesperson Lauren Wirtis said the fine will also be reduced from the original $1.03 million to $661,756 because of the facilitys commitment to install controls. But Owens-Brockway will be required to create a supplemental environmental project. Those are projects that would benefit the environment and the health of surrounding communities like, improving air or water quality or reducing hazardous waste, as a condition of the reduced fine.

We are requiring that Owens-Brockway spend over $500,000 of the penalty on one or more projects that will provide air quality benefits to the surrounding community, she told Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Cully residents and environmental organizations, like Verde, have been asking federal and state regulators for stricter air quality enforcement for the facility. Recently, Earthjustice, a public-interest environmental law organization, conducted an air modeling study that found the agency was emitting harmful pollutants to surrounding neighborhoods, including Cully.

Wirtis said although this enforcement is only tied to particulate matter and opacity limits, the facility is not exempt from other state programs, like Cleaner Air Oregon and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, that will address other pollutants like the ones Earthjustice found in their air modeling study.

This a huge step in the path forward for our community, Verdes energy, climate and transportation program coordinator Sergio Lopez said. Theres still more work to do and the fight for good continues. Thank you to the many organizations, community partners and community members whose advocacy, engagement, and organizing pushed this agreement forward. Together we can hold polluters accountable.

Jim Woods, a spokesperson for Owens-Brockway which is owned by Owens-Illinois, Inc., said the parties reached an agreement to resolve the matter after engaging in amicable discussions with DEQ. He said under the terms of the agreement Owens-Illinois can submit plans for future proposals related to this facility by next June.

DEQ is still revising Owens-Brockways air quality permit and evaluating its emissions through Cleaner Air Oregon and other national air quality standards programs.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP)  Members of a Bismarck-based North Dakota National Guard unit who were called to active duty in Washington, D.C. late last year were recognized Sunday at a homecoming ceremony.

Seventy soldiers with Company C, 2nd Battalion of the 285th Aviation Regiment were deployed last November to the the nations capital. The unit flies the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and was called up to transport personnel and light cargo within whats known as the National Capital Region.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Authorities have identified the 21-year-old man who was shot and killed in northeast Des Moines Friday morning.

Police said Sunday that Kalvyn Roy Kline was killed in the shooting. A day earlier, police said 27-year-old Darren Antwon Diggs had been charged with first-degree murder and robbery in connection with the shooting.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP)  Cheyennes Central High School theater program is returning in full capacity with a surprisingly relevant and intimate production of Typhoid Mary.

The play tells the story of Mary Mallon, an Irish cook who immigrated to America in the early 1900s while unknowingly serving as a carrier of the disease typhoid. The story begins after Mary has already infected and killed several people with her cooking, but still she refuses to be vaccinated or studied by scientists who offer to help her.

Choosing a play with such a relevant premise was entirely intentional, but director Jeremiah Kolkman isnt looking to take sides, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports.

If the audience walks out of here thinking that they were able to relate to this because of current events as they are, thats great, Kolkman said. If audience members are walking out of here disgusted because they dont like the differences of religion and science, thats great. I just want them walking out of here thinking about it.

While the director chose the play for its relevance, the production remains bipartisan. It presents the situation from a variety of different perspectives. Mary and her husband struggle through religious reconciliation, while the two scientists throughout the production face conflict in their field.

I thought it was appropriate that this play kind of mirrors what were probably all going through in some way, shape or form, Kolkman said. Whether those who believe it or not, those who are strong against it or not, it takes in both religion and science and mixes those two together.

The play is somewhat complex for a high school production. Although the dialogue isnt difficult, it is a largely serious narrative dealing with lofty themes and tormented performances based on historical events, with sparse comedic moments in between.

Kolkman, as well as co-director Audrey Mayfield, are largely satisfied with their students performances, even noting that rehearsals have brought on happy accidents, where the cast came up with better ways to perform a scene on the fly.

Really, everything the directors do is for their students, they say.

What were doing is all for them, Kolkman said. They love to do this. This is an avenue for students to do something else that they havent been able to do traditionally in a while.

The last time Cheyenne Central held a full production was in the fall of 2019. Coming off of doing one-act plays and 10-minute musicals has created a bit of difficulty for the cast members.

Despite some challenges, Whitney Brooks, a senior at Central, is happy with the progress she and the rest of the cast have been making.

I think weve all missed it so much that (performing) is just really nice. Were all super excited to get back into it again, Brooks said.

Being able to do a full production allows for the cast to better explore their respective characters and tell a more complex story. Typhoid Mary is a play with little action, and features just a six-person cast, giving each actor plenty of room to work with their performances.

Brooks has been cast in every production since she was a freshman, and was playing the main character in productions as early as her sophomore year. This time around, shes having to work with a character that presents a unique challenge.

Its been a bit different for me, because my character is 8 years old, Brooks said. Having to think about how to be childish, but not cartoonish, has been one of the stress points for me. Just trying to think about what role my character plays and what her purpose is has been most helpful for me.

The strong point of the production for Brooks has been its intimacy. The opportunity to present its character-driven performances helps her form bonds with her other cast members in a relatively low-stress environment.

Julia Steele, a senior and veteran of Centrals theater program, echoes a similar satisfaction with making human connections with not only her cast mates, but the audience, as well.

With a big cast, you can have this great big, extravagant production, choreography and all these different moving parts, Steele said. With a really small cast, creating very intimate moments between the whole entire cast is a lot easier than with a big production.

Steele is certainly undergoing an introspective process in preparing for her lead role as Mary Mallon, or Typhoid Mary. She was forced to reflect on feelings instilled by COVID-19 and how she has seen her community respond to the virus.

In a sense, she hasnt really prepared for how to portray Marys mindset; it is one that she has developed from what shes seen in the news and experienced for more than a year now.

I think that doing this production really shows that the type of attitude that has been taken by some people is not a unique one, Steele said. Its had devastating consequences in the past, and its still having devastating consequences now.

Because Mallon was a real person, finding her character was easier than many of her past performances, Steele said. She is also thankful that it isnt a musical, as singing adds a layer of difficulty to any performance.

Besides that, Steele has her work cut out for her.

Steele does not leave the stage for the entire production, as the majority of the play follows Marys interactions with others in the pursuit of understanding her condition.

Even though she doesnt personally know anyone who has died from COVID-19, she has heard plenty of stories from friends and family, and for this reason, she wants to make her performance as impactful as possible. To evoke genuine emotion out of the audience, to create sympathy for Mary, is her ultimate goal.

I really want people just to sit back, think about the current state of our world and how it connects to Marys story, and possibly what changes they can make to better our world and protect other people, Steele said.
With Pope John Paul II, the meeting stretched 45 minutes, frequently interrupted by aides who were brushed aside by a pontiff interested in talking to a 37-year-old senator named Joe Biden. With Pope Benedict XVI, there was a long discussion of whether politicians should impose their beliefs on others when it comes to church doctrine, an exchange Biden described as "like going to theology class."

But it is with Pope Francis - the longtime Jesuit priest Biden will see Friday in a historic encounter at the Vatican - that Biden shares the deepest bond. It was Francis who comforted the Biden family in 2015 after Biden's son Beau died. It was Francis who met privately with Biden to talk about cancer research. And it was Francis whose photo Biden has displayed prominently in the Oval Office.

Biden's meeting with the Pope in the Vatican, shortly before he heads off to a pair of international summits, will carry deep political, religious and symbolic significance, as the nation's second Catholic president greets the worldwide leader of the Catholic Church.

But the resonance is also personal, given the similarities between the 84-year-old pope and the 78-year-old president, who have in a sense become allies. Both attained ultimate leadership late in their lives and quickly moved in a liberal direction. They have faced internal resistance; both are treated warily by conservative American bishops.

"Both could have become pope or president earlier, but it didn't work out," said John Carr, founder of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University. "Both were written off, Biden in the campaign and Bergoglio before the conclave, and both were surprises." (Francis's given name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio.)

Carr added that Biden and Francis "now are in a position to act on what they believe. But they both also have a lot of the same adversaries."

Biden and Francis are each fighting to change a culture after a predecessor they regarded as rigid and insufficiently inclusive, igniting angry opposition that is proving perhaps more potent than they may have anticipated.

"They have in common that it has become visibly harder for them to keep together their people," said Massimo Faggioli, a Villanova University theology professor and author of "Joe Biden and Catholicism in the United States."

"There is a culture of deep suspicion against the leader," Faggioli said. "It's no longer 'I don't agree with him but he's my pope anyway' or 'I don't agree with him but he's my president anyway.' It's no longer like that for many people. So they understand each other on that, I think."

That does not mean the two leaders will see eye-to-eye on everything. Their meeting is likely to showcase common ground on climate change, poverty and covid-19. But some experts expect Francis to urge the United States to do more on vaccine distribution to poor countries, and Biden could also face criticism of his administration's chaotic exit from Afghanistan.

The meeting also comes at a time of dissension among American Catholic leaders. Biden's election last year triggered a dispute among church officials over whether Communion should be granted to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.

"The Catholic Church in this country has never been as divided as it is right now, and the meeting is going to be put in terms of this division in the American church," said Father Gerald P. Fogarty, a longtime religious studies professor at the University of Virginia.

The closest parallel to Friday's meeting may be President John Kennedy's visit with Pope Paul VI in July 1963. Kennedy, the nation's first Catholic president, was sensitive to political attacks that he would answer to the pope rather than the American people. Biden has not faced the same degree of open prejudice from non-Catholics.

He is perhaps the most religiously observant president in decades, one who rarely misses Mass, often quotes scripture and clutches rosary beads ahead of key decisions. He was educated by nuns at Catholic schools, and several times in his life considered entering the priesthood.

But Biden's positions have also at times been at odds with Catholic teaching, contradicting its stances with his early support for same-sex marriage and his embrace of abortion rights.

He has on occasion lost his temper with those who point out such discrepancies. "The next Republican that tells me I'm not religious, I'm going to shove my rosary down their throat," he said in 2005.

Some Catholics' distrust of Francis comes partly from the same American bishops who have questioned whether Biden should be granted Communion.

Just after Biden's election, the leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declared his abortion policies a "problem" for a Mass-going Catholic, and a proposal was made to create a document on the purpose of the Eucharist, or Holy Communion, the consecrated host that represents the body of Christ and is one of the most sacred sacraments in Christianity.

The bishops next month will vote on a proposed document on the meaning of the Eucharist, but after a furor the chair of the committee that wrote the draft document has said it will not mention Biden, abortion or the role of public figures.

Amendments can be added up until the last minute, however, and the floor will be open to debate among the bishops. Some may press for at least a mention that canon law forbids Communion to people who are "conscious of serious sin."

Francis weighed in last month on the debate over granting Communion to politicians who support abortion rights, advising that bishops should be "pastors, and not go condemning."

"There's a fundamentally fractured relationship between the Vatican and the U.S. bishops," Faggioli said. "And Joe Biden is in the middle."

Dramatic statements about the church, or the debate about serving Communion, are unlikely to emerge from the session, but the meeting itself will carry a good deal of symbolism.

"Not many words are needed when you have such a stage as the Vatican where the event is the message," Faggioli said. "The audience, with the blessing and so on, will be more than enough as a message."

Stylistically, both men pride themselves on shrugging off the trappings of power. "Francis himself is a kind of middle-class, regular parish priest. He doesn't take himself overly seriously," said Ken Hackett, a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican who accompanied Biden to a meeting with Francis in 2016. Biden, he said, may be more comfortable with this pope than with many of the American bishops.

While many Catholics who meet the pope kiss his ring, that is unlikely in Biden's case, who is visiting as a head of state and has himself eschewed that practice.

In his 2007 memoir, Biden recalled that when he told his mother he was going to meet the queen of England, she advised him not to bow despite the protocol. "When I told her I was going to see the Pope, it was 'Don't you kiss his ring,' " Biden added. " 'Remember, Joey,' she'd say, 'you're a Biden. Nobody is better than you. You're not better than anybody else, but nobody is any better than you.'"

Biden did avoid bowing to the queen on his recent visit to London, creating a bit of a stir among British observers. But when it comes to ring-kissing, Francis himself has not always appeared to enjoy the ritual, creating international headlines when he at times withdrew his hand from worshipers in 2019 (the Vatican later said it was simply a matter of not wanting to spread germs).

Biden's first papal encounter came with Pope John Paul II in 1980, when the pontiff invited him after the senator wrote a paper examining the likely impact on Poland if the Soviet bloc were to collapse.

"The Vatican secretary of state's office was very ornate, but the Pope's private library was very different," Biden told the News Journal, a Delaware newspaper, in 2005. "His desk was a plain oak desk with an oak cross, and he sat in a well-used oak chair that looked like something you might pick up at the auction in Dover."

Biden spent 45 minutes with the pope, who several times waved away aides when they knocked on the door to end the meeting. John Paul, Biden recalled in an interview with the Dialog, the diocesan newspaper in Wilmington, Del., remarked several times about his youth. "He kept kidding me about how young I am," said Biden, who was 37 at the time.

Biden met John Paul several more times, but the next extensive sit-down with a pope came when he was vice president and met with Benedict in 2011. He later told the Jesuit publication America that they had discussed Catholic doctrine and whether it should be imposed on everyone, particularly when it comes to issues like abortion.

"It was like going back to theology class," Biden recalled in the 2015 interview. "And by the way, he wasn't judgmental. He was open. I came away enlivened from the discussion."

Still, in that same interview, he expressed far greater enthusiasm for Francis, saying, "I am so excited about this pope ... the thing that I think is so electric about the holy father is that he's taking it all back to what my dad would say: We have an obligation to fight against the abuse of power."

He has restated that affection for Francis over the years. "We have a good one now," Biden said in 2015, holding up a Washington Post article that detailed Francis's encyclical on the environment.

"I love that guy," he added in 2016 on MSNBC, responding to Francis's criticism of Trump's immigration proposals.

Their relationship deepened during Francis's trip to the United States in 2015, when Biden accompanied him at multiple stops and displayed his usual chatty manner. "He was just joking all the time. It was a very comfortable thing - casual, backslapping stuff," Hackett recalled. "He wasn't slapping the pope's back, but it was like that. Very easygoing."

As the vice president saw the pope off at Philadelphia International Airport, Biden later said, Francis asked to meet with Biden's family, who had lost Beau a few months earlier. "I wish every grieving parent, brother, sister, mother, father, would have the benefit of his words, his prayers, his presence," Biden said in a speech. "He provided us with more comfort than even he, I think, will understand."

The first U.S. president to meet with a sitting pope was Woodrow Wilson in 1919, although the visit, at the request of a top aide who was Catholic, did not go well, according to contemporary accounts. Wilson, the son of a Presbyterian minister, initially balked at receiving a traditional blessing from Pope Benedict XV - then rejected the pontiff's peace plan.

Perhaps the most closely watched meeting, however, came in July 1963, when the first Catholic U.S. president was greeted by newly elected Pope Paul VI. Kennedy did not kiss the pope's ring, instead shaking his hand.

Visits became more regular after President Ronald Reagan established diplomatic relations with the Vatican in 1984 (although two years prior, during a meeting with Pope John Paul II after little sleep, Reagan noticeably nodded off).

The encounters have at times been tense, especially if a pontiff's humanitarian message collides with a given president's agenda. Pope Benedict XVI, for example, questioned President George W. Bush on the Iraq War.

Biden has always made a point of bringing family members to his papal visits - his mother in 1995, his sister Val in 2013, and his son Hunter in 2016. The pope typically gives a blessing and a gift, and Biden this time is expected to provide a gift to the pope in turn.

"I would counsel give something simple and small," Hackett said. "The pope just doesn't go for the silver sword or the emerald whatever. That doesn't go over with this guy."

When Biden attended Francis's installation as pope in 2013, he said the pontiff sought to convey a newly open approach by the Vatican.

"When I greeted him, he said, 'Mr. Vice President, you're always welcome here,' " Biden recalled later. "He was really sending a message to the world, to put out a welcome sign on the front door of our church."
A pickup truck is pictured after driving over an unoccupied blue tent at a homeless encampment at Thunder Bays County Fair mall. It was an extreme sign of the frustration felt on all sides of Thunder Bays growing issues around homelessness, addiction and mental health. The Citys efforts to help are often met by uninformed criticism.
A. A sales tax would have meant visitors contributed to repaving.

B. We already are taxed too much.

C. Money for repaving should be put into the county's annual operational budget.

C. The road resurfacing program is behind schedule so the county needs to act ASAP.

Vote

View Results
Florida, FL (34429)

Today

Considerable cloudiness. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 76F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low around 60F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Here is an overview of the main ways Lebanese nationals can pursue immigration to Canada.

Canadian Immigration Options for Lebanese Skilled Workers Here is an overview of the main ways Lebanese nationals can pursue immigration to Canada.

Canadian Immigration Options for Lebanese Skilled Workers Here is an overview of the main ways Lebanese nationals can pursue immigration to Canada.

Canadian Immigration Options for Lebanese Skilled Workers Here is an overview of the main ways Lebanese nationals can pursue immigration to Canada. Kareem El-Assal Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

Sans Font Size A

A

Canada has a proud and rich tradition of welcoming immigrants from Lebanon.

Lebanese immigration to Canada began in 1882 and today there are up to 400,000 people of Lebanese origin estimated to live in Canada. Lebanese-Canadians have gone on to hold prominent roles in many jobs, such as politicians, business people, athletes, academics, and actors.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Canada was welcoming an average of 1,800 new immigrants from Lebanon each year. Canada is now looking to welcome over 400,000 new immigrants per year, mainly as skilled workers. The following is an overview of the main ways you can pursue immigration to Canada as a Lebanese skilled worker.

Get a Free Canadian Immigration Evaluation

Immigration to Canada from Lebanon Through Express Entry

Express Entry is your main option if you are looking to immigrate from Lebanon to Canada as a skilled worker. Under its Immigration Levels Plan, Canada is looking to welcome around 110,000 new immigrants annually through Express Entry.

There are two steps to Express Entry.

The first step entails confirming you meet the eligibility criteria of one of these programs:

The FSWP tends to be the most viable option for those who have not lived in Canada before.

If you confirm your eligibility for Express Entry, you can proceed to step two.

Step two entails uploading your profile onto the website of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). IRCC will evaluate your human capital characteristics. This includes evaluating your age, language skills, work experience, and education. IRCC also evaluates other factors such as your Canadian experience, if you have a Canadian job offer, and whether a Canadian province or territory has invited you to immigrate to their jurisdiction.

After considering all these factors, IRCC issues a score to you through the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). Your CRS score will determine the competitiveness of your application.

Every two weeks or so, IRCC holds Express Entry draws. Generally speaking, IRCC invites candidates with the highest CRS scores to apply for permanent residence. Those that get an invitation to apply (ITA) for permanent residence have 60 days to submit their application to IRCC. You can move to Canada once IRCC approves your permanent residence application.

It is beneficial to enter the Express Entry pool shortly after confirming you are eligible. Being in the Express Entry pool gives you a chance of getting an ITA. Express Entry is designed to be unpredictable since IRCC adjusts draws based on Canadas various policy goals. You never know when you might get an ITA so it is better to be in the pool to have at least some chance, rather than zero chance by excluding yourself from entering the pool. Second, being in the pool gives you a chance to get a job offer. A valid job offer can lead to an additional 50 or 200 CRS points. Third, you can gain 600 extra CRS points if you receive a provincial nomination while you are in the pool. Getting these 600 points almost guarantees you will receive an ITA for permanent residence.

Get a Free Express Entry Assessment

Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)

The Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) is the second main way Lebanese nationals can pursue immigration to Canada as skilled workers.

The PNP allows Canadas provinces and territories to recruit skilled workers that meet their jurisdictions labour market needs. If you meet a PNPs selection criteria and your application is approved, the province or territory will provide you with a provincial nomination certificate. The provincial nomination certificate will support your permanent residence application to IRCC.

The largest PNP streams are operated by Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta. The provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba also have large PNP streams. If you want to immigrate to Canada through the PNP, the best way is by conducting research on the various streams and then applying directly to the jurisdiction of your choice. You can also earn consideration for the PNP simply by entering IRCCs Express Entry pool. Provinces regularly invite Express Entry candidates to apply directly to their PNP. If you accept this invitation, as noted above, you will get 600 extra CRS points and become much closer to immigrating to Canada.

Learn About your PNP Options

Immigrate to Quebec as a Skilled Worker

Many Lebanese nationals that speak French choose to immigrate to Canadas only Francophone province, Quebec.

Quebec operates its own immigration system and has Canadas third largest immigration pathway for skilled workers. Applicants to Quebec need to demonstrate they have French-language skills.

The Quebec Regular Skilled Worker Program (QSWP) is probably your best option if you have not lived in Quebec before. It operates like Express Entrys Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP). Once you confirm your eligibility for the QSWP, you receive points based on your profile, and then Quebec invites the highest-scoring candidates to proceed with the immigration process. Once approved by Quebec, you can go ahead and submit your permanent residence application to IRCC.

Also keep in mind that beyond Express Entry, the PNP, and Quebecs streams, there are other Canadian immigration options available to skilled workers. These are more targeted in nature, such as if you want to move to Canadas Atlantic provinces, or if you want to work in a particular sector, such as the agri-food sector.

Overall, Canada operates over 100 different economic class immigration pathways.

Get a Free Canadian Immigration Evaluation

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
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Hi Monica,

I signed my child up for the Vax-a-Million program earlier this year. Now Im hearing theres a new contest called Vax-2-School. Since my child is vaccinated and already entered, does he have a chance to win?

Individuals who entered but did not win Ohios Vax-A-Million drawings are eligible, but they must enter the Ohio

Vax-2-School program, as entries do not carry over from Ohio Vax-A-Million. There is no required time frame during which past vaccinations must have occurred.

Ohioans ages 12 to 25 can enter online at ohiovax2school.com or by phone at 833-427-5634 to win one of 150 $10,000 scholarships, or one of five $100,000 grand prize scholarships. The scholarships, awarded in Ohio 529 College Advantage plans, can be used at the Ohio college, university, technical/trade school or career program of the winners choice. The Ohio Department of Health is using a portion of its Coronavirus Relief Funds to fund this innovative public outreach campaign and initiative.

In addition, if and when vaccines are approved for children ages 5 to 11, they too will be eligible to enter the contest.

A deadline to enter and drawing dates have not yet been announced. The Ohio Department of Health and the Ohio Lottery Commission will share those details in the weeks ahead, allowing as much time as possible for an emergency use authorization to be granted for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for those ages 5 to 11.

Monica Robins is the Senior Health Correspondent at 3News. The information provided in this column is for educational and informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this column or on our website.
At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a majority of workers stayed home, rendering physical office spaces useless, at least temporarily. Now that employees are returning to in-person work, what does the current commercial real estate market look like? And what does the future of office space
|  EP 6
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 24)  A lawmaker on Sunday suggested that the Department of National Defense (DND) use charter or commercial flights to fly soldiers when needed, pending the acquisition of new C-130 aircrafts.

Assuming Camp Aguinaldo is in rush to deploy soldiers somewhere, and no military aircraft is readily available, we would recommend the use of either commercial or chartered flights, said Suriago del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, chairman of the House Committee on Strategic Intelligence, in a statement.

Pimentel added that the militarys use of commercial flights would also help local airlines recover financially from the COVID-19 crisis.

If necessary, Congress can provide the DND the extra funding to pay for the commercial flights, he said.

The lower chamber earlier approved 5.5 billion supplemental budget for the Defense department under the 2022 national budget.

Pimentel said the amount will enable the Philippine Air Force to make an initial payment for the procurement of five new C-130J Super Hercules aircrafts from American contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.

We are all for the purchase of the new aircraft," he said. "Besides their military use, the new planes will improve our capacity to swiftly deploy emergency first responders as well as relief supplies to provinces hit by typhoons, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.

He added that the aircrafts, which can land in short and rough runways even in the mountains, can carry 92 passengers or 64 fully equipped soldiers.

The C-130Js can also be used to airlift and bring home distressed Filipino workers abroad, Pimentel said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 24)  The country welcomed 3 million more doses of the Sinovac vaccine on Sunday.

The shipment arrived at past 6 p.m. at Terminal 2 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Two million doses of the vaccine were procured by the government, while 1 million were donated by China.

They are the latest batch of shots to arrive in the country. On Oct. 22, some 1.7 million doses of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines were received by authorities.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. said the country was 2.5 million vaccines short of the 100 million mark, which he believed could be surpassed by the end of the month.

"Ang nakikita natin [What we're seeing], we are very confident...we are now 2.5 million short of the 100 million. So, we now have 97,678,340 vaccines (including those) that arrived today. And more vaccines will arrive next week. So, we are looking into the possibility that we will reach more than 100 million vaccines within next week," he said during the arrival of the Sinovac doses.

With the ample vaccine supply, Galvez said they are focusing now on problems regarding logistics.

Over 25 million people have received full protection from COVID-19 since the start of the vaccination program in March, but it is still far from the revised 90% target to achieve population protection.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 24)  The annual Undas tradition will be slightly different again because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the strong family ties remain the same.

Just like in 2020, the Inter-Agency Task Force ordered the closure of cemeteries, memorial parks and columbaria from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2. With the upcoming restrictions, some decided to visit the memorial plots of their loved ones early.

Five days before the closure, some braved the bad weather and COVID-19 threat to avoid large crowds and pay respects to their dearly departed.

In many public and private cemeteries in Metro Manila this weekend, there was a common sight: families solemnly gathered but mindful of social distancing and offering prayers for their deceased relatives.

For Shamira Areopagita, a student, the yearly tradition remains a family affair despite the pandemic.

Shamira said this years Undas is very important for her family, having lost their grandmother to the deadly virus. But not everyone was able to pay their last respects when she passed away due to restrictions. Now that the rules have been eased, she said they were able to reunite while honoring their late grandmother.

Sobrang lapit lang sa amin ng lola ko lalo na she just recently died earlier this year so we really took this chance to come here kasi shes really specialEven though I have school and work, talagang pinilit ko pumunta dito kahit umuulan, she said.

[Translation: Our lola is very close to us and she just recently died earlier this year, so we took this chance to come here since shes very special to usEven though I have school and work, I really wanted to go here even if its raining.]

Shamira said their family values the time they get to spend with each other, while being able to fulfill the Undas tradition and staying safe.

Benito Tan, a Manila local official, said they wanted to go early to avoid the rush of visitors ahead of the closure. He added they wanted to go as a family and this Sunday was the only time they could visit the cemetery with everyone present.

While its important to remember our departed loved ones, Tan said its also wise to find other ways to do so given the COVID-19 threat. He advised those unable to visit to just stay home and offer prayers or masses.

Public and private cemeteries are implementing strict health protocols this year, including limiting the number of visitors in a group, banning the installation of tents, and deploying guards to ensure the observance of social distancing.

Metro Manila mayors back the Undas closure, but some provincial leaders are still appealing the move. This is the second straight year cemeteries will be closed to prevent mass gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

RELATED: IATF urged to rethink cemetery closure during Undas
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 24)  A lawmaker is pushing Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi to urge President Rodrigo Duterte to certify as urgent House Bill No. 4711 to regulate the oil industry.

"House Bill 4711...requires the regulation of the petroleum industry through the creation of a petroleum regulatory council and a buffer fund which shall instead solely serve to cushion the impact on consumers against drastic increases in petroleum prices..." Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said in a statement on Sunday.

"We now challenge Department of Energy Sec. Alfonso Cusi to ask Pres. Duterte to certify House Bill 4711 to again regulate the downstream oil industry as well as the unbundling of oil prices that we called to be done since 2018," he also said.

Transport groups have been calling for an increase in fares since fuel prices have continued to go up. As of Oct. 18, prices have risen for eight straight weeks.

READ: DOE: Fuel excise tax adjustments 'on the table' with Congress amid price hikes

Zarate said deregulation has allowed prices to go unchecked, and this has affected all other commodities and services.

"There is a pressing need to regulate the oil industry to protect the majority of Filipinos from current runaway increases in oil prices," he said.

Neither Cusi nor the Department of Energy has issued a statement on the matter.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines)  The country's largest mall developer SM Supermalls continues to provide assistance to the government's COVID-19 immunization efforts as it recently opened its pediatric vaccination site in Mandaluyong.

As the government expanded its vaccination drive to include minors aged 12 to 17, SM Supermalls teamed up with national and local authorities to launch the inoculation center at the SM Megamall Mega Trade Hall.

Out of the 17 vaccination sites, SM Megamall is the only mall that is part of the COVID-19 immunization program for minors.

SM Supermalls President Steven Tan said the group "remains committed to providing accessible and convenient vaccination areas to our communities and beyond."

"Now that the rollout of the inoculation of minors with preexisting conditions has started, we will continue to lend a helping hand to the government and give them the necessary support to boost the country's vaccination drive," Tan was quoted as saying in a statement.

An extra layer of protection. Minors with comorbidities aged 12-17 can now get vaccinated as Phase 2 of A3.1 category starts rolling out in 25 areas in Metro Manila, including SM Megamall. As kids with comorbidities are finally given the chance to get inoculated, parents and guardians were the most relieved seeing their children having the ultimate protection against COVID-19. Photo from SM Supermalls

The company also noted that around 120 children with comorbidities already secured their coronavirus shots at SM Megamall.

For now, the mall will initially cater to Mandaluyong residents. But Mayor Menchie Abalos said non-Mandaluyong residents who work in the city and have children with underlying conditions will soon be accommodated.

Keeping families safe and secure against COVID-19. Households that have kids with health risks in Mandaluyong City flock to the SM Megamall Pediatric Vaccination Center during the first day of the vaccinations Phase 2 rollout. SM Megamall is the only mall venue that the DOH, IATF, NTF, and NVOC have approved of to administer COVID-19 vaccines to the A3.1 category. Photo from SM Supermalls

Parents and guardians can pre-register their children via the MandaVax site using their household code.

Officials earlier reminded parents to bring a medical certificate and clearance for vaccination.

The Department of Health and the pandemic response task force kicked off phase two of the pilot vaccination of minors in Metro Manila last Friday.

The national government targets to protect 144,000 minors with comorbidities this October.

Only the COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna are approved for emergency use for minors in the country.
Funeral service for Otis C. Harrison, Jr., 47, formerly of Oakwood, passed away November 6, 2021 in Cypress, CA. Viewing will be on, Monday, November 22 at Emanuel Funeral Home of Palestine from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Funeral will be held on Tuesday, November 23, at True Vine DOXA Center, Fairfie
Perus millennia-old assortment of dented, chipped, and cracked craniums suggest people got clubbed and slingshotted all the time, making the region a "natural laboratory" for treating head trauma. Accordingly, archaeologists have discovered more than 800 ancient Peruvian skulls with evidence of trepanation, or therapeutic skull-drilling, dating to around 400 BC. If that figure sounds high, then you sure know your pre-Columbian craniotomy, because it isthese recently found Peruvian skulls outnumber all other examples of prehistoric trepanation combined.

Trepanation didn't start out great. The first patients only enjoyed a 40% survival rate. Though, that's still decent considering a 2,400-year-old shaman (did they award medical diplomas then?) just jack-o-lanterned your cranium.

University of California Hey, at least these holes were from drills, and not from burrowing brain worms.

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Patient outcomes improved dramatically over the following millennia, and by AD 1000-1400, the survival rate increased to about 80%, with one sample population breaching the 90% mark. The Inca actually became such skilled skull-holers, their survival rate leapfrogged over that of the much-later Civil War surgeons, whose craniotomies killed about 50% of their patients.

One major factor (other than, you know, guns and explosions) was sanitation. War makes for unsanitary conditions: Surgeons literally jammed their still-damp-from-the-outhouse fingers into soldiers' gaping head wounds and manually removed shrapnel and busted blood clots. As a result, rampant infection rates claimed many lives.
But apart from Ghostface, there's another Scream villain you might not be aware of: Santa Rosa High School. The production was originally set to film at the school, which was previously seen in movies like Francis Ford Coppola's Peggy Sue Got Married, but things went about as smoothly as a date night at Drew Barrymore's remote farmhouse. The school ended up backing out as a location during the film's pre-production, despite the fact that producers claimed that they had a verbal agreement in place. It became clear that the school board had issues with the film's content, which contained scenes of both graphic violence and the comic stylings of Jamie Kennedy. At one school board meeting, "nearly 800 people showed up to debate the filming."

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The ultimate justification for "reneging" on the deal was that it would have been "too disruptive" for students. The Scream crew had to scramble to come up with a new location and ended up shooting the school scenes in a nearby community center. But the high school made a bitter enemy out of Wes Craven. The Last House on the Left director included in the end credits, along with various thank yous and acknowledgments, a "No thanks whatsoever to the Santa Rosa City School District Governing Board" credit.

Rumors even circulated that Craven "called for a Hollywood boycott of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County" as a result. For all we know, if it wasn't for Craven, Avatar might have been a Sideways-esque romp through wine country.

You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter!

Top Image: Dimension Films
"TONIGHT  TONIGHT

The headlines boldface capital type seems to shout from the ad in The Bridgeport Telegram, urging readers to step along with the jolly throng at a concert featuring the eight marvelous music men who made up Kreglings Melody Boys.

It was 1924 and cities across Connecticut were roaring to the new music of jazz. The decade began on the heels of the great pandemic of 1918 and the wounds and loss of World War I still fresh. The 18th Amendment had recently banned the sale of alcohol, and Coast Guard boats prowled Connecticut waters in search of bootleggers, but enough booze got through that the party kept going.

African American-led jazz bands like Kreglings Melody Boys were everywhere. In this nation syncopation simply is our meat. Most of the people that I know would rather jazz than eat, read a national column printed in The Bridgeport Telegram in 1922.

Yet not everyone was dancing to the tune of the modern world. Bordering the advertisement for the Kreglings Melody Boys performance on Oct. 18, 1924, is a menacing ad that jumps like a dissonant chord from the page. Join The Ku Klux Klan the ad says, above an address in Fairfield where interested readers could write for more information.

The 1920s are this really fascinating decade, says Ilene Frank, chief curator at the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford. When we look back, a lot of people think about flappers and the music and Great Gatsby-type feelings and vibes, and that was absolutely part of it. But it was also, in our country, a time of really great change.

She adds, Theres grief and sadness, having come out of World War I and then having the Spanish flu devastate the country. And so, while it is easy for us to focus on the Roaring Twenties good times, like any decade there are definitely pros and cons. And there are absolutely tensions that are existing in society.

Some of that change was positive. The 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote in 1920, and women began to take a more direct role in political life. Mary Townsend Seymour, a civil and womens rights activist from Hartford, became the first African American woman in the U.S. to run for state office in the 1920s. She is defeated, of course, but she is standing there making her claim to political office, Frank says.

Immigration also picked up in the state, and during the 1920s nearly 30 percent of the states residents were not born in the U.S. The Northeast had the highest proportion of foreign-born residents anywhere in the country and sometimes double the national average. So, anyone whos living in Connecticut and in New England in the 1920s is seeing these waves of immigrants come in from new countries like Italy, Russia and Poland, Frank says.

Not everyone was happy about the states increasing diversity. Tapping into racism and fear of immigrants, the Ku Klux Klan gained a foothold in the state, and by 1926 they claimed to have a membership of about 65,000 people. In the 20s in Connecticut, they had racist views against Blacks, but a lot of their movement, and their protesting is really anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic, Frank says. Their advertisements from the time targeted Italians, Jews and others with negative stereotypes.

Despite this dark undercurrent, there were also aspects of 1920s Connecticut that fit our vision of the Roaring Twenties, including, as already mentioned, the nations newfound love of jazz. The 20s is the height of the Harlem Renaissance, so there is this whole burgeoning artistic and literary culture thats happening from this really great collection of artistic and intellectual African Americans in Harlem, and those writers and those performers are coming here, Frank says. Jazz just becomes the pulse or the sound of urban centers.

The wild parties and decadent side of the decade were also on full display in Connecticut. The wealthy began buying up more property on Connecticuts coast, and walls around private communities and the states beaches went up. Extravagant parties were thrown for elites, and some of them may even have inspired one of the best-known novels about the time period. Scott Fitzgerald, and Zelda, rented a house along the Sound in the early 20s in Connecticut, and some people think that that was part of the inspiration for writing The Great Gatsby, Frank says.

This article originally appeared in Connecticut Magazine. You can subscribe here, or find the current issue on sale here. Sign up for the newsletter to get the latest and greatest content from Connecticut Magazine delivered right to your inbox. On Facebook and Instagram @connecticutmagazine and Twitter @connecticutmag.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Spending in the race for an open seat on Pennsylvania's state Supreme Court has blown past $5 million, according to new campaign finance reports, with less than two weeks left until Election Day.

Reports filed with the state Friday show that most of it, or roughly $3 million, has been spent to help Republican Kevin Brobson, including spending by third-party groups in the race. That compared with about $2 million to help Democrat Maria McLaughlin through last Monday.

The reports are out as attack ads are hitting the airwaves on both sides.

Brobson's largest donor, by far, is a group that receives millions from suburban Philadelphia billionaire Jeffrey Yass, whose favored issue is boosting public school alternatives, like charter schools, and has become perhaps the largest donor to Republicans in Pennsylvania. It has spent more than $1.7 million to help Brobson.

The state Republican Party also has spent more than $500,000 to help Brobson, while a number of business associations also have contributed money to Brobson.

For McLaughlin, labor unions have contributed more than $900,000, while the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association's political action committee has given almost that same amount. The state Democratic Party has kicked in about $300,000, according to the reports.

The amount spent goes well beyond the last race in Pennsylvania for an open high court seat, in 2017, but remains short of the top spenders in 2015s contest for three open seats.

The election is Nov. 2. The amount spent on the contest before then could easily exceed $6 million, with the campaigns reporting more than $1 million combined in unspent money and new contributions.

Brobson and McLaughlin are running for a vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Thomas Saylor. The high court is currently in Democratic hands, 5-2, so the race will not change the partisan majority.

Brobson, 50, of suburban Harrisburg, has been a judge on the state Commonwealth Court for more than a decade. McLaughlin, 55, who spent almost two decades as a prosecutor in Philadelphia, was elected to the state Superior Court three years ago after serving as a city judge from 2012-17.

___

Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/timelywriter.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Election lawsuits multiplying by the day. An obscure federal agency blocking the presidential transition. The very legitimacy of Joe Biden's victory under assault as supporters of Donald Trump riot at the Capitol.

Amid all the turmoil, lawyer Dana Remus was the voice of calm for Team Biden.

Fighting on multiple fronts as Biden's top lawyer during the presidential transition, Remus made a lasting impression on her colleagues with her ability to block out the noise as she battled legal challenges and pushed ahead with the screening of Cabinet and judicial nominees. Now, she's the White House counsel.

You could be in the middle of the hurly-burly and have a conversation with her, and the sort of atmospheric anxiety doesnt get in the way of the legal issues that youre dealing with," recalled Andrew Wright, who worked with Remus during the transition. Shes not panicky, which is always a good thing in a lawyer.

Remus's toughest task may lie ahead: guiding Biden as the White House supports efforts to investigate and hold accountable those involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection, while avoiding setting a precedent that could weaken the office of the presidency for generations to come.

Colleagues say the president would be hard-pressed to find a lawyer better suited for the moment.

Her office has helped Biden navigate legal decisions on pandemic policy, led the administrations effort to make more judicial nominations to this point than any president since Richard Nixon and offered advice on how the presidents adult son, Hunter Biden, can go about selling his paintings without creating conflicts of interest.

Before working for Biden, Remus, 46, spent years as a judicial and ethics expert in academia, and served as President Barack Obama's chief ethics lawyer in the final 14 months of his presidency. Her stint as Bidens general counsel during the 2020 election was her first campaign job.

I think what her credentials and her experience reflect is a clear determination by President Biden after the four-year, scandal-laden confuse-a-rama of the Trump administration that he was going to have a first-rate lawyer empowered with a strong background in ethics serve as his White House counsel, White House chief of staff Ron Klain said.

The work of Remus and her deputies hasn't gone without critique, including knocks on how the administration went about extending a pandemic-era eviction moratorium even after the majority of Supreme Court justices signaled they would reject any additional extension without authorization from Congress.

Republicans and ethics lawyers also have pilloried the White House over the Hunter Biden artwork sale setup. Obama-era Office of Government Ethics chief Walter Schaub has called the art arrangement the perfect mechanism for funneling bribes to the president.

The road ahead for Remus only gets more challenging as lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection press forward.

Biden has been asked to approve the early release of a vast swath of records from the Trump administration, including some that detail the last administrations internal decision-making process, which is generally protected by executive privilege. Biden already has approved release of the first set of documents, a decision that Trump is in court trying to block.

Trump argues the records should be protected by Biden and the courts, and claims that allowing new presidents to open their predecessors vaults so quickly would undermine the presidency. Its a risk Biden is taking that could come back to haunt him in increasingly acrimonious Washington, should his successor choose to release his papers early.

Biden, guided by Remus, has tried to preserve his ability to protect his own privilege, with an argument that the extraordinary circumstances of Trumps attempt to overturn the election results justified waiving the privilege.

Remus, in a letter this month calling for the National Archives to release internal Trump documents, underscored the request was made under unique and extraordinary circumstances as Congress is examining an assault on our Constitution and democratic institutions. She consulted with the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department in preparing her advice for the president.

Neil Eggleston, White House counsel in the Obama administration, believes Remus legal reasoning is sound. Still, he said the moment is a delicate one for the institution of the presidency.

Every time theres a precedent you kind of worry: Is it going to get misused in the future? said Eggleston, who hired Remus in 2015 to serve as the Obama White House ethics lawyer.

Remus' work at the White House made an impression on Obama, who hired her to to serve as general counsel for his post-presidency foundation. Obama officiated at her wedding to Brett Holmgren, a national security official in his administration. The two, who have a young son, met while working at the Obama White House.

Holmgren is now an assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research.

In the West Wing, Remus has been able to deliver messages that Biden and top officials don't always want to hear.

Shes not one of these lawyers who uses the law as a cudgel to prevent creative policymaking, and so when she delivers a hard message -- the actually we cant do this -- I think people know that it comes from a place of honest legal analysis, said White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice.

Colleagues say Remus, who was Academic All-American in crew her senior year at Harvard, hates the spotlight. She declined to comment for this story.

Her friends say she is unflinchingly loyal. After conservative Justice Samuel Alito, for whom she clerked, was savaged in a 2013 Washington Post column, Remus and another former clerk wrote a letter to the editor sticking up for him.

Michael Bosworth, a lawyer who worked with Remus in the White House counsels office in the Obama administration, said she had a talent for soliciting diverse opinions because she wants to make a truly informed decision that is right on the facts and right on the law."

In assembling her 33-person team for Biden's counsel's office, Remus put a premium on three qualities: kindness, diversity and the ability to work as a team, officials said. The office is 65% female, 20% LGBTQ+, 40% people of color, and the majority of them have public interest backgrounds.

White House officials say Remuss efforts to diversify the judicial bench are one of the least appreciated early successes for the president, who pledged as a candidate to make his government more reflective of America.

More than 70% of the nominees are women and the majority of picks have been people of color. Remus has also put a particular focus on looking beyond big law firms and prosecutors to find candidates with backgrounds as public defenders, voting rights litigators and other public interest experience.

At the White House, Biden has surrounded himself with senior advisers he's known and counted on for years. Still, White House officials say Remus has managed to break through even though she's not in his inner circle.

He knows when she walks in, shes there to give him legal advice -- not friendship advice, not political advice but legal advice," Klain said. "I think a certain amount of professional detachment in that relationship is a better way to have it.
PLAINFIELD  On a stage in front of more than 3,000 people waving Donald Trump and United States flags, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said it reminded her of home.

Greene, a Republican representative for Georgia, visited Plainfield on Saturday afternoon for the Quinebaug Citizens Alliances America First Rally.

Who is your president? Greene asked the crowd, which prompted a loud chant for Trump.

Trump is my president, Greene said. The Georgia representative also expressed her disdain for mask and vaccine mandates.

Throughout her speech, she told attendees how she disapproved of President Joe Bidens Build Back Better bill, which he was promoting in Connecticut last week. She also floated the idea of trying to impeach the president.

Greene was sure to include quips about her Democrat counterparts in Congress, which were met with ample applause.

However, Greene kept coming back to her central message for attendees, which can be applied to any Connecticut resident regardless of political affiliation: Get involved in your local government and promote change.

Greene and other speakers at the event were accompanied by the sound of a single drum, decorated with Unmask our kids.

Throughout Greenes speech, Nicholas Blanchard yelled out various chants, such as Back the Blue and We love you. Clad in a United States flag suit and a gigantic red cowboy hat, Blanchard, drove more than four hours from Waterville, Maine to get to the event. He was not disappointed.

It was great to see so many fellow Americans, the Patriots with Attitude founder said.

Ben Hull, a commissioner on Lisbons Planning and Zoning Commission, has been a member of the Quinebaug Citizens Alliance for about a year now. For the past three months, the group has been organizing the event to bring together like-minded people and raise awareness, Hull said.

It brings the message of conservatism, he said.

Meanwhile, about a dozen protesters waved signs along Norwich Road outside of the event.

Cassandra Martineau, a trans woman and a candidate for the Willimantic Taxing Districts Board of Directors, said she saw rampant sexism, racism, homophobia and transphobia at the event, and she wanted to make a stand.

When asked if she believed the event attendees and her could work together, she replied, I cant come together with someone who wants me dead.

Bullies dont just go away, she added, and said her group throughout the day was met with a lot of anger.

Another protester, James Flores, combatted that anger by screaming I love you in a bullhorn.

Hull said he didnt mind the protesters. In fact, he wanted the event to promote free speech.

Municipalities are holding local elections Nov. 2. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 26. To register to vote, view sample ballots or other election information, visit MyVote.CT.gov.
Theyre called forever chemicals, and theyre used in everyday products like cookware and furniture. They are increasingly shown to have adverse impacts on human health. And its taken until now for the federal government to do much of anything about it.

Even people who are in tune with environmental causes may never have heard of PFAS until recently. Short for per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, PFAS made news in Connecticut in 2019 after a spill into the Farmington River of firefighting products from Bradley Airport. Since then, the state has started the process of examining the harms caused by the chemicals, and the federal government is now following suit.

Its a welcome step, but an indication of how long a potentially harmful substance can be in wide circulation before anything is done about it. PFAS chemicals have been around for decades. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has reportedly known of the risks posed by PFAS since at least 1998, but has until now failed to act. This latest step shouldnt make us feel better about the safety of products we use every day.

Regardless, action is better than inaction. The EPA announced Monday it would seek to adopt tougher regulations and collect data from manufacturers on PFAS, which follows state action in the most recent legislative session banning use of the chemicals in most firefighting foams and food packaging. The proposed federal action would have manufacturers report how many PFAS chemicals their products contain, provide data about emissions and potentially pay for environmental cleanup.

In addition to the Farmington River spill, elevated levels of the chemicals were found this summer in at least 10 wells in Killingworth, which helped spur the state to take legislative action. Its likely that many more undiscovered hot spots could be found around the state and the country.

PFAS take a long time to break down in the environment, and have a tendency to accumulate in the bodies of humans and animals. They stick around for a long time, earning the forever moniker. Exposure to them has been linked to cancer, impaired immune systems, decreased fertility and low birth weights.

The roadmap unveiled by the EPA is aimed at eventually paying for cleanups and limiting future use of the chemicals. State and federal action will also place a burden on businesses that use the products, many of which will be tasked with finding out how much they use and coming up with ways to replace them without hurting their bottom lines.

This is the kind of thing some politicians are known to rail against when they object to regulation. Yes, the government is going to place a burden on small businesses in the form of new regulations, and yes, it could have heavy costs. Maybe some businesses will even close as a result. But its being undertaken with an aim at protecting human health and righting a wrong that was decades in the making. Regulation isnt undertaken for spite, but to try to make the products we use every day less likely to cause us harm.

Its a long road toward ridding the world of PFAS chemicals. But its a necessary one.
Two Roads Brewing Company in Stratford, Conn. hosted its annual Roadsmary's Baby Pumpkin Fest on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. The outdoor event featured beer, fall-themed activities and a costume contest. Were you SEEN?
It always seems to play out that certain residences entertain droves of trick-or-treaters, while others have full bowls of candy left over every year.
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
Jason Martin Moore, 40, of Ashland Ky, died Saturday November 13th, 2021 at Kings Daughters Medical Center in Ashland Ky. Jason was born September 4th, 1981 in Ashland KY. A son of the late Jarome "Marty" and Donna Roe Moore. He is preceded in death in addition to his parents by his grandmot
Pumpkin is a rescue from the Carter County Shelter who will turn 3 on Halloween (this Sunday, Oct. 31). Owner Sidonna Lambert has had her for 2 1/2 years. Shes named Pumpkin for her birthday and her color. According to Lambert, Pumpkin loves her stuffed toys and loves to snuggle. Her loyalty is unmatched and she loves her whole family (even our cat Gizmo), Lambert said. Pumpkin was one of hundreds of entries into the newspapers Sept. 16 contest on Facebook.
A mum-of-three has revealed how she developed the 'world's first' pregnancy belly mask after seeing her pregnant sister suffer with irritated skin.

Ruth Carr from Melbourne, Australia, launched Bump Body on February 25, 2021, to help prevent itching, dryness, scarring and stretch marks during pregnancy.

Ms Carr, 40, had spent months trying to find a solution to help her pregnant sister whose stretching belly was leaving her with skin irritation but realised 'no product existed' at the time.

'It was at this point that I truly realised what my vision had become - to create a natural safe product that gives all mothers some needed pamper time, allowing them to bond with their bump,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

Ms Carr reached out to her entrepreneurial friends, Alex Tran and Karl Devic, both 25, who through their business experience helped bring her idea and a lucrative business to life.

Ruth Carr launched pregnancy belly mask Bump Body on February 25 after watching her sister suffer with irritated skin

Ms Carr (pictured centre) reached out to her close entrepreneurial friends, Alex Tran (left) and Karl Devic (right), who through their business experience helped bring her idea to life

Bump Body has turned over $250,000 in only four months and has gained an online Instagram following of more than 34,000 people

Bump Body turned over $250,000 in just four months and gained an online Instagram following of more than 34,000 people.

'It was my sister's pregnancy that sparked the idea as she was struggling feeling exhausted and in need of time out,' Ms Carr said.

'I wanted to pamper her with something whilst also attending to her unbearably itchy, irritated and stretching bump - something I myself struggled with too during my three pregnancies.'

Baby Bump was born after the three co-founders invested $60,000 of their own money to get the brand up and running.

Through months of research and conversations with a manufacturer in Melbourne, the trio formulated a product that's 100 per cent natural, stress-free and safe for both mum and baby.

Ms Carr also has experience working for a global skincare brand while her partners have six years of business and marketing experience.

Ms Carr sent months researching and speaking to a manufacturer in Melbourne before formulating a product that's 100 per cent natural, stress-free and safe for both mum and baby

The $44.95 Australian Belly Mask is rich with essential vitamins and anti-inflammatory properties to help heal, soothe and nourish the skin

The product is perfect for preventing stretch marks by keeping the skin of the belly hydrated and nourished

The $44.95 Australian Belly Mask is rich with essential vitamins and anti-inflammatory properties to help heal, soothe and nourish the skin.

The core ingredients include apricot kernel oil to increase the skin's elasticity, moisturisation and hydration, aloe vera and avocado oil to help repair damaged cells.

'Initially we wanted to create a sheet belly mask but we discovered that it was difficult to locally source this product and the ingredients required,' Ms Carr said.

'We ruled that one out and looked at the idea of a mask that was similar to the popular face masks that are currently on the market, except to be used on the bump.'

The whole product formulation process took almost a year to complete, with many delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The mask help prevent itching, dryness, scarring and stretch marks during pregnancy

Ms Carr said the belly mask offers 'more than just skin benefits'.

'We want to be able to share this product with expecting mums who are at home now, especially during lockdown here in Melbourne, who could be suffering mentally, feeling isolated and unable to see their family/friends to share their journey with,' she said.

'I myself suffered postnatal depression and know how isolating and exhausting motherhood can be; I know the importance of self-care and how vital it is to immerse yourself within a loving like-minded community for support.

'During my suffering, I reached out to the incredible team at PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety And Depression Australia), who guided and supported me.'

Ms Carr has chosen to donate a percentage of the brand's proceeds to PANDA every year, so they can continue to support thousands of mothers in need.

Ms Carr has experience working for a global skincare brand while her partners have six years of business and marketing experience

Bump Body is will also be participating in One Fine Baby Expo in Melbourne on December 3

Ms Carr said operating a small business has proven to be challenging at times, particularly with Melbourne's lockdowns this year.

'Running a business is always difficult,' she said, adding: 'But it is all worth it knowing that what we're doing is truly the lives of expectant mothers.'

Bump Body is will also be participating in One Fine Baby Expo in Melbourne on December 3.

The Australian Belly Mask can be purchased online through the Bump Body website.

If you are experiencing anxiety or depression you can call Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.
Iris Smit (pictured) has launched the Quick Screen range featuring a three-in-one moisturiser, primer and SPF50+ formula after she saw a gap in the suncare market

A young woman who went from rejecting a $300,000 Shark Tank offer to building a $15million beauty empire has created a new collection of SPF50+ products designed to be worn with your makeup.

Iris Smit, from Perth, has launched the Quick Screen range featuring a three-in-one moisturiser, primer and SPF50+ formula after she saw a gap in the suncare market.

The 26-year-old - who's behind Quick Flick and Beauty Fridge - spent two years coming up with a simple solution by creating products that offer full sun protection over makeup - and leaving skin glowing without any white marks or a 'cakey' mess.

Not only does the sunscreen shield your face from the sun, but it also protects your skin against blue light damage from digital gadgets.

She created a new collection of SPF50+ products designed to be worn with your makeup

She spent two years coming up with a simple solution by creating products that offer full sun protection over makeup - and leaving skin glowing without any white marks or a 'cakey' mess

'Growing up in sunny Western Australia, SPF has always been the most important thing I've done for my skin. However, finding a multi-tasking sunscreen that I felt excited to put on my face proved tricky,' the beauty innovation queen said.

Her new line features two brand new suncare products - including a facial lotion and a, invisible-finish mist - costing $45 each.

'I wanted to challenge myself to really innovate and improve upon the existing products available to consumers', the entrepreneur said.

'I'm really proud to bring not one, but two products to the market that perfectly blend skincare and suncare and solve a lot of the problems that consumers face when using suncare products.'

Iris has built a stunning $15million beauty empire after creating Quick Flick and Beauty Fridge

Not only does the sunscreen shield your face from the sun, but it also protects your skin against blue light damage from digital gadgets

During the two-year process, Iris said the new collection 'really tested' her.

'It was certainly challenging developing two new products at the same time, in the middle of a pandemic and going through all the requirements to get Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) certification,' she said.

'Let's just say Australia is the hardest country to get a sunscreen product approved. We were so determined to challenge traditional sunscreen products that it took us two years to get these formulas right and hundreds of rounds of samples.

'I think our manufacturer hated us by the end of it - but you have to be fussy and particular when creating a totally new and innovative formula.'

The Australian-made Quick Screen range, which are are vegan-friendly and not tested on animals. has launched online and in Priceline stores across the country.

The Quick Screen set (pictured) is the ultimate facial mist that acts as a finishing spray over makeup while providing SPF50+ protection

Iris first found herself in the beauty world after she launch her brand The Quick Flick, which offers women an easier way of 'stamping' a perfect winged tip onto your lids in just seconds

Iris first found herself in the beauty world after she launch her brand The Quick Flick, which offers women an easier way of 'stamping' a perfect winged tip onto your lids in just seconds.

The young entrepreneur - who invested $10,000 of her own money into the brand - appeared on Shark Tank in May 2018 just three months into her business.

The sharks were hugely interested in her $35 product with Andrew Banks offering to invest $300,000 - a deal for 25 per cent of her company.

But by the time she had to sign the contract, five months had passed, Iris realised her business was worth more than the offer.

'When the Shark Tank show was filmed I had only really been in business for about three months. It was early days, however I was already turning over $100,000 a month by that stage,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'My business was valued by the sharks on the show at $1 million, however by the time the show aired in May, its valuation had already tripled. I wasn't in the position where I really needed the $300,000.

The Quick Flick first made headlines in December 2017 after Iris, the then-university interior architecture student, launched her brand in her two-bedroom apartment - and dropping off orders at the Post Office via a shopping trolley

'I was cash flow positive and I already had plenty of retail deals lined up. Signing the deal would have also restricted me from starting other brands such as Beauty Fridge.

'I had so many ideas for other products and brands, I didn't want to limit my career and lock myself in. Despite having so many friends and family pressuring me to sign the deal, the thought of it gave me anxiety. I trusted my gut, so I knew it wasn't right.'

The winged eye-liner queen went out on her own - and within 12 months, she turned over $10 million dollars.

'I didn't ever imagine that The Quick Flick would blow up like it did after the Shark Tank show. The publicity we received was invaluable,' she said.

'I honestly believe the company grew overnight what other businesses would grow in a few years. It was definitely tough and I had to put procedures in place pretty quickly to ensure we could keep up with the demand.'
Mark Zuckerberg's wife Priscilla Chan has revealed how her two daughters, aged five and four, are already learning to code with their tech-whizz father.

The American philanthropist and a former paediatrician, 36, also admitted that she thought her Facebook-founder husband was a 'bit of a rebel' when they first met at Harvard 18 years ago.

Priscilla and Silicon Valley giant Mark, who married in 2012, share two daughters, Maxima, five, and August, four, and their bedtime routine involves stories and coding with their father.

Speaking to the Sunday Times Magazine, the mother-of-two, who looks after her children in the morning, while Mark sorts the bedtime routine, revealed: 'Sometimes they will read books together. Sometimes theyll code together.

'Mark has been doing that with August since she turned three,' she added.

Mark Zuckerberg's wife Priscilla Chan (pictured with her family) has revealed how her two daughters, aged five and four, are already learning to code with their tech-whizz father

The couple famously met while queuing for the bathroom at a frat party while attending Harvard, before Mark dropped out to pursue the Facebook adventure.

A couple of dates happened rapidly, and while Priscilla liked Mark, she was horrified by his lack of concern for rules and regulations.

Im not a rule breaker I had literally clawed my way to Harvard., she said, before adding: For straight-laced Priscilla, he was a bit of a rebel.

Until meeting her future husband, Priscilla, who studied at Harvard on a work-study scholarship, had struggled to fit in, she said, explaining that she didn't understand the other, wealthier girls that attended the university and all looked the same.

Priscilla's remarks come as the inner workings of Facebook are set to be laid bare by a whistleblower once again on Monday as MPs in the UK prepare to take evidence.

The American philanthropist and a former paediatrician (pictured with her husband in 2019), 36, also admitted that she thought her Facebook-founder husband was a 'bit of a rebel' when they first met at Harvard 18 years ago

Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen has made numerous blistering claims about the tech giant since releasing thousands of pages of internal research documents she secretly copied before leaving her job in the companys civic integrity unit.

She has already spoken out about the social network across the pond on television and before politicians, alleging Facebooks platforms 'harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy', and that it refuses to change its products because executives elevate profits over safety.

Ms Haugen has also accused the tech giant of being aware of the apparent harm Instagram could have on some teenagers and their body image, and said the firm had been dishonest in its public fight against hate content and misinformation by hiding research that shows it amplifies such content.

On Monday afternoon, she will face questions from a UK parliamentary committee scrutinising the draft Online Safety Bill, as the Government works out how to go about regulating tech firms and social media.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has rejected the claims made by Ms Haugen, saying her attacks on the company were 'misrepresenting' the work it does.

The couple in 2016, with their daughter Maxima, who is now five. The couple are raising their children with a mix of Jewish and Chinese-Vietnamese influences

He said the company 'cares deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health' and that Ms Haugens recent evidence to a US congressional committee 'just doesnt reflect the company we know'.

'At the heart of these accusations is this idea that we prioritise profit over safety and well-being. Thats just not true,' he added.

Facebook is reportedly planning to re-brand its business name in an apparent bid to distance its wider business from the slew of controversies in recent years.

However, when asked about her thoughts on the impact Instagram is having on young teenagers, Priscilla said parents should talk to their children and encourage them to share their feelings.

Elsewhere, Priscilla revealed that the couple are raising their two daughters as Jewish, but also incorporate elements of Chinese culture in their upbringing, with Mark reciting a Jewish prayer in Mandarin with his children before bedtime.

Priscilla was brought up speaking both Mandarin and Cantonese, but said her two daughters are not bilingual even though she's tried, but added she and Mark made sure they are 'multicultural.'

Speaking to the Sunday Times Magazine , the mother-of-two, who looks after her children in the morning, while Mark sorts the bedtime routine, revealed: 'Sometimes they will read books together. Sometimes theyll code together.' (pictured at her Harvard graduation ceremony in 2007)

The family have a Shabbat dinner with their friends on Fridays, where Priscilla serves up Chinese treats alongside Kosher food.

Priscilla looked back on the couple's decision to donate their Facebook shares to charity through their CZI (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative).

She said her husband has always known giving back is Priscilla's 'life mission' and chose to give back the money he made from Facebook as early as 2005.

The mother-of-two also said she didn't care for the accusation that Facebook is making money - money that is used by CZI - by offering a platform to hate speech and other divisive rhetorics.

She also admitted she found claims that Facebook amplifies racial hatred upsettin and said Facebook and her husband are trying to grapple with these questions of racism and added there is no cure for racism and the issue is something society should consider collectively.

When pressed on whether Tech giants should pay their taxes, Priscilla agreed there should be some reform so that everyone gave their fair share, but stressed nobody could escape the IRS.

She added she felt a great responsibility to give back, and told how CZI donated $350 million (253,810,200) to the Just Trust to help them reform the US justice system.

She said she has seen first-hand the consequences that prison sentences carry for the loved-ones of convicts.
She has become a fan favourite among Harry Potter fans since making her debut as Luna Lovegood in 2007 - but at the time her casting was announced, Evanna Lynch was mercilessly trolling herself on social media.

Now 30, Lynch, who played the beloved character in four out of the eight films, has opened up about her battle with anorexia aged 11 to 13, and how it resulted in brutal self-loathing even after she had recovered physically from the condition.

Speaking to the Sunday Times Magazine, the actress revealed she would troll herself on Harry Potter fansites, cruelly criticising her appearance, from what she called her 'flabby cheeks' to her 'stubby little grease-stained fingers'.

She explained trolling herself was a way of expressing her self-loathing, and that she grew addicted to reading bad things about herself.

Evanna Lynch, 30, who played Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter movie saga, revealed she used to troll herself online after struggling with anorexia as a child (pictured as Luna in the fifth movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)

The actress spoke candidly of her self-loathing, which she expressed by feeding off negative comments written about her online (pictured in 2016 in Universal City, California)

The actress revealed she would meticulously criticise her appearance, writing about her hair 'did she have to skin a hundred Barbies for that fake blonde wig?'.

She also wrote: 'She looks like she bathes in the grease of McDonalds chips. Is she storing up her next Big Mac meal in the folds of her flabby cheeks? Ugly inbred little troll!'

Reflecting on this dark time of her life, Evanna said an eating disorder was a person's worst bully.

'The meanest person lives in your own head, so everyone beyond that you can deal with. It wasnt a shock to me if I was criticised. I was braced for it, I expected it,' she said.

Evanna revealed she became addicted to reading negative comments about herself, and that it felt 'safe.'

The actress said how she became pen pals with J. K. Rowling, and told her she wanted to play Luna Lovegood in the moving (pictured on the set of Lorraine on 21 October)

She explained that she reasoned that if she was mean to herself first, none of what other people would say would affect her.

She added the people mocking her online echoed what she believed about herself, and made her feel like going to the 'darkest place' would be okay.

WHAT IS ANOREXIA? Anorexia is a serious mental illness where a person restricts their food intake, which often causes them to be severely underweight. Many also exercise excessively. Some sufferers may experience periods of bingeing, followed by purging. Sufferers often have a distorted view of themselves and think they are larger than they really are. Untreated, patients can suffer loss of muscle and bone strength, as well as depression, low libido and menstruation ceasing in women. In severe cases, patients can experience heart problems and organ damage. Behavioural signs of anorexia include people saying they have already eaten or will do later, as well as counting calories, missing meals, hiding food and eating slowly. As well as weight loss, sufferers may experience insomnia, constipation, bloating, feeling cold, hair loss, and swelling of the hands, face and feet. Treatment focuses on therapy and self-help groups to encourage healthy eating and coping mechanisms. Source: Beat Eating Disorders Advertisement

However, Evanna explained reading these means comments soon became all-consuming and she realised her life would be cold and empty if she didn't stop.

So she forced herself to adopt positive thinking in order to turn away from the trolling.

She said her memoir, The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting, which was published last month, was the last step in her recovery.

The Harry Potter star, who spent two years in and out of clinics battling anorexia after she was first hospitalised aged 11, now considers herself to be fully recovered.

Evanna, who grew up in Termonfeckin, a rural village in Co Louth, on the east coast of Ireland, also talked about her life-changing correspondence with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.

She started developing her eating disorder after her 11th birthday, and said there was no clear cause for it, that it just 'happened to her.'

She added she felt a sense of achievement whenever she would weigh herself and the scale would go down, but she became increasingly miserable as the illness progressed.

While she didn't credit it as a prime cause for her disorder, she said growing up in an era where size zero stars were praised for their appearance was a contributing factor.

Like most children her age, Lynch was obsessed with the Harry Potter books growing up, and she was 'entranced' by the character of Luna Lovegood as soon as she read about her in the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

She said Luna soon became one of her favourite characters, and that she grew envious of the character's sense of self-acceptance.

This pushed her to write a letter to J. K. Rowling, where she told her of her eating disorder.

She said Rowling wrote back to her a few days later with a kind and compassionate missive, and the two became pen pals writing to each other every few weeks to keep in touch.

She revealed she told the author she wanted to play Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter movie, and eventually succeeded in securing the role, which kick-started her acting career.

If you have been affected by this story, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit www.samaritans.org


As the worlds most successful male model, DAVID GANDY has spent his career watching and learning from the best. Now, he tells Hattie Crisell, hes launching his own brand to give the men in our lives a touch of the Gandy magic

David wears T-shirt and joggers, both David Gandy Wellwear

As a kid, the now supermodel David Gandy spent a lot of time in the school library. I used to go there to read James Herriot, because I wanted to be a vet, he says. I ask whether hes sorry that he didnt pursue that dream but at this, he bursts out laughing. Its not just about being an animal lover, its the A-levels you need in biology and chemistry, he says. Warming to the theme, he suggests: I could give the animals a hug and ask if they feel better? But no. I think its important to know your limitations.

David is the first to point out that he didnt achieve great academic success. Yet I leave our chat  over tea outside a smart hotel in Soho, London  feeling that, when it comes to building a career, hes been very smart indeed. It all started in 2001, when he was doing a marketing degree at the University of Gloucestershire. His friends entered him into a modelling competition on ITVs This Morning, which he won, securing a contract with Select Model Management.

Pictures from the time show him as a nervous, classically handsome 21-year-old, 6ft 2in, with broad shoulders, dark curly hair and big blue eyes. Yet his aesthetic was out of step with the skinny, androgynous models of the era. He worked mostly for catalogues until 2006, when an advertising gig for Dolce & Gabbanas Light Blue fragrance propelled him into the big time: think an Adonis in white shorts, reclining on a boat, his sculpted body glistening in the sunlight.

Sweatshirt, David Gandy Wellwear

Today he is smouldering in a more discreet way, in a T-shirt, trousers and a flat cap; his beloved rescue dog, yorkie mix Dora, snoozes by his feet. Hes in his 20th year of modelling  Which seems mad, he says. As iconic as those Dolce & Gabbana images may be, theyre just one brick in a substantial career. Hes done more magazine covers and advertising campaigns than any other male model, had a long-running collection with Marks & Spencer, took part in the 2012 Olympics closing ceremony and combined all this with charity work for the likes of Battersea Dogs Home, Achievement for All and Childline.

And now hes launching his own clothing brand. David Gandy Wellwear is a collection that comprises plain, well-cut tracksuits, T-shirts, pyjamas and jackets, with more to come next year. Theres also a wellness twist: he mentions research thats found a link between soft materials on the skin and the release of oxytocin (the hormone that gives you the warm-and-fuzzies)  So everything had to be super soft. Some of the fabrics contain aloe vera, which is anti-inflammatory and moisturising; others are antibacterial and anti-odour. The idea is that these are the most comfortable basics out there.

I walk down the street singing nursery rhymes at the top of my voice

Hes been planning to start his own clothing label for a decade, so what took him so long? A lot of people become a name, and think, Right, now I can have my own brand. I didnt want to do that. I wanted to learn the process. When I was working with M&S I learned about factories, design, marketing So I feel like Ive paid my dues.

Its tempting to look at models and assume that their success comes simply from winning the genetic lottery  but I think David can take a bit more credit for his. Yes, natures been kind to him, but he had no family connection to fashion, and its almost unheard of for male models to become stars.

David with partner Stephanie Mendoros, 2019

I always ran [my job] as a business, he says. My inspirations were the female supermodels. It was years of observation. Then, when I worked with the likes of Christy Turlington and Kate Moss, I asked them questions. Christy would turn up with no entourage. They would work solidly for 300 days, 90 flights a year, and have a whole team behind them of publicists and an incredible agency. Thats what Ive got in Select.

His work ethic, he says, came from his parents. He was born in Billericay, Essex, where they ran a freight-forwarding business; later they had property and travel companies I saw my mum and dad working from seven oclock in the morning until midnight. The secret of success is just bloody hard work.

The first lockdown proved to be Davids first extended break from work and travel since his career started two decades ago, and he had to find other ways to stay busy. We were up in Yorkshire where Stephs mum is, he explains, referring to the barrister Stephanie Mendoros, who hes been with since 2016. I just said to her, What do you need doing? I built fences, cut down trees, took the dogs out for a walk, looked after Matilda [their daughter, who will be three next month] and cooked. Steph had to almost drag me back to London after three months.

That 2006 Dolce & Gabbana ad

Fashion shoots and glitzy events have returned to his life, but childcare continues. They live in West London, and he collects Matilda from nursery. I can be walking down the street singing Baa Baa Black Sheep at the top of my voice with her, and I do not care, he says. Back at home, he chops an apple into segments for her; she chews it but always hands him the soggy, unwanted peel. Belying any notion of pampered perfection, he eats it. Of course! Otherwise Ive got to get up and put it in the bin. There is very little trace of his family online. I try to keep my private life as private as possible. There wont be images of Matilda on social media. She can choose what to share when shes older. Its the same thing with Steph  if she and I go to an event, then we are going to be in the public eye, so its totally up to her if she wants to come along. She picks and chooses: Oh, the Wimbledon final! I might make that.

What Davids Instagram does showcase to his one million followers is his personal brand. At 41, he has the enigmatic smile and chiselled face of an old-school Hollywood star, so it feels appropriate that hes become known for his love of classic cars (sexy); rescue dogs (rugged) and well-cut suits (glamorous). Buying into David Gandy is like buying into a fantasy  one in which you live in the countryside, drive a Jag and spend evenings looking gorgeous by a roaring fire. Im probably known for style rather than fashion, he says astutely. I still look at Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and Cary Grant for inspiration.

As we finish our tea, I ask David whats in his ten-year plan now. My vision when I first started modelling was to be the best in the industry, and I saw a gap in that market to rival the female supermodels, he says carefully. So Id like Wellwear to be a global, very big brand. Everything Ive learnt from 20 years is going into this, so Id be a bit silly to think thats not where Im aiming. Its an ambitious plan, but Im looking at an Essex grafter who has already defied the odds. I think he might just do it.

How to dress the man in your life by David Gandy

Get the basics right

By basics, I mean T-shirts, chinos, jeans and sweatshirts. People ask me how I make simple clothes look good and its because Im quite precise, even about the T-shirts I wear. Try on different versions and notice which neckline, arm length and fit looks best on you.

Know your measurements

Ive fitted groomsmen for friends weddings and Ive asked for all their sizes for their suits and shirts  and none of them have been right. So many men have no idea what size they are, yet the fit is such an important part of making something look good.

Spend wisely

For the essentials, you can find really good quality on the high street and dont need to spend a lot. The things worth spending money on are good shoes and trainers, which will last for many years if you look after them, as will a great overcoat, quality suits, a Barbour jacket. These things never go out of fashion.

Forget trends

Ive been guilty of wanting to be deemed trendy and fashionable, but it just doesnt fit with me. The biggest key for a man is knowing what works for you and what you feel confident in  dont worry about what everyone else is doing. Elegant and simple works for everyone.

Buy in multiples

If you hit on a winning formula, its OK to stick with it. If you look at Tom Ford, or Giorgio Armani, or [Domenico] Dolce and [Stefano] Gabbana, they dont really vary much in their style. Theyre wearing great-fitting black or grey T-shirts and jeans or trousers.

Make shopping fun

Theres a perception that women are more into fashion than men. But our research has found that when men understand more about what theyre buying, they can get passionate about it because they start to know what they want. Shop together and make it fun.

Hoodie, 75, David Gandy Wellwear

Blazer, 235, Jaeger at marksandspencer.com
Styling: Holly Elgeti. Make-up: Nicky Weir using Hourglass. Hair: Alex Szabo at Carol Hayes using T3

I have a new hero. She is Dorothy Byrne, the former head of Channel 4 News who recently took up a post as president at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge.

Murray Edwards, despite the name implying a retired daytime television host, is actually a single-sex college for women. And one of Byrnes first actions in her new job was to introduce a series of seminars on fertility. She explained in a newspaper interview that she felt fertility had become a forbidden subject and that young women are being taught that they all have to do well in school, get a degree, be successful in their career and be beautiful. The thing that is getting lost along the way is that you forget to have a baby, which I nearly did.

In fact, Byrne became a single mother through IVF at the age of 45. Now 69, she understands better than most how consciously women need to think about parenthood if they want it. Especially if they want it alongside a thriving career and fulfilling personal life.

I thought if I wasnt careful Id end up with sextuplets

I was lucky enough to go to an excellent single-sex school. But in the 90s, when I was a teenager, the majority of our sex education was focused on ensuring we didnt accidentally get pregnant or contract a sexually transmitted disease. In one Life Skills class, I remember being taught how to put a condom on a plastic tube.

I entered my 20s with the firm belief that if I wasnt careful, I would end up dashing my hopes of a successful career by unwittingly becoming impregnated with sextuplets any time I slept with a man. So I went on the contraceptive pill. For 14 years.

I had absolutely no awareness that my fertility was not guaranteed. I assumed that when the time came, in my early 30s, I would have met the person I wanted to procreate with and I would come off the pill and be able to do so. Yes, perhaps I had a dim sense that a womans fertility declined in her late 30s but it wasnt something I was unduly concerned about. And it felt somewhat unfeminist to get too hung up on whether I wanted kids or not. I was busy carving out a career for myself.

The truth is, it hasnt been easy for me to have a baby. Far from it. To date, Ive had two unsuccessful rounds of IVF, three miscarriages, one round of egg freezing, various surgical procedures and internal investigations, countless scans and blood tests with multiple fertility clinics and here I am, ten years after I started trying, still actively engaged in the difficult, exhausting, emotional journey to become a mother.

If Id been taught about the limits of my fertility, maybe I would have approached things a little differently. Perhaps the outcome would have been the same, but at least I would have made more informed choices and been empowered to do so.

I also strongly feel that theres a deeper point here, about bringing to the fore subjects that have been marginalised and dismissed for centuries as womens issues and giving them the seriousness they deserve.

Of course, not every woman wants to be a mother and nor are we wholly defined by our ability to have children or not. But for us not to feel misplaced shame or stigma, its important we talk about the things that permanently shape womens  and mens  lives without fear of judgment.

Im so grateful that these fertility seminars now exist and that women are being emboldened to make the choices that are right for them. The fact that Byrne was 45 when she had her child makes her even more of a personal inspiration.

Im turning 43 in a few weeks. That gives me two more years of hope.

This week Im

Wearing this cinnamon ribbed-knit midi dress  the perfect colour for autumn. 350, self-portrait-studio.com.

Sleeping in burnt orange bedlinen by Piglet  a friend recommended linen sheets and theyre a revelation. 392, pigletinbed.com

Reading Misfits by Michaela Coel: a short, inspiring manifesto penned by the creator of I May Destroy You. 9.99, waterstones.com
From artisanal rugs to fabulous faux plants, interiors editor Sally Cullen shares her picks from our homeware favourites

Set yourself a stylish table and youll soon be out of that TV-dinner rut, from left: bowl, 38; pizza tray, 25; dinner plate, 10; side plate, 8; mug, 7; tumblers, 6 each; candleholder, 18; salad bowl, 18; salad server set, 15; small bowl, 8; cane and glass vase, 55; linen throw, 65, and tablemats, 36 for four, all frenchconnection.com

French Connection

Aztec prints, basketry, handwoven rugs theres a crafted touch to this trendsetters latest range, with natural materials such as rattan and canvas adding texture

The White Company

As you'd expect, this brand's lounging buzzword is 'luxe'

Layer up bedlinen for the ultimate hotel-at-home vibe. From left: stool, 325; side table, 195; table lamp, 95; bedlinen, from 58; bedspread, from 110; rug (170cm x 240cm), from 345, and pendant light, from 100, all thewhitecompany.com

Breakfast tray, 10

Habitat

Deep heritage colours meet modern good looks at the homeware legend. Factor in rich velvets, hammered metal and cork finishes

Give your floor a facelift with a new-look rug. From left: planter, 55; side table, 195 for nest of three; table lamp, 45; rug (160cm x 230cm), 120; sofa bed, 400; cushions, small 6.50 each, large 25; coffee table, 150; bowl, 12.50, and wall light, 28, all habitat.co.uk

Sofa, 1,300

Marks & Spencer

This high-street stalwarts sleek armchairs and gold-framed tables deliver timeless appeal

Make room for bedside bits by switching your table lamp for a pendant shade. From left: chair, 249; pendant light, 49.50; table, 199; vases, from 5; mug, 5; bed, 649; duvet cover and pillowcase set, 29.50; matching cushion, 12.50; colour-block cushion, 19.50, and mirror, 69, all marksandspencer.com

John Lewis

Our favourite department stores newest collection combines statement pieces with clean, simple Scandi-inspired lines

Get the day off to a good. start by bringing out your best. tableware for breakfast. .From left: pouffe, 79;. armchair, 399; folding.chairs, 99 each; table,. 999, and pendant light, 17, all johnlewis.com.

Matalan

Cool and wallet-friendly, this fashion stores interiors range was a well-kept secret. Well, not any more
Pushed for time but still want freshly made family dinners? Clodagh McKennas stunning dishes can be made in as little as 10 minutes (yes, really)

Turbo tempeh tacos

THE MISSING INGREDIENT? IT'S TIME

As a chef I talk to people about food every day  in person, on Instagram and even in the street. They give me recipes, tell me their food preferences and where to buy the greatest ingredients. But the number-one topic is time  more specifically, how little they have, and how that affects what they cook and when they cook it.

I feel so passionate about helping all of us to cook more regularly. It improves everything in our lives  physical and mental wellbeing. No matter how hard my day is, I give myself a little gift of a home-cooked meal at the end, because it will always make me feel better.

So I decided to write a book which is focused on time. In Minutes is packed with 80 flavourful, speedy recipes that you can cook from start to finish in 10, 20 or 30 minutes, from creamy forest pasta to nutty chicken or Singaporean pepper prawns. Soon theyll be your weekly staples.

I hope you enjoy the recipes and that they make your daily cooking more delicious, fun and easy. Just make sure to pop on your favourite disco tunes and have fun while youre cooking!

Creamy forest pasta; Moroccan spiced lamb

NOW BUY CLODAGH'S BOOK

In Minutes by Clodagh McKenna will be published by Kyle Books on 28 October, price 20. To preorder a copy for 17 until 7 November, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193. Free UK delivery on orders over 20.
World-renowned organ transplant doctor Professor Russell Strong AC has called for hospitals and universities to ban Chinese surgeons

A world-renowned organ transplant doctor has issued an urgent warning for hospitals and universities around the globe to ban Chinese surgeons, fearing they are taking part in a real-life 'Squid Game'.

Professor Russell Strong AC told Daily Mail Australia that many Chinese medical trainees take what they've learnt in the West and use it to harvest human organs back home in a terrifying 'kill-to-order' market that parallels a side plot in the smash hit South Korean Netflix horror series.

The totalitarian state removes hearts, kidneys, livers and corneas from 100,000 dissidents and prisoners in secret every year, human rights groups claim - but the international community remains powerless to stop the slaughter.

The now retired 84-year-old first became aware of Beijing's horrifying human rights abuses back in the late 1980s after setting up pioneering transplant program at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Professor Strong had successfully performed Australia's first-ever liver transplant in 1985 and was inundated with requests from 'mainland Chinese trainees'.

But with rumours swirling even back then that the Communist Party were using death row inmates and political dissidents as an organ bank, he decided to take action.

China's 'kill-to-order' market parallels a side plot in the smash hit South Korean Netflix horror series Squid Game where masked men carve out the organs of dead contestants

The thriller pits players (protagonist Seong Gi-Hun centre is pictured centre alongside two of his closest allies) against each other in contests fought to the death for a chance to win cash

''This wasn't anything to do with race... I just thought using prisoners as organs donors was totally immoral.' - Professor Russell Strong

'I refused to train them unless I had a signed document from their institution that they would not go back and use executed prisoners as organ donors,' Prof Strong said.

'I never received one response, so I refused to take them on.'

Although he went on to have a stellar career and was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia, a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George and awarded a knighthood in Malaysia, at the time his brave stance was met with hostility from some other medical professionals.

Why is the world powerless to stop the slaughter? Beijing is able to coverup their human rights abuses by under-reporting organ transplant data to the World Health Organisation. The global health body is compelled to accept the totalitarian nation's 'inadequate and misleading' hospital data without question because they are a member state who wield great power. China's official statistics show they are they are performing 10,000 to 20,000 transplants surgeries a year. But Susie Hughes, the Executive Director of The International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China says the claims do not stack up. 'A recent statistical analysis of China's current organ transplant system showed the numbers China has been putting out have been falsified,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'When you examine hospital revenues, bed utilisation rates and the number of surgical teams from the official Chinese data... the figure is more likely to be between 60,000 to 100,000 transplants per year.' Advertisement

'This wasn't anything to do with race. When I was in Brisbane I trained many people from Malaysia, Japan, Europe and even the United States,' he said.

'I also trained a lot of Chinese Australians as well as Chinese surgeons from Singapore and Hong Kong.

'I just thought using prisoners as organs donors was totally immoral.'

China first started slaughtering its own citizens for their organs as far back as the 1970s with the issue gaining international condemnation during the 1990s after Human Rights Watch blew the lid on its state-sponsored program targeting prisoners.

Now, according to the United Nations, China's Communist Party primarily targets repressed minority groups including Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Muslims and Christians.

The terrifying industry is worth about $1billion every year and human rights groups estimate that between 60,000 to 100,000 people are killed annually.

Despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, Beijing continues to deny the existence of a forced organ trafficking system and have called the claims 'fabricated' and 'defamatory'.

'Hospitals and universities should stop receiving and training any surgeons from China, not just for transplants, any surgeons because the Chinese doctors know what is happening and they in a way are covering up all of this,' Prof Strong said.

'I think the mainstream media has really failed to report the atrocities that are going on and have failed to connect the people of the free world with the victims of forced organ harvesting in China.'

China has claimed since 2015 that prisoners are no longer being used as organ banks.

'Our government already has regulations related to recovering organs from death row inmates,' an official said in 2015. 'Consent is not presumed consent - written consent from the prisoner himself or herself as well as his or her family [is needed].'

Dr Strong claims many Chinese medical trainees take what they've learnt in the West and use it to harvest human organs back home (stock image of doctor transporting an organ)

China removes hearts, kidneys, livers and corneas from 100,000 dissidents and prisoners in secret every year. Organ harvesting is a side plot in Netflix hit Squid Game (above)

Wendy Rogers, a professor of clinical ethics at Macquarie University in Sydney who helped write the guidelines for Australia's ethical organ donations system in 2007, said universities have a major role to play in making sure they are not indirectly assisting the gruel and inhumane practice by participating in collaborative research projects with Chinese institutes who may use the data for nefarious purposes.

But at the moment Prof Rogers says it's 'nobody's job to check'.

'Researchers in universities have a lot of independence to develop partnerships and collaborations and if those partnerships come with some money all the better from the university's point of view,' she said.

It's time we woke up in this country and stop kowtowing to China' - Professor Russell Strong

'So there hasn't been a lot of scrutiny.'

Professor Strong warns that some institutions are putting profits above human rights.

'They pay high fees to study at our universities so everyone is scared to say something,' he said.

'It's all to do with money. It's money over human rights and the human rights abuses in China are outlandish.

'They're perpetrating genocide on the Uyghur people and I think it's time we woke up in this country and stop kowtowing to China.'
A proud grandfather who came to Australia to help his daughter out become 'trapped' here at the mercy of cruel Kiwi border polices - even though he is in a state with no Covid.

Father-of-four Shane Hayes, 59, a painter and decorator, arrived in Perth in early August to help his daughter, Briar, 28, with a family problem involving her eight-year-old son, Carius.

Mr Hayes has been living with his daughter and grandson at Beechboro in Perth's northern suburbs, and the family decided Carius should return to NZ with him.

But after the Delta outbreaks in Australia and New Zealand, what was supposed to be a six week trip has turned into an 'indefinite' stay as Mr Hayes is stranded.

A proud grandfather who came to Australia to help his daughter and grandson has become 'trapped' here at the mercy of cruel Kiwi border polices. Pictured are his daughter Briar and grandson Carius

Kiwi grandfather Shayne Hayes says NZ's quarantine system is 'a sick joke'

Three months later he's ready to take Carius home to live with the extended family but a bottleneck in New Zealand's brutal hotel quarantine lottery system means Mr Hayes can't get home.

He is doing odd jobs painting and cleaning around Perth for $20 an hour to pay his rent and bills back home in Wellington, NZ's capital.

Mr Hayes has also run out of his medication for chronic depression and missed hospital appointments for planned dental surgery.

Under NZ's border control system every two weeks up to 25,000 Kiwis queue up in an online 'lobby' to secure one of around 2,500 places in 'Managed Isolation Quarantine' (MIQ).

Briar Hayes is picted with her two children, including Carius (right) and her father, Shayne (second from left)

Entrants to the lobby are allocated a number, which shows your place in the queue.

Even if you are selected, you have 24 hours to book an approved flight and produce proof of a negative Covid test and double vaccination - or you go to the back to the queue.

When the lobby closes for the day, all unsuccessful entrants miss out and have to wait two weeks to try again.

Mr Hayes has missed out three times, including on Thursday this week.

'This system has become a sick joke,' Mr Hayes told Daily Mail Australia.

'Tens of thousands of others in this situation bomb out of this joke lottery every week along with me.'

New Zealand recorded 128 new Covid cases on Friday.

Since the pandemic began NZ has seen 5449 cases and just 28 deaths.

'I came as the representation of my ex wife and three other older daughters concerned for her, and her eight year old son.'

Mr Hayes' daughter Briar decided it would be best for her son to return to NZ with his grandfather.

Shayne Hayes is pictured teaching his daughter Briar how to play chess at Beechboro in Perth

Briar Hayes is pictured with her son Carius in Perth

'I will be taking my grandson back to NZ. Sadly her decision is to stay. it's heart breaking for me.

'I was hoping she would come back. I don't think she's in a safe environment.'

Mr Hayes says he's even heard of situations where elderly Kiwis stuck overseas have had their pensions cut off.

It is understood up to 27,000 New Zealanders stuck overseas have registered to return home.

Mr Hayes if he could talk directly to Kiwi Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern he'd tell her home quarantine should be allowed for people who are from safe areas.

'If I could, I'd say to Jacinda 'I'm double vaccinated, I'm in a place with no Covid, just let me go home and self-isolate there'.'

'I'd even wear an ankle bracelet that crims have to wear to prove I'm doing the right thing.'

There has been speculation New Zealand's tough Covid-zero restrictions and quarantine policies could hurt popular Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

'I'd say to her 'by neglecting those people who live overseas you're not doing yourself any favours politically, this could come back to bite you at the next election'.'

'I'm disappointed and dissatisfied with their lack of concern or action to assist Kiwis.'

He believes the current quarantine system should only apply to people from areas with Covid outbreaks.

'I have learnt that during my time here trapped in WA that the NZ government don't really give a s***.'

'It's an easy fix, it just seems like they can't be stuffed to fix it.'

There has been speculation NZ's strict lockdowns and slow vaccination uptake during the Delta outbreak could see popularity for nation's most loved Prime Minister falter.

Ardern's popularity was at a record high in May last year, she was praised for her prompt response to Covid that saw the country's death toll limited to 26.

However, the Labour Party leader's strategy of shutting her country's borders and the nation's glacial vaccine rollout, has put a strain on her once soaring popularity.

Daily Mail Australia has approached the New Zealand government for comment.
She carefully guided NSW through the darkest days of the pandemic.

But at a time Gladys Berejiklian should be enjoying the freedoms she worked so hard to deliver, she instead finds her reputation under the microscope in the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

And the gloves are off.

The ICAC has been attempting to chip away, day by day, at her reputation, but has yet to deliver a 'smoking gun' that will justify the biggest political shock of 2021 - Ms Berejiklian's resignation as premier of Australia's most populous state.

Commission counsel Scott Robertson SC, unlike some of his ICAC predecessors, speaks softly. But he carries a big stick - his words are specific, pointed and laser-like in their focus.

And that focus is all on Ms Berejiklian.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is being investigated by the Independent Committee Against Corruption in Sydney

The ICAC is investigating if she 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.

It's also looking into whether she 'exercised her official functions dishonestly or partially' by not reporting any reasonable suspicions about Mr Maguire to the ICAC.

Finding out who knew what and when they knew it has been front and centre in the first week of ICAC's hearings. There is at least another week to go, and possibly more, because some witnesses' testimony took longer than anticipated.

Former premier Mike Baird has already given evidence, as has NSW deputy leader of the Liberal Party, Stuart Ayres and a number of senior public servants, while reams of emails, documents and memos have been entered into evidence - including one from senior adviser, Nigel Blunden who authored the now infamous 'WTF' memo.

All of the first week's proceedings were, and most of this week's will be, meticulous scene setting before the big event  Ms Berejiklian's appearance before the commission on Thursday and Friday.

Bit by bit, Mr Robertson's questions and the witnesses' answers have been an attempt to peel away layers of Teflon that perhaps previously surrounded Ms Berejiklian.

It has at times been excruciating, not least for the former premier, who is again seeing her private and public life scrutinised in minute detail.

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

Most galling of all for the former premier, is that none of this was necessary.

If she had declared there was a potential conflict of interest in her relationship with Mr Maguire, she could have recused herself from funding meetings concerning projects of interest to him.

Why she did not do so is likely to haunt her.

After all, she had previously declared two of her cousins worked for the NSW public service and even disclosed meeting someone at a function.

More to the point, declaring a potential conflict of interest was something the then state premier Mike Baird expected and called for at every cabinet meeting, as ICAC heard this week.

Australians not familiar with the events leading up to the ICAC hearings may have been shocked by the evidence they heard this week.

But for those who closely follow NSW politics, the only surprise is that anyone is surprised.

On Monday, October 12, 2020, Ms Berejiklian told an ICAC inquiry into former Liberal MP for Wagga Wagga Daryl Maguire that she had been in a secret 'close personal relationship' with him for years.

This was shocking; a genuine bombshell revelation. It seemed that no one beyond Gladys and Daryl knew about the clandestine affair.

Well, no one but the ICAC investigators, who were tapping Mr Maguire's phone calls.

One of those recordings entered into evidence on the same day Ms Berejiklian admitted her relationship with Mr Maguire featured the pair discussing a business deal.

'I don't need to know about that bit,' the then premier of NSW said to her then partner.

Most reports that evening were variations on 'the political future of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian hangs in the balance'. From political pundits to the women and men looking at their phones on a bus or train, many may have wondered whether she would survive the revelations.

But they didn't reckon with the premier's steely resolve to cling to power.

She immediately confessed all to the media, doing interviews that centred on the narrative that she was a good woman who'd been dragged into a awkward situation by a bad boyfriend.

The general public sympathised with her and thought she was just unlucky in love. What woman hadn't been in the same boat themselves, or at least knew someone who had? And what kind of man would you be if you didn't wish her all the best after she admitted what she said was a mistake?

But it wouldn't have been enough if it wasn't for a five letter word that has dominated everyone's lives for almost two years. Covid.

ICAC witness list Monday 25 - Peter Minucos, former public servant John Barilaro, former deputy premier of NSW Tuesday 26 - Neil Harley, former chief of staff to Gladys Berejiklian Brad Burden, project director at Department of Defence Sarah Cruickshank, deputy secretary at Department of Premier and Cabinet Wednesday 27 - Daryl Maguire, former Liberal MP Thursday 28 - Gladys Berejiklian, former premier of NSW Friday 29 - Gladys Berejiklian Advertisement

There's no doubt Ms Berejiklian was a trusted, safe pair of hands in a time of crisis. You don't change jockeys half-way through a race and you don't change premiers when the state, and the world, is facing its first pandemic in a hundred years.

She toughed it out, ignored calls for her head from the Labor Opposition, and continued to do a superb job running the state.

Her popularity went up, not down. The public was behind her.

As time went on and it was revealed she had a new boyfriend, accomplished barrister Arthur Moses, Ms Berejiklian may even have allowed herself to think the worst for her was over, that ICAC had moved on.

But it had not. It was still investigating, and its focus had shifted from Mr Maguire to Ms Berejiklian.

Her days as premier were numbered; she just didn't know it yet.

She announced on October 1 that she was resigning as NSW premier because she was being investigated by ICAC.

She had known for at least two weeks that was the case, as ICAC had already interviewed her.

She said it 'could not happen at a worse time'.

'Resigning at this time is against every instinct in my being and something which I do not want to do. I love my job, and serving the community, but I have been given no option following the (ICAC) statement issued.'

Three weeks later, on October 18, ICAC began its public hearings in Sydney. It soon emerged that it had been holding private hearings for months.

One of those private hearings was with Ms Berejiklian.

In an excruciating 22 second clip played entered into evidence at ICAC she was asked if she had suspicions that her former boyfriend, Mr Maguire may have been involved in corrupt behaviour.

'I was in shock, I didn't know what to think. I didn't have enough detail. I hadn't read what was happening. I can't remember what I thought at that time,' she said.

Mr Robertson said 'I'm not asking what you knew, I'm asking whether at the time you asked for Mr Maguire's resignation you suspected that he may have been engaged in corrupt conduct?'

'I didn't, I didn't, I didn't know. I wasn't, I wasn't sure,' Ms Berejiklian replied in the recording of an interview from September 18.

That term Mr Robertson used - suspected - is important. The ICAC Act holds that leaders must report 'suspicion' of possible corrupt behaviour straight away.

On Tuesday, the now infamous 'WTF' memo was presented at ICAC.

On December 12, 2016, Nigel Blunden sent a memo sent to his boss, the then premier Mike Baird, sarcastically referring to the proposed 'Maguire international shooting centre of excellence.'

The explosive memo that has rocked the ICAC inquiry into former premier Gladys Berejiklian

'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.

In the recommendation section of his memo, Mr Blunden wrote 'Oppose. Gladys and (Stuart) Ayres want it. No doubt they've done a sweetheart deal with Daryl, but this goes against all of the principles of sound economic management.'

On Friday, the NSW Trade and Industry Minister Stuart Ayres was grilled by Mr Robertson about the 'WTF' memo, which mentioned him. He replied that he didn't 'recall having any interactions with (Ms Berejiklian)', on the issue.

Sophie Callan, who is representing Ms Berejiklian at the ICAC, asked Mr Ayres if the statement about a 'sweetheart deal' was speculative.

'Fantasy would be a good word,' Mr Ayres replied.

The memo was written two days before government's expenditure review committee - which was headed by Ms Berejiklian - considered the proposal and ultimately gave the association $5.5 million.

But this paled in comparison to what came next - her political ally and close friend Mike Baird's appearance.

He said the first he heard of Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire's relationship was 'when it was revealed here (at ICAC) about a year ago,' he said, adding that he was 'incredulous' when he heard it.

'Certainly I think (the relationship) should have been disclosed  to myself as the premier' and that it was a 'potential conflict of interest,' he said.

Mr Baird also said that Mr Maguire was 'at times aggressive and at times abusive to members of staff and public servants'.

Mike Baird (pictured right) and Gladys Berejiklian (left) were very close political allies and friends

As the evidence mounted in ICAC, unequivocal support for Ms Berejiklian came from an unlikely source - former Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson.

Speaking on Sydney's 2GB radio station, the man who was once known as the 'Senator for Kneecaps', said he and Ms Berejiklian 'have never been close' but the idea that she is corrupt is 'absurd'.

Former Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson (pictured) has defended Gladys Berejiklian

'All of us need to stand up and say that this ICAC thing has got out of hand. If she is corrupt then I don't understand the meaning of the word,' he said.

There is much more evidence to come next week at ICAC, with the prize witnesses being Mr Maguire on Wednesday, followed by Ms Berejiklian on Thursday and Friday.

If there are as many revelations as there have been in the first week - and there almost certainly will be - it will be another fascinating week in NSW politics.

Ms Berejiklian has repeatedly and strenuously denied all wrongdoing.

Gladys Berejiklian was all smiles this week, but that may not last long

Assisting counsel Scott Robertson arrives at the Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing in Sydney

The Australian Clay Target Association is part of an ICAC inquiry into former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian

The revelation of former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian's (pictured left) secret relationship with Daryl Maguire (right) left another former premier, Mike Baird 'incredulous'
Carla Marie Faith was sentenced to six years in prison Thursday on 26 counts of misdemeanor child abuse and other charges

A Colorado daycare owner has been sentenced to six years in prison after she hid 26 kids in her basement, with some children still traumatized as a result.

A staircase to the basement was hidden behind a sliding fake wall when police arrived to Carla Marie Faith's Mountain Play Place in Colorado Springs in November 2019.

She was only licensed to care for six children, but had taken on more than four times as many. Twelve of the youngsters were under two years-old, despite Faith being told she could only care for two kids in that age bracket.

The kids, some of whom were sweaty, soiled and thirsty, were being looked after by just two adults, according to an arrest affidavit.

A 26th child was picked up by a parent while police were at the daycare.

The daycare has since been closed, along with another one owned by Faith.

On Thursday, Faith was sentenced to six years in prison on 26 counts of misdemeanor child abuse and one count each of attempting to influence a public servant and obstructing a peace officer.

Faith hid 26 kids, far more than the six she was licensed to look after, in a basement. 'This wasn't an accident. This was not a result of a momentary lapse in judgment,' a judge said

Officers arrived at the Mountain Play Place in Colorado Springs in November 2019 after reports that Faith had more children than she was allowed to. The daycare has since closed

She was convicted in July.

'What you did was wrong on so many levels. This wasn't an accident. This was not a result of a momentary lapse in judgment ... She made a series of choices that placed the safety and welfare of 26 children in jeopardy,' Fourth Judicial District Judge Gregory Werner said Thursday.

Lead prosecutor Andrew Herlihy played a 48-minute video for the court featuring statements from parents and professionals, according to local station KOAA.

One parent cried as she described the daycare's impact on her daughter: 'She became more aggressive, she was hitting ... pulling hair.'

Parent Kim Marshall said that both of her children still receive counseling.

'We sleep with the lights on in our house,' she said. 'My kids are anxious. They are fearful of the world.'

Child psychiatry professor Dr. Steven Berkowitz said that 'these kinds of experiences that these children had at this daycare can have long term impacts.'

He added that the kids are at high risk for emotional, psychiatric and medical problems.

A parent outside of Thursday's hearing said: 'We're gonna have to pursue therapy and make sure that all of us can continue on in a healthy manner'

Faith's defense attorney, Josh Tolini, objected to Dr. Berkowitz's assessment, arguing that he wasn't qualified to comment because he had never met Faith.

Police went to her Mountain Play Place daycare in November 2019 after receiving reports that there were more children than allowed.

When police arrived, Faith repeatedly told an officer that no children were there and that the home didn't have a basement, but the officer heard children's music and a child's cry from the basement, the affidavit said.

Officers found the wall hiding the staircase to the basement when one of them bumped into it, according to court documents.

The wall moved, and the officer noticed 'two parallel scrape marks on the wooden floor' that led away from the wall.

The officer moved a plant to reveal a 'small seam' between the wall and 'false wall.'

He pulled the false wall to the right, revealing a stairwell leading down to the basement.

They found 25 children in the basement, including 12 children under age 2, prosecutors said.

There were two adult employees supervising them in the basement and one of them, Valerie Fresquez, accepted a plea deal and testified at Faith's trial, KRDO-TV reported.

Charges against Fresquez will be dropped if she meets some unspecified steps.

The 26th child who had been in the basement was picked up by a parent while police were at the day care, authorities said.

Many of the children had soiled or wet diapers and were sweaty and thirsty, according to an arrest affidavit.

Faith's lawyer, Josh Tolini, said she had difficulty saying to 'no' to parents who wanted to place their children at her day care and that the situation snowballed.

She made some 'incredibly poor decisions about how to do this,' Tolini said.

Day care employee Christina Swauger was convicted of the same charges as Faith and is awaiting sentencing.

Swauger was supposed to be sentenced Thursday as well, but she was quarantined in jail and her hearing was moved to November 4, according to KOAA

An arrest warrant has been issued for another former day care employee who failed to appear in court, said Howard Black, a spokesperson for the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office in Colorado.

Counterpoint School, also owned by Faith, was shut down by state investigators.
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The high school bands played, the marching groups danced and float riders threw Moon Pies and beads to the thousands of people who turned out for the Krewe of Boo on Saturday - New Orleans' first big parade since the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Halloween celebration started in 2007 as a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser, but it's taken on a new significance after COVID-19 brought the party city to a halt last year.

Experts estimate that last year's Mardi Gras celebration, which happened before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, may have contributed to 50,000 infections in Louisiana's first wave.

On Friday, Mayor LaToya Cantrell signaled that Mardi Gras will go on as planned next year barring a 'dramatic turn for the worse.'

'It's better than Christmas,' said Lacey Sanders, a member of the Pussyfooters marching club, on Saturday. 'I have been waiting for this since April of 2020.'

After over a year in which the coronavirus largely put an end to parades, the streets were lined with thousands of residents and tourists who came to watch the Krewe of Boo parade.

A costumed man greets a young boy at the Krewe of Boo parade in New Orleans on Saturday. It was the first big parade since Mardi Gras in February 2020

A float rolls down the street during the Krewe of Boo parade, which started out as a fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina in 2007

Members of the Mande Milkshakes dance at the parade. 'It's better than Christmas,' said the member of one marching club

Krewe of Boo stretches from the city's Marigny neighborhood, through the French Quarter and into the Warehouse District

Krewe of Boo stretches from the city's Marigny neighborhood, through the French Quarter and into the Warehouse District.

Riders on the floats dress up in Halloween-themed outfits and throw ghoulish and fun trinkets and beads to crowds that pack the streets.

'I think everybody's ready to get back to normal life. So why not? Why Not?' Pussyfooters member Tawanda Carter told local station WDSU.

Video from WGNO shows crowds in sequined or glittery costumes lining the streets. Parents held costumed children on their shoulders. Members of the Rolling Elvi - an Elvis tribute group that rides scooters - took photos with each other.

Students from the Lafayette Academy marching band warmed up while girls in a dance troupe practiced their moves.

All would have been common sites during a regular year, but many were cognizant of how long it's been since the city has seen such an event.

'This is one of the best feelings in a very long time. It's so lovely,' said Jordan Philebar, a New Orleans resident who was dressed as Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family as she rode a float along with four members of her family.

'It's lovely to feel slightly normal again.'

Mardi Gras 2020, held on February 25, was credited with contributing to the city becoming an early hot spot for the coronavirus. It was the last major parade in New Orleans before Saturday.

The Halloween-themed celebration has taken on a new significance after COVID-19 brought the party city to a halt last year

In New Orleans, 60 percent of the city's residents are vaccinated, compared to 47.3 percent of Louisiana residents as a whole

Members of the Lafayette Academy band march in the parade. 'It's lovely to feel slightly normal again,' one person said

A woman plays a drum ahead of the Krewe of Boo parade on Saturday

Louisiana's COVID-19 cases grew 67.8 percent in the first two weeks after the initial diagnosis on March 9, according to The Advocate.

It outpaced New York, which saw cases grow by 66.1 percent after getting its first diagnosis, according to data from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Researchers also calculated that the parade likely yielded 800 infections that contributed to the 50,000 confirmed cases in Louisianas first wave, according to The Times-Picayune.

As the extent and seriousness of the pandemic became apparent, parades and music festivals were canceled.

If the city can pull off the Halloween-themed Krewe of Boo parade safely, without a resulting uptick in COVID-19 infections, it will bolster Mayor Cantrell's tentative plans toward bringing back the lavish Mardi Gras processions that fill city streets during the annual pre-Lenten celebration.

'This is a step towards the return of Mardi Gras next spring,' Cantrell tweeted after announcing in September that the Krewe of Boo parade could proceed.

'What happens next depends on what we do right now!!'

George Porter Jr., 73, of the local funk band The Meters reigns as king during the Krewe of Boo parade on Saturday

Witches, goblins and masked creatures took to the streets Saturday night in the city's first large float parade since COVID-19

'We miss it. Us locals, we miss it very much, and we're just glad to be back,' one attendee said

On Friday, the mayor said that Mardi Gras will go on next year unless there is a 'dramatic turn for the worse in our COVID numbers' - her strongest comments yet that the massive parades that accompany the yearly celebration would roll again.

New Orleans resident Melanie Smith walked with her granddaughter along Elysian Fields Avenue on Saturday, taking photos of especially good costumes, and participating in something she hadn't been able to do for over a year.

'We miss it. Us locals, we miss it very much, and we're just glad to be back,' she said.

She hopes that with the city's vaccination numbers continuing to rise the parade wouldn't result in more coronavirus cases.

In New Orleans, 60 percent of the city's total population is vaccinated, according to city data.

Mardi Gras 2020, held on February 25, likely yielded 800 infections that contributed to the 50,000 confirmed cases in Louisianas first wave, according to researchers. Above, the Society of Saint Anne at last year's Mardi Gras celebration

Louisiana's COVID-19 cases grew 67.8 percent in the first two weeks after the initial diagnosis on March 9. Mardi Gras 2020, above, was held days earlier on February 25

About 47.3 percent of the population of Louisiana is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, below the national average of 57.4 percent.

The state had 681 new cases on Sunday, and 83 percent of COVID cases from October 7 to 13 were among the unvaccinated.

As part of Saturday's safety measures for Krewe of Boo, riders and marching group members had to be vaccinated, or show proof of a negative COVID-19 test.

Health officials were out conducting a study during the parade to better understand coronavirus spread in large gatherings.

About 40 health employees and volunteers were slated to be at the parade route to assist people in taking the survey and handing out goody-bags to those who take part.

In keeping with the Halloween theme, the 40 dressed up as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House adviser and face of the federal pandemic response.

Louisiana has the fourth highest death rate of any state in the US per 100,000 people, according to data hosted on Statista. It comes behind Alabama, New Jersey and Mississippi, the state with the highest rate.

Louisiana had 681 new cases on Sunday, and 83 percent of COVID cases from October 7 to 13 were among the unvaccinated

Louisiana has the fourth highest death rate of any state in the US, behind Alabama, New Jersey and Mississippi

Krewe of Boo was scrapped last year and this year's Mardi Gras was a subdued affair without parades and a largely vacant French Quarter.

As vaccinations became more widespread and infections dropped, the city began loosening restrictions that had limited capacity at restaurants or music venues. In one of the last stages of loosening restrictions, officials announced in May that they would start to accept applications for parades and the smaller processions called second-line parades.

The rise of the Delta variant, which filled hospitals across the state over the summer, called into question the viability of parades.

But in September, Cantrell announced Krewe of Boo would be allowed to parade. She credited work residents had done to slow the delta variant's spread.

New Orleans resident Stephen Hawkins watched the parade with his family although as a longtime member of the Krewe de Lune, he knows what its like to parade as well.

He said the krewe's dancers practiced throughout the pandemic - outside and socially distanced - but with no one to perform for. Now their time was here.

He said everyone in their krewe was vaccinated but that it's impossible to say the same for the throngs of people crowded along the parade route. He said he hoped Saturday would lay the groundwork for Mardi Gras next year.

'We're looking forward to Mardi Gras 2022. This is the dry run,' he said.
Internal Facebook documents showed that while the company enjoyed a boom of popularity in India in 2019, researchers were warning that the company's services were filled with religious hate speech between the nation's Hindu and Muslim populations.

That year, researchers monitored a test account from February to March that quickly became awash with bigotry, misinformation and celebrations of violence that one report would eventually link to the deadly February 2020 religious riots in Delhi that killed 53 people, The Washington Post reports.

'The test user's News Feed has become a near constant barrage of polarizing nationalist content, misinformation, and violence and gore,' one Facebook researcher wrote in the report.

'I've seen more images of dead people in the past three weeks than I've seen in my entire life total.'

Yet the researcher's recommendations to fix the problems were allegedly ignored due to 'political sensitivities,' due to their ties with India's ruling party.

The internal documents were a part of a large cache of files collected and released by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Facebook enjoys its biggest market in India with more than 300 million users and its WhatsApp services has more than 400 million users.

The deadly Dehli riots took place from February 23 to 29 in 2020 and left 53 dead

The riots came as the nation's Hindu majority clashed with its Muslim minority

Facebook researchers said the growing amount of hate speech on the platform may have fueled the fires of the riots as it polarized its Hindu and Muslim users

Equity Labs found that more than third of the hate speech on Facebook in 2019 was directed at Muslims. Researchers claim that Facebook was well aware of the problem

The internal documents revealed that Facebook saw a 300 per cent spike leading up the riots, with increasing calls to violence flooding Facebook and WhatsApp, it's international text and calling service.

The documents echoed a 2019 study conducted by Equity Labs, a nonprofit international organization that studies the causes of racial inequality, and shows that Facebook was fully aware of the polarizing effect it was propagating in India.

Equity Labs' research found that of the hate speech permeating in Facebook, more than a third was directed at India's Muslim minority.

Facebook's researchers had conducted interviews with users that found this to be the case as Hindu users said they frequently saw posts vilifying their Muslim neighbors.

Similarly, Muslims interviewees said they had begun fearing for their lives because of all the hatred on Facebook.

'It's scary. It's really scary,' one Muslim man said in the report.

Many users told the researchers that it was 'Facebook's responsibility to reduce this content.'

India will be a 'very difficult place to survive for everyone,' another Muslim interviewee warned. 'If social media survives 10 more years like this, there will be only hatred.'

Family members mourned those who died in the 2020 riots

The riots came as Muslims protested the nation's new citizenship law. The protestors were attacked by Hindu counter-protestors

A man is pictured crying over the death of Mohammad MudAsir, who led one of the protests

Through their work, the Facebook researchers found that two Hindu nationalists groups with ties to India's ruling party were leading the wave of anti-Muslim posts.

But when the researchers recommended that one of the groups be banned from Facebook, nothing happened, according to one report.

The other group, researchers said, promoted violence against Muslims and compared the minority groups to 'pigs' and 'dogs.'

The groups also remains active on Facebook and was not labeled as 'dangerous' due to 'political sensitivities,' the report read.

The documents also included reports on hot bots and fake accounts tied the country's ruling party were which were sowing chaos and division through the platform.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often made anti-Muslim claims as nationalist groups, like the ones mentioned in the report, use his speeches to propagate violence against the minority group.

Modi's citizenship law, prohibiting immigrants from attaining legal citizenship, was what ignited the 2020 riots as it was seen as a political move targeting Muslim immigrants.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, pictured hugging Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook researchers said that Hindu nationalists groups linked to Modi were allowed to stay up despite their use of the platform to promote hate and violence against Muslims

Facebook has several offices in India, like the one in Gurgaon, pictured. Employees in India were reportedly threatened with jail time by Modi's administration

The Modi administration had even threatened to jail Facebook and Twitter employees earlier this year if they did not comply with take-down requests as the nation sought to crush political protest on social media, The WSJ reports.

Another researcher noted in a report that Facebook was ill-equipped to take down posts from the Hindu nationalists group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, RSS, because the group posted in Hindi and Bengali, which their system had trouble translating.

RSS's posts make claims that Muslims are to blame for COVID-19's spread in India and that Muslim men try to lure Hindu women into marriage to convert them to Islam.

The documents said that RSS would not be removed due to 'political sensitives,' the New York Times reports. Modi had worked for the RSS for decades.

Another Hindu nationalist group linked to Modi, the Bajrang Dal, was reported to have used WhatsApp to 'organize and incite violence,' but the group remains active on Facebook.

Researchers said the company balked at removing Bajrang Dal despite the warnings because doing so might have endangered Facebook's staff and business prospects, as well as infuriated Modi's party.

Facebook spokesman Andy Stone did not comment on the Hindu nationalist groups but said the company bans groups or individuals 'after following a careful, rigorous, and multidisciplinary process.'

He told the WSJ that the research mentioned in the reports were working documents and not complete investigations to be used for policy recommendations.

He added that Facebook has invested and improved significantly in technology to find hate speech across the world and such posts have been declining on the platform.

Facebook did not immediately reply to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

This is the second time Facebook has been accused of allowing hate speech on its platform to grow against a Muslim minority.

A Facebook post calling for the mass killings of Muslims in India similar to those taking place at the time in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma

An anonymous whistleblower complained that Facebook had not been aggressive enough when it came to military officials in Myanmar using the platform to spread hate speech during the mass killings of the Rohingya ethnic group in 2017.

In the most dramatic line of the whistleblower's affidavit, the former employee anguished over Facebook's inability to act quickly to the killings of the Muslims group as military officials used the site to spread hate speech.

'I, working for Facebook, had been a party to genocide,' the whistleblower wrote.

Although Facebook had previously acknowledged its failure to act swiftly in the mass deaths of the Rohingya people, the company said it no longer makes such mistakes.

'Facebook's approach in Myanmar today is fundamentally different from what it was in 2017, and allegations that we have not invested in safety and security in the country are wrong,' McPike said in a statement.

Haugen (pictured testifying in Congress on October 5), who claims Facebook puts 'profits before people,' earlier this month released tens of thousands of pages of internal research documents she secretly copied before leaving her job in the company's civic integrity unit

Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen's testimony to Congress During a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing on October 5, Whistleblower Frances Haugen called for transparency about how Facebook entices its users to keep scrolling on its apps, and the harmful effect it can have on users. 'As long as Facebook is operating in the shadows, hiding its research from public scrutiny, it is unaccountable,' said Haugen, a former product manager on Facebook's civic misinformation team. She left the nearly $1 trillion company with tens of thousands of confidential documents. 'The company's leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people. Congressional action is needed,' Haugen said. Haugen revealed she was the person who provided documents used in a Wall Street Journal and a Senate hearing on Instagram's harm to teenage girls. She compared the social media services to addictive substances like tobacco and opioids. Before the hearing, she appeared on CBS television program '60 Minutes,' revealing her identity as the whistleblower who provided the documents. 'There were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook,' she said during the interview. 'And Facebook over and over again chose to optimize for its own interests like making more money.' Haugen, who previously worked at Google and Pinterest, said Facebook has lied to the public about the progress it made to clamp down on hate speech and misinformation on its platform. She added that Facebook was used to help organize the Capitol riot on January 6, after the company turned off safety systems following the U.S. presidential elections. While she believed no one at Facebook was 'malevolent,' she said the company had misaligned incentives. In response to Haugen's bombshell comments, a Facebook executive accused her of stealing company documents and claimed she is 'not an expert' on the company's content algorithms. Facebook Vice President of Content Policy Monika Bickert spoke out in an interview with Fox News on, slamming Haugen a day after she testified to Congress. Bickert said that Haugen 'mischaracterized' the internal studies regarding the harmful impacts of content on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, which she presented to to Congress. Advertisement

Haugen testified before Congress in early October, where she claimed Facebook promoted divisiveness as a way to keep people on the site, with Haugen saying the documents showed the company had failed to protect young users.

It also showed that the company knew Instagram harmed young girls' body image and even tried to brainstorm ways to appeal to toddlers by 'exploring playdates as a growth lever.'

'The company's leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people. Congressional action is needed,' Haugen said at a hearing.

Haugen, who anonymously filed eight complaints about her former employer with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, told 60 Minutes earlier this month: 'Facebook, over and over again, has shown it chooses profit over safety.'

She claimed that a 2018 change prioritizing divisive posts, which made Facebook users argue, was found to boost user engagement.

That in turn helped bosses sell more online ads that have seen the social media giant's value pass $1 trillion.

'You are forcing us to take positions that we don't like, that we know are bad for society. We know if we don't take those positions, we won't win in the marketplace of social media,' Haugen said.

She also blamed Facebook for spurring the January 6 Capitol riot.

Meanwhile, the senator leading a probe of Facebook's Instagram and its impact on young people is asking Zuckerberg to testify before the panel that has heard far-reaching criticisms from a former employee of the company.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who heads the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection, called in a sharply worded letter Wednesday for the Facebook founder to testify on Instagram's effects on children.

'Parents across America are deeply disturbed by ongoing reports that Facebook knows that Instagram can cause destructive and lasting harms to many teens and children, especially to their mental health and wellbeing,' Blumenthal said in the letter addressed to Zuckerberg.

'Those parents, and the twenty million teens that use your app, have a right to know the truth about the safety of Instagram.'

In the wake of Haugen's testimony early this month, Blumenthal told Zuckerberg, 'Facebook representatives, including yourself, have doubled down on evasive answers, keeping hidden several reports on teen health, offering noncommittal and vague plans for action at an unspecified time down the road, and even turning to personal attacks on Ms. Haugen.'

Blumenthal did offer, however, that either Zuckerberg or the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, could appear before his committee.

'It is urgent and necessary for you or Mr. Adam Mosseri to testify to set the record straight and provide members of Congress and parents with a plan on how you are going to protect our kids,' he told Zuckerberg.

A spokesman for Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, confirmed receipt of Blumenthal's letter but declined any comment.

Haugen, who buttressed her statements with tens of thousands of pages of internal research documents she secretly copied before leaving her job in the company's civic integrity unit, accused Facebook of prioritizing profit over safety and being dishonest in its public fight against hate and misinformation.

'In the end, the buck stops with Mark,' Haugen said in her testimony. 'There is no one currently holding Mark accountable but himself.'
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A caravan with thousands of migrants is making its way from Tapachula, Mexico, to the US border, and Mexican officers struggled and ultimately failed to stop them on Saturday.

Around 3,000 migrants trying to pass north through Mexico said they hoped to eventually reach the US border, where the number of migrants trying to gain entry was already hitting new records.

Families from Haiti, South America, and Central America pushed past and tossed apart police with anti-riot gear and shields who had been moved in anticipation to break up the hordes of people.

'We are going to resist. We are going to resist peacefully. We are not going for confrontation, we are going in the name of God and peacefully. What we want is to receive attention regarding the administrative immigration paperwork according to law,' said one of the caravan leaders.

The crowd carried American flags and banners supporting president Biden with messages such as 'Biden For All,' FOX News reported.

A caravan of migrants, most from Central America, break through a Mexican police barricade in Tapachula, Mexico

Migrants clash with National Guard members as they walk in a caravan heading to Mexico City

Migrants are seen surging past police officers in a video shot in Mexico. The cops appeared to be outnumbered

Migrants from Central America and Haiti clash with National Guard members as they walk in a caravan

Migrants from Central America and Haiti hold a banner that reads "Migrants. Peace and justice" as they walk in a caravan headed to the Mexican capital

Around 3,000 migrants trying to pass north through Mexico said they hoped to eventually reach the US border, where the number of migrants trying to gain entry was already hitting new records

The massive crowd carried American flags and banners supporting president Biden with messages such as 'Biden For All,' as they have said they hope to reach the US border

A caravan with 3,000 migrants set out from Tapachula, near the Mexican border with Guatemala, and is headed north to Mexico City, where they then plan to go to the US border and entry the country

According to the outlet, the caravan is highly organized, as assemblers arranged for migrants to register through a QR code online.

A previous caravan, also set out from Tapachula, was broken up by Mexican border patrol agents in early September. The group of about 800 - largely Central Americans, Haitians, Venezuelans, and Cubans - were subject to violent treatment by officials, the National Migration Institute said.

On Saturday, a massive group, including families with young children, began trekking on foot from the city of Tapachula near the Guatemala border toward Mexico City.

This time, Mexican police and border patrol agents were unable to contain the crowd.

A highway checkpoint in Tapachula with 400 law enforcement officers aimed to block their path, but many migrants managed to break past. Footage showed people carrying backpacks and with children on their shoulders pushing through a cluster of officers in anti-riot gear.

A caravan of migrants, heading north, stop to rest in the Alvaro Obregon community, Tapachula municipality, Chiapas state, Mexico

A previous caravan, also set out from Tapachula, was broken up by Mexican border patrol agents in early September

On Saturday, a massive group, including families with young children, began trekking on foot from the city of Tapachula near the Guatemala border toward Mexico City

One family, including a woman and small children, were knocked to the ground in the crush of people, their belongings scattering.

One of the caravan's organizers, Irineo Mujica, said he was leading the group to Mexico City in protest of the lack of government assistance in the south, where officials have attempted to contain thousands of migrants and to demand legal documents that would let migrants move freely in the US.

'Money is not going to solve the problem, throwing it to governments like Mexico where they put people from the south border to the northern border is not the solution,' Mujica said. 'They should give them papers here, they should give them the opportunity to work here.'

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is continuing to struggle with a surge in border crossings since the president came into office and reversed many Trump-era policies.

US authorities arrested more than 1.7 million migrants at the US-Mexico border this fiscal year, the most ever recorded

Many families with young children are part of the caravan, which could not be contained by Mexico border patrol agents

Roughly 55,000 of 77,000 asylum-seekers in Mexico are awaiting processing at facilities in the city, and many have complained about unsanitary conditions

The Biden administration is continuing to struggle with a surge in border crossings since the president came into office and reversed many Trump-era policies

A migrant from Central America holds a teddy bear as she walks in a caravan headed to the Mexican capital to apply for asylum and refugee status

Migrant arrests have soared to 20-year highs in 2021.

Data released by US Customs and Border Protection reported a peak during the summer, with more than 213,000 incidents in July alone. A slight decrease was recorded in September with 192,000 incidents.

Roughly 55,000 of 77,000 asylum-seekers in Mexico are awaiting processing at facilities in the city, and many have complained about unsanitary conditions.

Data obtained by the Washington Post shows that the US detained more than 1.7 million migrants along the US-Mexico border between October 2020 and September 2021 - the highest number since 1986.

The Biden administration said in August that it aimed to hire an additional 1,000 asylum officers and another 1,000 support staff. The hiring spree would more than double the current crop of about 800 asylum officers and would be funded either by Congress or immigration application fee hikes.

In August, a divided Supreme Court ordered the Biden administration to reinstate the Trump-era policy, called Migrant Protection Protocols and better known as 'Remain in Mexico.'

Data released by US Customs and Border Protection reported a peak during the summer, with more than 213,000 incidents in July alone. A slight decrease was recorded in September with 192,00 incidents

Mexican National Guard officers walk in a formation as they prepare to form a barricade to prevent a caravan of migrants, most from Central America, from continuing their journey

'Money is not going to solve the problem, throwing it to governments like Mexico where they put people from the south border to the northern border is not the solution,' said Irineo Mujica, who is leading the caravan to Mexico City

A migrant caravan made up of approximately 3,000 people, called March for Freedom, Dignity and La Paz, managed to break the first police siege of the National Institute of Migration

Per its name, the legislation forces migrants to wait for months south of the border as their asylum claims are processed. The court intervened after the Biden administration halted the policy shortly after the president's inauguration.

On Thursday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended Biden and said that while he had not visited the border recently, he 'had been there before' and knew current immigration issues 'well.'

'There's been reporting that he did drive through the border when he was on the campaign trail in 2008,' Psaki said. 'And he is certainly familiar with the fact... that in El Paso the border goes right through the center of town.'

US authorities arrested more than 1.7 million migrants at the US-Mexico border this fiscal year, the most ever recorded.

On Thursday at a CNN town hall, Biden said he 'guesses' he should check out the southern border for himself.

Asked by Anderson Cooper if he should go down to the border amid record crossings and condemnation of his strategy to tackle illegal immigration, Biden said: 'I've been there befor ... I know it well... I guess I should go down.'

On Thursday at a CNN town hall, Biden said he 'guesses' he should check out the southern border for himself.

He cited recent hurricanes and world travel as reasons why he hasn't had 'a whole hell of a lot of time to get down.

'Ive been spending time going around looking at the $900 billion worth of damage done by hurricanes and floods and weather and traveling around the world.

'My wife Jill has been down. She's been on both sides of the river. She's seen the circumstances there. She's looked into those places. You notice you're not seeing a lot of pictures of kids lying on top of one another with what looks like tarps on top of them. We've been able to deal with that.
Tech giants should face fines when their platforms are used by scammers, the Security Minister has warned, as he takes steps to curb the explosion of fraud in the pandemic.

Damian Hinds revealed that he finds romance fraud  the growing phenomenon in which criminals prey on people looking for love  particularly sickening, speaking to The Mail on Sunday in his first newspaper interview since taking up his role in August.

The ways this is perpetrated and done at scale, its a horrible crime, Mr Hinds says.

Its very cynical, it plays on our emotions as human beings.

AT RISK: Women are most under threat despite safe sites like this one

'The thought of having been the victim of that kind of deception  it is just a horrible thing to even contemplate.

The victims are typically women  60 per cent of cases  and predominantly in their 50s, Mr Hinds says.

Male victims usually fall into two age groups  in their 50s or their 20s, he says, adding: Its probably a different sort of contact being made.

The former Education Secretary also points out that large numbers of 30-year-olds fall prey to all kinds of fraud because they spend so much time online  challenging the stereotype that older people are usually targeted most.

Mr Hinds also revealed that his own family had become the targets of online fraudsters while trying to sell second-hand bridesmaid dresses on Gumtree, the free classified advertisements site.

After his two daughters had been bridesmaids a year or so ago, Mr Hinds and his wife Jacqui decided to sell their dresses.

A woman from South Africa offered to buy them, but then began asking for more photographs.

Mr Hinds, 51, recalls: And then, of course, it became: Great, Id love to buy them, but I cant arrange the courier myself, can you just send me 30 to 40 to this account?

Male victims usually fall into two age groups  in their 50s or their 20s, Security Minister Damian Hinds said, adding: Its probably a different sort of contact being made.

At that point it didnt seem right. We said we dont want to carry on.

But the potential buyer began emailing again, accusing the couple of breaking a contract and really getting quite aggressive, Mr Hinds says.

No money was lost. but it was a deeply unpleasant experience.

The East Hampshire MP reported it to Action Fraud, the embattled agency that is now being replaced after numerous complaints about its efficiency.

However. Mr Hinds is clear that tackling fraud is not just a job for the police. We wont pursue our way out of the problem, he says.

He backed calls to fine tech firms being used by fraudsters.

Ultimately, there has to be a penalty, right? There has to be something you have to lose, the Minister said, adding: I want tech companies to do more.

There is an imbalance that needs to be addressed, he explains. Banks, whose customers are targeted by criminals are suffering losses every day through fraud. Online companies are not.

The former Education Secretary also points out that large numbers of 30-year-olds fall prey to all kinds of fraud because they spend so much time online  challenging the stereotype that older people are usually targeted most

Banks have done quite a lot to try and improve all of our defences to fraud.

We need to make sure everybody has those same incentives to minimise and stamp out fraud.

Fraud has increased by 24 per cent during the pandemic.

Over this summer alone, scammers targeted nearly 45 million people with fraudulent texts and calls. He mimics an explosion with his hands to describe the fraud boom.

Mr Hinds, whose predecessor James Brokenshire died of cancer this month, has a brief that includes counter-terrorism, organised crime, hostile state activity and even maritime security  as well as fraud.

He recently chaired the first meeting of a new taskforce on fraud launched by Priti Patel, which he will run.

It brought together high street banks, accountants and telecommunications companies in an effort to increase coordination.

Mr Hinds is keen to get tech companies around the table soon.

Plans are afoot for a national campaign to raise awareness about fraud. Mr Hinds wants a simple message that can be applied to tackling the many types of fraud.

Tech giants should face fines when their platforms are used by scammers, the Security Minister has warned, as he takes steps to curb the explosion of fraud in the pandemic

He wants it to be distilled down to reusable messages that work across different contexts and settings. He says there is no point in focusing on raising awareness about just one type of scam.

Guess what, it goes, and another one pops up, Mr Hinds says.

One week on, Mr Hinds says he was devastated by the murder of fellow Conservative MP Sir David Amess.

Clearly its right in the aftermath to review security, he says, adding: Local police have been in contact with all of my colleagues to talk about individual arrangements.

Mr Hinds says there is a legitimate debate on remaining anonymous online but points out it plays some important positive roles, citing victims of domestic abuse and people living under oppressive regimes, as well as the use it served during the Hong Kong protests and the Arab Spring.

He also points out existing powers exist to find and bring people to justice in cases of anonymous abuse and illegality.

It is a good thing that we have a debate, he says.
The group said that it had analysed 236 tweets by Mr Goodall in the first week of October.

A new bias row broke out last night over claims that some of the BBCs top journalists are twice as likely to write or share Twitter posts critical of the Government than any other single subject.

The claims come as the BBC starts the process of selecting a successor to political editor Laura Kuenssberg, who is in talks about moving to Radio 4s Today programme.

The Campaign For Common Sense, which champions free speech and tolerance, claims that its analysis of one week of posts by some of the BBCs biggest names reveals a fascination with the issues of identity politics, a lingering mistrust of Brexit and an anti-Government bias.

One of the journalists studied was Newsnights policy editor Lewis Goodall, who is seen as a contender for Ms Kuenssbergs job.

The Campaign For Common Sense, which champions free speech and tolerance, claims that its analysis of one week of posts, including that of Lewis Goodall's, who is seen as a contender for Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg's job

The group said that it had analysed 236 tweets by Mr Goodall in the first week of October.

It said 41 were critical of the Conservatives and a further 21 highlighted internal rows within the party. Only three were critical of Labour.

In a tweet on October 4 about the shortage of HGV drivers, Mr Goodall said that naturally withdrawing from the single market during global Covid dislocation is undoubtedly making UK supply problems worse.

Lewis Goodall is the Policy Editor at BBC's Newsnight. His tweets were studied and outlined as one of the BBC's names that revealed 'a fascination with the issues of identity politics, a lingering mistrust of Brexit and an anti-Government bias

Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC's political editor, is in talks about moving to Radio 4s Today programme, and Goodall is one of the contenders to take over her position

A quote the next day highlighted a Newsnight package that asked: Is levelling up anything more than a slogan?

On the same day, Mr Goodall tweeted about the Prime Ministers attack on trendy Islington lawyers leading Labour, adding: Of course, Boris Johnson lived in Islington while he was London Mayor.

In the same week, the BBCs new executive news editor Jess Brammar  whose appointment caused controversy after it was revealed she had tried to delete 16,000 tweets that included anti-Brexit and anti-Government comments  celebrated an author who wrote about the effects of colonialism and shared conspiracy stories about Trump supporters.

The campaign group also said it detected a fully fledged woke agenda after studying the BBCs output for a month.

A BBC spokesman said: 'The BBC is always happy to debate whether it is getting things right, but cherry-picking a handful of tweets and news items from a short period of time isnt a robust analysis.

The corporations editorial guidelines state: Our audiences should not be able to tell from BBC output the personal opinions of our journalists or news and current affairs presenters on matters of public policy, political or industrial controversy, or on controversial subjects in any other area.

A BBC spokesman said: The BBC is always happy to debate whether it is getting things right, but cherry-picking a handful of tweets and news items from a short period of time isnt a robust analysis.
Katie Price has finally apologised for the drink-fuelled car crash that left fans terrified for her health - and said she has 'taken full responsibility for her actions'.

The former glamour model, 43, flipped her BMW on its side on a country lane near her home in West Sussex in September.

In the aftermath of the shocking it was revealed that Katie was drunk at the wheel and had made a dash 'for more drugs after an all-night binge'.

Cocaine was also found in her wrecked car.

The mother-of-five admitted to driving whilst disqualified as well as driving without insurance because of being disqualified for two years in October 2019. It is the sixth time she has been banned.

Katie Price has apologised for the drink-fuelled car crash that left fans terrified for her health - and said she has 'taken full responsibility for her actions'

Today, a statement given by her family to the Sunday Mirror reads: 'Kate acknowledges and takes full responsibility for her actions. She knows they were wrong and apologises. Kate is deeply loved and she loves her family.

'We are all there for her right now  and her children, who she loves dearly, are giving her strength as a mum.'

The statement is likely to be seized upon by fans as a comfort following fears for Katie's future after she reached a new low.

The star has since checked into The Priory rehabilitation clinic to treat her drink and drug problems.

According to The Sun, Katie's fiance Carl Woods has been 'a frequent visitor'. MailOnline has reached out to Katie's representatives for comment.

The former glamour model, 43, flipped her BMW on its side on a country lane near her home in West Sussex in September

Although it is alleged the hunt for drugs during an all-night alcohol and cocaine bender came after she rowed with Carl, the pair looked worlds away from their troubles as stepped out for a date night at Alec's Restaurant in Brentford, Essex, yesterday.

In late September, Katie pleaded guilty at Crawley Magistrates' Court to three charges of drink driving, driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance.

But prosecutors dropped a drug-driving charge in light of her guilty drink-driving plea. It came one day after family and friends rallied round her following her arrest.

Price, from Horsham, West Sussex, who was already banned from driving, flipped her car on a country road at 6.20am near West Grinstead, close to her home.

After being rescued by a local resident, Price was arrested on suspicion of driving while above the legal limit for alcohol and drugs - and tested positive for cocaine.

The star has since checked into The Priory rehabilitation clinic to treat her drink and drug problems

The model told police: 'I was just going to my friend's house. I know I shouldn't. I've been banned four times. I took drugs. I should not be driving. I admit it all.'

Price could still face jail when she is sentenced in December. The model has no driving licence after being disqualified for two years in October 2019 - and has been banned from the roads six times in total.

The three charges were using a motor vehicle on a public place without third party insurance; driving while unfit to drive through drink; and driving while disqualified. Price had been taken to hospital but is not thought to have been badly injured.

According to The Sun, Katie's fiance Carl Woods has been 'a frequent visitor'. MailOnline has reached out to Katie's representatives for comment

Price was told that her sentencing had been deferred for 11 weeks until December 15 to allow her to have treatment at The Priory and speak to the probation service.

Chair of the bench Julie Hutton told her she could leave but warned her against driving in the interim, saying: 'You are free to go and good luck at the Priory.'

Ms Hutton then handed Price an interim driving ban, warning her: 'We regularly send people to prison for driving whilst disqualified.'

Price left the court with a blanket over her head and wearing pink slippers, with her father Paul Price who drove her away in a blue Fiat 500 as she ducked in the seat.

EXCLUSIVE: Beaming Katie Price looks happy and healthy on date night with fiance Carl Woods as she enjoys a break from her Priory rehab stint following drink-and-drugs-drive crash

ByCharlotte Dean For Mailonline

Katie Price was seen on a date night with her fiance Carl Woods on Friday night during a break from her stint at The Priory rehab facility.

The former glamour model, 43, looked worlds away from her troubles as she beamed during the date at Alec's Restaurant in Brentford, Essex, just a day after she was spotted heading for a spray tan and on a shopping spree near The Priory.

During the night out, Katie held the former Love Island star's hand as he flashed his tattoo of her face on his forearm, while she was showcasing her eye-popping engagement ring he gifted her during their engagement earlier this year.

Smiling: Katie Price was seen on a date night with her fiance Carl Woods on Friday night during a break from her stint at The Priory rehab facility

Katie wore an all-black ensemble for the outing

According to The Sun, Katie's fiance Carl Woods has been 'a frequent visitor'. MailOnline has reached out to Katie's representatives for comment.

Katie is facing jail after pleading guilty to a slew of motoring offences and has checked into The Priory rehabilitation clinic to treat her drink and drug problems.

Out and about: The former glamour model, 43, looked worlds away from her troubles as she beamed during the date at Alec's Restaurant in Brentford, Essex

Sealed with a kiss! Katie and Carl were seen leaning in for a smooch while in the car

Stylish arrival: Katie and Carl arrived at the resturant in his grey car

United: Carl clutched his wife-to-be's hand as they arrived for their dinner

The star crashed her BMW while double the drink-drive limit after leaving her home to allegedly hunt for drugs during an all-night alcohol and cocaine bender which came after she rowed with Carl.

She then admitted charges of drink-driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance at Crawley Magistrates' Court.

She could face prison after being charged with driving while unfit to drive through drink, using a motor vehicle on a public place without third-party insurance and driving while disqualified.
Experts have urged caution over claims that dozens of women have been injected with date-rape drugs, saying drink-spiking is the most probable cause of their blackouts.

In recent days terrifying reports have emerged of an epidemic of young women being stabbed with syringes in bars and nightclubs.

Several of the accounts include stories of blacking out, being unable to speak and waking up to find a puncture wound on an arm, leg or lower back. Images released by the women show pinprick-like marks.

Thousands of women plan to boycott night-time venues in response and more than 160,000 people have signed a petition calling for more thorough searches upon entry.

Sarah Buckle claimed she was injected with a date rape drug while clubbing

But leading drug experts and toxicologists have said it is highly improbable for someone to be able to drug someone using a syringe because of the technical knowledge required. They said it was far more likely the women have had their drinks spiked and then injured themselves while under this influence.

Professor Atholl Johnston, President of the Clinical Contract Research Association and pharmacologist and toxicologist at St Georges University London, said: I know of no drug that could be randomly injected into a person that would work instantly.

John Slaughter, senior forensic toxicologist at ASI Bioanalytics, said it was unlikely that a needle would be in the skin for long enough to have such a pharmacological effect.

Women have given horrifying accounts of being drugged with needles across the country, reporting incidents in cities including Nottingham, Exeter, Durham and Leeds. The timing coincides with students return to university.

The National Police Chiefs Council said forces in England and Wales had received 24 reports of needle spiking in September and October. But in the same period, there have been 198 reports of drinks being spiked.

In Nottingham alone there have been 15 reports of needle spikings this month and police said they have arrested three men as part of a wider investigation into drink spiking. The force said it had identified only one case where a victims injury could be consistent with a needle.

A petition launched last week to make it a legal requirement for nightclubs to thoroughly search guests on entry has already gained more than 160,000 signatures

Nottingham, University student Sarah Buckle, 19, says she was recently spiked in a club in the city and subsequently collapsed.

But David Caldicott, a medicine consultant and founder of drug testing project Wedinos, told Vice News: The technical and medical knowledge required to perform this would make this deeply improbable.

It is at the level of a state-sponsored actor incapacitating a dissident, like the novichok incident.

He then added: If you were malicious there would be half a dozen much easier ways to spike someone.

Campaign to boycott nightclubs over drink spiking changes its name from Girls Night because critics slammed it for not being 'inclusive'

By Michael Powell and Molly Clayton

A campaign to boycott nightclubs to raise awareness of how womens drinks are being spiked by men has changed its name and apologised for not being inclusive enough.

Organisers of Girls Night In have been accused of a cowardly capitulation to woke warriors, with activists saying the removal of the word girls will undermine its focus.

The group was set up last week following a string of reports of women blacking out in clubs, believing their drinks were tampered with.

Girls Night In was started by students Martha Williams and Milly Seaford, with plans for boycotts in 43 university towns over the next fortnight

Some found puncture marks, sparking fears they had been injected.

Girls Night In was started by students Martha Williams and Milly Seaford, with plans for boycotts in 43 university towns over the next fortnight.

But its boycotts will now take the name of the places involved, such as Durham Night In or Southampton Night In.

A statement released by the group has been attacked by womens rights activists and likened to a parody by critics.

In unashamedly woke language, it refers to intersectionality  the overlap of a persons prejudices towards such things as race, disability, nationality and gender, and to being anti-carceral, stating: We want to assure you that the Night In campaign is working towards achieving intersectionality, and we accept we have not been explicitly intersectional so far.

Some women reported puncture marks, sparking fears they had been injected following reports of women possibly being injected while clubbing

We are anti-racist, anti-misogyny, gender inclusive, pro-LGBT+, pro-trans people, pro-disabled people, pro-sex worker, anti-carceral and pro-community support movement. These are not just words, we will be changing our approach. We are sorry for any harm our campaign has caused. We are working to do better.

One critic tweeted: Women & girls are overwhelmingly victims of these crimes, men perpetrators.

Feminist author Julie Bindel said: It is a cowardly capitulation to bullies which the feminist movement should be campaigning against.
Karen Matthews was jailed for four years for kidnapping her daughter Shannon

Two of Britain's 'most hated mothers' now live just six minutes away from each other, it has emerged.

Mairead Philpott has moved into a home less than a mile from Karen Matthews in a town in the south east of England.

Neighbours of Philpott may not recognise her after she recently dyed her hair blonde and as walks around with a face mask on.

But the 40-year-old woman has served more than eight years in jail for her part in a house fire which killed all six of her children in 2012.

Two of Britain's 'most hated mothers', Mairead Philpott (left) and Karen Mathews (right) now live just six minutes away from each other, it has emerged

People in the suburban area may be more surprised to discover they also live near Matthews, 46, who in 2008 was jailed for faking the kidnap of her daughter for money.

'It's bizarre that Matthews and Philpott have both settled so close to each other,' a source told The Mirror on making the discovery.

They also noted 'Mairead is desperately trying to change her look', but added 'shell need to do more than that to conceal her past.'

Philpott was jailed over a 2012 fire in Allenton, Derby, that killed Duwayne Philpott, 13, his sister Jade, 10, and brothers Jack, nine, John, eight, Jesse, six, and Jayden, five.

Her husband Mick led her and their friend Mosely in a scheme to get a bigger council house by burning down the home and framing ex-lover Lisa Willis.

Mairead was jailed over a 2012 fire in Allenton, Derby, that killed their children. Her husband Mick (pictured together) led her and their friend Mosely in a scheme to get a bigger council house by burning down the home and framing ex-lover Lisa Willis

The couple's six children - Duwayne, 13, Jade, 10, John, nine, Jack, seven, Jesse, six, and Jayden, five - died from smoke inhalation as a result of the blaze

Mick's intention was to rescue the sleeping children through an upstairs window (the house, pictured) but it went disastrously wrong and the youngsters all died from smoke inhalation

His intention was to rescue the sleeping children through an upstairs window of the three-bed council home but it went disastrously wrong and the youngsters all died from smoke inhalation.

At first they received an outpouring sympathy over the tragedy, especially after they both broke down in tears at a press conference.

But a court heard Philpott helped start the fire  and she was jailed for 17 years for manslaughter. Her husband got life.

However Philpott was said to be 'delighted' at being given her earliest possible release date from HMP Send in Surrey in November last year.

She stayed at a halfway house for three months before being freed under a new name.

But is a bizarre coincidence she has started a new life just minutes away from another despised woman.

Mother-of-seven Matthews spent four years in prison for the kidnap and unlawful imprisonment of her nine-year-old daughter Shannon.

Mother-of-seven Matthews spent four years in prison for the kidnap and unlawful imprisonment of her nine-year-old daughter Shannon

Matthews spent four years in prison for the kidnap and unlawful imprisonment of her nine-year-old daughter Shannon. The warped conspiracy had been dreamt up to try to claim any reward money offered over the little girl's disappearance

Along with her ex-boyfriend's uncle Michael Donovan, she plotted to stage Shannon's kidnapping and claim the 50,000 reward for 'finding' her.

The warped conspiracy had been dreamt up to try to claim any reward money offered over the little girl's disappearance, believed to have been inspired by an episode of Channel 4 hit Shameless.

She made a series of tearful TV appeals for help in finding her daughter as West Yorkshire Police launched a 3.2million search for Shannon - who was found by detectives in Donovan's flat, around a mile from her home in Dewsbury, 24 days after she disappeared.

Prosecutors said the schoolgirl was drugged and probably kept captive on a leash during her incarceration.

Police described Matthews as 'pure evil' after she was found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.

Matthews was jailed for eight years and released in April 2012.

A source said of Philpott and Matthews: 'Their stories are similar in that both tried to con the public into believing they were victims. Now they're just around the corner from each other. It's very strange.'
The chapter president of a fraternity at the University of Southern California has been suspended following allegations that women were drugged and sexually assaulted at the group's frat house.

LAPD officials identified Ryan Schiffilea as the suspended president of the Epsilon Omicron Chapter of Sigma Nu Fraternity at the center of the explosive allegations, according to KCBS-TV.

The allegations cover two separate incidents: one from a party last month in which five women reported that their drinks were spiked with drugs, and another from last weekend in which a sexual assault was reported, which is under police investigation.

In a crime alert issued Thursday, the USC Department of Public Safety said campus officials received 'a report of sexual assault' over the weekend at the Sigma Nu fraternity house located at 660 West 28th Street.

Protesters gather Friday afternoon at the Sigma Nu fraternity house near the USC campus following allegations that women were drugged and sexually assaulted at the fraternity house

In a crime alert issued Thursday, the USC Department of Public Safety said campus officials received 'a report of sexual assault' at the Sigma Nu fraternity house

In a statement released on Friday, the chapter acknowledged that they had a 'lack of communication' about the allegations

'The university also has received reports of drugs being placed into drinks during a party at the same fraternity house, leading to possible drug-facilitated sexual assaults,' according to the alert.

According to an incident log, at least five women reported being drugged at a Sigma Nu party in September.

USC officials have placed the Sigma Nu fraternity chapter on interim suspension following the allegations, meaning the group cannot host any activities at the fraternity house.

In a statement released on Friday, the chapter acknowledged that they had a 'lack of communication' about the allegations, but said it was because they are 'going through the legal process.'

'We take all of this information very seriously and we remain committed to direct opposition to abuse, harassment, and assault in any form,' the chapter said.

'We are also committed to taking appropriate accountability and disciplinary action in response to any confirmed occurrence of member wrongdoing,' the group added.

USC officials have placed the Sigma Nu fraternity chapter on interim suspension following the allegations, meaning the group cannot host any activities

USC junior student Bianca Ventola attaches a sign to the Sigma Nu fraternity house near the USC campus. USC officials have placed the Sigma Nu fraternity chapter on interim suspension

The prior allegations of spiked drinks are under investigation by the university's Title IX office, which handles reports of sex discrimination and violence.

The sexual assault allegations that led to Schiffilea's suspension from the chapter and the national fraternity are under investigation by both the university and law enforcement.

The Sigma Nu chapter pledged to fully cooperate with the investigation. Schiffilea could not be reached for comment. He has not been arrested or charged.

The shocking allegations have drawn a strong response from the university community, and protests have been held outside the Sigma Nu frat house.

Hundreds of notes condemning the fraternity have been posted on the walls of the frat house, including such statements as 'abolish Greek life' and 'rapists live here.'

On Thursday, a group of USC students held a protest outside the fraternity house, demanding that members of Sigma Nu be held accountable for their actions.

'Guys in this house knew about it,' sophomore Sophie Beitel told KTLA of the alleged drug-fueled assaults. 'Guys who werent participating knew about this. This had to be a thing that so many men were complicit in and said nothing about.'

Standing outside the frat house, Beitel added: 'the question should not be, "What can girls do to be avoiding this?" Girls are already terrified. Girls already do everything they can. What can guys be doing?'

USC officials have declined to comment on the specific allegations, citing student privacy laws, but said the school 'takes reports of sexual assault extremely seriously and has a coordinated response team designed to promptly respond.'
Farmers' leaders have accused the Government of questionable economic literacy and endangering Britains treasured countryside by signing a trade deal with New Zealand last week.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the International Trade Secretary, described the deal as a win-win for two like-minded democracies who believe in free and fair trade and a vital part of our plan to level up the country, after Britain agreed to phase out quotas on New Zealand lamb, beef and dairy imports.

In return, New Zealand will cut tariffs on a range of UK goods including clothing, footwear, buses, ships and bulldozers.

The deal  which follows last months agreement with Australia  has infuriated UK farmers, who fear the market being flooded with New Zealand meat, which is cheaper to produce.

Writing in todays Mail on Sunday, Minette Batters, the president of the National Farmers Union, says our iconic countryside, an incredible patchwork of stone walls, hedges, flower meadows, rolling fields of wheat and barley, is at a crossroads.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the International Trade Secretary, described the deal as a win-win for two like-minded democracies who believe in free and fair trade

The future of farming and food lies in political hands and the decisions made now will be far-reaching and have huge consequences for us all.

Ms Batters adds: Farmers underpin the very fabric of the country and the precious environment that theyve committed so much to. Remove farmers from the land and environmental degradation will be all that follows.

The current actions of this Government indicate a level of questionable economic literacy towards the future of our treasured countryside.

I can only think they are blind to the damage theyll be presiding over or, even worse, theyre actively pursuing a policy of cold-blooded attrition of the land. I hope my biggest fear is unfounded.

Failure to maintain and grow our food self-sufficiency will drive our farmers from the land.

This newspaper has highlighted the risks to the countrys 10 billion agricultural industry in our Save Our Family Farms campaign, highlighting fears that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would swap Brussels for Brisbane by opening up British markets to farmers Down Under.

Even before the deal was signed, the UK imported 32,368 tons of lamb from New Zealand in the year to August 2020, at a value of 120 million. In stark contrast, according to data from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, the UK exported just 627 tons to New Zealand in the same period  all of it frozen  at a value of just 1.2 million to British farmers.

The gap between the farm gate price  the cost of the product available at the farm, excluding any transport costs  between the UK and New Zealand means Kiwi lamb is about 50p cheaper per kilogram than British lamb.

However, this can rise to as much as 2 a kilogram as New Zealand is one of the worlds largest exporters of lamb so its prices remain relatively stable, while the cost of our home-grown lamb varies considerably by season. This means that for much of the year it could be more attractive for supermarkets and restaurants to import New Zealand lamb than it would be to buy more expensive British meat.

The difference can be explained by the sheer scale of the operations.

The average size of a farm in New Zealand is a massive 270 hectares, compared with 87 hectares in England.

The New Zealand lamb market needs to feed just five million people domestically, while the UK lamb market needs to feed more than 65 million. There are 26 million sheep in New Zealand, a sheep-to-people ratio of 5 to 1. In contrast there are 32 million sheep in the UK, a ratio of 1:2.

All the odds are stacked against UK farmers so its time for Ministers to champion us  rather than patronise us, writes National Farmers' Union President MINETTE BATTERS

By National Farmers' Union President Minette Batters for the Mail on Sunday

As a farmer and president of the NFU, representing 55,000 farming businesses, all Ive ever wanted is for global Britain to strike trade deals that are fair for farmers and fair to the British public; deals that fulfil the Governments very strong commitment that our farmers wont be undermined.

We know how much the public cares about this. Last year, more than a million people signed one of the biggest petitions the country has seen  demanding that British food standards are protected.

The Mail on Sundays Save Our Family Farms campaign has been vital in this fight and led the Government to introduce a legally binding commitment to produce a report on the impacts that trade deals will have on food and farming. There is no other sector that will allow MPs oversight and ultimately a say on free trade agreements.

But the future of rural Britain our iconic countryside with its patchwork of stone walls, hedges, flower meadows, rolling fields of wheat and barley  is at a crossroads. Its fate  along with farming and food production  lies in political hands and the decisions made by Ministers will have far-reaching and huge consequences for us all.

Minette Batters (left), pictured with former International Trade Secretary Liz Truss (right), wants global Britain to strike trade deals that are fair for farmers and fair to the British public

I often hear talk in Government that farmers are no longer relevant to modern politics, too small a voice to matter.

What such wrong-headed views dont factor in is that farmers underpin the very fabric of the country and the environment that politicians are so committed to protecting. Remove farmers and environmental degradation is inevitable.

Although food security and self-sufficiency are of critical national importance, the Governments actions indicate a level of questionable economic literacy.

I can only think Ministers are blind to the damage theyll be presiding over or, even worse, theyre actively pursuing a policy of cold-blooded attrition of the land. I hope my biggest fear is unfounded.

Failure to maintain food self-sufficiency would drive farmers from the land. For it is they who run businesses, food production and who care for the environment  and you cant have one without the other.

So when I hear talk about setting 30 per cent of land aside for nature, my immediate question is what about the farmers? Who will look after the land, produce our food?

And what are we to do when Ministers tell businesses that they must increase costs with higher wages and abide by tougher regulations, while in the same breath ask us to cut costs to compete with the most efficient farmers in the world? These questions cause downward glances and as yet remain unanswered.

Success for all independent trading nations lies in partnership working. After many years, the New Zealanders and Australians have learned to spread their risk. They have small populations. They can farm at huge scale and are therefore serious exporters of agricultural commodities. Their production costs are much lower and they allow for a flexible global scheme on access to workers.

Their governments, too, are heavily invested in the technical expertise for opening up new markets and  interestingly  food prices in both countries are higher than the UK.

Such issues are not the only reason why the stakes for British farmers are exceptionally high.

Our Government is introducing new laws on animal sentience, animal welfare and the environment.

These are areas about which farmers care passionately. Our only ask is that other countries, with whom we are striking trade deals, do the same. But there is no sign of this happening.

Crucially, as with any business, British farmers would become uncompetitive if undercut by imported food produced in ways that would be illegal in this country.

Im continually asked by Ministers to think positively. Quite frankly, that is deeply insulting to the farmers who I represent. If you are running a business which could fold because while you raise standards, at the same time your own Government welcomes imports produced with much lower standards, it is offensive to be told by politicians just to smile more. Our antipodean cousins have played a blinder in the negotiations for the trade deal agreed with Britain last week. New Zealands PM patted Boris Johnson on the back and used a rugby analogy to give her verdict on the deal: The All Blacks won!

Six years ago, the then Australian High Commissioner, Alexander Downer, told me: You screwed us over when you joined the EU. Weve been through hell and were coming back to get you.

Minette Batters of the National Farmers' Union (left) said she often hears talk in Government that farmers are no longer relevant to modern politics, too small a voice to matter

How right he was. The UK has allowed a fully liberalised trade deal that the Australians never thought in their wildest dreams was possible.

I dont doubt the pain that Australia had previously suffered  and I also dont doubt the passion Australia had for ensuring its farmers got a great deal with the UK.

What farmers here  and the British public  need is the same willpower and ambition from our government.

Representatives of Australias High Commission in this country have been very busy here  hosting parties for Cabinet members and MPs  championing their great country. In view of this, I spoke to one of these Australian representatives at the recent Conservative Party conference and told them that my members needed equivalent action from our Government. They agreed.

I also asked if they thought Australia would have an animal sentience or welfare bill any time soon. The response was: Never! We need to be globally competitive. That conversation vividly underlined to me how high the odds really are stacked against British farming.

As we stand at the crossroads of change, there are vital choices for our Government to take.

Those choices are simple. Do we want our farmers to have a future? Do we believe that we should have a thriving food producing industry? Do we want to support our farmers in their drive to go net zero by 2040? Or do we want to outsource our food production, abandon British farming to history and wave in food from anywhere in the world, regardless of the standards and conditions in which it is produced?

To secure our farmers future, requires strong, global leadership. I believe there are four things Britain needs from our Government to help get us on the right road.

1. Follow the lead of Australia and New Zealand by putting in place full-time trade ambassadors, or agricultural counsellors, to identify new countries to export to and open up these markets for our high quality food. Farmers should be invited to be part of trade delegations to underline the trust, traceability and standards of our food production.

2. In the legally binding food security report that the Government has to produce before the end of the year, the Government needs to use the current food self-sufficiency figure of 60 per cent as a metric for success. The fact is that if food production levels drop too low, our farming industry will become unviable.

3. Ensure we have a planned approach to accessing a workforce for our farms and food processing industry when theyre needed. And thus make sure we never again face the same crisis of slaughtering healthy pigs simply because of a shortage of abattoir workers.

4. Work with the British farming sector to be world leaders in climate-smart farming. Our farmers want to lead the world, using new, sustainable farming policies.

Never has there been a more pressing time for Britain to show global leadership in sustainable, quality food production.

The Government has the opportunity to win a global gold for this at COP26. The alternative is the huge risk that in future years we will look back and realise  to paraphrase Churchill  that never have we lost so much for so little

Buy British! Jeremy Clarkson's new TV series contractor KALEB COOPER makes an SOS appeal to politicians as the spectre of more cheap foreign meat imports hangs over the industry

By Kaleb Cooper for the Mail on Sunday

Jeremy Clarkson has done more for British farming in one TV series than the BBC's Countryfile has managed in 30 years of broadcasting, according to the Cumbrian sheep farmer James Rebanks.

And I know exactly what he means.

Because you might have seen me alongside the former Grand Tour and Top Gear presenter in episodes of Clarkson's Farm.

Kaleb Cooper asks for reassurance from politicians that farmers like him are wanted and that it will still be possible to make a living from growing and rearing good food to high standards

At last the British public have been given a TV programme that tells the truth about farming.

Above all, it makes one thing brutally clear: it is bloody hard work. It's stressful. It's on the edge.

Kaleb Cooper and Jeremy Clarkson were honoured by the British Farming Awards for raising the profile of British farming

I hope viewers, too, see the amount of enthusiasm that's involved.

Farming to me  like so many others  is not a job, it's a way of life.

I started on my 13th birthday, when my mum bought me three hens. I worked out that I could make 6-a-week profit from selling the eggs. Six months later I had 450 hens and a delivery round.

I went into school only so I could supply eggs to the teachers.

I love it  but you have to. Because farming is mentally and physically draining.

I'm now in my early 20s and I've set myself up as contractor  hiring myself out for specific jobs.

I can do a whole range of different jobs: topping, mowing, hay turning, baling and moving muck or anything involving tractor or loader work.

I start work at 6am and often finish at 1am.

People ask what time I finish and I just say, 'When the work's done.'

There's so much to go wrong, as the viewers see week after week, the main one being the weather.

We're completely dependent on something we can't control, and that's hard.

Like farmers across Britain, we didn't get enough sun in the Cotswolds this year, so the crops in the ground weren't drying properly.

Should we have left them there to rot and lose yield? Or should we have paid good money for heating equipment to dry the crops in the barn? How do you calculate that?

Mr Cooper hopes that if shoppers understand more about how much hard work goes into farming they will be encouraged to buy British

There are no monthly wages in farming and it all tends to come at once when a job is finished or all the crops have been sold, leading to cashflow problems

If you're losing 200 an acre, that could be the difference between green and red, profit and loss, staying afloat or going under.

One mistake could cost you 25 per cent of your yield. It's not like running the hens when I was at school. Today, I have four tractors that cost me 150,000. That's a lot of money. What if something goes wrong with them? How do you pay?

In farming, we don't get a monthly wage. It all tends to come at once when you've finished a job or sold the crops. So there are big cashflow problems.

Then there's the shortage of truckers  so spare parts might not arrive for weeks.

Added to all this, the price of steel is shooting up. If I want a new tractor, it's going to cost me around 20 per cent more.

As for the idea of buying a farm, it's completely impossible for someone like me. The price of land has gone through the roof.

There's always something going wrong, whether it's machinery that won't work or sheep that keep on escaping no matter what we do.

And financially, it's getting more complicated every day.

Everything's up in the air. Right now, the Government wants us to plant fields of flowers and clover to encourage wild birds.

Is that a farmer's job? I went to college to learn how to grow wheat to feed the people of Britain.

One of the great things about Clarkson's Farm is that it's really, really showing people how hard it is  including Jeremy himself.

When he decided to give farming a go, he thought that he'd scatter some seeds on the ground and sit back while they grew into crops.

Farming relies on many external variables, whether it's machinery that won't work or sheep that keep on escaping

I can tell you, he's been a bit shell-shocked by how hard he's had to work.

I hope, as well, that viewers can see how much effort and time goes into creating something as apparently simple as a loaf of bread.

Shoppers can buy one for as little as 50p and never think about everything that has gone into making it.

Perhaps being aware of all this now will persuade more people to buy British, too.

Today, the average age of a farmer in this country is around 61. I'm not surprised.

Young people will be asking themselves, 'What's in there for me?' And 'How much money will there be at the end of the year?' It's not easy to find the answers.

More than anything else, we need reassurance from politicians that farmers like us are wanted, that it will still be possible to make a living from growing and rearing good food to high standards  and that there's a future for people like me.

Kaleb Cooper and Jeremy Clarkson have just been honoured by the British Farming Awards for raising the profile of British farming.

Clarkson's Farm is on Amazon Prime Video.
The 24-year-old armorer who worked on Rust gave a child actress a gun without checking it on a previous film set, two production sources who worked with her said.

The two sources told The Daily Beast that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had allegedly given an 11-year-old actress a gun without checking it properly while on the set of the Nicholas Cage film, The Old Way.

'There were a couple times she was loading the blanks and doing it in a fashion that we thought was unsafe,' one of the sources said.

'She was a bit careless with the guns, waving it around every now and again.'

A search warrant released Friday said that Gutierrez-Reed laid out three prop guns on a cart outside the filming location, and first assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Alec Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds.

'Cold gun!' shouted Halls before handing the gun to Baldwin, using the phrase to signal to cast and crew that the gun was safe to fire for the scene, the warrant said.

Seconds later, filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, Baldwin apparently aimed towards the camera and pulled the trigger, accidentally killing Halyna Hutchins as she filmed him, and injuring director Joel Souza, who stood behind her.

Sources on the set of Rust said the incident that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins could be tied to the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed

The colt pistol accidentally went off and pierced Halyna Hutchin's chest on Thursday

An inconsolable Alec Baldwin is shown outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office after accidentally shooting and killing the cinematographer

Sources on the Rust set have said the fatal incident that killed Hutchins, 42, and injured Souza, 48, was a result of production failings from top to bottom.

They added that assistant director Halls, who handed the gun to Baldwin and told him it was safe, should have checked the weapon.

'He's supposed to be our last line of defense and he failed us,' one of the sources on set said. 'He's the last person that's supposed to look at that firearm.'

A Rust production source told The Daily Beast that there were at least two previous incidents of guns being accidentally discharged by other crewmember on set before Thursday's tragic incident.

The source described Gutierrez-Reed as 'inexperienced and green.'

Gutierrez-Reed had previously admitted she wasn't sure she was ready for the job on The Old Way in an interview before filming started.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the 24-year-old head armorer in charge of guns on Alec Baldwin film said she 'wasn't sure she was ready' for the job in an interview before filming began

An aerial view of the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, where the movie was being filmed. Workers had been protesting over the fact production wouldn't pay for them to stay in hotels and motels in Santa Fe, instead forcing them to drive an hour to Albuquerque

A search warrant released Friday said that Gutierrez-Reed laid out three prop guns on a cart outside the filming location, and first assistant director Dave Halls (pictured) grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Alec Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds

'I almost didn't take the job because I wasn't sure if I was ready, but doing it, it went really smoothly,' Hannah Gutierrez-Reed said in a podcast interview last month after leading the firearms department for The Old Way, starring Nicolas Cage - her first time as head armorer.

She also admitted in the podcast interview she found loading blanks into a gun 'the scariest' thing because she did not know how to do it and had sought help from her father, legendary gunsmith Thell Reed, to get over the fear.

It comes as the film crew revealed they walked off set hours before the fatal accident over safety fears after firearms were accidentally discharged three times - including once by Baldwin's stunt double who had been told the gun was not loaded, and twice in a closed cabin.

Neither Halls nor Gutierrez-Reed immediately returned messages from DailyMail.com late on Friday. Neither has been charged or named as a criminal suspect in the case, though a police investigation is ongoing.

Why WAS a gun on Alec Baldwin movie set loaded with live ammo? Mystery over events that led to actor killing cinematographer The deadly chain of events on set that led to Alec Baldwin being handed a gun with live ammunition and accidentally shooting and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins have become clearer after it emerged last night the actor fired a live round, believing it to be a blank. Experts yesterday told DailyMail.com safety on set is usually extremely tight with live bullets never used in filming and it remains unclear why a firearm loaded with live ammunition was on the Rust set at all. Baldwin was handed a gun loaded with live ammunition First assistant director Dave Halls picked up one of the firearms - a vintage-style Colt revolver laid out by armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed - unaware it was loaded with live bullets. 'Cold gun!' shouted Halls before handing the gun to Baldwin, using the phrase to signal to cast and crew that the gun was safe to fire for the scene, a search warrant released on Friday said. Baldwin, filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, then fired a live round towards the camera, accidentally killing Hutchins as she filmed him. Hutchins was airlifted to the hospital but was pronounced dead. Souza was taken to the hospital by ambulance but was released on Thursday evening. Why was live ammunition used on set in the first place? Live ammunition is never usually used on film sets and Baldwin's shooting and killing of a cinematographer a 'total mystery', a Hollywood armorer has said. Mike Tristan, 60, who has provided guns for movie sets for over 30 years, said the injuries sustained by Hutchins should not have been possible. Tristan, who has worked with Baldwin before, said any professional armorer would have checked the weapon, which he believes was a Western, before handing it to the 63-year-old. 'There should have been blanks in the gun, the on-set armorer's job is to check that before handing the weapon over,' Tristan told Dailymail.com. 'They then make sure that the actor stands on a mark and never points the gun at the crew or cast, you give them an aim to point at and the editing makes it seem like they were pointing at their co-actor. 'That's why everyone in the industry is very confused, how this happened is a total mystery at the moment.' Union members had walked off set hours earlier over safety concerns Unionized members walked off set on Wednesday, hours before the tragedy, complaining of safety concerns. They complained about long hours, shoddy conditions and another safety incident days earlier involving 'two misfires' of a prop weapon. Deadline cites an unnamed source who said a gun had gone off 'in a cabin' while someone was holding it, days prior to the shooting that killed Hutchins. 'A gun had two misfires in a closed cabin. They just fired loud pops  a person was just holding it in their hands and it went off,' they said, apparently referring to unintentional discharges. Baldwin's stunt double also accidentally fired two rounds after being told the firearm was 'cold'. When they turned up to set to clear their things on Thursday, they found they'd been replaced by locals. It begs the question of who those local workers were, what their training was and to what extent did they check the weapon before it was handed to Baldwin. Advertisement

The gun that fired the fatal shot was a vintage-style Colt revolver, DailyMail.com has exclusively learned.

After the shooting, the armorer took possession of the gun and a spent casing, which were turned over to police, along with other prop guns and ammunition used on the set.

Baldwin also changed out of the Western costume he was wearing, which was stained with blood, and turned it over to police.

The warrant does not reveal the model or caliber of the prop gun that fired the fatal bullet, but the film is set in the Old West of the 1880s and DailyMail.com has learned it was a Colt.

The warrant was obtained Friday so that investigators could document the scene at the ranch where the shooting took place.

Unionized workers had walked off the set hours before the fatal shooting, after they complained about long hours, shoddy conditions and another safety incident days earlier involving 'two misfires' of a prop weapon.

A yet-unnamed prop master who oversaw the gun used in the fatal shooting was a non-union worker who was 'just brought in' to replace the workers who left over safety concerns, a source involved in the movie told the New York Post.

It's unclear whether Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer, had recently joined the production, or was one of the crew members who stayed behind after the walk-off.

However, a link in her Instagram bio points to an article about Rust from May, suggesting she had been attached to the production for some time.

Unionized employees had been complaining about the fact they had to stay overnight in Albuquerque - an hour's drive from the set - and not Sante Fe because production wouldn't pay for their hotels, according to sources cited by The Los Angeles Times and multiple social media posts by film and TV insiders.

When they turned up to set to clear their things on Thursday, they found they'd been replaced by locals.

It begs the question of who those local workers were, what their training was and to what extent did they check the weapon before it was handed to Baldwin.

Deadline also cites an unnamed source who said a gun had gone off 'in a cabin' while someone was holding it, days prior to the shooting that killed Hutchins.

'A gun had two misfires in a closed cabin. They just fired loud pops  a person was just holding it in their hands and it went off,' they said, apparently referring to unintentional discharges.

Rust Production LLC did not respond to repeated requests for comment from DailyMail.com on Friday about the incident, but members of the union that represents many of the crew who were involved in the production said they had expressed fears about on-set safety.

Baldwin first addressed the tragedy on Twitter Friday: 'There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.'

He then tweeted a Variety article titled Alec Baldwin Was Told Prop Gun Was Safe Before Fatal Shooting, Affidavit Says.

He was pictured doubled over in grief on Thursday after speaking to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department immediately following the shooting.

Hutchins' husband shared a touching tribute to his wife on Twitter on Friday. Matthew Hutchins tweeted a photo of his wife and their 9-year-old son Andros on Friday captioned: 'Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words.

'Our loss is enormous, and we ask that the media please respect my familys privacy as we process our grief. We thank everyone for sharing images and stories of her life.'

His Facebook profile picture is a photo of the couple who had been married for 16 years. His bio now reads: 'We miss you, Halyna.'

A private memorial was held in Santa Fe last night with Matthew, Andros, and Baldwin in attendance, according to ShowBiz411. It was reported that grief counselors were present at the service.

The grieving husband told DailyMail.com on Friday morning that he had spoken with the actor. 'I have spoken with Alec Baldwin and he is being very supportive,' he said.

Baldwin and Hutchins (circled) are pictured together on the set of Rust, in an image that she uploaded to Instagram two days ago saying the crew of the film were supporting a strike by the IATSE union

Hutchins' husband Matthew told DailyMail.com on Friday exclusively: 'I have spoken with Alec Baldwin. He is being very supportive'

Zak Knight, a pyrotechnic and special effects engineer who is a member of Local 44, told DailyMail.com on Friday: 'There should have never been live rounds on a movie set, that's number one. Number two is every single person on a movie set has a right to inspect a weapon before it's fired. And number three is, there is no reason to ever put a person in front of a weapon that's firing.

Legal experts tell DailyMail.com lawsuits naming Alec Baldwin are a virtual certainty, but that any potential criminal charges are more likely to center on whoever loaded the gun

'Anytime you see a movie where the barrel is pointed down the camera lens, there should not be an operator behind it. It's obvious that the considerations of this resulted in that gun being pointed directly at two people.

'We would have additionally had a barrier between them. A large number of people failed to do our protocols... every accident is a cascade of events,' he said.

Whatever happened in the moments leading up to her death, Knight said it was caused by a 'cascade of failures' by multiple people. 'We have a hard and fast rule that no live ammunition ever goes into a prop truck or set at any time. We just don't do it.

'If you see bullets on set they are complete dummy rounds and are in no way functional. This goes back to Brandon Lee. There's protocol.' Lee was killed in a similar incident when another actor shot him with a prop gun that was loaded with live ammunition while filming The Crow in 1993.

Knight added that different gun laws between New Mexico and California may have also contributed to the accident. In California, both a trained armorer and a prop master is required on a film set and those are the standards the union adheres to as well.

'You will find the best and most well-trained individuals in Los Angeles. You can't guarantee that as you go across the country,' he told DailyMail.com on Friday.
NSW is facing the prospect of a looming teacher shortage as thousands of educators remain unvaccinated despite being given a deadline to get a jab or lose their jobs.

Covid case numbers continue to drop with 296 new infections and four deaths recorded on Sunday with nearly 85 per cent of the state double-vaccinated.

The high vaccine rates mean from Monday students in Years 2 to 11 will return to in-person learning in the classroom, with those in kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 12 already having returned last week.

But there are now concerns there could be a shortage of teachers to front their classes, with about 3,000 still not fully vaccinated.

Students in Years 2 to 11 have been given the green light by the NSW government to return to in-person classes from Monday though there are concerns whether there will be enough teachers (pictured: NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet)

In NSW, teaching staff have been mandated to have their second Covid jab by November 8.

As of Friday about 95 per cent of school staff members are understood to have been vaccinated - with the remaining 5 per cent amounting to about 3000 teachers.

Some of those 3,000 may have not had the chance to get jabbed since the edict was put in place, while others may be resisting vaccination.

'That presents serious challenges in terms of the organisation of a school in terms of ensuring that we have staff in front of every classroom and our timetabled classes proceed unaffected,' Angelo Gavrielatos from the NSW Teacher's Federation said.

About 160 schools are understood to be seeking help from the Education Department to boost staff numbers.

Among the new rules both students and teachers will have to get used to when classes resume are that everyone with the exception of primary school students is required to wear a mask indoors.

Physical distancing will also need to be maintained indoors and windows kept open.

Parents will also be barred from visiting inside the school grounds.

Students in Years 2 to 11 are set to return to school from Monday but high schoolers and teachers will need to wear masks indoors (pictured: a Year 1 student returned to school on October 18)

The latest figures from NSW Health show 93 per cent of the state's eligible population over 16 have had one Covid vaccine dose and 84.4 are fully vaccinated.

A vaccination push is currently being held this weekend for the 22.9 per cent of children aged 12 to 15 who have not yet received a first dose .

More than 40 clinics across the state will offer walk-in Pfizer appointments for kids as they get ready to return to class.

About 46.08 per cent of this age group are double vaccinated and 77.11 per cent have had one dose.

Marianne Gale, NSW deputy chief health officer, issued a reminder on Friday that children are able to catch the delta variant and parents should remain vigilant.

'If any of our kids have even the mildest of symptoms, it's really important not to go to school, it's important to go and get a test and stay home until you receive a negative result,' she said in a recorded video message.

The reopening of schools is another major step at towards leaving lockdowns behind with most businesses in the state welcoming back customers earlier this month.

Fully vaccinated NSW residents can now visit the hairdresser, sit down at a restaurant, grab a drink at the pub and workout at the gym.

The reopening of school is another step out of lockdowns with businesses in Sydney welcoming back fully vaccinated customers earlier this month, though masks are still needed indoors (pictured: a Sydney barber in October)
A man who was arrested on suspicion of a terrorism offence in connection with the Manchester Arena attack has been bailed pending further inquiries.

Greater Manchester Police said the 24-year-old man was bailed last night.

The man, who is from the Fallowfield area of Manchester, had been arrested on suspicion of engaging in the preparation of acts of terrorism/assisting others in acts of preparation under section 5 of the Terrorism Act (2006).

He was arrested at Manchester Airport shortly after arriving back in the UK.

A total of 22 people, many of them children, died in the terror attack at the Manchester Arena on May 22 2017. Pictured: Armed police stand guard outside the arena following the terror attack in 2017

A total of 22 people, including children, died in the terror attack at the Manchester Arena on May 22 2017.

At around 10.30pm on the day of the incident, British-born Salman Abedi, 22, walked into the foyer of the arena, as crowds streamed out of an Ariana Grande concert, and detonated a device packed with shrapnel.

His brother Hashem was handed a record 55-year sentence in August last year for his part in the atrocity.

The public inquiry into the deaths of the victims is continuing, and it emerged earlier this week that the elder brother of Salman and Hashem was allowed to leave the country a day after he was stopped at an airport by police.

The terror attack claimed 22 lives at Manchester Arena and injured hundreds more

Officers using counter-terrorism powers interviewed Ismail Abedi, 28, which caused him to miss his intended flight from Manchester on August 28, but he successfully boarded a plane at the same airport on August 29 and has not returned to the UK since.

He had been called to give "highly important" evidence at the public inquiry into the atrocity.

On Monday, Ahmed Taghdi, 29, a childhood friend of Salman Abedi, was arrested as he attempted to leave the country following the granting of a High Court order last week which ordered him to attend.

He gave evidence on Thursday before he was later released from custody.

He denied trying to flee the UK to avoid questions about his close relationship with the bomber and what he knew of the plot to attack the Manchester Arena.
Campaigners fear authorities in Qatar are holding womens rights activist Noof al-Maadeed after she returned to the country from exile in the UK.

The 23-year-old sought asylum in Britain in 2019 to escape alleged domestic abuse.

She has not been heard from since October 13, having returned to Doha three weeks ago following assurances she would be safe.

Noof al-Maadeed has not been heard from since October 13 after returning to Doha weeks ago

Rothna Begum, senior womens rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: The authorities have hinted that she may be being detained for her own protection and it is her own choice.
A leading lawyer has described Scotland Yards decision not to launch a criminal probe into the Martin Bashir scandal as mystifying.

Quentin Hunt, a barrister who specialises in fraud and counterfeiting cases, believes there is enough evidence in the public domain about the disgraced reporters activities for the Metropolitan Police to investigate.

The Mail on Sunday revealed last week how Princess Dianas brother Earl Spencer was so incensed by the decision that he is considering mounting private criminal prosecutions.

Mr Hunt believes there are strong grounds for an investigation into allegations of forgery and so-called fraud by false representation.

On the Mets decision, he said: Its mystifying, to be honest, because theres prima facie evidence of illegality in the public domain.

A leading lawyer has described Scotland Yards decision not to launch a criminal probe into the Martin Bashir scandal as mystifying. Mr Bashir is seen above

BBC news chief 'emailed Martin Bashir to stop him coming clean over Diana' just weeks before the rogue reporter's deception was exposed

Jonathan Munro contacted Bashir before 25th anniversary of Panorama special

He wanted to know if he intended to co-operate with a series of documentaries

Bashir eventually confirmed: I do not plan to say anything about the interview'

It came six weeks before BBC released documents from a 1996 internal inquiry

By Chris Hastings for the Mail on Sunday

A BBC boss tipped to land a powerful job running the Corporations news coverage sought assurances from Martin Bashir that he would not talk publicly about his infamous interview with Princess Diana  just weeks before the full extent of the rogue reporters deception was finally exposed.

Internal BBC emails obtained by The Mail on Sunday reveal that Jonathan Munro, head of BBC news gathering, contacted Bashir ahead of last Novembers 25th anniversary of the Panorama special.

He wanted to know if the then BBC religion editor intended to co-operate with a series of documentaries by rival broadcasters about the programme that were set to cause embarrassment for the BBC by showing how Bashir used duplicity to land his scoop.

Bashir eventually confirmed to Mr Munro: I do not plan to say anything about the interview.

Mr Munros concerns appear to have reflected a mounting nervousness among BBC bosses that the Corporation was about to be rocked by a major scandal.

Email exchange: Internal BBC emails reveal that Jonathan Munro (pictured above), head of BBC news gathering, contacted Martin Bashir ahead of last Novembers 25th anniversary of the Panorama special

It came six weeks before the BBC released explosive documents from a 1996 internal inquiry into how Bashir obtained the interview. The inquiry had been ordered after whistleblowers alerted bosses to concerns about the reporters methods.

Just three weeks after the BBC disclosed the documents, Dianas brother Earl Spencer released notes which exposed how Bashir used a string of vile smears and lies to persuade her to speak to him on camera.

Mr Munros email exchange with Bashir, obtained using Freedom of Information laws and heavily redacted by the BBC, will prove embarrassing for the executive, who is among those vying to replace Fran Unsworth as the Corporations director of news and current affairs.

Mr Munro, 55, has been nicknamed Macavity by critics for his ability to evade the blame for crises.

The emails reveal that Mr Munro sent Bashir a message on September 4, 2020, when the reporter was on sick leave.

Mr Munro asked: Did XXX at ITV ask you to do an interview to mark 25 years since the Diana programme? Just wondered how youd replied if so. All the best, J.

It came six weeks before the BBC released explosive documents from a 1996 internal inquiry into how Bashir (above) obtained the interview. The inquiry had been ordered after whistleblowers alerted bosses to concerns about the reporters methods

Just three weeks after the BBC disclosed the documents, Dianas brother Earl Spencer released notes which exposed how Bashir used a string of vile smears and lies to persuade her to speak to him on camera (pictured: Diana during the Panorama interview)

The BBC did not disclose Bashirs reply but just over three hours later, Mr Munro sent another email seeking clarification from the reporter that you are not taking part in any programme or coverage of the anniversary. He added: Do correct me if Ive misread that point.

Bashir then put Mr Munros mind at rest, writing: I do not plan to say anything. A BBC insider said: These emails reflect Jonathan Munros concern that Bashir would confirm wrongdoing in the Diana affair and thus bring into question his own judgment in reappointing him. Jonathan Munro is all about Jonathan Munro. Its all self-defence and self-interest.

Mr Munro was on the interview panel when Bashir rejoined the BBC as religious affairs correspondent in September 2016. He discovered Bashir had faked documents to land his Panorama interview but because Princess Diana had provided a letter to say she had not been misled, he considered the allegations spent.

Last night, the BBC said: Since all BBC journalists are required to seek permission for external media interviews, there is nothing unusual about a manager asking a journalist whether he has accepted an external media interview request.
The top cop investigating the mysterious disappearance of missing girl Cleo Smith has said he believes the little girl is still somewhere in Western Australia.

Cleo vanished from a tent at a camping site near Carnarvon on the northwest coast of Western Australia on October 16 with police believing the youngster was abducted - rather than wandering away by herself.

Detective Superintendent Rob Wilde, who is leading the case, revealed he thinks it unlikely the person who snatched the four-year-old has crossed the border into another state.

While police are exploring 'all avenues' on the understanding the little girl could be 'anywhere' by now, the top cop said it's more likely Cleo is still on home soil.

The top cop investigating the mysterious disappearance of missing girl Cleo Smith (pictured) has said he believes the little girl is still somewhere in her home state

Detective Superintendent Rob Wilde (pictured) revealed he thinks it unlikely the person who snatched the four-year-old has crossed the border into another state

'It's always possible but it's more likely that if someone has taken Cleo that they would still be within Western Australia,' he told the West Australian.

'If they had crossed the border, it would imply that someone from the Eastern States had committed the offence, when it's more likely that  if that is what's happened - the offender would be from here.'

Supt Wilde said West Australian police were in contact with jurisdictions across the country to ensure the little girl doesn't slip through the cracks.

'Photos, posters and descriptions of Cleo have been publicised nationwide, but there are no leads or credible sightings to indicate she has been taken interstate,' he said.

The detective said that if Cleo had been abducted the person behind the act would be 'bold and brazen' to take her while she lay beside her sleeping family.

He said it would have been 'opportunistic' for the abductor to take Cleo from the tent just hours after her family had arrived at the campsite.

While police are still exploring 'all avenues' with the belief the little girl could be 'anywhere' by now, a top cop said it's more likely Cleo (pictured) is still on home soil

Cleo (pictured with her mother Ellie Smith) vanished from a tent at a camping site near Carnarvon on the northwest coast of Western Australia on October 16

A veteran detective has said that if Cleo (pictured) had been abducted the person behind the act would be 'bold and brazen' to take her while she lay beside her sleeping family

Cleo was reported missing by her frantic parents around 6am last Saturday when they woke to find her and her sleeping bag missing.

She was sharing the tent with her mother, stepdad and baby sister Isla, who was still in her cot. Cleo's red and grey sleeping bag is also still missing.

Police are still unsure whether the little girl was taken by a lone offender or one with an accomplice, as extra detectives travel from Perth to join search efforts.

Supt Wilde said the family didn't see anything suspicious when they arrived at the campsite and said there was no evidence Cleo had been inside the beach shacks a short distance from the campground.

He urged anyone that has information on the four-year-old's baffling disappearance to come forward and claim the $1million reward.

'If not just for the fact that this is a small child missing, then for the monetary reward available,' he said.

It comes after police were spotted at the family home on Saturday, stating they are exploring 'all possible avenues' as part of their ongoing investigation.

She was sharing the tent with her mother, stepdad and baby sister Isla, (pictured) who was still in her cot when she disappeared

Supt Wilde has urged anyone that has information on the four-year-old's baffling disappearance to come forward and claim the $1million reward

They are exploring the idea what whoever took Cleo from the tent may have visited the home beforehand, meaning the abduction was premeditated.

A green spray used to detect fingerprints was spotted on the fence line but police haven't entered the house.

At the same time Cleo's mother shared on her Instagram page: 'Please come home to me. Any information big or small. Find my little girl.'

Detectives have confirmed known sex offenders were in the area at the time Cleo vanished but there are currently no suspects.

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Tributes have been paid to Mail on Sunday photographer Gary Trotter, who famously photographed John Prescott playing croquet on the lawn of his grace- and-favour mansion when he was supposed to be running the country.

Gary, who has died aged 65 following a short illness, was a fearless war photographer who had undertaken assignments in the Balkans, both Iraq wars and Afghanistan.

But he landed his biggest scoop closer to home in 2006 when Prime Minister Tony Blair had gone abroad leaving his deputy, Mr Prescott, officially in charge.

Acting on a hunch, Gary trained his lens on Dorneywood, the Deputy PMs country residence, and captured him and his aides playing croquet on a Thursday afternoon.

No hard feelings: John Prescott agreed to pose with Gary, left, celebrating his scoop

Peter Wright, Editor of The Mail on Sunday at the time, said: Garys unique talent was that, as well as being a superb war photographer, he cared about those he was photographing  and was as good at getting a great picture of a celebrity  or the Deputy PM playing croquet when he should have been at work.

Such was Garys charm that Mr Prescott posed with him for a souvenir photograph.

Gary started out as a cruise liner photographer and progressed via his local newspaper, the Slough Express, to the Sunday Express, Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail. He also ran his own photographic agency.

He is survived by wife Liz, his son Luke and grandsons Leon and Ashton.
An assistant police chief for the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington D.C. said she was told she would either have to have an abortion or be fired when she was just a cadet.

'I was told I had to have an abortion or be fired from the MPD cadet program,' Chanel Dickerson alleged at a community meeting on Tuesday, noting she was just 18 at the time.

'My choice to have a baby was personal and it should've been mine alone - and not for an employer ultimatum,' Dickerson said, NBC reports.

Now, other black, female police officers in the Metropolitan Police Department are coming forward saying they faced the same ultimatum.

Chanel Dickerson said at a community meeting she was told as a cadet with the Metropolitan Police Department that she would either have to get an abortion or be fired

Dickerson is now an assistant police chief with the Metropolitan Police Department

Dickerson, who has been with the Metropolitan Police Department since 1998, is one of 10 black women that have filed a lawsuit against the department, alleging they experienced 'an enterprise-wide culture of race and sex discrimination,' according to The Hill.

The suit claims the women 'came together as a class here to describe how the MPD has, for decades, treated black women police officers with contempt, to the point of systematic psychological abuse.'

It adds that the officers were met with 'intensive pervasive retaliation against those who dared to complain about, report or oppose unlawful discrimination,' describing a male-dominated culture in which officers with more authority sought to 'abuse their power to exact petty vengeance on subordinates and make their lives miserable.'

The women are seeking $100million in damages 'to ensure that these MPD practices are eradicated for current and future black women police officers and to obtain full redress for the Class Representative Plaintiffs and the class members who have been harmed by MPD's consistent, system-wide pattern, practice and custom of race and gender discrimination and retaliation.'

In a statement to The Hill, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: 'While we discuss the specific allegations due to pending litigation, the Metropolitan PD is committed to treating all members fairly and equitably throughout our organization.

'We take these allegations seriously, and we will be reviewing them thoroughly and responding accordingly.'

Another police officer, Karen Arikpo, said she was given the same ultimatum and rushed over to a D.C. doctor to get an abortion to keep her job

The two women were in the same class back in 1997, and their allegations have been corroborated by a male officer who was also in the class

At the time the lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia last month, Dickerson said: 'I understand the dire consequences to me participating in this lawsuit.'

But since then, NBC reports, three more black women, all former cadets, filed another lawsuit alleging abuse and retaliation.

And after Dickerson spoke out publicly on Tuesday, another black D.C. officer came forward - saying she faced the same ultimatum Dickerson was given.

Karen Arikpo, a DC officer of 24 years, told FOX 5 that in 1997 her female sergeant told her class of police recruits if they were pregnant they would either need to get an abortion, or be fired.

'So later that day, I went and told my class sergeant that I was pregnant,' Arikpo recounted. 'And she said I needed to have an abortion and she referred me to a doctor in DC to get it done.'

She said she had never disclosed the experience before, not even with her husband, as she thought it was something she 'would take to her grave.'

But Arikpo has since regretted the decision, saying that if she could rewind time she would have quit her job and gone through with the pregnancy.

She said that she has since had issues conceiving a child.

'It's so unfair,' Arikpo told FOX 5. 'And now I've never been able to have a kid.

'All these years, I've tried and I've never been able to have a baby.'

Now, she said she carries her blame, regret and shame for getting an abortion 'for a job.

'Then to want kids and can't have them, how do you tell people that?'

The Metropolitan Police Department has declined to comment on pending litigation but says it takes these allegations seriously

Arikpo decided to come forward, she said, after hearing Dickerson speak and realizing she wasn't alone.

The two spoke after the community meeting.

Dickerson and Arikpo were in the same class back in 1997, and their allegations have been corroborated by a male officer who was also in the class.

According to officers who spoke to FOX 5, the sergeant who gave the ultimatum is no longer with the police department.

And in a statement to the news station, the Metropolitan Police Department said: 'The comments were made as part of the current lawsuit, so we decline to offer a response due to pending litigation.'

But FOX 5 shot back that Arikpo's allegations are not included in the lawsuits, as she is just discussing this for the first time, but they did not reply.

The news station also asked what happens now to recruits and cadets who get pregnant, to which the department replied: 'If a recruit gets pregnant while at the academy, she will be placed in a future class upon completion of her leave.

'If a cadet gets pregnant, she would continue the educational piece with modified PT per guidance of a medical professional.'
The house of WA Premier Mark McGowan has been put under heavy police guard after an incident on Saturday night which caused him to be rushed away from a wedding to return home.

Mr McGowan was attending the reception at the Vasto Club in the northern Perth suburb of Balcatta about 6.30pm when he was abruptly ushered into a car.

The premier was then swiftly driven across the city back to his home in the southern suburb of Rockingham were police had identified a major security breach, reports The West Australian.

Security around the 54-year-old has been upped in recent days after threats were made toward him when he mandated that 75 per cent of WA workforce will need to be fully-vaccinated for Covid or risk getting the sack.

WA Premier Mark McGowan (pictured with his wife Sarah in September) was rushed away from a wedding on Saturday evening after a security breach at his Rockingham house

Mr McGowan was attending a reception at the Vasto Club (pictured) in Perth's northern suburbs about 6.30pm when he was whisked into a car

Thousands are expected to lose their jobs even if WA achieves very high vaccination rates - enraging anti-vaccine proponents and even leading to one man being charged with threatening to kill the premier.

Perth man Jamon Allan Hartzer, 42, fronted Armadale Magistrate's Court on Friday following his arrest on Thursday night.

The father-of-two had made death threats to Mr McGowan and also hostile posts towards Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and multiple police officers over the vaccine rules.

Australian Counter-Terrorism Group officers found four high powered rifles at his house, with a police prosecutor telling the court they were 'unsecured' and least one was loaded.

Mr Hartzer, who the court heard has bipolar disorder, was supported by his wife and parents at court and was refused bail, with the magistrate noting a 'term of imprisonment' would be likely.

He is charged with threatening to kill, failed to comply with firearm or ammunition storage requirements and making a statement/giving information which was known to be false which indicated a threat.

In a separate incident a 49-year-old man was issued a move-on order after he kicked in the front door to Mr McGowan's electorate office in Rockingham.

The Premier's office has also been inundated with aggressive calls over the vaccine rules.

'What I'm doing and what the government is doing is what is necessary to keep people safe and keep our state safe, and we're not going to be deterred from that,' Mr McGowan said on Thursday.

Perth man Jamon Allan Hartzer (pictured) was arrested on Thursday after making threats toward the WA Premier over his vaccine mandates

On Saturday a protest was held outside Mr McGowan's house - promoted in a since-deleted Facebook post - but had resulted in a dismal turnout of about a dozen people.

Mr McGowan's son was seen glancing out a second storey window at the group.

One protester told the newspaper they would have reconsidered turning up if they had known Mr McGowan's children were at home.

Another protester said they believed the vaccine mandates were illegal.

'It's Mark McGowan making these mandates. I've caught him every day this week. I've sent emails. He's not giving out to anyone. It's just a hard line of 'get it or else'.

'My career is on the line. I've got three girls and a wife to support, a mortgage to pay so it's very worrying for me. I'm between a rock and a hard place.'

Police maintained a heavy presence near the premier's address throughout the day in the lead up to him being bundled away from the event in the evening.
Two children were killed and eight other people were injured during a Texas drag racing competition when one of the cars veered off the track and struck spectators.

Kerrville Police said a 6-year-old boy died at the scene while an 8-year-old boy died in the hospital.

Among the eight injured were two women, 46 and 27, who were listed in critical condition. A man, 36, was also taken to the hospital, but his condition is not known.

The driver, 34, was described by police as 'stable,' NBC News reports.

The race car veered off course and crashed into the spectators and parked cars

Amateur racers were competing inside the Kerville-Kerr County Airport on Saturday

Organizers had set up water barriers at the races in Kerrville, Texas

Two other people were treated at the scene and released, and a 3-month-old girl and 4-year-old boy were hospitalized for 'precautionary evaluations.

The victims were taken to medical facilities in Kerrville, Austin and San Antonio.

The Kerrville Police Department said in a statement that the driver, who's identity has not been revealed yet, lost control of the vehicle before striking the spectator stands and parked vehicles.

The crash happened on Saturday afternoon at a makeshift track at the Kerrville-Kerr County Airport. The site was hostd by the 'Airport Race Wars 2' event.

The event, which is for amateur drivers, was put together by Flyin' Diesel Performance, a local auto shop neighboring the airport.

The event was part of the Race Wars 2 competition, hosted by Flyin' Diesel Performance

'We ask that you please pray for everyone involved,' said race organizer Ross Dunagan, auto shop's owner, in a Facebook post.

One of the spectators, Brittany Lehman, told The Kerrville Daily Times that the car had fishtailed into onlookers after it crossed the finished line.

Lehman had been at the event cheering for her husband when she saw the crash, followed by black smoke and people running.

'They said "Get your children out of here,"' Lehmann told the Daily Times.

Police are continuing to investigate the incident.
Police have discovered remains they believe belong to a five-year-old boy who had been missing for a month, a week after the child's mother and her boyfriend were arrested in connection with the disappearance in New York City.

Remains believed to be those of Elijah Lewis were found by a cadaver dog in Ames Nowell State Park in Abington, Massachusetts, on Saturday morning, after a search in the park began on Friday, police said.

New Hampshire State Police said that investigators were contacted with 'credible' information that led them to search in the area. They said that although the body has not been officially identified, it is consistent with the the 5-year-old's description.

Massachusetts State Police also assisted in the search.

The search for 5-year-old Elijah Lewis led investigators to Ames Nowell State Park in Abington, where they found remains believed to be those of the boy

Elijah, who had not been for six months, was reported missing by Child Protective Services

New Hampshire State Police said that investigators were contacted with 'credible' information that led them to search in the area.

Authorities are seen at the scene where the body was discovered

Police said that although the body has not been officially identified, it is consistent with that of the 5-year-old.

'This morning state police, cadaver dogs, and emergency response team members located what is presumed to be Elijah Lewis' body buried in the ground. I'm not going to get into the specifics of the crime scene or the manner in which this boy's body was found at this time,' said Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz

State and local police had started to search the state park since Friday

'This morning state police, cadaver dogs, and emergency response team members located what is presumed to be Elijah Lewis' body buried in the ground. I'm not going to get into the specifics of the crime scene or the manner in which this boy's body was found at this time,' Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz said.

Elijah's mother, Danielle Dauphinais, 35, and her boyfriend Joseph Stapf, 30, were arrested in New York City on October 16 after the Department of Children, Youth and Families in Merrimack, where the couple lived, alerted police that Elijah had not been seen in months.

It was later reported that Elijah had been missing for a month. Neither Dauphinais nor Stapf had reported the child missing and told others to lie about their whereabouts, prosecutors said.

Remains believed to be those of Elijah Lewis were found by a cadaver dog in Ames Nowell State Park in Abington on Saturday morning

Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz, during an October 20 press conference in Abington

Danielle Denise Dauphinais, 35, and her boyfriend Joseph Stapf, 30, were arrested near Westchester and Bruckner Aves. at approximately 7.15 am on October 16

After being arrested in New York City, Dauphinais and her boyfriend were charged with child endangerment and witness tampering in a Bronx courtroom, before the pair were extradited to their home state.

The couple was escorted by New Hampshire authorities back to the state to face charges in Hillsborough County Superior Court later this week.

Police in Merrimack had been searching the home where Dauphinais and Elijah lived since October 14 for evidence about his disappearance.

'This is the beginning of the investigation at this point,' added DA Cruz during a press conference on Saturday. 'We need to go where the facts take us.'

An autopsy by the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is scheduled for Sunday. Nobody has been arrested in connection to Elijah's death as of yet.

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 on October 16

An autopsy by the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is scheduled for Sunday. Nobody has been arrested in connection to Elijah's death as of yet

New Hampshire State Police took several items from 4 Sunset Drive in Merrimack, Elijah Lewis's last known home

New Hampshire police were seen digging in the home's backyard near a shed on Monday

Dauphinais and Stapf were arrested near Westchester Avenue and Bruckner Avenue at approximately 7.15am on October 16, 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.

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.

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.

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.

Law enforcement said Elijah's death is being investigated as suspicious and has anyone with information to contact them.

In Merrimack, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Dive Team (pictured) took several boats of divers to look for the missing boy in Naticook Lake last Sunday

Naticook Lake is adjacent to the home where the boy lived on 7 Sunset Drive

'We're 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 that's going on out there or he's been misidentified. But right now, we are fearful that may be the direction we are headed,' New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati had said on Monday

Elijah Lewis (pictured), who was last seen six months, was reported missing on October 14. Remains believed to be his were found on Saturday morning

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 were then extradited to New Hampshire
A father in Florida has accused school officials of forcing his daughter with Down syndrome to wear a mask by tying it to the seven-year-old girl's head.

Jeffrey Steele says that he was shocked when on October 7 his daughter Sophia stepped off the school bus in Indian Harbor with a medical mask tied tightly to her face with a cord that wrapped around her head.

Steele had assumed that Sophia, who is nonverbal and has an enlarged tongue, would be granted a medical exemption, but that the school had been forcing her to wear the mask for six weeks without his knowledge.

'I was just flabbergasted,' Steele told Fox News.

Sophia Steele, seven, was forced by teachers to wear a mask that was tied to her head, her father says. She has Down syndrome and is nonverbal, and he believed she was exempt

Jeffrey Steele says that he was shocked when on October 7 his daughter Sophia stepped off the school bus in Indian Harbor with a medical mask tied tightly to her face

Father Jeffrey Steele says he was 'flabbergasted' and furious when he learned that staff had been tying the mask on his daughter for six weeks

Staff at Ocean Breeze Elementary School, part of Brevard County Schools, imposed a mask mandate on students in defiance of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' controversial order banning mask requirements.

Steele was aware of the school's mask mandate, but said that he assumed Sophia was automatically medically exempt.

The girl is enrolled in an individual education plan (IEP) and educators are supposed to inform parents of any changes to the child's learning plan, Steele said.

In a statement, Brevard County Schools said: 'The student was given a medical mask exemption as soon as the mother made the request to school leadership.'

'The school district is investigating and is in the process of gathering all the facts. BPS strives to ensure each student has the best educational experience possible and will continue in that effort,' the statement added.

Sophia is enrolled in an individual education plan (IEP) and educators are supposed to inform parents of any changes to the child's learning plan, Steele said

The bizarre case drew attention from elected officials, with State Representative Randy Fine tearing into Brevard County's mask mandate at a press conference this week.

'There's a special place in hell for people who did this to that man's daughter,' said Fine, a Republican from Palm Bay, according to WOFL.

Late Friday afternoon, Brevard Public Schools announced a change to the emergency face mask mandate.

Superintendent Dr. Mark Mullins said he would transition the mask mandate from having a medical exemption to having a parental opt-out, after the daily new COVID case rate dropped to 50 per 1000,000.

DeSantis has waged a legal battle with local school districts in Florida over mask mandates. He has outlawed the mandates, but many districts have defied them and tied up his order in court.

DeSantis and state education officials responded by cutting salaries paid to school board members in Florida who voted to require masks for students.

'There's a special place in hell for people who did this to that man's daughter,' said state Rep. Fine, a Republican from Palm Bay

About a dozen school boards in Florida, representing more than half the state's students, have voted to defy the state ban on mask mandates despite the DeSantis decision to withhold some of their funding.

DeSantis favors allowing parents to decide whether their children wear face coverings and is in the midst of court battles over this broader issue.

In Alachua County, the pay reductions so far for four school board members who voted for the mask mandate amounted to $27,000.

President Joe Biden's administration has been stepping in to make up the pay cuts by infusing federal grants into the affected districts.

Alachua County school Superintendent Carlee Simon said in a news release last month the district has received $148,000 through a U.S. Department of Education program.

'With these grants, we're making sure schools and communities across the country that are committed to safely returning to in-person learning know that we have their backs,' Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
Saturday Night Live brought back three of its former Joe Bidens in the opening skit which mocked his approval rating and mental acuity.

The sketch opened with new cast member James Austin Johnson as the president, who asks for his press secretary, Jen Psaki, to come in.

'Jen Psaki, you're dynamite in those briefings, with your quips and one liners,' Biden tells his press secretary. 'What do you call those zingers?'

Psaki, played by Chloe Fineman replies: 'Um, facts.'

'Yeah, I love that,' Biden replies. 'Lay some of that truth on me.'

'Okay,' she replies, 'your CNN town hall was watched by no one,' a reference to a town hall the president took part in on Thursday night, 'and your approval rating is in the dumpster.'

Real Clear Politics polling showed the president was at 10 points behind President Barack Obama's at this point in his presidency. Biden's approval rating currently stands at 43 per cent.

Saturday Night Live opened with Jen Psaki, played by Chloe Fineman, delivering some bad news to the president, played by new cast member James Austin Johnson

As he laments about his situation, Jason Sudeikis walks on to the set, reprising his role as Biden, back when he was vice president

Sudeikis' Biden tells Johnson's Biden to relax as he rubs his shoulders and leans in to sniff him

'Yeah, but hey, things are going to turn around, right?' Biden asks in the sketch, to which Psaki replies: 'Um, I'm bad at lying, so I'm going to leave.'

After she leaves, Biden laments: 'I don't understand. People used to like me. The press would call me Uncle Joe. I miss the old me. Where the hell did that guy go?'

At that point, Jason Sudeikis enters the scene, reprising his role as Joe Biden, when he was vice president.

'Wait a second, who are you?' Johnson's Biden asks.

Sudeikis' Biden replies: 'What do you mean who am I, man? I'm you. I'm you from eight years ago, buddy. The ghost of Biden past. Boo!

'How can you be me? You seem so happy, so carefree, so - what's the word I'm looking for?' Johnson's Biden asks, to which Sudeikis' Biden replies: 'lucid'.

'Yeah, partner. From where I'm from. We're still VP. Easiest gig in the world. We're like America's whacky neighbor. Shake a few hands, rub a few shoulders.'

'Here. Come on. Let me get you loose, huh,' Sudeikis says as he rubs Johnson's shoulder and leans in to sniff him. 'Let me take a whiff. That's good. See, that ain't creepy. Hey, and look, I hope this isn't sexist, but you got to smile more, sweetie. Okay?'

The sniffing of Biden's hair is a reference to the now infamous 2015 photo of him leaning into Stephanie Carter, wife of former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.

Johnson's president tells the vice presidential version of himself that his infrastructure bill is being held up by Joe Manchin, to which Sudeikis says 'Screw Joe Manchin. The only mansion I care about is the playboy mansion.

'Oh, that's classic 2k13 Biden, right there, yeah,' he says. 'Hey, who's the second guy?'

'Senator Sinema,' the president says, to which the vice president says: 'That sounds like a Star Wars character.'

Alex Moffat's Biden also joined the scene near the end

Sudeikis told Johnson's Biden he 'could do this' because they are both 'Joe Freakin' Biden'

At that point, Alex Moffat's Biden from 'March 2021' walks in and makes a brief appearance.

Soon Sudeikis' Biden says: 'You know, I should probably mosey on back to 2013. I got tickets to a Gangham concert.'

'Wait. I can't do this without you,' the president pleads.

'Of course you can. Because guess what, buddy? You are me. I want you to stand tall and flash those 100% natural choppers we got and remember, we may be from different eras, but at the end of the day, we're both Joe freakin' Biden.'

The opening skit wasn't the only time SNL mocked Biden, after being soft on him in the past.

During the show's Weekend Update section, host Michael Che said: 'At a CNN town hall president Biden discussed the importance of addressing mental health saying, "'A broken spirit is no different than a broken arm.'" Well, if I keep betting money on the giants, I'm going to have both.'

'Also at the town hall president Biden admitted that he's not had time to visit the southern border,' co-host Colin Jost said, amid a growing illegal immigrant crisis. 'Though his approval rating has,' Jost joked, as a graphic showed his plummeting approval ratings

'Also at the town hall president Biden admitted that he's not had time to visit the southern border,' co-host Colin Jost said, amid a growing illegal immigrant crisis.

'Though his approval rating has,' Jost joked, as a graphic showed his plummeting approval ratings.

Later, he joked: 'Insiders are saying during meetings, president Biden uses the "F" word in conversation.

'More concerning the F word he keeps using is forget.'
The gun that killed the cinematographer on the set of Alec Baldwin's Rust had been used for target practice by crew members, sources linked to the western film's production said.

Multiple sources connected to the set of Rust told TMZ that the same Colt pistol that went off in Alec Baldwin's hands, killing Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza, had been used recreationally by crew members.

The sources claim that some crew members would go off for target practice using real bullets, and some believe a live round from those practice sessions found its way onto the set.

Another source told TMZ that live ammo and blanks were being stored in the same area on set, offering another possible explanation as to how a bullet was fired from Baldwin's Colt.

Alec Baldwin was wielding a vintage Colt pistol when it accidentally went off. It is not known who loaded the weapon and why it went off as a replacement crew was brought in the day of the incident (The gun pictured above is a vintage Colt pistol manufactured between 1873-92. While the exact model of the gun used is unknown, Rust is set in the 1880s)

The colt pistol accidentally went off and pierced Halyna Hutchin's chest on Thursday

An inconsolable Alec Baldwin is shown outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office after accidentally shooting and killing the cinematographer

Sources on the set of Rust said the incident that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins could be tied to the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed

A search warrant released Friday said that Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, had laid out three prop guns on a cart outside the filming location, and first assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the Colt from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds.

'Cold gun!' shouted Halls before handing the gun to Baldwin, using the phrase to signal to cast and crew that the gun was safe to fire for the scene, the warrant said.

Seconds later, filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, Baldwin apparently aimed towards the camera and pulled the trigger, accidentally killing Hutchins as she filmed him, and injuring Souza, who stood behind her.

Two production sources who previously worked with Gutierrez-Reed said this was not the first time she was involved in an incident on a movie set.

The two sources told The Daily Beast that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had allegedly given an 11-year-old actress a gun without checking it properly while on the set of the Nicholas Cage film, The Old Way.

'There were a couple times she was loading the blanks and doing it in a fashion that we thought was unsafe,' one of the sources said.

'She was a bit careless with the guns, waving it around every now and again.'

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the 24-year-old head armorer in charge of guns on Alec Baldwin film

A search warrant released Friday said first assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds

An aerial view of the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, where the movie was being filmed. Workers had been protesting over the fact production wouldn't pay for them to stay in hotels and motels in Santa Fe, instead forcing them to drive an hour to Albuquerque

Sources on the Rust set have said the fatal incident that killed Hutchins, 42, and injured Souza, 48, was a result of production failings from top to bottom.

They added that assistant director Halls, who handed the gun to Baldwin and told him it was safe, should have checked the weapon.

'He's supposed to be our last line of defense and he failed us,' one of the sources on set said. 'He's the last person that's supposed to look at that firearm.'

A Rust production source told The Daily Beast that there were at least two previous incidents of guns being accidentally discharged by other crewmember on set before Thursday's tragic incident.

The source described Gutierrez-Reed as 'inexperienced and green.'

Gutierrez-Reed had previously admitted she wasn't sure she was ready for the job on The Old Way in an interview before filming started.

'I almost didn't take the job because I wasn't sure if I was ready, but doing it, it went really smoothly,' Hannah Gutierrez-Reed said in a podcast interview last month after leading the firearms department for The Old Way, starring Nicolas Cage - her first time as head armorer.

Production of the film has stopped now in light of the tragedy. The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department is investigating and 'collecting evidence', a spokesman said on Friday

She also admitted in the podcast interview she found loading blanks into a gun 'the scariest' thing because she did not know how to do it and had sought help from her father, legendary gunsmith Thell Reed, to get over the fear.

It comes as the film crew revealed they walked off set hours before the fatal accident over safety fears after firearms were accidentally discharged three times - including once by Baldwin's stunt double who had been told the gun was not loaded, and twice in a closed cabin.

Neither Halls nor Gutierrez-Reed immediately returned messages from DailyMail.com late on Friday. Neither has been charged or named as a criminal suspect in the case, though a police investigation is ongoing.

Why WAS a gun on Alec Baldwin movie set loaded with live ammo? Mystery over events that led to actor killing cinematographer The deadly chain of events on set that led to Alec Baldwin being handed a gun with live ammunition and accidentally shooting and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins have become clearer after it emerged last night the actor fired a live round, believing it to be a blank. Experts yesterday told DailyMail.com safety on set is usually extremely tight with live bullets never used in filming and it remains unclear why a firearm loaded with live ammunition was on the Rust set at all. Baldwin was handed a gun loaded with live ammunition First assistant director Dave Halls picked up one of the firearms - a vintage-style Colt revolver laid out by armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed - unaware it was loaded with live bullets. 'Cold gun!' shouted Halls before handing the gun to Baldwin, using the phrase to signal to cast and crew that the gun was safe to fire for the scene, a search warrant released on Friday said. Baldwin, filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, then fired a live round towards the camera, accidentally killing Hutchins as she filmed him. Hutchins was airlifted to the hospital but was pronounced dead. Souza was taken to the hospital by ambulance but was released on Thursday evening. Why was live ammunition used on set in the first place? Live ammunition is never usually used on film sets and Baldwin's shooting and killing of a cinematographer a 'total mystery', a Hollywood armorer has said. Mike Tristan, 60, who has provided guns for movie sets for over 30 years, said the injuries sustained by Hutchins should not have been possible. Tristan, who has worked with Baldwin before, said any professional armorer would have checked the weapon, which he believes was a Western, before handing it to the 63-year-old. 'There should have been blanks in the gun, the on-set armorer's job is to check that before handing the weapon over,' Tristan told Dailymail.com. 'They then make sure that the actor stands on a mark and never points the gun at the crew or cast, you give them an aim to point at and the editing makes it seem like they were pointing at their co-actor. 'That's why everyone in the industry is very confused, how this happened is a total mystery at the moment.' Union members had walked off set hours earlier over safety concerns Unionized members walked off set on Wednesday, hours before the tragedy, complaining of safety concerns. They complained about long hours, shoddy conditions and another safety incident days earlier involving 'two misfires' of a prop weapon. Deadline cites an unnamed source who said a gun had gone off 'in a cabin' while someone was holding it, days prior to the shooting that killed Hutchins. 'A gun had two misfires in a closed cabin. They just fired loud pops  a person was just holding it in their hands and it went off,' they said, apparently referring to unintentional discharges. Baldwin's stunt double also accidentally fired two rounds after being told the firearm was 'cold'. When they turned up to set to clear their things on Thursday, they found they'd been replaced by locals. It begs the question of who those local workers were, what their training was and to what extent did they check the weapon before it was handed to Baldwin. Advertisement

The gun that fired the fatal shot was a vintage-style Colt revolver, DailyMail.com has exclusively learned.

After the shooting, the armorer took possession of the gun and a spent casing, which were turned over to police, along with other prop guns and ammunition used on the set.

Baldwin also changed out of the Western costume he was wearing, which was stained with blood, and turned it over to police.

The warrant does not reveal the model or caliber of the prop gun that fired the fatal bullet, but the film is set in the Old West of the 1880s and DailyMail.com has learned it was a Colt.

The warrant was obtained Friday so that investigators could document the scene at the ranch where the shooting took place.

Unionized workers had walked off the set hours before the fatal shooting, after they complained about long hours, shoddy conditions and another safety incident days earlier involving 'two misfires' of a prop weapon.

A yet-unnamed prop master who oversaw the gun used in the fatal shooting was a non-union worker who was 'just brought in' to replace the workers who left over safety concerns, a source involved in the movie told the New York Post.

It's unclear whether Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer, had recently joined the production, or was one of the crew members who stayed behind after the walk-off.

However, a link in her Instagram bio points to an article about Rust from May, suggesting she had been attached to the production for some time.

Unionized employees had been complaining about the fact they had to stay overnight in Albuquerque - an hour's drive from the set - and not Sante Fe because production wouldn't pay for their hotels, according to sources cited by The Los Angeles Times and multiple social media posts by film and TV insiders.

When they turned up to set to clear their things on Thursday, they found they'd been replaced by locals.

It begs the question of who those local workers were, what their training was and to what extent did they check the weapon before it was handed to Baldwin.

Deadline also cites an unnamed source who said a gun had gone off 'in a cabin' while someone was holding it, days prior to the shooting that killed Hutchins.

'A gun had two misfires in a closed cabin. They just fired loud pops  a person was just holding it in their hands and it went off,' they said, apparently referring to unintentional discharges.

Rust Production LLC did not respond to repeated requests for comment from DailyMail.com on Friday about the incident, but members of the union that represents many of the crew who were involved in the production said they had expressed fears about on-set safety.

Baldwin first addressed the tragedy on Twitter Friday: 'There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.'

He then tweeted a Variety article titled Alec Baldwin Was Told Prop Gun Was Safe Before Fatal Shooting, Affidavit Says.

He was pictured doubled over in grief on Thursday after speaking to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department immediately following the shooting.

Hutchins' husband shared a touching tribute to his wife on Twitter on Friday. Matthew Hutchins tweeted a photo of his wife and their 9-year-old son Andros on Friday captioned: 'Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words.

'Our loss is enormous, and we ask that the media please respect my familys privacy as we process our grief. We thank everyone for sharing images and stories of her life.'

His Facebook profile picture is a photo of the couple who had been married for 16 years. His bio now reads: 'We miss you, Halyna.'

A private memorial was held in Santa Fe last night with Matthew, Andros, and Baldwin in attendance, according to ShowBiz411. It was reported that grief counselors were present at the service.

The grieving husband told DailyMail.com on Friday morning that he had spoken with the actor. 'I have spoken with Alec Baldwin and he is being very supportive,' he said.

Baldwin and Hutchins (circled) are pictured together on the set of Rust, in an image that she uploaded to Instagram two days ago saying the crew of the film were supporting a strike by the IATSE union

Hutchins' husband Matthew told DailyMail.com on Friday exclusively: 'I have spoken with Alec Baldwin. He is being very supportive'

Zak Knight, a pyrotechnic and special effects engineer who is a member of Local 44, told DailyMail.com on Friday: 'There should have never been live rounds on a movie set, that's number one. Number two is every single person on a movie set has a right to inspect a weapon before it's fired. And number three is, there is no reason to ever put a person in front of a weapon that's firing.

'Anytime you see a movie where the barrel is pointed down the camera lens, there should not be an operator behind it. It's obvious that the considerations of this resulted in that gun being pointed directly at two people.

Legal experts tell DailyMail.com lawsuits naming Alec Baldwin are a virtual certainty, but that any potential criminal charges are more likely to center on whoever loaded the gun

'We would have additionally had a barrier between them. A large number of people failed to do our protocols... every accident is a cascade of events,' he said.

Whatever happened in the moments leading up to her death, Knight said it was caused by a 'cascade of failures' by multiple people. 'We have a hard and fast rule that no live ammunition ever goes into a prop truck or set at any time. We just don't do it.

'If you see bullets on set they are complete dummy rounds and are in no way functional. This goes back to Brandon Lee. There's protocol.' Lee was killed in a similar incident when another actor shot him with a prop gun that was loaded with live ammunition while filming The Crow in 1993.

Knight added that different gun laws between New Mexico and California may have also contributed to the accident. In California, both a trained armorer and a prop master is required on a film set and those are the standards the union adheres to as well.

'You will find the best and most well-trained individuals in Los Angeles. You can't guarantee that as you go across the country,' he told DailyMail.com on Friday.
A defiant Mark McGowan has said he will not resile from pushing ahead with vaccine mandates after a security threat at his own home and mounting anger toward him from opponents of compulsory jabs.

The WA Premier's house was put under heavy police guard after the incident on Saturday night that saw him suddenly rushed home from a wedding - but speaking on Sunday the 54-year-old said the event would not deter him from 'keeping the community safe'.

He declined to reveal details about the incident except to say his mobile phone number and address were leaked to online groups.

WA Premier Mark McGowan (pictured with wife Sarah) was attending a function in Perth on Saturday evening when he abruptly left following a security breach at his home

'I just urge everyone to be respectful and understand that the government is doing what we have to do,' Mr McGowan said.

'We're not going to stop, we're not going to give in. If you want to protest, protest but be respectful.'

He added he was taking the security breach as 'a sign of the online world'.

'Where people get wound up by conspiracy theorists and misleading information and people who basically promote witch doctor solutions to medical problems.'

Mr McGowan was attending a reception at the Vasto Club in the northern Perth suburb of Balcatta about 6.30pm when he was abruptly ushered into a car.

The premier was then swiftly driven across the city back to his home in the southern suburb of Rockingham were police had identified a major security breach, reports The West Australian.

His security detail has been upped in recent days after threats were made toward him when he mandated that 75 per cent of WA workforce will need to be fully-vaccinated for Covid or risk getting the sack.

The 54-year-old was attending a reception at the Vasto Club (pictured) in Perth's northern suburbs about 6.30pm when he was whisked into a car

WA Premier Mark McGowan (pictured with his wife Sarah in September) said the incident at his Rockingham home happened after his address was leaked online

Thousands are expected to lose their jobs even if WA achieves very high vaccination rates - enraging anti-vaccine proponents and even leading to one man being charged with threatening to kill the premier.

Perth man Jamon Allan Hartzer, 42, fronted Armadale Magistrate's Court on Friday following his arrest on Thursday night.

The father-of-two had made death threats to Mr McGowan and also hostile posts towards Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and multiple police officers over the vaccine rules.

Australian Counter-Terrorism Group officers found four high powered rifles at his house, with a police prosecutor telling the court they were 'unsecured' and least one was loaded.

Mr Hartzer, who the court heard has bipolar disorder, was supported by his wife and parents at court and was refused bail, with the magistrate noting a 'term of imprisonment' would be likely.

He is charged with threatening to kill, failed to comply with firearm or ammunition storage requirements and making a statement/giving information which was known to be false which indicated a threat.

In a separate incident a 49-year-old man was issued a move-on order after he kicked in the front door to Mr McGowan's electorate office in Rockingham.

The Premier's office has also been inundated with aggressive calls over the vaccine rules.

'What I'm doing and what the government is doing is what is necessary to keep people safe and keep our state safe, and we're not going to be deterred from that,' Mr McGowan said on Thursday.

Perth man Jamon Allan Hartzer (pictured) was arrested on Thursday after making threats toward the WA Premier over his vaccine mandates

On Saturday a protest was held outside Mr McGowan's house - promoted in a since-deleted Facebook post - but had resulted in a dismal turnout of about a dozen people.

Mr McGowan's son was seen glancing out a second storey window at the group.

One protester told the newspaper they would have reconsidered turning up if they had known Mr McGowan's children were at home.

Another protester said they believed the vaccine mandates were illegal.

'It's Mark McGowan making these mandates. I've caught him every day this week. I've sent emails. He's not giving out to anyone. It's just a hard line of 'get it or else'.

'My career is on the line. I've got three girls and a wife to support, a mortgage to pay so it's very worrying for me. I'm between a rock and a hard place.'

Police maintained a heavy presence near the premier's address throughout the day in the lead up to him being bundled away from the event in the evening.
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Dozens of shipping containers have fallen from a ship into Canadian waters, and the cargo ship carrying them has caught ablaze amid the damage caused by a 'bomb cyclone'.

Up to 40 shipping containers fell into the Pacific off Vancouver early on Friday morning, when the vessel Zim Kingston hit rough waters 43 miles west of the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

Then on Saturday morning, a fire broke out in the ship's cargo area, believed to be caused by damage to the remaining shipping containers, the US Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard is now tracking 35 containers adrift at sea, and says that two of them are confirmed to contain hazardous flammable material.

Dozens of shipping containers have fallen from a ship into Canadian waters during a 'bomb cyclone', and the cargo ship carrying them has caught ablaze amid the damage

Zim Kingston hit rough waters 43 miles west of the Straits of Juan de Fuca, losing dozens of containers. A blaze was sparked in the damaged cargo area

The Coast Guard is now tracking 35 containers adrift at sea, and says that two of them are confirmed to contain hazardous flammable material

'Two of the containers have been identified as carrying spontaneous combustibles,' Petty Officer 3rd Class Diolanda Caballero told the Vancouver Sun.

'They are currently drifting north but we can't predict which way they will go because of the heavy weather. The bomb cyclone is around that area,' she said.

Photos showed smoke billowing and flames leaping from the side of the ship.

Radio communications indicate that the crew, including the captain, has been advised to abandon ship by Canadian authorities.

'The advice is that you abandon, completely abandon, including all crew and captain,' a Canadian Coast Guard official was heard broadcasting to the ship.

Containers which fell overboard from the ship Zim Kingston are seen floating west of the Straits of Juan de Fuca, off the west coast of British Columbia

'Two of the containers have been identified as carrying spontaneous combustibles,' said Petty Officer 3rd Class Diolanda Caballero

However, a response from the ship indicated that the crew wanted to continue to battle the fire, and it was not immediately clear whether the crew abandoned ship.

Canadian Coast Guard advised that due to the nature of the combustibles on board the vessel, tugs deployed to fight the fire are not to use water on the blaze.

The Zim Kingston is a Maltese-flagged containership built in 2008, with capacity for 4,253 twenty-foot containers.

It had departed from Busan, South Korea bound for North America.

Radio communications indicate that the crew, including the captain, has been advised to abandon ship by Canadian authorities

However, a response from the ship indicated that the crew wanted to continue to battle the fire, and it was not immediately clear whether the crew abandoned ship

The ship is now anchored in Constance Bank, in the Straits of Juan de Fuca off Victoria.

The containers on the ship were lost in rough seas due to a a strong low pressure system that was at hurricane force at times with seas up to 30 feet.

A storm is considered a bomb cyclone when its minimum air pressure drops 24 millibars or more within 24 hours, known as bombogenesis.

Between 2008 and 2016, an average of 568 containers were lost per year worldwide, according to a study commissioned by The World Shipping Council.
Lockdown-weary Australians desperate for a break from housebound humdrum are snapping up every last summer holiday booking on the Great Barrier Reef.

Hamilton Island is almost completely booked out over December and January after the Queensland Government finally threw open its borders to travellers again.

The school holidays rush was prompted by the state announcing restrictions would relax entirely for fully vaccinated Christmas travellers.

From November 19, unless you are coming from a hotspot, vaccinated travellers will be able to enter Queensland without quarantining.

And from December 17, even those from hotspots will be able to enter the state so long as they are vaccinated and test negative in the 72 hours before arriving.

Lockdown-weary Australians desperate for a break from housebound humdrum are snapping up every last summer holiday booking on the Great Barrier Reef (Pictured a holidaymaker gazing out at the Whitsundays)

Now Australians across the country are booking their slice of summer paradise after almost two years of Covid hell.

And Sydneysiders with cabin fever are at the head of the queue for a tropical Christmas.

'We had a surge of bookings from New South Wales after the announcement on Queensland's border re-opening,' Hamilton Island chief executive Glenn Bourke told the Courier-Mail.

'With international tourism restricted, Australians have fallen back in love with our own backyard and there's no backyard quite like Hamilton Island.'

Although Hamilton Island is all but booked out, the state still has other island escapes for sunseekers, including luxury five-star resort Hayman Island, pictured here

The plan to re-open Queensland is based on vaccination rates, with the first easing kicking in when the state is predicted to hit 70 per cent, and then eased further a month later once the state hits 80 per cent.

Queensland is lagging behind almost the every other state in Australia in its vaccine rollout, having only just broken the 60 per cent double-dose mark this weekend, and single doses still under 75 per cent.

Only Western Australia has a lower rate at 59.3 per cent, with the national figure now tracking at 73 per cent fully vaccinated and single doses almost 87 per cent.

Queensland managed to maintain a zero Covid case tally on Sunday despite the discovery of two car loads of travellers who had sneaked over the border.

Queensland managed to maintain a zero Covid case tally on Sunday despite the discovery of two car loads of travellers who had sneaked over the border, revealed the state's deputy premier Steven Miles, seen here

They had travelled around several outback Queensland communities before they were kicked out the state, and two of them later tested positive once back in NSW.

It's now sparked an alert for remote Queensland townships including Cunnamulla, Quilpie, Thargomindah, and Charleville.

'It really just underlines how close this virus is to our border,' deputy Queensland premier Steven Miles said.

Holidaymakers were urged to book early if they want to have a spot in a tropical paradise for their holidays in 2022.

Although Hamilton Island is all but booked out, the state still has other island escapes for sunseekers including Daydream Island, Great Keppel Island and Magnetic Island.

But for those who have big budgets, Hayman and Bedarra Islands could be the ultimate destinations.

Holidaymakers across Australia are now being urged to book early if they want to have a spot in a tropical paradise for their holidays in 2022. (Pictured, surfers at dawn in Queensland)

Hayman is a one-resort island accessible only by helicopter, luxury yacht or seaplane and boasts five star luxury with a giant pool you can dive in direct from some rooms.

Lesser-known Bedarra - an all-inclusive resort with luxury rentals and a spectacular villa - is possibly the most elite hideaway.

'When you simply do not wish to be found, when you need to escape and unwind, there is no better place to disappear than Bedarra,' its website brags.

'Bedarra is an all-inclusive, private, tropical haven  Australia's most unique resort and the ultimate in barefoot luxury.'

Prices start at $1,390 a night and go up to $2,790 a night...and just transferring by helicopter from Cairns Airport to the resort will cost you an extra $2,500 each.

Even at those prices though, the earliest you can book a week at the priciest Point Villa on the island is January 2023.
An A-level textbook has been withdrawn after it was found to contain an 'inappropriate' question about Native Americans.

Teacher Hannah Wilkinson tweeted an extract from the book in which students were asked 'To what extent do you believe the treatment of Native Americans has been exaggerated?'

The exercise, in the AQA/Hodder textbook USA 1865-1975: The Making Of A Superpower, also asked students to complete scales with 'criticisms of treatment of Native Americans' and 'defence of the treatment of Native Americans'.

This question will no longer appear in textbooks after history teacher Hannah Wilkinson called it unacceptable on Twitter, prompting the publishers to withdraw the book from circulation

She tweeted: 'I do some history mentoring and while prepping for tomorrow's session I have some questions for you @AQA.

'In what world is this is an acceptable question/exercise to ask students to complete on the history of Native Americans in late 1800s US? Actually horrified.'

Ms Wilkinson teaches history for students who require extra support at Durham Sixth Form Centre, according to the BBC, which first reported the story.

In response, Hodder Education tweeted: 'Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

'We agree that this content is inappropriate and are going to remove this book from sale. We will conduct a thorough review of the content with subject experts.'

AQA said: 'We've spoken with the publisher @HodderSchools and they'll remove this book from sale and review its content.

'We're also working together with publishers to ensure that new and updated editions of AQA-approved textbooks meet our commitment to EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion).'
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A total of 16 crew members were rescued from a burning container ship off the coast of British Columbia after toxic chemicals combusted and caused 40 shipping containers to fall overboard.

The fire had broken out on the MV Zim Kingston after two of the containers that fell overboard on Friday were discovered to be storing a hazardous chemical called potassium amylxanthate.

Crew were en route to Vancouver when it was spotted.

That blaze continues to burn Sunday, although officials insist it is under control.

The Canadian Coast Guard with the US to obtain the missing containers as the global supply chain shortage continues to worsen for both countries.

Five other crew members stayed on the ship to stop the fire but none were injured as a result, according to Danaos Shipping Co, the company that manages the container ship.

A total of 16 crew members were rescued off the burning cargo ship MV Zim Kingston off the coast of British Columbia

The fire was believed to have been started as a result of 40 containers that fell overboard on Friday

Two of the containers that fell overboard were reported to contain a hazardous chemical called potassium amylxanthate

Officials announced on Sunday that the fire is still burning but has seen a reduction in smoke and flames onboard

'Overnight the tug Seaspan Raven has cooled the hull of the M/V #ZimKingston by spraying the hull with cold water,' the coast guard said on Twitter.

'Due to the nature of chemicals onboard the container ship, applying water directly to the fire is not an option.'

The coast guard warned that there was an emergency zone around the ship, telling all vessels to stay at least two nautical miles away, and the Transport Ministry restricted all aircraft, including drones, from flying within two nautical miles or below 2,000 feet over the ship.

Radio communications indicate that the crew, including the captain, has been advised to abandon ship by Canadian authorities.

'The advice is that you abandon, completely abandon, including all crew and captain,' a Canadian Coast Guard official was heard broadcasting to the ship.

People watch from Clover Point Park as salvage tug boats spray what appears to be water onto the container ship

The tug Seaspan Raven had cooled the hull of the Zim Kinston overnight by spraying cold water on it

The fire 'appears to have been contained,' and a salvage and fire extinguishing agency was brought in to ensure the safe return of the vessel's crew, Danaos said.

The mishap comes as more bad weather is expected to hit the area on Sunday and amid a global shipping traffic jam that has held up deliveries all over the world.

On Saturday, Canada's coast guard said the ship itself was not on fire and only 10 containers were burning.

Canada's coast guard said it has been working with its U.S. counterpart to track 40 containers that had previously fallen overboard when Zim Kingston encountered bad weather, saying they posed a significant risk to mariners.

'Two of the containers have been identified as carrying spontaneous combustibles,' Petty Officer 3rd Class Diolanda Caballero told the Vancouver Sun. No further details on the exact contents have been shared.

'They are currently drifting north but we can't predict which way they will go because of the heavy weather. The bomb cyclone is around that area,' she said.

The company did not immediately respond when asked if the lost containers were linked to the fire.

Containers which fell overboard from the ship Zim Kingston are seen floating west of the Straits of Juan de Fuca, off the west coast of British Columbia

The Canadian Coast Guard is working with the US to search for the missing containers as the global supply chain crisis continues to worsen

'Mariners are advised to stay clear of the area. Currently there is no safety risk to people on shore, however the situation will continue to be monitored,' the coast guard said on Saturday, when video obtained by Reuters showed fire cascading down from the deck of the ship into the water.

'This is extremely concerning. The ship and containers are very close to Victoria, BC, and a big storm is forecast to hit tonight, said David Boudinot, president of Surfrider Foundation Canada, an environmental organization.

'We ... are worried this may be yet another environmental disaster.'

The Zim Kingston is a Maltese-flagged containership built in 2008, with capacity for 4,253 twenty-foot containers.

It had departed from Busan, South Korea bound for North America.

The ship is now anchored in Constance Bank, in the Straits of Juan de Fuca off Victoria.

The containers on the ship were lost in rough seas due to a a strong low pressure system that was at hurricane force at times with seas up to 30 feet.

A storm is considered a bomb cyclone when its minimum air pressure drops 24 millibars or more within 24 hours, known as bombogenesis.

Between 2008 and 2016, an average of 568 containers were lost per year worldwide, according to a study commissioned by The World Shipping Council.

Ongoing supply chain issues have caused shortages of a wide range of goods, with shipyards backed up, and a shortage of truck drivers further exacerbating the problem.

Experts have warned Americans to plan ahead for Christmas - and prepare for gifts, decorations and food to still be in short supply anyway.
A fourteen-year-old boy has been arrested for murder after a young father was stabbed to death and two others were injured in an attack outside the Royal British Legion.

Police officers who were called to reports of an assault in Lymington, Hampshire yesterday at 11.55pm found two men and a woman, all 23, with stab wounds.

One man, now identified locally as Max Maguire, was pronounced dead at the scene.

His next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers, the force has said.

The other man suffered serious injuries and is being treated at Southampton General Hospital.

The woman received superficial chest wounds which are not life-threatening and she was being treated at hospital but is now recovering at home.

Max Maguire, 23, has been identified as the victim of a fatal stabbing in Lymington on Friday

Pictured: Flowers at the scene outside the Royal British Legion on High Street in Lymington, Hampshire, where two men and a woman were found with stab wounds on Friday evening

A fourteen-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man was stabbed to death and two others were injured in an attack outside the Royal British Legion. Pictured: Forensic officers at the scene of the stabbing on Lymington High Street yesterday morning

The 14-year-old boy is among four people, all from Lymington, who have been arrested on suspicion of murder, a Hampshire Police spokesman said.

The others, who are men aged 29, 20 and 18, all currently remain in custody.

Detective chief inspector Dave Storey, who is leading the investigation, said: 'This is a serious incident and our thoughts remain with the family of the young man who was killed.

'We believe this incident occurred following a verbal dispute at the Royal British Legion and we have arrested four people as part of our enquiries.

'Please be reassured that officers remain on scene and there will be increased patrols in the area.

'If you have any concerns, or any information about this incident, please do not hesitate to approach officers.'

Reports suggest the incident took place after a group had been asked to leave the venue which was hosting a ska dance event on Friday night.

Witnesses described one man running back in bleeding heavily from stab wounds while another was found on the ground outside, according to the Sun.

One witness told the newspaper: 'It's like the lads came out of nowhere, bleeding heavily in pools of their own blood and one sadly dying in front of our eyes.

'I was trying to soothe one of the men by holding their hand and stroking their head, reassuring them that everything would be ok.

'But it was clear they were in a bad way. It was horrible to witness.'

Paying tribute to Max on social media, friends described him as 'an amazing young man' who was 'always polite and well mannered'.

A 23-year-old woman received knife wounds to her chest which are not life-threatening

Pictured: Police arrive at the scene in Lymington, Hampshire, on Friday night

Confirming the news, his sister Blaise said: 'My beautiful hilarious kind hearted brother has been stolen from me. Life will never be the same.

'I will miss you every day and love you forever.'

The woman believed to be the female victim said she is recovering at home.

Sharing a link to the police statement regarding the incident, she wrote: 'Unfortunately life is so so cruel. One of my life long best friends wont be coming home to his family while another is still having care in hospital.

'I was very lucky my injuries werent worse. Im home and Im so so grateful I can be here.'

Residents of Lymington and traders at its market spoke of their shock at the stabbing in what is usually a sleepy town.

Mark Edwards, who has been running Edwards Clothing on Lymington High Street for 33 years, said he was concerned how 'fashionable' it has become to carry a knife.

The 60 year old, from nearby Barton-on-Sea, Hants, said: 'There has never been anything like this before here.

'I worry about what society has become. In the old days if you had a problem with somebody you might get a little punch up but you wouldn't stab them.

'It seems it's almost become fashionable to carry a knife and stab somebody.'

Police officers who were called to reports of an assault in Lymington, Hampshire on Friday night at 11.55pm found two men and a woman with stab wounds at the scene (pictured)

Another trader said he had heard rumours of a fight breaking out in the Royal British Legion.

He said: 'Apparently they were all carrying knives [...] It is surprising because you don't think you'd get that down here.

'It's not particularly rowdy in the Royal British Legion because it's all old boys so it's all very strange.'

Ali Gul, 41, who owns Cell Zone on Lymington High Street, said: 'You don't expect it in a small town like this, maybe in a big city but not here. It's strange.

'It's a nice town to visit and you don't expect stuff like this.'

A visitor to the market said: 'I'm shocked. Lymington has never had anything like this before. It's just scary to think something like that could happen.

'One of the people arrested was just 14 which is crazy.'
Hundreds of face-to-face appointments with GPs have been cancelled or rescheduled by NHS bosses in a bid to slash traffic levels around Glasgow during COP26, with the city facing multiple road closures and possible rail strikes.

The city is playing host to the climate conference, which runs for a fortnight from 31 October and is expected to attract 25,000 delegates and 125 world leaders.

Ahead of the conference, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said virtual and online consultations will be favoured over in-person appointments as a way of helping to 'substantially' reduce road traffic during this time.

Hundreds of patients are being offered virtual GP appointments ahead of Cop26 in a bid to slash traffic levels around Glasgow, which is also facing road closures and a possible rail strike

The summit is expected to attract 25,000 delegates, 125 world leaders and up to 100,000 protestors to Glasgow next month. Pictured: Supporters march in Brussels ahead of Cop26

The RMT union also plans to stage a rail strike over pay from 1 November to 12 November, causing potentially more disruption to those wanting to travel to Glasgow by public transport for Cop26.

In-person appointments will continue for cancer referrals and urgent care.

But Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour's health and Covid recovery spokeswoman, said hundreds of patients - who have waited months to see their GP in-person because of the pandemic - would be disappointed by the move and called it a 'recipe for disaster'.

Speaking to The Telegraph, she said: 'This will come as a fresh blow to patients who have already been languishing on waiting lists for months.'

Elsewhere, health chiefs have expressed concern that Covid-19 infections in Glasgow will surge in the wake of hosting delegates arriving from all over the world and from countries with lower vaccination rates.

Preparations are underway at the Scottish Event Campus for the high-profile Cop26 summit

Up to 100,000 protesters, including from groups such as Extinction Rebellion, are also expected to descend on the Scottish city for the Global Day for Climate Justice, on 6 November.

Jillian Evans, head of health intelligence at NHS Grampian commented that there are 'risks associated' with the mass gatherings.

A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: 'Ahead of Cop26, we are working closely with partners to ensure robust plans are in place to enable us to respond to demands for healthcare during the conference, which includes responding to the temporary increase in population.

'All of our hospital facilities will remain open and operational throughout the conference.'

COP26, held at the the Scottish Event Campus, will be the highest-profile event ever staged in Scotland.

A huge security operation, codenamed Operation Urram, will involve 10,000 officers and 200 police dogs deployed each day, including officers on secondment from England.

Glasgow is expected to face disruption with multiple road closures in place during the summit

Specialist protest removal squads will be ready to crack down on any illegal disruptions, with the Armed Forces and coastguard on alert for serious threats.

In addition to protests from the likes of Insulate Britain, Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace, Glasgow faces more disruption from the sheer number of extra visitors, exacerbated by RMT union rail strikes and key road closures.

COP26 has been described as the last best hope for the world to get its act together on climate change  but Chinas President Xi Jinping and Russias President Vladimir Putin will not attend, delivering a blow to hopes of substantial progress.

The Queen is also expected to join Prince Charles and Prince William at a banquet for delegates on 1 November.
Armed police arrested a man at the Houses of Parliament who was trying to sneak in a mystery liquid that may have been acid.

In the security scare on Friday armed police seized a man on a tour group who had tried to smuggle a small amount of liquid in a 'miniature bottle' with him.

He was arrested in Parliament's Westminster Hall on suspicion of 'possession of an article for use in criminal damage'.

There was a considerable security scare on Friday as armed police arrested a man who had tried to smuggle a small amount of mystery liquid with him (File image)

The liquid was in a miniature bottle and may have been 'acid or an accelerant', a source told The Sun (File image)

The man was held at a police station in central London on Saturday night while the mystery substance was tested.

Checks were also carried out on the man's background.

The Metropolitan Police said: 'He was found to be in possession of a miniature alcohol bottle which was confiscated from him at the search point.

The man was searched at a checkpoint and then taken away from the tour group he was with at Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament

'Enquiries are ongoing to confirm what the liquid is and why the man had it.

'The incident is not being treated as terror-related.'

When the bottle was opened 'it appeared to be like acid or an accelerant,' a source told The Sun.

Just last week Conservative MP Sir David Amess, 69, was stabbed to death at his Southend West constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

The killing of the second parliamentarian in five years, after Labour MP Jo Cox's murder in 2016, sparked widespread concern over the safety of British politicians.

Last week the Home Secretary Priti Patel confirmed another attack on an MP was deemed likely after intelligence officers upgraded the threat level for politicians to 'substantial'.

She urged the Commons on Wednesday evening to take the 'change in risk seriously' following a review by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which is linked to MI5.

Home Secretary Priti Patel urged the Commons on Wednesday evening to take the 'change in risk seriously' following a review by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre linked to MI5

A fresh attack on an MP in the wake of the killing of Sir David Amess (pictured) is deemed likely and as such intelligence officers upgraded the threat level for politicians to 'substantial'

Priti Patel said counter-terror police would ensure the 'change is properly reflected in the operational posture' following the killing of Sir David.

She said: 'While we do not see any information or intelligence which points to any credible or specific or imminent threat, I must update the House that the threat level facing Members of Parliament is now deemed to be substantial.

'This is the same level as the current national threat to the United Kingdom as a whole, so I can assure the House that our world-class intelligence and security agencies and counter-terror police will now ensure that this change is properly reflected in the operational posture.'
Colombia's most wanted drug trafficker has finally been captured by security forces after evading arrest for more than a decade.

Dairo Antonio Usuga David, known by his alias Otoniel, is accused of sending dozens of shipments of cocaine to the United States and orchestrating a ruthless drugs empire, killing police officers, recruiting minors, and sexually abusing children among other crimes.

He was arrested on Saturday in the Uraba region of Colombia when a military force of over 500 soldiers descended on his jungle hideout, marking the culmination of a decade-long manhunt dubbed operation 'Osiris'.

Colombian President Ivan Duque likened the arrest of Otoniel, 50, to the capture three decades ago of Pablo Escobar, given that the drug lord managed to evade authorities and retain his freedom for over 10 years.

'This is the biggest blow against drug trafficking in our country this century,' Duque said during a broadcast video message. 'This blow is only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s.'

Colombia's military presented Otoniel to the media on Saturday evening bound handcuffs and wearing rubber boots preferred by rural farmers, and he has since been transported to Bogota to await trial.

Dairo Antonio Usuga David, known by his drug kingpin alias 'Otoniel', was arrested on Saturday after hundreds of Colombian soldiers descended on his jungle hideout

Otoniel, 50, is accused of sending dozens of shipments of cocaine to the United States and orchestrating a ruthless drugs empire, killing police officers, recruiting minors, and sexually abusing children among other crimes

Otoniel was first indicted in 2009 on narcotics charges and for allegedly providing assistance to a terrorist organisation according to the US government, but has eluded capture ever since amid a growing list of heinous crimes

Otoniel been transported to Bogota to await trial (pictured: policemen escort Otoniel from the plane to hand him over to the authorities

Otoniel is the alleged head of the much-feared Gulf Clan, whose army of assassins has terrorised much of northern Colombia to gain control of major cocaine smuggling routes through thick jungles north to Central America and onto the US.

The Gulf Clan has around 1,200 armed men - the majority former members of far-right paramilitary groups - and is present in 10 of Colombia's 32 provinces.

As well as drug trafficking, the clan is involved with illegal mining according to authorities, and stands accuses of threatening and killing community leaders across the country.

Though Duque said Otoniel's capture represented the end of clan, Colombia Risk Analysis director Sergio Guzman said a new leader would surely be waiting to take over.

'It's a big deal because he's the biggest drug kingpin in Colombia,' Guzman said, adding that the capture would not change the fundamentals of drug trafficking.

'Otoniel is bound to be replaced.'

This image provided by Colombian police shows a team of soldiers showing Otoniel to the press in Bogota, Colombia

The President of Colombia Ivan Duque stands at the dias, together with the Colombian Minister of Defence, Diego Molano (centre right), and Attorney General Francsico Barbosa (right), as he made a statement about the capture of Dairo Antonio Usuga David, alias 'Otoniel', in Colombia, 23 October 2021

Though President Duque said Otoniel's capture represented the end of clan, Colombia Risk Analysis director Sergio Guzman said a new leader would surely be waiting to take over. 'Otoniel is bound to be replaced,' he said.

The drug lord has long been a fixture on the US Drug Enforcement Administration's most-wanted fugitives list, with the organisation offering a $5 million (3.63 million) reward for his capture.

He was first indicted in 2009, in Manhattan federal court, on narcotics charges and for allegedly providing assistance to a far-right paramilitary group designated a terrorist organisation by the US government, but has eluded capture ever since amid a growing list of heinous crimes.

Informants and a network of rural safe houses he supposedly moved among every night allowed Otoniel to escape years of pursuit by the Colombian military.

As he defied authorities, his legend as a bandit grew alongside the horror stories told by Colombian authorities of the many underage women he and his cohorts are said to have sexually abused.

But the constant battle for freedom took its toll on the 50-year-old fugitive, who even while on the run insisted on sleeping on orthopedic mattresses to ease a back injury.

The drug lord (centre) has long been a fixture on the US Drug Enforcement Administration's most-wanted fugitives list, with the organisation offering a $5 million (3.63 million) reward for his capture

Otoniel is pictured posing for photos with his captors as he is transported by a Colombian military helicopter from his jungle hideout in Uraba

Authorities said intelligence provided by the US and UK led more than 500 soldiers and members of Colombia's special forces to Otoniel's jungle hideout, which was protected by 'eight rings of security'.

One police officer died during what was otherwise a highly successful operation, Duque said.

His arrest is something of a boost for the conservative President, whose law-and-order rhetoric has been no match for soaring production of cocaine.

Land dedicated to the production of coca  the raw ingredient of cocaine  jumped 16% last year to a level unseen in two decades of US eradication efforts, according to a White House report.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will fly to the Glasgow COP26 climate talks with a firm plan for net zero by 2050 after a last minute deal with the Nationals.

The row over the issue threatened to rip the Coalition apart with the Nationals apparently unwilling to compromise on proposed Liberal commitments.

But on Sunday, Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said his party now supported a 'process' to get to net zero emissions by 2050.

The threat of a looming election loss if there was no agreement is said to have been a key reason behind the pragmatic change of heart for the Nationals.

'Standing up for them (regional Australians) is making sure that you are in the (cabinet) room where the decisions are being made,' said Mr Joyce.

Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce (pictured) said his party now supported a 'process' to get to net zero emissions by 2050 for the POM to take to the COP26 talks in Glasgow

'Heroics that have no outcome, heroics that leave nothing but a rhetorical flourish - but leave the person who is hurting in the same position as what they were - is not an outcome the Nationals party room supported.'

The final blueprint has yet to be drawn up for the PM to take when he jets off to the UK on Thursday.

However a submission will go before Cabinet this week and the deputy prime minister said he expected it to have a 'firm commitment' to regional Australia.

Mr Joyce claimed it would be a better deal for the regions when he emerged from the two hour party room meeting in Canberra on Sunday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will fly to the Glasgow COP26 climate talks with a firm plan for net zero by 2050 after a last minute deal with the Nationals. (Pictured, an activist wearing a Scott Morrison mask outside Parliament in Canberra)

'The position regional people are in now is better than the terms and the process that was initially delivered to us,' he said.

'We are in support of a process going forward that would go towards a 2050 emissions target.

'Obviously that depends upon what we see in the cabinet submission reflecting the conversations and agreements between myself and the prime minister.'

He declined to say whether the prime minister had agreed to give the Nationals an extra cabinet position during the negotiations.

No deal with the Nationals could have been a major embarrassment for the prime minister heading to Glasgow.

The threat of a looming election loss if there was no compromise is said to have been a key reason behind the pragmatic change of heart for the Nationals. (Pictured, a pre-polling booth in Sydney)

It could also have had an impact when he goes to the polls by May, with climate shaping up as a major issue for voters.

Mr Joyce acknowledged many Nationals supporters held a different position and continued to have concerns about the target.

'But for all those people in regional Australia ... we will be going into bat for them as we always do,' he said.

Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud said it was important that Australia faced up to its international commitments but also made sure there were safeguards.

'The technology roadmap that (Energy Minister) Angus Taylor has put together gives us comfort around where that can take us and particularly around protecting existing jobs and how that technology can grow regional jobs,' he said.

eclined to say whether prime minister Scott Morrison (pictured) had agreed to give the Nationals an extra cabinet position during the negotiations

Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie said climate policy had been a 'totemic issue' for the party over many years and she was glad the party room had 'respectfully come to a decision'.

Mr Joyce declined to go into detail about the cabinet submission.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said it was extraordinary Mr Morrison was not in the room where decisions were being made about Australia's economic and environmental future.

'This is a government that is frozen in time while the world warms around. This is not really a government, more like a rabble,' he told reporters in Canberra.

Liberal frontbencher Alan Tudge dismissed the suggestion the government's junior partner is deciding policy.

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean said Nationals ministers would need to resign if they did not support the prime minister. (PIctured deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, Nationals agriculture minister David Littleproud and Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie)

'They quite rightly have their own party room. They can debate these issues.'

Earlier, NSW Treasurer Matt Kean said Nationals ministers would need to resign if they did not support the prime minister.

Mr Kean said a global 'economic arms race' was under way in terms of the next generation of clean energy jobs, investment and exports.

He the federal government should also upgrade its 2030 emissions target if it was to be taken seriously.

COP26 is the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, running from October 31 to November 12, after it was postponed last year because of Covid.
The father of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins who was killed by a prop gun in the hands of Alec Baldwin has insisted the A-list actor was not responsible for her tragic death.

In his first interview with the media since the shocking incident, Anatoly Androsovych laid the blame with the film's armoury team who were responsible for handing Baldwin a loaded weapon.

Anatoly is now fighting to organise visas to grant his wife Olga and daughter Svetlana entry to the US to support Halyna's husband Matthew and son Andros, who at just 9 years old is left without his mother.

'We still can't believe Halyna is dead and her mother is going out of her mind with grief,' Anatoly told the Sun on Sunday.

'But I don't hold Alec Baldwin responsible  it is the responsibility of the props people who handle the guns.'

'[Halyna's son] has been very badly affected  he is lost without his mother.'

Born in Ukraine and raised on a Soviet military base 'surrounded by reindeer and submarines', Halyna was tipped for a bright future in Hollywood when her life was tragically cut short. (Halyna pictured in 2018)

Halyna, 42, leaves behind her husband Matthew, a lawyer and Harvard graduate, and a 9-yar-old son, Andros

Matthew Hutchins told DailyMail.com on Friday: 'I have spoken with Alec Baldwin and he is being very supportive. We greatly appreciate all the sympathy,' he said. 'It feels like people are going to move mountains.'

An inconsolable Alec Baldwin is shown outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office after accidentally shooting and killing the cinematographer on Thursday

Baldwin shot and killed Halyna Hutchins on the set of his new movie 'Rust' on a ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Thursday at 1.50pm

Baldwin accidentally killed 42-year-old Halyna Hutchins, the Director of Photography for his new movie 'Rust', on a ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Thursday at 1.50pm.

He is believed to have fired a single round from a Colt revolver that somehow struck both Hutchins and the movie's director, 48-year-old Joel Souza.

It was revealed yesterday that the revolver was used by other members on the set for target practice and had likely fired live rounds prior to the shooting of Halyna and director Souza.

Halyna's younger sister Svetlana Androsovych, has railed against the 'negligence' on the film set which she blamed for her older sibling's death.

'How was this negligence allowed by such a team of professionals? This is just such an absolutely absurd coincidence.

'I don't know where the investigation will lead, but there are so many guesses. God only knows what happened, it's just so incredibly hard to live through it.

Alec Baldwin was wielding a vintage Colt pistol when it accidentally went off (pictured: Colt pistol manufactured between 1873-92. Rust is set in the 1880s)

Sun streaming from above, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins smiles into the camera as she films herself riding off into the New Mexico desert on horseback. This was the last Instagram post shared by the married mother-of-one before she was accidentally killed by actor Alec Baldwin when he fired a prop gun

Alec Baldwin was seen doubled-over in a parking lot, with his hands on his knees and his face seemingly crumpled with distress following the shooting

'The only thing we want right now is to be there with my mum next to Halyna's husband and their son to make sure he feels our support.'

Father Anatoly confirmed the family's priority is to secure visas to allow them to visit Halyna's husband Matthew Hutchins and son Andros, while Matthew will decide whether he will press charges over his wife's death.

Meanwhile, dozens of mourners attended a candlelit vigil in memory of Halyna last night at the Albuquerque Civic Plaza, in Alberquerque, New Mexico.

Mourners held candles, gave heartfelt speeches about Hutchins, and shared what a beloved member of the community she was.

Matthew was spotted along with the couple's son, nine-year-old Andros checking out from a hotel in New Mexico the same day.

Andros and Matthew attended a private memorial held in Santa Fe on Friday, with Alec Baldwin also in attendance. It was reported that grief counsellors were present at the service.

Another vigil for Hutchins is planned for Sunday from 6pm to 7.30pm at the IATSE Local 80 headquarters in Burbank.

Christian Hutchins, no relation to cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, places a candle in front of a photo of Hutchins during a vigil held in her honour at Albuquerque Civic Plaza on October 23

Another vigil for Hutchins, who was a 42-year-old mother, is planned for Sunday from 6pm to 7.30pm at the IATSE Local 80 headquarters in Burbank

Matthew Hutchins and son Andros leave a New Mexico Hotel and relocate to another location after the tragic death of wife Halyna Hutchins, who was accidentally shot by Alec Baldwin while making a western movie on Thursday

Ukraine-born Halyna Hutchins, 42, was the mother of 9-year-old Andros (pictured leaving New Mexico with his father)

Matthew, a lawyer and Harvard graduate, told DailyMail.com on Friday: 'I have spoken with Alec Baldwin and he is being very supportive.'

'There's obviously a lot to deal with whenever there's any death in the family. We're moving around to address all the things we need to do on the ground. There's a lot of phone calls and messages.

'And we greatly appreciate all the sympathy,' he said. 'It feels like people are going to move mountains.'

In two tweets on Friday, Baldwin said: 'There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours.

'I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family.

'My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.'

Richard Denton, producer behind Shakespeare Uncovered and many films in the former USSR, said: 'Halyna was the most wonderful, vital, lively and positive person to work with. She was friendly and enormously helpful.

Halya and Matthew Hutchins share a 9-year-old son Andros, who according to Halya's father is struggling with the death of his mother

Born in 1979, Halyna Hutchins was the daughter of military parents and grew up on a Soviet base 'in the Arctic circle'. Recalling what it was like, she said they were 'surrounded by reindeer and nuclear submarines'.

In a sign of her broad interests, Halyna, who was fluent in Russian and English, attended the National University of Kyiv, Ukraine's most prestigious higher education institution, and graduated with a degree in International Journalism.

She used this as a ticket to work abroad and spent time as an investigative journalist, working in print and documentaries.

Richard Denton, producer behind Shakespeare Uncovered and many films in the former USSR, said: 'Halyna was the most wonderful, vital, lively and positive person to work with. She was friendly and enormously helpful.

'She handled everything from translating interviews to making Leonids horse move in the right direction. She was completely unpretentious and incredibly professional.'

At some point Hutchins moved to the US, settling in California. She married husband Matthew, a lawyer and Harvard graduate, before welcoming their much wanted son Andros in 2012.

Halyna Hutchins pictured with son Andros, 9, in a tweet shared by husband Matthew on Friday

'I remember when Halyna and I would talk about how much she wanted to have a child so many years ago,' wrote her friend, Stephanie, 'and being at the hospital the day he was born and seeing her so filled with happiness.'

Shortly after Andros's birth Hutchins, who had begun working on short films, enrolled on a two-year course at the American Film Institute Conservatory to hone her skills as a cinematographer.

A cinematographer, also known as a director of photography, is in charge of the film and lighting crews on set.

In 2018, Halyna was named as part of the inaugural class of the 21st Century Fox DP Lab, a networking cohort designed to expand opportunities for female cinematographers by connecting them with working professionals.

The following year, she was hailed as one of the 'rising stars of cinematography' in respected industry publication American Cinematographer.
The family of a man who died after being pushed over in an argument with another dog walker have called for a change in the law after no charges were brought in connection with his death.

Retired civil servant Ralph Baxter, MBE, who was 72, suffered a heart attack following the altercation in Roade, Northants, in April 2020, an inquest in Northampton heard this week.

The other man, a 27-year-old restaurant worker from the same village, was arrested on suspicion of murder, but released with no further action.

The row began when the younger mans husky attacked Mr Baxters beloved shih tzu and Mr Baxter tried to separate the animals.

Retired civil servant Ralph Baxter, MBE, (pictured) who was 72, suffered a heart attack following the altercation in Roade, Northants, in April 2020, an inquest in Northampton heard this week

The row began in Roade, Northamptonshire (pictured) when the younger mans husky attacked Mr Baxters beloved shih tzu on a dog walk and Mr Baxter tried to separate the animals

After being pushed to the ground, Mr Baxter, who had worked for the Dept for Work and Pensions, returned home.

But an inquest in Northampton heard that he suffered from ischaemic heart disease and collapsed, and was pronounced dead barely an hour later.

Assistant Coroner Jonathan Dixey recorded in his narrative conclusion that: Death occurred following a verbal and physical altercation. The causes of death were Ia) Ischaemic Heart Disease and II) Verbal and physical altercation

Mr Baxter left a widow, three step-children and two grandchildren.

Speaking for the first time, his sister Joy Wood released a statement to MailOnline expressing the familys dismay at the lack of any charges.

After the attack, Mr Baxter returned home (pictured) but sadly collapsed and died an hour later

Mr Baxter (pictured) left a widow, three step-children and two grandchildren, and was described as 'a lovely quiet man' by neighbours who often saw him out with his dog (pictured)

She wrote: It has been already well documented that no criminal proceedings were brought following this tragic incident and, while we respect the Coroners verdict, we are disappointed that a verdict of unlawful killing was not recorded in this case.

Ralph was much loved and respected by all who knew him. He was a dedicated public servant throughout his long and distinguished civil service career and he was a passionate supporter of workers rights.

He had a tremendous desire to improve society through his interest in local politics and was awarded an MBE for this lifetime of public service.

He was a much loved and adored family man and is missed deeply by all of those close to him. Our familys pain is made all the worse because we feel that there hasnt been any justice for him.

Our sincere hope is that this awful case will ultimately lead to a change in our judicial system and that someone within Government has the wisdom and courage to make that change happen.

The DWP official for more than four decades was described as a 'lovely quiet man' by neighbours who often saw him out with his dog.

One local resident in the sleepy Northamptonshire village said at the time of his death: 'Ralph made it to his home, which is only a few hundred yards away.

'A friend went round to see if he was all right and his wife told him he had died.'

A woman who also lived nearby paid tribute to him, saying: 'He was a lovely quiet man who would often walk his dog. We just knew him as Ralph.'

Mr Baxter worked for the Department of Work and Pensions for 43 years and was a well-known Labour trade union leader.

He was given an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list for his public service.
Motorists are still facing waiting times of three hours to access the Channel Tunnel's Kent terminal after overhead power cables were damaged last night.

Furious holidaymakers and lorry drivers were forced to bed down in their vehicles after the railway suffered a huge electrical fault.

Hundreds of motorists had earlier clogged the M20 near Folkestone in Kent - some for as long as nine hours - unable to board trains for France.

Apologising the delays, Eurotunnel confirmed it had been caused by a 'technical fault with the overhead power supply'. It is believed this also caused a train to break down inside the tunnel which had to be evacuated.

This morning Eurtunnel confirmed they had fixed the electrical fault, but that travellers were still facing delays of up to three hours at the terminal.

Ddozens of angry holidaymakers were left to wait in their cars near Folkestone overnight. People stuck in the traffic jams at the British entry point slammed the 'chaotic' and 'disorganised' way the incident has been handled by the operator.

One traveller hit out at the 'appalling' service, writing on twitter: '10 hours since arriving, still waiting to board.'

Motorists are still being advised of three hour waiting times to enter the Channel Tunnel

Hundreds of furious holidaymakers and lorry drivers were stuck in mile-long queues for the Channel Tunnel tonight after the railway suffered an huge electrical fault

People stuck in the traffic jams at the British entry point have slammed the 'chaotic' and 'disorganised' way the incident has been handled by the operator

Hundreds of motorists have clogged the M20 near Folkestone for around six hours today, unable to board trains to France

One motorist described waiting for over nine hours to reach the terminal of the Channel Tunnel

It comes as families headed for railway tunnel in Kent to start their October half term getaways on the continent

It comes as families headed for railway tunnel in Kent to start their October half term getaways on the continent.

The aerial photos show a huge backlog of cars, vans and lorries at J11 on the coastbound side of the motorway.

Angry motorists have complained of sitting in queues for hours without moving and having to resort to social media to find out why there were delays.

Giles Mason, who was heading off on a holiday with his family tweeted: 'Complete chaos at @LeShuttle at the moment - 4-5 hour delays, vending machines empty, huge queues for food.

The aerial photos show a huge backlog of cars, vans and lorries at J11 on the coastbound side of the motorway

Eurotunnel has confirmed that the delay has been caused by a 'technical fault with the overhead power supply'

'All were told is tunnel maintenance. Great start to half-term holidays. #eurotunnel.'

David Simpson tweeted Eurotunnel saying: 'Booked for 10.20 am, arrived 12.45 due to delays reaching the terminal, its now 18.00 and no-one can tell us when we can leave. Chaos here, where are the personnel?'

Wendy Hurrell added: 'The 8 hours we've just spent in Folkestone has been...fun @LeShuttle. Just another 4 hours to drive now, through 4 countries, in the dark Grimacing face On the plus side, my child has learned to yo-yo...'

Nathaniel Tapley commented: 'Currently nine hours into an hour and a half drive.

Pictures of Folkestone tonight show hundreds of freight lorries and cars lined up waiting to board trains, some of which have been delayed since midday

Angry motorists have complained of sitting in queues for hours without moving and having to resort to social media to find out why there were delays

'Children showing remarkable resilience for having been in the same #eurotunnel queue since half eight this morning.'

Eurotunnel has said it will conduct an investigation into the 'technical incident'.

Drivers are advised to approach with caution and follow the diversion route in place - heading west bound on the M20, turning at J10 and returning.
MPs backing reform of the law over kosher and halal animal slaughter have been told to boost their security in the wake of the murder of Sir David Amess.

Currently some livestock killed to adhere to religious rules followed by Muslims and Jews is not stunned into unconsciousness beforehand, something some welfare campaigners want banned.

Now some MPs backing a law change that would limit the number of animals that can be slaughtered in this way have been told they should 'be careful what you say publicly on this issue'.

They have also been advised to review their personal security, the Sunday Times reported.

It comes after MPs were offered security guards to watch over them when meeting the public under a security review prompted by the murder of Tory Sir David in Southend.

Currently some livestock killed to adhere to religious rules followed by Muslims and Jews is not stunned into unconsciousness beforehand, something some welfare campaigners want banned.

It comes after MPs were offered security guards to watch over them when meeting the public under a security review prompted by the murder of Tory Sir David in Southend.

Sir David was a keen animal welfare supporter. Now Tory colleague Chris Loder is planning to lay an amendment to the Kept Animal Bill that would reduce the amount of un-stunned slaughter allowed in the UK.

Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference earlier this minth, Defra minister Victoria Prentis suggested ministers could support the move.

She said: 'We have to go very sensitively on this. We will go very sensitively on this. It is not the government's policy. It will be a backbencher amendment.

'We will have to make sure the rights of different religions to eat the meat they want to eat is still available.

'But there are ways of doing that so you slaughter to order. You don't slaughter unnecessarily large amounts of animals without stunning.

'So we are determined if the bill is amended in the way that it might be to have this discussion in a sensitive and grown-up way.'

Halal slaughter includes both stun and non-stun slaughter. The Food Standards Agency saying that some 88 per cent of animals killed in halal slaughterhouses were stunned in a way deemed acceptable to be 'religiously acceptable' to many Muslims.

But not all followers of the religion agree, and Shechita, the kosher method of slaughter, does not stun animals at all.

Shechita UK's campaign director, Shimon Cohen, said: 'We are appalled at reports that MPs have been made aware of security threats when raising issues regarding non-mechanically stunned slaughter. No MP should ever feel threatened or unsafe.

'This is an important debate, and we are proud of the positive interactions we continue to have with stakeholders with a variety of views, as well as ministers, MPs, peers and officials across the political spectrum.

'We will continue to engage in good faith and trust that discussions can remain pragmatic, respectful and, most importantly, safe throughout.'

Last week MPs were told they will be able to call on a 'trained and accredited security operative' when conducting constituency surgeries after Sir David, 69, was stabbed at one in his Southend West seat.

MPs were warned in a joint letter by Home Secretary Priti Patel and Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle that their safety is at risk from a 'small minority of hostile individuals'.

The veteran Tory representative for Southend West was killed during a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, five years after Labour's Jo Cox was murdered in a similar scenario.

In a letter first reported by The Times, Sir Lindsay and Ms Patel wrote to MPs acknowledging they will be 'rightly concerned about their own safety and security, and that of their staff'.

The letter added: 'The work you carry out can put you at odds with a wide range of ideologies and views and a small minority of hostile individuals may be motivated by grievances which are difficult to detect and whose actions are hard to predict.'

They said a 'trained and accredited security operative will be available to come to your constituency surgeries'.
Detectives may have found the getaway car used after the vicious double murder of father and son Toufik and Salim Hamze in the bloody gangland war shocking Sydney.

A high-powered Ford Mustang was seen speeding away from a lane in Guildford where an earlier getaway car was torched after last Wednesday's shooting.

A nearby address in the same suburb was raided by detectives where they reportedly found a car matching the Mustang stashed away.

'Police executed a search warrant at a unit on The Esplanade at Guildford,' said NSW Police in a statement on Sunday night.

'Several vehicles, electronic items, cash, and illicit drugs were seized by investigators and will undergo further forensic examination.

Detectives may have found the getaway car used after the vicious double murder of father and son Toufik and Salim Hamze (pictured) in the bloody gangland war shocking Sydney

'The search warrant relates to an ongoing investigation by officers attached to the State Crime Command's homicide, criminal groups and Raptor squads.

'No further information is available at this time.'

The discovery on Friday afternoon could be a key breakthrough in the hunt for the killers of teenage gangster Salim, 18 and his father Toufik, 64.

They were the latest murders in the escalating gang war between deadly rival crime families the Hamzes and the Alameddines.

The pair were gunned down outside their home in Osgood Street in Guildford as they got into their battered old Nissan Navara ute to go to work in the building trade.

Toufik Hamze is believed to have been an innocent victim caught in the crossfire of the tit for tat reprisals between the two warring clans.

A high-powered Ford Mustang (pictured) was seen speeding away from a lane in Guildford where an earlier getaway car had been torched following last Wednesday's shooting

Salim, 18, was recently caught in possession of a firearm by police and is understood to be living in fear of his life after being embroiled in the gang wars.

The teen died at the scene after he was cut down in a hail of around 10 bullets. Medics fought to save his father's life after he suffered a gunshot to the head in the attack.

He was rushed to hospital but later died.

Police fear gun-for-hire mercenary killers are being used to carry out the executions with military-style precision after similar methods were used in previous hits on Bilal Hamze in the CBD in June and Mejid Hamzy last October in Condell Park.

The assassins on Wednesday fled the scene in a Lexus SUV to a little-used lane 1.8km away where they are believed to have swapped to the waiting Mustang and set fire to the Lexus.

Salim, 18, (pictured) had recently been caught in possession of a firearm by police and is understood to be living in fear of his life after being embroiled in the gang wars

The teen died at the scene (pictured) after he was cut down in a hail of around 10 bullets. Medics unsuccessfully fought to save his father's life after he suffered a gunshot to the head.

'These retribution-style, drug turf-style shootings are an ongoing problem. We're always worried about reprisals,' Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett said.

'We're worried about reprisals, worried about family feuds. And we're also worried about drug and kidnapping turf wars.

'These feuds relate to family disagreements or relate to drug trafficking. They relate to organised crime territory.

'There's a number of people who are in our southwestern part of Sydney who are more than happy to deal with solve their problems with violence.

'We've had this going on for a number of years now - tit for tat targeted shootings. I'm not shying away at all from the fact that we've got a significant issue in our south-western suburbs.'
A newly discovered Egyptian mummy could lead to history books being torn up, as Egyptologists question the established timeline of mummification techniques.

Archaeologists were amazed by the advanced mummification techniques used to preserve Khuwy, one of the oldest mummies ever found, indicative of a level of sophistication previously believed not to have developed until much later in ancient Egyptian history.

Techniques used to preserve the entombed corpse of Khuwy, a high-ranking nobleman who lived during the Old Kingdom (2575 BC to 2150 BC), included the use of expensive resins made from tree sap to preserve his skin and the binding of his body with the highest-grade bandages  techniques previously believed to originate 1,000 years after Khuwys time.

Professor Salima Ikram, head of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, told the Observer experts had previously believed mummification processes during the time of the Old Kingdom were far more limited.

Inside Khuwy's tomb, which was discovered in 2019 at the Saqqara necropolis, about 20 miles south of the Egyptian capital of Cairo

Professor Salima Ikram, head of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, said the exceptionally well-preserved corpse of Khuwi could lead to history books being 'revised'

Professor Ikram said: Until now, we had thought that Old Kingdom mummification was relatively simple, with basic desiccation  not always successful  no removal of the brain, and only occasional removal of the internal organs.

Indeed, more attention was paid to the exterior appearance of the deceased than the interior.

Also, the use of resins is far more limited in the Old Kingdom mummies thus far recorded.

This mummy is awash with resins and textiles and gives a completely different impression of mummification. In fact, it is more like mummies found 1,000 years later.

She added: If this is indeed an Old Kingdom mummy, all books about mummification and the history of the Old Kingdom will need to be revised.

'This would completely turn our understanding of the evolution of mummification on its head. The materials used, their origins, and the trade routes associated with them will dramatically impact our understanding of Old Kingdom Egypt.'

The entombed body of Khuwy was exhumed in 2019 in the necropolis at Saqqara, with the event being caught on camera by National Geographic.

Hieroglyphs inside Khuwi's tomb (pictured) allowed Egyptologists to deduce it was the final resting place of a nobleman who lived during the Old Kingdom period (2575 BC to 2150 BC)

The corpse's identity was deduced from 4000-year-old hieroglyphs in the tomb.

Now, a new documentary produced by National Geographic, called Lost Treasures of Egypt, starting on 7 November, will reveal the investigation into the dating and analysis of Khuwy's exhumed remains.

Producer of upcoming series Lost Treasures of Egypt Tom Cook said: 'They knew the pottery in the tomb was Old Kingdom but [Ikram] didnt think that the mummy was from [that period] because it was preserved too well.

'They didnt think the mummification process [then] was that advanced. So her initial reaction was: this is definitely not Old Kingdom.

'But over the course of the investigation she started to come round [to the idea].'
The inner workings of Facebook are set to be laid bare in front of MPs from tomorrow as whistleblower Frances Haugen prepares to testify on the social media giant's failure to 'protect the public' from harmful content.

Ex-Facebook employee Haugen has levelled blistering criticism at her former employer in recent weeks since she leaked thousands of pages of internal research documents she secretly copied before leaving her job in the company's civic integrity unit.

She insisted that co-founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg has shown 'no desire' to run the company in a way that protects the public from the consequences of harmful content, accusing the platform's controlling shareholder of being a tyrant.

'Right now, Mark is unaccountable. He has all the control,' Haugen declared in an interview with the Observer.

Zuckerberg has rejected the claims made by his former employee, saying her attacks on the company were 'misrepresenting' the work it does.

The whistleblower will face questions tomorrow from a parliamentary committee scrutinising the draft Online Safety Bill, as the Government works out how to go about regulating tech firms and social media.

Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, who leaked tens of thousands of internal company documents, will give evidence about the company's malpractice in front of MPs and peers in Westminster tomorrow

Haugen has insisted that co-founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) has shown 'no desire' to run the company in a way that protects the public from the consequences of harmful content

The whistleblower will face questions tomorrow from a UK parliamentary committee scrutinising the draft Online Safety Bill, as the Government works out how to go about regulating tech firms and social media

Haugen previously accused Facebook of 'harming children, stoking division and weakening democracy', alleging the social media giant refuses to change its products because executives elevate profits over safety

Haugen, who resigned from her role as a Facebook product manager earlier this year, is responsible for leaking tens of thousands of internal documents which have caused alarm over the company's practices amid its astounding social influence.

The former Facebook employee said she the documents because she realised that the company would not change otherwise with Zuckerberg at the helm, believing Facebook needs 'the will' to initiate a major cultural change.

'Zuckerberg has not demonstrated that he is willing to govern the company at the level that is necessary for public safety,' said Haugen in the Observer interview.

'I believe in shareholder rights and the shareholders, or shareholders minus Mark, have been asking for years for one share one vote.

'The reason for that is, I am pretty sure the shareholders would choose other leadership if they had an option.'

She has already spoken out about the social network across the pond on television and in front of politicians, alleging Facebook's platforms 'harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy', and that it refuses to change its products because executives elevate profits over safety.

Kara Alaimo, the former spokesperson for President Barack Obama's Treasury Department, has echoed Haugen's claims and is calling for Zuckerberg to resign because 'has done little to try to fix' the problems with the social media behemoth.

'It's clear that he lacks the moral inclination or the capacity to solve these problems. Either way, he's got to go,' she said.

'The public has lost faith in Facebook, and rightly so. For all the family photos shared or funny videos consumed that the company has made possible, 'Facebook' is now also a name associated in recent years with misinformation, privacy violations, and the spread of hate.'

It comes as documents exposed by Haugen show Facebook researchers were warning that the company's services were filled with religious hate speech between the India's Hindu and Muslim populations leading up to the Delhi riots in 2020 which killed 53 people.

'The test user's News Feed has become a near constant barrage of polarizing nationalist content, misinformation, and violence and gore,' one Facebook researcher wrote in a report - issues which some have alleged Facebook ignored due to their ties with India's ruling party.

Zuckerberg has steadfastly denied Haugen's claims, insisting that his company 'cares deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health' and that Haugen's criticism of the social media giant's priorities 'just doesn't reflect the company we know'

The former Facebook employee said she the documents because she realised that the company would not change otherwise with Zuckerberg at the helm, believing Facebook needs 'the will' to initiate a major cultural change

Haugen alleged that Facebook's shareholders do not want Zuckerberg to remain in charge of Facebook, but they do not have the power to oust him as controlling shareholder. 'I am pretty sure the shareholders would choose other leadership if they had an option,' she told the Observer

Zuckerberg meanwhile has steadfastly denied Haugen's claims, insisting that his company 'cares deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health' and that Haugen's criticism of the social media giant's priorities 'just doesn't reflect the company we know'.

'At the heart of these accusations is this idea that we prioritise profit over safety and well-being. That's just not true,' he added.

Kara Alaimo, the former spokesperson for President Barack Obama's Treasury Department, says that the first step to fixing problems at Facebook would be for CEO Mark Zuckerberg to resign

But Draft Online Safety Bill (Joint Committee) chairman Damian Collins, said in an interview with BBC Radio 4: '[Haugen's] central argument is that when given the choice between harmful content that sometimes drives engagement, keeps people on the platform, or protecting people, Facebook favours engagement and that is part of the problem here.'

It comes after documents leaked by Haugen showed that several Facebook employees claimed the platform was 'fuelling the fire of violence' online at the time of the Capitol riots in the US on January 6.

Haugen said that Facebook had rolled back a 'toolkit' of measures designed to slow the spread of misinformation and posts inciting violence while selectively banning accounts in the run up to the riots in which protestors overran the Capitol building in D.C. and five people died.

'Haven't we had enough time to figure out how to manage discourse without enabling violence?' one employee wrote on an internal message board at the height of the Jan. 6 turmoil.

'Weve been fuelling this fire for a long time and we shouldn't be surprised it's now out of control.'

Meanwhile, Facebook's vice-president of integrity Guy Rosen said the company had done its utmost to protect the public during and after the election and that 'responsibility for the [Capitol riots] lies with those who broke the law during the attack and those who incited them'.

Within Facebook, there were complaints that the company hadn't done enough to stop the spread of misinformation extremism that people believe led to the riots

Five people died in the insurrection, which attempted to stop American electors from certifying the 2020 Presidential Election for Joe Biden

Monika Bickert, Facebook's vice president of content policy, has personally declared that the company has a commercial incentive to remove harmful content from its sites for advertising purposes.

She also wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that 'research doesn't conclude that Instagram is inherently bad for teenagers.

'While some teens told us Instagram made them feel worse when they were struggling with issues like loneliness, anxiety and sadness, more teens told us that Instagram made them feel better when experiencing these same issues.

'But if even one young person feels worse, that's one too many, so we use our research to understand bad experiences and prevent them.'

Haugen however has accused the tech giant of being aware of the apparent harm Instagram could have on some teenagers and their body image, and said the firm had been dishonest in its public fight against hate content and misinformation by hiding research that shows it amplifies such content.

Facebook is reportedly planning to rebrand its business name in an apparent bid to distance its wider business from the slew of controversies in recent years.

One of its latest big ideas is the so-called metaverse, a 3D online world the firm wants to lead the way on building, in which people can meet, play and work virtually, often using virtual reality headsets.

Why dont they call it Wokebook? Users mock Facebooks plans to change its name to shake off multiple scandals and suggest their own versions instead Facebook is being mocked after it has emerged that the firm plans to rebrand its parent company with a new name next week in a bid to distance itself from a series of embarrassing scandals. The firm's original, flagship social media site and app - Facebook - is expected to keep its moniker, but Facebook Inc., the parent company that also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, will be given rebrand. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is set to reveal the parent company's new name at its annual Connect conference on October 28, but it could be unveiled sooner, the Verge first reported. Users took to social media to poke fun at the tech giant, which has faced a string of scandals in recent months and has seen its reputation severely bruised. One commentator called the plan 'the old rebrand trick', in reference to other companies that have changed their names to avoid scrutiny, while others suggested new names for the company, with 'Fakebook' and 'Wokebook' being popular choices. Facebook said it does not comment on rumour or speculation over the touted name change, reminiscent of when Google abruptly renamed itself Alphabet in 2015, making Google a subsidiary and allowing it to become a technology conglomerate. Facebook will change its name as it focuses on a 'metaverse' of different brands. Above, founder Mark Zuckerberg wearing an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset on October 2016 during the Oculus Connect 3 event in San Jose, California Advertisement

Facebook services were used to spread religious hatred in India and may have inflamed 2020 riots in Delhi that left 53 dead, internal documents leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen claim Internal Facebook documents showed that while the company enjoyed a boom of popularity in India in 2019, researchers were warning that the company's services were filled with religious hate speech between the nation's Hindu and Muslim populations. That year, researchers monitored a test account from February to March that quickly became awash with bigotry, misinformation and celebrations of violence that one report would eventually link to the deadly February 2020 religious riots in Delhi that killed 53 people, The Washington Post reports. 'The test user's News Feed has become a near constant barrage of polarizing nationalist content, misinformation, and violence and gore,' one Facebook researcher wrote in the report. 'I've seen more images of dead people in the past three weeks than I've seen in my entire life total.' Yet the researcher's recommendations to fix the problems were allegedly ignored due to 'political sensitivities,' due to their ties with India's ruling party. The internal documents were a part of a large cache of files collected and released by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. Facebook enjoys its biggest market in India with more than 300 million users and its WhatsApp services has more than 400 million users. The deadly Dehli riots took place from February 23 to 29 in 2020 and left 53 dead The riots came as the nation's Hindu majority clashed with its Muslim minority Advertisement

'
Police have dismissed speculation missing toddler Cleo Smith may have been stalked at home before she disappeared from a campsite 50km away.

Forensic experts dusted her home in South Canarvon, Western Australia, for fingerprints on Saturday as part of the hunt for the missing four-year-old who vanished from her parents' tent.

Detectives returned to the street on Sunday to interview one of the family's neighbours as they probed all possible connections to the disappearance.

But police insisted the exercise was just routine in their investigation into the presumed abduction and was not related to any allegations of stalking.

'We do that as part of a thorough investigation but that's not indicating they've been stalked, nothing like it,' Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde told The West Australian.

'In actual fact, if she has been taken, it's more likely to have been a random event. There is no indication and no evidence that anyone was being stalked.

Police have dismissed fears missing toddler Cleo Smith (pictured) was stalked at home before she disappeared from a West Australian campsite 50km away

Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde (pictured) insisted the forensic investigation at Cleo's home was just a routine part of their investigation into the feared abduction

'We just want to reassure the community that we do not believe that is the case in this instance. It was predominantly to see if there had been any trespass or anything like that, but nothing of interest has come from that.

'It's just part of a thorough investigation and something that we will do in these cases. It's to gather information and eliminate certain aspects of an investigation.'

New witnesses told police they saw a car and heard screeching tyres at the Blowholes Campsite, 50km north of Canarvon, where Cleo vanished.

Superintendent Wilde said the car was seen about 3am on October 16 when Cleo went missing.

The car was turning south off Blowholes Road, near the area Cleo's family was camping, and headed for Carnarvon.

Drone vision shows the Blowholes Campsite near Carnarvon were Cleo vanished

Detectives acknowledge little Cleo could be 'anywhere' by now but they believe it's more likely she's still somewhere in WA. (PIctured, the search parties looking for Cleo)

The timing of the car sighting coincides with evidence from other campers that they heard the the sound of screeching tyres rapidly leaving the campsite about 3am.

Superintendent Wilde said the evidence was 'credible' and the witnesses only came forward after learning of the possible abduction of the child, having not thought their sighting of the car was significant at the time.

'Obviously at that time when the people observed it, it wasn't anything of great significance. They just came forward after hearing about Cleo and the news and realised the significance.he said.

'Fortunately, they've come forward and passed that on to us so we are keen to speak to the person who was driving and anyone who was in that vehicle to speak to us.'

The new witnesses were travelling north on the North West Coastal Highway on their way to work when they spotted the mysterious vehicle leaving the camping ground.

The four-year-old Carnarvon local has been missing since Saturday October 16

Unfortunately, they were unable to give a description of the car or how many people were inside as it was too dark.

'We want the person or persons who were in that vehicle to come forward and contact police,' Superintendent Wilde said.

'We want to know who they were and what they were doing.

'The time is not exact but we believe it to have been between 3am and 3.30am. We believe it was a passenger vehicle, not a truck.'

Another major piece of evidence police received is Cleo's voice being heard on CCTV footage near the beach shacks a day before she disappeared.

The development is significant because it rules out any suspicions the child was never brought to the camping ground by her parents.

'It was just after they arrived, it's motion-sensitive so it was by [their vehicle],' Superintendent Wilde said.

'It's very limited we've reviewed that and we believe it's Cleo's voice that's heard on the CCTV.'

The top cop investigating the mysterious disappearance of missing girl Cleo Smith (pictured) has said he believes the little girl is still somewhere in her home state

Although detectives acknowledge young Cleo could be 'anywhere' by now, they believe it's more likely she's still somewhere in WA.

'It's always possible but it's more likely that if someone has taken Cleo that they would still be within WA,' Supt Wilde told the West Australian.

'If they had crossed the border, it would imply that someone from the Eastern States had committed the offence, when it's more likely that  if that is what's happened - the offender would be from here.'

It was originally thought the little girl had simply wandered off towards the ocean or the rugged scrublands nearby, but detectives are now convinced Cleo was abducted by a brazen child predator.

The leading theory is that she was snatched while sleeping beside her mother Ellie Smith and step father Jake Gliddon in a tent at the remote camping site.

Her parents woke up to find her missing along with her missing along with her adult-sized red and grey sleeping bag, suggesting she may have been carried out and loading into a vehicle in the dead of night.

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

It was originally thought Cleo (pictured) had simply wandered off towards the ocean or the rugged scrublands nearby, however detectives are now convinced Cleo was abducted by a brazen child predator

WA police say they are continuing to liaise with federal agencies and other jurisdictions across the country to ensure the little girl doesn't slip through the cracks.

'Photos, posters and descriptions of Cleo have been publicised nationwide, but there are no leads or credible sightings to indicate she has been taken interstate,' Supt Wilde said.

The detective said that if Cleo had been abducted the person behind the act would be 'bold and brazen' to take her while she lay beside her sleeping family.

He said it would have been 'opportunistic' for the abductor to take Cleo from the tent just hours after her family had arrived at the campsite.

While police are still exploring 'all avenues' with the belief the little girl could be 'anywhere' by now, a top cop said it's more likely Cleo (pictured) is still on home soil

Cleo (pictured with her mother Ellie Smith) vanished from a tent at a camping site near Carnarvon on the northwest coast of Western Australia on October 16

Police are still unsure whether the little girl was taken by a lone offender or one with an accomplice, as extra detectives travel from Perth to join search efforts.

Superintendent Wilde said the family didn't see anything suspicious when they arrived at the campsite and said there was no evidence Cleo had been inside the beach shacks a short distance from the campground.

He urged anyone that has information on the four-year-old's baffling disappearance to come forward and claim the $1 million reward.

'If not just for the fact that this is a small child missing, then for the monetary reward available,' he said.

It comes after police were spotted at the family home on Saturday, stating they are exploring 'all possible avenues' as part of their ongoing investigation.

She was sharing the tent with her mother, stepdad and baby sister Isla, (pictured) who was still in her cot when she disappeared

Supt Wilde has urged anyone that has information on the four-year-old's baffling disappearance to come forward and claim the $1million reward

One theory is that whoever took Cleo from the tent may have visited the home beforehand, meaning the abduction was premeditated.

A green spray used to detect fingerprints was spotted on the fence line but police haven't entered the house.

At the same time Cleo's mother shared on her Instagram page: 'Please come home to me. Any information big or small. Find my little girl.'

Detectives have confirmed known sex offenders were in the area at the time Cleo vanished but there are currently no suspects.

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Cleo Smith woke up in the middle of the night and asked her parents for a sip of water hours before she disappeared
Rishi Sunak is preparing to hand the NHS an extra 5billion from public coffers despite signing off a new 36billion health and social care package last month.

The money will be given to NHS England to fund a digital transformation in the one-in-10 trusts that are still using 'paper-based systems'.

The cash will also be used to part-fund a slew of new hospitals promised by Boris Johnson.

But the additional funding, to be announced in the Chancellor's three-year spending review on Wednesday, will raise eyebrows.

In September NHS bosses were given a 30billion handout as Boris Johnson clobbered Britons with their highest tax burden since the Second World War.

The Health Service will receive the vast majority of the 36billion raised by a National Insurance hike over the next three years, with social care receiving a 5.3billion slice.

The additional funding, to be announced in the Chancellor's three-year spending review on Wednesday, will raise eyebrows.

The money will be given to NHS England to fund a digital transformation in the one-in-10 trusts that are still using 'paper-based systems'.

Critics warned that the 1.25 per cent national insurance rise was a 'jobs tax' that could hit 130,000 positions in a body blow for millions of firms keen to hire new staff after the pandemic.

The increase will apply both on the contributions that employees make  and those paid by their employers.

Today Mr Sunak faced fury from within Tory ranks over a lack of tax cuts to help ailing businesses and workers in the Budget this week.

The Chancellor was slammed by a serving minister over plans to ignore a 2019 manifesto pledge to cut business rates when he sets out his economic plans on Wednesday.

They accused him of being 'captured by the Treasury' as it was claimed he will only tinker around the edges of the levy, amid widespread calls for reform in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

At the same time former minister David Davis publicly lashed out at the Chancellor over taxes today, questioning whether he was a 'Thatcherite', as he has previously claimed.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday he said: 'I knew Margaret Thatcher, so I will watch with interest whether he can match the brilliance that Thatcher, and her great Chancellor Nigel Lawson brought to government.

'Sadly, every indication so far is that his current course will take us on to the rocks  not away from them.

'I fear Rishi will do so by making a most un-Thatcherite choice to persevere with raising taxes as the solution to ballooning Government debt.'

But Mr Sunak hit back at his critics this morning. Appearing on Sky's Trevor Philips on Sunday he said his 'instincts' were still for low taxes, but added: 'I wish I hadn't had to deal with coronavirus and a once-in-300 years economic shock and all the damage that has caused to the economy, an NHS backlog stretching into the millions that we thought it was really important, rightly, to get some funding in to address.

'But those are the challenges I am grappling with, and I have to take those challenges and figure out what is the right way to do that and we have made some decisions that I believe, although they are difficult, they are the right decision and the responsible decisions.'
Radio host Steve Allen has reportedly apologised to Tilly Ramsay over his comments that she was a 'chubby little thing'

Radio host Steve Allen has sent a private apology to Strictly Come Dancing contestant Tilly Ramsay after describing her as a 'chubby little thing' live on air.

Allen, 67, faced criticism after saying on LBC radio that he was 'bored' with the 19-year-old's performances on the BBC show and her physical appearance was probably to do with 'her dad's cooking'.

CBBC presenter Ramsay, daughter of celebrity chef Gordon, hit back on social media, saying she 'won't tolerate people that think it's OK to publicly comment and scrutinise anyone's weight and appearance'.

Allen contacted her earlier this week to issue an apology, the PA news agency understands.

News of the apology comes just days after LBC bosses stood by their presenter despite Allen facing calls to quit and said there were no plans at this stage for an investigation into his comments.

On his radio show, Allen had read out a comment from a listener telling him the teenager is taking part in Celebrity MasterChef Australia.

He replied: 'Is she? Well, she can't blimming well dance, I'm bored with her already.

'She's a chubby little thing, isn't she? Have you noticed? Probably her dad's cooking, I should imagine.'

Tilly Ramsay, pictured with her partner Nikita Kuzmin on Saturday's show, said she had endured a 'difficult week of training' following comments made by radio DJ Steve Allen

Former Love Island star Dr Alex George, who was appointed a youth mental health ambassador for the Government earlier this year, criticised his comments.

Ramsay secured third place on the leader board with her latest performance on Strictly

He shared a screenshot of an email he sent to LBC about the incident on Instagram and said he was 'absolutely horrified' by the remarks.

Many controversies of LBC host Steve Allen The ongoing row between Steve Allen and Tilly Ramsay is the latest spat the LBC host has been involved in. A scan of his Twitter shows a bizarre feud with reality TV star Gemma Collins, whose weight he frequently criticised and who he described as 'a beach hut'. He made similar comments about TV personality Sally Jacks, who he said was 'fat like you can't believe'. Ms Jacks replied to the tweet to reveal she was struggling to shed baby weight. Back in 2018, he was rapped by Ofcom after he mocked a blind journalist who became the first person in the UK to use a miniature guide horse. Mohammed Salim Patel from Blackburn, Lancashire, was using two-year-old American miniature horse Digby because of his fear of dogs - until the horse grew too big. In a broadcast on October 1, Allen said he'd 'never heard of anything so stupid' while discussing a story on Digby. He also said on air: 'Well if he's blind, tell him it's a rabbit or something. I've never heard of anything so stupid. 'This is the blind man scared of dogs hoping that a horse will guide him on his commute. Where are you going to take that for goodness sake?' In December, communications regulator Ofcom upheld a complaint that the comments had been offensive. In 2015, LBC was given a warning from Ofcom after Allen made comments about 'beating up' London Tube workers. Allen said: 'I think we should go round and start beating up tube people, the people that bring them all out on strike.' In 2017, Ofcom also received complaints after Allen said: 'Why do we have to start being nice to travellers? Every time I read a story in the newspaper its either thieving, robbing or brawling what is the matter with them?' And in the same year, Ofcom found him in breach of the code for making discriminatory comments about people from Portugal. Advertisement

Ramsay was also inundated with support from her Strictly co-stars, with It Takes Two presenter Janette Manrara writing: 'How fast we forget what hurtful comments can do for someone's mental health.'

Saturday's episode of Strictly saw Ramsay secure third place on the leader board with 36 points.

After her dance, she spoke of her joy after a 'difficult week of training'.

Taking to social media, Miss Ramsay, 19, said she would not tolerate those who criticise her weight.

'I try not to read and listen to comments and negativity, however recently being called out on a national radio station by a 67-year-old man is a step too far,' she wrote on Instagram.

'It's such a shame that someone is trying to make such a positive experience negative. This isn't the first and definitely won't be the last comment made about my appearance... but please remember that words can hurt.'

After his initial comments, there were calls from industry insiders for Allen to go.

One source told The Sun: 'Steve's outdated and archaic comments have been allowed to continue for far too long and plenty of people want him out.

'There's free speech and then there is calling a teenage girl fat live on the radio. Plenty of people think it's time he was given his marching orders because this isn't the first time he's made unacceptable comments on air and hasn't been reprimanded.

'He should issue an apology at the least - but people want him gone. He's bringing the reputation of the station down.'

An insider told MailOnline that while there are some within LBC who called for Allen to quit because they see him as a 'dinosaur', others wanted him to stay.

The insider added that Allen 'gets on well' with LBC hosts Eddie Mair and Nick Ferrari and was 'well thought of in the industry' by breakfast presenters on other stations.

Talking about who may want Allen out, the industry insider told MailOnline it would be those at LBC who are 'slightly more progressive, and they may regard Steve as a dinosaur'.

The insider continued: 'I think that there's always been this suggestion that because he's been there 20 years that he's a bit of a dinosaur and he's had his day and there's been a number of Ofcom complaints about him.

'But there was dissatisfaction with Nigel Farage when he was on LBC and that was from the James O'Brien stable. But I'm not sure if this falls into the same category.

'I'm not particularly a fan but I know he has a massive following and if he were to disappear from the airwaves I think there'd be quite an outcry.'

He added that there was a possibility Allen could retire soon, saying: 'That might probably be the outcome and I was thinking this morning maybe there's a conversation going on saying 'Steve, you're in your 60s, perhaps it's time to go and hit the beach' - maybe that conversation is taking place.'

The insider continued: 'I think everyone's tolerated him, but I think the moment something like this happens people draw up battle lines.

'A lot of breakfast show presenters listen to Steve Allen on their way to work because they think he's a good presenter, he's well thought of in the industry.'

Neither LBC nor Ofcom have confirmed whether any complaints have been made, with an Ofcom spokesman telling MailOnline: 'We are assessing the complaints against our broadcasting rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.'

News of the apology comes days after LBC bosses stood by Allen despite calls for him to quit

On the issue of whether Allen's comments would fall foul of Ofcom, the insider said it was not clear whether it was 'offensive'.

He said: 'They have to balance freedom of expression with causing offensive, and I'm not sure that 'chubby' is one of the prohibited words. And even if it is, within a broadcasting code there is 2.1 which is called 'generally accepted standards'.

'It's their catch all, so if there's a lot of complaints they will judge it by that standard - so I'm not sure this would be upheld by Ofcom. People are allowed to offend other people, it's not against the broadcasting code.'
A Florida mom has given birth to all three of her daughters on exactly the same date - even though none of them are the same age.

Kristen Lammert of Oveida welcomed Sophia first, on August 25 2016. Then, on August 25 2018 she gave birth to Giuliana.

And Kristen, 32, as well as her husband Nick were stunned when their youngest daughter Mia arrived on August 25 2021, with the couple insisting there was never any plan to have all three of their children arrive on the exact same date.

As of this August, a Florida family has three daughters with the same birth date.

When Kristen was pregnant with her second daughter, Giuliana, the 32-year-old mother suspected that she would spend her first daughter Sophia's third birthday in the delivery room on August 25.

Sure enough, after Sophia's birthday party in 2018, Kristin went to her doctor and learned that her blood pressure was elevated - medical staff induced her second pregnancy that evening.

This year, once again, her two daughters celebrated their birthday while their mother gave birth to their newest sister, Mia.

'We were just in disbelief,' Kristin told TODAY Parents.

As of August 25 of this year, Kristen Lammert of Florida, 32 (pictured second from right) and Nick Lammert (pictured left), have three young daughters - Sophia, 6 (right), Giuliana, 3 (left, in Nick's lap), and two-month-old Mia (in Kristin's arms) - that share the same birthday. None of them are twins.

Her eldest daughter Sophia (pictured right), Kristin said, has no qualms with sharing a birthday with her two sisters: 'Sophia is very emotional about a lot of things in a good way - she appreciated the uniqueness and excitement of that'

'The closer we got to August 25 and the more that we joked about it at home, the more I wanted it to happen'

She said Sophia, her eldest child, confidently told others this year that should would be getting a sister - again - for her sixth birthday.

'She was wanting that to happen and I thought, "Well, it could."'

Sophia (right) and Giuliana (left) decide together on the party's theme - when she is old enough, Mia will also be consulted - Kristin (left) makes sure each girl has the same number of guests and gifts. 'I get them separate cakes so they each have candles to blow out,' she said. 'I try to separate it but make it a joint party at the same time. That way they both feel like special birthday girls'

Giuliana (left) and Sophia (right) are exactly three years apart in age

When Kristin was pregnant with her second daughter, Giuliana (pictured), the 32-year-old mother suspected that she would spend her first daughter Sophia's third birthday in the delivery room on August 25. Sure enough, after Sophia's birthday party in 2018, Kristin went to her doctor and learned that her blood pressure was elevated - medical staff induced her second pregnancy that evening

Each girl is exactly three years apart - Sophia is 6, Giuliana is 3 and baby Mia will be two months old tomorrow. Statistically, the odds of having three children with the same birthdate are incalculably slim, according to Dr. Christine Greves, an OB-GYN at Orland Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, who is not Kristin's doctor.

'It is extremely rare.  Weve spoken to some statisticians and they say its really hard to calculate,' Greves told TODAY.

The Guinness Book of World Records holder for the most children born to one family on the same day is the Cummins family of Virginia, who had five. Catherine, Carol, Charles, Claudia and Cecilia were all born on February 20, but in different years.

When the family was entered into the 1977 Guinness World Records as 'the only verified record of a family producing five single children with the same date of birth'. The record-keepers in 1977 estimated odds of that happening were 17.7 billion to 1.

Greves also told the magazine that just 5 percent of babies are born on their precise due dates. Kristin was induced two weeks after Sophia's birth date and, when the mother was pregnant with Giuliana, she suspected that she may give birth sooner than her August 29 due date.

Each girl is exactly three years apart - Sophia (left) is 6, Giuliana (right) is 3 and baby Mia will be two months old tomorrow. Statistically, the odds of having three children with the same birthdate are incalculably slim

'I had joked that she could come four days early and the family was like, "Well, yeah but thats probably not going to happen on its own."'

Her eldest daughter, Kristin said, has no qualms with sharing a birthday with her two sisters: 'Sophia is very emotional about a lot of things in a good way - she appreciated the uniqueness and excitement of that.'

'She thinks that it's very special. She just loves that she's sharing her birthday with her sisters because she's now had three birthday parties that have been joint birthday parties.'

Sophia and Giuliana decide together on the party's theme - when she is old enough, Mia will also be consulted - Kristin makes sure each girl has the same number of guests and gifts.

'I get them separate cakes so they each have candles to blow out,' she said. 'I try to separate it but make it a joint party at the same time. That way they both feel like special birthday girls.'

This year in early August, after planning Sophia and Giuliana's Luca-themed birthday celebration, Kristin began to suspect that her third daughter's birthday would coincide with her siblings.

About 10 weeks into her most recent pregnancy, Kristin contracted COVID-19 - pregnant mothers who fall ill to the coronavirus are more likely to have complications, and therefore to deliver prematurely.

On the weekend before the faithful day, Kristin awoke to swollen ankles and a headache, telltale signs of incoming pregnancy.

'My doctor said up to two weeks early. Thats when I looked at the calendar and I remember turning to my husband and saying, "Oh my gosh, Nick, two weeks before the due date is Aug. 25,"' she said.

'Hes like, "No way." That was the moment I was like, "Shes totally going to be born on the 25th."'

And she was - when Kristin saw her doctor about her uncomfortable symptoms after her daughters' birthday party, it came to light that she had preeclampsia, and doctors wanted to induce her delivery.

'My doctor said up to two weeks early. Thats when I looked at the calendar and I remember turning to my husband and saying, "Oh my gosh, Nick, two weeks before the due date is Aug. 25,"' Kristin said

Mia, pictured, was born on August 25 this year after her sisters' birthday party

Since TODAY published an article about the uncanny coincidence, Kristin has noticed some skeptical commenters speculating the she planned her inductions or orchestrated her three daughters' birthdays.

There was some planning, she said - she and her husband, 33-year-old Nick, wanted their three children to each be three years apart. The couple tried for an August baby with their first pregnancy because the month was in between the major holidays.

But they had hoped Mia would be born after September 1, so that she wouldn't be the youngest in her class like her sisters when she grew old enough to go to school.

Although labor was induced for all of her pregnancies, she insisted to CNN that it wasn't for the sake of coinciding her daughters' birthdays.

'The date doesn't just automatically line up. My doctors were not going to induce me just because the date sounded cool,' she said.

Still, Kristin said, sometimes she can't believe the odds.

'Its very unique. Honestly, I dont understand it myself,' she said. 'Sometimes I go and stare at their birth certificates. Im like, "They actually all have the same birthday."'
Mark McGowan was forced to flee a wedding over the weekend after security services found the premier and his family had been photographed by a mystery stalker.

The Western Australian premier was celebrating the nuptials at the Vasto Club in the northern Perth suburb of Balcatta about 6.30pm on Saturday, when he was abruptly ushered out of the reception and into a car.

The 54-year-old was swiftly driven across the city back to his home in the southern suburb of Rockingham which remains under a heavy police guard.

Mr McGowan has become the target of furious Covid anti-vaxxers outraged over the government's vaccine mandate that will require 75 per cent of the state's workforce to get the jab or face the sack.

Mark McGowan Pictured) was forced to flee a wedding over the weekend after security services found the premier and his family had been photographed by a mystery stalker.

The 54-year-old was attending a reception at the Vasto Club (pictured) in Perth's northern suburbs about 6.30pm when he was whisked into a car

The Western Australian workers who must get a Covid jab First dose by December 1, second dose by December 31: Remaining public and private hospitals and public healthcare facilities Primary and community health Onsite resources sector Border and air transport Staff working in or entering remote Aboriginal communities First dose by December 31, second dose by January 31: Supermarkets, grocery, bakery Restaurant, pub, bar or cafe workers Post office workers Hardware store workers Child care or family day care Boarding schools Financial institution In the event of a lockdown: Bottle shop Newsagent Pet store Critical forestry Critical factories, manufacturing, fabrication and production Government or local government services where working from home is not possible The full list of occupations is on the Western Australian government website Advertisement

The issue reached fever-pitch when his personal mobile number was leaked online prompting so many threatening, hate-filled calls and texts it filled up his message bank, the West Australian reported.

But Police Commissioner Chris Dawson told reporters law enforcement agencies are monitoring the calls, and an investigation has been launched into who leaked the premier's personal details to the conspiracy-driven mob.

'Don't be stupid, don't commit unlawful, criminal acts or you will wear the consequences,' Commissioner Dawson said.

'Even if you have formed an ideological view about the vaccine, that is your right  but don't commit offences.'

One man has already been charged after allegedly making death threats to Mr McGowan in a YouTube video.

Father-of-two Jamon Allan Hartzer, 42, faced Armadale Magistrate's Court on Friday after his arrest on Thursday night.

Australian Counter-Terrorism Group officers allegedly found four high-powered rifles at the truck driver's house, with a police prosecutor telling the court they were 'unsecured' and least one was loaded.

WA Premier Mark McGowan's (pictured with his wife Sarah in September) personal mobile number was leaked online prompting so many threatening hate-filled calls and texts it filled up his message bank

Mr Hartzer, who the court heard has bipolar disorder, was supported by his wife and parents at court and was refused bail, with the magistrate noting a 'term of imprisonment' would be likely.

He is charged with threatening to kill, failing to comply with firearm or ammunition storage requirements and making a statement or giving information that was known to be false and indicated a threat.

'You have called death and death has answered  he has answered to you. You called death and he said hello I am death  I am death. And you're f**ked,' Mr Hartzer said in one video.

'Anybody who is complicit with you is going to die  there is no mercy for you. You can't force vax people  we are going to start shooting you at the door.'

In a separate incident, a 49-year-old man was issued a move-on order after he kicked in the front door to Mr McGowan's electorate office in Rockingham.

Perth man Jamon Allan Hartzer (pictured) was arrested on Thursday after alleged making threats toward the WA Premier over his vaccine mandates

WA Premier Mark McGowan (pictured with wife Sarah) was attending a function in Perth on Saturday evening when he abruptly left following a security breach at his home

But the premier has remained staunch on his vaccine stance and said he will not be back down on the issue of compulsory jabs.

'I think it's a sign of the online world,' Mr McGowan said.

'Where people get wound up by conspiracy theorists and misleading information and where people who basically promote witch doctor solutions to medical problems.

'We're not going to stop, we're not going to give in. If you want to protest, protest but be respectful.

'Talking about my personal security is not something I'm going to do. But we're not going to stop, we're not going to give in.

'I just urge everyone to be respectful and understand that the government is doing what we have to do.'
A newborn baby has been found dead in the backyard of their mother's home on a quiet suburban New Zealand street.

Emergency services were called to a home in the Christchurch suburb of Spreydon, 4km south-west of the Christchurch CBD, on Saturday night.

Police launched an investigation and interviewed the baby's mother, who is assisting with inquiries.

Detectives have not yet revealed any more details about the newborn, how the baby died, or where and how the body was found.

A newborn baby was found dead in a Christchurch backyard on Saturday night (stock image)

'At this early stage of our enquiries, no further information is available,' police said.

A post-mortem was carried out on the baby on Sunday.

Police and specialist officers spent the day scouring the home and backyard, where the baby's body was believed to have been found.

The property has been cordoned off with a police tent erected in the backyard.

Forensic investigators dressed in white boiler suits were seen at the home photographing and scouring for evidence as they try to piece together how the tragedy unfolded.

New Zealand Police will return to the Spreydon home on Monday as investigations continue

Police are expected to return to the property on Monday.

The house is understood to be owned by a couple who live there with another woman believed to be the baby's mother.

The couple told Stuff they were 'traumatised' but were unable to say what happened.

'We are really struggling with this,' they said.
Question Time panellist Nazir Afzal today backed Fiona Bruce, saying he had 'no criticism' of the host after accusing her during the show of asking him first about the cricket racism row because he is a 'brown person'. The BBC programme has become embroiled in an 'unconscious racism' row after Bruce asked Mr Afzal, the only non-white member of the panel, to be the first person to answer an audience member's query about racism. During the show, Mr Afzal agreed with Bruce that he thought she was 'wrong' to go to him first. But reacting this morning after the incident prompted huge debate online, Mr Afzal tweeted: 'I have no criticism of Fiona Bruce. I made point that racism is something which everyone should have a view on, not just minorities. If the subject was say child or domestic abuse, you wouldn't just ask the victim. It's everybody's business.' The question, which was partly about recent allegations of racist abuse made by cricketer Azeem Rafiq, was asked last night to a panel made up of former crown prosecutor Mr Afzal; white psychologist Jordan Peterson; and three white MPs - Mims Davies from the Conservatives, Stella Creasy of Labour and Stephen Flynn from the SNP. Bruce then immediately turned to Mr Afzal and asked him to answer, prompting him to say: 'The brown person will answer first'. As he made the comment he turned to the audience and laughed, which saw some chuckle with him. The presenter then asked him: 'Nazir, so do you think that was wrong of me to come to you first?' Mr Afzal replied: 'I think so' and attempted to continue answering the question while pointing towards the audience. But Bruce then added: 'Well let's not do it. I'm not being sarcastic at all. I mean if that's how you feel, I respect that.' Mr Afzal then stopped speaking and sat silently, while Bruce went to Mr Peterson to hear from him instead.
Hunter Bidens art dealer was photographed wearing a Camp David hat after Joe Biden visited the presidential retreat  sparking questions whether the controversial gallerist joined the first family there.

The picture was shared on Instagram - two days before Hunters long-anticipated exhibition made a surprise opening at Berges gallery in SoHo on Saturday - by renowned gossip columnist and celebrity interviewer George Wayne, who claims to have introduced Hunter to the dealer, Georges Berges.

GB shows up wearing a fabulous cap emblazoned with the Presidential seal and the words Camp David Presidential Retreat 46 all over it, Wayne wrote.

Say whaaa? Were you at Camp David last weekend with your artist Hunter Biden???!!!

Though the writer is known for his tongue-in-cheek posts, a personal visit with the first family could prove a controversial move by the gallerist, who is under intense scrutiny amid fears that Hunters art sales could be a conduit for corrupt attempts to financially influence the Biden family.

Hunter Biden's art dealer Georges Berges, right, is pictured wearing a Camp David hat two days before the president's son's art exhibition opened

Gossip columnist George Wayne, left, shared the snap on his Instagram, sparking speculation over whether Berges had traveled to the presidential retreat

The White House claims neither they nor Hunter will know the identity of any patrons  but the one man tasked with keeping that secret is Berges.

Former White House ethics chiefs have slammed the arrangement saying it is wide open to abuse, especially after evidence emerged from Hunters abandoned laptop that he touted his powerful family connections in business deals with Chinese government-linked partners.

It is unclear how Berges obtained his hat with a Camp David emblem. Joe Biden took a break to the presidents country residence in August, criticized because it came amid the fallout from the disastrous withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

By then he had spent 26 days at the Maryland retreat, and is likely to have visited again since, though he reportedly prefers to spend time with family in Delaware.

Wayne, famous for his saucy Vanity Fair column, star-studded contacts book and myriad celebrity interviews, chastised Berges for claiming he was a deep throat source for scurrilous stories about the gallerist and the presidents son.

Hunter, left with his father and the White House claim not to know who is buying his paintings, amid fears the sales could be used to try and gain influence within the White House

Hunter's paintings, two of which are pictured above, have been praised by experts, who say they could sell for up to $500,000 each, with the artist's connection to the president further boosting their value

Hes one of GWs closest friends-Georges Berges-the most talked about Art Dealer in the world as we speak. But we fight like cats and dogs, the writer commented on the photo.

Better yet-like Felix Unger & Oscar Madison the famous 70s TV sit-com The Odd Couple. We fight because every time hes ragged and dragged by right wing media {Daily Mail online / NY Post) GW gets accused of being Leaker Deep Throat to the press.

When the arbiter conducted further reconnaissance and swanned by your gallery this afternoon there was a gaggle of paparazzi outside?!! And the gallery windows on West Broadway smothered with brown paper?!! Whats going on at the GBG [George Berges Gallery]?! Is Hunter Bidens much discussed solo show about to land in Gotham City??!!

He dashed for the nearest exit after that probe and parry!! Hmmmmsomething special seems afoot for the art whirl crowd on West Broadway. And Deepthroat cannot confirm or deny-but there is something special brewing.

Waynes keen questions had indeed hit on a secret  as Hunters long-anticipated exhibition made a surprise opening at Berges gallery in Soho on Saturday.

Hunter famously served on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, despite lacking any relevant experience, sparking criticism of him for using his father's position to boost his own wealth and influence

A New York Post reporter spotted men carrying artwork into the building, and Hunters wife Melissa came to visit and embraced Berges outside the building.

A caption on the wall next to one of Hunters pieces says the showing is titled The Journey Home: a Hunter Biden Solo Exhibition and was followed by a quote by American author Joseph Campbell.

Viewings of the pieces at Georges Berges Gallery on West Broadway are by appointment only and the exhibition did not appear to be listed on the gallery website Saturday.

However, a group exhibition that was previously slated to begin November 11 at the Soho space has been pushed back a week, suggesting Hunters exhibition will be at the gallery until November 18.

Earlier this month DailyMail.com exclusively revealed pictures of Hunters first exhibition: a private viewing to a powerful crowd of potential buyers at Milk photography studios in Los Angeles.

It remains unclear if Berges stayed at Camp David, pictured, but the photo of the hat is set to raise eyebrows over Hunter's latest career choice

Guests at the event, which was policed by Secret Service officers in khaki, included Sugar Ray Leonard, Moby, LA mayor Eric Garcetti, and the artist behind the Obama 'hope' poster.

Other notable artist guests were British performer Millie Brown and LA-born Gary Baseman - famed for his ABC/Disney animated series Teachers Pet.

Despite Waynes probing questions of his gallerist friend, he poured praise on Hunters work likening him to David Hockney.

GW is always ready for the probe and parry! And is always inspired by the smartest and most ambitious souls who make me laugh and make me think! And the Berges is one of them, he wrote in a comment on his Instagram post.

He has to appreciate and respect this arbiter! Why? Because I was the first to discover him 7 years ago! And dubbed him the next Leo Castelli way back when he was a nobody !! I put him on the map!! Because I knew way back then that he was a brilliant disruptor! Art whirl force majeure!

So yes- we fight- but kudos to his temerity and by the way! Hunter Bidens work is very very good!! Hes devised his own signature and narrative! Lets just say hes more David Hockney than Peter Max.
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A nostalgia project that has taken six years to complete has become Britain's biggest model railway - and it could soon go on tour.

Businessman Simon George, 53, yearned to recreate his favourite childhood spot from 1983 - a railway junction near Mirfield in West Yorkshire.

For the past six years, he has been finessing his 250,000 model of 'Heaton Lodge' - faithfully recreated after downloading hundreds of maps of the railway line in the 1980s.

Now, the model is set to be exhibited in Wakefield Market Hall from December 4 to 19, with the chances of a UK city tour after that, The Observer reports.

Simon George, 52, (pictured) has created what is said to be Britains biggest model railway by recreating the Heaton Lodge Junction in West Yorkshire

As a boy, Simon George (left) loved watching the trains rumble past at the busy railway junction in a hamlet near his home

The real life inspiration: Simon spent long days during his school holidays in the early 1980s, from the age of 12 to 15, sitting on embankments or perched on footbridges over the tracks at Heaton Lodge Junction, just west of Mirfield, West Yorkshire, (pictured) as he marvelled at the sights, sounds and power of the locomotives and goods wagons loaded with coal and steel

It was, he says, his favourite place, and  despite growing up to run a successful supercar driving experience company and own a Lamborghini himself  the happy memories of those innocent days, and the excitement he felt at seeing a train emerge from way down the tracks and waiting to see exactly which type it was, never left him

Mr George, who lives in Ripon, North Yorkshire, said: 'I used to spend a lot of time there, watching the trains go past, and it left an indelible impact on my memory.

'I dont think theres anybody daft enough to go to the extremes Ive gone to in some of the detail thats built-in.'

The model, which began in 2015, even includes a miniature 12-year-old Mr George, watching keenly as the rail carriages go past.

Two and a half years ago, he sold his share in a supercar driving experience company and threw himself into the project - called Heaton Lodge Junction, built in O gauge or 7mm to 1ft - with extra time spent on it during lockdown.

Other minute details include a tiny 1980s Tesco carrier bag caught in a tree and 5,000 custom-made brass fern leaves, each of them placed individually place and twisted into form. The model even emits fake diesel fumes and has all the sounds of the railway.

Mr George said: 'I think if youre going to do something, youve got to give it 100%.

'As people walk through the door, theyre confronted by a really well-lit basement with an enormous model as far as the eye can see. It does knock them back sometimes. Its a nice reaction.

Time flies by when youre the driver of a train: Simon at the controls of his huge, 200ft masterpiece

More than seven years on, and after laying 2 miles of O gauge track, taking pains to get houses, factories  and even individual trees and manhole covers in the roads  in the right place, installing 10,000 individual bracken ferns and other exact replica features of the landscape, his masterpiece is 199ft 8in long, 40ft wide

Simon sold his 50 per cent share in the events firm in 2018 to concentrate on his railway full-time and turn it into a business. Along the way, it cost around 250,000 to make  helped by sponsorship from Danish model railway company Heljan

Roll out the barrel: British Rail engineers have a chat by two discarded oil drums. They are just some of the many decorations Simon has created in his model recreation

'Its funny because when its up and running and you glance up, it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up because its just like being back in 1983.'

Mr George plans to take the model on tour to cities across the UK, although it will require three trucks to transport it.

George Dent, editor of Model Rail magazine, said that lots of people are shy about their passion for model railways, with many large ones hidden in barns or large houses all across the country.

He said: 'We know of some very famous people who have a closet interest in model railways, but they dont seem to be keen on sharing it.

'Rod Stewart might be open about his passion, but not everyone else is willing to admit to it, which is a real shame  especially in the present climate, when were all realising the benefits of crafts and hobbies.'
The young armorer who was responsible for the gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Alec Baldwin new film Rust has been careless with weapons in the past, sources allege.

A source who worked alongside Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, on an previous film set said she has a history of recklessness around guns.

'She was a bit careless with the guns, waving it around every now and again,' the source told The Daily Beast. 'There were a couple times she was loading the blanks and doing it in a fashion that we thought was unsafe.'

Another source accused Gutierrez-Reed of loading a weapon on the pebble-filled ground and handing it to child actress, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, 11, without conducting a proper inspection.

'She was reloading the gun on the ground, where there were pebbles and stuff. We didn't see her check it, we didn't know if something got in the barrel or not,' a source who worked with her set of the upcoming Nicolas Cage film, The Old Way, said.

The individual noted that the crew waited to film until Gutierrez-Reed had double checked the barrel for obstruction.

Fellow crew members say armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed (pictured) was a 'inexperienced' and 'a bit careless with guns'. They allege the 24-year-old had a history of reckless before with weaponry

Gutierrez-Reed allegedly handed Alec Baldwin the gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins (pictured) on the set of Rust

Sources accused Gutierrez-Reed of loading a weapon on the pebble-filled ground and handing it to child actress, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, 11, without conducting a proper inspection on the set of Nicholas Cage's The Old Way

A fellow Rust crew member referred to Gutierrez-Reed as being 'inexperienced and green,' alleging that there had been at least two incidents of guns being discharged on set before Thursday's fatal accident.

Rust crew members claim there were several complaints made against the armorer on the set and that at least six 'fed-up' people had walked off the set prior to Gutierrez-Reed handing Baldwin the gun that killed Hutchins.

The crew made their complaints directly to assistant director Dave Hall - who is named in the search warrant affidavit as the person handed Baldwin the gun that killed Hutchins and told him it was safe - and demanded all the discharges were documented.

'All of us yelled at him, 'That better be on the production report, these guys are irresponsible and shouldn't be here,' a production source said.

'That should be automatic grounds for termination on a union film set, you should be gone. The first time that gun went off without telling anybody, that whole department should have been replaced, immediately. Clearly production thought better of it, decided to roll the dice and pay the ultimate price.'

A search warrant released Friday said that Gutierrez-Reed laid out three prop guns on a cart outside the filming location, and first assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Alec Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds.

'Cold gun!' shouted Halls before handing the gun to Baldwin, using the phrase to signal to cast and crew that the gun was safe to fire for the scene, the warrant said.

Seconds later, filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, Baldwin apparently aimed towards the camera and pulled the trigger, accidentally killing Halyna Hutchins as she filmed him, and injuring director Joel Souza, who stood behind her.

Sources on the set of Rust said the incident that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins could be tied to the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed

The colt pistol accidentally went off and pierced Halyna Hutchin's chest on Thursday

An inconsolable Alec Baldwin is shown outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office after accidentally shooting and killing the cinematographer

Sources on the Rust set have said the fatal incident that killed Hutchins, 42, and injured Souza, 48, was a result of production failings from top to bottom.

They added that assistant director Halls, who handed the gun to Baldwin and told him it was safe, should have checked the weapon.

'He's supposed to be our last line of defense and he failed us,' one of the sources on set said. 'He's the last person that's supposed to look at that firearm.'

A Rust production source told The Daily Beast that there were at least two previous incidents of guns being accidentally discharged by other crewmember on set before Thursday's tragic incident.

The source described Gutierrez-Reed as 'inexperienced and green.'

Gutierrez-Reed had previously admitted she wasn't sure she was ready for the job on The Old Way in an interview before filming started.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the 24-year-old head armorer in charge of guns on Alec Baldwin film said she 'wasn't sure she was ready' for the job in an interview before filming began

An aerial view of the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, where the movie was being filmed. Workers had been protesting over the fact production wouldn't pay for them to stay in hotels and motels in Santa Fe, instead forcing them to drive an hour to Albuquerque

A search warrant released Friday said that Gutierrez-Reed laid out three prop guns on a cart outside the filming location, and first assistant director Dave Halls (pictured) grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Alec Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds

'I almost didn't take the job because I wasn't sure if I was ready, but doing it, it went really smoothly,' Gutierrez-Reed said in a podcast interview last month after leading the firearms department for The Old Way, starring Nicolas Cage - her first time as head armorer.

She also admitted in the podcast interview she found loading blanks into a gun 'the scariest' thing because she did not know how to do it and had sought help from her father, legendary gunsmith Thell Reed, to get over the fear.

It comes as the film crew revealed they walked off set hours before the fatal accident over safety fears after firearms were accidentally discharged three times - including once by Baldwin's stunt double who had been told the gun was not loaded, and twice in a closed cabin.

Neither Halls nor Gutierrez-Reed immediately returned messages from DailyMail.com late on Friday. Neither has been charged or named as a criminal suspect in the case, though a police investigation is ongoing.

The gun that fired the fatal shot was a vintage-style Colt revolver (Pictured: Halyna Hutchins)

After the shooting, armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed (pictured) took possession of the gun and a spent casing, which were turned over to police, along with other prop guns and ammunition used on the set

Alec Baldwin (pictured) also changed out of the Western costume he was wearing, which was stained with blood, and turned it over to police

Why WAS a gun on Alec Baldwin movie set loaded with live ammo? Mystery over events that led to actor killing cinematographer The deadly chain of events on set that led to Alec Baldwin being handed a gun with live ammunition and accidentally shooting and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins have become clearer after it emerged last night the actor fired a live round, believing it to be a blank. Experts yesterday told DailyMail.com safety on set is usually extremely tight with live bullets never used in filming and it remains unclear why a firearm loaded with live ammunition was on the Rust set at all. Baldwin was handed a gun loaded with live ammunition First assistant director Dave Halls picked up one of the firearms - a vintage-style Colt revolver laid out by armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed - unaware it was loaded with live bullets. 'Cold gun!' shouted Halls before handing the gun to Baldwin, using the phrase to signal to cast and crew that the gun was safe to fire for the scene, a search warrant released on Friday said. Baldwin, filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, then fired a live round towards the camera, accidentally killing Hutchins as she filmed him. Hutchins was airlifted to the hospital but was pronounced dead. Souza was taken to the hospital by ambulance but was released on Thursday evening. Why was live ammunition used on set in the first place? Live ammunition is never usually used on film sets and Baldwin's shooting and killing of a cinematographer a 'total mystery', a Hollywood armorer has said. Mike Tristan, 60, who has provided guns for movie sets for over 30 years, said the injuries sustained by Hutchins should not have been possible. Tristan, who has worked with Baldwin before, said any professional armorer would have checked the weapon, which he believes was a Western, before handing it to the 63-year-old. 'There should have been blanks in the gun, the on-set armorer's job is to check that before handing the weapon over,' Tristan told Dailymail.com. 'They then make sure that the actor stands on a mark and never points the gun at the crew or cast, you give them an aim to point at and the editing makes it seem like they were pointing at their co-actor. 'That's why everyone in the industry is very confused, how this happened is a total mystery at the moment.' Union members had walked off set hours earlier over safety concerns Unionized members walked off set on Wednesday, hours before the tragedy, complaining of safety concerns. They complained about long hours, shoddy conditions and another safety incident days earlier involving 'two misfires' of a prop weapon. Deadline cites an unnamed source who said a gun had gone off 'in a cabin' while someone was holding it, days prior to the shooting that killed Hutchins. 'A gun had two misfires in a closed cabin. They just fired loud pops  a person was just holding it in their hands and it went off,' they said, apparently referring to unintentional discharges. Baldwin's stunt double also accidentally fired two rounds after being told the firearm was 'cold'. When they turned up to set to clear their things on Thursday, they found they'd been replaced by locals. It begs the question of who those local workers were, what their training was and to what extent did they check the weapon before it was handed to Baldwin. Advertisement

The gun that fired the fatal shot was a vintage-style Colt revolver, DailyMail.com has exclusively learned.

After the shooting, the armorer took possession of the gun and a spent casing, which were turned over to police, along with other prop guns and ammunition used on the set.

Baldwin also changed out of the Western costume he was wearing, which was stained with blood, and turned it over to police.

The warrant does not reveal the model or caliber of the prop gun that fired the fatal bullet, but the film is set in the Old West of the 1880s and DailyMail.com has learned it was a Colt.

The warrant was obtained Friday so that investigators could document the scene at the ranch where the shooting took place.

Unionized workers had walked off the set hours before the fatal shooting, after they complained about long hours, shoddy conditions and another safety incident days earlier involving 'two misfires' of a prop weapon.

A yet-unnamed prop master who oversaw the gun used in the fatal shooting was a non-union worker who was 'just brought in' to replace the workers who left over safety concerns, a source involved in the movie told the New York Post.

It's unclear whether Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer, had recently joined the production, or was one of the crew members who stayed behind after the walk-off.

However, a link in her Instagram bio points to an article about Rust from May, suggesting she had been attached to the production for some time.

Unionized employees had been complaining about the fact they had to stay overnight in Albuquerque - an hour's drive from the set - and not Sante Fe because production wouldn't pay for their hotels, according to sources cited by The Los Angeles Times and multiple social media posts by film and TV insiders.

When they turned up to set to clear their things on Thursday, they found they'd been replaced by locals.

It begs the question of who those local workers were, what their training was and to what extent did they check the weapon before it was handed to Baldwin.

Deadline also cites an unnamed source who said a gun had gone off 'in a cabin' while someone was holding it, days prior to the shooting that killed Hutchins.

'A gun had two misfires in a closed cabin. They just fired loud pops  a person was just holding it in their hands and it went off,' they said, apparently referring to unintentional discharges.

Rust Production LLC did not respond to repeated requests for comment from DailyMail.com on Friday about the incident, but members of the union that represents many of the crew who were involved in the production said they had expressed fears about on-set safety.

Baldwin first addressed the tragedy on Twitter Friday: 'There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.'

He then tweeted a Variety article titled Alec Baldwin Was Told Prop Gun Was Safe Before Fatal Shooting, Affidavit Says.

He was pictured doubled over in grief on Thursday after speaking to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department immediately following the shooting.

Hutchins' husband shared a touching tribute to his wife on Twitter on Friday. Matthew Hutchins tweeted a photo of his wife and their 9-year-old son Andros on Friday captioned: 'Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words.

'Our loss is enormous, and we ask that the media please respect my family's privacy as we process our grief. We thank everyone for sharing images and stories of her life.'

His Facebook profile picture is a photo of the couple who had been married for 16 years. His bio now reads: 'We miss you, Halyna.'

A private memorial was held in Santa Fe last night with Matthew, Andros, and Baldwin in attendance, according to ShowBiz411. It was reported that grief counselors were present at the service.

The grieving husband told DailyMail.com on Friday morning that he had spoken with the actor. 'I have spoken with Alec Baldwin and he is being very supportive,' he said.

Baldwin and Hutchins (circled) are pictured together on the set of Rust, in an image that she uploaded to Instagram two days ago saying the crew of the film were supporting a strike by the IATSE union

Hutchins' husband Matthew told DailyMail.com on Friday exclusively: 'I have spoken with Alec Baldwin. He is being very supportive'

Zak Knight, a pyrotechnic and special effects engineer who is a member of Local 44, told DailyMail.com on Friday: 'There should have never been live rounds on a movie set, that's number one. Number two is every single person on a movie set has a right to inspect a weapon before it's fired. And number three is, there is no reason to ever put a person in front of a weapon that's firing.

Legal experts tell DailyMail.com lawsuits naming Alec Baldwin are a virtual certainty, but that any potential criminal charges are more likely to center on whoever loaded the gun

'Anytime you see a movie where the barrel is pointed down the camera lens, there should not be an operator behind it. It's obvious that the considerations of this resulted in that gun being pointed directly at two people.

'We would have additionally had a barrier between them. A large number of people failed to do our protocols... every accident is a cascade of events,' he said.

Whatever happened in the moments leading up to her death, Knight said it was caused by a 'cascade of failures' by multiple people. 'We have a hard and fast rule that no live ammunition ever goes into a prop truck or set at any time. We just don't do it.

'If you see bullets on set they are complete dummy rounds and are in no way functional. This goes back to Brandon Lee. There's protocol.' Lee was killed in a similar incident when another actor shot him with a prop gun that was loaded with live ammunition while filming The Crow in 1993.

Knight added that different gun laws between New Mexico and California may have also contributed to the accident. In California, both a trained armorer and a prop master is required on a film set and those are the standards the union adheres to as well.

'You will find the best and most well-trained individuals in Los Angeles. You can't guarantee that as you go across the country,' he told DailyMail.com on Friday.
Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that Democrats expect to pass Joe Biden's massive social spending plan by the end of the week that will pave the way for the bipartisan infrastructure deal to pass.

'We have 90% of the bill agreed to and written, we just have some of the last decisions to be made,' the House Speaker told CNN State of the Union host Jake Tapper.

'I think we're pretty much there now. We're almost there  it's just the language of it,' Pelosi said, adding Democrats will have the deal by the time President Biden leaves for Europe at the end of the week.

Centrist Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are holding up the massive social spending package.

To appease the duo, Democrats have already cut the price tag from $3.5 trillion to $2 trillion.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that Democrats will have a deal on Biden's massive social spending package by the end of the week

Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Democrats are "almost there" on an agreement on a social safety net bill which would also allow the bipartisan infrastructure bill to move forward.



"I think we pretty much have a deal now," she tells @jaketapper. "I think we're pretty much there now." pic.twitter.com/i5OG4SzAGN  State of the Union (@CNNSotu) October 24, 2021

'It is less than what was projected to begin with, but it is still bigger than anything we've done in terms of addressing the needs of American working families,' Pelosi said on Sunday.

She added: 'Nonetheless, the point is to reach a goal.'

Democrats have held several discussions in recent days to try and get centrists, like Sinema and Manchin, as well as progressives to sign off on the plan aimed at major investments in health care, climate and environmental policy and childcare and paid leave for parents and caregivers.

Democrats have how to bow to some of centrist Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema's demands, like bringing the price tag down from $3.5 trillion to $2 trillion at the highest

Progressives made the bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill's passage reliant on the social safety net spending bill, saying they would not vote to pass the former if the latter was also not passed.

This has caused a monthslong impasse in Congress as Sinema and Manchin refused to get on board with the plan if the social spending bill was not massively reduced.

The two lawmakers not only wanted the package shrunk, but also wanted certain provisions ditched and a better outline of how the plan is to be paid for.

'We will have something that will meet the president's goals,' Pelosi told CNN. 'I feel very confident about that, even though it will be different than what we originally proposed.'

The California Democrat specifically noted that the deal with reach Biden's goal of 'zero emissions,' focusing on the climate side of the package, which Republicans deeply oppose.

Also on Sunday, Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are meeting with Biden in Wilmington, Delaware for budget talks.
A brother and sister who were killed during a sleepover have been buried in a private funeral just two days after their mother was laid to rest.

John Paul Bennett, 13, and his sister Lacey, 11, were found dead alongside their mother Terri Harris, 35, and Lacey's friend Connie Gent, 11, during a sleepover last month.

Their bodies were discovered by police who had been called to reports of concerns for a man's safety in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, on Sunday, September 19.

John Paul Bennett, 13, and his sister Lacey, 11, from Killamarsh, Derbyshire, were laid to rest in a private ceremony this week, just two days after the funeral of their mother Terri Harris, 35

Damien Bendall, Ms Harris' boyfriend, is charged with all four murders and has been remanded in custody. The 31-year-old is due to stand trial in March.

The tragic siblings were buried at a private ceremony on Saturday, two days after mourners lined the streets to say goodbye to their mother.

Their heartbroken father Jason Bennett had previously asked mourners to learn and sing along to The Greatest Showman's Never Enough at the service.

Tragic siblings John, 13 and Lacey, 11, were found dead alongside their mother Terri Harris and Lacey's friend Connie Gent, 11, during a sleepover on Sunday, September 19

He said he would sing the song, from the Hugh Jackman blockbuster, with his 'beautiful babies' while driving in his car and it held special memories for him.

At Mr Bennett's request, his children's funeral details were kept private and only close friends and family attended the service.

He previously posted on Facebook: 'A message to everyone attending my babies funeral. All are welcome. I have a request to anyone who can help me on the day.

Connie Gent, 11, was at a sleepover where she was found dead alongside friend Lacey, John and their mother Terri Harris

'Me and my babies always used to sing a certain song in our car and belt it out like nothing else matters.

'I'm trying to stay strong and while I'm carrying both my babies on my shoulders I'm determined to belt the song they love out loud as if we were in our car.

'Sing along if you like and give me hope and strength and celebrate my beautiful happy babies. My love to everyone.'

The children's funeral was held just days after well wishers lined the streets outside St Giles Church in Killamarsh, on the outskirts of Sheffield, for the funeral of Terri Harris.

A white carriage pulled by two horses carried the coffin of the West Ham fan, who had a blue and claret themed service in a nod to her beloved team.

Flowers were laid on top of it as well as on top of the casket, while flowers were laid outside the chapel.

Mourners bowed their heads as the procession went by and many appeared to be sobbing.

One card read: 'My lovely friend Terri, I will treasure the memories we made. May you and your babies rest in perfect peace.' Two doves and blue and pink balloons were released at the end of the service.

Only close family and friends were able to attend the church service, but it was relayed on loudspeakers which could be heard within the church grounds.

The service was followed by a private cremation in nearby Chesterfield. Ms Harris, a care worker, was born in the east end of London where she lived until she was 17, when she moved to Sheffield with her mother.

The children's heartbroken father Jason Bennett had previously asked mourners to learn and sing along to The Greatest Showman's Never Enough at their funeral which was held this week

Her family said she would regularly to Essex to spend time with her father.

In the wake of the tragic deaths on 19 September, the devastated father collapsed in tears as he laid flowers near the home where they were killed.

Mr Bennett stayed at the scene for more than half-an-hour, and said he was 'heartbroken; million pieces; shattered'.

Two days before the children's funeral, mourners watched on in tears as a horse and carriage carried the coffin of Terri Harris to St Giles Church in Killamarsh, on the outskirts of Sheffield

Well wishers lined the streets and paid their respects for the funeral of Terri Harris

Ms Harris' coffin is carried into the church off the carriage after it passed through the crowds

In a statement, he said: 'Life will never be the same again. Families have been left broken by the awful loss of John, Lacey, Terri and Connie.

'I've been left broken. I'm devastated. John and Lacey came into our lives and brought so much love and happiness and were adored by myself and their big sisters, forever loved and remembered.

'We would also like to thank everyone for their loving support and our thoughts go out to everyone affected by the tragic loss of four precious lives.'

The 35-year-old was found dead with her children John Paul Bennett, 13, Lacey Bennett, 11, and Lacey's friend Connie Gent, 11, at a house in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, on Sunday, September 19

Connie's father Charles Gent said: 'The pain is indescribable. I wake up every morning hoping this has all been a terrible nightmare, but it's not. It's the unbearable reality that my little girl has gone.

'Connie was an absolute superstar in every way. She had a gift - if someone was down she could instantly make them feel okay.

'She lit up every room she went in and meant something to everyone she came across, even in hard times. Connie had the ability to keep everyone smiling.

'This by far is the hardest thing I've ever had to go through; it still doesn't even feel real.

One card read: 'My lovely friend Terri, I will treasure the memories we made. May you and your babies rest in perfect peace'

'Fly safe my angel. They came for you and left me behind. I could never say goodbye, so I'll see you soon. I love you more than you can possibly imagine forever and always.'

Ms Harris's parents, Angela Smith and Lawrence Harris, issued a joint statement through the police.

They said: 'Our Terri, our daughter, our world, our everything. From the day she was born she was our princess and remained so until she was cruelly taken from us.

'She was an amazing mum; her babies were her world. Terri would put herself out not just for her family and friends but anyone who needed her help.'

Pictured: Flowers left at the scene following news of the tragic deaths on 19 September

They added: 'She absolutely loved her work as a care worker and would go above and beyond for the people she cared for.

'She will be missed more than any words can ever express, not only by her family but by anyone who had the privilege to have been in her life.'

Pictured: Damien Bendall is next due to appear at Nottingham Crown Court on November 26

An inquest opening into the deaths heard a coroner was awaiting full post-mortem reports, but said they died following a 'violent attack'.

Chesterfield Coroner's Court heard a relative of Bendall had called Dorset Police to say the defendant had sustained a self-inflicted stab wound.

Area coroner Peter Nieto was told cops were met by Bendall at the address and entered the house where they found the bodies.

Bendall is due to enter a plea to the charges at Nottingham Crown Court on November 26.
A New Yorker police say is the man filmed attacking an 11 year-old girl in a dog park used to work for a non-profit that helps traumatized children.

Nathaniel DiRenzo's former position as a volunteer board member for the Lineage Project was revealed by DailyMail.com hours after he was charged with strangulation, assault and harassment and perp-walked by cops.

Co-executive director Gabrielle Prisco said: 'Nathaniel DiRenzo was never an employee of the Lineage Project. He did serve as an uncompensated, volunteer board member. Mr. DiRenzo is no longer on our Board of Directors.'

She has not commented on whether he was axed from his role at the Lineage Project as a result of the shocking assault clip.

The project's website describes its role in teaching 'trauma-sensitive mindfulness to young people, ages 12 to 24, who are navigating system-involvement and other serious challenges, to support them in cultivating well-being, community bonds, and inner/collective resilience.'

Nathanial DiRenzo's biography on the Lineage Project website is pictured. It has since been removed, and he no longer works as a volunteer director for the non-profit

Co-executive director Gabrielle Prisco said: 'Nathaniel DiRenzo was never an employee of the Lineage Project. He did serve as an uncompensated, volunteer board member. Mr. DiRenzo is no longer on our Board of Directors'

It adds: 'We center young people, who are impacted by a range of traumatized/traumatizing systemsincluding the criminal-legal, foster care, shelter, school suspension, residential psychiatric care, and immigration systems.'

An archived page from the site's website says of its former volunteer DiRenzo: 'Nate joins us from Google where he is part of the Cloud team. A New Jersey native, Nate attended NYU for undergrad and worked for the U.S. Congress and POLITICO before returning to the city. He is the proud owner of a mini goldendoodle named Auggie, an avid runner, and unrepentant foodie.'

DiRenzo, of Saint Marks Place in the East Village, was charged on October 23 with second-degree strangulation, two counts of assault, second-degree harassment and two counts of acting in a manner injurious to a child for the October 20 incident.

He was seen being perp-walked from a police station in Lower Manhattan Saturday night, and wore a gray suit and black mask as he faced the cameras.

DiRenzo graduated from New York University, according to his bio on the non-profit's website, and worked with the U.S. Congress and Politico before he returning to the city.

His dog, who he was presumably taking to the dog park for exercise before he attacked the schoolchildren, is a mini Goldendoodle named Auggie.

On Saturday, DiRenzo was photographed by DailyMail.com as he was escorted out of Manhattan's 13th precinct after his arrest and subsequent release on $7,500 bail.

On Saturday, DiRenzo was photographed as he left court

'Nathaniel DiRenzo... serve[d] as an uncompensated, volunteer board member [and is] no longer on our Board of Directors,' Gabrielle Prisco, the Co-Executive director of the program, told DailyMail.com. It is unclear whether he was removed from the board due to video circulated from the incident on October 20

In the video, DiRenzo and two other dog walkers were seen yelling at the children and their school chaperone at Stuyvesant Square between the intersection of East 16th Street and Perlman Place

In the video, a dog owner believed to be DiRenzo and two other dog walkers were seen yelling at the children and their school chaperone at Stuyvesant Square between the intersection of East 16th Street and Perlman Place.

The school children had been throwing dirt and poppers on the ground at the park before the three dog walkers began to intervene.

The man who police say is DiRenzo then began violently attacking the 11-year-old girl and hit her 15-year-old male friend who tried to intervene.

The two children were attacked by DiRenzo at a park in Stuyvesant Square between the intersection of East 16th Street and Perlman Place, police say

Nathaniel DiRenzo was allegedly captured assaulting an 11-year-old at a Stuyvesant Square park on Wednesday afternoon

The cellphone video had captured the beginning of the incident where the three dog walkers were screaming at the children who continued to throw dirt at them.

It was not long before the male dog walker, sporting a beard and sunglasses, then approached a gate.

'All your kids are throwing f**king dirt and f**king poppers!' DiRenzo allegedly yelled at the chaperone.

'Weve already had to call 911 on them. Grip her the f**k up before I put my hands on her.'

'All your kids are throwing f**king dirt and f**king poppers!' DiRenzo allegedly yelled at the chaperone

The children continued to throw dirt at them while their chaperone tried to get them under control

The chaperone then attempted to get the children out of the dispute and back to the school building before the situation escalated further.

'What school do they go to? Theyre psychos,' the other male dog walker had asked.

DiRenzo then allegedly added that the chaperone was an 'embarrassment' for his lack of control over the rowdy students.

The 11-year-old girl then marched towards the suspect before he viciously began attacking her in front of her classmates.

'You fat little bi**h youre not going to amount to anything in life,' DiRenzo had yelled at her before the attack.

The 11-year-old girl had approached the man after DiRenzo yelled and swore at her and her classmates for throwing dirt and poppers on the ground

He then began punching her in the face, spraying her with water and even grabbing her by the hair in anger.

The girl's 15-year-old male friend was also hit when he attempted to stop the fight.

Other onlookers and dog walkers were in complete shock as they witnessed the horrifying incident.

'I didn't know what was going on, so me and another guy got in the middle of it and broke it up,' dog walker Peter Ghiorse told ABC. 'I think he heard the sirens, and he booked it.'

Police distributed photos of DiRenzo after he hit the 11-year-old girl and her 15-year-old male friend who attempted to intervene

'I hope they find this man,' a witness named Rachel said on Friday, before DiRenzo was apprehended. 'This man grabbed her by the neck, her chest, and punched her in the head. Eleven-year-old black young girl. This is not normal. He's dangerous.'

The young girl was taken to Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital for her injuries but was found to be in stable condition.

Her other friend who was attacked was treated for minor injuries at the scene.
Police are searching for a man in a wheelchair seen brandishing a knife in West London.

He allegedly charged at members of the public and schoolchildren on October 18 as he held the knife at a bus stop in Hayes town centre.

It was not reported to police at the time and no injuries were reported but an investigation was launched after the footage circulated on social media according to MyLondon.

The clip was uploaded on October 18 and the comments suggested it was not the first time the man had allegedly wielded a knife.

Police are searching for a man in a wheelchair seen brandishing a knife in West London. He allegedly charged at members of the public and schoolchildren on October 18 as he held the knife at a bus stop in Hayes town centre

People do not seem to realise he has a knife at first but begin to scream when they spot what he is holding. People are seen running out of the man's way and one runs into the road.

Eventually he is wheeled away by another man after he charges at two groups, according to MyLondon.

The video was posted on TikTok and had 300,000 views but it has since been removed.

Police are appealing for information about Monday's events in Hayes.

Eventually he is wheeled away by another man after he charges at two groups

Roads and Transport Policing Command Detective Inspector John Millward said: 'We are working to establish the specific circumstances of this incident, including the time and location of the offence.

'From videos we have seen on social media there appears to have been a large group of people in the area who witnessed the incident and I would like to hear from them immediately.'

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
This is the shocking moment a group of suspected migrants were found in the back of a lorry at Heathrow Airport.

Footage shows the group of 13 migrants, including a child, huddled inside the vehicle as police officers speak with them. The Metropolitan Police said a lorry driver was arrested and enquiries continue.

The scenes come as the latest Government figures showed a total of 19,533 people have made the treacherous 21-mile trip across the channel by boat so far in 2021 - more than double the 8,410 who arrived last year.

The group of migrants, including young children, are found huddled inside the lorry at Heathrow Airport

Officials speak with the group after they were discovered inside the vehicle this afternoon

The filmer, who did not wish to be named, told MailOnline: 'It was a shock, that was it. Just shock.

'I would say some of the children were between two and three, that's what I would gravitate towards.'

A Metropolitan Police spokesman told MailOnline: 'Police were called at 13:37hrs on Saturday, 23 October to Shoreham Road East, Hounslow.

'A member of the public had called police to a number of people in a lorry container.

'The container was opened and 12 adults and one child were found inside in a distressed condition. None of them are believed to have life threatening injuries.

'A lorry driver has been arrested. Enquires continue.'

MailOnline has contacted the Home Office for comment.

Last Saturday the number of migrants arriving to the UK surpassed 19,000 when 410 migrants were rescued or intercepted by Border Force in 11 boats.

It was followed by 102 people in three boats the day after.

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 later 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 this week.

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, were also on board.

The scenes come as figures revealed a total of 19,533 have made the treacherous 21-mile trip across the channel by boat so far in 2021

The group of around nine people were found huddled inside the lorry by officials

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.'

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.
Israel is set to move forward with thousands of new homes for Jewish settlers in the West Bank this week, a watchdog group said today.

The plan to construct almost 3,000 new residences in the West Bank has already drawn calls for restraint from the US, which on Friday voiced 'concern' over the expected approvals.

Hagit Ofran, from the anti-settlement group Peace Now, said a committee is set to meet on Wednesday to approve 2,800 units deep in the West Bank.

It would further complicate any efforts to create a Palestinian state and represents the latest development in a long, protracted conflict in the region.

Despite much of the international community viewing such settlements as illegal, more than half of the residences are receiving final approval, meaning construction could begin as early as next year.

The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since 1967, but the land is strongly contested by the Palestinians who believe they have a historical right to the region.

This file photo taken on October 5, 2021, shows a view of construction work in the Jewish settlement of Givat Zeev, near the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. Israel plans to build more residences for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank

The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since 1967, but the land is strongly contested and remains the source of a long, protracted conflict in the region between Israel and the Palestinians

Israel is expected to move forward this week with thousands of new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied territory

On Friday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said America is 'concerned' about the housing plans.

He called on Israel and the Palestinians to 'refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tension and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution' to the conflict.

The Palestinians want the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem  areas Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war  for their state.

The Palestinians view the Israeli settlements in the West Bank as a key obstacle to peace as they claim a historical right to the region, along with the Gaza strip.

Roughly 3 million Palestinian Arabs live in the West Bank under both limited self-rule and Israeli military rule, while the region is also home to some 430,000 Israeli Jews who live in clusters of settlements build under Israel's occupation.

Former Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu (left) previously said that Israeli settlements should not constitute an obstacle to peace in the region, but was vocal about his intention to continue building settlements despite widespread international condemnation.

On Friday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said America is 'concerned' about the housing plans and called on Israel and the Palestinians to 'refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tension'.

The vast majority of the international community considers these settlements illegal under international law, but Israel views the West Bank as the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people.

Israel also says the West Bank is strategically vital to its self-defence.

Former Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu previously said that Israeli settlements should not constitute an obstacle to peace in the region, but was vocal about his intention to continue building settlements despite widespread international condemnation.

The news that Israeli authorities are set to approve the construction of thousands more residences suggests that current leader Naftali Bennett intends to uphold his predecessor's stance.

Anti-settlement group Peace Now also said Israel is also set to approve 1,600 units for Palestinians in the areas of the West Bank that it controls.

But critics say the move is an initiative from villagers, not the Israeli government, and that the figure is a fraction of the building permits requested by Palestinians over the years.
A Royal Navy veteran who worked for a company that donated money to charity on behalf of its membership has been jailed after he funnelled donations into six of his own bank accounts in 117,000 fraud.

Philip Gibbs, from Horndean, near Portsmouth, Hampshire, took cash from Leisure and Outdoor Furniture Association (LOFA) between 2013 and 2018.

The 64-year-old, awarded medals from the Falklands and the Gulf War, bought a 46,000 Land Rover for himself and also tried to buy a Tesla.

The veteran has been jailed for 27 months, muttering 'please sir, no' as he was sentenced.

Philip Gibbs, 64, from Horndean, near Portsmouth, Hampshire, has been jailed after he targeted charities as part of a 117,000 fraud

Across five years, Gibbs swindled a total of 117,000 from an organisation which represents the British outdoor leisure industry.

As the LOFA's only paid employee, company secretary Gibbs had free access to its bank accounts and took cash from 'right under their noses'.

Gibbs sent a 5,000 donation for charity Marie Curie to his own account then did the same again for a 2,500 Cystic Fibrosis donation in April 2016.

The Royal Navy veteran, awarded medals from the Falklands and the Gulf War, bought a 46,000 Land Rover for himself

Gibbs sent a 5,000 donation for charity Marie Curie to his own account then did the same again for a 2,500 Cystic Fibrosis donation in April 2016

He used five methods to siphon off cash, including making out 32 cheques for just more than 38,000 by using names of innocent employees of another organisation.

He made 53,891 in purchase orders, including the two involving charities.

He also made 16,000 via refunds on hotels and hospitality costs, spent 2,739 on a Shell fuel card filling up his own cars, despite this being for his company car.

Gibbs also made five purchases totalling 5,800, including 1,000 on walkie-talkies and an electric charging point outside the office.

Workers at LOFA, based in Waterlooville, Hampshire, were left shocked when the fraud was finally uncovered.

Gibbs had been made redundant - with a 20,000 package - and an admin worker who was brought in discovered thousands of pounds were missing.

Prosecutor Tom Nicholson told Portsmouth Crown Court an email was sent 'purporting to be from his wife', claiming he had 'contracted skin cancer and due to an experimental treatment (has) early onset dementia'.

A further email claimed Gibbs had no memory of taking money due to his 'physical and mental health but felt obliged to repay'. In all he paid back 2,705.

Sentencing, Judge David Melville QC said Gibbs 'very seriously abused' his position in the fraud involving 'significant planning' and had a 'serious impact' on the company.

The veteran has been jailed for 27 months, muttering 'please sir, no' as he was sentenced

Jailing Gibbs, who admitted fraud, Judge Melville QC said the directors would have been caused 'not a little anxiety'.

Ed Hollingsworth, mitigating, said the fraud was 'pretty basic'.

He said: 'His fraud, although serious, was not a fraud targeting or had a material impact on individuals.'

Gina Hinde, current company secretary of LOFA, said: 'It was a shock because he was running the organisation.

'We give to charity every year. He'd even taken that money for himself.

'It was a huge, huge shock - everyone was really, really shocked. They couldn't believe it.

'We did some forensic accounting. We went through all the books and just dug down into what he'd done and that's when we found all the different things that he siphoned off.

'We didn't find out until he'd been made redundant. It was a letter that came to the office that the chair then looked at - and thought 'it isn't right'.

'It's incredible - he's had all that money (in redundancy) and it was going on for years.'
Twitter users reacted with disgust at the site of an inconsiderate woman who draped her long hair over the back of a fellow passengers plane seat.

The unnamed womans locks extended beyond the tray table and to the seatback pocket, resting not far from another travelers knee in a flight believed to have taken place in the United States.

A photo of the incident posted by Twitters @Antman0528 was shared by thousands of social media users last week, sparking a debate about airline etiquette.

Completely inconsiderate & unnecessary, said @Smol_Wallaby. Saying this as a fellow long-hair haver.

Another long-locked traveler added that the situation could have been easily avoided.

''A braid or bun isn't that difficult,' she said. 'And honestly, if anyone wants long hair, they need to keep it to themselves, take care of it, and actually brush said here. There is no justification for this.'

A picture of a woman whose long hair monopolized most of another passenger's tray table area has drawn the ire of Twitter users, who called her behavior 'inconsiderate'

One woman called the passenger's actions 'selfish,' saying the hair should have been pulled up

Added @tantum_erg0: Im a terrible person and this is just an invitation for me to live out my character defects.

Another user, @LorisBigStory, said the same thing happened to her on a return flight from Belize.

I put my elbow on it several times, she said. Never fazed her. People are rude.

Other users said theyd solve the problem by chopping off the womans hair, prompting one woman to note that some snippers are permitted in cabin.

Some Twitter users said they'd chop the woman's hair off, prompting one woman to note that it is possible to carry scissors onto an airplane

They sell TSA approved travel scissors, @losthousewife sad. Im amazed that more people dont know this.

Others said they would take a more civilized approach by asking the flight crew to speak with the woman.

I used to be an air hostess - my advice is never deal with a passenger directly, @WorkPsychol said.

Call the cabin crew, get them to tell this person to remove their hair immediately. Its gross and its unhygienic.

Etiquette expert Diane Gottsman said the behavior was 'invasive' and nonhygienic

Etiquette expert Diane Gottsman agreed that the behavior was troubling.

While there could be things that would be worse, having someones hair strewn over the back of the chair gets close to your personal space, Gottsman told DailyMail.com. Similar to getting a hair in your food. It just feels invasive, not hygienic and lacks common courtesy for the fellow passenger.

She added: Its much like brushing your hair at the table. There are just basic rules of decorum to follow.

A survey found that of all the things that irk plane passenger (shown in a file photo), treating a flight attendant rudely was most annoying

Gottsman said there are a number of ways passengers could work to resolve the hair-over-the-seat dilemma.

'Depending on the circumstances... either bring it up to the flight attendant and allow them to handle it, or you can just say: Excuse me, would you (kindly) move your hair away from the back of the seat?"'

She said passengers must always err on the side of caution and resist the urge to judge others.

A passenger might say, under Gottsman's advice: 'Id appreciate you pulling your hair back because its in my space. I am unable to get my tray table and I would like to use it.'

Travel etiquette has long been a sore spot for air passengers opposed to reclining seats, seat kickers, armrest hogs, and those using electronic devices without headphones.

Masks have more recently joined the points of contention in the not-so-friendly skies.

A survey found that more than half of Americans think travel manners took a nosedive because of the pandemic

A recent survey found 54 percent of Americans believe the pandemic caused manners to worsen during flights.

About a quarter of passengers reported that theyve been on trips where misbehaving passengers prompted a plane to turn around, according to the Value Penguin study.

Passengers reported that they were most irked in flight by others being rude to flight attendants, kicking seats, and traveling while sick.

Other pet peeves included getting drunk, listening to music without headphones, consuming smelly food, and holding up the security line.

Rules on how to wear your hair on board have largely flown under-the-radar  until now.
Britain's Covid-19 infections have fallen by 11 per cent in a week as fears continue to grow around the impending winter wave.

Department of Health bosses reported a further 39,962 cases today, a drop from the 45,140 reported last Sunday.

However the number of people dying with the virus has risen, with 72 deaths reported today compared to 57 on October 17 - a rise of 26 per cent.

The Government figures come as the vaccine effort continues across Britain, with a total of 45,542,207 now having received both doses of the Covid jab.

Earlier today Rishi Sunak insisted there was no need to move to Plan B to cut Covid cases - after health chiefs discussed whether there needed to be an 'immediate rollout' of tougher measures to combat a surge in cases.

The Chancellor insisted that the data shows that bringing back working from home and introducing mandatory Covid passports was not yet required.

His comments to the BBC's Andrew Marr programme came after it was reported that the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) contacted local authorities on Friday to canvass their level of support for the 'immediate rollout of the winter plan - plan B'.

An 'official  sensitive' document seen by the Observer sought opinions from the leaders and chief executives of councils across England to be fed to the Cabinet Office before then end of the day.

But Mr Sunak today said: 'The data does not suggest we should be immediately moving to Plan B.'

Yesterday a Government scientific adviser said he was 'very fearful' there will be another 'lockdown Christmas'.

Professor Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) and SAGE subgroup CO-CIN, said case numbers and death rates are currently 'unacceptable'.

But SAGE scientists insisted it was 'highly unlikely' that the NHS would be overwhelmed by the virus this winter even without restrictions.

Modelling by the group for England predicted that the combination of vaccine-acquired immunity and natural protection would be enough to keep hospital rates below levels seen during the second wave.

It came as Health Secretary Sajid Javid said new cases could reach 100,000 a day but Downing Street insisted there was still spare capacity in the NHS and that Plan B would only be activated if it came under 'significant pressure'.

Meanwhile, it was revealed Brits may need three Covid vaccinations to go on holiday next summer but under-50s are unlikely to receive a booster until 'well after Christmas'.

Care minister Gillian Keegan, 53, said the current vaccine passport system will have to evolve, which could mean having three jabs to be able to jet off.

But an anonymous source on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said boosters for people under the age of 50 would most probably be given 'well after Christmas'.

The JCVI member said the committee would probably not extend the booster roll-out to other groups of people until more tangible progress was made with people eligible for the third vaccine at the moment.

Professor Openshaw, of Imperial College London, told BBC Breakfast: 'I'm very fearful that we're going to have another lockdown Christmas if we don't act soon.

'We know that with public health measures the time to act is immediately. There's no point in delaying.

'If you do delay then you need to take even more stringent actions later. The immediacy of response is absolutely vital if you're going to get things under control.

Rishi Sunak insisted there was no need to move to Plan B to cut Covid cases today

Modelling by SAGE predicted that the combination of vaccine-acquired immunity and natural protection would be enough to keep hospital rates below levels seen in the second wave. Even in the most pessimistic scenarios, the group estimated that daily Covid hospital admissions would not rise above 1,500. More optimistic models had them peaking at below 1,000 in winter. The above charts are based on modelling by Warwick University and look at how quickly people go back to pre-pandemic social contacts. It was based on the booster doses given 'sustained' immunity

Other SAGE modelling took into account 'repeated' waning from booster doses, and projected that hospital admissions could breach levels seen during the second wave in January under the worst-case projections

Only around 4.5million (green line) out of the 9.3million eligible people (blue line) in England have received the crucial third dose, prompting ministers to urge people to come forward for their inoculations

'We all really, really want a wonderful family Christmas where we can all get back together.

Boris Johnson insists there is 'absolutely nothing to indicate' there will be another lockdown this winter Boris Johnson today insisted there is 'absolutely nothing to indicate' there will be another lockdown this winter. The Prime Minister said a national shutdown is not 'on the cards' as he was grilled about rising coronavirus case numbers. His comments came after Tory MPs and hospitality chiefs urged the PM to resist calls from health bosses to trigger the Government's Covid-19 'Plan B'. Conservative MPs fear going ahead with the fall back strategy of telling people to work from home and to wear face masks would put the nation on a 'slippery slope' towards another lockdown. They are adamant there should be no return to draconian curbs, claiming that the Government must not be 'bullied' by health leaders into imposing new rules. Meanwhile, hospitality bosses have warned against reimposing restrictions, telling the PM that many pubs, bars and restaurants would 'go to the wall'. The hospitality industry is concerned that even light touch restrictions could hit bookings and put 'Christmas at risk'. The Government has insisted the triggering of 'Plan B' is not imminent, with the focus currently on rolling out vaccine booster shots. But ministers struck an ominous tone this morning as they said the blueprint is 'there for a reason'. Advertisement

'If that's what we want, we need to get these measures in place now in order to get transmission rates right down so that we can actually get together and see one another over Christmas.'

Professor Openshaw said it is 'unacceptable to be letting this run at the moment', adding: 'I think the hospitals in many parts of the country are barely coping actually.

'Talking to people on the front line, I think it's just not sustainable to keep going at this rate.

'I think it's just unacceptable to see the number of deaths that we've got at the moment.

'At one stage last week there were 180 deaths in a single day. That is just too many deaths. We seem to have got used to the idea that we're going to have many, many people dying of Covid and that I think is just not the case.

'We need to slow down transmission and really redouble efforts to get everyone vaccinated and all the boosters out, and then we can open up again.'

Professor Openshaw was asked what he would say to people who have concerns about what they can do to stop the spread of the virus in the event of the Government not reintroducing measures.

He told the programme: 'I think take matters into your own hands. Don't wait necessarily for Government policy.

'I'm very, very reluctant now to go into crowded spaces because I know that roughly one in 60 people in a crowded space are going to have the virus. If you can, cycle to work, don't go on public transport.

'I think do everything possible in your control to try to reduce transmission. Don't wait for the Government to change policy.

'The sooner we all act, the sooner we can get this transmission rate down, and the greater the prospect of having a Christmas with our families.'

Elsewhere, the World Health Organisation warned the vaccine alone will not be able to lift the world out of the pandemic.

Spokesperson Margaret Harris told Times Radio: 'The problem is focusing on one thing, the vaccine isn't going to get us out of this.

'We really have to do other measures.

'We have got to be serious about not crowding. We have still got to be looking at wearing the masks, when you're indoors particularly.'

Scientific advisers have told the Government it must ensure Plan B restrictions to tackle coronavirus can be 'rapidly' deployed if needed.

Experts on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said, in minutes of a meeting published on Friday, that a further huge spike in infections as seen in January was 'increasingly unlikely', as experts predicted a series of broader, flatter peaks as the virus continues to spread.
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Eleven Pablo Picasso artworks have been sold for a combined $109 million in a Las Vegas auction coinciding with the artist's 140th birthday.

The nine paintings and two ceramic pieces had been displayed inside the Picasso restaurant at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art for more than two decades until owner MGM Resorts decided earlier this year to sell them.

The Saturday event was organized by Sotheby's and marked the first time the famed auction house staged an evening marquee sale in North America outside its New York saleroom. It featured Picasso artworks from 1917 to 1969.

Auction officials said Picasso's 1938 portrait of his lover and muse Marie-Therese Walter entitled 'Femme au beret rouge-orange' ('Woman in a reddish-orange hat') sold for $40.5 million after a bidding battle, well above estimates of $20 million to $30 million.

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Pablo Picasso's 'Femme au beret rouge-orange,' ('Woman in a reddish-orange hat') pictured, sold for $40.5 million after a bidding battle, well above estimates of $20 million to $30 million

Pictured: 'Homme et enfant,' a 1959 work that is nearly two meters tall, sold for $24.4 million

Sotheby's and the MGM Resorts Fine Art Collection hosted the auction, which raised $109 million from eleven pieces

Pablo Picasso's 'Tete d'homme barbu,' pictured, is displayed for auction at the Bellagio hotel and casino, which sold for 239,400 dollars during Sotheby's Picasso Masterworks sale

Pictured: 'Tete d'homme barbu,' pictured, which sold for $239,400 during Sotheby's Picasso Masterworks sale

Pictured: Sotheby's auctioneer Oliver Barker poses before the Sotheby's 'Picasso: Masterworks From The MGM Resorts Fine Art Collection' auction at the Bellagio on October 23

The painting last sold at auction in the 1980s for around $900,000 and was acquired by casino mogul Steve Wynn in 1998 and became MGM Resorts' property when the company purchased The Mirage resort from Wynn.

The Picasso auction also featured two Cubist-inspired still life paintings from the early 1940s during World War II with 'Nature morte au panier de fruits et aux fleurs' selling for $16.6 million and 'Nature morte aux fleurs et au compotier' going for $8.3 million.

'Despite the destruction and hardship of World War Two, the years between 1940-44 resulted in one of Picasso's richest periods,' Sotheby's said.

Sotheby's art handlers prepare for the auction of Picasso: Masterworks from the MGM Resorts Fine Art Collection on October 23, 2021 in Las Vegas

Pictured: Sotheby's art handlers work next to Picasso's 'Buste d'homme'

Barker, pictured, interacts with the audience during the Sotheby's 'Picasso: Masterworks From The MGM Resorts Fine Art Collection' auction, where 11 pieces of art were sold for $109 million

f Picasso's 'Aiguiere - Visage' which sold for $315,000 during Sotheby's Picasso Masterworks sale

'Tete d'homme,' pictured, which sold for $2.2 million during Sotheby's Picasso Masterworks sale

Picasso's 'La Fenetre De L'atelier La Californie' which sold for $214,200 during Sotheby's Picasso Masterworks sale

'Homme et enfant,' (man and infant) a 1959 work that is nearly two meters tall, sold for $24.4 million.

The remaining Picasso works that sold were 'La Fenetre De L'atelier La Californie' which sold for 214,200, Aiguierre-Visage - a sculpture - for $315,000, 'Le Dejeuner Sur L'herbe' which sold for $2.2 million, 'Tete d'homme barbu' for $239,400, 'Pierrot' for $4.4 million, and 'Tete d'homme,' which sold for $2.2 million.

All told, the auction sold off $109 million in 11 pieces of Picasso artwork.

The names of the buyers have not been revealed.

In 2015, 'The Women of Algiers' set a record price for a Picasso painting or piece of artwork, going for $179.4 million, according to the BBC.

His 'Young Girl with a Flower Basket' fetched nearly-impressive $115 million in 2018.

'Le Dejeuner Sur L'herbe,' pictured, sold for $2.2 million

Pictured: Picasso's 'Pierrot' which sold for $4.4 million during Sotheby's Picasso Masterworks sale

'Nature morte aux fleurs et au compotier,' pictured, went for for $8.3 million

Pictured: 'Nature morte au panier de fruits et aux fleurs,' which sold for $16.6 million

Picasso's 'Buste d'homme,' which sold for 9.4 million dollars during Sotheby's Picasso Masterworks sale

Pictured: An interior view of the Picasso Restaurant at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas

A Picasso painting overlooks interior view of the Picasso Restaurant at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, a painting which went up and was sold at auction on Saturday

In 2010, his 'Nude, Green Leaves and Bust' went for $106.5 million, his 'Boy with a Pipe' sold for $104 million in 2004, and 'Woman Sitting Near a Window,' again featuring Therese Walter, went for $103.4 million earlier this year, the BBC reported.

Picasso lived from 1881 until 1973 and spent much of his adult life in France.

Over the course of more than 70 years as a working artist, Picasso is said to have created more than 13,000 paintings.

Organizers said the auction lasted about 45 minutes and drew about 150 people, with some seated in gold-framed chairs.
The head of the Centers for Disease Control says the US is monitoring the new 'Delta Plus' variant responsible for a growing number of cases in the UK, though the mutation doesn't appear to be more contagious or resistant to vaccines.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky says there's only been 'a handful' of cases of the new AY.4.2 variant in the US and she doesn't expect a new travel ban because of it.

'It has several mutations on the spike protein that we have not yet seen implicated in increased transmissibility or in a decreased ability of our vaccines or therapeutics to work,' she said on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday.

Though it doesn't appear to be more contagious, the new variant is an offshoot of Delta, which caused a late summer spike in infections and hospitalizations in the US.

Delta Plus made up about six percent of Delta cases in England in the week ending October 9, according to the UK Health Security Agency, which moved it to 'variant under investigation' on Friday.

The head of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said Sunday on Meet the Press that there's only been 'a handful' of Delta Plus cases in the US and that there's no proof they're more contagious

The Delta Plus variant was first identified in India in April. Health experts there say the variant, also known as AY.4.2, binds more strongly to lung cell receptors

Walensky also spoke about the government's 'booster campaign.' She said that any type of vaccine, MRNA or not, can be used to boost any other type of vaccine

Walensky doesn't expect the new variant to lead to another Europe travel ban.

'Were not anticipating that now. We are absolutely following the science very very carefully, but were not anticipating or looking into that right now,' she said.

The Delta Plus variant was first identified in India in April.

In June, Indias Ministry of Health reported that Delta Plus was more transmissible than the regular Delta variant, according to CNBC.

The agency says the variant binds more strongly to lung cell receptors and could even reduce the effectiveness of monoclonal antibody infusions, which target the COVID-19 spike protein and interfere with the virus' ability to attach itself to human cells, according to Houston Methodist Hospital.

Delta Plus includes two new mutations to the spike proteins A222V and Y145H.

Walensky also spoke about the US government's 'booster campaign' on Sunday's episode of Meet the Press.

UK health officials named Delta Plus a 'variant under investigation' on Friday. It made up about 6 percent of Delta cases in England in the week ending October 9

She said that either type of vaccine, MRNA or viral vector, works as a booster regardless of which one a patient gets first.

Pfizer and Moderna are MRNA vaccines, while Johnson & Johnson and AztraZeneca, which is not approved in the US, are viral vector types.

'Any one of these vaccines can really be used to boost any one of the other,' she said.

The Delta variant has a reproductive rate of eight or nine, which means that every infected person will spread it to an average of nine others. The original strain of COVID had a reproductive rate of three.

Someone infected with the Delta variant has 1,000 times the viral load of the original COVID strain, according to CNBC, though US health authorities are still examining the contagiousness of the new Delta Plus variant.

US infections are continuing a downward slope from the rise of Delta cases late in the summer

There were 42,940 COVID-19 cases in the UK on October 17, the latest day of complete data, up from 29,062 on September 17 and over 37,000 on August 17.

Cases have fallen week-by-week, with 39,962 cases today compared to the 45,140 reported last Sunday.

Cases in the US continue their downward slope from late this summer, when the Delta variant was raging in much of the country.

The seven-day average in October 22 was 70,153 cases, down from a summer peak of 161,154 on September 3.

UK health officials say that Delta Plus does 'not show strong evidence of a difference in risk of hospitalization or death' compared to regular Delta.

Delta Plus is not yet a variant of concern in the US.

The CDC says variants are common and encourages the use of masks, testing and vaccinations to protect people from COVID-19.
Video footage captured the moment the Bottega Veneta store on Chicago's Magnificent Mile being robbed for the second time in three weeks - after the city's AG stopped pursuing shoplifters who steal less than $1,000.

One robber was seen letting his pal into the Italian designer store, scaring a terrified shop assistant in the process, before they began clearing its shelves of luxury leather goods, which retail for up to $6,200.

The thieves had left the scene with luxury merchandise that cost tens of thousands of dollars, exactly 21 days after a prior robbery saw 35 bags lifted on September 20.

The increase in shoplifting crimes came after State's Attorney Kim Foxx stopped prosecuting thieves who stole less than $1,000.

Video footage captured the moment a female Bottega Veneta employee was pushed to the side by two hooded suspects

The suspects were captured stealing armfuls of handbags as the frightened female employee looked on

Both suspects were seen leaving the store with tens of thousands of dollars worth of purses in hand

The recent October 11 video began with a female employee walking around a section of the store on her phone as the red hooded male suspect entered the scene behind her.

The red hooded suspect then walked around the corner to what appeared to be the back door of the store.

The employee is then seen suspiciously walking around the same corner.

The male suspect then abruptly pushes the employee out of the way as another rushes into the store sporting a black hoodie.

The distraught female employee follows the black hooded suspect as the other thief begins to collect at least six purses off the display cases.

The footage cuts back to the black hooded suspect stealing the purses in another section of the store as the frightened employee looks on.

Both suspects are seen abruptly leaving the scene with an armful of purses in hand.

Police have not identified the suspects in the video but are looking further into the incident.

The Bottega Veneta store near the Magnificent Mile was previously raided by 12 men on September 20 who stole 35 handbags

The previous theft at the location occurred on September 20 as 12 men had raided the store stealing 35 handbags.

The rise in shoplifting crimes have been plaguing the Windy City over the course of the past couple of months as other luxury stores have also shared similar incidents.

Earlier this month, a group of seven to eight shoplifters were seen leaving a Bloomingdale's in suburban Chicago with an armful of expensive purses.

A Louis Vuitton store was also raided by purse snatching shoplifters in Northbrook Court in the North Shore of Chicago.

Chicago is the latest city to be hit by rampant shoplifting and its Magnificent Mile, the once highly-populated retail destination, is now dotted with empty storefronts as businesses are being driven away by the brazen thieves.

The city's crime spiral is set to intensify as more than a third of Chicago's 13,000 cops refused to report their COVID vaccine status by a deadline set for last week, now putting them on track for dismissal.

Chicago's largest union has asked its members to flood the city with exemptions, and is effectively daring Mayor Lori Lightfoot to fire them, after continued outrage over appalling crime figures.

Shoplifter were emboldened following a December 2016 motion from State's Attorney Kim Foxx that mandated Chicago prosecutors only issue felony charges for theft of property over $1,000.

Her officer said at the time that the move was meant to shift focus to the driving factors of the crimes instead of low-level offenses. In turn, however, thieves know they can grab armfuls of merchandise without being stopped by store security.

Chicago's most recent shoplifting spree involved a group of men who robbed three 7-Eleven convenience stores downtown in a span of 30 minutes on Monday morning.

Chicago's Magnificent Mile has been the target of rampant shoplifting that caused several stores to close their doors. Above, a gang of three shoplifters were filmed emptying the shelves of a Chicago Ulta Beauty store late last month

The city has been plagued by a string of robberies and a wave of crime in the past few months, as some say that the city's 'soft-on-crime' policies embolden the thieves

State's Attorney Kim Foxx mandates that Chicago prosecutors only issue felony charges for theft of property over $1,000

Four armed men robbed a 7-Eleven on East Lake Street at 8.29am, in which they took an undetermined amount of cash before fleeing in a black vehicle, police said. Five minutes later, police believe the same group wearing masks and hooded sweatshirts, robbed another 7-Eleven and, just before 9am, they made a final stop at a third 7-Eleven and robbed it at gunpoint.

No arrests have been made as of Wednesday afternoon.

'It's a serious problem, and we have to address it,' Alderman Brian Hopkins told CBS Chicago, explaining that the issue affects commercial real estate as well as public safety.

'The commercial brokers tell us that when they get potential interest from a tenant, that's one of the first questions they ask, is what's happening in Chicago to stem the tide of retail shoplifting rings that have been operating with impunity downtown? And we don't have a good answer right now for that.'

Hopkins added, 'I think we have to look at prosecution. Clearly there's a feeling running through the criminal elements that there are no consequences here. We have to look to the courts, and I think we have to just look to all the players in this drama to get Chicago to what it once was.'

The city's approach to prosecuting retail crime is similar to one in San Francisco, where prosecutors only issue felony charges for thefts of property worth over $950. Walgreens cited the shoplifting issue as the reason it closed 17 stores and is planning to close another five throughout the city, the pharmacy chain announced last week.

Stores throughout Chicago's Magnificent Mile are closing in the wake of the rampant shoplifting and since last spring the area lost a Macy's, Disney Store and Japanese retailer Uniqlo

The vacancy rate for the Magnificent Mile has skyrocketed from 11 percent in 2019 to 19 percent this year, according to ABC 7

Top chain stores that closed their doors on the Magnificent Mile Macy's

Uniqlo

Disney Store

Gap

Forever 21

Tommy Bahama

Express

Apple

Dylan's Candy Bar

Na Hoku

Roots

Topshop

Columbia Sportswear Advertisement

Stores throughout Chicago's Magnificent Mile are doing the same as Macy's closed its 170,000-square-foot flagship store in Water Tower Place last spring, Japanese retailer Uniqlo closed its 60,000-square-foot store in August and the Disney Store closed its 7,000-square-foot location on Michigan Avenue last month.

In the past few years, Gap, Forever 21 and Tommy Bahama have also closed stores on the Magnificent Mile. The vacancy rate has skyrocketed from 11 percent in 2019 to 19 percent this year, according to ABC 7.

'We recognize community concerns around crime, and the impact it can have on one's sense of safety as well as the economic stability of a business,' the State's Attorney's office wrote in a statement to CBS Chicago before doubling down on its approach to retail crime.

'We continue to prosecute retail theft cases as misdemeanors and felonies when appropriate to do so based on the facts and evidence,' the statement continued.

The State's Attorney's office said that so far this year, its prosecutors have reviewed and issued 38 total charges for retail theft in areas of Chicago including the Magnificent Mile and Streeterville. Of that number, 18 were approved as felony charges, 10 were prosecuted and six were convicted.

The city's shoplifting issue could grow worse as the Chicago Police Department has started placing officers on unpaid leave for failing to report their vaccination status by Friday's deadline.

So far, about 50 officers have been placed on an unpaid status, according to Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday, however, called the 50 officers a 'very small number' who have had their pay stopped by the city for refusing to cooperate with the mandate.

As of Tuesday, 4,543 officers  a little over one third of the force  have not complied and are being given one last chance to report whether they've been vaccinated or be put on no-pay status.

Meanwhile, the city has started seeking recruits from suburban Illinois to fill the potential staffing shortage.

Robb Karr, president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, told CBS Chicago that loss of sales tax associated with shoplifting  on top of the closing stores  further hinder Chicago's post-pandemic recovery.

'The impression around the nation is that Chicago is not a very safe place to be,' he said. 'And the incidents we saw this morning, over the weekend, the episodes before that, only feed that.'

The city's shoplifting issue could grow worse as Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered the Chicago Police Department to place officers on unpaid leave for failing to report their vaccination status by Friday's deadline

Late last month, a gang of shoplifters was filmed brazenly ransacking UIta Beauty store in the Windy City's Norridge suburb over the weekend. Footage showed a gang of three hooded thieves emptying its shelves of expensive Christian Dior and Armani makeup into black trash bags.

It was shared on social media Monday, with the shocked cameraman, who hasn't been named, saying: 'Look at this, this is insane,' as he films the theft unfolding before his eyes.

It came as CWB Chicago reported Chicago's stores have been targeted by three different organized crime gangs. One of those gangs has been targeting upmarket designer stores on the city's Magnificent Mile, whose businesses were hit by looting in summer 2020 during riots in the wake of George Floyd's murder.

The second has targeted at least three Ulta Beauty stores - although it's currently unclear if that is the same gang filmed at the Norridge location. And a third gang has been raiding Walgreen's drug stores to steal cigarettes.

The first shoplifting crew was stealing from high-end Chicago stores between the Magnificent Mile and Rush Street, according to CWB Chicago. Twelve men were seen involved in a raid of 35 handbags at Bottega Veneta on September 27 - which go for thousands of dollars each- and left in two separate cars, including a gray Honda CRV.

The same crew allegedly attempted to steal from Salvatore Ferragamo an hour before but left after they were believed to be recognized by the store's security guard. They already reportedly stole $43,000 worth of the store's merchandise in August and injured the security guard during the theft.

Above is a file photo of Chicago's Magnificent Mile

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

Violent crimes are up across the board in Chicago, with murders are up a whopping 56 percent since 2019 and three percent since 2020

'Michigan Avenue is the economic engine of the city of Chicago. Almost 20% of the jobs are in the mag mile district jobs in the city of Chicago,' Jack Lavin, the president and CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, said to ABC 7. '$180 million of sales tax revenue is generated by this district, it's the largest neighborhood in the city of Chicago.'

He said that the Chamber is pushing for 'innovative' ways to attract merchants back to the Magnificent Mile, adding that this may involve breaking large spaces up into smaller retail shops.

Meanwhile, the most recent victim of Chicago's violent crime wave was a police officer who was shot in the face on Monday and 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 when he confronted Jovan McPherson, a felon on probation, who was threatening and holding a woman at gunpoint at a busy Lincoln Park strip mall, Cook County prosecutors said Tuesday.

McPherson allegedly pulled out a gun and a struggle ensued as the officer tried to take the weapon away, prosecutors said. That's when McPherson fired a shot that struck the officer in the cheek, prosecutors said.

Chicago's pattern of crime and shoplifting mirrors that of other cities like San Francisco, in which Walgreens announced that it is shuttering another five of its stores because of rampant shoplifting by thieves who sell the items outside the drugstore chain's doors.

The national chain has closed 17 of its 70 San Francisco locations in the past two years because of the shelf raiders, who have swiped everything not behind lock and key.

Thefts in the chain's 53 remaining stores are five times the average for their stores elsewhere in the country, according to company officials.

San Francisco and Walgreens officials have cited 'organized retail crime' - in which the thieves sell the swiped merchandise outside the stores - as a main reason for the most recent closures.

'Organized retail crime continues to be a challenge facing retailers across San Francisco, and we are not immune to that,' Walgreens spokesperson Phil Caruso told the Daily Mail last Wednesday.

'Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average.'

A video posted to TikTok shows a parade of people casually shoplifting from what appears to be a Rite Aid in New York City

Another smiled and waved at the security guard who filmed the scene as he passed by

Viral videos taken throughout the summer have shown shoplifters brazenly sauntering out of stores with armfuls of stolen goods as witnesses watch in shock.

In one incident, surveillance footage caught a group of thieves in masks and hoodies sprinting out of a San Francisco Neiman Marcus with armfuls of designer handbags and others casually walking out of a TJ Maxx store carrying bags worth of goods.

In another, in June, a prolific shoplifter who had stolen from the same Walgreens on at least four occasions, was seen loading armfuls of Walgreens products into a trash bag, then riding his bike through the store with the stolen goods while the security guard and bystanders looked on.

The suspect, Jean Lugo-Romero, 40, was arrested on June 19 and remains in jail.

Shoplifting has been a problem in the Democrat-run state since 2014 - following the passage of Proposition 47, a ballot referendum known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act - that downgraded the theft of property worth less than $950 in value from a felony to a misdemeanor.

Cases have jumped during the pandemic as store staff and security guards choose not to pursue the thieves. Larceny and theft remain the most common crimes committed in San Francisco, increasing by about 8 percent from last year. There were 21,842 cases reported through October 10 of this year, compared with 20,254 cases during the same time through 2020.

The Walgreens locations that will be closing include: 2550 Ocean Avenue, on November 8, 4645 Mission Street, on November 11, 745 Clement Street, on November 15, 300 Gough Street on November 15, and 3400 Cesar Chavez Street on November 17.

New York City stores are also rife with shoplifting incidents and, earlier this month, a TikTok video went viral that revealed brazen thieves stealing from a Rite Aid in front of a security guard before leaving with their stolen items. The security guard, a woman named India who said she worked at a Rite Aid, posted the video to TikTok and dubbed it 'a typical night at work.'

It showed a parade of people taking things off the shelves and walking out with one of the thieves even smiling and waving at her as he passed.

The comment led people to ask her why she isn't stopping the thieves if she is supposed to be a security guard, to which she replied: 'Because it's illegal to touch, grab or use any physical force to stop them.'

Instead, she said, her job is to 'observe and report.'
Brian Laundries parents, Christopher and Roberta, left their home Sunday for the first time since police told them their son was dead in a Florida swamp.

The couple dashed out to their red Dodge Ram pick-up truck at 9.50am after holing up inside their house for four days.

Christopher, in a gray t-shirt and dark shorts, quickly got in the driver's side of the truck while Roberta, in blue cut-off jeans and carrying a large green bag, hopped in the other side. It was not known there the couple were heading.

The father, 62, reversed quickly and drove to the center of North Port. He was followed by a news crew before stopping and talking to them.

He told them: Please let me grieve with my family.

The Laundries are not planning to hold a funeral for their son, the family's lawyer Steve Bertolino confirmed to DailyMail.com.

Brian's remains will be cremated and given to his parents when the time comes, he said.

Brian Laundrie s parents, Christopher and Roberta, left their home Sunday for the first time since police told them their son was dead in a Florida swamp

The couple dashed out to their red Dodge Ram pick-up truck at 9.50am after holing up inside their house for four days

Brian Laundrie's (pictured) remains will be cremated and given to his parents when the time comes'

Christopher has emerged from the couples home only infrequently since two police officers arrived on Thursday to confirm bones found in the alligator-infested Carlton Reserve were the remains of his fugitive son, Brian Laundrie.

He pounded in no trespassing signs into his lawn on Saturday near the shrine mourners have created on his lawn to murdered Gabby Petito, 22.

Fiance Brian, 23, remains the only person of interest in her killing.

Christopher has also periodically come out to pick up the large number of floral arrangements delivered to their front door.

His and Robertas last outing was to the Carlton Reserve on Wednesday when they suddenly decided to look for their son in the 25,000-acre swampland reserve.

They met two law enforcement officers at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park shortly after 7am and they headed across a bridge into the reserve to follow a trail that Brian liked to take.

It is believed this route had been previously flooded but was now accessible. Within a short time, wanted Brians backpack, another bag, a notebook and then his remains were discovered near the track.

Dailymail.com has exclusively revealed the location of the bones and other items, just off a trail called Live Long.

A man dressed in a black-collared shirt donning the logo of North Port-based Port Charlotte Florist pulled up in a white van and carried a bouquet of white roses to the Laundries' front door

Brian Laundrie's father Christopher, 62, was spotted outside of his North Port, Florida, home on Saturday morning hammering a 'no trespassing' sign into the grass of his front lawn

He placed one sign near his mailbox and another just above a growing memorial of Gabby Petito at the bottom of their front lawn

Mourners have created a shrine to murdered Gabby Petito on the Laundrie family's lawn

Steve Bertolino, the Laundrie family lawyer, described what happened: As they went further in, Chris ventured off the trail into the woods.

He was zigzagging in different areas, law enforcement was doing the same thing. And Roberta Laundrie was walking down the trail.

At some point, Chris locates what's called a dry bag. The dry bag is a white bag, laying in the woods, say 20 feet or so off the trail.

Bertolino continued: Law enforcement looked at the contents of the bag. At that time, officers showed him a picture on the phone of a backpack that law enforcement had located also nearby and also some distance off the trail.

At that point, the Laundries were notified there was also remains near the backpack, and they were asked to leave the preserve.

The notebook could be salvageable a source told CNN. They added: It had clearly been wet and they are going to use any potential means to dry that out before opening it. They will be very careful with it.

An autopsy by the medical examiner in Sarasota has failed to determine how Laundrie died and his bones have been sent to an anthropologist for further examination, Bertolino told Dailymail.com.

This is the desolate swampland scene dotted with orange FBI marker paint in Florida where fugitive Brian Laundries bones were discovered, DailyMail.com confirmed on Saturday

The scene is just 700 yards from the entrance to the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park and still has the orange and lime green marker flags placed by the FBI

The orange marker is possibly where Laundries bag and a crucial notebook were discovered. A lime green flag signifies where Laundrie's remains and belongings were possibly found

The sudden discovery inside the reserve  described as like Jurassic Park by one search and rescue expert  came after a massive hunt for Laundrie began there on September 17.

More than 50 law enforcement officers, many in tactical gear and wielding rifles, had combed the treacherous swamp in huge all-terrain vehicles  while drones using infra-red technology covered areas they could not tackle due to flood water.

For weeks is appeared there was absolutely no evidence of him being there.

North Port police said they did cover the area where Laundrie was found, but in airboats.

It is not known how long Laundrie was in the reserve before he died. He fled there on September 13, two days after police arrived at the home he shared with his parents to speak with him over Gabbys disappearance.

His parents refused to let police talk to their son  and North Port Police have told Dailymail.com that officers did not actually see Laundrie that night.

He had arrived back alone in North Port on September 1 from a road trip to Utah and Wyoming with Gabby in her white 2012 Ford Transit van.

Gabbys body was found on September 19 in a lonely spot in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming. She had been strangled.

Confirmation that Laundrie was dead was issued by the FBI on Thursday.

Minutes before the news broke, two North Port police officers arrived at the Laundrie home to tell his parents.

His father opened the door after the solemn officers knocked twice  and Dailymail.com photos show his stunned face as he confronted the reality of his sons death.

The shrine on the Laundries lawn dedicated to the 22-year-old van-life girl has been growing in recent days.

Gabbys heartbroken family have only recently been able to collect their murdered daughters remains. Mom Nichole Schmidt, stepdad Jim Schmidt, dad Joe Petito and stepmom Tara made the devastating trip to a funeral home in Jackson, Wyoming, last week.

Gabby's parents pleaded for Laundrie to come forward while he was missing, with the discovery of his body sparking fears they'll never discover why their daughter was strangled

The remote site where the bloggers body was discovered on September 19 has become a shrine to Petito, complete with a stone cross dotted with flowers

It was only a few days after Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue announced Gabby had been manually strangled before being dumped close to a remote campsite in Grand Teton National Park.

The remote site where the bloggers body was discovered has become a shrine to Petito, complete with a stone cross dotted with flowers.

Dr. Blue refused to 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 three-to-four weeks her body was believed to be in the wilderness, however, put her death around the August 27-30 period investigators believe Petito and Laundrie had traveled to the area.

Only this week, Gabbys mom had said she wanted coward Laundrie to spend the rest of his life in a cell.

Nichole, who reported Gabby missing on September 11 after losing contact with her, said she thought her daughter would be safe with Brian on their trip.

But her view has since changed, branding him a cold-blooded killer who was being protected by his parents who had refused to talk to her.

'Silence speaks volumes, she told 60 Minutes Australia.

Of the parents, she said: 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 hes insane because he went home, hes hiding, he used her credit card. That's not somebody whos 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.'

Her husband, Jim, added: 'We want vengeance. And justice.'

I hope she didn't suffer and that she wasn't in any pain,' added Nichole.

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.
A woman filmed racially abusing a bouncer when she was thrown out of a Birmingham city centre bar has said she is being bombarded with death threats after the video was shared online.

Tia Simmonds, 21, was caught on camera calling one member of staff a 'f****** p***' during a foul-mouthed racist rant on Thursday night.

The waitress, from Leicester, said she would not care if the video went viral despite attempting to hide her face from the camera.

However, she has now claimed not to have said anything racist after 'getting a bit worked up' and said it is 'unfair' that she has been vilified online.

Tia Simmonds was caught on video abusing a bouncer outside a bar in Birmingham city centre after being kicked out

The 21-year-old waitress has claimed it is 'unfair' that the footage was posted online as she is now receiving death threats

She claims not to have said anything racist during the 45-second video, which went viral after being uploaded to TikTok

Ms Simmonds attempted to hide her face from the camera before claiming she did not care if the video went viral

Speaking to The Sun Online, Ms Simmonds said: 'I am sorry for what people think I said. I apologise if people feel I have offended anyone.

'I got a bit worked up, I was arguing with them but I didn't call the Asian man a racist word. I didnt hear any racist comments.

'Im not racist. Im quarter black so how can I be?'

The footage shows Ms Simmonds shouting towards security staff outside the bar after being kicked out.

She appears to scream 'you're a f****** p***, bruv' and 'you're crackheads'.

When a man filming the ordeal says 'you're going viral', she replies 'I don't care' and continues to behave aggressively towards the door staff.

Ms Simmonds says she has not been contacted by police over the alleged racist insult, but had heard officers were speaking to her former boss at a pub in Mountsorrel, Leicestershire.

The incident is understood to have taken place outside the Levana cocktail bar in Birmingham city centre

Defending herself, Ms Simmonds has said: 'Im not racist. Im quarter black so how can I be?'

Ms Simmonds appeared call one member of staff a 'f****** p***' during the foul-mouthed rant outside the bar

She claims to have been bombarded with death threats from 'random people' since the incident was posted online

Ms Simmonds says the 45-second video, initially shared on TikTok, has resulted in a plethora of abuse with 'random people' wanting her dead.

She added: 'Theyre saying "go kill yourself." Ive had death threats with other saying "next time I see you Im going to stamp you out!"

'Its not fair its all over Instagram and TikTok. The video went viral and Im getting loads of abuse. I don't deserve that. Its so unfair.'

Ms Simmonds was 'chucked out' of the venue, believed to be Levana cocktail bar, by a bouncer because of a 'really drunk' friend.

While she had consumed a few drinks herself, she claimed to be not drunk like her female pal.

Ms Simmond's mother, Cheryl Finch, said she is 'really worried' for her daughter and 'you can't be 100 per cent sure' of what was said in the video.

She did admit, though, that her daughter was 'out of order'.

Ms Finch added: 'My daughters no racist. She is quarter black, her dad is Caribbean. The majority of her friends are black and Asian.

'Tia's suffering from anxiety and depression, she's off work because of it, and all this is not doing her any good.'
Alec Baldwin's western Rust 'will never be finished', a crew member has predicted, after the A-list star accidentally shot dead cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on set.

'None of us expect this movie to be finished. Ever,' the unnamed worker told The Sun after the tragedy on Thursday. 'We know this is the end of the road for Rust sadly.'

'Maybe way down the line it will get picked up again but right now, theres no way its going to continue getting made. If by a miracle it ever is though, the movie will absolutely be dedicated to Halyna.'

The source told The Sun that the film couldn't go on without director Joel Souza, 48, who is still recovering from his injuries after he, too, was shot.

'Not only is our director still [recovering], but there will be lawsuits Im sure and a lot of other factors that will prevent this movie from ever being finished.'

Although Alec Baldwin (pictured), who fired the fatal shot, will likely be named in upcoming lawsuits, whoever loaded the gun will be the most likely to face criminal charges

'Maybe way down the line it will get picked up again but right now, theres no way its going to continue getting made. If by a miracle it ever is though, the movie will absolutely be dedicated to Halyna [Hutchins] (pictured),' a crewmember said of the film, which was halted indefinitely after the cinematographer was fatally shot in the chest by a gun that never should have been loaded with live bullets

Earlier this week, experts told DailyMail.com that guns containing live ammunition are never used in filming, and it is uncertain why a loaded gun was on the set at all. Pictured is an inconsolable Alec Baldwin, hunched over and weeping on-set after the tragic killing

Rust was being made on a $7 million budget - tiny, by Hollywood standards, where a superhero movie can cost upwards of $300 million.

The production had been hit by walkouts amid staff mistreatment, and will now forever be associated with the tragic killing of a crew member on set, potentially putting people off going to see it even if it were completed.

Baldwin is the star of the movie, with the horrific tragedy that has swept the set likely making it difficult for anyone to watch his character on-screen without thinking of what happened should the movie miraculously make it to theaters.

Some experts have predicted that the movie's insurers may refuse to pay out if it emerges that safety protocols weren't followed properly, potentially ruining its financial backers.

The Crow, the 1993 movie which saw star Brandon Lee shot dead while filming, was completed and went on to become a financial success.

But Lee had completed almost all his scenes before filming, and wasn't shot and killed by the star of the movie.

Earlier this week, experts told DailyMail.com that guns containing live ammunition are never used in filming, and it is uncertain why a loaded gun was on the set at all. Although Alec Baldwin, who fired the fatal shot, will likely be named in upcoming lawsuits, whoever loaded the gun will be the most likely to face criminal charges.

On Saturday, it was revealed by TMZ that Colt pistol in question had previously been used recreationally for target practice by crew members. Sources claim that some of the set's crew would go off for target practice using real bullets, and some believe that a live round from those sessions found its way into the barrel of the gun used on set.

Another source told TMZ that live ammo and blanks were being stored in the same area on set, offering another possible explanation as to how a bullet was fired from Baldwin's Colt.

Alec Baldwin was wielding a vintage Colt pistol when it accidentally went off. It is not known who loaded the weapon and why it went off as a replacement crew was brought in the day of the incident (The gun pictured above is a vintage Colt pistol manufactured between 1873-92. While the exact model of the gun used is unknown, Rust is set in the 1880s)

Filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, Baldwin apparently aimed towards the camera and pulled the trigger, accidentally killing Halyna Hutchins (pictured) as she filmed him, and injuring Souza, who stood behind her.

A search warrant released Friday said that Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, had laid out three prop guns on a cart outside the filming location, and first assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the Colt from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds.

'Cold gun!' shouted Halls before handing the gun to Baldwin, using the phrase to signal to cast and crew that the gun was safe to fire for the scene, the warrant said.

Seconds later, filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, Baldwin apparently aimed towards the camera and pulled the trigger, accidentally killing Hutchins as she filmed him, and injuring Souza, who stood behind her.

Complaints against Dave Halls were made by prop maker and pyrotechnician Maggie Goll after working on him on a previous production with him on Hulu in 2019 called Into the Dark.

In Goll's statement to CNN, she claimed that Halls never addressed weapon safety protocols in production meetings or when a firearm was to be used on the set.

Typically, any weapon being used on a set - real or fake - must be 'introduced' to the cast and the crew so that they are aware of its presence, and can follow other safety protocols. Halls, Goll said, failed to follow these safety guidelines.

'The only reason the crew was made aware of a weapon's presence was because the assistant prop master demanded Dave acknowledge and announce the situation each day,' Goll said in the statement.

A search warrant released Friday said first assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds

She also added that the prop master would reprimand Halls for not acknowledging the protocol.

Goll also said that she was told to 'watch out' for him by another crew member as Halls apparently tended to get touchy with them. His on-set behavior may have cost Hutchins' life.

Two production sources who previously worked with Gutierrez-Reed said this was not the first time she was involved in an incident on a movie set.

The two sources told The Daily Beast that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had allegedly given an 11-year-old actress a gun without checking it properly while on the set of the Nicholas Cage film, The Old Way.

'There were a couple times she was loading the blanks and doing it in a fashion that we thought was unsafe,' one of the sources said.

'She was a bit careless with the guns, waving it around every now and again.'

The colt pistol accidentally went off and pierced Halyna Hutchin's chest on Thursday

Sources on the Rust set have said the fatal incident that killed Hutchins, 42, and injured Souza, 48, was a result of production failings from top to bottom.

They added that assistant director Halls, who handed the gun to Baldwin and told him it was safe, should have checked the weapon.

'He's supposed to be our last line of defense and he failed us,' one of the sources on set said. 'He's the last person that's supposed to look at that firearm.'

A Rust production source told The Daily Beast that there were at least two previous incidents of guns being accidentally discharged by other crewmember on set before Thursday's tragic incident.

The source described Gutierrez-Reed as 'inexperienced and green.'

Gutierrez-Reed had previously admitted she wasn't sure she was ready for the job on The Old Way in an interview before filming started.

'I almost didn't take the job because I wasn't sure if I was ready, but doing it, it went really smoothly,' Hannah Gutierrez-Reed said in a podcast interview last month after leading the firearms department for The Old Way, starring Nicolas Cage - her first time as head armorer.

She also admitted in the podcast interview she found loading blanks into a gun 'the scariest' thing because she did not know how to do it and had sought help from her father, legendary gunsmith Thell Reed, to get over the fear.

Sources on the set of Rust said the incident that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins could be tied to the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed

It comes as the film crew revealed they walked off set hours before the fatal accident over safety fears after firearms were accidentally discharged three times - including once by Baldwin's stunt double who had been told the gun was not loaded, and twice in a closed cabin.

Neither Halls nor Gutierrez-Reed immediately returned messages from DailyMail.com late on Friday. Neither has been charged or named as a criminal suspect in the case, though a police investigation is ongoing.

The gun that fired the fatal shot was a vintage-style Colt revolver, DailyMail.com has exclusively learned.

After the shooting, the armorer took possession of the gun and a spent casing, which were turned over to police, along with other prop guns and ammunition used on the set.

Baldwin also changed out of the Western costume he was wearing, which was stained with blood, and turned it over to police.

The warrant does not reveal the model or caliber of the prop gun that fired the fatal bullet, but the film is set in the Old West of the 1880s and DailyMail.com has learned it was a Colt.

'We still can't believe Halyna is dead and her mother is going out of her mind with grief,' Hutchins' father, Anatoly Androsovych told the Sun on Sunday. 'But I don't hold Alec Baldwin responsible  it is the responsibility of the props people who handle the guns'

The warrant was obtained Friday so that investigators could document the scene at the ranch where the shooting took place.

Unionized workers had walked off the set hours before the fatal shooting, after they complained about long hours, shoddy conditions and another safety incident days earlier involving 'two misfires' of a prop weapon.

A yet-unnamed prop master who oversaw the gun used in the fatal shooting was a non-union worker who was 'just brought in' to replace the workers who left over safety concerns, a source involved in the movie told the New York Post.

It's unclear whether Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer, had recently joined the production, or was one of the crew members who stayed behind after the walk-off.

However, a link in her Instagram bio points to an article about Rust from May, suggesting she had been attached to the production for some time.

Why WAS a gun on Alec Baldwin movie set loaded with live ammo? Mystery over events that led to actor killing cinematographer The deadly chain of events on set that led to Alec Baldwin being handed a gun with live ammunition and accidentally shooting and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins have become clearer after it emerged last night the actor fired a live round, believing it to be a blank. Experts yesterday told DailyMail.com safety on set is usually extremely tight with live bullets never used in filming and it remains unclear why a firearm loaded with live ammunition was on the Rust set at all. Baldwin was handed a gun loaded with live ammunition First assistant director Dave Halls picked up one of the firearms - a vintage-style Colt revolver laid out by armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed - unaware it was loaded with live bullets. 'Cold gun!' shouted Halls before handing the gun to Baldwin, using the phrase to signal to cast and crew that the gun was safe to fire for the scene, a search warrant released on Friday said. Baldwin, filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, then fired a live round towards the camera, accidentally killing Hutchins as she filmed him. Hutchins was airlifted to the hospital but was pronounced dead. Souza was taken to the hospital by ambulance but was released on Thursday evening. Why was live ammunition used on set in the first place? Live ammunition is never usually used on film sets and Baldwin's shooting and killing of a cinematographer a 'total mystery', a Hollywood armorer has said. Mike Tristan, 60, who has provided guns for movie sets for over 30 years, said the injuries sustained by Hutchins should not have been possible. Tristan, who has worked with Baldwin before, said any professional armorer would have checked the weapon, which he believes was a Western, before handing it to the 63-year-old. 'There should have been blanks in the gun, the on-set armorer's job is to check that before handing the weapon over,' Tristan told Dailymail.com. 'They then make sure that the actor stands on a mark and never points the gun at the crew or cast, you give them an aim to point at and the editing makes it seem like they were pointing at their co-actor. 'That's why everyone in the industry is very confused, how this happened is a total mystery at the moment.' Union members had walked off set hours earlier over safety concerns Unionized members walked off set on Wednesday, hours before the tragedy, complaining of safety concerns. They complained about long hours, shoddy conditions and another safety incident days earlier involving 'two misfires' of a prop weapon. Deadline cites an unnamed source who said a gun had gone off 'in a cabin' while someone was holding it, days prior to the shooting that killed Hutchins. 'A gun had two misfires in a closed cabin. They just fired loud pops  a person was just holding it in their hands and it went off,' they said, apparently referring to unintentional discharges. Baldwin's stunt double also accidentally fired two rounds after being told the firearm was 'cold'. When they turned up to set to clear their things on Thursday, they found they'd been replaced by locals. It begs the question of who those local workers were, what their training was and to what extent did they check the weapon before it was handed to Baldwin. Advertisement

Unionized employees had been complaining about the fact they had to stay overnight in Albuquerque - an hour's drive from the set - and not Sante Fe because production wouldn't pay for their hotels, according to sources cited by The Los Angeles Times and multiple social media posts by film and TV insiders.

When they turned up to set to clear their things on Thursday, they found they'd been replaced by locals.

It begs the question of who those local workers were, what their training was and to what extent did they check the weapon before it was handed to Baldwin.

Deadline also cites an unnamed source who said a gun had gone off 'in a cabin' while someone was holding it, days prior to the shooting that killed Hutchins.

'A gun had two misfires in a closed cabin. They just fired loud pops  a person was just holding it in their hands and it went off,' they said, apparently referring to unintentional discharges.

Rust Production LLC did not respond to repeated requests for comment from DailyMail.com on Friday about the incident, but members of the union that represents many of the crew who were involved in the production said they had expressed fears about on-set safety.

Baldwin first addressed the tragedy on Twitter Friday: 'There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.'

He then tweeted a Variety article titled Alec Baldwin Was Told Prop Gun Was Safe Before Fatal Shooting, Affidavit Says.

He was pictured doubled over in grief on Thursday after speaking to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department immediately following the shooting.

Hutchins' husband shared a touching tribute to his wife on Twitter on Friday. Matthew Hutchins tweeted a photo of his wife and their 9-year-old son Andros on Friday captioned: 'Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words.

'Our loss is enormous, and we ask that the media please respect my familys privacy as we process our grief. We thank everyone for sharing images and stories of her life.'

His Facebook profile picture is a photo of the couple who had been married for 16 years. His bio now reads: 'We miss you, Halyna.'

Hutchins' father, Anatoly Androsovych, laid the blame for the killing with the films armory team on Sunday.

'We still can't believe Halyna is dead and her mother is going out of her mind with grief,' Anatoly told the Sun on Sunday.

'But I don't hold Alec Baldwin responsible  it is the responsibility of the props people who handle the guns.'

'[Halyna's son] has been very badly affected  he is lost without his mother.'

Anatoly is now fighting to organise visas to grant his wife Olga and daughter Svetlana entry to the US to support Halyna's husband Matthew and son Andros, who at just 9 years old is left without his mother.

A private memorial was held in Santa Fe last night with Matthew, Andros, and Baldwin in attendance, according to ShowBiz411. It was reported that grief counselors were present at the service.

The grieving husband told DailyMail.com on Friday morning that he had spoken with the actor. 'I have spoken with Alec Baldwin and he is being very supportive,' he said.

Zak Knight, a pyrotechnic and special effects engineer who is a member of Local 44, told DailyMail.com on Friday: 'There should have never been live rounds on a movie set, that's number one.'

'Number two is every single person on a movie set has a right to inspect a weapon before it's fired. And number three is, there is no reason to ever put a person in front of a weapon that's firing.

'Anytime you see a movie where the barrel is pointed down the camera lens, there should not be an operator behind it. It's obvious that the considerations of this resulted in that gun being pointed directly at two people.

'We would have additionally had a barrier between them. A large number of people failed to do our protocols... every accident is a cascade of events,' he said.

Whatever happened in the moments leading up to her death, Knight said it was caused by a 'cascade of failures' by multiple people. 'We have a hard and fast rule that no live ammunition ever goes into a prop truck or set at any time. We just don't do it.

Whatever happened in the moments leading up to her death, Knight said it was caused by a 'cascade of failures' by multiple people. 'We have a hard and fast rule that no live ammunition ever goes into a prop truck or set at any time. We just don't do it.' Pictured is a group of New Mexico locals and members of the area film community mourning the loss of Halyna Hutchins

'If you see bullets on set they are complete dummy rounds and are in no way functional. This goes back to Brandon Lee. There's protocol.' Lee was killed in a similar incident when another actor shot him with a prop gun that was loaded with live ammunition while filming The Crow in 1993.

Knight added that different gun laws between New Mexico and California may have also contributed to the accident. In California, both a trained armorer and a prop master is required on a film set and those are the standards the union adheres to as well.

'You will find the best and most well-trained individuals in Los Angeles. You can't guarantee that as you go across the country,' he told DailyMail.com on Friday.
The husband of jailed British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has gone on hunger strike for a second time following the government's 'failure' to secure her release back to the UK.

Richard Ratcliffe will start the hunger strike outside the Foreign office in London after his wife, who has been detained in Iran since April 2016, lost her appeal against a second jail sentence earlier this month.

He intends to sleep in a tent at night and is 'shocked' and 'angry' over his wife's latest conviction and the government's 'inaction and failure' to get the mother-of-one home, their MP has said.

She will return to jail for another year and is then subject to a travel ban for a further year after that.

Richard Ratcliffe (Pictured) will start the hunger strike outside the Foreign office in London after his wife, who has been detained in Iran since April 2016, lost her appeal against a second jail sentence earlier this month

A portrait of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (pictured) displayed by her husband who is protesting outside the Foreign Office while on hunger strike, part of an effort to lobby the UK foreign secretary to bring his wife home from detention in Iran

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (R) lost her appeal against a second jail sentence earlier this month and her husband Richard (L) admits he is 'shocked' and 'angry'

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 42, has completed a sentence in the Islamic Republic over widely refuted allegations of plotting to overthrow its government. She strongly denies the charges.

She was taking her daughter Gabriella to see her family when she was arrested and was sentenced to five years in prison.

The mother-of-one was held in the notorious Evin jail for four years, where political prisoners are usually tortured, but is currently under house arrest at her parents home after Covid swept through the overcrowded cells.

According to her family, she was told by Iranian authorities that she was being detained because of the UK's failure to pay an outstanding 400 million debt to Iran.

Non-profit organisation Redress said that, while Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has not yet been summoned to prison, it is unclear whether she will be returned to prison or house arrest with an ankle tag, or whether she will be 'left in limbo in Iran indefinitely'.

On a petition on Change.Org, which has more than 3.5 million signatures as of Sunday afternoon, Mr Ratcliffe has written: 'Two years ago I went on hunger strike in front of the Iranian Embassy, on the eve of Boris Johnson taking over as Prime Minister.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been travelling with her daughter Gabriella, now six, (pictured together during a temporary release in 2018) who was cared for by relatives in Iran until eventually coming home to her father in 2019

Richard (pictured) will also be making a patchwork blanket over the course of the strike, with a mixture of drawn and sewn patches, for each day Nazanin has been held

'Two years ago we were allowed to camp in front of Iranian Embassy for 15 days, much to their considerable anger. But it got Gabriella home.

'We are now giving the UK government the same treatment. In truth, I never expected to have to do a hunger strike twice. It is not a normal act.

'It seems extraordinary the need to adopt the same tactics to persuade government here, to cut through the accountability gap.

'Of course Iran still remains the primary abuser in Nazanin's case. But our family is caught in a dispute between two states.

'The UK is also letting us down. It is increasingly clear that Nazanin's case could have been solved many months ago, but for other diplomatic agendas. The PM needs to take responsibility for that.'

He has also said he will be making a patchwork blanket over the course of the strike, with a mixture of drawn and sewn patches, for each day Nazanin has been held.

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq tweeted on Sunday afternoon: 'My heart breaks to write this, but once again my constituent Richard Ratcliffe has been forced to go on hunger strike because of the Government's inaction and failure to FreeNazanin.

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq tweeted support for Richard Ratcliffe and his wife on Sunday afternoon

'It should never have come to this.'

Rupert Skilbeck, director of Redress, said: 'It's deeply worrying that Richard Ratcliffe has felt compelled to resort once again to a life-threatening measure to bring attention to the desperate plight of his family.

'Five years on, we have only seen setback after setback. The UK Government's approach is clearly not working.

'It's time to stand up to perpetrators of hostage-taking by sanctioning those who perpetuate this reprehensible practice, and to bring Nazanin home.'

Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, said: "It's so incredibly upsetting that it's come to this.

"Like Richard, we've grown tired of hearing ministers saying they're 'doing all they can' for Nazanin and other arbitrarily-detained Britons in Iran - it doesn't look like that to us, and it certainly hasn't produced results."

He said the Government should set out a clearly articulated strategy for how it intends to secure the release of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other British nationals detained in Iran.

"We call on Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and other ministers to take the time to come out of their offices to visit Richard at his tent. Ministers need to hear first-hand how desperate this situation is," Mr Deshmukh said.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), said: 'Iran's decision to proceed with these baseless charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is an appalling continuation of the cruel ordeal she is going through.

'Instead of threatening to return Nazanin to prison Iran must release her permanently so she can return home.

'We are doing all we can to help Nazanin get home to her young daughter and family and we will continue to press Iran on this point.'
Tributes have been flooded in to one of the country's last surviving D-Day veterans, who has died aged 97.

Boy soldier Ray Lord, from Hull, cheated death nearly 80 years ago as a teenager during the fighting in Normandy.

He had been in uniform since the age of 14 and joined the East Yorkshire Regiment's 4th Territorial Army Battalion aged 15 as a signaller.

After being discharged from war service in 1939 as he was 'too young', Ray instead worked as a joiner repairing blitz damage in his home town of Hull, East Yorkshire, one of Britain's most bombed cities.

He signed up for a combat role as soon as he turned 18, in 1943, and was enlisted to the East Yorkshire Regiment again.

Ray Lord, who has died aged 97, pictured centre with fellow veteran John Ainsworth as they meet Prince Charles during a trip to Normandy

It was then when he narrowly-missed death when he was injured by a mortar bomb outside Caen, where his radio took most of the blast, and likely saved his life.

He was one of thousands who landed on the beaches of France on 6 June 1944.

After spending several weeks in a hospital in Leeds, he returned to the battalion for the remainder of the campaign in North West Europe and was in Bremen on VE Day, 8 May 1945.

The battalion went to Palestine and then Egypt where Ray served until he was discharged in 1947.

After the war, he married and owned and ran a newsagent in East Hull.

In an interview before his death, Ray recalled landing on the Normandy beaches on D-Day in 1944.

'I was green as grass. It was a big adventure to me,' Ray said.

'I was sick as a dog going across, of course, because the sea was rough.

'As soon as I landed, I was up to my thighs in water as we waded ashore.'

Mr Lord was a leading member of the Normandy Veterans' Association and took part in commemorations of the liberation of Europe in France and the Netherlands.

Ray Lord, pictured on Sword Beach in Normandy, with John Ainsworth, in 2016, after being awarded the Legion D'Honneur, France's top honour

His son, Robert Lord, called him as a 'very proud hero of Hull', adding: 'It's very difficult to imagine what it was like for that generation.

'He joined up - he was wanting to join up - and I think he wanted do his bit for the country.

'I think if he could have gone earlier, he would have done.'

His son said it was only in later life that Mr Lord got involved with veterans' groups.

'Growing up as a kid, if you asked him, "What did you do in the war, dad?", he was a bit reluctant to open up, to come forward,' he said.

'I think it's the horrors of what they'd seen, and you hear it from a lot of that generation who went through it.'

Lord was awarded France's top honour, the Legion D'Honneur in 2016, alongside comrade John Ainsworth, who died in 2019 aged 98.
Three of four quadruplets who are following in their mother's footsteps by working in the NHS have graduated from university.

Anjel, Aneetta and Aleena Shibu Mathew graduated from the University of Suffolk on Thursday and are now working as fully qualified nurses at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge.

The 21-year-old quads' mother Joby Shibu Mathew is a nurse at Ipswich Hospital, just an hour's drive away from three of her daughters' workplace.

Celebration: left to right, Aleena, Anjel and Aneetta graduated as nurses from the University of Suffolk, following in their mum's footsteps

The three sisters now work as qualified nurses at the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge

The sisters were joined at their graduation ceremony by fourth in the quad Aneesha, a qualified physiotherapist

Anjel is working in a cardiology ward, Aneetta in a cardiac-thoracic surgery ward and Aleena is working in a sleep study ward.

The fourth sister in the quad, Aneesha, qualified as a physiotherapist at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, and now works in Kettering, in Northamptonshire.

She joined her three siblings at their graduation.

Aleena said: 'A few years back when mum graduated as a nurse from the University of Suffolk, I asked if I could wear her gown.

Beaming: Aleena, left, is working in a sleep study ward, Anjel, centre, is working in a cardiology ward and Aneetta, right, is in a cardiac-thoracic surgery ward

Fantastic four, from left: Aneetta, Anjel and Aleena, 21, who are now nurses at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, with physiotherapist Aneesha

Their father Shibu Mathew, 53, a maintenance engineer, believes they must be the only quadruplets who are all working for the NHS. Pictured: Shibu and Joby with their daughters

'She said "one day you will get here as well" so today, I have reached that milestone.

'It's a challenging course but you definitely get a lot of joy out of it. We were all pleased that we were able to go to the same university.'

Anjel said 'I feel amazing. It's been a big journey to get here. It's great seeing everyone today. It's an exciting day celebrating with my sisters.'

Aneetta said, 'I had my sisters by my side throughout which made a big difference.

The sisters with mother Joby before she and her husband moved to the UK in 2007, leaving the girls with relatives in India for two years

The quadruplets' mother had been working as a nurse in Oman when she fell pregnant naturally with the non-identical quadruplets

'They were there as a support mentally and through all the work too especially reflecting back at the end of the day of a covid shift.'

The Shibu Mathew family are originally from Kerala, in southern India, where all four daughters were born in 2000.

Joby and her husband Shibu moved to the UK in 2007 and their daughters followed in 2008.

Aneesha studied at the University of East Anglia in Norwich and her sisters studied at the University of Suffolk. Pictured: The sisters at home in Suffolk

Mum said: 'I completed my nursing degree in India and worked in India and Middle East for a few years.

'After moving to the UK, I had to complete my nursing degree again between 2014 and 2017, and I got a job at Ipswich Hospital as an oncology nurse.'

She said her daughters were 'always proud of their mum for completing a degree with all the struggles of raising children and her family.'
Florida's new surgeon general has been accused of refusing to don a mask for a meeting with a state senator who is battling breast cancer - then telling her it was fun to do so.

Tina Polsky, the Florida senator, received a breast cancer diagnosis in August, and will soon begin radiation therapy.

She said she asked Joseph Ladapo to put on a face mask 'several times' earlier this week during a one-on-one meeting in her office, only for him to allegedly refuse.

'I told him I had a serious medical condition,' Polsky said, according to FloridaPolitics.com.

Tina Polsky (left), the Florida senator, received a breast cancer diagnosis in August, and is will soon begin radiation therapy. She said she asked Joseph Ladapo (right) to put on a face mask 'several times' earlier this week during a one-on-one meeting in her office

'I really wanted to interview him. I had a lot of good questions,' State Senator Tina Polsky, pictured. said. 'So that was unfortunate that I didnt do it. But I felt really uncomfortable'

In a September 16 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, the Joseph Ladapo (pictured) decried 'a zealous pursuit of public mask-wearing,' which he wrote 'has had, at best, a modest effect on viral transmissions'

She told the outlet that Ladapo offered to conduct the meeting outside the enclosed space, to which she responded: 'I don't want to go outside - I want you to sit in my office and talk to you.'

When Polsky asked the surgeon general why he was unwilling to wear a mask, she said he 'smile[d] and didn't answer' in response.'

'He's very smug,' she said. 'I told him several times "I have this very serious medical condition" and he said "that's OK" like it basically has nothing to do with what we were talking about.'

At that point, Polsky said she asked him to leave her office - but Ladapo made sure to get the last word in:

'Sometimes I try to reason with unreasonable people for fun,' Ladapo said as he let the room, according to Polsky.

'I really wanted to interview him. I had a lot of good questions,' Polsky said. 'So that was unfortunate that I didnt do it. But I felt really uncomfortable.'

Polsky retweeted a post on Twitter, which she said was an 'excellent question,' suggesting that Ladapo may have reacted differently if she was a 'Republican male Senator.'

Polsky retweeted a post on Twitter, which she said was an 'excellent question,' suggesting that Ladapo may have reacted differently if she was a 'Republican male Senator'

Ladapo also promoted malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus. Former President Donald Trump said he took the drug, which was briefly authorized by the FDA before the decision was quickly reversed, when he contracted the virus last year

People with cancer and undergoing harsh cancer treatments are at a higher risk of developing severe symptoms should they contract COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A Department of Health spokesperson refuted Polsky's account.

'Dr. Ladapo is committed to meeting with members of the Legislature regardless of their party affiliation to discuss policy, even when they do not agree on the subject at hand,' spokesperson Weesam Khoury told FloridaPolitics.com.

'Meetings between highly regarded and intelligent, elected and appointed officials happen all the time, and it is disappointing you don't hear about them more  but it is probably because the only time they get reported is when a genuine meeting turns into a media headline expected from a gossip column.'

Ladapo, who has previously downplayed COVID vaccines and advocates 'the right to choose how to best protect themselves and their families,' earned an MD from Harvard Medical School and has a PhD in Health Policy from Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

He was appointed for the role of surgeon general by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who shares Ladapo's distaste for vaccine mandates.

The surgeon general was appointed for the role of surgeon general by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (pictured), who shares Ladapo's distaste for vaccine mandates

'Vaccines are up to the person. There is nothing special about them compared to any other preventative measure,' Ladapo told reporters in September.

In a September 16 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, the doctor decried 'a zealous pursuit of public mask-wearing,' which he wrote 'has had, at best, a modest effect on viral transmissions.'

Ladapo also promoted malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus. Former President Donald Trump said he took the drug, which was briefly authorized by the FDA before the decision was quickly reversed, when he contracted the virus last year
A 26-year-old woman 'spiked' on a hen do in a Liverpool bar has told how her friend saved her from whoever attacked her.

Rebecca Derbyshire, a landscape designer from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, was injected with an unknown drug in the Rubber Soul bar in the city-centre on September 25.



In recent days, terrifying reports have emerged of an epidemic of young female university students being stabbed with syringes and drugged against their will.

A 26-year-old woman (above) 'spiked' on a hen do in a Liverpool bar has told how her friend saved her from whoever attacked her

Rebecca Derbyshire (pictured), a landscape designer from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, was injected with an unknown drug

Ms Derbyshire said: 'I felt something sharp go into my shoulder. It was a really unusual sensation.

'I turned around to my friend and said, I think Ive just been injected. She looked at my arm and said there was a needle mark and we looked around trying to see who might have done it.

'It doesnt bear thinking about what could have happened if my friend hadnt been there.'

Ms Derbyshire and her friend went back to their hotel when she started to feel 'fuzzy, confused and quite shook up', the Mirror reported.

During a medical check-up, including HIV and hepatitis tests, doctors told Ms Derbyshire that whoever attacked her missed her blood stream and most likely used muscle relaxants.

It is only following the recent reports of a 'spiking epidemic' that Ms Derbyshire reported her experience to the police.

Ms Derbyshire was injected in the Rubber Soul bar (pictured) in Liverpool city-centre on September 25

Almost 200 drink spiking incidents have been reported to police forces across the UK over the past two months.

The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said there have been 198 confirmed reports of drink spiking in September and October across various parts of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, plus 24 reports of some form of injection.

Students are planning to boycott nightclubs next week as part of nationwide protests, with more than 30 universities taking part in the campaign in a bid to force venues to increase safety measures.

Following reports of spiking by needles in Nottingham, a petition calling for it to be a 'legal requirement' for nightclubs to 'thoroughly' search customers upon arrival has been signed by more than 130,000 people.

The Girls' Night In campaign will spread across 43 university towns and cities over the next fortnight. It comes in response to a reported rise in drinks being 'spiked' and a new alarming trend of girls being injected unknowingly with drugs.

Victims have become violently ill while out and only realised they had been injected when they found 'pin prick' marks on their bodies.

Those taking part in the boycott will stay at home on a designated night to raise awareness of the attacks and encourage venues to improve security.

New figures have also emerged showing 15 per cent of females, seven per cent of males and 17 per cent of those identifying as other have had their drink spiked, according to a snap poll by The Alcohol Education Trust.

Zara Owen, 19, from Surrey, said she blacked out soon after arriving at a venue last Monday, telling BBC Breakfast: 'I know I didn't drink as much as I usually would on a night-out this night, and the fact that I don't remember anything is terrifying for me because this is something that is a very rare occasion to me.

'I've never suffered with memory loss and then the next morning ... I woke up with a really painful leg.

'I found a pin prick in my leg which was the epicentre of all pain. It made me unable to walk and I was limping around.

'As a young person who's at university, I'm hearing stories of people who have been to nightclubs and they have been injected. I have heard stories of someone having it through their hand or through their back, so this kind of gave me an idea this had happened to me.'

One spiking victim Zara Owen, 19, (left) said she woke up 'with a limp' before finding a 'pinprick' on her leg the morning after attending Nottingham's Pryzm nightclub. Sarah Buckle, 19, (right) who is also studying in Nottingham, said she discovered she had likely been spiked via a needle to the back of her hand while out in a nightclub

Another 19-year-old, who is also studying in Nottingham, said she discovered she had likely been spiked via a needle to the back of her hand while out in a nightclub.

Sarah Buckle told ITV she arrived at the nightclub around 11pm, but later had to be taken home by friends who though she had drunk too much.

She said: 'The taxi home I started being sick all over myself and my friends could sense something was wrong.'

Her friends called an ambulance and she was taken to hospital where she woke up the next day with no recollection of the night before.

'My hand was throbbing really bad. I also knew I wasn't intoxicated on a stupid level or overly drunk, she sad.

'I knew I had clearly been spiked but it would have never occurred to me it was via injection if my hand wasn't throbbing. I thought how? I never take a drink away from the bar.

'You think spiking is to do with your drink, you don't think something would go into your body.'
Queenslanders could be banned from travelling overseas for another year because of the state's lagging Covid vaccination rate, a top travel boss has warned.

The state needs to deliver 30,284 first doses each day from October 25 to October 29 to stay on track for its roadmap vaccination targets - which includes opening quarantine-free travel to international travellers at the 90 per cent double dose mark.

But only 11,574 Queensland residents rolled up their sleeves for a first jab during a state-wide 'Super Saturday' vaccination drive this weekend, and on that pace the state will fall behind its roadmap targets and the start date for quarantine-free return from travel will be pushed back.

Thirteen-year-old Emily Connor receives a Covid-19 vaccine at a Bunnings hardware store in Brisbane on October 16. A top travel boss has warned Queenslanders could be banned from travelling overseas for another year because of slow Covid vaccination rates

On current jab rate, the state will likely have to wait until January to reach the 90 per cent double-dose mark that triggers the restored freedoms, according to a new data analysis by The Courier-Mail.

The Brisbane-based CEO of Australia's largest travel retailer said it may take even longer to reach that coverage rate if the vaccination rate remains slow.

'Queensland may not get to 90 per cent for six to 12 months,' Flight Centre Managing Director Graham Skroo Turner said.

'Airlines like Qantas are not going to fly into Queensland without certainty, so it could be six to 12 months before Qantas comes back.'

The slow vaccination rate almost certainly means the approximately 15,000 Queenslanders overseas wanting to return home for Christmas will still need to quarantine for 14 days in a hotel.

Mr Turner said the time may come when Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk may have to follow Western Australia and Victoria in mandating vaccinations for large parts of the workforce.

Queensland will likely have to wait until January to reach the 90 per cent double-dose mark, according to a new data analysis. A staff member is pictured working at a mass vaccination hub at the South Bank in Brisbane

International passengers arrive at Brisbane Airport. The slow vaccination rate almost certainly means the approximately 15,000 Queenslanders overseas wanting to return home for Christmas will need to quarantine for 14 days in a hotel

'In the end these communities have to accept that many of their vulnerable people could die if not vaccinated,' he said.

The warning comes as lockdown-weary Australians from other parts of the country rush to book up Queensland's top holiday destinations for the Christmas break.

Hamilton Island is almost completely booked out over December and January after the Queensland Government finally threw open its borders to travellers again.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has yet to follow Western Australia and Victoria in mandating Covid vaccinations for large parts of the workforce

Lockdown-weary Australians desperate for a break from housebound humdrum are snapping up every last summer holiday booking on the Great Barrier Reef (Pictured a holidaymaker gazing out at the Whitsundays)

The school holidays rush was prompted by the state announcing restrictions would relax entirely for fully vaccinated Christmas travellers.

From November 19, unless you are coming from a hotspot, vaccinated travellers will be able to enter Queensland without quarantining.

And from December 17, even those from hotspots will be able to enter the state so long as they are vaccinated and test negative in the 72 hours before arriving.

'We had a surge of bookings from New South Wales after the announcement on Queensland's border re-opening,' Hamilton Island chief executive Glenn Bourke said.

'With international tourism restricted, Australians have fallen back in love with our own backyard and there's no backyard quite like Hamilton Island.'
A couple who were forced apart as teenagers because of racism are getting married nearly 40 years later  after reuniting through Facebook.

Penny Umbers, 60, told yesterday how she was giving up life in the UK as an executive assistant to live with Mark Bethel, 61, in the Bahamas.

The then 16-year-old private schoolgirl fell for Mr Bethel in the 1970s when he flew from the Bahamian capital, Nassau, to board at public school Trent College, near Nottingham.

The pair went on to study at separate universities in London, where, unbeknown to Miss Umbers, her father paid Mr Bethel a visit.

Penny Umbers, 60, told yesterday how she was giving up life in the UK as an executive assistant to live with Mark Bethel, 61, in the Bahamas

Claiming that he knew people in high places and would have Mr Bethels scholarship revoked, he ordered the travel and tourism management student to end the relationship.

Mr Bethel had also faced similar threats from his own parents  who did not want him courting a white girl.

Facing further pressure from his family, who had withdrawn financial support, he made the hardest decision of my life.

I didnt have much power. I was 3,000 miles from home in a foreign country. I was totally dependent on my scholarship, he added.

Wilderness years: Penny and Mark in 70s

The couple were kept apart for another 18 months due to coronavirus travel restrictions. But in June Miss Umbers flew out to New Providence island in the Bahamas to see her childhood sweetheart

I had to make the hardest decision of my life and I had to make it in isolation. It was heartbreaking.

Devastated at the break-up, Miss Umbers quit college, later marrying and divorcing twice.

Meanwhile Mr Bethel finished his degree and went on to manage hotels around the world. Although he also had a failed union, neither ever forgot their first love.

Over the following decades, Mr Bethel kept searching but couldnt find her because she had changed her name when she married.

But, at the end of 2019, he found a picture he thought was her on Facebook and messaged, asking: Is this Penny?

And then it was! he said.

The couple were kept apart for another 18 months due to coronavirus travel restrictions. But in June Miss Umbers flew out to New Providence island in the Bahamas to see her childhood sweetheart.

There was that feeling of reuniting, she said. But it was like we hadnt changed one iota. When she returned earlier this month, Mr Bethel proposed as soon as she stepped off the plane.

The couple have now written a book about their story, called Thirty-Nine Years In The Wilderness, to raise awareness.

I feel like a whole new person, said Miss Umbers. Ive never loved anyone the way I love Mark.

Mr Bethel added: We have had 39 lost years but we are looking forward to a really great future.
Facebook VP of global affairs Nick Clegg told staffers in an memo on Saturday to 'steel [themselves] for more bad headlines in the coming days' as a cadre of news outlets begin to print fresh claims from whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Clegg, who was previously the UK's Deputy Prime Minister, warned in the email that new coverage may contain 'mischaracterizations of our research, our motives and where our priorities lie,' and told employees to 'listen and learn from criticism when it is fair, and push back strongly when its not.'

'But above all else,' he wrote to Facebook staffers, according to Axios, 'We should keep our heads held high and do the work we came here to do.'

He spoke as two dozen outlets which obtained fresh revelations from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen broke an embargo set to expire Monday, and began printing fresh revelations.

Those included the social network struggling to work out exactly how many active users it has, and the fact that Facebook is so afraid of being seen to have a liberal bias that it 'bends over backwards' to avoid imposing its own rules on conservative publishers.

Nick Clegg (pictured, Facebook's VP of Global Affairs who was previously the UK's Deputy Prime Minister, warned in the email that new coverage may contain 'mischaracterizations of our research, our motives and where our priorities lie,' and told employees to 'listen and learn from criticism when it is fair, and push back strongly when its not'

Facebook was also found to have lifted its rules aimed at suppressing 'misinformation' too soon after the 2020 presidential election, with that move blamed for helping stoke the January 6 riots as Donald Trump supporters flooded its network with propaganda.

Clegg went on to remind Facebook staff that the company has made investments toward safety and security, including efforts to boost voting and vaccinations rates.

'The truth is weve invested $13 billion and have over 40,000 people to do one job: keep people safe on Facebook,' he wrote.

Facebook services were used to spread religious hatred in India and may have inflamed 2020 riots in Delhi that left 53 dead, internal documents leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen claim Internal Facebook documents showed that while the company enjoyed a boom of popularity in India in 2019, researchers were warning that the company's services were filled with religious hate speech between the nation's Hindu and Muslim populations. That year, researchers monitored a test account from February to March that quickly became awash with bigotry, misinformation and celebrations of violence that one report would eventually link to the deadly February 2020 religious riots in Delhi that killed 53 people, The Washington Post reports. 'The test user's News Feed has become a near constant barrage of polarizing nationalist content, misinformation, and violence and gore,' one Facebook researcher wrote in the report. 'I've seen more images of dead people in the past three weeks than I've seen in my entire life total.' Yet the researcher's recommendations to fix the problems were allegedly ignored due to 'political sensitivities,' due to their ties with India's ruling party. The internal documents were a part of a large cache of files collected and released by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. Facebook enjoys its biggest market in India with more than 300 million users and its WhatsApp services has more than 400 million users. Advertisement

Haugen, a former product manager on Facebook's civic misinformation team, left the company with tens of thousands of confidential documents that she copied in secret.

On October 5, she testified before congress, calling for more transparency surrounding the company's morally questionable methods that keep users scrolling, and said executives have 'no desire' to run the company in a way that protects the public from the consequences of harmful content.

Haugen testified, and backed up with documents, that Facebook was acutely aware of its negative effect on teen girls' body images and its platform's role in human trafficking, and that the platform had a list of elite users that weren't governed by the same posting rules that applied to other users.

Since, Facebook has announced plans to rename its parent company as the series of scandals has left its reputation bruised: Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is set to reveal the parent company's new name at its annual Connect conference on October 28, but it could well be leaked before then.

The eponymous social media platform will still be called Facebook, but the parent company - which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp - will have a new monicker.

Roughly two-dozen news outlets - including the Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NBC News, CBS News, USA Today, Financial Times, The Atlantic, Fox Business, NPR, Bloomberg, Politico and Wired - agreed to hold a fresh batch of documents released by Haugen until Monday.

But that fell apart on Friday, with revelations subsequently pouring forth.

The Wall Street Journal, which was not part of the agreement, added some of the new revelations to its 'The Facebook Files' series, which began on October 1.

The agreement, called the 'Facebook Consortium,' fell apart on Friday when The Wall Street Journal reported on new documents.

They showed Facebook's role in the January 6 riot at the Capitol, which were part of a leaked set given to the conglomerate on October 10.

New York Times reporter Sheera Frankel confirmed via Twitter on Friday that the embargo lifted after the Wall Street Journal released the documents ahead of schedule.

Whistleblower Frances Haugen (pictured) , a former product manager on Facebook's civic misinformation team, left the company with tens of thousands of confidential documents that she copied in secret

New York Times reporter Sheera Frankel confirmed via Twitter on Friday that the embargo lifted after the Wall Street Journal released the documents ahead of schedule

Before Friday, the participating newsrooms agreed via Slack on a set of terms for releasing the documents, which they would release at the same time on Monday, and said they would not approach the company for comment until a certain agreed-upon time after publication.

Earlier, in hopes of ascertaining the content of the leaked documents, Facebook's VP of communications John Pinette sent a Tweet directed at news organizations:

'To those news organizations who would like to move beyond an orchestrated "gotcha" campaign, we are ready to engage on the substance,' he wrote on October 18.

Earlier, in hopes of ascertaining the content of the leaked documents, Facebook's VP of communications John Pinette sent a Tweet directed at news organizations:

'To those news organizations who would like to move beyond an orchestrated "gotcha" campaign, we are ready to engage on the substance,' he wrote on October 18

Facebook never did get the leaked new documents, two sources close to the situation told Axios

Facebook never did get the leaked new documents, two sources close to the situation told Axios.

A number of news outlets, Axios reported, managed to get documents from members of Congress to avoid facing repercussions for sharing information that was illegally obtained.
Jill Biden arrived in Michigan on Sunday to participate in an event with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe to discuss youth mental health.

'I'm a teacher, so I'm looking forward to what the kids have to say,' Dr. Biden said in delivering brief opening remarks at the listening session.

She added that she can sympathize with difficulties in going back to school during the pandemic.

Jill was donning a green sweater and skirt ensemble that she last worn in her Vogue feature.

The first lady's motorcade arrived at the Ziibiwing Center in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan Sunday afternoon where she was greeted by members of the tribe as well as representatives for Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education), which is an initiative focused on the mental health of middle and high school children.

First lady Jill Biden spent Sunday afternoon at the Ziibiwing Center in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan for a listening session focused on youth mental health with members of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe

Dr. Biden, an educator, participated in a session with tribe members and representatives for Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education), which was moderated by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy (second from right)

Jill is wrapped in a tribal blanket at the listening session on Sunday

The first lady shakes hands with those greeting her at the Ziibiwing Center on Sunday

There were also a few children between the ages of 7-9 who were there to weigh in from the student's perspective.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy accompanied Dr. Biden, who is a teacher, during her trip and he moderated the session.

A group of about a dozen Chippewa tribe members welcomed the first lady by performing a traditional ceremonial greeting that included dancing, singing and drums.

After the session, Jill will attend and speak at the Yeshiva Beth Yehudah's annual dinner in Detroit.

While Dr. Biden was on her trip to Michigan, President Joe Biden was spending his Sunday at their home in Wilmington, Delaware, where he hosted Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin to discuss budget negotiations.

Jill was greeted by a dozen members of the Chippewa tribe who performed a traditional ceremonial greeting including dancing, singing and drums

'I'm a teacher, so I'm looking forward to what the kids have to say,' Dr. Biden said in delivering brief opening remarks at the listening session on Sunday

Following the session, Jill is heading to the Yeshiva Beth Yehudah's annual dinner in Detroit where she was make remarks

The president, according to a recent analysis, has now spent more time away from Washington in his early presidency than his three predecessors  opting to spend the majority of his weekends at one of his two Delaware homes or at Camp David.

Including this weekend, Biden has taken 35 personal trips since inauguration in January 2021 and spent 108 of his first 276 days in office at either his Wilmington or Rehoboth homes or at the presidential retreat at Camp David in Frederick, Maryland.

This means one-third of Biden's time in office so far has been spent at one of those three locations.

When broken down, Biden spent 69 days  or 23 visits  away from Washington at his Wilmington home; seven days at his waterfront house in Rehoboth Beach over two visits; and 32 days over 10 different trips at Camp David.

Biden's 108 days are compared to Trump's 70 days, Obama's 40 days and Bush Jr's 84 days at their personal residences in their first 276 days in office.
Classic childrens books in a Cambridge University archive will in future be labelled with trigger warnings for harmful content relating to slavery, colonialism and racism.

Researchers are reviewing more than 10,000 books and magazines to expose authors who have been offensive to historically enslaved, colonised or denigrated people.

It comes after anti-racist campaigners demanded teachers censor racial slurs when reading out the text of Harper Lees To Kill A Mockingbird.

Offending authors include Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote Little House On The Prairie, for her stereotypical depictions of Native Americans. Critics said content warnings were unnecessary and could lead to overt censorship

The archive at Cambridges Homerton College is being reviewed as part of a move to upload texts to a digital library.

In online versions, words, phrases and images deemed harmful will be flagged and content warnings placed at the beginning of each text.

Offending authors include Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote Little House On The Prairie, for her stereotypical depictions of Native Americans.

Another is Dr Theodor Seuss Geisel, author of the Dr Seuss books, for overt blackface and cultural insensitivities.

The Water Babies, Charles Kingsleys 1863 childrens classic about a young chimney sweep, is described as having the potential to harm readers without warning for comments about Irish and black people.

L Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, is also cited for white supremacy in his Bandit Jim Crow, written under the pen name of Laura Bancroft.

Another is Dr Theodor Seuss Geisel, author of the Dr Seuss books, for overt blackface and cultural insensitivities. The Water Babies, Charles Kingsleys 1863 childrens classic about a young chimney sweep, is described as having the potential to harm readers without warning for comments about Irish and black people

The project is being paid for by a 80,633 grant from the taxpayer-funded UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.

L Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, is also cited for white supremacy in his Bandit Jim Crow, written under the pen name of Laura Bancroft

The college aims to make the digital collection less harmful in the context of a canonical literary heritage that is shaped by, and continues, a history of oppression. It says it would be a dereliction of our duty as gatekeepers to allow such casual racism to go unchecked.

Funding bid documents for the project say: Problems are encountered continually with respect to the history of demeaning terms associated with disability and indigenous cultures, as well as the immigrants who have shaped modern America and Britain.

Trigger warnings, with indications of harmful content for intersectional identities, will protect researchers, children, and general readers from offensiveness or hurt that can emerge in otherwise safe search queries or acts of browsing.

The project, conducted jointly with the University of Florida, funded by the US National Endowment for the Humanities, will prioritise the online provision of childrens books by people of colour and texts that showcase diversity.

Authors such as Enid Blyton, Peter Pan writer JM Barrie and Roald Dahl have been criticised for racist and insensitive portrayals in their novels and are likely to be among those attracting a warning.

But critics said content warnings were unnecessary and could lead to overt censorship.

Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: The whole point of much of childrens literature is to introduce them to alternative worlds. Fairy tales, for example, are saturated with scary characters and that is partly the point of them. Only woke-afflicted adults have such silly notions as trigger warnings.

Judy Blume, the American childrens author who wrote Are You There God? Its Me Margaret, has also objected to trigger warnings, saying: All books, then, need trigger warnings because in any book there could be something to bother somebody.
Four thousand troops are on standby to aid the NHS deal with a winter crisis, the Defence Secretary said last night.

Ben Wallace said they are ready to help carry out tasks such as administering vaccines, testing for Covid, driving ambulances and providing general support in hospitals.

The revelation is among the surest signs yet that ministers are on a war footing ahead of a feared winter crisis in the NHS.

Four thousand troops are on standby to aid the NHS deal with a winter crisis, the Defence Secretary (pictured) said last night

Scientists are increasingly concerned over the impact that coronavirus, flu and other seasonal pressures could have on already stretched hospitals in the weeks ahead.

And it emerged yesterday that ministers in England are considering restructuring the NHS waiting list to counter fears that it is becoming overwhelmed.

Many obese patients who are waiting for minor operations but have been told they must first lose weight could be removed from waiting lists.

Last week the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust declared a critical incident, with up to 100 patients waiting to be seen in the emergency department and 25 ambulances waiting outside.

Managers contacted staff asking them to work extra hours to help handle intense pressures and families were urged to contact wards if they could provide support to enable someone waiting for home care to leave hospital sooner.

Ben Wallace said they are ready to help carry out tasks such as administering vaccines, testing for Covid, driving ambulances and providing general support in hospitals

Several Scottish health boards are pleading for further military support to help them cope with soaring demand and to roll out the booster vaccine.

Mr Wallace, speaking in Scotland, said: Weve got plenty [of armed forces personnel available] and in winter we put on standby thousands of military personnel, mainly because of our experience of floods and things.

We have already put on standby something like 4,000-plus people, for the whole of the United Kingdom.

Pledging that more support will be provided in Scotland if needed, he said: They [the Armed Forces] all belong to the United Kingdom. Nicola Sturgeon might be SNP but if the people of Scotland need the support of defence, theyll get it. However, he warned that additional support from military personnel cannot be used to let devolved governments off the hook for policy failings. It will only be provided for the next few months, or however long the pandemic lasts, but should not be expected beyond that.

Meanwhile, the UKs top gynaecologist warned last night that NHS maternity services are near breaking point.

Meanwhile, the UKs top gynaecologist warned last night that NHS maternity services are near breaking point

Dr Edward Morris, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: Were becoming increasingly concerned about the immense pressures facing our maternity staff this winter if the situation continues as it is.

With the number of Covid-19 cases rising, the NHS could soon be in a situation where it is unable to deliver the care it needs to or deal with the huge backlog that has already built up.

He told The Guardian that many women and girls suffering from gynaecological conditions are currently on extensive waiting lists with no end in sight.

And Dr Katherine Henderson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: We are already struggling to cope.

This is not something thats coming in the next couple of months, we are already in a terrible place where we have got large queues of ambulances with vulnerable people waiting to be offloaded into departments and other patients at home waiting to be picked up by the ambulance.

She told Sky News: The system is incredibly busy. We are already reaching a point where you dont get an immediate answer when you ring 999.
Daniel Andrews has warned that Victorians may risk losing their fully-vaccinated privileges if they do not get a third jab, as the state recorded a further increase in the number of Covid cases requiring hospital treatment.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, the premier said getting a third dose would be required for residents to ensure 'the maintenance of your vaccination status'.

Mr Andrews said he will encourage residents to get the third dose if the booster is approved by the medical regulator for distribution to the general public, with a decision by regulators expected on Monday.

If the booster is approved, the third dose could be available to the public as early as next week.

Daniel Andrews has warned that Victorians may risk losing their fully-vaccinated privileges if they do not get their booster shot

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, the premier suggested it would be up to residents to ensure 'the maintenance of your vaccination status'

Mr Andrews said the third booster shot would be administered six months after the date of the second jab.

'A month before your six months is up, then you will get a message and your vaccination certificate, the thing that gets you the green tick, you'll be prompted to go and book a time to go and have your booster shot,' Mr Andrews said.

'There may be state clinics in that or it might be all done through GPs and pharmacies, that hasn't been worked through yet. We're happy to play our part, though. So it'll be about the maintenance of your vaccination status.'

Australians who have had two doses of Pfizer will get Pfizer for their booster. Those who had two doses of Moderna will get a third shot of Moderna.

Those who had two doses of AstraZeneca can be given either Pfizer or Moderna for their booster.

Federal health minister Greg Hunt later reassured Australians that double-jabbed residents were still considered to be 'fully vaccinated'.

'We have both the supply ordered and distribution capabilities to support any booster program recommended and currently, there is enough vaccine distributed for every Australian who chooses to do so to have their two doses to be considered fully vaccinated,' he said.

'It is a matter for states as to how they wish to communicate that in addition to the national messaging.'

Victoria recorded 1,461 new Covid cases on Monday, which was the lowest number since October 6, but the drop was largely a result of declining number of tests, with the 56,905 daily tests logged on Monday being the lowest daily figure since September 28.

Despite those falling case and testing numbers, the amount of people hospitalized with Covid in Victoria increased on Monday to 802 as did the number in intensive care at 152; both figures were the highest for a week.

Mr Andrews has announced major changes to Victoria's roadmap when the state reaches its next two major vaccination milestones.

With Victoria set to hit its 80 per cent full vaccination target ahead of schedule sometime next weekend, restrictions will ease further and align across the state from 6pm on Friday.

The ban on travel between Melbourne and regional Victoria will be scrapped, reconnecting the state for the first time since the city's 77-day lockdown lifted.

Mr Andrews has announced major changes to Victoria's roadmap when the state reaches its next two major vaccination milestones

Masks will no longer need to be worn outdoors, entertainment venues, gyms and retail stores can reopen indoors for fully vaccinated patrons, and capacity limits will increase for restaurants, pubs and cafes.

Students from every year level across the state also return to full-time, face-to-face learning on November 1 before Tuesday's Melbourne Cup public holiday.

Longer term, Mr Andrews laid out a plan for the state once 90 per cent of the 12-plus population are fully vaccinated, forecast on or around November 24.

'There will be a fundamental change, a massive change, in many respects, to the rules that we have all been living under,' the premier told reporters.

All venue caps and density quotients will be scrapped at that point, along with mandatory indoor mask rules except in high-risk or low-vaccinated settings such as hospitals and schools.

Limits on home and outdoor gatherings will be shelved, paving the way for families to come together en masse at Christmas, while vaccine passport requirements expand to staff and patrons of non-essential retail stores

Limits on home and outdoor gatherings will be shelved, paving the way for families to come together en masse at Christmas, while vaccine passport requirements expand to staff and patrons of non-essential retail stores.

Mr Andrews warned Victoria's 'vaccinated economy' would remain into 2022, with those who refuse to get the jab excluded from workplaces, venues and major events.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the easing of restrictions was too slow and not in line with national cabinet's plan.

'What the government says applies at 90 per cent should apply at 80 per cent,' he said.

Victoria reported 1935 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths on Sunday, taking the toll from its current outbreak to 223.
Hundreds of drug dealers are using Instagram to peddle potent cannabis to children in a billion-pound industry, a Daily Mail investigation has found.

The problem on the Facebook-owned site has mushroomed in lockdown, leading to fears of the drug causing a 'psychosis timebomb'.

A drug baron who bragged about kidnapping and chopping off the fingers of a client is among the dealers using the social media site to earn themselves millions of pounds a year, our undercover reporters found.

Dealers, some with almost 30,000 followers, promote their wares with enticing pictures of cannabis packaged as children's sweets and then arrange sales via private messaging services.

Daily Mail investigation finds dealers using Instagram (Pictured) to sell cannabis to children using brightly coloured sweet packets to entice them, and arrange sales via private messaging

Spaceshack (pictured) advertises a string of cannabis edibles such as Lucky Charms and fruit flavoured gummies marketed with the slogan: 'Have you ever been to space?'

The 'Bezzle710' Instagram page (Pictured) is run by a Leeds-based dealer and openly includes pictures of cannabis flowers, footage of marijuana plants being grown and adverts for potent prerolled cannabis joints in professional and marked packaging

When contacted on Instagram by Mail reporters posing as a 16-year-old, they were happy to sell, and boasted about 'mad strains' that would get them 'high as f***'. One promised 'gifts' if they recruited their classmates as customers.

Products offered included cannabis-laced sweets with the equivalent strength of 50 joints, which police have warned causes 'substantial harm'. The sweets have led to hundreds of children  some still in primary school  being rushed to hospital with heart palpitations, anxiety attacks, uncontrollable vomiting, paranoia and hallucinations.

Experts told the Mail that drug dealers had now 'shifted from street corners on to social media' because of the ease of selling online. Advertising on platforms such as Instagram gives them greater legitimacy and enables them to 'build a brand and identity'.

One consultant psychiatrist  who welcomed the Mail's investigation  warned that the high-strength cannabis trade 'exploded' during lockdown and was driving young people into 'psychosis, depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide'.

An estimated 8 per cent of school pupils have used cannabis, leading to almost 13,000 under-18s needing treatment last year, including more than 1,000 aged 13 and younger.

The UK's illegal cannabis market is valued at between 2-2.6billion. As early as 2014, one in four sales were made online. The proportion is now believed to be far higher.

Our investigation found:

Instagram's algorithm fuels the trade: Potential buyers looking for cannabis dealers are linked to yet more traders.

Packaging is often designed to appeal to youngsters and features characters such as Postman Pat and Robin Hood, plus Monster Munch crisps and Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

Specialist marketing companies openly help dealers create 'designer brands' for their potent cannabis to maximise sales.

Brazen Instagram sites that make SpaceshakeUK Products offered included cannabis-laced sweets with the equivalent strength of 50 joints, which police have warned causes 'substantial harm' 27,000 followers Advertises a string of cannabis edibles such as Lucky Charms and fruit flavoured gummies marketed with the slogan: 'Have you ever been to space?' When an undercover Daily Mail reporter contacted to ask 'what's on the menu?' they responded with a smiley face emoji and a link to a Telegram [an encrypted mobile messaging app] group saying: 'Join the chat to view our menu and place orders.' The group was filled with a dizzying array of high strength products which the administrator said was all 'eleven out of ten', boasting: 'If it ain't top shelf we ain't selling it bro.' After the reporter put in an order, the admin told him it was a 'banging' strain and said it was 'no stress' that the buyer was only 16 years old. Stonechester 19,000 followers THE Manchester dealer advertises a range of pre-rolled joints and edibles on the site backed with videos by rappers promoting the brand. One undercover reporter who approached the dealer was offered ultra-potent Californian cannabis strain known as 'Cali' and tried to sell packs of super potent 'nerd ropes'  children's sweets laced with high strength cannabis which hospitalised 13 pupils at a London girls school last year. A second reporter was offered a range of products with names like 'Loaded Cannons' and 'Jet Fuel' all available for 'next day' delivery after Bitcoin payment. The dealer showed no concerns when told the customer was 16 and replied: 'You ready?' Bezzle710 The sweets have led to hundreds of children  some still in primary school  being rushed to hospital with heart palpitations, anxiety attacks, uncontrollable vomiting, paranoia and hallucinations 14,000 followers THE Leeds-based dealer openly includes pictures of cannabis flowers, footage of marijuana plants being grown and adverts for potent prerolled cannabis joints in professional and marked packaging. The site described it as the 'best UK grown weed'. One of its sellers told an undercover reporter it was cash on collection, boasting that 'many heads want a step in the door'. The dealer was unconcerned when told the buyer was 16, responding: 'Shout me tomoz bro.' LoudfamUK 8,000 followers The UK's illegal cannabis market is valued at between 2-2.6billion. As early as 2014, one in four sales were made online. The proportion is now believed to be far higher The dealers use pictures and footage of scantily clad models smoking joints to tout for business. 'Loud' is slang for extremely powerful and high strength cannabis. It also has a strong, pungent odour and has a faster, stronger effect than 'regular' weed. When contacted by an undercover Mail reporter posing as a 16-year-old, they had no concerns about selling to a teenager. They supplied him with a Telegram messaging address and then sent a detailed menu of UK, Dutch and California cannabis which promised a 'lovely high'. They also offered a tracked delivery in 'smell proof', discreet packaging. Advertisement

A mother whose daughter killed herself after suffering from cannabis-induced psychosis fears 'many more' youngsters will die because of social media's growing influence.

Katya Kowalski, of drug harm reduction advocacy group Volteface which has studied online drugs sales, said social media apps had made it much easier for dealers to target young people.

She adde d: 'They're able to create more of a community  a friendly mechanism that doesn't necessarily seem overwhelming or intimidating. One of the key issues, especially with young people, is that drug dealers then almost become friends.

'The way it is branded makes them look a lot more friendly and approachable  which is a lot different to going down a dark alleyway at night to pick up.'

She said it meant drug dealing had 'shifted from street corners onto social media', with platforms like Instagram giving the dealer 'more legitimacy, allowing them to build a brand and identity'.

A grieving mum's fear for others Kerry Head is the mother of Emily Rowling (Pictured) who tragically killed herself after suffering from cannabis-induced psychosis A mother whose daughter killed herself after suffering from cannabis-induced psychosis fears the potent strains of the drug sold on Instagram will cause 'many more' youngsters to die. Kerry Head said 'beautiful, bright and fun' Emily Rowling became increasingly paranoid after starting to take the drug as a teenager. Six years later, in 2019, she was found dead outside a car park in Nottingham. The 23-year-old had suffered a psychotic episode that evening and thought she was Mary Magdalene. Mrs Head, 51, said her daughter would be alive today had it not been for cannabis and warned about the false sense of security around the drug. 'Cannabis is so destructive. Smoking it can lead to psychosis. Once you are in psychosis you have lost touch with reality. 'Why would you risk that?' Her daughter would spend all her cash on cannabis leading to bouts of heavy smoking that would worsen her psychosis. It was only when she had run out of money and unable to buy the drug that her mother could see an improvement in her mental health. 'But when the money came in, the cycle started all over again,' Mrs Head added. 'Her paranoia became so severe that she once threw out all of the food we had bought her. She thought we were trying to poison her.' Emily did not buy cannabis online, but Mrs Head, a mortgage broker from Ockbrook, Derbyshire, is concerned for other parents now that the drug is on sale on Instagram. 'Instagram sales could really exacerbate the risk, because children are buying stronger stuff and it's also more readily available, she said. 'Instagram should not be allowing dealers to advertise cannabis on their site.' Advertisement

Dr Niall Campbell, one of the UK's leading drug addiction experts based at the Priory's hospital in south-west London, said: 'Increasingly young people are able to buy cannabis or other drugs via the internet or social media, which is extremely worrying.

'The mental health effects can include psychosis, depression, anxiety disorders, self-harm and suicidal behaviours.

'This cannabis trade has exploded under lockdown, with bored teens spending hours online at home or in university halls of residence, and then in parks or with their mates when lockdown lifted.'

An undercover Mail reporter posing as a 16-year-old contacted a string of Instagram dealers, including London based SpaceshakeUK. It advertises a range of cannabis edibles, such as Lucky Charms and fruit-flavoured gummies marketed with the slogan 'have you ever been to space?', to more than 27,000 followers.

The reporter was offered a 'banging' strain and told 'no stress' when he revealed his age.

Manchester-based Stonechester, which promotes its wares to more than 19,000 followers using videos by high-profile rappers, was happy to offer a teenager a range of high-strength cannabis with names such as 'Loaded Cannons' and 'Jet Fuel', all of which were available for 'next day' delivery.

LoudfamUK, filled with pictures and footage of scantily clad models smoking joints, offers a detailed menu to more than 8,000 followers. It also provides tracked delivery in 'smell proof' discreet packaging.

Leeds-based Bezzle710, which has 14,000 followers and claims to have the 'best UK grown weed', was unconcerned when told their new client was 16, responding: 'Shout me tomoz bro.' The Mail initially approached a sample from more than 250 Instagram accounts of suspected dealers, almost all of which have now been shut by Instagram after we alerted them.

When the Mail followed these sellers for our investigation, we were immediately followed by many other previously undetected suspected dealers who were also happy to sell to a teenager.

Miss Kowalski said Instagram's algorithm works in the dealers' favour to expand their network. It can also mean children who are not looking for a dealer are followed by the traders if a friend is already linked to one.

Online dealers operate in different ways, but in most cases after being contacted via Instagram they switch to a private messaging system, such as Wickr or Telegram.

They then send more details about what they have available and the price list. The cannabis is usually delivered to the customer after payment via credit card or Bitcoin. Some still only do in-person collections and insist on cash.

Our revelations come after Dame Carol Black's recently published review of drugs for the Government concluded: 'Dealers have a significant online presence, using social media to push drugs to children and young people.

'Decisive action is needed to curtail online harm and introduce legislation which places greater responsibility on technology companies to address these issues.' Some 12,775 under-18s needed treatment for cannabis for the year up to March 31, Public Health England found. This was 89 per cent of all children needing treatment for any drug or alcohol abuse.

Levels of THC in cannabis  the psychoactive substance which creates the 'high'  are now routinely 16 per cent, compared with maximums of 5 per cent in the 1960s.

Any cannabis with THC levels of over 10 per cent is known as 'high-potency'. A study in The Lancet from 2019 showed that people who use high-potency cannabis every day were nearly five times more likely to be diagnosed with psychosis than those who had never used the substance.

A spokesman for Facebook, which owns Instagram, said: 'We've removed several of the accounts flagged to us by the Daily Mail and are continuing to investigate.

'Buying and selling drugs is strictly against our rules and we use a combination of technology and human review to remove it.

'Between April and June, we removed 2.3million pieces of drug sales content, over 95 per cent before it was reported to us, and we work closely with law enforcement and youth organisations to help us continually improve.

'We're exploring new ways to support people who search for this content in the UK, and hope to have an update soon.'

Face to face with dealer called 'The Devil'

It's just gone midday at a north London Wetherspoons and Selamet Mehmetaj sips a Coke as he calmly outlines how his multi-million-pound trade in potent cannabis works.

The drug baron, whose 50,000 Mercedes-Benz without a front number plate is parked nearby, has agreed to meet potential new clients after they contacted him via the anonymous Instagram page that advertises his business.

Unconcerned by other drinkers and passing pedestrians in the bustling Wood Green town centre, the 28-year-old explains how every month he supplies dealers across the UK with 2,500 high strength cannabis plants and harvests buds for them to sell.

And he makes very clear what happens to those who dare to cross him, matter-of-factly boasting how he chopped off two fingers of one client who failed to pay  and got his money before he chopped off a foot.

Drug Baron Selamet Mehmetaj, nicknamed 'The Devil', (Above) is a notorious dealer who uses Instagram to sell cannabis

The drug baron, whose 50,000 Mercedes-Benz without a front number plate is parked nearby, has agreed to meet potential new clients after they contacted him via the anonymous Instagram page that advertises his business

Meet 'The Devil', who is raking in millions from his wholesale drug-dealing business. On his Instagram page titled 'Albanian Blood', Mehmetaj has been showing off his cannabis factories and posting videos to highlight what strains are available, encouraging new customers to get in touch.

Instagram removed the page after being contacted by the Daily Mail.

But while the page was still live, undercover Mail journalists posing as customers made contact via the social media app.

Mehmetaj met them near his home in Palmers Green. During the meeting, he:

Bragged that he dodged a firearms charge despite police finding a Russian gun he'd smuggled in from Albania and hidden in his car, saying his solicitor had cooked up a story claiming the gun wasn't his.

Splurged the cash from his illicit business on a bling lifestyle including a 50,000 Mercedes-Benz CLA AMG, an Audi RS7  which he drives at over 200mph on motorways using fake plates  and a Formula 3 car for off-road racing.

Laughed as he described how police missed a stash of cocaine, cannabis and bullets when they raided his five-bedroom flat because they failed to search one room.

Mehmetaj, who is from the northern Albanian town of Tropoja, has developed a thriving drugs empire in the UK  and a social media following to promote it.

Although his Instagram page titled Gjak Shqipez, which means Albanian Blood, was deleted, his other pages, which do not promote cannabis, remain active.

After an undercover reporter messaged the Albanian Blood account inquiring about buying cannabis wholesale, he agreed to meet at a cafe.

Arriving in his blacked-out Mercedes-Benz CLA AMG, he told how his business had boomed during lockdown because everyone was at home.

Mehmetaj, who is from the northern Albanian town of Tropoja, has developed a thriving drugs empire in the UK  and a social media following to promote it

Mehmetaj explained how every month he grows up to 2,500 cannabis plants  which he calls his 'babies'  including high strength 'stardog' and the super-potent 'wedding cake'.

He said he sells each plant for 10-15 in batches of up to 300, and boxes of harvested cannabis by the kilogram. According to Mehmetaj, the business makes him millions a year, but when sold on by dealers the plants would be worth tens or even hundreds of millions of pounds.

He said 'many people call me' for orders, adding: 'Today they called me and somebody wants 200, somebody wants 300. I have people who take every single month from me for their warehouses.'

Instagram played a major role in advertising his business, Mehmetaj said, explaining nobody knew he was behind the Albanian Blood page which had almost 1,000 followers.

To drive traffic to it, he posted links and pictures from the account on another Instagram page with 12,000 followers. This more popular page shows off his cars and cash, mocks the police and links to a rap video he stars in called Gangster Love. Other rap songs he has produced under the name Memz are available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Selamet Mehmetaj has his handcuffs removed and allowed to go free by police after being stopped on the roadside by police. It is not known why or when he was stopped

In his online profile, he is called 'the Devil', he said, because 'that's what they call me'. He said: 'I shared [Albanian Blood links] from my big Instagram and everyone knows me so they saw the page and many people were interested in it and said, 'Yeah, we want to buy it'.'

After clients contacted him via Albanian Blood he took their numbers then arranged to meet in person which is 'safer' than sending messages online. He said that if someone breaks his trust 'it's gunna be very bad' and in a thinly veiled warning, described his treatment of a client who didn't pay. After using a mutual friend to lure the client into a meeting, his gang bundled him into a van, he said. 'I took him from Stoke-on-Trent all the way down to London, I put him in a weed house basement, beat him up three times a day, he didn't give me no alternative, I cut off two of his fingers,' Mehmetaj said. 'I said you've got 24 hours to make a phone call, find the money anywhere in this planet, I don't care.'

He said he also contacted the man's relatives, and told them: 'I've cut two of his fingers. Next thing is going to be his foot.'

When he eventually paid, Mehmetaj told him: 'This should be a scar in your life and a reminder to what happens when you f*** about someone who's true.'

He added: 'I did that to that guy then I went in the evening and I slept like a baby. I did not care.

'My stress was that I couldn't sleep until I got him.

'My stress was that I have to have him in my hand. Once I have in my hand he has no chance.'

Social media posts from Mehmetaj also warn of his violence, with a disturbing Facebook video posted in March showing a man with a bloodied face whimpering as he is hit in the back of the car. An accompanying comment states: 'This is what happens to those who try to steal from us.'

Another violent video from February shows a terrified man apparently held captive in a house being slapped.

The video is accompanied by an expletive-filled warning.

And one post on his 'Albanian Blood' Instagram page featured a picture of a hooded man. The caption read: 'We caught this burglar inside the cannabis house.

'The Albanian put him in a car and cut him to pieces. What do you think?'

Mehmetaj also told the undercover reporter how in April 2020 he was arrested after police found a Russian PK machine gun hidden under the gearbox in his Mercedes-Benz. But after 48 hours in jail he said he got out, partly because he only ever handled the gun with gloves. He claimed that it must have been hidden in the car without him knowing since he bought it in 2018.

He added: 'However, they arrested the guy who sold it to me I think he's gunna get five years.'

On Instagram, he posted a picture of him posing with a different gun in front of his car.

During the investigation into the Russian gun, police turned his house upside down, he said. But they searched the wrong room and missed a stash of cocaine, cannabis and bullets, he said.

Describing his lifestyle, he boasted about his cars and said a fortnight ago he drove his Audi RS7 at 230mph on the M1. In one Instagram post, he films himself driving at over 140mph in his Mercedes-Benz. He avoids speeding fines by using fake plates which he routinely changes.

At the end of the meeting, he roared off in his Mercedes-Benz, jumping a red light despite a police car parked nearby.

His social media pages show more evidence of him mocking the law. On Facebook in March, he posted footage taken by a friend of him being searched by police because there was a 'strong smell of cannabis' coming out of his car.

He added a series of laughing emojis and the comment: 'Hey chief I do not have hashish in my car.' In another post from the same month, he films himself mocking police as he drives past officers attending a motorway crash.

Mehmetaj declined to comment.

We alerted Scotland Yard about Mehmetaj and have offered to pass on more information.
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Instagram's algorithms would have shown tragic teenager Molly Russell harmful content even before she started looking for it, according to the Facebook whistleblower who will give evidence to MPs today.

The schoolgirl, of Harrow, north-west London, viewed thousands of graphic images of self-harm and suicide in the six months before she took her own life aged 14 in 2017, and an inquest due next year will seek to find out what role social media platforms played in her death.

Instagram and its parent company Facebook have been under increasing pressure ever since whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed that tech bosses knew that the app worsened youngsters' mental health.

Molly's father Ian Russell, who has previously accused Facebook-owned Instagram of 'helping to kill' his daughter, read an extract from a note she left her family before killing herself in which she described how she was 'living in a trap' and was 'addicted' to social media.

Appearing on BBC Newsday last night, Mr Russell told Miss Haugen: 'One of the things that led us to find out more about Molly was some notes that she left that were found after she died. And in one of them she wrote: ''I keep a lot to myself and it keeps building up inside. You get addicted to it and you don't even realise you've spun out of control. You're living in a trap, in a circle.'''

He added: 'As time goes on, as a parent bereaved by the suicide of his 14-year-old, I look at a huge corporation with massive resources and say, ''there must be more you can be doing''.'

Yesterday Miss Haugen suggested that Instagram's algorithms may have shown Molly harmful content before she had even searched for it. She said that while the teenager may have 'followed some stuff related to being a little blue' the platform would have taken her down a dangerous rabbit hole.

Molly Russell's father Ian Russell read an extract from a note she left her family before she killed herself while speaking to whistleblower Frances Haugen on BBC Newsday on Monday evening

Molly Russell took her own life aged just 14 in November 2017. An inquest, due to take place next year, will look into the what role social media sites played in her death

Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen revealed the social media platform knew the app worsened youngsters' mental health

Molly's father leads criticism of Facebook's announcement that it will 'nudge' teenagers away from harmful content - instead of removing posts Ian Russell set up a suicide prevention charity after his 14-year-old daughter killed herself in 2017 after viewing disturbing content on the company's Instagram app. And Mr Russell is yet to be convinced about the new functions which include prompting teenagers to take a break from using Instagram. Another feature will see the app start 'nudging' teenagers if they are repeatedly looking at the same content which may not be good for their wellbeing. Facebook is also planning to introduce new optional controls to allow parents and guardians to supervise their children's online activity. But critics say the firm has acted only after pressure from outside, while others claim the plan lacks detail and they are sceptical about the effectiveness of the features. Advertisement

The former Facebook employee told The Sunday Telegraph: 'I guarantee you that with the algorithm, if she kept engaging, it just kept getting worse.

'Imagine you are kind of a fragile teen and you are being exposed to a little bit of stuff, talking about how you are worthless, and then [you] engage a little bit and it keeps getting worse and worse. It is bad.'

Miss Haugen is due to give evidence in Westminster on Monday to a joint committee scrutinising the draft Online Safety Bill.

The Bill will impose a duty of care on social media companies to protect users from harmful content and hand Ofcom the power to fine them up to 10 per cent of their global turnover.

Others due to give evidence to the committee in the coming weeks include MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis and barrister Gavin Millar QC.

Also speaking will be Society of Editors president Alison Gow and Peter Wright, editor emeritus at DMG Media, whose brands include MailOnline and the Daily Mail.

The Home Secretary stepped in earlier this year to criticise the move, which would mean only the sender and recipient can see the message. Priti Patel warned that it would severely hamper the police in their efforts to 'tackle abhorrent criminal acts and protect victims'.

Defending the plans, Facebook said it was to keep users safe from hackers and that it would 'continue to receive user reports of suspicious messages'.

Ahead of the hearing, Miss Haugen also warned that plans by Facebook to encrypt some of its services - including Instagram - would make it more difficult for law enforcement to catch criminals.

Miss Haugen, who quit as a Facebook product manager in May, has leaked thousands of internal documents revealing how much it knew its platforms were impacting children.

It included statistics showing Instagram content made a third of young users feel worse about their bodies.

Misss Haugen has claimed Facebook's products 'harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy', accusing the firm, founded by billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, of refusing to change its products because executives elevate profits over safety.

Miss Haugen's intervention comes as yet more damaging reports emerge about the tech giant over the weekend after she gave several US news outlets access to the confidential research.

One revealed how 10 per cent of all US views of political material on Facebook were posts falsely alleging the 2020 US presidential election had been fraudulent.

Yet attempts to stop this had been 'piecemeal', according to one document, which has reignited concerns about the company's role in the Capitol Hill riots in January.

Miss Haugen said Mr Zuckerberg, who controls the business with a majority of its voting shares, had shown no inclination to protect the public. She told The Observer: 'Right now, Mark is unaccountable. He has all the control. He has no oversight, and he has not demonstrated that he is willing to govern the company at the level that is necessary for public safety.'

Mr Russell added: 'As time goes on, as a parent bereaved by the suicide of his 14-year-old, I look at a huge corporation with massive resources and say, ''there must be more you can be doing'''

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been accused of showing no inclination to protect the public by a former employee

Who is whistleblower Frances Haugen? Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, a Harvard-educated data scientist, had worked as a product manager on its civic misinformation team after joining the team in 2019. Before leaving, she secretly copied tens of thousands of pages of internal research documents and leaked them to the Wall Street Journal. One internal study cited 13.5 per cent of teen girls saying Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse and 17 per cent of teen girls saying it makes eating disorders worse. The 37-year-old told the US Congress last week that she had leaked the documents to prove to the world that Facebook 'intentionally hides vital information from the public'. Miss Haugen said it had 'repeatedly misled' about what its own research revealed about 'the safety of children, the efficacy of its artificial intelligence systems and its role in spreading divisive and extreme messages'. She argued that people deserved to know the truth - adding that 'almost no one outside of Facebook knows what is happening inside'. But Facebook executives have fought back, arguing that she had not worked directly on some of the issues she has been questioned on. Advertisement

Britain's data protection watchdog wrote to Miss Haugen to request her full evidence to see whether the social networking giant ever breached UK law.

Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said she particularly wants to see all of Miss Haugen's files to examine them for violations in relation to the online protection of children.

'We're looking very closely about what is publicly available right now from Frances's testimony, but I've also written to her to ask for access to the full reports of her allegations,' Ms Denham told BBC News.

'Because what I want to do with that information is analyse it from the UK's perspective - are these harms applicable in the UK, especially through the lens of children?

'We have rolled out a new children's code which specifies design consideration to protect kids online. I want to see if these allegations point to any contravention of UK law and then I will take action.'

Facebook has rejected Ms Haugen's claims, with Mr Zuckerberg saying her attacks on the company were 'misrepresenting' the work it does.

He said the company 'cares deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health' and that Miss Haugen's recent evidence to a US congressional committee 'just doesn't reflect the company we know'.

'At the heart of these accusations is this idea that we prioritise profit over safety and well-being. That's just not true,' he added.

Miss Haugen further warned against Facebook's controversial plans to encrypt its Messenger app and Instagram's direct messages.

Facebook's vice-president of global affairs Sir Nick Clegg, the former British deputy prime minister, rejected the allegations.

According to a memo sent to staff on Saturday, Sir Nick warned Facebook workers to 'steel [themselves] for more bad headlines in the coming days' as a cadre of news outlets begin to print fresh claims from Miss Haugen.

Sir Nick warned in the email that new coverage may contain 'mischaracterizations of our research, our motives and where our priorities lie,' and told employees to 'listen and learn from criticism when it is fair, and push back strongly when its not.'

'But above all else,' he wrote to Facebook staffers, according to Axios, 'We should keep our heads held high and do the work we came here to do.'

He spoke as two dozen outlets which obtained fresh revelations from Miss Haugen broke an embargo set to expire Monday, and began printing fresh revelations.

Those included the social network struggling to work out exactly how many active users it has, and the fact that Facebook is so afraid of being seen to have a liberal bias that it 'bends over backwards' to avoid imposing its own rules on conservative publishers.
The millionaire son of a former Conservative Cabinet minister has died at home at the age of just 51, it was revealed yesterday.

Friends said Henry Channon, a member of the Guinness dynasty, had battled with an illness for several months before his death on Saturday.

His death is the latest tragedy to befall his family after his older sister Olivia Channon died from a drugs overdose at Oxford University in 1986.

Henry Channon is pictured with his former wife Henrietta at a London party in 2004

Their father Paul Channon, later Lord Kelvedon, served as a Cabinet minister in the Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher governments.

He died in 2007 after a long battle with Alzheimers. His widow Lady Kelvedon died two years later.

Lord Kelvedon was the son of American-born diarist Sir Henry Chips Channon and Lady Honor Guinness, and inherited her share of the Guinness family wealth.

The aristocratic clan has been dogged by a string of tragedies.

A friend of the Channon family told the Daily Mail: Henry had not been well for some time, but his death has come as a tremendous shock to his family and friends.

'He was a completely wonderful man. His family are devastated. He and his wife Katie have two small children.

'Katie is immensely brave and resourceful, but she is distraught.

Mr Channon's oldest sister Olivia died from a drugs overdose at Oxford University in 1986 when he was only 16

Mr Channon was only 16 years old when his oldest sister Olivia died from a heroin overdose shortly before she was due to graduate from Oxford University.

His death means their sister Georgia, 55, is now the only surviving sibling of the three.

Mr Channon and wife Katie married in 2009 and have two young children. He also has two sons by his previous marriage.

The Channon family live in a Grade I-listed mansion in Essex, bought by Mr Channons grandfather.

A second family home, on Cheyne Walk, west London, was sold to Chelsea boss Roman Abramovich for 25million in 2011 after Lord Kelvedons death.

He had been close friends with the Duke of Kent at Eton and the house was the venue for their joint 70th birthday party, where guests included the Queen and Prince Charles.

The Channon family is also reported to have owned property on Mustique since 1975 and both Mr Channon and his father have been chairman of the Mustique Company, which runs the exclusive Caribbean island.

Mr Channons privileged upbringing was overshadowed by the shock death of his sister Olivia.

Lord Kelvedon with wife Ingrid and Henry, Georgia and Olivia. Lord Kelvedon was the son of American-born diarist Sir Henry Chips Channon and Lady Honor Guinness, and inherited her share of the Guinness family wealth

The 22-year-old history student binged on alcohol and drugs at a party thrown by a friend in his room at Christ Church College and choked to death after she vomited while unconscious.

Her death stunned the country and lifted the lid on Class A drug use among the privileged elite.

She died in the rooms of Count Gottfried von Bismarck, who was later given a small fine for possession of drugs.

He died in 2007 after overdosing on heroin.

Olivias cousin Sebastian Guinness, also at the party, was jailed for four months for possession and her best friend Rosie Johnston received a nine-month sentence for supplying drugs.

The Guinness family, with an estimated worth of around 906million, have been struck by a series of tragedies, prompting claims of a family curse.

Guinness heir Tara Browne died in 1966 when his car ran through red lights in Kensington, smashing into a van.

Lady Henrietta Guinness jumped off a bridge in Umbria, Italy, in 1978. Four-year-old Peter Guinness died in a car crash in the same year.

In 2004 Robert Hesketh died in his sleep after taking drugs at a country house party. He was found by his wife Catherine, daughter of Guinness heir Lord Moyne.

Last summer Guinness heiress Honor Uloth died in a freak swimming pool accident aged 19.
It's just gone midday at a north London Wetherspoons and Selamet Mehmetaj sips a Coke as he calmly outlines how his multi-million-pound trade in potent cannabis works.

The drug baron, whose 50,000 Mercedes-Benz without a front number plate is parked nearby, has agreed to meet potential new clients after they contacted him via the anonymous Instagram page that advertises his business.

Unconcerned by other drinkers and passing pedestrians in the bustling Wood Green town centre, the 28-year-old explains how every month he supplies dealers across the UK with 2,500 high strength cannabis plants and harvests buds for them to sell.

Drug baron Selamet Mehmetaj, nicknamed 'The Devil', was selling high strength cannabis plants through his anonymous Instagram page 'Albanian Blood'

And he makes very clear what happens to those who dare to cross him, matter-of-factly boasting how he chopped off two fingers of one client who failed to pay  and got his money before he chopped off a foot.

Meet The Devil, who is raking in millions from his wholesale drug-dealing business. On his Instagram page titled Albanian Blood, Mehmetaj has been showing off his cannabis factories and posting videos to highlight what strains are available, encouraging new customers to get in touch.

Instagram removed the page after being contacted by the Daily Mail.

But while the page was still live, undercover Mail journalists posing as customers made contact via the social media app.

Mehmetaj met them near his home in Palmers Green. During the meeting, he:

Bragged that he dodged a firearms charge despite police finding a Russian gun hed smuggled in from Albania and hidden in his car, saying his solicitor had cooked up a story claiming the gun wasnt his.

Splurged the cash from his illicit business on a bling lifestyle including a 50,000 Mercedes-Benz CLA AMG, an Audi RS7  which he drives at over 200mph on motorways using fake plates  and a Formula 3 car for off-road racing.

Laughed as he described how police missed a stash of cocaine, cannabis and bullets when they raided his five-bedroom flat because they failed to search one room.

Mehmetaj, who is from the northern Albanian town of Tropoja, has developed a thriving drugs empire in the UK  and a social media following to promote it.

The Daily Mail undercover reporter exposed Mehmetaj's thriving drugs empire in the UK

Although his Instagram page titled Gjak Shqipez, which means Albanian Blood, was deleted, his other pages, which do not promote cannabis, remain active.

After an undercover reporter messaged the Albanian Blood account inquiring about buying cannabis wholesale, he agreed to meet at a cafe.

Arriving in his blacked-out Mercedes-Benz CLA AMG, he told how his business had boomed during lockdown because everyone was at home.

Mehmetaj explained how every month he grows up to 2,500 cannabis plants  which he calls his babies  including high strength stardog and the super-potent wedding cake.

He said he sells each plant for 10-15 in batches of up to 300, and boxes of harvested cannabis by the kilogram.

According to Mehmetaj, the business makes him millions a year, but when sold on by dealers the plants would be worth tens or even hundreds of millions of pounds.

He said many people call me for orders, adding: Today they called me and somebody wants 200, somebody wants 300.

'I have people who take every single month from me for their warehouses.

Mehmetaj sells high-strength cannabis to wholesale dealers across the UK via Instagram

Instagram played a major role in advertising his business, Mehmetaj said, explaining nobody knew he was behind the Albanian Blood page which had almost 1,000 followers.

To drive traffic to it, he posted links and pictures from the account on another Instagram page with 12,000 followers.

This more popular page shows off his cars and cash, mocks the police and links to a rap video he stars in called Gangster Love.

Other rap songs he has produced under the name Memz are available on Spotify and Apple Music.

In his online profile, he is called the Devil, he said, because thats what they call me.

He said: I shared [Albanian Blood links] from my big Instagram and everyone knows me so they saw the page and many people were interested in it and said, Yeah, we want to buy it.

After clients contacted him via Albanian Blood he took their numbers then arranged to meet in person which is safer than sending messages online.

I cut off his fingers... and slept like a baby Undercover Mail reporters contacted the Devil on his Instagram site, posing as potential clients. He agreed to meet near his north London home, where he explained how he ran his business  and warned what happened to those who crossed him. On the client who failed to pay: My guys put him in a van. Guess what? I took him from Stoke-on-Trent all the way down to London, I put him in a weed house basement, beat him up three times a day, he didnt give me no alternative, I cut off two of his fingers. I said this should be a scar in your life and a reminder to what happens when you f*** about someone whos true. I tell you what, I did that to that guy then I went in the evening and I slept like a baby. I did not care. My stress was that I couldnt sleep until I got him. My stress was that I have to have him in my hand. Once I have in my hand he has no chance. On his firearms arrest: They found in my Mercedes, they found a gun. I got arrested. I only stayed in jail 48 hours, then I left. The thing is they did not find anything that links me with it, fingerprints. Whenever I touched it I had something on my hands, every single time. On searching the room in his flat after arrest: They turned it upside down, they didnt find nothing. But underneath  they put the dog upstairs  it was another room underneath, underneath I had white [cocaine], I had green [cannabis], I had bullets. But I tell you what, they did not find any of it. On his Albanian Blood Instagram page advertising cannabis: No one knows its me and thats just the stupid thing. I posted it out there and many people were interested, of course, [saying], Yeah, we want to buy it. [Reporter] So Instagram is good for advertising? Yeah, advertising. Grow yourself more. On his cannabis farm and sales: Round here, I have a place where I make... theres going to be 2,000 or 2,500 babies [cannabis plants] every single time, like a month. I have people every two months they come and get for their warehouses, they come and get for their houses, whatever. If you take this to Liverpool, a kilo of this will go even like up to five-five [5,500]. This is caramel wedding cake [a highly potent strain of cannabis]. Advertisement

He said that if someone breaks his trust its gunna be very bad and in a thinly veiled warning, described his treatment of a client who didnt pay.

After using a mutual friend to lure the client into a meeting, his gang bundled him into a van, he said.

I took him from Stoke-on-Trent all the way down to London, I put him in a weed house basement, beat him up three times a day, he didnt give me no alternative, I cut off two of his fingers, Mehmetaj said.

'I said youve got 24 hours to make a phone call, find the money anywhere in this planet, I dont care.

He said he also contacted the mans relatives, and told them: Ive cut two of his fingers. Next thing is going to be his foot.

When he eventually paid, Mehmetaj told him: This should be a scar in your life and a reminder to what happens when you f*** about someone whos true.

He added: I did that to that guy then I went in the evening and I slept like a baby. I did not care.

My stress was that I couldnt sleep until I got him.

My stress was that I have to have him in my hand. Once I have in my hand he has no chance.

Social media posts from Mehmetaj also warn of his violence, with a disturbing Facebook video posted in March showing a man with a bloodied face whimpering as he is hit in the back of the car.

An accompanying comment states: This is what happens to those who try to steal from us.

Another violent video from February shows a terrified man apparently held captive in a house being slapped.

The video is accompanied by an expletive-filled warning.

And one post on his Albanian Blood Instagram page featured a picture of a hooded man.

The caption read: We caught this burglar inside the cannabis house.

The Albanian put him in a car and cut him to pieces. What do you think?

Mehmetaj also told the undercover reporter how in April 2020 he was arrested after police found a Russian PK machine gun hidden under the gearbox in his Mercedes-Benz.

But after 48 hours in jail he said he got out, partly because he only ever handled the gun with gloves.

He claimed that it must have been hidden in the car without him knowing since he bought it in 2018.

He added: However, they arrested the guy who sold it to me I think hes gunna get five years.

On Instagram, he posted a picture of him posing with a different gun in front of his car.

During the investigation into the Russian gun, police turned his house upside down, he said.

But they searched the wrong room and missed a stash of cocaine, cannabis and bullets, he said.

Describing his lifestyle, he boasted about his cars and said a fortnight ago he drove his Audi RS7 at 230mph on the M1.

In one Instagram post, he films himself driving at over 140mph in his Mercedes-Benz. He avoids speeding fines by using fake plates which he routinely changes.

At the end of the meeting, he roared off in his Mercedes-Benz, jumping a red light despite a police car parked nearby.

His social media pages show more evidence of him mocking the law.

On Facebook in March, he posted footage taken by a friend of him being searched by police because there was a strong smell of cannabis coming out of his car.

He added a series of laughing emojis and the comment: Hey chief I do not have hashish in my car.

In another post from the same month, he films himself mocking police as he drives past officers attending a motorway crash.

Mehmetaj declined to comment.

We alerted Scotland Yard about Mehmetaj and have offered to pass on more information.
A British private eye hired by Dubais ruler to threaten his runaway wifes security chief can today be unmasked as a former Scotland Yard anti-terror officer.

Stuart Page, whose identity was previously a secret, helped wage a campaign of intimidation on behalf of billionaire Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a friend of the Queen, the High Court found.

He threatened to damage the reputation of a senior bodyguard hired by the sheikhs youngest wife Princess Haya after she fled to London in fear of her life with their children in 2019 unless he stopped working for her, a judge ruled.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai arrives with his wife Princess Haya bint Al Hussein during the World Government Summit 2017 at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The princess and her autocratic ex-husband have been locked in the costliest child custody battle in UK legal history at the High Court.

It has been raging for more than two years and the High Court has made damning findings including that the sheikh previously orchestrated the armed kidnap of his runaway daughter Princess Shamsa from Cambridgeshire.

In the excoriating findings earlier this month, the High Court ruled Sheikh Mohammed had run an illegal phone hacking racket on UK soil to tap the phones of Princess Haya and her British solicitors and bodyguards.

Now it can be revealed he also hired the services of 70-year-old Mr Page, a former Metropolitan Police officer turned private security consultant who has a long track record of being embroiled in cases involving hacking.

Stuart Page (pictured), whose identity was previously a secret, helped wage a campaign of intimidation on behalf of billionaire Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a friend of the Queen, the High Court found

In June 2019, soon after Oxford-educated Princess Haya  the sheikhs sixth wife  escaped Dubai to the UK in a private jet with the couples young children, Mr Page went to meet her security chief, himself a former senior policeman, in London and delivered a clear threat to discredit him personally and professionally, a judge found.

In a ruling last year, the High Court said that the 45-year-old princesss unnamed security chief, who had a distinguished career as a police officer at a high level and was used to very challenging conversations had been left seriously troubled and concerned by the encounter.

The courts finding was made without evidence from Mr Page who denies any wrongdoing.

Previously, the High Court has referred to him as SP  but now a court order has unmasked him as Stuart Page.

The meeting happened two days after racehorse owner Sheikh Mohammed was pictured with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Royal Ascot, and two days before he published poems which his wife interpreted as death threats.

Mr Page was an anti-terror officer with the Metropolitan Police in the 1970s and an Army reservist before reinventing himself as a troubleshooter for Middle Eastern regimes.

The Bentley-driving private investigator  who charges up to 220,000 ($300,000) a month and has a 5million London townhouse  and his security firms Page Group Ltd and Page Protective Services have worked for the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates.

And until recently, he provided security for British embassies including the UK mission in Tel Aviv, Israel, through Page Protective Services.

Last year in a separate case at the High Court, he was accused of hacking confidential emails on behalf of another UAE ruler.

He threatened to damage the reputation of a senior bodyguard hired by the sheikhs youngest wife Princess Haya after she fled to London in fear of her life with their children in 2019 unless he stopped working for her, a judge ruled

He strongly denies doing so, his lawyer said. The judge did not find that Mr Page had obtained hacked documents in that case but said Mr Page operates in a world of covert surveillance and would be a reasonable inference to draw from these incidents that Mr Page has access to agents with the capacity to hack emails.

Mr Page started his career as a policeman with the Sussex constabulary on his 19th birthday.

A career break took him to Saudi Arabia where he worked for Aramco, the national oil company, before returning to Britain to work in private security.

Oxford-educated Princess Haya (pictured)  the sheikhs sixth wife  escaped Dubai to the UK in a private jet with the couples young children

In one of his more colourful roles, he spent two years as a close protection officer for the pop star Boy George who, much to his annoyance, used to call him his pet pig, according to an interview in The Times.

The Queen has been under pressure to ditch her friendship with Sheikh Mohammed, 72, who rules Dubai and is also the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and owns several properties and racehorses in Britain.

Mr Pages lawyer John Fordham said yesterday his client does not accept the evidence of Princess Hayas security chief was correct, adding: Mr Page did not threaten anyone.

He claimed his client did not have an opportunity to give evidence to rebut the allegations.

Mr Ford also said Mr Page strongly denied participating in the hacking of emails.
After an explosive first week of evidence, the Independent Commission Against Corruption has begun the second week of its probe into former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian on Monday.

Peter Minucos, a former adviser to the ex-deputy premier John Barilaro, is giving evidence and will be followed by Mr Barilaro himself.

The ICAC is investigating if Ms Berejiklian 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.

It's also looking into whether she 'exercised her official functions dishonestly or partially' by not reporting any reasonable suspicions about Mr Maguire to the ICAC.

As the inquiry gets closer to Ms Berejiklian's public testimony, which is set to begin on Thursday, the stakes get higher.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is set to appear before a corruption probe into her on Thursday

Public servant Chris Hanger told the ICAC last Thursday that Mr Minucos was a key figure in developing a business case for the a facilities upgrade at the Australia Clay Target Association (ACTA).

ACTA is located in Mr Maguire's former electorate of Wagga Wagga and he was a keen backer of it getting state funding of $5.5million.

Ms Berejiklian's relationship with Mr Maguire was a closely guarded secret at the time, and was not disclosed to her colleagues in her then positions of treasurer, initially, followed by becoming premier upon the resignation of Mike Baird in January 2017.

On Monday morning, Mr Minucos was asked by ICAC counsel Scott Robertson if he understood the money for ACTA was guaranteed by January 2017, or contingent on that business case.

He said it was a 'bit of both' and it was a 'fine line in my mind at the time'.

The funds were to come from Restart NSW, which required a business to cost (BCR) ratio above one to be demonstrated for the funds to be paid.

Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro will give evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Monday

Last week, Mr Hanger said Mr Minucos was the 'key contact' and was 'heavily involved in the development of the (ACTA) project, in particular the advice back to the consultants ... in regards to an addendum to the original business case'.

Neither Mr Minucos nor Mr Barilaro are accused of wrongdoing.

Mr Robertson asked if it was 'unusual to have someone in a ministerial office involved in procuring a business case as an addendum to a business case?'

'It's peculiar for them to be involved in advice around that in the way Mr Minucos did,' Mr Hanger answered.

Mr Robertson asked: 'As a longtime public servant with responsibility for procurement of infrastructure, did you regard it as inappropriate that there was the kind of advice ... provided at the political level rather than the agency or departmental level?'

'We indicated that it wasn't ... where or how they should be providing advice,' Mr Hanger said, adding that this view was expressed to Mr Barilaro's office.

Mr Hanger then worked for a regional NSW agency which sat under the Department of Premier and Cabinet and whose relevant minister was Mr Barilaro.

Last week's evidence was at times excruciating, not least for the former premier, who again saw her private and public life scrutinised in minute detail.

Most galling of all for the former premier, is that none of this was necessary.

If she had declared there was a potential conflict of interest in her relationship with Mr Maguire, she could have recused herself from funding meetings concerning projects of interest to him.

She had previously declared that two of her cousins worked for the NSW public service and also disclosed meeting someone at a function.

Declaring a potential conflict of interest was also something the then state premier Mike Baird expected and called for at every cabinet meeting, as ICAC heard last week.

ICAC assisting counsel Scott Robertson will question former NSW National Party leader John Barilaro

Ms Berejiklian first appeared before ICAC more than a year ago.

On Monday, October 12, 2020, she told an inquiry into Mr Maguire that she had been in a secret 'close personal relationship' with him for years.

A tapped phone call entered into evidence that day featured the pair discussing a business deal.

'I don't need to know about that bit,' the then premier of NSW said to her then partner.

She announced on October 1 2021 that she was resigning as NSW premier because she herself was being investigated by ICAC.

Ms Berejiklian had known for at least two weeks that was the case, as ICAC had already interviewed her.

In an excruciating 22 second clip played entered into evidence last week she was asked if she had suspicions that her former boyfriend, Mr Maguire may have been involved in corrupt behaviour.

'I was in shock, I didn't know what to think. I didn't have enough detail. I hadn't read what was happening. I can't remember what I thought at that time,' she said.

Mr Robertson pressed her, saying 'I'm not asking what you knew, I'm asking whether at the time you asked for Mr Maguire's resignation you suspected that he may have been engaged in corrupt conduct?'

'I didn't, I didn't, I didn't know. I wasn't, I wasn't sure,' Ms Berejiklian replied in the recording of an interview from September 18.

That term Mr Robertson used - suspected - is important. The ICAC Act holds that leaders must report 'suspicion' of possible corrupt behaviour straight away.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is being investigated by the Independent Committee Against Corruption in Sydney

Last Tuesday, the now infamous 'WTF' memo was presented at ICAC.

On December 12, 2016, Nigel Blunden sent a memo sent to his boss, the then premier Mike Baird, sarcastically referring 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.

In the recommendation section of his memo, Mr Blunden wrote 'Oppose. Gladys and (Stuart) Ayres want it. No doubt they've done a sweetheart deal with Daryl, but this goes against all of the principles of sound economic management.'

The explosive memo that has rocked the ICAC inquiry into former premier Gladys Berejiklian

On Friday, the NSW Trade and Industry Minister Stuart Ayres was grilled by Mr Robertson about the 'WTF' memo, which mentioned him. He replied that he didn't 'recall having any interactions with (Ms Berejiklian)', on the issue.

Sophie Callan, who is representing Ms Berejiklian at the ICAC, asked Mr Ayres if the statement about a 'sweetheart deal' was speculative.

'Fantasy would be a good word,' Mr Ayres replied.

The memo was written two days before government's expenditure review committee - which was headed by Ms Berejiklian - considered the proposal and ultimately gave the association $5.5 million.

But this paled in comparison to what came next - her political ally and close friend Mike Baird's appearance.

Mr Baird said the first he heard of Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire's relationship was 'when it was revealed here (at ICAC) about a year ago,' he said, adding that he was 'incredulous' when he heard it.

'Certainly I think (the relationship) should have been disclosed  to myself as the premier' and that it was a 'potential conflict of interest,' he said.

Mr Baird also said that Mr Maguire was 'at times aggressive and at times abusive to members of staff and public servants'.

Ms Berejiklian has repeatedly and strenuously denied all wrongdoing.

Mike Baird (pictured right) and Gladys Berejiklian (left) were very close political allies and friends

The Australian Clay Target Association is part of an ICAC inquiry into former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian

The revelation of former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian's (pictured left) secret relationship with Daryl Maguire (right) left another former premier, Mike Baird 'incredulous'
A new father whose wife died of COVID-19, leaving behind their newborn baby who she never met, has been overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers - thanks to a baby registry set up by their nurse.

Eric Robison's wife Emily, 22, died on September 20.

She was unvaccinated, fearing that the vaccine could affect their unborn child, and had battled COVID-19 for over a month.

Eric also contracted COVID but, unlike his wife, quickly recovered.

Their daughter, Carmen, was born by emergency caesarian on August 25, two months premature and weighing two pounds, nine ounces.

Eric Robison is pictured with his wife Emily, who died on September 20 aged 22. Their daughter, Carmen, was born by emergency caesarean on August 25 but by that point Emily was unconscious and never recovered

Ashlee Schwartz, an ICU nurse, said that seeing Robison's predicament broke her heart

Ashlee Schwartz, an ICU nurse at Mercy Hospital in Fort Smith, Arkansas, said she was heartbroken to see Eric in the hospital, with his wife intubated, fighting for her life, and a newborn baby.

'The image will forever be inscribed in my head,' she told CNN.

'He was just staring in a daze. It literally broke my heart to pieces.

Ashlee Schwartz is pictured with her own family

'Especially as an ICU nurse, the reality of life with this virus is any patient's story could very well be our own story someday and I just thought to myself 'What if this was me sitting in this chair staring into my husband's room?''

Schwartz said she wanted to help the devastated new father.

'I called Eric and asked if he and Emily had a baby registry and he didn't know what a registry was,' she said.

'He said all they had for Carmen were clothes. As Emily was fighting for her life, I just felt called and a sense of responsibility to make sure this baby had everything she needed.

'All I could picture was Emily coming home after being in the hospital for months and not having much of anything for Carmen and asking herself 'Why did someone not help me?''

Schwartz took it upon herself to draw up a gift registry, with links for baby essentials at Amazon and Target.

She posted the links on her Facebook page, and also set up a GoFundMe site.

'Never would I have imagined that gifts would start pouring in from all over Arkansas and the rest of the country,' Robison said.

'It's bittersweet, because I wish Emily was still alive to see it. But not having to worry about Carmen being taken care of is one less thing I have to worry about right now.'

The GoFundMe has so far raised $17,500, and over 200 people contributed in gifts, buying items ranging from diapers, rompers and bibs to books, a car seat and crib.

Schwartz shared her appeal on Facebook, asking for the local community to help the new father

Schwartz made a handprint of Emily's hands, as a gift for Carmen. The baby's handprint will be added on top of her mother's

The little girl is due to be discharged from the hospital on Monday, after two months in the neonatal ward.

Schwartz has made a framed handprint of Emily, for Carmen to add her handprint.

'She will forever have a keepsake of her mama,' Schwartz said.

Robison said he has been overwhelmed by the support.

'I'm so grateful for everyone who has helped, even those who have messaged me saying they can't give me money but will pray for me. That's perfect enough for me,' Robison said.

'I know Emily is watching right now crying with happiness. She always wanted to be a mom.'

Robison is now urging all people to get vaccinated - especially pregnant women.

Expectant mothers who develop COVID-19 symptoms risk emergency complications and other problems with their pregnancies, according to two new studies.

But despite the risks, pregnant women remain some of the most vaccine-hesitant populations in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC states on their website: 'Evidence about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy has been growing.

'These data suggest that the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any known or potential risks of vaccination during pregnancy.

'There is currently no evidence that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems in women or men.'

Robison is pictured with Schwartz, who took it upon herself to rally the community to support the Robison family

Their daughter Carmen was born on August 25, and is due to go home on Monday after two months in the neonatal ward

Robison states on the GoFundMe page: 'Vaccinated or not, please take COVID seriously. Had we, Emily would still be here.'

This weekend would have marked the couple's four-year anniversary and three years since they were married.

They met on Facebook, and within a month moved in together, marrying in October 2018.

'She was like the female Jim Carrey,' he told CNN.

'She was extremely goofy, extremely cute.

'Wherever I was with her, I was at home. It's how I always felt with her, even when we were hitting rock bottom.'

He said that he has recurring nightmares of the moment he lost her.

'That sound of the heart monitor as they're pushing on her, trying to bring her back, that sound plays in my nightmare every single night since,' he said.

'I had to be in COVID gear to see her after she died because she had been so sick, but it blocked me from kissing her. I didn't care. The moment they closed the curtains, I ripped off the face mask and kissed her. I told her I loved her and that I'm sorry I didn't try harder.'

He told CNN that, after his wife's death, he 'was just a lost soul'.

He added: 'It's a different pain than anything I've felt in my life, sitting there looking at my wife, dead on a bed, holding her hand and watching the color roll out of her face.

'Get vaccinated. It's very serious. She would still be here if we took it serious.'
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The Queen was forced to miss church yesterday after spending a night in hospital last week - but wants to resume official duties within days, a royal source has said.

The 95-year-old monarch could carry out some of her engagements this week, though there are no public duties in her diary after she dramatically cancelled a two-day trip to Northern Ireland to mark the 100th anniversary of the partition on doctors' orders.

Aides insisted that the tests were purely 'precautionary' and the sovereign has been resting at Windsor after her stay in King Edward VII's Hospital in London.

Her priority remains to be able to lead the Royal Family at the Cop26 climate change summit in Glasgow from next week, where more than 120 world leaders including Joe Biden will gather at the Scottish Event Campus from October 31 to November 12.

Palace insiders told The Sun that the Queen missed prayers at Windsor's All Saints Chapel in Windsor on Sunday. It is thought that Her Majesty received private prayers with a chaplain inside the castle. The head of state is unlikely to be seen this week as she is under orders to carry out only light duties. Investitures are expected to be carried out by other royals.

Buckingham Palace said she 'remains in good spirits', though a royal source told The Sunday Times: 'She is knackered.' And an insider told the Mail last night: 'Her private office will constantly look at her diary and tweak it as and when is necessary.'

The Queen, who will celebrate her Platinum Jubilee next year, has had a busy schedule since returning from Balmoral. Including her return from the royal estate in Aberdeenshire, where she spent the summer, the Queen has travelled nearly 1,000 miles this month.

Two weeks ago she was forced to start using a walking stick in public for the first time - a stark reminder of her advancing years. And last Tuesday she was on her feet for almost an hour when she held a lavish reception for guests including Microsoft founder Bill Gates and US climate envoy John Kerry, where she looked bright and cheerful.

Queen Elizabeth II (pictured) during a reception for delegates of the Global Investment Conference at Windsor Castle on Tuesday October 19, 2021

Walkers on the Long Walk in front of Windsor Castle, Berkshire, after Queen Elizabeth II returned there on Thursday October 21, after spending a night in hospital

The Queen arriving to attend the ceremonial opening of the sixth Senedd, in Cardiff, Wales on October 14, 2021

It is understood the trip to the private King Edward VII's Hospital in London (pictured) on Wednesday afternoon was expected to be for a short stay for some 'preliminary investigations'

The Queen's busy October schedule before a night in hospital The Queen attended a number of engagements before spending a night in hospital on Wednesday. She was ordered to rest by doctors and advised to miss a trip to Northern Ireland following her busy schedule. Here is what the 95-year-old monarch has been up to since her return to Windsor Castle at the start of October: - October 6: The Queen holds two virtual audiences at Windsor with the Greek ambassador and the ambassador for Belize. She meets Canadian troops from 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, and later has a telephone audience with Prime Minister Boris Johnson. - October 7: The Queen, with the Earl of Wessex, launches the Queen's Baton Relay for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games from the forecourt of Buckingham Palace. - October 12: The Queen, accompanied by the Princess Royal, attends a Westminster Abbey service of thanksgiving to mark the centenary of the Royal British Legion. She uses a walking stick at the abbey - the first time she has done so at a major event. - October 13: The monarch has a face-to-face audience with pianist Dame Imogen Cooper to present her with the Queen's Medal for Music. She also holds three other audiences. - October 14: On an away day to Cardiff, the Queen delivers a speech at the sixth session of the Welsh Senedd. - October 16: The Queen enjoys a day at the races at Ascot, and presents the trophy after the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes during the Qipco British Champions Day. - October 18: She holds a virtual audience with the new Governor-General of New Zealand, Dame Cindy Kiro. - October 19: The Queen has three engagements - two virtual audiences with the Japanese ambassador and the EU ambassador, and then hosts an evening reception at Windsor Castle to mark the Global Investment Summit. Advertisement

She had reportedly agreed a secret sign with aides so they could whisk her away if she felt fatigued, but the coded signal was not needed and she was said to be on 'sparkling form'.

But the following morning, when she was due to travel to Northern Ireland, she was told to rest by doctors and 'reluctantly' accepted their advice.

It is highly unusual that any major engagement would be cancelled at the last minute, suggesting that staff are taking no chances with the elderly head of state's health.

She has faced a tumultuous 18 months, including the death of the Duke of Edinburgh as well as the acrimonious departure of Prince Harry and wife Meghan.

The Queen still keeps a busy diary of events and audiences and deals with her daily red boxes of official papers.

Since she returned to Windsor from her summer break at Balmoral, the Queen has carried out 15 engagements, listed in the Court Circular, including her audiences, plus an additional trip to Ascot.

Senior aides at Buckingham Palace are scrambling to devise a strategy for managing the Queen's workload after being accused of misleading the public over her health.

Sir Edward Young, the Queen's private secretary, last night faced calls to 'be ruthless' and purge the Monarch's diary of functions not central to her role as head of state.

Officials are understood to be drawing up a 'core' list of key events that the Queen will prioritise in the next 12 months, including the Platinum Jubilee to celebrate her 70-year reign in June.

It comes amid reports the Queen will be accompanied by one of her children or grandchildren when she appears in public in the future to avoid having to cancel and let down the public in the event of future health scares.

Another member of the Royal Family will be on hand to step in should she need company or assistance, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Meanwhile, the Palace's communications team is under pressure to be more candid should the 95-year-old Monarch require further visits to hospital.

The Queen's courtiers faced extensive criticism last week for failing to inform the public that she had been admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital in London on Wednesday and stayed there overnight for tests.

The media was told that she was resting at Windsor Castle and aides revealed the hospital stay only on Thursday night after news leaked out.

The controversy has shone a spotlight on the growing challenge faced by the Palace in balancing the Queen's desire to be an active head of state with needing to protect her health.

Royal sources say the easing of Covid restrictions has resulted in a logjam of public events, adding pressure on the Queen's diary. According to Buckingham Palace's Court Circular, she has held 13 separate audiences or meetings, attended seven major events and travelled almost 900 miles since leaving Balmoral on October 1. In addition, every day she still reads Government papers, delivered to her in red boxes, and has a long list of private meetings.

'They have to find some kind of balance,' said Sally Bedell Smith, who has written a bestselling biography of the Queen.

Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said the Queen's autumn schedule had been more crammed than expected, but last-minute cancellations were inevitable in the future.

'Every now and again there will be this reminder that she is 95 and she can't do what was expected of her 10, 20 years ago,' Mr Little said.

The Queen held two audiences this week via video link from Windsor Castle, greeting the Japanese ambassador Hajime Hayashi and the EU ambassador Joao de Almeida, followed by the investment summit in the evening.

Among those at the Windsor reception for billionaire business leaders, presidential envoys and tech entrepreneurs were Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, US climate envoy John Kerry, Poppy Gustafsson, chief executive of cyber security firm Darktrace, and Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, managing director of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Royal sources had insisted there was no cause for concern, and stressed that the decision was made purely as a 'precautionary' measure.

There was no suggestion that the Queen had fallen ill and it was understood that her decision was not linked to Covid. It is understood she has received her booster jab.

Queen's late-night TV habit has left her 'knackered' royal aides say as officials scramble for plan to cut 95-year-old's punishing schedule after her hospital scare The Queen's late-night TV viewing and busy schedule of public engagements since lockdown restrictions were lifted have left her 'knackered', sources have claimed. Since returning from Balmoral this month, Her Majesty, 95, has undertaken 19 public engagements, including marking the Royal British Legion's centenary at Westminster Abbey and opening the Scottish and Welsh parliaments. The monarch has also continued to enjoy her late-night television pastime, particularly at the weekends, and reportedly stayed up to watch 18-year-old tennis star Emma Raducanu win the US Open. It is understood the royal also stayed up to watch Prince William's Earthshot awards ceremony on the BBC after she was heard telling US climate envoy John Kerry that she had spotted him on Sunday night's broadcast, The Times reports. And earlier this year it was also reported that the Queen was a fan of the hit BBC drama Line of Duty and would often speak with aides about the show's never ending twists and turns. According to the Sunday Times, the 95-year-old monarch was 'very into' the hit police drama and was said to have 'enjoyed' chatting about the show's intricate plot line with one of her closest aides Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt - the man in charge of the mission to protect the Queen and Prince Philip at the beginning of the pandemic. But while the Queen is said to be intent on getting 'back to business' after isolating at Windsor, a royal source told The Times: 'She is knackered.' Advertisement

But the monarch, who will celebrate her Platinum Jubilee next year, continues to stoically meet hundreds of work commitments each year - 30 years after most people have retired - and does suffer from recurrent back pain.

On Tuesday she hosted a summit for global investors and politicians at Windsor Castle, standing and shaking hands for around 40 minutes, the Mail was told.

A source said she was on 'sparkling form', welcoming guests including Microsoft founder Bill Gates and US presidential envoy John Kerry, telling Mr Kerry: 'I saw you on telly the other night doing [Prince] William's Earthshot Prize thing.'

As part of her planned trip to Northern Ireland, she had been expected to stay at Hillsborough Castle and undertake a series of public engagements there, staying overnight to attend a service to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland.

It is highly unusual that such a major engagement would be cancelled at the last minute, suggesting staff are taking no chances with the head of state's health.

Royal commentator Joe Little said the Queen's age meant last-minute cancellations might become more frequent. The managing editor of Majesty magazine said: 'When you get to the age of 95 and you have a role such as the Queen has, there is an inevitability about last-minute cancellations. Unfortunately, I think this is just how it's going to have to be from time to time.'

He added: 'Mentally, the Queen is pin-sharp as ever and when she makes speeches she speaks well. Every now and again there will be this reminder that she is 95 and she can't do what was expected of her ten, 20 years ago.'

Mr Little said he believed the Queen would carry out fewer public engagements to mark her Platinum Jubilee than she did for her Diamond Jubilee.

And he said he did not believe she would agree to allow Charles to take over duties as a prince regent unless there was a 'sharp deterioration' in her health.

Her doctor's advice will strengthen calls for her and her advisers to reconsider the number of engagements she undertakes. She has made schedule 'tweaks' and has handed over more arduous public duties such as investitures to other senior royals.

But there are some duties that only the reigning monarch can conduct. In recent weeks she has travelled to Holyrood and Cardiff to attend the opening of the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments, taken part in a tree planting at Balmoral and launched the Commonwealth Games baton relay at Buckingham Palace.

Last week she used a walking stick for the first time at a public event - at a service for the centenary of the Royal British Legion. She has also taken part in several audiences at Windsor.

A royal source said: 'With her Platinum Jubilee on the horizon, many are thinking that perhaps her private office needs to look at the diary again.'

Another source said: 'No one is saying that she should take a step back, but perhaps another slight step to one side might be in order.'

At the weekend, the Queen enjoyed a day at the races at Ascot, and on Monday held a virtual audience with the new governor-general of New Zealand. Last week, she travelled to Cardiff to deliver a speech at the ceremonial opening of the sixth Welsh Senedd in Cardiff.

The monarch has been pictured out and about at the Royal Windsor Horse Show and Ascot in the months since, and still enjoys riding her own ponies.

Security sources had speculated whether the health scare was something of a 'smokescreen' with the centenary event becoming a 'political hot potato' after details of the Queen's itinerary were leaked by Irish newspapers.

The Irish Times previewed the Queen's visit at the end of September and a leading security expert pointed out that details of the trip had been widely reported in Belfast. He said that revealing where the Queen would be 'was as dangerous as it gets'.

In the past, details of Royal visits to Northern Ireland were kept under wraps until the last moment. Off-record briefings would be given to the media on condition that the news would be embargoed until the visit was underway.

October 16 -- Queen Elizabeth II attends Champions Day at Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire

October 14 -- Queen Elizabeth II uses a walking stick attends the opening ceremony of the Welsh Senedd in Cardiff

October 13 -- Dame Imogen Cooper is received by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, London, where she was presented with The Queen's Medal for Music for 2019

October 12 -- Queen Elizabeth II uses a walking stick as she arrives to attend a service at Westminster Abbey in London

October 7: Starting Commonwealth Games baton relay at Buckingham Palace

October 10 -- Queen Elizabeth II is seen on her way to The Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor as she returns to church

October 7 -- Prince Edward and Queen Elizabeth II attend the launch of the Queen's Baton Relay for Birmingham 2022, the XXII Commonwealth Games, at Buckingham Palace

October 6 -- Queen Elizabeth II gestures as she meets members of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery to mark the 150th Anniversary of the foundation of A and B Batteries, at Windsor Castle

Operation Purge the Queen's Diary: Aides are told to be ruthless as they scramble for a plan to cut the 95-year-old Monarch's punishing schedule of royal engagements after her hospital scare Senior aides at Buckingham Palace are scrambling to devise a strategy for managing the Queen's workload after being accused of misleading the public over her health. Sir Edward Young, the Queen's private secretary, last night faced calls to 'be ruthless' and purge the Monarch's diary of functions not central to her role as head of state. Officials are understood to be drawing up a 'core' list of key events that the Queen will prioritise in the next 12 months, including the Platinum Jubilee to celebrate her 70-year reign in June. It comes amid reports the Queen will be accompanied by one of her children or grandchildren when she appears in public in the future to avoid having to cancel and let down the public in the event of future health scares. Another member of the Royal Family will be on hand to step in should she need company or assistance, the Sunday Telegraph reported. The Queen's attendance at the UN climate change summit in Glasgow on November 1 remains in the diary, but a final decision will not be made until later this week. Advertisement

There had also been confusion over the last-minute nature of the trip's cancellation, especially as President Higgins's invite rejection and the leaking of the Queen's visit took place several weeks ago.

The Queen's husband of 73 years the Duke of Edinburgh died in April at the age of 99. As well coping with the duke's death, the Queen and the royal family have endured some of their most turbulent times in modern history in recent years.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex plunged the monarchy into crisis with their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March, while Philip was in hospital.

Harry and Meghan accused an unnamed member of the family of racism towards their son Archie before he was born, and the institution of failing to help the suicidal duchess.

The pair quit as senior working royals in 2020 in favour of more freedom and the ability to earn their own money in the US.

Harry said he felt let down by Charles and that 'there's a lot of hurt that's happened' in their relationship, and his long-standing rift with William has continued.

In the aftermath of the Oprah broadcast, the Queen issued a statement saying 'while some recollections may vary', the issues would be taken 'very seriously', but dealt with privately as a family.

The scandal that engulfed the Queen's second son the Duke of York, who was forced to step back from public duties in November 2019, moved up a gear this year.

Andrew had faced mounting pressure and calls to answer the FBI's questions following his 'car crash' Newsnight interview about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein

His friend Ghislaine Maxwell is to go on trial, charged with recruiting girls for Epstein. Maxwell denies the charges against her. Then in August 2021, Virginia Giuffre, who says she was trafficked by Epstein, started legal action against Andrew for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 and still a minor under US law.

Lawyers for Ms Giuffre filed the civil suit seeking unspecified damages at a federal court in New York.

She alleges she was sexually abused by Andrew at Maxwell's home in London, Epstein's New York mansion and at other locations including Epstein's private Caribbean island Little St James. Andrew categorically denies he had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Ms Giuffre.

Despite the royals' problems, there have also been times of celebration, with the Queen welcoming a host of new great-grandchildren.

Princess Eugenie gave birth to her first child, a son called August, in February 2021 and Zara Tindall welcomed her third, Lucas, who was born at home on the bathroom floor the month after.

Harry and Meghan's daughter Lilibet, who the Queen has yet to meet in person, arrived in June, and Princess Beatrice, who wed during the pandemic in a secret lockdown ceremony, had her daughter Sienna in September.

On Tuesday evening, the Queen welcomed billionaire business leaders, presidential envoys and tech entrepreneurs to Windsor Castle for a reception.

Mr Gates was among the guests invited to the Queen's Berkshire home after the day-long conference in London aimed at encouraging foreign funding by showcasing the best of British innovation.

October 4 -- The Queen is shown the baton that will carry her personal message at Buckingham Palace in London ahead of the launch of the Queen's Baton Relay for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

October 2 -- Queen Elizabeth II shakes hands with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall looks on at the opening of the sixth session of the Scottish Parliament

October 1 -- The Queen and Prince Charles walk to the Balmoral Cricket Pavilion to plant a tree to mark the start of the official planting season for the Queen's Green Canopy on the Balmoral Estate in Scotland

The Queen was joined by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge at the reception, and met some of the leading figures in the castle's green drawing room before the royals mingled more widely. Neither the royal family nor the guests were wearing masks.

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.

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.

It comes after the monarch appeared to suggest last week she was irritated by a lack of action in tackling climate change.

In an overheard exchange following the opening of the Welsh Senedd she appeared to express her exasperation just a few weeks before world leaders gather in Glasgow for Cop26.

'Since when has she been answerable to Nicholas Witchell?' Public backlash against 'infuriating' BBC man after he questioned whether Buckingham Palace undermined public trust by not revealing the Queen was in hospital

The BBC's veteran Royal Correspondent Nicholas Witchell faced a backlash after questioning whether Buckingham Palace undermined public trust by failing to reveal the Queen had been admitted to hospital.

In forthright comments, Mr Witchell said that journalists and the public had not been 'given the complete picture'.

He added: 'The problem, it seems to me, is that rumour and misinformation always thrive in the absence of proper, accurate and trustworthy information.' But his remarks provoked criticism online.

Forthright: Royal Correspondent Nicholas Witchell (pictured above) faced a backlash after questioning whether Buckingham Palace undermined public trust by failing to reveal the Queen had been admitted to hospital

'Nicholas Witchell is honestly so infuriating,' one Royal watcher wrote on Twitter.

'The Queen is 95 and like most her age, she'll be in and out of hospital for various tests because that's what happens at that age no matter how fit you are. She doesn't need to disclose her every move, let her have some dignity.'

Another Twitter user wrote: 'He's a pompous a***, full of his own self importance. Bring back Jennie Bond. She was classy.'

A third asked: 'Since when has the Queen been answerable to Nicholas Witchell?'

'The Queen is 95 and like most her age, she'll be in and out of hospital for various tests because that's what happens at that age no matter how fit you are', one Twitter user wrote (file photo)

A BBC stalwart, Mr Witchell, 68, famously provoked royal displeasure in 2005 when, during a press conference in the Swiss ski resort of Klosters, he asked Prince Charles about his forthcoming marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles.

Under his breath, Charles was heard to mutter to Princes William and Harry: 'I can't bear that man. I mean, he's so awful, he really is.'

One Twitter user this weekend joked: 'I don't agree with Prince Charles on many subjects  apart from Nicholas Witchell.

'I bet they'll be setting a room aside in the Tower before they've minted a coronation coin.'
A share house resident allegedly poured a flammable liquid through his house and set it on fire before stabbing his roommate in the neck.

Paramedics along with fire and police crews were called to the 13-person share house at Underdale in Adelaide's eastern suburbs about 2.30am on Monday.

The fire was controlled but one of the rooms was damaged from the blaze and the housemate who was allegedly stabbed was rushed to Royal Adelaide Hospital, reports The Adelaide Advertiser.

Fire crews attended the blaze at the Underdale share house in Adelaide's east early on Monday morning and the fire was quickly brought under control (file image)

The 32-year-old suspect - who had to be subdued with pepper spray - was arrested and charged with aggravated assault causing harm and arson.

Blood was seen on the pavement early on Monday where paramedics had been working outside the house.

The victim's injuries were only minor, however, and they were treated and released from hospital. No other residents of the share house were injured.

The arrested man is expected to to front Port Adelaide Magistrate's Court on Monday.
Rex Airlines is celebrating the re-opening of Australia's state borders by offering dirt-cheap fares in a massive sale in a bid to reunite families for Christmas.

The regional airline service is set to offer bumper deals on interstate flights as well as rock-bottom prices for those travelling between Sydney and Melbourne.

Flights between the NSW and Victorian capitals are selling for as low as $69 while Rex is also offering $99 flights from Sydney to regional areas of the state.

Rex Airlines is celebrating the re-opening of Australia's state borders by offering dirt-cheap fares in a massive sale in a bid to reunite families for Christmas

Flights between the NSW and Victorian capital are selling for as low as $69 while Rex are also offering $99 flights from Sydney to regional areas of the state

The 'unprecedented' sale is designed to reunite Australian families before the end of the year, offering budget prices at a time when fares are usually skyrocketing.

Flights between Sydney and Melbourne can go for more than $150 one way, with Rex offering $69 flights for those wishing to see family, friends or take a long overdue holiday.

The same price is being offered for flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Canberra.

Rex are offering $99 fares from Sydney to regional areas as a part of the scheme to reunite families, with destinations including Albury, Armidale, Dubbo, Griffith, Orange, Merimbula and Wagga Wagga.

The deals all come in from November 15 onwards, that run all the way up through Christmas and to April 30 next year.

The 'unprecendented' sale is designed to reunite Australian families before the end of the year, offering budget prices at a time when fares are usually skyrocketing

'I would urge travellers to book without delay as these sale fares will undoubtedly sell out quickly,' Rex Deputy Chairman John Sharp told Sunrise.

'The resumption of our flights will provide a much needed boost to capital city and regional economies alike, help re-connect friends and families and allow Christmas holidays to be booked with confidence.'

The ticket not only includes the fare but Rex are also including all the add-ons, including luggage and food.

'We're offering a full service, you'll get your luggage included in the price, refreshments on board and we've got a 100 per cent refund guarantee if you can't take your flight,' Mr Sharp said.
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Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are on 'constant manoeuvres' to line themselves up as future leaders of the Conservative Party, MPs have told the Daily Mail.

The Chancellor and Foreign Secretary, both long been tipped as potential successors to Boris Johnson, are said to have been 'sounding out' colleagues.

Allies of Miss Truss, including her parliamentary private secretary Bim Afolami, have allegedly been 'working it quite hard' to see if she has a chance.

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss (pictured) are on 'constant manoeuvres' to line themselves up as future leaders of the Conservative Party, MPs have told the Daily Mail. She is pictured on a a tour of the HMS Queen Elizabeth

The aircraft carrier, part of the Carrier Strike Group 2021 is currently on deployment in the Indo-Pacific region

Miss Truss was seen trying on a headset inside one of the fighter jets - clearing enjoying the chance to try out some military hardware

Mr Sunak, meanwhile, has been 'unashamedly' building support by asking his aides to arrange meetings with MPs to hear their concerns and ideas.

One senior Tory said: 'It was absolutely clear it was nothing to do with MPs' views because there was no follow-up letter. It was just a token gesture, just trying to be accessible and laying the ground for when the leadership race happens.'

Another said: 'Liz and Rishi are on constant manoeuvres, but without actually explicitly saying it.'

Miss Truss strolls across the deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of the Royal Navy's two new aircraft carriers

She is seen speaking with members of the ship's crew. It is currently on deployment near Mumbai in India

The Carrier Strike Group 21 is a British-led deployment to help ensure 'regional stability' in the Indo-Pacific region

Mr Sunak, meanwhile, has been 'unashamedly' building support by asking his aides to arrange meetings with MPs to hear their concerns and ideas

As he says he'll prepare for speech with Sprite and a Twix Chancellor Rishi Sunak will have a Twix and a can of Sprite as his 'pre-game routine' before delivering the Budget on Wednesday. Unlike some of his predecessors, the Chancellor, who is teetotal, will not enjoy a sharpener as he delivers his speech in the Commons but will tuck into a chocolate bar and fizzy drink beforehand instead. Asked whether he had any rituals ahead of the event, Mr Sunak said: 'I have a general pre-game routine, pre-match routine, for when I have to do parliamentary things which is, look, I have a sugar problem so I tend to have a Twix and a can of Sprite, even though my favourite thing is Coke but I save that for afterwards. 'But I have a Twix and a can of Sprite which Lisa  who runs my office  always makes sure is sitting there on my desk in Parliament, so that is my immediate pre-game kind of booster.' Mr Sunak also told Times Radio that his children 'have a lot of input generally' on his tie selection and he sometimes wears bracelets that they have made for him. Advertisement

A source close to the Foreign Secretary denied the claims, saying: 'We're not sounding out anyone. Liz is 100 per cent focused on getting on with the job of being Foreign Secretary.'

Mr Afolami also strongly denied that he had been sounding out colleagues, insisting he had only spoken to MPs about parliamentary questions. '

Some MPs questioned whether Mr Sunak and Miss Truss would be right for the jobs, with Miss Truss accused of being 'lightweight' and 'ineffectual'.

One said: 'The people who are currently going for it are the people who took the easy path when the hard part was available to them. And since the path ahead is also very hard, it is not clear to me why they are fit to take it.'

Miss Truss, a rising star in the party who is currently in India on an official visit, openly covets the chance to become the first female chancellor. Brandishing her low-tax credentials, she recently told friends she briefly considered resigning over the national insurance tax rise to pay for social care  believing the Chancellor should have borrowed the money instead.

Mr Sunak, meanwhile, won praise for his grip on the economy during the depths of the pandemic.

Miss Truss came top of a poll of Conservative members earlier this month for net satisfaction with Cabinet ministers. She had a 15-point gap at the top, while Mr Sunak dropped from second in the table in September to fifth this month.

But both ministers could be waiting a while for the next leadership election as the Prime Minister reportedly intends to outlast Margaret Thatcher's 11-year tenure in No 10.
The unvaccinated Uber driver being cared for in a Queensland hospital has allegedly tried to flee the ward despite needing a constant supply of oxygen.

Duran Raman was allegedly found in a hallway at Gold Coast University Hospital after he left his isolation room on Sunday night.

Police travelled to the hospital to speak to the 36-year-old but did not arrest or charge the rideshare driver, the Courier Mail reports.

Raman is required to remain in his hospital room for 14 days regardless of if his infectious period is over under a public health direction.

Duran Raman, aged in his 30s, (pictured) was infectious in the community for up to 10 days after returning from a trip to Melbourne on October 10

While Nine's Today show earlier reported authorities were investigating the alleged escape attempt, Queensland Police said the incident has been resolved.

'Police are not investigating an incident at a health facility on the Gold Coast,' a statement read.

'Around 9am yesterday police were called to a health facility due to a minor disturbance.

'The matter was resolved quickly and without any issue. There was no breach of a Public Health Direction detected.'

It comes after the Broadbeach man showed signs his health was deteriorating on Friday, after being admitted to hospital with coronavirus on Wednesday.

Queensland's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young revealed at a press conference the rideshare driver was 'very unwell' and was relying on oxygen.

'Over the last 24 hours he has deteriorated so he needs more oxygen' she told reporters on Friday.

'They are keeping a very close eye on him. He is on high flow oxygen and he will probably need to go into intensive care.

'That is terrible. He is a very young, fit man who was not vaccinated and he is now extremely sick.'

'Sometimes if high flow oxygen is inadequate, then they need to go onto a ventilator.'

Health authorities on Saturday morning said Raman was in a 'stable but serious condition' but has so far avoided admission into the intensive care unit.

Dr Young revealed Raman had been so ill Queensland Health did not yet have exposure sites based on his movements.

Guests, residents, and workers who have been at Island Beach Resort in Broadbeach (pictured) anytime from Saturday through to Tuesday have been plunged into isolation

'He was so sick that he probably has not been out in the community so we don't have exposure venues for him other than his place of residence,' Dr Young said.

'Anyone who lives there has been told any symptoms at all to get tested but we believe they are only casual contacts because he has been so sick he has been at home.'

Raman arrived in Queensland on October 10 following a trip to Melbourne but is believed to have been infectious several days prior.

He tested positive for coronavirus at the Robina Hospital last Wednesday, bringing an end to the state's 15-day Covid-free streak.

It is alleged he checked out of the hospital before the results came back and had to be tracked down at his home by police and health authorities when he could not be contacted, the Courier Mail reported.

Police arrived at the resort, where he lives alone, about 5.30pm on Wednesday and he was taken to Gold Coast University by an ambulance and placed on oxygen.

Police arrived at Raman's resort, where he lives alone, about 5.30pm on Wednesday and took the Covid-positive 36-year-old to Gold Coast University (pictured) by ambulance

Health authorities said the exercise enthusiast, who is 'so sick he can barely speak', has lived in the Island Beach Resort in Broadbeach for about 12 months and was out and about around the Gold Coast for 10 days while infectious.

Adding to the difficulty of their task, Raman - who was unvaccinated and shared anti-vax videos over his social media accounts - allegedly has not used Queensland's QR check-in system for over a month, according to health officials.

The gym junkie is no so sick with coronavirus it has proven difficult to get information on his movements since he returned from a trip to Melbourne on October 10.

Police are currently investigating if his entry into Queensland two weeks ago was a potential illegal border breach.

It's believed the 36-year-old also visited Sydney in late September.

Raman's home has become the subject of four Covid-19 alerts after residents were exposed all day on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

Everyone who was at the resort on those days will need to get tested immediately and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Dr Young has also urged anyone who had been in the Broadbeach or greater Gold Coast areas since October 11 to monitor for Covid-19 symptoms.

'This is a wake-up call for the Gold Coast,' the Queensland Premier said on Thursday.

'The issue about this gentleman is that [he was] not vaccinated.'

'We are a little bit concerned about this person that has been infectious in the community and if you have any symptoms whatsoever, now is the time to get vaccinated.'

Uber were quick to issue a statement that said the man had not driven with the service since September 19.

'We work with public health authorities in each state, and have processes in place to temporarily remove an individuals access to the Uber app if authorities report an infection,' it told Daily Mail Australia.

The Queensland premier has said the new case of Covid-19, an unvaccinated rideshare driver, was a 'wake-up call for the Gold Coast' (pictured, a 13-year-old receives a Covid-19 vaccine)

Mr Raman posted his reaction to a Covid press conference from the start of September in which Mr Andrews announced some eased restrictions, labelling the premier a 'gronk'

Mr Raman, who has also played for local AFL team Broadbeach Cats, reportedly had a brush with the law earlier this year when he was charged with low-range drink driving and driving unlicensed.

He pleaded guilty to both charges in Southport Magistrates Court in June and was fined $1000 and banned from driving for two months.

Raman shared his reaction to a Victorian Covid press conference from the start of September in which Premier Dan Andrews announced some eased restrictions.

He captioned the video posted to his Instagram: 'Mr Gronk. A dead set gronk'.

In the conference, the premier announced playgrounds would be reopening and authorised workers would once again be permitted in homes to provide services.

'Yay. The playgrounds are going to reopen. Wow,' Mr Raman is heard saying.

'Playgrounds and looking after kids, you f***ing gronk. You're a gronk, look at ya.'

The rideshare driver went to Robina Hospital (pictured) emergency department yesterday, having become increasingly unwell following his return from Melbourne on October 10

'This is a wake-up call for the Gold Coast,' Ms Palaszczuk (pictured) said. 'The issue about this gentleman is that they were not vaccinated'

Meanwhile, a truck driver had been infectious for two days in Queensland as the state announced no new community-acquired cases.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said a truck driver with one dose of vaccine had been infectious in Queensland on October 18 and 19 and was now back in Victoria.

He tested positive to the virus on October 20. Dr Young said he had received a first dose of a Covid vaccine on October 1 and 'that is not sufficient to stop someone spreading the virus'.

Ms Palaszczuk objected to suggestions international travellers should be allowed to travel to Queensland in line with the bringing forward of entry to NSW from people overseas.

'Our vaccination rates aren't high enough. We are not at 70 per cent double dose,' she said.

Ms Palaszczuk objected to suggestions international travellers should be allowed to travel to Queensland in line with the bringing forward of entry to NSW from people overseas (pictured, international passengers at Brisbane airport)

'We have set out a clear road map. We need people to come forward and get vaccinated. We haven't had the situations that New South Wales and Victoria have, where tragically we are seeing numbers of people who have lost their life each and every day.

'We haven't had that but now is the time. We have got that window of opportunity for Queenslanders to get vaccinated.'

'We will look at that closely but, as we are seeing today, a clear example, five cases in hotel quarantine, so Queensland does not have the protection yet that it needs to be able to have quarantine-free vaccinated people staying in Queensland.'

Meanwhile, Ms Palaszczuk has called for the 156,000 people on the Gold Coast who remain unvaccinated to come forward for a jab.

Although the state's exposure site list is likely to grow, Ms Palaszczuk said lockdown on the Gold Coast was not likely as a result of the new case because of the area's relatively high vaccination rate.

As of Sunday, 74.85 per cent of Queenslanders have now received a first dose of vaccine, with 60.41 per cent now fully vaccinated (pictured, a staff member in Brisbane)

Queensland Health figures show more than 60 per cent of people in the Broadbeach area are fully-vaccinated.

Ms Palaszczuk was speaking in Mackay as part of a week-long tour to encourage vaccination rates in regional Queensland, where rates have been lagging.

Ms Palaszczuk identified a number of towns where she said vaccination rates were too low given the state's deadline of a phased reopening by November 19 and a full reopening on December 17.

She mentioned Bowen at 48.4 per cent having received a first dose of vaccine, Moranbah at 46.5 per cent, Serena at 61 per cent and the Whitsundays at 63 per cent as places where rates were too low.

'We know Mackay and Proserpine and the Whitsundays are absolutely gateways for tourism,' she said. 'We know that, on December 17, there will be tourists coming from all around Australia so please go and get vaccinated.'

Queensland Health plans to turn 100 high schools into mass vaccination clinics across a number of areas of the state with lagging vaccination rates, including Mackay, West Moreton, Cairns, Townsville, Wide Bay, Central Queensland, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Metro South and Metro North.

The new case ends a run of 15 days in which Queensland has not had any community acquired cases of Covid-19 (pictured, locals enjoying a sunny day on the Gold Coast)

Ms Palaszczuk has urged regional residents to 'hop on the lifeboat' by getting vaccinated before the December 17 reopening date.

'I can't look after you if you won't hop in the lifeboat,' she said at a press conference in Maryborough on Wednesday.

'We need everyone to get on the lifeboat and we'll be protected. We have 11 days to go to get everyone vaccinated.'

The premier warned the Sunshine State would reopen borders to the rest of Australia on December 17, even if the 80 per cent double-dose target is not reached.

As of Sunday, 74.85 per cent of Queenslanders have now received a first dose of vaccine, with 60.41 per cent now fully vaccinated.
A man has been shot dead by police after two officers were injured as they responded to an early morning 'disturbance' at a suburban home.

The man in his 30s died from a gunshot wound just after 1am on Monday after an officer discharged their firearm at a home on Fremantle Road in Gosnells in Perth's south-east.

Officers had been called to the address after receiving reports of a disturbance, a Western Australia Police spokesman said.

A man has been shot dead by police after officers responded to reports of a disturbance at a suburban home on Fremantle Road in Gosnells in Perth's south-east

The man in his 30s died from a gunshot wound just after 1am on Monday (file image of police tape)

The man was declared dead at the scene.

Two police officers were injured and taken to Armadale Hospital.

WA Police said there is no ongoing threat to community safety.

An investigation is underway and the public have been urged to avoid the area.

More to come
A former Foreign Office minister is being probed over his links to an Arab police chief accused of torturing a UK national following an investigation by the Mail.

Tory grandee Alistair Burt was named in a leaked document as someone who could help United Arab Emirates Major General Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi become the head of Interpol.

Project Associates (PA), a British lobby company hired to promote Al-Raisi, identified Mr Burt as a key figure it could reach out to. But Mr Burt had not had any involvement in the Al-Raisi campaign.

Tory grandee Alistair Burt was named in a leaked document as someone who could help United Arab Emirates Major General Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi become the head of Interpol

A PA spokesman said the document was a proposal which sets out a number of potential activities, many of which had not taken place', and the document was not provided to Dr Al-Raisi.

Now the Parliamentary Ombudsman is investigating our revelation as part of a probe into the Foreign Offices response to the detention of British academic Matthew Hedges.

Al-Raisi was reportedly involved in his arrest and torture in the UAE.

The student was held in solitary confinement for nearly six months in 2018 and Mr Burt, then Middle East minister, was at the forefront of the Foreign Office response.

Mr Hedges lodged a complaint to the ombudsman after his release questioning why British consular officials did not visit him for seven weeks.



He later looked at Mr Burts ties to the UAE after it was revealed he became chairman of the Emirates Society  set up to improve ties between the UAE and Britain  after leaving the Foreign Office in 2019.

Now the Parliamentary Ombudsman is investigating our revelation as part of a probe into the Foreign Offices response to the detention of British academic Matthew Hedges

Mr Hedges told the Mail he believes Mr Burt was part of a process which contributed to my detention.

An FCDO spokesman said: FCDO staff and ministers worked incredibly hard on Matthews case and were delighted he was able to return to the UK.

Both Mr Burt and the Parliamentary Ombudsman declined to comment.
Human rights campaigners expressed disbelief on Saturday that police were investigating a banner that opposed the Saudi takeover of Newcastle United.

The probe into Crystal Palace fans decision to highlight the Gulf states human rights atrocities was described as remarkable.

The banner accused the Saudi regime, backers of the multi-million-pound takeover, of murder, terrorism and beheadings and took a swipe at the Premier Leagues owners and directors test.

Crystal Palace fan group the Holmesdale Fanatics hit out at at Newcastle's Saudi-led owners

Directors Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi were both in attendance at Selhurst Park

The banner is the type of cutting political satire that the UK can rightly be proud of, Nicholas McGeehan, director of human rights consultancy FairSquare, said.

The Crystal Palace fans who made it deserve nothing but credit. We should not be repressing our hard-fought rights and freedoms to spare the feelings of the Saudi state or the Newcastle fans who desperately want to believe that criticism of the Saudis human rights abuses is racist.

It clearly attributes the abuses to the Saudi state and not to Saudis in general, McGeehan said.

But if people are going to be offended when people satirise that in a creative way, there is nothing for the police to be investigating.

Police said they had received complaints the mural was offensive. Officers are carrying out enquiries, said Croydon Metropolitan Police. Allegations of racist abuse will be taken seriously.

The Holmesdale Fanatics, a Crystal Palace fan group, condemned Newcastle's recent takeover and displayed the banner in the stands during the match between the two sides.

Palace and Newcastle played out a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park, as the visitors earned their first Premier League point of their new era, but it was off the pitch where the most notable action occurred.

Newcastle's Saudi-led owners were the subject of a protest from a section of Palace fans, who slammed the Premier League's decision to allow the takeover to take place by drawing attention to the actions of the Saudi regime.

The statement said: 'The Saudi led takeover of Newcastle has rightly received widespread condemnation and anger. It is clear the P.I.F is a front for the tyrannical ruling Saudi regime and by endorsing this, the Premier League has made a mockery of its own 'Owners and Directors' test.

'The Premier League has chosen money over morals and in green lighting this deal, has done business with one of the world's most bloody and repressive regimes.

'A country controlled by fear where women are second class citizens, same-sex partnerships banned, journalists silenced, imprisoned or killed and 'dissidents' brutally persecuted now has a foothold in our national game.

'To give the 'thumbs up' to this deal at a time when the Premier League is promoting the women's game and inclusive initiatives such as rainbow armbands, shows the total hypocrisy at play and demonstrates the League's soulless agenda where profits trump all.

Holmesdale Fanatics slammed the Premier League's 'total hypocrisy' for allowing the takeover

'Newcastle, as a team, is now being used to sportswash the blood from the hands of a corrupt governance and deluded supporters should consider that reality when singing of 'getting their club back'.

'We are lucky to live in a country where we can display a banner such as this without repercussion. Many in Saudi Arabia wish they were afforded those.'

Earlier in the week, Newcastle urged fans not to wear Arabic dress to matches, after hundreds of fans did just that at St James' Park against Tottenham in the first match following the takeover.

It came as it emerged Kick It Out were planning to meet Newcastle and encourage them to ask fans not to wear tea towels on their heads as a way of celebrating their new owners.

Newcastle backtracked on their statement regarding fans wearing Arabic dress at matches

The club said: 'Newcastle United is kindly asking supporters to refrain from wearing traditional Arabic clothing or Middle East-inspired head coverings at matches if they would not ordinarily wear such attire.'

However, they have now backtracked on that in a new statement, suggesting that the club's new owners have instead seen fans' attire as a warm welcome and a way of showing support.

'The fans who have celebrated by wearing culturally traditional clothing, including head coverings, have been part of that welcome,' the club said.

'Those who wish to support the club by wearing appropriate culturally-inspired clothing should feel free to do so as they see fit. We are inclusive to all.

'To reiterate what we said previously, neither the club nor its new owners were offended by attire worn, and appreciate the overt statements of support and acceptance by our great fans.'
Manchester United have reportedly thrown their support behind Ole Gunnar Solskjaer behind the scenes by insisting they have no plans to replace him.

The Norwegian has increasingly come under pressure in recent weeks, with his side managing just one point from their last three league matches. That run leaves them sixth in the Premier League table, ahead of the visit of Liverpool to Old Trafford.

Even the Champions League win over Atalanta was not without its warning signs, with a poor United first-half performance leaving them 2-0 down at the break.

Manchester United have reportedly insisted they do not want to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

The club have won just a single point from their last three league games after a poor run

That has led to speculation as to how safe Solskjaer's job is at the club but according to The Sun, United have made it clear that they still have faith in the 48-year-old.

It's believed a number of agents have expressed interest in helping to find the club a replacement should they be needed, but they have been told there is no vacancy to fill.

Whether that is still the case in the coming weeks remains to be seen, particularly with a challenging fixture list ahead.

United host Liverpool on Sunday, before facing Tottenham away from home next weekend. Solskjaer's men then travel to Italy to play Atalanta, before welcoming Manchester City to Old Trafford four days later.

They face a difficult run of fixtures in the next couple of weeks which could help pressure on

After a big summer transfer window, in which Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho arrived, a serious title challenge was expected from United.

However, they are now eight points behind league leaders Chelsea, albeit with a game in hand, and have kept just one clean sheet in all competitions this season.

Solskjaer will be hoping his side can start brightly against Liverpool, but the United manager is always confident in his side's ability to come from behind if required.

He said: 'It's something we have done plenty of times at the club.

Solskjaer revealed he is always confident United are capable of producing late comeback wins

'It's in our DNA, it's never give in, Sir Alex's documentary - that's what our fans expect from us, to give everything you have, give your best all of the time and when you do that with the quality of the players you have here you can win and lose games, but come out of it having given everything and know that's a team out there.

'I saw a team in the first half as well [against Atalanta] that gave everything for each other, but we needed half-time to maybe push that belief a little bit more.

'We kept on believing in what we're doing. Hopefully, it's the end of a bad period for us, a bad spell.

'Teams always go through bad spells and good teams come together and hopefully this can be a start of something big.'
West Ham and Tottenham supporters violently clashed on the stadium concourse during their London derby on Sunday as Spurs fans managed to break through a barrier that separated the two groups.

Shocking video footage from Sunday's Premier League encounter at the London Stadium shows one Tottenham supporter managing to drift past four stewards guarding the doors and break down the barrier, with both sets of fighting when it was opened.

Stewards on either side of the door eventually managed to form their own barrier to do their best to keep the fans apart, but supporters on either side threw punches at their rival fans, while plastic cups of beer were also thrown inbetween the doorway.

West Ham and Tottenham fans clashed on Sunday after Spurs supporters broke through a door separating the two groups

After Tottenham fans broke down the door, West Ham fans tried to fight Spurs fans who were trying to get through the doorway

The incident is understood to have taken place at half-time of Sunday's afternoon match at approximately 2.45pm.

After the first time Tottenham fans managed to break down the door, several more Spurs fans attempted to break through the door to fight the Hammers supporters on the other side.

Tottenham fans were heard singing 'No noise from the p**** boys' throughout the incident, while West Ham fans were chanting 'Irons. Irons' as they faced the prospect of taking on Spurs fans on Sunday afternoon.

West Ham ended up 1-0 winners on Sunday afternoon thanks to Michail Antonio's late winner, with the Hammers star sweeping home from a corner with 18 minutes to go.

One Tottenham fan managed to evade four stewards stood by the door and kick it down, before more Spurs supporters joined in to take on West Ham fans

Stewards managed to come back and form a barrier in between the two sets of supporters

Plastic cups of beer were thrown by both sets of supporters when the doorway was being forced open

The two clubs are fierce rivals in the Premier League, while Hammers and Spurs fans have a long history of violence during top-flight matches.

In November 2015, a 35-year-old West Ham supporter was left hospitalised after being stabbed in the stomach, hundreds of fans from either club had to be restrained by police on horseback before kick off at Tottenham's White Hart Lane ground.

According to a bystander at the time, a large contingent of West Ham supporters were being shepherded by police into the ground when a group of half a dozen attempted to break away and punched a Tottenham fan walking by.

In November 2018, two Tottenham supporters sitting in West Ham's London Stadium home end were ejected from the home end were attacked as they were escorted out of the ground.

As they were walking down a flight of steps they were targets of verbal abuse before one supporter threw a drink in their direction. As they continued to walk, video footage shows punches being aimed at them before stewards finally managed to bundle them away from the stands.
Advertisement

It's worth getting up early if youre staying at the Balneario Las Arenas on the shoreline in Valencias Cabanyal district.

Stand under the hotels giant weeping fig tree just before dawn and youll be there as the sun comes up over the Mediterranean and hundreds of roosting birds wake up and chatter in the warming air.

In fact, it seems that everyone wants to talk in Valencia. Up the coast, Barcelona questions its future and Catalans rage against mass tourism, but Valencians, who speak their own version of Catalan, think the world should know about their remarkable city.

Loud and proud: The Art Nouveau Mercat de Colon in the city centre is a showcase for Valencian gastronomy

Often that means food, and theyll point you to the twin Art Nouveau wonders of Mercat de Colon, the city centre market that is a showcase for Valencian gastronomy, and the teeming Mercat Central, where the stalls are piled with an astonishing array of produce and fantastically fresh fish.

Paella was invented in Valencia, and its main ingredient is the star attraction at the Rice Museum  just one of the many museums in a city that also celebrates lead soldiers, and, at the beautiful baroque palace of the Marquis de dos Aguas, silk and ceramics.

You want art? There are more than 1,000 works by Picasso at the Fundacio Bancaja, and theres the world-class Valencia Institute of Modern Art as well as the Museum of Fine Arts, stuffed with Renaissance wonders and a room devoted to the citys greatest artist, Joaquin Sorolla.

He created luminescent paintings of turn-of-the-19th-Century beach life in Cabanyal, a former fishing village on one of the best city beaches in Europe  more than a match for Marseilles or Barcelona  and behind the beach, much of the district is as Sorolla left it.

With its fine golden sand, La Malvarrosa is one of Valencia's most popular beaches

Iconic: Paella is Valencias signature dish

In the perfectly named Plaza de los Hombres del Mar (Men of the Sea Square), the sundial painted on the wall of the stables  which housed the oxen that once pulled fishing boats from the sea  dates from 1895. Time has also been paused in the bar at Casa Montana on Carrer de Josep Benlliure. Local brandy, vermouth and the Valencian anis called cazalla have been served here since 1836. Drinks come with free tapas, but upgrade to raciones (full-size meals) and you will be ushered into the restaurant at the back. Book ahead.

Simple is best here, such as tomatoes, olive oil, crusty bread, stewed beans or the days sea catch, washed down with a white wine made from the Valencian Merseguera grape.

After, head north past the brightly coloured tiled facades of holiday homes built by rich Valencians in the early 20th Century. Each house is its own ceramic masterpiece.

At the end of the street, Cabanyal gives way to the Malvarrosa  the street facing the beach. By April it will be shimmering in an average of eight hours of sunshine a day. So if you need some shade, step into the eccentric museum devoted to the 20th Century writer Vicente Blasco Ibanez. He was the author of dozens of books and seemed to collect more than his fair share of enemies. He was once shot at by one of them, but was saved when the bullet lodged in his belt buckle. He ended up in Hollywood in the 1920s, where he launched the careers of Rudolph Valentino and Greta Garbo.

If that detour makes you hungry again, one of Valencias great food institutions is next door. Casa Carmela serves the best paella in town, cooked on open wood fires. You can have the seafood or rabbit and snail versions but, either way, start with sardines straight from the sea, dipped in flour and fried.

Futuristic: The City of Arts and Sciences features a science museum and opera house designed by Valencias star architect, Santiago Calatrava

Pictured is Barrio Carmen where youll find bakeries selling pastel de boniato, the Valencian sweet potato and cinnamon pasty

TRAVEL FACTS Michael Hodges was a guest of Balneario Las Arenas, with double rooms from 175 a night (hotelvalencialasarenas.com/en). Advertisement

If Valencia is playing havoc with your waistline, fight back by walking through the Jardin del Turia, a huge park in an old river bed that links the sea to the city centre.

It is also home to the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences, which features a science museum and opera house designed by Valencias star architect, Santiago Calatrava.

Valencias cathedral was begun in the 13th Century and contains the only Holy Grail  a cup said to have been used by Jesus at the Last Supper  to be revered by the Vatican.

Around a corner, the Horchateria Santa Catalina serves Valencias traditional drink, horchata, a milk made from crushed tiger nuts. The unsweetened version is popular, but possibly pointless as locals accompany it with sugared rolls called farton  which taste better than they sound.

Afterwards, slip into the narrow streets of the medieval Barrio Carmen, where youll find bakeries selling pastel de boniato, the Valencian sweet potato and cinnamon pasty livened with a dash of cazalla.

On Calle Cajeros, stop at Simple, a boutique specialising in Valencian crafts  this is where youll get your summer espadrilles.

Now allow yourself to get slightly lost until you emerge by the Central Market, where a model of a parrot signifies the sing-song of Valencians talking about food. And once more, youre underneath the birds.
Every week our Holiday Hero Neil Simpson takes an in-depth look at a brilliant holiday topic, doing all the legwork so you dont have to. This week: Mini-breaks for Christmas shoppers.

Shop-till-you-drop holidays are back. And with concerns about empty shelves in Britain, this could be the perfect year to head abroad to fill up those all-important Christmas stockings.

New York is a festive favourite, and after the US reopens to double-jabbed Brits from November 8, a top tip is to start at the iconic department stores.

Festive favourite: Enjoy the brilliant window displays along New Yorks Fifth Avenue

Theres 100-year-old Macys on Herald Square, where the window displays are a tourist attraction in their own right, and Bloomingdales, famous for its little brown bag and where Frank Sinatras New York, New York plays every morning as the doors open to customers.

At the super-swish Saks Fifth Avenue, style advisers and beauty concierges greet shoppers with free treatments.

Fancy breakfast at Tiffanys? The original Fifth Avenue store is under wraps for a refurb, but its temporary home is still worth a visit  the atrium has a stack of Tiffany boxes piled 40ft high in a replica of the Empire State Building.

Fly with Virgin Atlantic from London and enjoy three nights at the Row NYC hotel near the Rockefeller Centers ice rink from 595pp (virginholidays.co.uk).

Alternatively, upgrade with four nights at the Double Tree by Hilton on Times Square with British Airways Club Class flights for fast-track through security and VIP lounge access, plus flat beds and fine dining in the air, from 1,619pp (ba.com).

Add sunshine and celebrity sightings to a shopping trip by heading to Los Angeles.

Give your credit card a workout in the flagship stores of top designers on Rodeo Drive, then wander along to House of Bijan to see whats parked outside the most expensive menswear store in the world.

The lights on the Champs-Elysees in Paris twinkle in December and there is plenty of glamour amid the marble halls of Galeries Lafayette (pictured)

Its appointment-only to go inside, though. A five-night break with flights and accommodation in the heart of Beverly Hills at Loews Hollywood (famous for its rooftop pool) costs from 1,199pp (travelbag.co.uk).

In Dubai, home to the mega-mall, youll find the worlds largest with 1,200 shops and hundreds of places to eat and drink. Theres also an aquarium and ice rink.

Prefer a bargain? The Dubai Outlet Mall has 200 stores and promises deep discounts. Five nights at Movenpick Hotel, flying from London or Manchester, costs from 1,072pp (emiratesholidays.com).

Closer to home, the lights on the Champs-Elysees in Paris twinkle in December and there is plenty of glamour amid the marble halls of Galeries Lafayette. Eurostar return plus a two-night hotel stay costs from 152pp (eurostar.com).

Europes Christmas markets are perfect for unique gifts, and Germany hosts some of the oldest and most beautiful, including Rudesheim, Koblenz, Bonn and Cologne.

Tour them all on a five-night Enchanting Rhine & Yuletide Markets river cruise from 699pp, including flights and luxurious cabins (rivieratravel.co.uk).
Channel 10's flagship show The Project was once a juggernaut in the ratings, premiering to an impressive 1.2 million viewers in 2009.

But in recent years, the show has suffered with a wide range of issues which have seen them plummet - with just 267,000 tuning in on Monday night.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, TV Blackbox's Robert McKnight said major oversights are putting the future of the current affairs show at risk - from overpaid hosts, to lack of revenue and the show's political stance.

In trouble: While The Project may be one of Network 10's flagship programs, it's plagued by a wide range of problems, which has put its future at risk. Pictured, the show's panelists

'The biggest thing that will kill The Project is if it's not making revenue. But there's a bigger issue at play,' the TV producer said.

McKnight explained that the long-running current affairs program had 'raised plenty of eyebrows' with Network 10's parent company, Viacom CBS.

The US company bought 10 in August 2017, after the Australian network was placed into receivership, according to a report by Variety at the time.

According to McKnight, Viacom CBS has struggled to understand how The Project - which is owned by Rove McManus' production company, Roving Enterprises - manages to wield so much power at the network.

Plagued by problems: Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, TV Blackbox's Robert McKnight (pictured) explained that the show's issues ranged from poor ratings to overpaid hosts

He said Roving Enterprises is able to use 'all of Channel 10's resources from the news department and is then getting paid a motza to deliver The Project'.

'In the States, The Project would be an internal production. So CBS and Viacom are not happy about the commercial arrangement 10 has with Roving Enterprises,' McKnight continued.

He added: 'Viacom CBS are scratching their heads saying, "This is the worst deal in history," because The Project has access to everything from the news department from 10.

'The biggest thing that will kill The Project is if it's not making revenue. But there's a bigger issue at play,' the renowned TV producer began. Pictured, The Project's Waleed Aly and Lisa Wilkinson

'And the news department can't even say no to The Project using anything. The Project has absolute rights to use whatever they want. That's not a good deal when a production company has so much power.'

The Project was even immune to staff cuts at Network 10 thanks to its contract with Roving Enterprises, which cannot be altered until it's time to renegotiate the deal, according to a report by Daily Mail Australia in August last year.

Furthermore, McKnight said 'is so left and woke, it is not connecting with mainstream Australia'.

Red flags: McKnight explained that the long-running current affairs program had 'raised plenty of eyebrows' with Network 10's parent company, Viacom CBS. Pictured, panelist Carrie Bickmore

'They've got a very left agenda, and it's not just centrist left, it's a little bit further to the left,' he added.

'If you look at every successful format that works in this country, especially talkback radio, they all skew right.

'So, 10 and The Project are going against the grain, and it's getting more and more woke as the years go on.'

'In the States, The Project would be an internal production. So CBS and Viacom are not happy about the commercial arrangement 10 has with Roving Enterprises,' McKnight said

While McKnight said he couldn't fault the show's panellists, who he described as 'fantastic', people still aren't tuning in.

According to a report by Mediaweek on Tuesday, The Project only pulled in 267,000 viewers at 6.30pm on Monday night.

This increased at 7pm, with the show's viewership increasing to 472,000.

Not enough: While McKnight said he couldn't fault the show's panelists, who he described as 'fantastic', he said people still weren't tuning in. Pictured, Peter Helliar

By comparison, Channel Nine's A Current Affair pulled in 826,000 viewers, while the ABC's 7.30 saw an audience of 567,000.

'Waleed [Aly], Carrie [Bickmore], Pete [Helliar] - they are fantastic presenters, but it's the content that's pushing them to this leftist agenda, which sits well with younger viewers, but younger viewers aren't watching TV,' explained McKnight.

He said that being 'a topical show', it fails to perform on catch up services like 10play, with only dramas and reality shows working well on those platforms.

Joining the team: Speaking about recent addition Lisa, McKnight said The Project's issues extended far beyond her

'The simple fact is, The Project actually needs to stop, work out what it wants to be and what it needs to be to go forward, because the current brand and idea of the show is not working,' he said.

McKnight said 'the only thing that will save it is if it's making money', but argued that will become harder to do as its presenters develop bigger profiles.

'As those presenters become bigger and bigger over the years, they'll get more money, which diminishes the return on investment. So, it will get to the point where the show isn't worth its while,' he added.

'Lisa has been great for the network. She's delivered great interviews, great exclusives, she's broken the Brittany Higgins story,' he said

Speaking about recent addition Lisa Wilkinson, McKnight said The Project's issues extended far beyond her.

Lisa, 61, joined The Project in 2018, after leaving Channel Nine's Today show following a highly publicised pay dispute.

'I think that Lisa at the time was a good signing because it created a lot of headlines. What it didn't deliver was an audience,' explained McKnight.

'The simple fact is, The Project actually needs to stop, work out what it wants to be and what it needs to be to go forward, because the current brand and idea of the show is not working,' he said

'And that's the biggest issue you can ever have against you in television, is if you don't deliver that audience.

'Lisa has been great for the network. She's delivered great interviews, great exclusives, she's broken the Brittany Higgins story.

'From a point of view of having that big investigative journalist, Lisa has actually been great for Network 10. Has it been enough to justify the wage she's on? Well, that's a question for the bean counters.'

'They've got a very left agenda, and it's not just centrist left, it's a little bit further to the left,' said McKnight of the show's audience problems

McKnight estimates Lisa's salary on The Project to be around $700,000, and said it's likely to be far less than what she was earning on Today.

According to a report by Daily Mail Australia in August 2020, Network 10 refused to comment on rumours Lisa earns between $1million and $2.3million per year.

'She wanted to make a point about her value on the Today show, which was somewhat proven when the show imploded after her departure. But the fact is, as a standalone performer, she hasn't brought the audience with her,' said McKnight.

In was reported in 2015 that Waleed Aly and Carrie Bickmore earned the same annual salary of $500,000.

The Queensland Times reported at the time that the pair had 'matching deals' with Channel 10, but this situation may have changed since.

A later report in The Daily Telegraph in 2019 claimed that Bickmore - who has been with the show since its inception - was earning an annual salary of $750,000.

Still going: Despite being plagued by problems, McKnight insisted he 'would not count The Project out yet'

Despite being plagued by problems, McKnight insisted he 'would not count The Project out yet'.

'At executive levels at 10, there is a lot of love for that show. They will fight tooth and nail for it. It is this weird love affair 10's executives have with that show,' he said.

'I think it could almost rate the same as Studio 10 and it still wouldn't be on the chopping block from a local point of view. It's just whether the CBS overlords eventually step in and say, "Enough."'

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Network 10 for comment.
On a recent episode of Richard Osmans House Of Games, celebrity contestant Ingrid Oliver won a suitcase emblazoned with the hosts silhouette.

Now, according to friends, she will be able to put it to good use after finding love with the TV presenter and being invited to move into his new home in West London.

The Pointless star and Ms Oliver, who is best known as Dr Who sidekick Petronella Osgood, have known each other for years after meeting through mutual friends.

But The Mail on Sunday understands they have been dating, with Mr Osman, 50, reportedly telling pals: Ingrid is the one.

Couple goals: On a recent episode of Richard Osmans (left) House Of Games, celebrity contestant Ingrid Oliver (right) won a suitcase emblazoned with the hosts silhouette

As well as his love life reaching new heights, the 6ft 7in star has enjoyed a metaphorical rise as an author.

His debut novel, The Thursday Murder Club, has sold more than a million copies and Steven Spielberg has bought film rights.

Ms Oliver, 44, attended the selective Tiffin Girls School in Surrey and won praise for her BBC sketch show Watson & Oliver with school friend Lorna Watson.

Even before her relationship with Mr Osman began, there were signs that Ms Oliver, who studied languages at Oxford, respected his opinion.

Book thief: His debut novel, The Thursday Murder Club, has sold more than a million copies and Steven Spielberg has bought film rights

When she asked her Twitter followers last May if she should watch a film about a pandemic, Contagion, the result was split until he wrote: Dont watch it.

She replied: This is very authoritative and convincing. Mr Osman, who has two grown-up children, then said: I just felt that was what you were looking for.

Fans soon picked up on it. One posted: Youre in there my son.

The couple, who are thought to have got together at a dinner party after the first lockdown, did not respond to requests for comment.

Last year Mr Osman (pictured on Pointless) admitted he feared history was repeating itself when his marriage collapsed

Ms Olivers mother, the Conservative MP Jo Gideon, coyly said that she wanted to check with her daughter before speaking.

Last year Mr Osman admitted he feared history was repeating itself when his marriage collapsed.

The TV stars father had walked out on his wife when Richard was eight.

He revealed fears that separation was going to be awful, but things quickly worked out and that he sees his children non-stop.
Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood is living with his new girlfriend in the countryside home that he bought with his former lover.

Pub landlady Melissa Spalding moved into his 18th Century farmhouse after the owners of The Chequers Inn in Smarden, Kent, where she was living, put it up for sale.

Friends say the couple  who began dating after Hollywoods split from Summer Monteys-Fullam in August 2019  are madly in love and recently enjoyed a sunshine break abroad.

Living in: Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood is living with his new girlfriend Melissa Spalding in the countryside home that he bought with his former lover

The 55-year-old baker and TV star (pictured in 2016) met Ms Spalding, 37, at The Chequers Inn where he was a regular

Paul and Melissa spent a lot of time together in lockdown, said a friend. They bubbled up together and stayed at his house. Now she is there for good. They are delightfully happy, though it must be a bit strange given it was bought for Summer.

The 55-year-old baker and TV star met Ms Spalding, 37, at The Chequers Inn where he was a regular.

He met Ms Monteys-Fullam in 2018 at another nearby pub.

Last year, Paul Hollywood officially removed his ex-wife from her positions as director and secretary of his multi-million-pound company.

The Great British Bake Off star, 54, and his former partner Alex, 56, split in 2017, with their 20-year marriage ending in divorce in 2019.

Paul is thought to be worth around 10million and the latest books for his company showed that it has investments of 2.5 million.

Exes: The former couple split in 2017, with their 20-year marriage ending in divorce in 2019 (pictured together in January 2015)
Harrison Ford lost a credit card while he was on a beach holiday in Sicily, which is in Southern Italy.

It seemingly happened during a break in the shooting of the fifth installment in the Indiana Jones film franchise.

But due to the good deed of a German tourist, the longtime Hollywood leading man has since gotten the card back.

Lost and found! Harrison Ford, 79, was all smiles when police in Sicily, in Southern Italy, returned his lost credit card to him after it was found by a German tourist

It turns out the good samaritan found it on Thursday, noticed the actor's famous name emblazoned on it, and turned it over to the local police in the beach town of Mondello, according to the Associated Press.

The coastal town of Mondello is a small borough of the city of Palermo, in the autonomous region of Sicily. The area is known for its long sandy beach and Liberty style villas.

Officers eventually tracked down Ford and returned the credit card to the legendary 79-year-old actor.

At this point, it's still not clear whether he was even aware that his card had been missing.

In good hands: It turns out the good samaritan found it on Thursday, noticed the actor's famous name emblazoned on it, and turned it over to the local police in the beach town of Mondello, according to the Associated Press

The fedora is back: After shooing in England and Scotland, the production for the still untitled fifth Indiana Jones film has been in Sicily since early October

The Italian news agency published a photo of the moment when officers gave the card back to Ford.

It shows two police officers and their commander flanking the actor, who can be seen holding up the card with a big smile on his face.

Looking beach ready, the Star Wars leading man was wearing blue and white-patterned swim trunks with a black t-shirt.

Indiana Jones 5 has been delayed

Ford has been shooting the fifth installment in the Indiana Jones film franchise since the summer after being delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kicking off in June, the shoot has taken place at various locations in England and Scotland, before moving to Sicily in early October.

The production is scheduled to continue in Italy into December 2021.

The film, which also stars Antonio Bandaeras, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renee Wilson and Toby Jones, is scheduled to premiere on June 30, 2023.
Fashion For Relief, the charity set up by Naomi Campbell, has hosted glitzy catwalk shows across the globe.

But now the Charity Commission is investigating it for failing to file its accounts on time and wider governance matters, I can reveal.

It comes five months after this newspaper reported earlier figures that showed it spent 1.6 million on an epic gala in Cannes in 2018, yet gave only 5,500 to good causes over 15 months.

At the time, Fashion For Relief argued this wasnt a true reflection, as often supporters make donations directly to the causes.

It said last night: Accounts were delayed due to Covid and the auditors. We are liaising with the Charity Commission and are confident of resolving this soon.

Naomi Campbell walks the runway at Fashion for Relief Cannes 2018 during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Aeroport Cannes Mandelieu in France

Damson Idris, Adut Akech, Campbell and Stella Maxwell (pictured left to right) at the finale of the Fashion For Relief catwalk show London 2019

The power struggle between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown during their time in government is being chronicled in a revealing new BBC series.

And it seems old habits die hard. The former Chancellor apparently took umbrage when he found out that the documentary was due to be titled simply New Labour and had a stern word. It was then changed to Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution.

Im told Brown felt that otherwise the whole programme would feel like the Tony Show  and we all know how much he hates it when Blair gets too much credit! The BBC confirmed that it had changed the working title.

Nigella Lawson will no doubt regale fans on her forthcoming one-woman-show UK tour with saucy confessions about her guilt-ridden double-nightly visits downstairs to her fridge.

But will she tell how, as a young girl, she was haunted by the spectre of a fat, bespectacled girl unhappily eating her doughnut, desperately trying to melt into obscurity?

For those were the opening lines of a piece of creative writing Nigella, right, gave to the magazine at her private Overstone School in Northamptonshire in 1976. The story has just been unearthed.

Nigella Lawson will no doubt regale fans on her forthcoming one-woman-show UK tour with saucy confessions about her guilt-ridden double-nightly visits downstairs to her fridge

Other lines from the then 16-year-old included phrases such as a band of fat-legged girls in mini-skirts their hips undulating like a soporific pendulum and the smell of steak and cigarettes.

As an adult, the Domestic Goddess has been a smoker and admitted taking cocaine. But audiences for her show, An Evening With Nigella Lawson, might prefer it if she entertains them with her love of another type of coke - her much-ridiculed recipe for ham in Coca-Cola.

Got a scoop? Email charlotte.griffiths@mailonsunday.co.uk
Lil Nas X joked on Instagram Live this Saturday that he'd been 'working on' a song with 38-year-old rapper Lil Boosie, aka Boosie Badazz.

After getting wind of the claim, Boosie launched into a homophobic rant against the 22-year-old hitmaker on Twitter, where he suggested the 'world would be a better place' if he committed suicide.

Instead of firing back at Boosie, Lil Nas X put his sense of humor to good use and penned a clever indirect response to the drama on his own Twitter account.

Stirring the pot: Lil Nas X joked on Instagram Live this Saturday that he'd been 'working on' a song with 38-year-old rapper Lil Boosie, aka Boosie Badazz

Lil Nas X was addressing his fans during Saturday's Instagram Live when he started joking about having collaborated with Boosie on a forthcoming track.

'So, I been working on this song with Lil Boosie, bro,' the Georgia native said. 'I got this song with Lil Boosie finna come out. Fire, I ain't even gon' lie, for real. Song with Boosie finna come out,' said the star with a smirk.

This lighthearted troll clearly bothered Boosie as he took to Twitter pen his hate-filled rant in all capital letters.

'STOP TROLLING ME F****T LOL,' Boosie tweeted. 'U A WHOLE B*TCH PLAYING WITH A GANGSTA SMH U CAN KEEP SUCKING D**K N GETTIN F**KED N YOUR A** N PEACE N #uhateyourself I WOULD TOO IF I WAS YOU LOL NASx IF YOU #commitsuicide YOU WOULD DO THIS WORLD A HUGE FAVOR. NOBODY WANTS U HERE.'

The controversial music maker continued, '#thinkaboutit NOBODY WANTS U HERE' and 'STOP PLAYING WITH THE STRAIGHT #F****T LOL.'

Then, in an ostensibly unrelated post, the Industry Baby writer appeared on Twitter to say, 'i am truly saddened. i have never been so mortified in my life. i cant believe disney channel has yet to play halloween town this entire october.'

Angered: After getting wind of the claim, Boosie launched into a homophobic rant against the 22-year-old hitmaker on Twitter , where he suggested the 'world would be a better place' if he committed suicide

Indirect: Instead of firing back at Boosie, Lil Nas X put his sense of humor to good use and penned a clever indirect response to the drama on his own Twitter account

Boosie's vitriolic tweets were later removed for violating Twitter's code of conduct.

Lil Boosie has a history of not only being generally homophobic, but also taking issue with Lil Nas X specifically.

In July Nas X tweeted that, 'me and jack harlow have decided to perform industry baby butt naked at the vmas for charity.'

Then Boosie inserted himself by stating, 'If Im at the awards and he go up there naked, Ima drag his a** offstage and beat his a**.'

Also in July, the rapper - whose real name is Torrence Ivy Hatch Jr - defended derogatory comments Da Baby made during his Rolling Loud set.

Success: Meanwhile, the Old Town Road performer is celebrating a career high, as his collaboration with Jack Harlow is currently number one in the world

Meanwhile, the Old Town Road performer is celebrating a career high, as his collaboration with Jack Harlow is currently number one in the world.

'wow! here were are, 3 number 1 songs!' he wrote on Instagram on Tuesday. He made sure to shout out Harlow specifically, writing: 'thank you to my brother jack harlow who inspires me to this day.'

He wrapped up the post by thanking his listeners: 'thank u to the fans who made industry baby your song of the summer! love u guys!'
Elsa Hosk was seen enjoying the company of her family as she stepped out for lunch in Pasadena on Saturday.

The 32-year-old supermodel cut a very stylish figure while taking a post-lunch stroll with her longtime partner Tom Daly and one of their loved ones.

The former Victoria's Secret Angel was also seen pushing a stroller that held her baby girl, Tuulikki Joan, who she held in her lap during mealtime.

Getting a bit of fresh air: Elsa Hosk was seen enjoying the company of her family and daughter, Tuulikki Joan, while she stepped out for lunch in Pasadena on Saturday

Hosk sported a sizable double-breasted and cream-colored coat on top of a white sweater during the day out with her family.

The fashion industry figure also sported a pair of wide-legged pants that obscured her toned limbs on her outing.

The runway regular contrasted the glammed-up majority of her clothing ensemble with a much more casual pair of black Converse high-top sneakers.

She covered up much of her gorgeous blond hair with a patterned bucket hat while enjoying the company of her loved ones.

Dressed to impress: Hosk sported a sizable double-breasted and cream-colored coat on top of a white sweater during the day out with her family

Keeping it comfortable: The runway regular contrasted the glammed-up majority of her clothing ensemble with a much more casual pair of black Converse high-top sneakers

Daly kept it casual in an anorak-esque jacket and a pair of khaki pants on the stroll.

Hosk and her partner have been romantically involved ever since 2015, and they announced that they were expecting to welcome a child last September through a post that was shared to her Instagram account.

The supermodel subsequently revealed that the happy couple was expecting to welcome a baby girl the following month.

She eventually announced that she had given birth with a series of shots that were shared to her account this past February.

Happy parents: Hosk and her partner have been romantically involved ever since 2015, and they announced that they were expecting to welcome a child last September through a post that was shared to her Instagram account

On Friday, Hosk shared a video of Tuulikki to her Instagram Story, in which she was seen admiring her image in a mirror.

The model also added a text graphic where she expressed that her daughter was the 'sweetest' to the clip.

The following day, she shared several shots of herself taking in a golden sunset while spending a little bit of quality time with her baby girl.

The fashion industry personality wore a fuzzy cream-colored hoodie that shone slightly in the sunlight while she posed for the pictures.

Figuring it out: On Friday, Hosk shared a video of Tuulikki to her Instagram Story, in which she was seen admiring her image in a mirror

She also rocked a pair of bellbottom-esque jeans and a set of black leather heeled boots that contrasted perfectly with her top.

Hosk accessorized with a stylish set of blue-tinted and red-framed sunglasses during the photoshoot.

Her gorgeous blonde locks remained free-flowing and cascaded onto her chest and shoulder while she spent time with Tuulikki.
Tim Burton walked the red carpet in a rare public appearance with his two children at the 16th Rome Film Fest 2021.

On Saturday, the 63-year-old director smiled as he posed for photos with son Billy Ray, 18, and daughter Nell, 13, as well as Tim's dog Levi at his Close Encounter tribute.

Burton shares Billy Ray and Nell with his ex-partner Helena Bonham Carter, 55.

Fatherhood: Tim Burton walked the red carpet in a rare public appearance with his two children at the 16th Rome Film Fest 2021 on Saturday afternoon

Tim donned a bright blue and black patterned dress shirt with a black suit jacket and black pants.

The California native sported black dress shoes and large black glasses with light pink lenses.

Nell wore a black minidress that had a white lace bodice and collar and sheer beaded puff sleeves.

Gussied up: Tim donned a bright blue and black patterned dress shirt with a black suit jacket and black pants

Gang's all here! The 63-year-old director smiled as he posed for photos with son Billy Ray, 18, and daughter Nell, 13, as well as Tim's dog Levi at his Close Encounter tribute

She also had on sheer black stockings and black Doc Martens. The teenager accessorized with a silver bracelet and carried a white beaded handbag.

Nell's shoulder-length brunette hair was curled and pulled half-up in a twist.

Billy Ray donned an all-black ensemble that consisted of a black dress shirt, black slacks, a black suit jacket and black dress shoes.

He wore his short brown hair parted to the side and accessorized with several silver rings.

Tim wrapped his arms around his children's shoulders as Billy Ray carried Levi in his arms.

Co-parenting: Burton shares Billy Ray and Nell with his ex-partner Helena Bonham Carter , 55

Honored: Burton and Quentin Tarantino were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the festival

Stylish specs: The California native sported black dress shoes and large black glasses with light pink lenses

Burton and Quentin Tarantino were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the festival. In a statement, Burton said, 'To receive this honor from the Rome Film Festival is very special for me.

'Fellini, Mario Bava, Dario Argento have all been major inspirations in my life,' said Burton, 'and receiving [the award] in Rome, a place I love, a city where you feel like you're starring in your own film, is very emotional.'

Burton and Bonham Carter began a romantic relationship in 2001 after meeting on the set of Planet of the Apes.

Helena went on to star in six of Burton's films including Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows.

They announced that they had 'separated amicably' in 2014.
As a stunning 23-year-old model, she dazzled the young Prince Andrew and the pair went on to enjoy a whirlwind romance.

But after tiring of the constant attention of the paparazzi, Kate Rabett went on to marry Kit Hesketh-Harvey, an irrepressible cabaret performer and composer.

Now I am sad to report that the couples 35-year marriage is over, with friends saying the reasons behind it are complicated.

Kit doesnt want her to leave but Kate has sadly concluded that its over, says a source.

A friend adds: Kit has moved to a place in the grounds of their Norfolk home and Kate spends most weekdays at a flat in London.

Lockdown has been hard on their relationship. Kits a special and talented man. This situation is such a shame for them both.

Kate Rabett, now 61, pictured at the Gentleman of the Year Launch in London, married Kit Hesketh-Harvey, an irrepressible cabaret performer and composer

Another source says: Kit is absolutely heartbroken after such a long marriage. Kate wants out.

Kate, a former Hot Gossip dancer and actress, hit the front pages in 1984 after catching Andrews eye when they bumped into each other leaving a London gallery.

During their fling, she hosted Andrews 24th birthday party at her West London home and was reportedly introduced to the Queen, who indicated her approval.

However, within two years she had married Kit, and they held their wedding reception at Chilham Castle in Kent. They went on to have two children  Augusta, now 33, and Rollo, 31. However, their showbiz careers inevitably made family life less than conventional.

Kate, now 61, became a Bond girl in The Living Daylights opposite Timothy Daltons 007, played Cissy Meldrum in the BBC sitcom You Rang, MLord and starred in the West End before becoming an art historian.

Meanwhile Kit, now 64, was treading the boards as one half of the cabaret act Kit & The Widow, as well as starring in or scripting plays and shows in London and New York.

Kate, a former Hot Gossip dancer and actress, hit the front pages in 1984 after catching Andrews eye when they bumped into each other leaving a London gallery

So hectic were their schedules that they often saw each other only once every three weeks, which presented particular challenges when they wanted a second child.

Kate once said: I remember being told we would be doing another series of You Rang, MLord.

I worked out that if I had sex the next day, I could fit a baby before filming.

She telephoned her husband, who was in Edinburgh at the time and he flew down to London and it worked. I got pregnant.

Is real life imitating art for loved up Antonia?

One of her most striking works is a portrait of a couple in an intimate clinch but where could artist Antonia Showering be getting her inspiration from?

The 30-year-old scion of the Babycham dynasty is enjoying a fledgling romance with David Ross, the 56-year-old Carphone Warehouse founder who has a 670 million fortune.

Antonia Showering, 30, is enjoying a fledgling romance with David Ross, the 56-year-old Carphone Warehouse founder who has a 670 million fortune

Her oil painting is entitled Lies Below and forms part of an exhibition called IRL (In Real Life) at Londons Timothy Taylor gallery

David is just a year younger than Antonias father Matthew, but the age gap hasnt stopped the couple from enjoying cosy suppers at Londons finest restaurants and at Nevill Holt, the tycoons stately home in Leicestershire.

And they share a love of art, as David chairs the National Portrait Gallery.

Antonia, who previously dated Game Of Thrones star Alfie Allen, has attended some of Londons most prestigious institutions, including Chelsea Art College.

Her oil painting is entitled Lies Below and forms part of an exhibition called IRL (In Real Life) at Londons Timothy Taylor gallery.

Got a scoop? Email charlotte.griffiths@mailonsunday.co.uk
It was just 11 days ago when Ryan Reynolds seemingly reignited his faux feud with Hugh Jackman and wished him a happy 53rd birthday by ribbing the Aussie star about celebrating his birthday without him.

With their feud now 13 years in the making, The Greatest Showman star decided to return the favor, and rally some friends and colleagues to wish Reynolds a happy 45th birthday on Saturday, October 23.

In the clip, crew members took turns telling Reynolds 'happy birthday' as the photographer moved from one room to the next, ultimately finding Jackman sitting down getting his hair and makeup styled for a photoshoot.

Give and take: Hugh Jackman, 53, returned the favor to Ryan Reynolds and reluctantly wished him happy birthday on Saturday, in what's the latest ribbing in their longstanding faux feud

13 years and counting! The funny feud between Jackman and Reynolds dates back to 2008, when they met on the set of of X-Men Origins: Wolverine

From the top, the camera operator zig-zagged around the rooms and captured nine people who offered a 'happy birthday Ryan.'

There was even one guy who changed things up with a 'happy birthday Blake, ' in a reference to Reynolds' wife, Blake Lively.

Finally, after the makeup artist said her 'happy birthday Ryan', Jackman could only muster a sigh when he attempted to say the sweet sentiment himself.

Fest funny: Off the top, crew members took turns telling Reynolds 'happy birthday'

Workin' it: Each and every one of them kept in character for the funny video

Making the rounds: The camera operator zig-zagged around a few rooms, and each time that person offered: 'Happy birthday Ryan'

Big Apple: The funny clip appears to have been shot in a New York City loft

Workin' the rooms: In all, the photographer had nine people wish Reynolds 'happy birthday', and a tenth person who jokingly directed his birthday wish to Reynolds' wife Blake Lively

'It's not easy... Happy birthday, Ryan,' he said while looking straight into the camera.

'There you go, we got it! How many people did we get? People say I don't like you, but that was 15 people.'

Jackman then pulled out a nice bundle of cash and began counting it, as if to signify that he had to pay his colleagues for wishing Reynolds happy birthday on camera.

The Aussie star first paid his makeup stylist her fee, and then handed over the rest of wad of money to the camera operator, which he said was for 'the rest of you.'

'They say I don't love you,' the actor said of Reynolds, just as he made the final payment.

Leading man: Eventually, the photographer found Jackman getting the leading man treatment, all while sitting down and getting his hair and makeup done for a photoshoot

When the Aussie star turned towards the camera he had a look of disgust on his face

Jackman's makeup artist was the last of the group to share 'happy birthday'

Sigh of disgust: Initially, Jackman could only muster a sigh when he tried to share his happy birthday wish to the Deadpool star

Finally: His frown and snarls turned to a beaming smile when The Greatest Showman star finally offered the sweet sentiment to Reynolds

In Reynolds' birthday post to Jackman on October 12, the Deadpool star did his best not to break character and start laughing.

'Hey Hugh, I just want to wish you a happy birthday and tell you I love you. I'm down here in Atlanta so wish I could be celebrating with you,' he began.

'You may notice it's a little quiet around the house this morning, that's because I flew Deb, the kids, the dogs, your friends and furniture here to celebrate your birthday with me,' he continued, in a reference to his wife of 25 years, Deborra-Lee Furness, and their two children Oscar, 21, and Ava, 16.

He ended the clip by professing: 'We're having an amazing time and we miss you.'

'Happy birthday': 'It's not easy... Happy birthday, Ryan,' he said while looking straight into the camera.

Jackman then pulled out a nice bundle of cash and began counting it, as if to signify that he had to pay his colleagues for wishing Reynolds happy birthday on camera

Paid off: The actor then counted up the remaining money to give to the crew

Paid off: 'They say I don't love you,' Jackman added, just as he made the final payment to the photographer

The fictitious feud started back when the two stars met on the set of X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2008, and they quickly began to rib each other over Reynolds' then wife, Scarlett Johansson, whom he was married to from 2008 until 2011.

And according to Jackman, he had been 'close friends with Scarlett' over the years.

'Scarlett had just married Ryan,' Jackson explained to The Daily Beast, adding, 'So when he came on set I was like, "Hey, you better be on your best behavior here, pal, because I'm watching", and we started ribbing each other that way.'

Hugh said things 'escalated' after Reynolds took on the role of Deadpool, and thus proving to be a rival to his portrayal of Wolverine.

Superhero jabs: Jackman's birthday message to Reynolds comes just 11 days after the Deadpool star took a jab at the Wolverine actor for his 53rd birthday
Paris Hilton held an extravagant bridal shower on Saturday afternoon, which featured everything from custom treats to an impressive alcohol well.

Wanting to give her fans a look at the festivities, the 40-year-old livestreamed the event and held a wedding-related Q&A on the video-sharing app TikTok.

When asked which famous music act she'd choose to perform at her forthcoming nuptials, Hilton instantly named her pal Britney Spears.

Bridal shower: Paris Hilton held an extravagant bridal shower on Saturday afternoon, which featured everything from custom treats to an impressive alcohol well

Hilton wore a flowing white dress that featured a sizable cut at its front portion while celebrating her upcoming nuptials.

She also sported a set of jewel-covered gloves that added a little bit of shine to her clothing ensemble.

The social media personality accessorized further with a set of sparkling earrings that stood out from the rest of her outfit.

The businesswoman also sported a pair of white-framed and heart-shaped sunglasses.

Q&A: Wanting to give her fans a look at the festivities, the 40-year-old livestreamed the event and held a wedding-related Q&A on the video-sharing app TikTok

Great choice: When asked which famous music act she'd choose to perform at her forthcoming nuptials, Hilton instantly named her pal Britney Spears; the pair pictured in 2008

Her platinum blonde hair fell towards her shoulders while she spent time with her friends at the event.

She later tied up her locks into a sizable ponytail that cascaded onto her backside.

The DJ finished off her all-white outfit with a pair of high-heeled shoes that matched the rest of her clothing.

Looking good! Her platinum blonde hair fell towards her shoulders while she spent time with her friends at the event

Switching it up: She later tied up her locks into a sizable ponytail that cascaded onto her backside

Made for walking: The DJ finished off her all-white outfit with a pair of high-heeled shoes that matched the rest of her clothing

At one point, Hilton was seen being wrapped nearly head-to-toe in what appeared to be toilet paper.

She made a point of holding one of her pampered pooches while spending time at the bridal shower.

One of the media personality's friends also joined in on the fun and allowed herself to be covered in the paper.

Puppy love: She made a point of holding one of her pampered pooches while spending time at the bridal shower

Not alone: One of the media personality's friends also joined in on the fun and allowed herself to be covered in the paper

The socialite also made a point of posing with several of her pals for a glammed-up shot during the festivities.

Several of her pets were allowed to roam freely in the area where the celebration was taking place.

The media personality's friends appeared to be enjoying the company of the soon-to-be-married figure, as they were seen laughing and conversing during the bridal shower.

Hilton made a point of showing off her eye-catching engagement ring at various points of the event.

The reality television figure answered numerous questions during the party, and notably revealed that she was thinking about welcoming a child into her life following her wedding.

Hanging out: The media personality's friends appeared to be enjoying the company of the soon-to-be-married figure

Special occasion: The socialite wore a flowing white dress that featured a sizable cut at its front portion while celebrating her upcoming nuptials

There it is: She sported a set of jewel-covered gloves that added a little bit of shine to her clothing, and she made a point of showing off her eye-catching engagement ring

Having fun: At one point, Hilton was seen being wrapped nearly head-to-toe in what appeared to be toilet paper

Not alone: One of the reality television personality's friends joined in on the fun

Being honest: The reality television figure answered numerous questions during the party

Looking forward: She notably revealed that she was thinking about welcoming a child into her life following her wedding

Furry friends: Several of her pets were allowed to roam freely in the area where the celebration was taking place

She also noted that, if given a choice, she would name her prospective baby London Marilyn Hilton and that her child would have a hyphenated last name.

Hilton went on to express that her forthcoming wedding ceremony would also take place over the course of three consecutive days, as opposed to just one.

Although she has not revealed who would be designing her wedding dress, the socialite remarked that she would most likely have eleven to choose from in the coming weeks.

The fashion industry figure also commented that if she were to ask a specific performer to appear at her nuptials, she would request Britney Spears to perform at her upcoming ceremony.

Good group: Hilton was spotted posing for a shot with all of her friends at one point

Multiple dates: Hilton went on to express that her forthcoming wedding ceremony would also take place over the course of three consecutive days, as opposed to just one

Keeping it on the down low: Hilton has not revealed who would be designing her wedding dress for her upcoming ceremony

Coming soon: The socialite remarked that she would most likely have eleven to choose from in the coming weeks

Baby love: She also noted that, if given a choice, she would name her prospective baby London Marilyn Hilton

Making a point: The socialite also remarked that her child would have a hyphenated last name

Hilton is currently set to tie the knot with her fiance and longtime family friend, Carter Reum.

The pair initially announced that they were dating in September of last year, and they went on to become engaged this past February.

Earlier this week, DailyMail.com obtained an exclusive look at the happy couple's wedding gift registry, where her desired items and their prices were detailed.

The pair's ceremony is currently set to occur at a church in Beverly Hills, with a reception scheduled to follow at her late grandfather's Bel Air estate on November 11th.

In the future: Hilton's wedding ceremony is currently set to occur at a church in Beverly Hills, with a reception scheduled to follow at her late grandfather's Bel Air estate on November 11th; she is seen with Reum in September

Making it official: The pair initially announced that they were dating in September of last year, and they went on to become engaged this past February
Hollywood has well and truly come to Adelaide.

The South Australian capital has become a new hot-spot for A-list productions of late, with the likes of Mortal Kombat and Zac Efron's Stan Original film Gold recently filmed there.

And it seems Adelaide's Hollywood gold rush has just begun, as six major film productions are currently in production in the City of Churches, involving more than 400 local cast and crew.

Move over Byron Bay! Why Adelaide is Australia's new Hollywood hotspot - as a slew of major productions kick off in the City of Churches. Pictured: Jamie Dornan, star of Adelaide-filmed Stan series The Tourist

The Netflix series Gymnastics Academy: A Second Chance! is shooting at the Adelaide Showground.

Elsewhere, the new Rolf De Heer film The Mountain has just wrapped shooting in the Flinders Ranges.

The vampire series Firebite starring Rob Collins and Yael Stone is currently shooting in Coober Pedy as well as in Adelaide film studios.

Local project: The vampire series Firebite starring Rob Collins and Yael Stone (pictured) is currently shooting in Coober Pedy as well as in Adelaide film studios

The Taryn Brumfitt feature documentary Embrace Kids is also based in the city.

ABC Kids series Beep and Mort is being produced in Adelaide, as is the second season of docu-series Aussie Snake Wranglers are also being produced in Adelaide.

There are also three major TV series in post-production in South Australia.

Series: The Netflix series Gymnastics Academy: A Second Chance! is shooting at the Adelaide Showground. Pictured: Cast of Gymnastics Academy: A Second Chance!

These productions are HBO series The Tourist starring Jamie Dornan, Netflix series MaveriX and season two of ABC children's series First Day.

Adelaide-based digital effects company Rising Sun Pictures has also worked on several Hollywood blockbusters in the past year, including the new Marvel film Thor: Love and Thunder and Mortal Kombat.

Speaking to Adelaide Now on Sunday, Rising Sun Pictures boss Jennie Zeiher said the company was busier than ever before over the past year, despite the Covid pandemic.

'We're having to hold the doors shut as we've just been too popular.'

Watch Stan's Original film Gold, exclusively on Stan later this year.
They were in Savannah the night before to inaugurate a new fashion-focused museum exhibit.

And Christina Hendricks and Christian Siriano extended their trip to Georgia on Saturday when they walked the red-carpet at the Savannah Film Festival's opening-night screening of Kenneth Branagh's new film Belfast.

The 46-year-old Mad Men actress looked stunning in an elegant black velvet ensemble, while the 35-year-old designer opted for a more casual all-black look for the festival, which was held at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Back in black: Christina Hendricks, 46, and designer Christian Siriano, 35, both rocked black as they walked the red carpet on Saturday for the Savannah Film Festival opening-night screening of Kenneth Branagh's new film Belfast

Christina flaunted her legs in her dress, which featured a shimmering diagonal ruched stitching across her midriff.

The textured velvet dress was covered in ribbed stripes with lustrous fabric that glinted in the light.

The Good Girls actress spiced up the muted look with gold open-toe heels and a striking thick silver chain around her neck that was accented with fall-appropriate brown, gray and red feathers.

She had her brilliant red hair styled with strands running down to frame her elegantly made-up face, with the rest tied back in a bun.

Eye catching: Christina flaunted her legs in her dress, which featured a shimmering diagonal ruched stitching across her midriff

Sparkler: The textured velvet dress was covered in ribbed stripes with lustrous fabric that glinted in the light. The Good Girls actress spiced up the muted look with gold open-toe heels

Christian looked more relaxed in a simple black suit.

His thin jacket was decorated with irregularly placed rings, and he had the sleeves rolled up to channel the 1980s and to show off his tattoos.

The designer paired the jacket with a simple black T-shirt, and he wore slim black pants with faint stripes.

He completed the look with lustrous square-toed black boots.

Old school: Christian looked more relaxed in a simple black suit. His thin jacket was decorated with irregularly placed rings, and he had the sleeves rolled up to channel the 1980s and to show off his tattoos

Monochrome: The designer paired the jacket with a simple black T-shirt, and he wore slim black pants with faint stripes

On point: He completed the look with lustrous square-toed black boots

Christina and Christian were on hand for the screening of Kenneth Branagh's latest directorial effort, Belftast.

The black-and-white period film, a more personal departure from the actor and director's latest big-budget projects, is a coming-of-age drama that follows a working-class family and their young son growing up in the title city.

The cast features Caitriona Balfe and Jamie Dornan as the boy's parents, while Judi Dench and Ciaran Hinds play his grandparents.

So far, the film has been a hit with critics and won the People's Choice Award when it screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Branagh was on hand to introduce his film, and he looked dapper in a navy suit with a grayblue patterned tie.

Prior to filming Belfast last year during the pandemic, Branagh completed filming for the Agatha Christie mystery Death On The Nile, but that film has been delayed until 2022 due to the pandemic.

Period piece: Branagh's film Belfast is a black-and-white coming-of-age drama starring Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench and Ciaran Hinds

Distinguished: Branagh was on hand to introduce his film, and he looked dapper in a navy suit with a grayblue patterned tie
When it comes to dressing Australia's most in-demand model, price is certainly no object.

And on Sunday, Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) revealed the latest designer item to enter her coveted closet - a black Louis Vuitton leather jacket worth a whopping $12,000.

In a series of Instagram photos, the 34-year-old is seen posing in the mirror to show off her new jacket, with featured a fluffy inner lining and bright yellow monogrammed detailing around the sleeves.

Cha-ching! Lara Worthington (nee Bingle), 34, showed off her expensive taste as she posed in her new $12,000 Louis Vuitton leather jacket on Sunday

The reversible jacket also featured brown accents and a hood.

Lara appeared to be wearing minimal makeup as she posed for her mirror selfies.

The mother-of-three completed her look with several gold rings and allowed her iconic blonde bob to fall in loose waves by her shoulders.

Snug: In a series of Instagram photos, the glamazon is seen posing in the mirror to show off her new jacket, with featured a fluffy inner lining and bright yellow monogrammed detailing around the sleeves

It comes after Lara showed off her model figure in a chic strapless black swimsuit as she enjoyed the sun in The Hamptons, New York.

The tanned and toned stunner accessorised with a designer headscarf and jewellery from Tiffany & Co.

Lara flaunted her flawless line-free face by going makeup free, and her golden locks were shimmering in the sun.

Chasing the sun! It comes after Lara showed off her model figure in a chic strapless black swimsuit as she enjoyed the sun in The Hamptons, New York

The one-time reality star also gave a glimpse of a small tattoo she has had on her wrist for years.

Lara, her husband Sam Worthington and their three children, Rocket, Racer and River, are currently holidaying in The Hamptons after returning to New York.

Before heading to New York, the family-of-five were in Los Angeles. It's unclear when exactly Lara and Sam returned to US.

The family first moved back to Australia in January, after spending the better part of a decade living in New York and Los Angeles.

Lara and Sam began dating in 2013 and secretly married in 2014.
Chezzi Denyer has taken another public swipe at New Idea magazine - days after the publication made false allegations that her husband Grant was having an affair with his Dancing With The Stars partner Lily Cornish.

Posting to Instagram on Sunday, Chezzi, 41, uploaded a photo of herself and Grant, 44, visiting a local park with their children.

'Look @newideamagazine - Caught out in public, with no makeup on, unbrushed hair, daggy clothes AND having a fight about who will push the pram,' she captioned the image.

'Caught out in public, with no makeup on': Chezzi Denyer, 41, (left) has taken another swipe at New Idea magazine - days after the publication made false allegations that Grant, 44, (right) was having an affair with his Dancing With The Stars partner Lily Cornish

The photo showed the couple pulling faces as they soaked up the sunshine in casual attire

In a comment beneath the post, Grant wrote: 'For the record, I lost the fight,' alongside a sad face emoji.

Elsewhere, Family Feud presenter Grant shared a photo to his own Instagram page, showing his family enjoying quality time in the park together.

Swipe: Posting to Instagram on Sunday, Chezzi, 41, uploaded a photo of herself and Grant, 44, visiting a local park with their children. She accompanied this with the sarcastic caption: 'Look @newideamagazine - Caught out in public, with no makeup on, unbrushed hair, daggy clothes AND having a fight about who will push the pram

All smiles: Elsewhere, Family Feud presenter Grant shared a photo to his own Instagram page, showing his family enjoying quality time in the park together

Chezzi was seen pushing the couple's eight-month-old baby Sunday in her pram, while their eldest daughters Sailor, 10, and Scout, five, rode on bikes wearing matching pink helmets.

The posts came days after New Idea published photos of Grant with his hand on his dance partner's thigh in between rehearsals for the new season of Dancing with the Stars: All Stars.

The photos, which were published in New Idea this week alongside the headline 'Grant Denyer Caught Out', showed Denyer getting close to 22-year-old Lily Cornish outside a dance studio in Sydney.

Fake news: The photos, which were published in New Idea this week alongside the headline 'Grant Denyer Caught Out', showed Denyer getting close to 22-year-old Lily Cornish outside a dance studio in Sydney

The married TV host clarified on Thursday the pictures were innocent and in fact showed him consoling his friend after she had received some sad personal news.

He told 2Day FM's The Morning Crew with Hughesy, Ed & Erin the images were taken by a paparazzo just moments after he and Cornish had finished speaking to his wife Chezzi over FaceTime.

'It's such a horrible, made-up story that's embarrassing for everyone. We'd just been on the phone to Chezzi, we had been FaceTiming It had been a bit of a tough day and Lil had a bit going on in her personal life,' he said.

Setting the record straight: On Thursday, Grant admitted he has 'embarrassed' his family after he was pictured with his hand on his dance partner's thigh in between rehearsals for the new season of Dancing with the Stars : All Stars

Explanation: Grant clarified on Thursday the pictures were innocent and in fact showed him consoling his friend after she had received some sad personal news. Denyer and Cornish are pictured behind the scenes of Dancing with the Stars: All Stars

'It's not up to me to divulge what it [the personal issue] is but I was just giving her a bit of a pep talk and fatherly advice,' he added.

'I just gave her a tap on the leg and she sort of leaned in for a bit of a hug after a chat and that's the photo on the [New Idea] front page.'

Cornish also addressed the New Idea story on Thursday, sharing a post to Instagram thanking her fans for being so understanding.

Breaking her silence: Cornish also addressed the New Idea story on Thursday, sharing a post to Instagram thanking her fans for their 'kind words and messages'

'Thanks everyone for the kind words and messages. I really appreciate the amount of love that has come out of this yucky / disrespectful situation. Killing it with kindness,' she wrote.

Denyer and his wife had categorically denied the report suggesting he was having an affair with a woman half his age in a series of social media posts on Wednesday.

Chezzi posted screenshots of the article to Instagram and blasted the publication for fabricating such a 'gross and mean' story.

'What the actual hell is this front-page crap, New Idea,' she wrote, adding that the images had been completely taken out of context.
Screen Producers Australia has shared condolences over the tragedy that occurred on the set of Alec Baldwin's new film, Rust.

Baldwin accidentally killed Halyna Hutchins, a 42-year-old married mother-of-two and the Director of Photography, on the set of his new movie in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Thursday.

In a statement posted by TV Tonight, Screen Producers Australia CEO Matthew Deaner said: 'SPA was saddened to hear of the tragic passing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and the injuries sustained by director Joel Souza in an on-set incident in the US this week.

Tragic: Screen Producers Australia has shared condolences over the tragedy that occurred on the set of Alec Baldwin's new film, Rust. Alec is pictured

'A film set is a unique environment which presents unique workplace hazards. Safety has always been a priority at SPA, and it is for this reason we have been working closely with the MEAA and the wider industry to implement the National Guidelines for Screen Safety here in Australia.

'The Guidelines are applicable to productions of all levels  from music videos to feature films  and contain specific provisions for High Risk Production Activities, such as the use of firearms.

'Everyone involved in bringing a story to the screen  from producers, to directors, actors, and stunt performers  has a responsibility to create and promote a safe workplace culture. I encourage all screen workers to refer to the Guidelines for assistance on identifying, avoiding, and managing risks from the start of pre-production to wrap.

Loss: Baldwin accidentally killed Halyna Hutchins (pictured), a 42-year-old married mother-of-two and the Director of Photography, on the set of his new movie in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Thursday

Shock: Filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, Baldwin apparently aimed towards the camera and pulled the trigger, accidentally killing Hutchins as she filmed him, and injuring director Joel Souza (pictured), who stood behind her

'We wish Souza a speedy recovery and send our deepest condolences to Hutchins' family, friends, and cast and crew working with her on the production.'

Screen Producers Australia was not involved in the production of Rust.

A distraught Alec Baldwin said on Friday there are 'no words to convey his shock and sadness' after accidentally shooting and killing the female cinematographer on the set of his new movie Rust, and that he was cooperating fully with the police investigation into what happened.

A search warrant released Friday said that armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed laid out three prop guns on a cart outside the filming location, and first assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds.

In a statement posted by TV Tonight, Screen Producers Australia CEO Matthew Deaner said: 'SPA was saddened to hear of the tragic passing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and the injuries sustained by director Joel Souza in an on-set incident in the US this week'

'We wish Souza a speedy recovery and send our deepest condolences to Hutchins' family, friends, and cast and crew working with her on the production' the statement read

'Cold gun!' shouted Halls before handing the gun to Baldwin, using the phrase to signal to cast and crew that the gun was safe to fire for the scene, the warrant said.

Seconds later, filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, Baldwin apparently aimed towards the camera and pulled the trigger, accidentally killing Hutchins as she filmed him, and injuring director Joel Souza, who stood behind her.

Witnesses cited by Showbiz 411 said the single bullet struck Hutchins in the body, and pierced Souza's clavicle. Hutchins was airlifted to the hospital but was pronounced dead. Souza was taken to the hospital by ambulance but was released on Thursday evening.

Police have disclosed few details about the shooting, saying only that a 'projectile' was fired by a 'prop gun' and they are investigating. A spokesman for Baldwin last night issued a statement saying only blanks were used.

Details: Police have disclosed few details about the shooting, saying only that a 'projectile' was fired by a 'prop gun' and they are investigating. A spokesman for Baldwin last night issued a statement saying only blanks were used

Baldwin, 63, was taken to the sheriff's department to be questioned. He was released without charge after giving a tearful interview. Afterwards, he was photographed doubled over in shock and grief as he spoke on the phone.

In two tweets on Friday, Baldwin said described the shooting as a 'tragic accident.

'There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna,' he said.

Hutchins' grieving husband Matthew told DailyMail.com on Friday morning that he had spoken with the actor.

'I have spoken with Alec Baldwin and he is being very supportive,' he said.
He made history as the youngest solo artist to top the Australian album charts.

And Indigenous rapper The Kid Laroi looked every inch the rock star as he attended the star-studded We Can Survive concert in Los Angeles on Saturday.

The 18-year-old rocked an ultra-cool black leather jacket and jeans as he arrived to the event.

Looking cool: The Kid Laroi rocked an ultra-cool black leather jacket as he attended the star-studded We Can Survive concert in Los Angeles on Saturday

He teamed his ensemble with a white T-shirt and black Converse sneakers.

Laroi left his long locks out and couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he posed on the red carpet after arriving to the event.

Born in Waterloo, Sydney, Laroi grew up in relative poverty, spending his formative years in a housing commission block and couch surfing with his mother.

He began rapping at the age of 13, predominantly as an outlet to process his family struggles and the death of his uncle two years earlier.

Stylish: The 18-year-old rocked an ultra-cool black leather jacket and jeans as he arrived to the event

He achieved modest success as a finalist in Australian radio station Triple J's Unearthed High competition, but his real breakthrough came when he was signed as international rap sensation Juice Wrld's labelmate at Grade A Productions in 2019.

The duo quickly became close, with Laroi even referring to Juice Wrld as his 'big brother' after being selected to support him on the Sydney and Melbourne legs of his Australian tour in November 2019.

Fate took a cruel turn and just weeks later on December 8, Juice Wrld died at the age of 21, after suffering a reported seizure at Chicago Midway International Airport.

Final touches: He teamed his ensemble with a white T-shirt and black Converse sneakers

Prior to his death, Juice Wrld recorded a verse for GO, the lead single on Laroi's debut mixtape, knowing full well it would rocket the teen to fame overnight.

It did just that upon its release in June 2020, and in the blink of an eye the talented underdog from Waterloo had a single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 - topping megastar Justin Bieber that he's been compared to - a feat many artists can only ever dream of achieving.

He went on to become the youngest Australian to have a number one album on the ARIA charts with the release of F*ck Love (Savage) in July 2020.
Samantha Armytage took a trip to her local grocery store on Sunday.

And the former Sunrise star was shocked when she realised how much the ginger cost.

Sharing a photo to her Instagram, Sam, 45, revealed that the popular item was selling for $45 per kilo.

Pricey! Samantha Armytage (pictured) took a trip to her local grocery store on Sunday. And the former Sunrise star was shocked when she realised how much the ginger cost

While it sounds like quite a lot, one serve of ginger works out at less than 10 cents at that price.

The average recommend serving size of ginger is 2 grams, and at 4.5 cents a gram, it works out at 9 cents a serve.

Sam might not need to count her pennies soon, as it's believed she has quietly returned to Channel Seven after her high profile departure from the network earlier this year.

Pretty penny: Sharing a photo to her Instagram, Sam, 45, revealed that the popular item was selling for $45 per kilo. While it sounds like quite a lot, one serve of ginger works out at less than 10 cents at that price

The star is not only making a guest appearance on the reality show Farmer Wants a Wife, she will appear in coverage of six horseracing events in 2022.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday that Sam will shoot, 'packages from the races to be incorporated into Seven's race day coverage' but won't be presenting or calling races.

'She was contracted to the end of the year so we expected this might be a case of her being a few new projects to see her through but a new contract reopens the door. She could turn up anywhere in the future,' an alleged Seven network insider told the paper.

Back: Sam might not need to count her pennies soon, as it's believed she has quietly returned to Channel Seven after her high profile departure from the network earlier this year

It comes after Sam shared the shock announcement that she was joining frothy reality TV franchise Farmer Wants a Wife.

Sam, who married wealthy farmer Richard Lavender late last year, will assist with the matchmaking process alongside host Natalie Gruzlewski.

'I'm thrilled to be joining Farmer Wants a Wife in 2022,' she said on Tuesday.

'I've always been a huge fan of the show and of country people, and I know first-hand that falling in love with a farmer is just about the most wonderful thing you can do.'
Richard Madden and Angelina Jolie couldn't seem to contain their giggles as they attended the photocall for their new movie Eternals in Rome on Sunday.

Hitting the red carpet at the city's 16th Film Festival, the Bodyguard actor, 35, certainly put on a tactile display with the Maleficent star, 46.

Placing a tender hand around the actress's svelte waist, Richard looked ever-suave in a black suit while his co-star oozed glamour in an onyx asymmetrical maxi dress.

Banter: Richard Madden and Angelina Jolie couldn't seem to contain their giggles as they attended the photocall for their new movie Eternals in Rome on Sunday

Angelina has been linked to both The Weeknd and her ex-husband Jonny Lee Miller in recent months.

Angelina recently revealed the diversity in the Eternals cast is 'how it always should have been.'

The actress - who plays Thena in the upcoming Marvel blockbuster - appears as part of a superhero ensemble featuring queer characters, people of color and deaf actress Lauren Ridloff.

'What's really quite stunning is that when we walked out all of us together, it didn't feel like: "This is so new and cool," it felt like: "This is how it always should have been." Why did it take so long? It felt so right,' she told Variety:

Jolie was asked why she feels it takes so long, and while she has 'many things' to say on the subject, she focused on the idea that people should watch the film without actually focusing on its 'diversity.'

Centre of attention: Richard looked ever-suave in a black suit which he completed with a pair of white trainers

What a pair! The co-stars looked in great spirits as they posed up a storm at the photocall

Looking good: Richard shot a serious expression towards photographers

Stylish: He wore his chocolate tresses in a sleek quiff

Laugh out loud: The actors joined Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao on the red carpet

She added: 'I could say many things, and I could go on for a while, but I think...it is so good to just bust a hole right in that...'

The Mr. and Mrs. Smith star argued: 'What I hope is that when people watch this film, they're not seeing it and saying: "Oh, this is a film about diversity. This is a film that shows this person can be a superhero."'

Angelina added: 'They'll just say: "Well of course that person's a superhero, and of course that person also is. Of course."'

'And more shame on us for every questioning that they couldn't be because: "Of course."'

Eternals - which is set to hit the big screen next month - is written and directed by Nomadland filmmaker Chloe Zhao.

Fun: The trio joined fellow stars Kit Harington and Gemma Chan

Confident: He posed with his hand in his pocket

Ethereal: Angelina looked nothing short of sensational in an asymmetrical black maxi dress

Stunning: The Hollywood star accentuated her natural beauty with a full face of make-up

Out of this world: She smouldered for onlookers as she posed up a storm on the red carpet

Eternals follows a race of immortal beings with superhuman powers who are secretly living on Earth.

As well as starring Richard, Kit Harington and Don Lee, the movie will see Angelina, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan and Lauren Ridloff appear as superheroes too.

Angelina told Extra 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?"'

Eternals will be released in U.S. and UK theatres on November 5, 2021.

Wow! Angelina Jolie's Thena was seen using a golden sword in a recent preview for the blockbuster
Married At First Sight's upcoming ninth season will feature some of the show's hottest cast members ever.

And Daily Mail Australia can exclusively reveal a Queensland-based retail manager is set to appear on the new season, which premieres on Channel Nine early next year.

Samantha Moitzi will be one of 11 brides walking down the aisle in the pursuit of love.

Incoming! Meet Samantha Moitzi, the tattooed blonde bombshell retail manager who hopes to find love on the new season of Married At First Sight, which is currently being filmed in Sydney

The tattooed bombshell is tipped to be one of the breakout stars, according to sources close to production.

A friend of Samantha's accidently let slip the blonde's identity while telling Daily Mail they weren't surprised to see her join the cast.

'Sam has always a fan of MAFS and would sometimes joke about wanting to apply for the show. We weren't sure if she was joking... so it's no surprise for us,' they said.

Looking for love: Gold Coast-based Samantha Moitzi is tipped to be one of the breakout stars, according to sources close to production. Pictured in Sydney last week

Spotted: Sam has been photographed arriving at the show's Lilyfield warehouse, where the dinner parties and commitment ceremonies are filmed, alongside her partner

Do you know this man? Her groom is yet to be identified

Samantha has been photographed on several dates with her groom - who is yet to be identified - and been spotted arriving at the show's Lilyfield warehouse, where the dinner parties and commitment ceremonies are filmed.

In another clue she's joined the cast, her social media accounts have been switched to private, which is a requirement for upcoming brides and grooms.

The blonde is known for her business savvy and has a keen eye for fashion, with plans to start her own boutique collection.

Stylish: The blonde is known for her business savvy and has a keen eye for fashion, with plans to start her own boutique collection

Clue: In another clue she's joined the cast, her social media accounts have been switched to private, which is a requirement for upcoming brides and grooms

Samantha graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Business Management.

She worked as a Human Resources and Training Coordinator at Village Roadshow Theme Parks before she decided to pursue her dreams of working in fashion.

She currently works as a Queensland, NSW and SA regional manager for Camilla.

Looking for love: Last month, Daily Mail Australia announced that real estate agent Tamara Djordjevic (left) and Selin Mengu (right) had joined the growing list of brides

Samantha joins a handful of previously announced brides, including real estate agent Tamara Djordjevic, beautician Ella Ding and florist Jessica Seracino.

They will be joined by executive assistant Selin Mengu and driving instructor Olivia Frazer, among others yet to be identified.

Earlier this month, Daily Mail Australia revealed that pro wrestler Anthony Cincotta, known by his stage name Tommy Hellfire, would be appearing on the 2022 series.

He joins previously announced grooms Andrew Davis, Brent Vitiello and Jack Millar.

Married At First Sight returns to Channel Nine in 2022

Unlucky in love: They join driving instructor Olivia Frazer (left) and beautician Ella Ding (right)
Australian racing driver Daniel Ricciardo is rumoured to have struck up a romance with aspiring actress Heidi Berger.

The New York based beauty, 24, who is a student at New York University, is the daughter of Austrian F1 driver Gerhard Berger.

Fans noticed the pair have been spending time together, with celebrity gossip site Deux Moi reporting that they recently celebrated Daniel's 32nd birthday together in Austria.

Romance: Australian racing driver Daniel Ricciardo is rumoured to have struck up a romance with aspiring actress Heidi Berger

According to reports, they have been spotted together in New York in the past week, shopping and enjoying brunch, as well as entering a hotel.

They were also seen together in a video where they were riding in a helicopter in St Tropez, a town on the French Riviera, back in June.

Daniel is additionally believed to be the man seen in an Instagram post Heidi shared, in which an unseen man is jokingly flipping a woman off during a hike in Los Angeles.

Time together? Fans noticed the pair have been spending time together, with celebrity gossip site Deux Moi reporting that they recently celebrated Daniel's 32nd birthday in Austria. They were also seen together in a video where they were riding in a helicopter in St Tropez in June

Is that him? Daniel is additionally believed to be the man seen in an Instagram post Heidi shared, in which an unseen man is jokingly flipping a woman off during a hike in Los Angeles

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Daniel Ricciardo and Heidi Berger for comment.

Daniel is known for keeping his private life a closely guarded secret.

His last public relationship was with long-term girlfriend Jemma Boskovich before the pair split in 2016.

Studied: The New York based beauty, 24, is also student at New York University

Family: Heidi is the daughter of Austrian F1 driver Gerhard Berger (pictured)

In 2018, it was reported that model Jessica Gomes, 36, was 'discreetly seeing' the Formula One driver.

It comes after a TikTok star recalled a wild night she once shared in Ibiza with the racing driver.

Sara Ayter described Daniel, as the 'coolest human' after he apparently invited her and two pals to a boat party upon meeting on the nearby island of Formentera in 2019.

Private: Daniel is known for keeping his private life a closely guarded secret

'We were taking pictures in Beso Beach, and three guys came up to us and said they were going back to Ibiza on their private boat and asked us if we wanted to join,' she began.

After enjoying a thrilling ride around the islands, the trio were then asked to join Daniel and his pals for a house party - and she started to believe he was famous thanks to seeing his 'blue tick on Instagram'.

'Then we ended up going to their house - it was the best house I've ever been to,' she added.

Exes? In 2018, it was reported that model Jessica Gomes, 36, (pictured) was 'discreetly seeing' the Formula One driver

'We had drinks, we played games, we stayed over. The day after I was swimming in the pool and Daniel was the only one awake. I was cold and he asked me if I wanted his shirt, so I swam with his shirt.'

While there's no suggestion that anything romantic happened between the pair, Sara was incredibly complimentary of how the star behaved towards her and her friends.

'He was the entire time making sure we were alright. They were so, so nice. He was the coolest human,' she said.

'Daniel was the entire time dancing, making jokes, smiling. Like has a huge heart. Now we finally know who he is!'
The Bachelor's Alex Nation announced her engagement to fiance Carson Jory in September, one month after welcoming their first child together, son Maxwell.

And on Sunday, the 30-year-old reality star, who famously won Richie Strahan's season of The Bachelor in 2016, shared a gushing tribute to her partner of one year.

Alex shared a series of loved-up photos to Instagram of the pair locking lips and packing on the PDA while enjoying a picnic at a local park.

Loved-up: The Bachelor's Alex Nation, 30, shared a heartfelt tribute to fiance Carson Jory (both pictured) to Instagram on Sunday as she celebrates '365 days of being grossly obsessed' with him

Dressed casually in a pink and white ensemble and holding onto a beverage, Alex nestled in close to her beau, who showed off a rugged beard and trendy sunglasses.

The lovebirds tightly embraced and enjoyed a steamy make-out session, with Carson capturing a series of candid selfies.

'Thank you for inspiring me to be the best version of me and for showing me what love is. 365 days of me being grossly obsessed with you,' Alex captioned the post.

Affectionate: Alex shared a series of loved-up photos of the pair locking lips and packing on the PDA while enjoying a picnic at a local park

Nestling in close: The lovebirds tightly embraced and enjoyed a steamy make-out session, with Carson capturing a series of candid selfies

Late last month, the blonde beauty shared her engagement news by debuting her ring in a series of Instagram videos and photos.

'Morning coffee forever with you, 01.09.21, #MrsJory,' Alex wrote in her caption, indicating that the couple have been secretly engaged since September 1.

The former radio star gave fans a close look at her elegant, oval-cut ring in the post, sharing a photo of her hand stretched out towards the sky in front of a rural-looking backdrop.

She also shared a heartwarming photo of her newborn son Maxwell sleeping in his bassinet, with her newly bejewelled left hand strategically placed on his chest.

Engaged: Late last month, the blonde beauty shared her engagement news by debuting her engagement ring in a series of Instagram videos and photos

Ring-a-ding-ding! The former radio star gave fans a close look at her elegant, oval-cut ring in the post, sharing a photo of her hand stretched out towards the sky in front of a rural-looking backdrop

Adorable: She also shared a heartwarming photo of her newborn son Maxwell sleeping in his bassinet, with her newly bejewelled left hand strategically placed on his chest

Congratulatory messages immediately poured in from Alex's famous friends, including fellow former Bachelor winner Laura Byrne who wrote: 'Congratulations beautiful'.

'Congrats my girl,' Bachelor In Paradise star Kiki Morris wrote, while sexologist Chantelle Otten added: 'Congrats baby'.

Alex and tradesman Carson announced their relationship in December last year, weeks before revealing they were expecting their first child.

Sharing their baby joy to Instagram on January 31, Alex uploaded a photo of her bump, alongside the caption: 'I wonder if you'll have your father's eyes? Will you be stubborn like your mother? See you soon, little darling.'

Over the moon: Congratulatory messages immediately poured in from Alex's famous friends, including fellow former Bachelor winner Laura Byrne who wrote: 'Congratulations beautiful'

New love: Alex and tradesman Carson announced their relationship in December last year, weeks before revealing they were expecting their first child

Congratulations! Alex and Carson welcomed Maxwell on August 20 and announced the happy arrival on Instagram three days later

The new baby is Alex's second child - she shares a 11-year-old son named Elijah with her ex-husband Joel Porter.

Alex and Carson welcomed Maxwell on August 20 and announced the happy arrival on Instagram three days later.

'20.08.21. 3.20pm. Maxwell Keegan Jory. His entrance was intense and it was beautiful. We are so in love,' she wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of herself and Carson cradling the tiny newborn.

Growing brood: Maxwell is Alex's second child. She shares son Elijah, 11 (pictured), with her ex-husband Joel Porter

Roller coaster: They quietly broke up in 2017, after filming the show the previous year. Alex and Richie Strahan are pictured during The Bachelor season four finale, which aired in September 2016

Fans of The Bachelor will remember Alex as the winner of the fourth season, but her romance with rope-access technician Richie didn't last.

They quietly broke up in 2017, after filming the show the previous year.

Alex later came out as pansexual and revealed she was dating a woman, Maegan Luxa, from her local Melbourne footy team.

They got engaged in December 2017, but split the following April. They remain friends.

Alex kept her dating life under wraps after breaking off her engagement to Maegan.

She did, however, make an appearance on last year's season of Bachelor in Paradise.

Brief romance: Alex later came out as pansexual and revealed she was engaged to a woman named Maegan Luxa (left), but this relationship didn't last either

Friendly exes: Before her rise to fame, Alex became pregnant as a teenager to her boyfriend Joel Porter, to whom she was later briefly married. Their son, Elijah, is now 10 years old. Pictured: Alex and Maegan pose with Elijah, Joel and his girlfriend, Ashy, at the airport

While on the Fiji-based dating show, she and Richie candidly discussed the circumstances of their break-up two years earlier.

Alex implied their relationship ended after she had an abortion and Richie wasn't there to support her because they were living in different states.

She later had a guest role on Drunk History Australia, but has vowed to never appear on a dating show again.

Before her rise to fame, Alex became pregnant as a teenager to her then-boyfriend Joel Porter, to whom she was later briefly married.
Penny Lancaster was seen arriving at a City of London Police event in her 240,000 Rolls-Royce Ghost EWB vehicle on Friday.

The 50-year-old wife of rocker Rod Stewart, who has been working with the City of London police as a Special Constable since obtaining her badge in April, wore police uniform as she arrived at the prestigious event, pulling up in the sleek white estate vehicle.

The star wore her blonde tresses in soft waves and pulled back from her face as she greeted colleagues.

Wow: Penny Lancaster was seen arriving at a City of London Police event in her 240,000 Rolls-Royce Ghost EWB vehicle on Friday

She wore a white shirt, tie and a black suit with epaulettes for the event.

During an appearance on Good Morning Britain in June, Penny said that she hadn't made any arrests during her duties to date, but had helped a suicidal woman, who was in 'desperate' need.

Penny told hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley: 'When you think of policing, you think of the most violent crimes but we're out there to help the most vulnerable.

Uniform: The 50-year-old wife of rocker Rod Stewart, who has been working with the City of London police as a Special Constable since obtaining her badge in April, wore police uniform

Sleek: The star wore her blonde tresses in soft waves and pulled back from her face as she greeted colleagues

Chatting to Rod? The star was seen on the phone as she arrived at the event

'At this particular time there's a lot of incidents on the bridges and I did help someone who was very desperate on the bridge the other night. It can be rewarding in so many ways.'

Penny added that she's drawing on her life experience and role as a mother for her police work, insisting she has the full support of her rocker husband Rod, 76.

When asked if he tried to dissuade her from taking the job, she said: 'Not at all. It is dangerous, but the police are the public, the public are the police.

'There's women and men alike - brothers, sisters, uncles, aunties, we're just regular people but we put that uniform on to help protect.'

Penny added that she has so far managed to go under the radar while on patrol, saying no one has recognised her thanks to the uniform, despite her public profile.

Smile: Penny looked to be delighted as she attended the police event

Off she goes: The star blended in as she walked into the prestigious event

Arriving in style: Penny stood out as she arrived in the lavish car

She insists the 'stab vest, armour, baton, cuffs' ensure she's 'dressed as a regular'.

And on why she joined the force, she concluded: 'The campaigning and charity work I do, this is just an extension of working for the community and for the good of people. It's free of charge.

'I'm giving up my time to help the community and that's why I wanted to become a police officer, to be out there. We've got to look after the police and make sure when their lives are taken, punishment is given.'

Penny revealed in April that she had become a qualified police officer after training for City Of London Police on one weeknight every week and from 9am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday every other weekend.

She was inspired to undergo training after taking part in Channel 4's 2019 series, Famous and Fighting Crime, in which celebrities shadowed police officers on the beat.

Speaking about the experience in an Instagram Live last year, she confessed: 'It was terrifying but I never felt more comfortable in a position and I felt like this is where I was supposed to be. I have signed up to be an officer.

'I had to sit exams, English and maths type of exams, and go for an interview with two officers. And then I did a fitness test which was the bleep test which was pretty tricky so I had to get fit for that and I passed.'

The former lingerie model previously described her police training as being part of 'who she is'.

Speaking to The Mail On Sunday in December, Penny said: 'This is who I am. I could be walking the red carpet with Rod, or I could be in our stable with my goats.

'But there comes a time when everyone questions themselves and asks, 'Who am I? Who am I at my core?' This is what I feel I should always have been doing. It's about identity.'
She is a celebrated actress and movie director.

And Emerald Fennell looked radiant as ever as she attended the Cliveden Literary Festival 2021 at Cliveden House on Sunday.

The filmmaker, 36, cut an elegant figure as she donned a black pinstripe top with a matching blazer and skirt.

Event: Emerald Fennell looked radiant as ever as she attended the Cliveden Literary Festival 2021 at Cliveden House on Sunday

The Promising Young Woman director also sported a pair of black shoes while she let her blonde locks fall loose down her shoulders.

The Danish Girl actress completed her look for the event with a gold necklace.

It comes after the actress revealed she was expecting her second child in April when she debuted her baby bump at the Academy Awards.

Emerald was awarded Best Original Screenplay for Promising Young Woman during this year's Oscars.

Style: The filmmaker, 36, cut an elegant figure as she donned a black pinstripe top with a matching blazer and skirt

The coveted ceremony took place in April, and Emerald debuted her baby bump as she walked the red carpet.

She directed her acclaimed film, which stars Carey Mulligan, while she was seven months pregnant with her first child, and gave birth just weeks after production wrapped in 2019.

At the event, Emerald picked up the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, becoming the first woman to win the award in 13 years.

She didn't prepare a speech for the win, and apologised for the ceremony's director Stephen Soderberg for not being prepared.

Outfit: The Promising Young Woman director also sported a pair of black shoes while she let her blonde locks fall loose down her shoulders

She said: 'They said write a speech and I didn't because I didn't think this would happen, I'm going to be in trouble with Stephen Soderbergh, I'm so sorry...

'The only speech I ever wrote was when I was 10 - it mainly thanks Morris from Saved by the Bell. Unfortunately he hasn't been as much of my life as I'd hoped.

'I'm trying very hard not to cry, which is very difficult because as an English person, we don't cry ever.'

The film star went on to thank her loved ones, while adding she was 'mortified' to be singled out for recognition.
Renee Zellweger looked unrecognizable in a floral housedress, facial prosthetics and a frumpy 'fat suit' as she filmed scenes for The Thing About Pam in New Orleans on Thursday.

The 52-year-old actress is starring in the NBC true crime limited series that is based on the real-life story of Betsy Faria's murder in 2011.

Renee is executive-producing the drama through her production company, Big Picture Co. and will play convicted killer Pam Hupp.

Transformation: Renee Zellweger looked unrecognizable in a floral housedress, facial prosthetics and a frumpy 'fat suit' as she filmed scenes for The Thing About Pam in New Orleans on Thursday

Over her padded suit, the Academy Award winner wore a housedress that featured a pattern of purple and yellow flowers and green leaves as well as a lavender zip-up bodice.

Renee's face was heavily made up with facial prosthestics added to give the star deeper wrinkles, a fuller face and a wider nose so that she more closely resembled the murderess.

The Texas native's cropped blonde hair was styled into an unkempt bob and she sported fuzzy pink slippers.

Zellweger filmed scenes in which she was seen standing outside of a house surrounded by the production crew.

In character: Renee is executive-producing the drama through her production company, Big Picture Co. and will play convicted killer Pam Hupp

Over her padded suit, the Academy Award winner wore a housedress that featured a pattern of purple and yellow flowers and green leaves as well as a lavender zip-up bodice

Getting into character: Renee's face was heavily made up with facial prosthetics added to give the star deeper wrinkles, a fuller face and a flatter nose so that she more closely resembled the murderess

Touch-up: At one point, she held a tissue to her mouth as she blotted her lipstick

Time period: The scenes appeared to be set at Christmas time

The scenes appeared to be set at Christmas time. The yard of the house was decorated with a life-sized Santa Claus figurine, candy canes and peppermints and Christmas lights were hung on the roof.

The ground was also covered with artificial snow to establish the wintertime setting.

Zellwegweger was seen walking out of the house down a pathway. At one point, she held a tissue to her lips as she blotted her lipstick.

Renee was also seen standing next to a man dressed in a sheriff's uniform.

Holiday time: The yard of the house was decorated with a life-sized Santa Claus figurine, candy canes and peppermints and the Christmas lights were hung on the roof

Fake snow: The ground was also covered with artificial snow to establish the wintertime setting

Murder: Pam's friend Betsy was killed two days after Christmas at her home in Troy, Missouri in 2011

Pam's friend Betsy was killed two days after Christmas at her home in Troy, Missouri in 2011. Hupp was the last person to see Faria alive as she gave her a ride home that day.

According to court documents, Pam waited until Betsy was weak and lethargic from chemotherapy treatments before she stabbed her 55 times.

Hupp then dipped Faria's socks in blood which she spread around the house in order to frame Betsy's husband Russ, who found his wife's body when he returned home from his weekly game night with his friends.



In July 2021, Hupp, who is already serving a life sentence for shooting a disabled man dead, plead not guilty to Faria's murder.

Suspect: Hupp was the last person to see Faria alive as she gave her a ride home that day

Motive: Prosecutors have alleged that Hupp murdered Faria days after after convincing her to switch a $150,000 life insurance policy to her

Gruesome: According to court documents, Pam waited until Betsy was weak and lethargic from chemotherapy treatments before she stabbed her 55 times

Prosecutors have alleged that Hupp murdered Faria days after after convincing her to switch a $150,000 life insurance policy to her.

Russ, who will be played by Glenn Fleshler in the series, was initially convicted of his wife's murder in 2013 and sentenced to life in prison.

His conviction was overturned in 2015 when he was found not guilty in a retrial in which prosecutors argued Hupp was the real perpetrator.

Frame job: Hupp then dipped Faria's socks in blood which she spread around the house in order to frame Betsy's husband Russ, who found his wife's body when he returned home from his weekly game night with his friends

Law enforcement: Renee was also seen standing next to a man dressed in a sheriff's uniform

The case was the subject of five episodes of NBC's Dateline that aired from 2014 to 2019 and became one of the newsmagazine's most popular topics.

Hupp was sentenced to life without the possibility for parole in 2019 for luring Louis Gumpenberger, 33, to her home claiming to be a producer for Dateline before shooting him dead in an elaborate plot to divert attention from herself in the Faria case.

Speculation has also swirled that she was responsible for her own mother's fatal fall in 2013.

Written by Jessika Borsiczky, The Thing About Pam also stars Katy Mixon, Judy Greer, Gideon Adlon, Sean Bridgers, Suanne Spoke and Mac Brandt.

A release date for the series has not yet been released by NBC.

Convicted: Russ, who will be played by Glenn Fleshler in the series, was initially convicted of Betsy's murder in 2013 and sentenced to life in prison
The Block's Luke Packham and his fiancee Olivia expecting their first child together.

The reality star, 28, shared the happy news on Monday, telling Woman's Day magazine that Olivia, 29, will give birth to their baby girl next year.

'It wasn't planned but we always said, 'If it happens, it happens,' and that's how we've approached the situation, but we were both stoked when we found out,' the Love Island Australia star gushed.

Baby joy! The Block's Luke Packham, 28, (right) is expecting his first child, a baby girl, with fiancee Olivia, 29, (left)

Luke and Olivia became engaged in October last year, and were originally planning to tie the knot in late 2021.

'We were looking at a few wedding venues, but then the pandemic and The Block happened, so we put it on hold, and shortly after that Olivia was pregnant!' Luke explained.

Despite the change of plans, Luke and Olivia said they are more than prepared to expand their family.

Surprise! 'It wasn't planned but we always said, 'If it happens, it happens,' and that's how we've approached the situation, but we were both stoked when we found out,' the Love Island Australia star told Woman's Day magazine on Monday. Pictured: Olivia and Luke

Doting uncle: Luke's twin brother Josh (left) also said he's thrilled about his brother's big news, telling the magazine that he can't wait to spoil his niece rotten

In fact, Luke admitted he wants to have three children.

'We're definitely going to have another and then we'll see financially where we're at,' he revealed.

Luke's twin brother Josh also said he's thrilled about his brother's big news, telling the magazine that he can't wait to spoil his niece rotten.

Getting married: Luke announced his engagement to Olivia last year in October, sharing this sweet photo of himself and his new fiancee

Luke announced his engagement to Olivia during a diving expedition in Byron Bay last year, sharing the news on Instagram with a heartfelt post.

'Took this girl diving today and popped the question at the bottom of the ocean! Was a moment I will remember forever,' he wrote next to a photo of the couple embracing on a boat.

Olivia proudly showed off her new diamond ring, while also holding a laminated piece of paper that read: 'OLIVIA JESSICA KISS you make me the happiest man. WILL YOU MARRY ME?'

New love: Luke revealed he was in a new relationship in December, sharing this photo of himself kissing his new girlfriend on Instagram

Luke revealed he was dating Olivia in December, sharing a photo of himself kissing his new girlfriend on Instagram.

'If your God is money, you will always be poor. But if your God is love, you will always be rich,' he captioned the post.

The announcement came just three weeks after Luke split from his Love Island Australia co-star, Cassie Lansdell.
Karl Stefanovic is said to be 'thriving' after his former Today show co-host Lisa Wilkinson made a number of explosive claims about him in her upcoming memoir.

In her new book It Wasn't Meant To Be Like This - set for release on November 3 - Wilkinson, 61, alleges Karl 'gave her the cold shoulder' when she left the show and claims there was a salary disparity between the pair.

Yet despite the negative claims, a report in New Idea on Monday says that Stefanovic, 47, has 'never had so much fan mail' in light of the scandal, and allege he's even lobbying for a new role at Channel Nine because of it.

Backfire: Karl Stefanovic is said to be 'thriving' after his former Today show co-host Lisa Wilkinson made a number of bombshell claims about him in her upcoming memoir. Pictured alongside his current co-presenter, Allison Langdon (right)

'The thing about Karl is that he thrives during these situations,' the source claims. 'It seems Lisa's long-anticipated book release may have backfired - Karl has never had so much fan mail.

'If Lisa keeps chipping away, there could be a perception that she's now gone too far, having a go at the man she shared mornings with for 11 years.'

The insider added that Karl has apparently gone to Nine bosses to 'plump up' his deal with the network, wanting to replace Ben Fordham as host on Australian Ninja Warrior.

Fordham announced he was leaving the show earlier this month to focus on his 2GB radio gig.

Bombshell claims: Lisa Wilkinson, 61, makes several explosive claims about Karl in It Wasn't Meant To Be Like This, including that he 'gave her the cold shoulder' when she left the show and that there was a salary disparity between them

New challenge: The insider added that Karl has apparently gone to Nine bosses to 'plump up' his deal with the network, wanting to replace Ben Fordham (right) as host on Australian Ninja Warrior. Ben (pictured with co-host Rebecca Maddern) announced he was leaving the show earlier this month to focus on his radio gig

Channel Nine declined to comment when approached by Daily Mail Australia.

It comes just days after Stefanovic offered a classy response when asked about Wilkinson's claims over the weekend.

'Brother, I've got too many positive and wonderful things going on in my life to talk about that stuff,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

'I'm very happy. In work and life,' he added.

Wilkinson's explosive new book includes a chapter dedicated to her sacking from Channel Nine and falling out with Stefanovic over a pay dispute.

She alleges Stefanovic proposed in August 2015 they join forces to renegotiate their Nine contracts - not unlike how the cast of American sitcom Friends famously worked together to broker better deals with NBC.

But she claims he ended up ditching this idea and instead played rival networks Nine and Seven off against each other in order to secure a better deal for himself.

'Weeks later... the media became awash with stories that Stefanovic was restless at Today and looking for greener pastures  and more civilised working hours  at Channel Seven,' she wrote.

'I'm very happy': Karl (left) issued a classy response to Wilkinson's (right) tell-all memoir over the weekend, telling the Sydney Morning Herald 'Brother, I've got too many positive and wonderful things going on in my life to talk about that stuff'

Stefanovic was soon at the centre of a bidding war between Nine and Seven that resulted in him re-signing a five-year deal with Nine worth at least $2million per year.

Wilkinson's deal was worth significantly less, about $780,000 a year, and was only for two years.

'There was no doubt about it: Karl certainly knew the art of the deal,' she wrote, adding that the resulting pay disparity between them 'was so off the charts that no-one would have believed it'.

However, this allegedly doesn't tell the full story, with News.com.au reporting this week Wilkinson had in fact earned more than Stefanovic for years when they first joined forces on Today, and it was only at the end of their partnership that the roles reversed.

Fall-out: Wilkinson's new book includes a chapter dedicated to her sacking from Channel Nine and falling out with Stefanovic over a pay dispute. She alleges Stefanovic proposed in August 2015 they join forces to renegotiate their Nine contracts - but claims he ditched this idea and instead played Nine and Seven off against each other to secure a better deal for himself

On Tuesday, an article written by respected political journalist Samantha Maiden reported that when Karl first signed up to the breakfast show in 2006, he was on half of Lisa's pay packet, which was a reported $700,000.

'When they were first on the show, she was paid a lot more than he was,' an alleged Nine insider told the publication.

'Then, he was able to wedge a fee increase because Seven made him a big offer. If Nine wanted to keep him, they had to pay him, which is what happened.

'If you look at what he's paid now, it's probably not too dissimilar to what she was offered. So, you know, you can take things in a point of time, but I don't think there would have been much difference between the two now.'

This damning article - which challenges Wilkinson's most significant claim about her exit from the Today show - reportedly sent the book's publisher into a major spin.

'There was no doubt about it: Karl certainly knew the art of the deal,' Lisa wrote in the memoir, adding that the resulting pay disparity between them 'was so off the charts that no-one would have believed it'

Harper Collins Australia demanded a preview copy of the memoir be returned by the news website following publication of the story, sources told Daily Mail Australia.

'They blew up and asked for their copy back,' said an insider at the website.

News.com.au editor Lisa Muxworthy declined to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia.

A spokesperson for Harper Collins later told Daily Mail Australia: 'No one from HarperCollins asked news.com.au to return a preview copy of Lisas book.

'News.com.au didnt have a preview copy of the book and there was no request to return a copy.'

It comes after Wilkinson lifted the lid on her final days working at the Today show in an excerpt from her new book, published in The Sunday Telegraph.

She claimed Stefanovic had given her the cold shoulder in the weeks prior to her sacking, which was prompted when she asked for a significant pay rise.

She alleged she and husband Pete FitzSimons had invited Stefanovic and his partner, Jasmine Yarbrough, to attend their 25th anniversary vow renewal ceremony in October 2017.

Two days before the event, however, Stefanovic supposedly contacted FitzSimons to say they wouldn't be attending because they'd extended their overseas holiday.

Twist: Harper Collins Australia demanded a preview copy of the memoir be returned by the news website following publication of the story, well-placed sources told Daily Mail Australia

Claims: Wilkinson alleged she and husband Pete FitzSimons had invited Stefanovic and his partner, Jasmine Yarbrough, to attend their 25th anniversary vow renewal ceremony in October 2017. Two days before the event, however, Stefanovic supposedly contacted FitzSimons to say they wouldn't be attending 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,' Wilkinson alleged.

After returning to work, she claimed Stefanovic 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.

However, her recollection of her last show has been disputed, with resurfaced footage showing Stefanovic had in fact said to her: 'It's a big welcome back to Lisa. Nice to see you again. How was your honeymoon?'

Wilkinson went on to claim in her book she was '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 said.

Upon learning she had been sacked later that day, Wilkinson wondered: 'Was this why [Karl] didn't attend the wedding and hadn't spoken to me since? Was this why he never said a word about the show's strange rundown that morning?'
DARIEN  Young artists got the chance to play with clay Friday afternoon at the Darien Library.

They shaped the clay into their own container while being instructed by a professional potter.
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Mumbai: An independent witness in the cruise drugs seizure case on Sunday claimed that an official of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and some other persons demanded Rs 25 crore from Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan to release his son Aryan Khan in the case.

Prabhakar Sail, a witness in the case, told mediapersons that NCB officials also asked him to sign nine to ten blank papers.

However, an NCB official denied the allegations, terming them as "completely false and malicious".

NCB's zonal director Sameer Wankhede earlier this month led the agency's 'drug bust' on a cruise ship following which Aryan Khan was arrested on October 3. He is currently lodged in the Arthur Road jail here.

Recently, the Pune police issued a lookout circular against K P Gosavi, another independent witness of the NCB in the cruise drugs case who used to offer people jobs abroad, in a 2018 cheating case.

On Sunday, Sail alleged that an official of the NCB, Gosavi and another person, named Sam D'Souza, had demanded Rs 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan to release his son.

Sail, who is the personal bodyguard of Gosavi and accompanied him on the night of the raid, said after Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office, Gosavi met D'Souza.

Sail claimed he heard Gosavi telling D'Souza over phone about a demand of Rs 25 crore and to settle at Rs 18 crore as they "have to give Rs eight crore to Sameer Wankhede".

Meanwhile, Maharashtra minister and NCP spokesman Nawab Malik, who has repeatedly termed the cruise drugs bust case as "fake", said Sail's claims were "very serious" and demanded a probe into it by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).

Talking to reporters in Beed, Malik reiterated his allegation that Wankhede was involved in "extortion and terrorising the Mumbai film industry", and said he will meet the chief minister and home minister on Monday in Mumbai seeking a SIT probe into Sail's claims.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut in a tweet said, "Witness in AryanKhan case made to sign on blank paper by NCB is shocking. Also there are reports that there was demnd of huge money. CM UddhavThackeray said that these cases are made to defame Maharashtra. This seems to be coming true. Police should take suo moto cognizance."

Maharashtra Congress spokesman Atul Londhe said Sail's allegation substantiated the party's charge that central agencies were being against the opposition parties. He demanded that the Supreme Court take appropriate action against the misuse of agencies politically.
The state has over 1,100 theatres and a majority of them are controlled by some Tollywood bigwigs and some are leased out to exhibitors, who bear the brunt in their day-to-day maintenance in case of any issues with regard to screening of films.  Representational image/DC

VIJAYAWADA: The state governments move to allow one hundred per cent occupancy and screening of second show by relaxing curfew by an hour has helped film theatres to improve their occupancy and thereby revenue collection.

While the first wave of coronavirus forced complete closure of theatres for some months, the second wave restricted the occupancy to 50 per cent. With no major films coming up, Tollywood suffered a massive loss.

However, the governments decision to allow screening of second shows (earlier it was only matinee shows) and full occupancy has resulted in an impressive turnout as movie-goers are flocking theatres.

New releases like Most Eligible Bachelor, Pelli Sandadi', Maha Samudram and Seeti Maar have been bringing in crowds to the theatres.

The state has over 1,100 theatres and a majority of them are controlled by some Tollywood bigwigs and some are leased out to exhibitors, who bear the brunt in their day-to-day maintenance in case of any issues with regard to screening of films.

A film exhibitor said All four shows are reporting housefull collections, especially for the two newly released films. If good films are released, we are hopeful that the same trend may continue. It will help us to overcome loss of revenue due to Covid-19.

Though some theatres are scrupulously ensuring compliance with Covid protocol, many are giving a damn to such guidelines.

Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce president Narayana Dasu Narang said, The state governments nod for 100% occupancy and second shows is helping to improve income in film theatres. Even families are turning up at theatres.


Special Operations Group (SOG) personnel take positions in a forest area during the 12th day of the encounter between security personnel and militants, at Mendhar in Poonch district, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. (PTI)

Jammu: An arrested Pakistani terrorist was killed, while three security personnel were injured on Sunday when militants opened fire on a joint search party of the Army and police inside a forest in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

Heavy firing and explosions were reported from Bhatta Durrian forest of Mendhar which along with nearby forest areas adjoining Surankote (Poonch) and Thanamandi in Rajouri district is witnessing a massive search operation, the officials said.

The operation, which saw nine Army personnel losing their lives in separate ambushes in Surankote and Mendhar on October 11 and 14, entered the 14th day on Sunday.

A police spokesperson said two policemen and an Army jawan along with a prisoner Zia Mustafa, a Pakistani terrorist affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) were injured in firing by terrorists in Bhatta Durrian forest this morning.

Detenue Mustafa was taken to Bhatadurian for identification of terrorist hideout during the ongoing operation in which three Army jawans and a JCO were martyred (on October 14).

"'During the search when the team approached the hideout, terrorists again opened fire on the joint team of police and Army personnel in which two policemen and an Army jawan sustained injuries, the spokesperson said.

The police said Mustafa also sustained injuries and he could not be taken out from the site due to heavy fire.

During the subsequent operation additional reinforcements were sent and the body of Mustafa has been retrieved from the encounter site, the spokesperson said, adding the operation (to neutralise the hiding terrorists) is in progress and legal process has been initiated in connection with the killing of the Pakistani terrorist.

Officials said Mustafa, a resident of Rawalakot in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, was lodged in Kot Bhalwal jail for the last 14 years and was shifted to Mendhar on police remand after investigation revealed his link with the hiding terrorists.

Mustafa had sneaked into this side from the same route before he was arrested from south Kashmir, the officials said.

The operation in the forest areas in the twin border districts commenced on October 11 when terrorists ambushed a search party killing five soldiers including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in Surankote forest of Poonch before another gunfight in nearby Thanamandi on the same day.

On October 14, the terrorists struck again and killed four soldiers including a JCO in Nar Khas forest in Mendhar as the security forces extended the cordon and search operation to neutralise the fleeing terrorists.

Drones and helicopters were pressed into service to assist the marching troops, which included para-commandos, in the jungle at a distance of four km from the Line of Control (LoC), the officials said.

Ten persons, including two women, were detained for questioning after it came to light that they allegedly provided logistic support including food and shelter to the terrorists, the officials said.

An Army official said on Saturday that a major part of the forest was cleared and now the search area is restricted to a location housing a number of natural caves.

There was no contact with the terrorist after the initial gunfights on October 11 and October 14. The search area was expanded in search of the terrorists, the official had said, hoping to conclude the operation with the clearance of the natural caves within a day or two depending on the weather conditions.

Traffic between Mendhar and Thanamandi along the Jammu-Rajouri highway remained suspended as a precautionary measure for the ninth day on Sunday 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.
Carole King, an American songwriter, recorded these lines in 1971: I feel the earth move beneath my feet, I feel the sky tumbling down. Kings emotions were sentimentally human but in retrospect she seems to have been prescient. Back then, environmental activism was nascent. Greenpeace, the activist environmental organisation, was just being founded.

Five decades later, last week, old timers in the lower Himalayas in Indias Uttarakhand state had cause to remember King, as torrential rain battered the entire Kumaon region. Being level-headed, the hill folk expect little, give a lot and forever live under the benign gaze of a local devi or devata  each ensconced in a fetchingly, rudimentary temple, dotting virtually every hilltop and studded along the rocky banks of the tumbling rivers, which change from an inviting, sparkling, blueish-green to a menacing, muddy-brown during the monsoons, dark with the sludge they carry from degraded, denuded hillsides, gumming up dams along the way and further downs ream, infusing the mighty Ganga river with rich soil to regenerate fields in its flood plains.

It has always been thus. Cities, which are the furthest from nature, and the root cause of much of the ecological degradation earlier and now carbon emissions -- both linked to rapid economic growth, rising disposable incomes and rootless, unsustainable behaviour -- tourism being a prime example -- are also at the forefront of change, possibly, to redeem their guilt. Next month Glasgow, a major industrial city in Scotland, will host the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties (COP26), the worlds top decision-making body for mitigation and adaptation responses to climate change, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be joining several other world leaders. All the earlier twenty-five COPs also met in various cities across the globe.

It would have made more sense and lent immediacy to the deliberations, expected from the 30,000 participants at COP meetings, had it convened instead on a barren hillside, in the semi-arid Sahel or even better on Basan Char -- the shifting, mangrove fringed, mud island, floating in the delta of the Meghna river, where Rohingya refugees are being rehoused, in clapboard huts, just four feet above the water. Experiencing the raging waters of the Bay of Bengal is guaranteed to evoke a quicker response to the problem of rising sea levels, which is expected to deprive millions of their homes and jobs.

Proximity to the problem is a wonderful stimulus for quick decision making. If you live perched precariously close to a fast-flowing river, in a house, seemingly fixed by glue to a steeply inclined hill and a cloud burst pours torrents of water from above with swirling currents threatening to plunge you into the abyss, you shall feel the earth move under your feet. At that moment, any reservations you might have about paying a little more to switch to renewable energy simply vanish. Personalising the problem helps nudge action.

The same sense of urgency is lacking whilst ensconced in a temperature controlled cavernous conference room in some faraway city, which you reach by air and then catch a taxi to your hotel, because your bags -- comtaining essentials for a two-week stay plus space for shopping -- are too unwieldy to trundle around in a bus or on the Glasgow underground, which, incidentally, is functional since 1896 but reassuringly refurbished in 1977.

The multilateral COP architecture was meant to be a celebration of international collaboration. A forum to plug the authority gap, first identified (appropriately) by a British economist, Willian Forster Lloyd in 1833, who lamented that common pastures were overgrazed because no one farmer had the incentive to preserve them by reducing grazing unless all farmers did the same. The absence of a central authority to define rules for sharing a depletable, common resource is the central problem behind global warming.

To be sure, not everyone agrees. Elinor Claire Awan Ostrom, who won the Nobel Prize in 2009, was one such. An institutional economist by persuasion, her field research in California on sustainable community practices for sharing ground water and cooperative irrigation practices in Spain, Nepal, Switzerland and Japan as well as fisheries in Maine and Indonesia showed that decentralised, human communities have succeeded in managing scarce, common pool resources sustainably.

This hope energised global efforts over the last three decades to contain annual carbon emissions within a best-estimate carbon envelope, to avoid a rise in global mean temperature beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times -- the previously assessed tipping point, beyond which climate doom is assured. New evidence suggests that we should be aiming even lower at 1 degree Celsius with an even smaller carbon budget for incremental emissions. At the current rate of around thirty-four billion tons of CO2 emissions per year, we could exhaust our carbon budget in less than a decade -- thence lies the significance of 2030 as a milestone.

The Nationally Determined Contributions -- a voluntary effort by some individual nations, to restrain carbon emissions -- were a compromise at the Paris COP in 2015 because the choice was not to agree on anything at all. Sadly, these have proved insufficient to rein in global warming. With the space for global economic cooperation shrinking and the veiled but relentless global contestation surging, the prospects for a breakthrough in Glasgow are quite bleak. The late Elinor Ostrom would be distraught at the thought.

She would have emphasised two missing fundamentals for a successful outcome. First, a committed pluralist, she would accept only genuine participation, where sovereign negotiating positions reflect the decisions of layered community groups from the village upwards, thereby retaining the spirit of accommodation she evidenced in smaller sub-national communities. Second, rules to make the common decision inviolable, and non-compliance penalised by common consent.

Looking beyond the rhetoric, Glasgow is unlikely to aim sufficiently high enough for an equitable and effective reduction in carbon emissions on a per capita basis. The formalised triviality of multilateral negotiations, as evolved at the COP, are so remote from genuine participation and the common decisions taken, flouted so regularly, that the good folk of the Kumaon hills in India and the refugees on Bashan Char had better get used to feeling the earth move under their feet more often.
On February 4, 2019, a Facebook researcher created a new user account to see what it was like to experience the social media site as a person living in Kerala, India.

For the next three weeks, the account operated by a simple rule: Follow all the recommendations generated by Facebooks algorithms to join groups, watch videos and explore new pages on the site.

The result was an inundation of hate speech, misinformation and celebrations of violence, which were documented in an internal Facebook report published later that month.

Following this test users News Feed, Ive seen more images of dead people in the past three weeks than Ive seen in my entire life total, the Facebook researcher wrote.

The report was one of dozens of studies and memos written by Facebook employees grappling with the effects of the platform on India. They provide stark evidence of one of the most serious criticisms levied by human rights activists and politicians against the world-spanning company: It moves into a country without fully understanding its potential effects on local culture and politics, and fails to deploy the resources to act on issues once they occur.

Also read: Rising tide of leaks threatens to inundate Facebook

With 340 million people using Facebooks various social media platforms, India is the companys largest market. And Facebooks problems on the subcontinent present an amplified version of the issues it has faced throughout the world, made worse by a lack of resources and a lack of expertise in Indias 22 officially recognised languages.

The internal documents, obtained by a consortium of news organisations that included The New York Times, are part of a larger cache of material called The Facebook Papers. They were collected by Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager who became a whistleblower and recently testified before a Senate subcommittee about the company and its social media platforms. References to India were scattered among documents filed by Haugen to the Securities and Exchange Commission in a complaint earlier this month.

The documents include reports on how bots and fake accounts tied to the countrys ruling party and opposition figures were wreaking havoc on national elections. They also detail how a plan championed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to focus on meaningful social interactions, or exchanges between friends and family, was leading to more misinformation in India, particularly during the pandemic.

Facebook did not have enough resources in India and was unable to grapple with the problems it had introduced there, according to its documents. Eighty-seven per cent of the companys global budget for time spent on classifying misinformation is earmarked for the United States, while only 13% is set aside for the rest of the world  even though North American users make up only 10% of the social networks daily active users, according to one document describing Facebooks allocation of resources.

Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesperson, said the figures were incomplete and dont include the companys third-party fact-checking partners, most of whom are outside the United States.

That lopsided focus on the United States has had consequences in a number of countries besides India. Company documents showed that Facebook installed measures to demote misinformation during the November election in Myanmar, including disinformation shared by the Myanmar military junta.

The company rolled back those measures after the election, despite research that showed they lowered the number of views of inflammatory posts by 25.1% and photo posts containing misinformation by 48.5%. Three months later, the military carried out a violent coup in the country. Facebook said that after the coup, it implemented a special policy to remove praise and support of violence in the country, and later banned the Myanmar military from Facebook and Instagram.

In Sri Lanka, people were able to automatically add hundreds of thousands of users to Facebook groups, exposing them to violence-inducing and hateful content. In Ethiopia, a nationalist youth militia group successfully coordinated calls for violence on Facebook and posted other inflammatory content.

Facebook has invested significantly in technology to find hate speech in various languages, including Hindi and Bengali, two of the most widely used languages, Stone said. He added that Facebook reduced the amount of hate speech that people see globally by half this year.

Also read: Facebook did not take down fake accounts linked to BJP MP, alleges former employee

Hate speech against marginalised groups, including Muslims, is on the rise in India and globally, Stone said. So we are improving enforcement and are committed to updating our policies as hate speech evolves online.

In India, there is definitely a question about resourcing for Facebook, but the answer is not just throwing more money at the problem, said Katie Harbath, who spent 10 years at Facebook as a director of public policy and worked directly on securing Indias national elections. Facebook, she said, needs to find a solution that can be applied to countries around the world.

Facebook employees have run various tests and conducted field studies in India for several years. That work increased before Indias 2019 national elections; in late January of that year, a handful of Facebook employees travelled to the country to meet with colleagues and speak to dozens of local Facebook users.

According to a memo written after the trip, one of the key requests from users in India was that Facebook take action on types of misinfo that are connected to real-world harm, specifically politics and religious group tension.

Ten days after the researcher opened the fake account to study misinformation, a suicide bombing in the disputed border region of Kashmir set off a round of violence and a spike in accusations, misinformation and conspiracies between Indian and Pakistani nationals.

After the attack, anti-Pakistan content began to circulate in the Facebook-recommended groups that the researcher had joined. Many of the groups, she noted, had tens of thousands of users. A different report by Facebook, published in December 2019, found Indian Facebook users tended to join large groups, with the countrys median group size at 140,000 members.

Graphic posts, including a meme showing the beheading of a Pakistani national and dead bodies wrapped in white sheets on the ground, circulated in the groups she joined.

After the researcher shared her case study with co-workers, her colleagues commented on the posted report that they were concerned about misinformation about the upcoming elections in India.

Two months later, after Indias national elections had begun, Facebook put in place a series of steps to stem the flow of misinformation and hate speech in the country, according to an internal document called Indian Election Case Study.

The case study painted an optimistic picture of Facebooks efforts, including adding more fact-checking partners  the third-party network of outlets with which Facebook works to outsource fact-checking  and increasing the amount of misinformation it removed. It also noted how Facebook had created a political whitelist to limit PR risk, essentially a list of politicians who received a special exemption from fact-checking.

The study did not note the immense problem the company faced with bots in India, nor issues such as voter suppression. During the election, Facebook saw a spike in bots  or fake accounts  linked to various political groups, as well as efforts to spread misinformation that could have affected peoples understanding of the voting process.

In a separate report produced after the elections, Facebook found that more than 40% of top views, or impressions, in West Bengal were fake/inauthentic. One inauthentic account had amassed more than 30 million impressions.

A report published in March showed that many of the problems cited during the 2019 elections persisted.

In the internal document, called Adversarial Harmful Networks: India Case Study, Facebook researchers wrote that there were groups and pages replete with inflammatory and misleading anti-Muslim content on Facebook.

The report said there were a number of dehumanizing posts comparing Muslims to pigs and dogs, and misinformation claiming that the Quran, the holy book of Islam, calls for men to rape their female family members.

Much of the material circulated around Facebook groups promoting Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, an Indian right-wing and nationalist paramilitary group. The groups took issue with an expanding Muslim minority population in West Bengal and near the Pakistani border, and published posts on Facebook calling for the ouster of Muslim populations from India and promoting a Muslim population control law.

Facebook knew that such harmful posts proliferated on its platform, the report indicated, and it needed to improve its classifiers, which are automated systems that can detect and remove posts containing violent and inciting language. Facebook also hesitated to designate Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a dangerous organisation because of political sensitivities that could affect the social networks operation in the country.

Of Indias 22 officially recognised languages, Facebook said it has trained its artificial intelligence systems on five. (It said it had human reviewers for some others.) But in Hindi and Bengali, it still did not have enough data to adequately police the content, and much of the content targeting Muslims is never flagged or actioned, the Facebook report said.

Five months ago, Facebook was still struggling to efficiently remove hate speech against Muslims. Another company report detailed efforts by Bajrang Dal, an extremist group linked with the Hindi nationalist political party Bharatiya Janata Party, to publish posts containing anti-Muslim narratives on the platform.

Facebook is considering designating the group as a dangerous organisation because it is inciting religious violence on the platform, the document showed. But it has not yet done so.

Join the group and help to run the group; increase the number of members of the group, friends, said one post seeking recruits on Facebook to spread Bajrang Dals messages. Fight for truth and justice until the unjust are destroyed.
At least 10 people have died and fifteen others were injured in gun battle between rival factions in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan over disputed possession of forest land, officials said on Sunday.

The clashes began on Saturday afternoon when the Gaidu tribe belonging to Teri Megel village in Kurram district, 251 km from provincial capital Peshawar, opened fire on Pewar tribe members who were picking firewood in their village.

There has been tension between both tribes over the ownership of forest land in the Upper Subdivision of Kurram district in recent months, officials said.

"Four people were reported dead on Saturday and another six died today (Sunday) when the Pewar side responded. The gunmen operated from trenches. Heavy weapons and even rocket launchers were used by both sides," a police official said.

Kurram is a border district in northwest Pakistan along the Afghanistan border, where indiscriminate use of guns and frequent terror attacks are reported.

Tribal elders and government officials tried to broker peace between the Gaidu and Pewar tribes. Police contingents and Paramilitary units were dispatched. However, the clashes were going on as this report was filed.

Police sources said they expect the death toll to rise.

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There were at least two accidental gun discharges on the set of an Alec Baldwin movie being filmed in New Mexico days before he fatally shot the cinematographer, according to three former members of the films crew.

The discharges occurred Oct. 16, the former crew members said, prompting a complaint to a supervisor about the safety practices on the set, which was outside Santa Fe. The crew members, who asked not to be named out of fear that their future employment in the industry could be affected, were among several workers who quit, just hours before the fatal shooting, over complaints about unpaid work and working conditions on the production.

The disclosures, which were first reported by the Los Angeles Times, are focusing scrutiny on concerns over loosely followed protocols and labor strife between producers and crew members during the production of the movie, Rust, a low-budget film about a 19th century accidental killing and its aftermath.

Larry Zanoff, who worked on the set of Django Unchained as an armorer  a position that involves instructing cast members on the safe handling of firearms  and was not involved in Rust, said that if a firearm went off on a film set, there would immediately be an inquiry into whether the firearm was defective or was mishandled. If the determination was that it was mishandled, he said, the production would undergo a reinforcement of safety protocols and possibly disallow the handler from using firearms.

It was unclear whether such an investigation took place after the Oct. 16 incidents. The discharges that day were inside a cabin used as a set location, and Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer, was among the production team members inside, crew members said.

Also read: Inquiry into Baldwin shooting focuses on gun protocol

The movies producers, who include Baldwin, contended in a statement Friday that they had not been told about the safety issues.

Though we were not made aware of any official complaints concerning weapon or prop safety on set, we will be conducting an internal review of our procedures while production is shut down, the movies production company, Rust Movie Productions LLC, said in the statement. We will continue to cooperate with the Santa Fe authorities in their investigation and offer mental health services to the cast and crew during this tragic time.

The problems with the firearms are fueling questions as to how Baldwin could have been handling a gun on set that was unsafe. According to an affidavit signed by Detective Joel Cano of the Santa Fe County sheriffs office, Baldwin was told by an assistant director who handed him the firearm that it was a cold gun, which on a film set typically refers to a gun thats unloaded.

According to the affidavit by the detective in the Santa Fe County sheriffs office, the gun used in the shooting was set up by Hannah Gutierrez, the productions armorer, and handed to Baldwin by Dave Halls, the assistant director. Neither Gutierrez nor Halls responded to requests for comment.

In addition to Zanoff, five other experts in the use of firearms on film and television sets said that it was against usual protocol for an assistant director to hand a gun to an actor. One of the experts, Mike Tristano, a veteran professional armorer based in Los Angeles, said that typical practice on a film set would be for the armorer to hand the gun to the actor and that the chain of events described in the affidavit struck him as a red flag.

In his affidavit, Cano said that after Baldwin fatally shot Hutchins and wounded Joel Souza, the films director, Gutierrez took the spent casing out of the gun used in the shooting and later handed the gun to sheriffs deputies. The detective also said that he learned that Halls, the assistant director, did not know live rounds were in the gun he had given to Baldwin.

On a podcast posted last month, Gutierrez, who also goes by Hannah Reed and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, said she had just finished filming her first movie as head armorer in a Western called The Old Way, starring Clint Howard and Nicolas Cage, that is set for release next year.

I was really nervous about it at first, and I almost didnt take the job because I wasnt sure if I was ready, but doing it, it went really smoothly, Gutierrez said in the podcast, Voices of the West, on which the hosts discuss old Western films and television shows. She is the daughter of Thell Reed, a shooting expert who has put on exhibitions and a consultant to the movie industry who has trained prominent actors in handling firearms.

In addition to the safety concerns, the three crew members who quit also cited other grievances. They said the crew had complained to the films producers about extended delays to some of their paychecks and about the productions refusal, at times, to book them hotel rooms in Santa Fe, near the set.

That meant that some of the crew had to drive about an hour to their homes around Albuquerque after a long day on set in a physically demanding job, the members said.

Their concerns went unaddressed, the crew members said, and by Wednesday, six of them filed resignation letters after one of them was denied a hotel room to sleep in after a long day. Hours before the fatal shooting, the crew members arrived on set Thursday morning to pack up their belongings and said they learned that the production had hired nonunion workers to replace them.

Souza said in a statement Saturday that he was gutted by the loss of Hutchins, writing that she was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch and always pushed me to be better.

I am humbled and grateful by the outpouring of affection we have received from our filmmaking community, the people of Santa Fe and the hundreds of strangers who have reached out, he said in the statement. It will surely aid in my recovery.

Hutchins husband, Matt Hutchins, wrote in a tweet Friday night that his wife inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words.

About 200 people gathered in downtown Albuquerque on Saturday night for a candlelight vigil to remember Hutchins. Many at the vigil work in New Mexicos expanding film industry.

Lane Luper, a camera crew member on Rust who forged a strong friendship with Hutchins after she persuaded him to work on the movie, told those gathered that he was devastated by her death.

Hutchins never, ever thought of herself as better than anyone on that set, he said. I would have been lucky to have ever done another movie with another person like that, or with her.

Rebecca Stair, a location manager, said she was saddened that Hutchins had been killed just days after a Hollywood union of film workers reached an agreement with movie and TV studios that averted a strike on issues that included safer work conditions.

Stair said the incident on the set of Rust served as a tragic reminder of what could happen because of security lapses.

We didnt come together to strike, and now were coming together to grieve, Stair said.

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As gin bottles gather dust, a Bangkok bar owner is trying to keep his joint going through a Covid booze ban with fruity mocktails seasoned with kratom, a recently decriminalised tropical herb.

The Thai capital's once-legendary nightlife has been hammered by a seven-month ban on alcohol service imposed to curb the coronavirus, leaving pub and bar owners with a major headache.

Thailand has registered around 1.7 million infections, the lion's share since April when the government called last orders after an outbreak traced to a cluster of high-end nightclubs.

With no government support, bar owners have been left with the choice of struggling to survive, flouting the prohibition rules or getting creative.

Before the pandemic hit, bar-hopping gin lovers flocked to Teens of Thailand, a lively cocktail bar on the fringe of Bangkok's Chinatown.

Now Teens has reopened at 60 percent capacity serving mocktails made with kratom, a leaf from the coffee family long used in parts of Southeast Asia as a mild stimulant.

Kratom, which stimulates the same brain receptors as morphine but with much milder effects, came off the Thai government's banned list in August.

The move threw Teens owner Niks Anuman-Rajadhon a lifeline, though kratom mocktails sell for just $4 compared with regular gin and tonics at $11.

"We don't have any choice, 15-20 percent of income is enough to pay the team, pay the rent. That's it," Niks told AFP.

Draconian travel curbs imposed to fight the coronavirus have battered the economy in Thailand, where tourism accounted for nearly 20 percent of national income pre-pandemic.

Visitor numbers have collapsed from nearly 40 million a year to a trickle, leaving the hospitality industry struggling to survive.

Thanakorn Kuptajit, the head of the Thai Alcohol Beverage Business Association, told local media he expects a 50 percent drop in the value of the $9 billion sector as a result of the ban.

Denied government support and forbidden to serve drinks in-house, bars and pubs are also banned from selling alcohol online.

As a result, some landlords in Bangkok have resorted to flouting the ban, serving booze discreetly in plain coffee mugs or soft drink cans.

But for those who have played by the rules, it has been a tough year.

In the upmarket expat hotspot of Thonglor, the co-owner of WTF Gallery Cafe, Chris Wise, says his business has been boarded up since April.

A handyman, two bar staff and an assistant have lost work or been at reduced pay.

WTF, which marked its 10th birthday earlier this year, is gearing up to reopen this week (October 21) with the launch of a new Thai art exhibition and tapas menu.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha gave the industry some hope last week, announcing that as part of reopening the kingdom to tourism, the government plans to lift the alcohol ban in December.

But Wise warned that with customer numbers reduced and less disposable income, the road to recovery will be long.

"I can't imagine it going back to what it was like pre-Covid," he told AFP.

"The sanook (enjoy), mai pen rai (no worries), sa bai dee (relaxed) life that Thais have is not coming back for a long time."

And the relaxation will be too little too late for many businesses, Teens owner Niks said.

"It's a disaster. We have lost craftmanship, we lost industry manpower. We lost good bars, good restaurants because of mismanagement from the government," he said, adding his best bartenders are now working in other industries.

Now as the clock ticks down to the reopening, customers at Teens sample the experimental kratom drinks menu.

One sips a mango and lime concoction served in a cup made of beeswax with honey foam -- the slightly bitter tang of the kratom balanced out by the fruity sweetness.

Down the bar, Pord, 40, tries his first kratom drink, the "Tiger Ear", which features garlic brine lime and soda.

"It tastes like a sour plum. It's refreshing," he told AFP.

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a phone call with Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, welcomed initiatives announced by the kingdom on Saturday to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, the Saudi Press Agency said.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the world's top oil exporter aims to reach 'net zero' emissions of greenhouse gases - mostly produced by burning fossil fuels - by 2060 - 10 years later than the United States.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Sunday that certain quarters with vested interests were disseminating propaganda to create communal divide and tarnish the image of Bangladesh, as the country recovers from a slew of violence against Hindus and mob attacks on temples during Durga Puja festivities, according to a media report.

Attacks on Hindu temples intensified in Bangladesh since October 13 after an alleged blasphemous post surfaced on social media during the Durga Puja celebrations. On the night of October 17, a mob damaged 66 houses and set on fire at least 20 homes of Hindus in Bangladesh.

"No one can make Bangladesh go backwards. Some of the incidents that we occasionally see are orchestrated. It is being done intentionally so that Bangladesh's image is damaged," Prime Minister Hasina was quoted as saying by bdnews24.com.

Speaking during the inauguration of the Payra bridge in southern Bangladesh, Hasina said that certain quarters with vested interests are disseminating propaganda aimed at creating a communal divide. She, however, did not name any one.

"No matter how much good work we do, there is a quarter that is occupied with discrediting Bangladesh. What do they want? They don't want the normal democratic process to continue in this country," she said, urging people to be wary of the attempts to destabilise the country.

Eight people died as communal violence spread to several other districts amid the festivities, the report said.

The Durga Puja celebrations, considered to be the biggest festival of the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh, concluded without the traditional Bijoya Dashami procession.

Bangladeshs security agencies on Saturday arrested Shaikat Mandal, who is believed to be the second key suspect behind the recent violence. His arrest came a day after police had nabbed Iqbal Hossain, 35, the key suspect from Cox Bazar area.

So far, police have arrested nearly 600 people from various parts of the country for inciting violence against the Hindus during the Durga Puja festivities.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Hasina instructed her home minister to initiate immediate action against those who incited violence using religion as she asked the people not to trust anything on social media without fact-checking.

The Foreign Ministry in a statement underlined that the Government of Bangladesh "unequivocally condemned those incidents and took serious note of the reactions from within and outside the Hindu community."

The violence has been widely condemned by the United Nations.

UN's resident coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo said that the attacks on Hindus are against the values of the countrys Constitution and need to stop.

Hindus constitute around 10 per cent of the Muslim-majority Bangladesh's 169 million population.

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China has no authority at all to get involved in choosing the next Dalai Lama, especially since the Chinese government does not believe in religion, and the succession is entirely a spiritual matter for the Tibetan people, the head of the Tawang monastery in Arunachal Pradesh has said.

Gyangbung Rinpoche, the Abbot of the nearly 350-year-old monastery near India's border with China, also said that it is important to counter Beijing's policy of expansionism and New Delhi must maintain a strict vigil over the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with the neighbouring country.

The head of the second largest monastery in the world after the Potala Palace in Tibet's Lhasa said only the current Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people have the right to decide about the succession of the Tibetan spiritual leader and China has no role to play in the matter.

"The Chinese government does not believe in religion. How can a government that does not believe in religion decide the next Dalai Lama. The succession plan is a matter of religion and faith; it is not a political issue," he told PTI in an interview.

"China does not have any right to even get involved in the process of choosing the next Dalai Lama. Only the current Dalai Lama and his followers have the right to decide on the issue," he said.

The comments by the Abbot of the monastery that is located in a region claimed by China came amid strain in ties between the two countries following the eastern Ladakh border standoff. India maintains that its state of Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of the country.

Rinpoche said the Tibetan people will never accept any decision on the issue by China and that Beijing's attempt to get involved is part of efforts to "capture" the Tibetan heritage and "hold control" over the Tibetan people.

"It will be difficult for China to win the hearts of the people of Tibet. China is tightly controlling Tibet. The authorities do not even allow people from outside to meet Tibetans. There are so many restrictions. It is important that countries like India support the Tibetans," he said.

The issue of a successor to the 14th Dalai Lama, who has been living in exile in Dharamshala in India since 1959, gained traction as he turned 86 in July. The Dalai Lama is believed to be a living Buddha who is reincarnated after his death.

China has been insisting that the selection of the next Dalai Lama has to be decided within Chinese territory and that it has to have a say in the matter.

Referring to China's aggressive posturing along the LAC, Rinpoche said though India believes in peace and prosperity, its approach in dealing with such belligerence has to be based on the ground reality.

"India believes in peace and prosperity. India does not like to fight or to have hatred against any country. India believes in living in peace with the countries which share a border with it," he said.

"India needs to maintain a strict vigil over the border. Though India believes in peace and prosperity, its approach has to be based on the ground reality. Regions like Tawang and Ladakh are part of India," he said.

The religious leader said it is important to counter China's policy of expansionism.

Beijing has in the past accused the Dalai Lama of indulging in "separatist" activities and trying to split Tibet and considers him as a divisive figure.

However, the Tibetan spiritual leader has insisted that he is not seeking independence but "genuine autonomy for all Tibetans living in the three traditional provinces of Tibet" under the "Middle-Way approach".

The Chinese government officials and the Dalai Lama or his representatives have not met in formal negotiations since 2010.

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A Cuban man who took part in unprecedented nationwide street protests in July has been sentenced to 10 years in jail, the stiffest punishment yet of anyone who defied the communist government in those rallies, his family and a human rights group said Saturday.

The sentence against Roberto Perez Fonseca, age 38, was handed down by a court in San Jose de las Lajas, a town 35 kilometres (20 miles) from Havana.

On July 11 and 12 thousands of Cubans screaming "freedom" and "we are hungry" took to the streets in some 50 cities and towns to protest harsh living conditions and government repression.

The rallies, which had no precedent since the Cuban revolution of 1959, left at least one person dead and dozens injured as security forces cracked down.

Around 1,130 people were arrested, and more than half of them remain in jail, says the Miami-based human rights group Cubalex.

The court said Perez Fonseca was guilty of contempt, public disorder and instigation to commit a crime.

The sentence, dated October 6, was seen by AFP after Perez Fonseca's family was notified this week.

Three judges at the court heard from a sole witness, Jorge Luis Garcia Montero, a policeman in San Jose de las Lajas. Two people who wanted to testify for the defense -- a relative and a friend of Fonseca's -- were barred as being partial.

The police officer stated that Perez Fonseca incited other people to throw rocks and bottles on the day of the protests. He said the defendant threw a rock that hit him in the wrist and another that struck a police car, according to the sentencing document.

Perez Fonseca, a father of two, was arrested at his mother's home on July 16.

The sentence "is excessive and violates all guarantees of due process," said Laritza Diversent, head of Cubalex.

She said the jail term -- the longest handed out against anyone for taking part in the July protests -- seemed intended to scare people into refraining from future demonstrations.

Another protest rally has been called for November 15. The government has banned it and warned people of criminal consequences if they take part.

Cuba's government says the July protests were part of a US-backed strategy to topple the regime.

And, with the new protest date looming, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Twitter that the United States wants impunity for the "operators" who tried to destabilise the Communist state.

"When the US government speaks, we are hearing from the very government that funds and organises the destabilising scheme," Diaz-Canel said on Twitter. "Enough threats."

Perez Fonseca's mother, Liset Fonseca, said she thinks the real reason for her son's long prison term is that at the protest he tore up a picture of communist icon Fidel Castro and challenged Garcia Montero, the police officer, as he arrested another man.

"They had to do something to make an example of him," she said.
Pope Francis on Sunday made an impassioned plea to end the practice of returning migrants rescued at sea to Libya and other unsafe countries where they suffer inhumane violence," and he called on the international community to find concrete ways to manage migratory flows in the Mediterranean Sea.

I express my closeness to the thousands of migrants, refugees, and others in need of protection in Libya,'' Francis said in remarks to the public in St. Peter's Square. I never forget you, I hear your cry and I pray for you."

So many of these men, women, and children are subject to inhumane violence,'' he added.

Yet again I ask the international community to keep the promises to search for common solutions that are concrete and lasting to manage the migratory flows in Libya and all the Mediterranean."

How they suffer, those who are sent back after rescue at sea, the pope said. Detention facilities in Libya, he said are true concentration camps.

We need to stop sending back (migrants) to unsafe countries and to give priority to the saving of human lives at sea with regular protocols of rescue and disembarking, to guarantee them dignified conditions of life, alternatives to detention, regular paths of migration, and access to asylum procedures," Francis said.

Italy and Malta have come under criticism by human rights advocates for leaving migrants aboard crowded rescue boats before assigning them a safe port.

UN refugee agency officials and human rights organisations have long denounced the conditions of detention centres for migrants in Libya, citing practices of beatings, rape, and forms of torture, and insufficient food.

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Former US President Barack Obama urged Virginians to re-elect Terry McAuliffe as governor at a rally on Saturday, emphasising the race's significance as an indicator of the country's political direction and a reflection of its values.

Obama and McAuliffe, who served as the state's governor from 2014 to 2018, spoke before a cheering crowd at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond with just 10 days to go before the closely watched, tight November 2 election.

The off-year race is seen as a barometer of how the country might decide the 2022 midterm elections, which will decide which party controls Congress, and a referendum on Democrat Joe Biden's presidency.

Obama told the crowd the Virginia election represented a national "turning point," where Americans could either become more embattled in the divisive politics that characterised Republican Donald Trump's presidency and which culminated in an attack by Trump's supporters on the US Capitol on January 6, or "pull together" to "solve big problems."

"I believe you, right here in Virginia, are going to show the rest of the country and the world that we're not going to indulge in our worst instincts," Obama said. "We're not going to go back to the chaos that did so much damage. We're going to move forward with people like Terry leading the way."

McAuliffe told the crowd the election was too important to sit out, with several key issues on the ballot.

Also read: After 5 years, Obamas break ground on Presidential Centre

"This election is about the next chapter of Virginia and our country. ... It's about leading us out of this pandemic, keeping our economy strong, protecting voter rights, protecting abortion rights and so much more," he said.

Opinion polls show McAuliffe, 64, and Republican Glenn Youngkin, 54, nearly tied. A poll this week by Monmouth University showed Youngkin had closed McAuliffe's 5-point lead since September by gaining ground with independent and women voters.

Youngkin's strength in the polls during the first weeks of early voting has worried Democrats, who anticipated a comfortable lead in a state that has trended blue in recent years. Democrats flipped the Virginia legislature in 2019 and Trump lost the state by 10 percentage points in November 2020, double his margin of defeat in 2016.

Melody Pearce, 50, a clinical nurse investigator who attended Saturday's rally for McAuliffe, said the polls made her nervous.

"After the election of President Biden I thought we would be able to exhale for a minute," she said. "I'm afraid people will not come out to vote and lose enthusiasm."

Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison told reporters at Saturday's event he was confident that Virginians would go to the polls and deliver a victory for McAuliffe.

"At the end of the day, it's about turnout," he said. "If we get the Democrats to turn out, we win."

The serving governor, Ralph Northam, a Democrat, cannot seek re-election because the state bars governors from serving consecutive terms. McAuliffe can run because he left office in 2018.

Both candidates for governor have dug into hotly contested cultural issues to stir up voter engagement, including abortion rights and how schools address the topics of race and racism with students.

McAuliffe has sought to paint Youngkin as a far-right extremist and align him with Trump, who has endorsed the Republican candidate.

In turn, Youngkin has suggested that McAuliffe is trying to advance a far-left agenda. A former private equity executive, Youngkin has focused in part on education - especially the right of parents to have a say in their children's schooling - which has proven popular with suburban women, a key demographic.

Youngkin has walked a fine line between welcoming Trump's endorsement and distancing himself from the former president's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Obama condemned Youngkin on Saturday for walking that line, and said it reflected poorly on his character.

"Either he actually believes in the same conspiracy theories that resulted in a mob, or he doesn't believe it but he's willing to go along with it to say or do anything to get elected. And maybe that's worse," Obama said.

Last week, Youngkin dissociated himself from a rally held to support him, which was headlined by longtime Trump aide Steve Bannon and Trump himself, who spoke by phone. At the event, attendees pledged allegiance to a flag that event leaders said was present on January 6 when Trump supporters led an assault on the US Capitol.

Youngkin issued a statement saying it was "weird and wrong" to pledge allegiance to a flag with January 6 connections.
Taliban forces fought a three-hour gun battle with a group of alleged Islamic State kidnappers on Sunday, killing three of them, officials said.

The clash erupted in the western Afghan city of Herat when the new Taliban government's fighters cornered the gang in a high-rise building, Herat Police Command said in a statement.

Local residents said they heard light and heavier weapons used in the fighting. Police said three Islamic State members were killed and two Taliban were wounded in the clash.

Videos circulating on social media appeared to show that at least one suspect was shot dead after he had been detained and disarmed, during a scuffle with his captors.

The footage also showed victorious Taliban forces driving through town with three corpses exposed on the back of a pick-up truck, as cheering supporters followed on scooters.

Interior ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti tweeted the three Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) members were involved in major kidnappings across Herat province.

"Special forces surrounded them, and they started firing. The men were killed in a shootout with security forces."

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in mid-August, overthrowing the previous US-backed government, and have vowed to restore stability after a 20-year war.

But their efforts have been undermined by a series of attacks claimed by IS-K, another hardline Sunni Islamist group that has a bitter rivalry with the Taliban.

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The United States did not put enough pressure on former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani to share power with the Taliban, Zalmay Khalilzad, who recently resigned as US envoy to Afghanistan, said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS.

The Afghan-born Khalilzad, speaking for the first time since his resignation was announced on October 18, also expressed reservations about the decision by the Biden administration to lift conditions on the withdrawal deal he had negotiated with the Islamist insurgents during the administration of President Donald Trump.

The agreement signed on February 29, 2020 between Washington and the Taliban -- which excluded Ghani's government in Kabul -- paved the way for the US to end its longest war.

But it was "a conditions-based package" that included negotiations between the insurgents and Kabul, as well as a permanent, comprehensive cease-fire, Khalilzad said.

Once in the White House, however, President Joe Biden decided "to do a calendar-based withdrawal," without regard to those conditions, he said.

"That was a decision made way above my pay grade," he added.

Talks between the insurgents and Kabul had begun but were dragging, and Washington feared the Taliban would resume attacks on US forces if they stayed in the country much longer -- a situation Khalilzad acknowledged as he admitted things did not work out the way he had wanted.

He placed most of the blame on Ghani, who Khalilzad said never agreed to share power with the Taliban.

"They preferred the status quo to a political settlement," he said of the Kabul government.

"And then when it became clear that the US was leaving, then they -- they miscalculated the effects of the continuing war. They were not serious about the political settlement.

"It's my judgment that we didn't press him hard enough. We were gentle with President Ghani. We used diplomacy. We encouraged him."

He said that under the original conditional withdrawal agreement, the Taliban would have eventually agreed to power-sharing, though his evidence for that was unclear.

Biden had set a departure date of August 31 for the final withdrawal.

But in the months and weeks leading up to that date the Taliban offensive surged. On August 15 Ghani fled Kabul as government authority crumbled and the Taliban marched into the capital city.

Khalilzad -- derided in Afghanistan for, among other things, cutting Kabul out of the US-Taliban deal, and who has also been much criticized in Washington since the takeover -- has blamed Ghani before.

He told the Financial Times in September that Ghani's abrupt exit scuttled a deal in which the Taliban would hold off entering Kabul and negotiate a political transition.

Ghani, who sought safety in the United Arab Emirates, has apologized for how his government ended but said he left on the advice of palace security to avoid bloody street fighting.

The Taliban had been demanding the resignation of Ghani as part of any transitional government.

Ultimately, the Islamists named a caretaker government that has no non-Taliban nor women and that includes US-designated terrorists.
The commanders of the Indian Army will discuss the security situation along the countrys disputed boundaries with China and Pakistan during a four-day conference beginning on Monday.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat will address the commanders of the Indian Army during the conference. The Chief of Army Staff, Gen M M Naravane, will lead the discussion on current and emerging security scenarios around the nation, particularly along the disputed boundaries with China and Pakistan.

The commanders will discuss administrative aspects to chart the future course for the Indian Army. They will also discuss the challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a press-release issued by the Ministry of Defence in New Delhi.

The biannual Army Commanders Conference is held in April and October every year. The conference is an institutional platform for conceptual level deliberations, culminating in making important policy decisions for the Indian Army. The conference is also a formal forum for the senior leadership of the Indian Army to interact with the senior officials of the Department of Military Affairs and Department of Defence.

The chiefs of the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force will also address the senior leadership of Indian Army on avenues for promoting tri-service synergy.

The conference is being held at a time when the soldiers of the Indian Army and the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) are still engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. Though the two sides mutually withdrew front-line troops from the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso in February and from the Gogra Post in August, the talks for disengagement from other remaining face-off points along the LAC hit an impasse.

The continued build-up by the Chinese PLA and the recent incursions in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh of India fuelled speculation about tension escalating again, not only in the western sector, but also in the middle and eastern sectors of the disputed boundary between the two nations.

The Pakistan Army too of late restarted flouting ceasefire along the Line of Control and infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan into Jammu and Kashmir of India also resumed.

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Lauding the jump in the number of women police personnel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi noted on Sunday that it has doubled between 2014 and 2020 and expressed hope that they will lead the "new age policing" in future.

In his monthly 'Mann Ki Baat' broadcast, he said a notion existed earlier that the services like the Army and police were meant for men but it was no longer so and cited a Bureau of Police Research and Development figure to say that the number of women police personnel rose to over 2.15 lakh against 1.05 lakh in 2014.

His government had come to power in 2014.

Also Read | Gender parity in the Indian Army

Their numbers in the last seven years have almost doubled in the central armed police forces as well, he said.

Women are now undergoing what is considered a very difficult training as "specialised jungle warfare commandos" to become part of the CoBRA battalion, an elite CRPF unit to target violent extremist and insurgent groups, and are also visible as security personnel at Metro stations, airports and government offices, Modi said.

He added, "It has a most positive impact on our police force and the morale of our society. The presence of women security personnel brings natural confidence among people, especially women. They feel connected to them naturally. People tend to trust them more because of the sensitivity of women."

Saying that women cops are becoming role models for girls, the prime minister urged them to visit schools once they open and interact with girl students.

Also Read | Evaluation criteria for PC to women Army officers resulted in systemic discrimination: Supreme Court

It will show a new direction to our new generation, he added

"I hope that women will join police forces in even more numbers in the future and will lead our country's new age policing," he said.

In his address, the prime minister also highlighted the unique role Indian women have played in increasing the influence and strength of the United Nations, which had officially come into force on this day in 1945.

Also Read | Women army officers once again move SC for grant of permanent commission, promotions and benefits

In 1947-48, when the Universal Declaration of UN Human Rights was being drafted, it was being inscribed in that declaration that "all men are created equal" but following objection from an Indian delegate, Hansa Mehta, it was changed to "all human beings are created equal," Modi noted.

"This was in consonance with India's age-old tradition of gender equality," he said.

Another Indian delegate Lakshmi Menon had also strongly put forth her views on the issue of gender equality, while in 1953 Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit became the first woman president of the UN General Assembly, he noted.

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Differences within Chhattisgarh Congress spilled out in the open again on Sunday when a party leader, considered as a supporter of state Health Minister T S Singh Deo, was allegedly stopped and heckled while he was delivering a speech during a convention of party workers in Jashpur district.

AICC's secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh Saptagiri Ulaka was also present at the event.

A video of the purported incident shows former Jashpur district Congress president Pawan Agrawal addressing the function from the stage. Suddenly another leader, Iftikhar Hasan, is seen trying to snatch a mike from Agrawal and pushing him away.

The convention was held in a community hall in Jashpur town, located around 400 km away from Raipur. Agrawal said he was allegedly heckled and manhandled by Hasan and others when he questioned the delay in elevating T S Singh Deo as chief minister as per the purported power-sharing agreement during his speech. As a Jashpur Congress president from 2013 till 2018 end, I worked extensively for the party in the district. In the 2018 assembly elections, Congress snatched all three seats- Pathalgaon, Jashpur and Kunkuri from the district from BJP. After the assembly elections, I was removed from the post of district president despite my efforts for the party's victory, Agrawal told PTI over the phone.

He claimed the agreement of rotational chief ministership was made when Congress came to power in 2018.

After the completion of half of the five-year term of (incumbent chief minister) Bhupesh Baghel, why there is a delay in replacing him with Singh Deo ji? I was raising the same issue in front of Ulaka ji. But supporters of Baghel attacked me on the stage, he said.

Kunkuri MLA UD Minj, Jashpur MLA Vinay Kumar Bhagat, Jashpur district Congress president Manoj Sagar Yadav was also present on the stage, he said.

Meanwhile, Hasan refuted Agrawal's claim.

The Chhattisgarh BJP also shared the video clip on Twitter with a post saying the incident reflects the culture of the Congress party. There was a fight on the stage during the Congress event.. Congress culture was seen. In the race for the chair in @INCChhattisgarh, now there is a fight too! When the leader reminded Rahul Gandhi of the promise of a two and a half years formula, he was assaulted in front of the in-charge, the state BJP tweeted. The tussle for power between Baghel and Singh Deo appears to have quietened at the top, but the feud is very much visible at the lower level in the ruling Congress.

Last month, a local unit of the Congress in Bilaspur had demanded the expulsion of a party MLA after he protested against the registration of a police case against another local leader, a supporter of Singh Deo. The demand for a change of guard was renewed after Baghel completed two-and-a-half years as chief minister in June 2021. The Singh Deo camp claimed the high command in 2018 had agreed to hand over the post to him after the government completed half its term.

It appeared that Baghel had won that round when he told reporters upon return that party leader Rahul Gandhi had agreed to visit the state 'on his invitation', and those talking about rotating the CM's post were promoting political instability.

However, Singh Deo had said the decision on the leadership change lies with the party high command.

Several Congress MLAs, considered close to Baghel, had visited Delhi multiple times in the past two months apparently to express solidarity to the CM.

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Weathered by old age and ill-health, RJD president Lalu Prasad on Sunday returned to his home turf of Bihar from where imprisonment in fodder scam cases had kept him away for three years.

Prasad, who was released from jail a few months ago, arrived accompanied by wife Rabri Devi and eldest daughter Misa Bharti, at whose Delhi residence he had been putting up for medical help he needs for the multiple ailments he suffers from.

Chants in praise of the messiah of the poor rent the air as the haggard-looking septuagenarian walked out of the airport, with a shuffling gait, tiredly waving at the huge boisterous crowd.

Prasad was last seen here in September 2018, after which he returned to Ranchi to serve his sentences upon expiry of the period of his bail, granted to attend elder son Tej Prataps wedding and extended a number of times to help him avail medical treatment.

Also Read | Congress-RJD fissures bring Grand Alliance to brink of collapse in Bihar

At the airport, Tej Pratap and his younger brother Tejashwi appeared to have buried the hatchet while receiving their father, who wore a green cap and had a 'gamchha' (traditional towel) of the same colour wrapped around his neck.

The former Bihar Chief Minister drove straight to his wifes residence, much to the disappointment of journalists looking forward to some juicy quotes, for which the flamboyant leader has been known.

A large number of supporters was also seen outside Rabri Devis 10, Circular Road bungalow, situated right across the Chief Ministers residence, and police and security personnel had to sweat it out to keep their enthusiasm under check.

Minutes later, Tej Pratap was seen leaving the house furiously, complaining of humiliation at the hands of state RJD chief Jagadanand Singh and MLC Sunil Singh whom he accused of preventing him from spending some time with his father.

The mercurial elder son, who has lost the spotlight to younger sibling Tejashwi, had been fuming since morning when posters were put up at some places welcoming his father. Tej Prataps photo was conspicuous by its absence in the poster which featured Tejashwi, Rabri Devi and Misa, among others.

I have nothing to do with the RJD henceforth. I am, though, a devoted son and will continue to dote on my father, said the maverick MLA whose run-ins with functionaries of his party keep making headlines.

Hectic politicking is expected in the days to come, as Prasads return comes at a politically charged time. The former Union minister has made it clear that he intends to take part in the campaign for October 30 by-polls to Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan assembly seats.

He was asked by journalists, in Delhi earlier in the day, as to whether he would not be violating conditions laid down by the court while granting him bail on health reasons, if he campaigns.

Also Read | RJD to support Congress, AIUDF, CPI in Assam bypolls

It is nonsense. Who said I have been granted bail on health reasons? I got entitled to bail because I have spent half of my sentence behind bars. Nothing can now prevent me from campaigning, said Prasad.

By-elections to the two seats have been necessitated by deaths of the respective MLAs, both belonging to the JD(U) of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Prasads arch-rival.

The RJD has the largest number of MLAs in the 243-strong assembly and it has been claiming that it will wrest the two seats from the ruling NDA and trigger a khela (upheaval) in the states politics.

However, the party has got caught in a quagmire with its old ally, the Congress which accused the RJD of betraying the coalition dharma and fielded its own candidates for both seats.

The Congress has also announced that it will go it alone in Bihar in the Lok Sabha elections of 2024.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday accused the BJP of beating up political opponents if they dare to take out rallies in Tripura, and claimed that even a woman MP is not spared.

She was referring to the attack on Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev allegedly by BJP workers in Tripura during a public outreach programme near Agartala on Friday. The TMC seeks to dislodge the saffron party from power in the North-eastern state in the 2023 assembly election.

Denying the BJP's claims of violence on its workers in West Bengal, the TMC supremo said, "There is peace in West Bengal and it is not the peace of the graveyard."

"In contrast look at the happenings in your state (Tripura). Whoever dares to take out rallies opposing the BJP is hit with sticks. They don't even allow the injured TMC workers to be treated at a hospital. A young party worker was thrashed and he had to be rushed to the SSKM Hospital (in Kolkata)," Banerjee said at a rally in Siliguri.

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Sanjay Patil, BJP's Lok Sabha member from Sangli in Maharashtra, on Sunday quipped that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will not come after him as he is a BJP MP. He made the remark while speaking at a function in Sangli.

"The ED won't come after me since I am a BJP MP...We have to take a loan in order to purchase luxury cars worth Rs 40 lakh to show off. The ED will be surprised to see the amount of loan we have..," he said in a lighter vein.

Recently, BJP leader Harshavardhan Patil had quipped that he was getting "sound sleep" in the saffron party as there are "no inquiries", a remark that came on a day when NCP chief Sharad Pawar alleged the misuse of the central agencies like the CBI, ED, and NCB to target the Opposition.

Harshvardhan Patil, a former MLA from Indapur in the Pune district, had quit the Congress and switched over to the BJP before the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies - Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress - have been accusing the BJP-led government at the Centre of misusing the central agencies to target the leaders of the three ruling parties in the state.

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Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Sunday termed the allegations levelled by Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik against NCB's zonal director Sameer Wankhede as "baseless" and "mischievous", and defended the officer saying he has not done anything wrong.

Athawale also said the state government should ensure that Wankhede is not harmed and that there is no threat to his life. Malik, a leader of the ruling NCP, has been repeatedly targeting the NCB and Wankhede, who had supervised the raid on a cruise liner off the Mumbai coast earlier this month that led to the alleged recovery of drugs and the arrest of Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan.

A few days back, Malik had dubbed Wankhede as "bogus" and asserted that once "proof" against him is out, he cannot remain in government service even for one day. He had also said that the officer will lose his job in one year and eventually land in jail. Wankhede has, however, refuted the allegations. Addressing a press conference here, Athawale accused Malik of trying to give a religious and casteist colour while targeting Wankhede.

Also Read | Cruise drugs case: Witness makes bribery allegations against NCB's Sameer Wankhede

"The state government should ensure there is no threat to Wankhede's life," the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment said, adding that the NCB officer shouldn't be harmed. Athawale claimed that the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has enough proof against Aryan Khan in the cruise ship drugs case, which is why he has been denied bail. "Wankhede hasn't done anything wrong.

He and the NCB are working to save the youths from the drugs menace. Instead of supporting this, Malik is targeting Wankhede because action was taken against his son-in-law Sameer Khan. The allegations levelled by Malik against Wankhede are baseless and mischievous," he added. The NCP leader's son-in-law was arrested by the NCB for alleged possession of drugs in January this year and was granted bail last month.

Malik has repeatedly claimed the case related to the alleged recovery of banned drugs from the cruise ship was fake and arrests were made just on the basis of WhatsApp chats.

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National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Sunday expressed surprise over Union Home Minister Amit Shahs statement that Jammu and Kashmirs statehood would be restored after assembly elections.

He said urges and aspirations of people have to be satiated for lasting peace in the Union territory.

Abdullah expressed surprise over the logic being advanced by the central leadership that the statehood will be restored after completion of the delimitation of constituencies and holding of elections.

It is strange, he said and recalled the all-party meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi a few months ago in which he took up these issues.

Also Read | After delimitation, J&K statehood will be restored, says Amit Shah

Modi had at that point of time asserted that the gap between New Delhi and J-K would have to be bridged by winning over the hearts Hearts cannot be won by undermining the status of Jammu and Kashmir, which was bifurcated and then downgraded, the NC leader said while addressing a public meeting at Mendhar in Poonch district.

Defending the BJP-led NDA government's decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir's special status, Shah had on Saturday said August 5, 2019 was written in golden letters in the history of Kashmir.

He had reiterated that elections would be held in J-K after the delimitation exercise to be followed by restoration of statehood.

"Elections will happen. (Politicians from Kashmir want that the) Delimitation be stopped. Why? Because it hurts their politics. Now, such things will not stop in Kashmir.

The youth of Kashmir will get opportunities, so a right delimitation will be done, which will be followed by elections and then the status of the statehood will be restored. I have said this in the country's Parliament and this is the roadmap," Shah had said.

Abdullah further said it must have happened for the first time that a state is transformed and downgraded as a Union territory.

The urges and aspirations of the people have to be satiated for lasting peace, he underlined.

Pitching for India-Pakistan dialogue, the NC president said peace in the region will remain elusive unless a conducive atmosphere is made for talks between the two neighboring countries.

He also decried attempts of dividing the society for political gains and said this is not good for the unity of the country and integration of people.

The nation cannot afford to get fragmented into bits and pieces on the basis of religion. Elections were not to be fought on religion, as these provide an opportunity to put in place responsive governments which serve the people in terms of development and economic emancipation, he said.

The former chief minister expressed grave concern over loss of life, and damage to standing crops and orchards due to heavy downpour, hailstorm and stormy winds across Jammu and Kashmir.

Abdullah, who is on a four-day visit to Jammu Province, also sought an exhaustive assessment by expert panels on the damage caused, saying preliminary relief in terms of financial assistance should be provided to the affected till the assessment is completed.

He also sought immediate release of compensation to the next of kin of those killed.
Asserting that the August 5, 2019, decision reduced terrorism, nepotism and corruption in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asked the security agencies to give a final push to end militancy in the region.

Shah, who arrived in Srinagar on a three-day visit to J&K, said strict action will be taken against those who want to ruin the peace in J&K. No one can obstruct development here and its our commitment, he said while interacting with members of J&K Youth Club, in Srinagar.

Justifying the abrogation of Article 370, the home minister asked, The transparency and corruption-free governance Jammu & Kashmir has witnessed since 2019 is the pillar of the regions development. Would it be possible without abrogating Article 370?

Also read: After delimitation, J&K statehood will be restored, says Amit Shah

5th August 2019 will be written in golden letters. Kashmir has seen a new beginning from fear, terrorism, corruption and family-based politics to peace, development, and prosperity. The youth of Jammu & Kashmir has strengthened this change. Before August 5, 2019, what did the 70 years of Independence give J&K  87 Assembly, 6 Lok Sabha seats and three families. I do not need to name those families, Shah said.

Shah, who is on his first visit to the UT since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, said the delimitation will happen in the UT followed by elections and then restoration of statehood.

Earlier, during a high-level security meeting chaired by the home minister here, Shah sought answers as to why radicalisation and home-grown militancy were on the rise in Kashmir and asked them to give a final push to end terrorism in the region.

Shah sought answers from the heads of various security agencies as to why despite a massive build-up of forces and extensive outreach efforts by the Center, the twin threats of radicalisation and home-grown terrorism were on the rise, sources told DH.

Besides, they said, the spate of recent targeted killing of civilians, and an increase in cross-border infiltration were other issues discussed during the meeting. Top officials, including Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, and senior security officials from the army, CRPF, police and other agencies, attended the meeting.

Shah also met the family of J&K police inspector Parvaiz Ahmad, who was shot dead by militants on June 22 near his home in Nowgam on the outskirts of the city.

He offered his condolences to the family and handed over documents of appointment to a government job to Ahmads widow, Fatima Akhtar, on compassionate grounds, an official said.

Cosmetic steps wont address actual problem: Mehbooba

Regional PDP president and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said cosmetic steps like the inauguration of international flights and medical colleges by Union Home Minister Amit Shah will not address the actual problem in the region.

HM inaugurating international flights from Srinagar & laying the foundation of new medical colleges isnt new. Half a dozen medical colleges were sanctioned by the UPA govt & are functional now. Post Article 370 abrogation & an engineered crisis, J&K has been thrown into chaos (sic), she tweeted.

This crisis is of GOIs making & instead of reaching out they opted for cosmetic steps that dont address the actual problem. Ideally, HMs visit should have been preceded by following up on PMs assurance post the all party meeting, she said.

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An arrested Pakistani terrorist was killed, while three security personnel were injured on Sunday when militants opened fire on a joint search party of the Army and police inside a forest in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

Heavy firing and explosions were reported from Bhatta Durrian forest of Mendhar which along with nearby forest areas adjoining Surankote (Poonch) and Thanamandi in Rajouri district is witnessing a massive search operation, the officials said.

The operation, which saw nine Army personnel losing their lives in separate ambushes in Surankote and Mendhar on October 11 and 14, entered the 14th day on Sunday.

The arrested Pakistani terrorist affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Zia Mustafa, had been taken by the security forces to identify a hideout in Bhata Durian forest in Mendhar area of border Poonch district, couldnt be retrieved because of the heavy volume of fire, a police officer said.

He added that two policemen and an Army jawan along with Mustafa were injured in firing by terrorists in Bhatta Durrian forest this morning.

"'During the search when the team approached the hideout, terrorists again opened fire on the joint team of police and Army personnel in which two policemen and an Army jawan sustained injuries, the spokesperson said.

When the search party approached the hideout, militants again opened fire in which two policemen and an army jawan sustained injuries. Mustafa also sustained injuries and he could not be extracted from the site due to heavy fire, he said and added the militant may have got killed.

Read | Civilian killed in firing incident in Shopian in J&K

Officials said Mustafa, a resident of Rawalakot in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, was lodged in Kot Bhalwal jail for the last 14 years and was shifted to Mendhar on police remand after investigation revealed his link with the hiding terrorists.

Mustafa had sneaked into this side from the same route before he was arrested from south Kashmir, the officials said.

The operation in the forest areas in the twin border districts commenced on October 11 when terrorists ambushed a search party killing five soldiers including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in Surankote forest of Poonch before another gunfight in nearby Thanamandi on the same day.

On October 14, the terrorists struck again and killed four soldiers including a JCO in Nar Khas forest in Mendhar as the security forces extended the cordon and search operation to neutralise the fleeing terrorists.

Drones and helicopters were pressed into service to assist the marching troops, which included para-commandos, in the jungle at a distance of four km from the Line of Control (LoC), the officials said.

Ten persons, including two women, were detained for questioning after it came to light that they allegedly provided logistic support including food and shelter to the terrorists, the officials said.

An Army official said on Saturday that a major part of the forest was cleared and now the search area is restricted to a location housing a number of natural caves.

There was no contact with the terrorist after the initial gunfights on October 11 and October 14. The search area was expanded in search of the terrorists, the official had said, hoping to conclude the operation with the clearance of the natural caves within a day or two depending on the weather conditions.

Traffic between Mendhar and Thanamandi along the Jammu-Rajouri highway remained suspended as a precautionary measure for the ninth day on Sunday 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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A 20-year-old man was arrested on Sunday for allegedly raping a minor girl in central Delhi's Ranjeet Nagar area, police said.

The accused has been identified as Suraj, a resident of Raghubir Nagar, they said.

He was arrested from Kalanaur, Rohtak district, Haryana. He was previously arrested under the POCSO Act for allegedly harassing a minor under Khyala police station limits, police said.

"We checked footage from hundreds of CCTV cameras and obtained his photograph. The accused is in no way related to the victim and he is not a resident of that locality. There was no phone number, no vehicle, etc. that could help us in identifying the accused. Several police teams from the central district worked tirelessly for 36 hours to nab him.

Also Read | Man rapes 7-year-old girl in Delhi; DCW issues notice to police seeking action

"When the accused realised that the police were looking for him, he tried to flee from Delhi. Our teams followed him and intercepted him at Kalanaur," Deputy Commissioner of Police (central) Shweta Chauhan said.

In a purported CCTV footage that has gone viral, the accused could be seen going with the girl.

The incident took place on Friday when the girl was on her way to a place where food was being distributed for free. Police said the place was close to her residence.

It is suspected that the accused lured the minor and then raped her, police said, adding the girl is stable.

A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act has been registered.

The Delhi Commission for Women issued a notice to the Delhi Police on Saturday seeking immediate action in the matter.

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Bodies of five out of six trekkers feared dead on Suderdhunga trek in Bageshwar district were found on Sunday as the cumulative death toll in rain-related incidents in Uttarakhand rose to 77.

However, search is still on for another trekker in the area, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) sources here said.

Meanwhile, 19 people stranded in Kafni glacier were brought to their village Chuni and 33 stuck in Pindari glacier were evacuated to safety, they said.

Two trekkers missing on way to Chitkul via Harsil in Uttarkashi district are yet to be found, they said.

Bodies of seven trekkers -- part of the 11-member team -- were recovered on Sunday while two other members of the group rescued alive have been under treatment for a couple of days.

Bodies of trekkers from West Bengal were sent home after a postmortem examination while the last rites of a woman trekker from Delhi was performed by her family members in Uttarkashi, district disaster management officer Devendra Patwal said.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday visited the damaged Gaula bridge in Haldwani and said work on war footing will be done to restore traffic movement.

Accompanied by Cabinet ministers Yatishwaranand and Dhan Singh Rawat, Dhami said the state government stood with the affected people who will be given all help.

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The process to authorise new battalions for the ITBP, guarding the LAC between India and China, is in the last stage and the government is determined to provide transport and logistical support to all security forces, Union Minister Nityanand Rai said on Sunday.

Addressing the 60th Raising Day event of the mountain-warfare-trained Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Rai said the government had last year sanctioned 47 new border posts and a dozen staging camps (operational bases for troops undertaking border patrol) to the force.

"Deliberations for providing new manpower and battalions for the ITBP are in the last stages," Rai, the minister of state for home affairs, said.

Officials said the force is expected to get a sanction of seven new battalions comprising about 8,000 personnel for its new border posts that will mainly come up in the Arunachal Pradesh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on India's eastern flank.

The proposal for sanctioning new ITBP battalions and a sector headquarter in the northeast has been under the consideration of the Home Ministry for over two years now. But with the last year's sanction of the new border outposts and staging camps, the proposal is expected to get approval soon, they said.

An ITBP battalion has a strength of just over 1,000 personnel.

At the rising day event, Rai lauded the ITBP for their bravery and for giving a "befitting reply" to their opponents during the clashes between Indian and Chinese forces in Ladakh during May-June last year.

He also decorated 20 ITBP officers and personnel as he pinned police medals for gallantry on their uniform for displaying bravery and courage during the clashes. These medals were announced by the Centre on Independence Day eve.

The minister said the 'Operation Snow Leopard' conducted by the ITBP in Himalayan ranges gave a "big message that India will never compromise on its sovereignty and security."

The force proved it was "second to none" when it came to guarding the country, Rai said, adding, "It is a matter of pride that the ITBP won these many bravery medals in one instance for the first time in its history."

Rai said the county's security forces have got "independence to operate and decide" under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The minister said the Modi government was working to plug all gaps along India's international borders and trying to enhance the capabilities of the security forces and also equip them with better weapons and technology.

ITBP Director General Sanjay Arora also praised his troops for their gallant action during the clashes with the Chinese People's Liberation Army last year in the Ladakh area.

He recounted the initiatives taken by the force to combat the coronavirus pandemic in the country by operating health facilities in the national capital region.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is in Jammu and Kashmir, greeted the personnel and their families through a Twitter message.

"ITBP is well known for protecting the motherland in the toughest of terrains and serving the nation during natural calamities. India is proud of ITBP's valour and determination," he said.

The about 90,000-personnel strong ITBP was raised on this day in 1962 in the aftermath of the Chinese aggression.

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A witness in the cruise ship drugs case has made grave allegations of bribery and wrongdoing against Sameer Wankhede, Mumbai Zonal Director of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), adding a new twist to the incident that has made national news following the arrest of actor Shah Rukh Khan's son, Aryan Khan.

Mumbai resident Prabhakar Sail (40), who made the allegation of pay-off, is the personal bodyguard of independent witness KP Gosavi, a private detective based in Kuala Lumpur, whose photo with Aryan went viral recently.

A signed affidavit of Sail and a video statement pertaining to the October 2-3 raids on cruise ship Cordelia, which led to the arrest of Aryan and 19 others, and the sequence of events was released on social media platforms.

Also Read | 'The man who knows too much': Witness hammers NCB on cruise raid

The allegations were denied by the NCB, with Wankhede writing to the Mumbai Police seeking protection from action on "false charges".

Shiv Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut termed the claims of a witness being made to sign blank papers "shocking", while Maharashtra minister and NCP spokesman Nawab Malik demanded a special investigation team probe into the matter.

One of the 9 witnesses listed by the NCB, Sail claimed that he was made to sign 10 blank papers by the agency and now feared for his life.

In his affidavit, Sail alleged that he overheard Gosavi and a man named Sam DSouza discuss a deal of Rs 24 crore and settling for Rs 18 crore, of which Rs 8 crore would go to Wankhede.

Read | Congress, BJP spar over Aryan Khan's arrest in drugs case

He claimed that he saw SRKs manager Pooja Dadlani arrive at the NCB office after Aryan's arrest and also saw her talking with Gosavi and DSouza inside her vehicle.

Sail claimed that Gosavi directed him to collect Rs 50 lakh from a spot near Indiana Hotel and asked him to give the bags to DSouza near Trident Hotel, where he discovered that it contained Rs 38 lakh.

I say that KP Gosavi is missing now and I now fear that NCB officials and other persons involved may kill me or abduct me like KP Gosavi. As seen in big cases witnesses often are killed and taken away and therefore I want to state the truth, his affidavit states.

'Decriminalise small amount of drugs'

The Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry has recommended decriminalising possession of small quantities of drugs for personal consumption in its review of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act submitted to the Revenue Department.

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After Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt landed in trouble for possessing an AK-47 which was part of the consignment that landed ahead of the March 12, 1993, serial blasts, he was initially represented by the legendary high-profile lawyer Ram Jethmalani.

However, when Ram Sahab left the brief, the late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray suggested the name of budding lawyer Satish Maneshinde to his dear friend and actor-politician Sunil Dutt. Once a replacement of Jethmalani and extremely hardworking, Maneshinde took up the case of Sanjay Dutt.

He secured bail for him, got him acquitted of the terror charges in the TADA case and conspiracy behind the serial blasts though the actor served a five-year jail term for keeping a Kalashnikov assault rifle under the Arms Act.

The case gave Satish Maneshinde international limelight. Slowly he became one of Bollywoods most preferred lawyers, having represented the likes of Salman Khan. Now he is representing Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan Khan, who is involved in a case of a party and alleged seizure of drugs onboard cruise ship Cordelia.

For Maneshinde, the only shortcut to success is hard work. And thats what he tells his juniors and law students. Maneshinde comes from a humble family from Bijapur (now Vijayapura) in Karnataka and is a proud Ajeet.

He studied at Sainik School in Bijapur, where all students are referred to as Ajeets. Later he studied law at the Karnatak University in Dharwad, where he secured the third position.

After he landed in Mumbai, then Bombay, in the early eighties, he happened to meet Jethmalani, and mustered the courage to request him to take him as an understudy  a big break for him  and rest is hard work.

Satish is a pucca Ajeet he was a good student and hard worker. He comes from a humble background and he was always a confident man, says one of his Mumbai-based friends, who was junior to him in the Sainik School.

In fact, Maneshindes batchmate is late Colonel MB Ravindranath, who commanded the Indian Armys 2 Rajputana Rifles battalions that successfully captured the strategic heights of Tololing, Point 4590 and Black Rock in the Drass sector that dominated the Srinagar-Led Highway  which changed the course of the Kargil Conflict. I missed the NDA and so did Satish... I took up engineering and Satish joined law... He was never dejected, never looked back but never forgot his roots, said the schoolmate wishing anonymity.

What I am today is because of my school upbringing, Maneshinde often says with pride in formal and informal gatherings.

When he came to Mumbai he had a dream but today he has a name.

I had known Maneshinde since I started covering the Mumbai serial blasts trial. At the advice of Balasaheb, the late Sunil Dutt gave the brief of his son Sanjay Dutt to him, recalls veteran legal affairs journalist Sunil Shivdasani, who now spends time between Mumbai and Bengaluru.

According to him, Maneshinde is methodical, strategic and a good planner. He handled the case (of Sanjay Dutt) very well after Jethmalani withdrew from the case, he says. Whatever the case may be, when he rises to address the court, he is very articulate, very brief and to the point in his arguments and legally very clear, says Shivdasani. In fact, Sanjay Dutt was very comfortable with Maneshinde and the actor often referred to him as Sir or Uncle... he has a knack for making his clients feel at home, he said.

In fact, even before the serial blasts case, he assisted Jethmalani in the AR Antulay case, says journalist-turned-public relation professional, who is now involved in environment and nature initiatives.

Maneshinde has represented Salman Khan in the blackbuck poaching case.

In 2020, after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Maneshinde defended the late actors live-in partner Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik who were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in a drugs case. He secured bail for the brother-sister duo.

After the mob lynching case in Palghar, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government appointed him as the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the case.

Maneshinde has handled encounter-specialist Daya Nayaks disproportionate assets case, the Shobhan Mehta match-fixing scandal and underworld don Chota Rajans wife Sujata Nikhalje in an organised crime case.

He also represented the Adarsh building society.

Maneshinde may be a celebrity lawyer, legal luminary and a highly paid lawyer, but for friends, he is just Satish and his love for fish continues.
Within the space of a few days this month, communal rifts opened up across the subcontinent in dramatic fashion.

In Kashmir, almost a dozen civilians were killed within two weeks; militants targeted Hindus and Sikhs, triggering a massive exodus of minorities for the first time since the 1990s. In Bangladesh, Islamist fundamentalists attacked Hindu temples and torched hundreds of houses and businesses belonging to Hindus. Across India, Muslim businesses and meat shops were targeted ahead of Navratri.

There was also a bizarre epidemic of attacks against inter-faith couples and friends  including random people who were found talking to each other on the street. In Karnataka alone, there were at least 11 separate incidents within the month. A Muslim man was beheaded by a Hindu militant group for falling in love with a Hindu girl. A Hindu man was harassed for dropping off a female Muslim colleague home. A Muslim man and a Hindu woman who were riding together on a bike were stopped and threatened.

Journalists and commentators often call these instances of moral policing, but it is far more sinister than that. Ethnic cleansing is already happening on a localised scale across the region. The persecution of Shias in Pakistan has been going on for years. The resurgence of the Taliban has endangered the lives of Hazaras in Afghanistan. In India, there are villages in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh where Muslims have been driven out almost completely through sustained violence against them. The same thing is now almost complete in Kashmir: According to some reports, about a third of the Pandits who had arrived in Kashmir under various schemes during the 2000s have left in the last few days.

The violence is abhorrent, but there is one critical problem exposed by these incidents: Its becoming increasingly difficult for South Asians to rally together or mobilise against religious fundamentalism because it is far too varied. Ethnic cleansing in South Asia isnt as simple, if horrific, as Jews being thrown into concentration camps nationwide, as in Germany in the 1930s. It is localised, and the victims are of different identities in different places, depending on which community is dominant.

On their part, religious extremists take full advantage of the subcontinents diversity. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, majoritarian politics casts Hindus as the enemy, and in India, it casts Muslims as the enemy.

Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh are used as justification for the oppression of Muslims in India  and vice versa. In the last few days, Hindutva ideologues have defended the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by citing the ongoing violence against Hindus in Bangladesh (though the CAA does nothing for any victim who arrives in India after 2014). Meanwhile, Islamists in Bangladesh have cited such discriminatory Indian laws to rile up anger against Hindus in that country (its convenient because the BJP has claimed that India is the natural home of Hindus).

South Asias misfortune is that Hindu and Muslim religious extremists are pitted on supposedly opposite sides  though they often pursue the same ends in their respective strongholds. The war is conveniently dressed as being between Hindus and Muslims, rather than as between religious extremists and everybody else.

Civil society activists, liberal voices and secular politicians across the subcontinent must reframe the Hindu versus Muslim problem as a clash of values: religious extremism versus civility. Unless there is more broad-based political mobilisation and leadership bold enough to reject religious identity politics, South Asia will have to brace itself for ever more communal conflict  and millions of refugees, too, going in all directions.
Unlike in many countries, the military in India has not destabilised democracy through a coup, but the countrys internal security agencies have come close to doing so at the bidding of the ruling elite. Josy Joseph, the daring investigative reporter with a solid grasp of the realities of security administration in India, asks us to recognise this alarming reality in his recent book, The Silent Coup: A History of Indias Deep State (Context, 2021).

The Silent Coup is a no-holds-barred account of how the misuse of the security establishment -- a loose network of organisations such as the military, state police forces, paramilitaries, and the intelligence and investigation agencies -- by the political masters at the Centre has corroded Indias democracy over the decades. The handling of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Malegaon, Delhi and Ahmedabad, of the violent political dissent in Kashmir, Punjab, Sri Lanka, Manipur and Chhattisgarh, and of the encounter deaths in Gujarat, extend the occasions for recognising the sordid aspects of the security establishment.

Unreliable informants, low-quality intelligence, the absence of proper audit, political interference, indifference to citizens rights, a cavalier resort to fake narratives and, in more recent times, blatant communal prejudice, have added up to make for this worrying state of affairs. The post-9/11 realities, with surveillance technologies allowing for unprecedented violations of individual privacy, make for additional worry.

Two parallel concerns hold Josephs analysis: the countrys security establishment ought to become more professional in its methods and abide by the Constitution; and it ought to enjoy autonomy from political interference. He writes, a security establishment without biases and dark corners, and with deep understanding of the situation on the ground, is critical for a democracy.

Had the intelligence reports been judged correctly, Joseph argues, the 2008 Mumbai attacks could have been averted, and many innocent individuals wouldnt have suffered at the hands of the police. Secure information networks, he also points out, would have saved the lives of many Indian soldiers in Sri Lanka during the IPKF operations. In 2019-20, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs, an average of five persons died in police custody every day. Joseph notes that many of these deaths would have been due to torture.

Further, anti-terror laws such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 (UAPA), the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2002, etc., are resorted to even in unwarranted cases. For instance, only 2.2% of the around 2,000 cases filed under UAPA between 2016 and 2021 resulted in convictions.

Several factors erode the autonomy of the police and the investigation agencies. For instance, the continuation of a colonial era legislation that made the police dependent on the political executive, which has allowed for police chiefs to be handpicked by the Chief Minister, has simply meant that the police chiefs loyalty rests with the Chief Minister and the interests of his or her political party. The directives of the Supreme Court, issued in 2006 for ensuring the autonomy and neutrality of the police, Joseph observes, have been ignored by state governments.

Also read: How has PM Modi's much-hyped 'Neighbourhood First' policy fared so far?

The Silent Coup isnt a monochromatic account of continual abdication of responsibility by the security agencies, though. Several officers, we learn, continue to stay upright at the risk of losing political favour and indeed, at times, their own lives. Also, the years of the coalition government in the latter part of the 1990s saw the Supreme Court take measures to ring-fence the CBI and the ED from the political executive. Since 2014, Joseph adds, the slow gains of that process have been fully scuttled.

Joseph helpfully offers a brief historical background to each of the political events he examines, many of which have now receded from public memory. His book therefore is also a rich chronicle of the major episodes of political violence in independent India.

In independent India, investigation agencies like the CBI, ED and IB and the police have mostly inspired fear and anxiety, and have rarely seemed the neutral institutions of security essential in modern societies. Armed with intimate knowledge of the workings of the security agencies, Josephs even-keeled narration with clear details of dates, people, places and organisations goes a long way to illustrate how it came to be this way. The Silent Coup also asks that not a moment be lost in caring for how to lift ourselves out of this deadly predicament.
Three weeks after he commenced his first term in the Prime Ministers Office in New Delhi with a glittering swearing-in ceremony attended by the leaders of several South Asian nations, Narendra Modi chose Thimphu as his first port of call. The visit to Bhutan on June 15 and 16, 2014 had all the trappings that over the next few years would turn into signature optics of his foreign travels. He got off his car, waved at the cheering roadside crowd, shook hands with people and addressed a joint session of Parliament of Bhutan, in addition to meeting King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk and the then Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay.

His second foreign destination in the neighbourhood was Kathmandu, where he visited on August 3 and 4, 2014 and met then Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala. He also visited Myanmar within six months after taking over as the Prime Minister of India. And, by the end of 2015, he not only toured Bangladesh and Afghanistan, but also made a surprise visit to Pakistan, to convey birthday greetings to his counterpart M Nawaz Sharif, who in May 2014 attended his swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi.

The central message the PM sent out during his visits to South Asian nations was that India led by him would pursue a Neighbourhood First policy. He often invoked his Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas mantra during visits to the countries in the region, underlining that his government wanted to make the neighbouring nations part of the growth and prosperity of India.

Modi continued to pursue his Neighbourhood First policy in his second term in the office of the Prime Minister. He chose Maldives and Sri Lanka as his first foreign destinations just a few days after taking oath for the second time on May 30, 2019, although he had visited both the countries during his first term too. He had his second visit to Bhutan in August 2019. Though the Covid-19 outbreak kept him grounded for more than a year, he restarted his foreign tours with a visit to Bangladesh on March 26 and 27 this year.

But how has his much-hyped Neighbourhood First policy fared so far?

The escalating tension along India-China disputed boundary brought to the fore the strategic rivalry between the two nations. With the soldiers of the Indian Army and the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh for the past 18 months, what has come under scrutiny is the Modi Governments Neighbourhood First policy and its successes and failures in countering Chinas renewed bid to woo the South Asian nations into its orbit of influence and build strategic assets around India.

Also read: Neighbourhood narratives: India needs to be on its guard

The stalemate in negotiations between the military commanders of India and China to resolve the stand-off, the PLAs continuing build-up and its recent incursion bids into Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh and the Indian Armys countermeasures of late fuelled speculation about tension spreading from the western sector to the middle and eastern sectors of the disputed boundary of the two nations.

Chinas iron-brother Pakistan is now set to gain a strategic edge against India as its proxy Taliban is now back to power in Afghanistan. The Prime Minister, himself, of late warned about the advanced weaponry the United States and its NATO allies had left behind in Afghanistan and the possibility of such military hardware posing a threat to the stability in the entire region. The backchannel talks between India and Pakistan, facilitated by United Arab Emirates, did result in a deal to strictly adhere to the 2003 ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control (LoC) and the undisputed stretch of the border. But the Indian Army chief Gen M M Naravane recently said that the Pakistan Army had again started flouting ceasefire and infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan into Jammu and Kashmir of India also resumed.

Thimphu stood by New Delhi all through the 74-day-long stand-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA in Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan from June 16 to August 28, 2017. China, however, continued to step up pressure on Bhutan, with the PLA gobbling up large swathes of land of the tiny nation, setting up villages, military bases and communication posts. The territorial row between the two nations was limited to Chinas claim on 764 sq km of areas  269 sq km in west and 495 sq km in north-central Bhutan. But China last year upped the ante and also claimed the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary in eastern Bhutan as part of its own territory. The sanctuary is close to Arunachal Pradesh where China has been claiming around 90,000 sq km of territory of India. Bhutan rejected the new claim made by China, but the two nations on October 14 announced signing of a three-step roadmap to resolve the boundary dispute. New Delhi has reasons to be concerned. Beijing had earlier asked Thimphu to accept Chinas sovereignty on areas around Doklam in western Bhutan in exchange for it giving up claim on areas in north-central Bhutan. If China gains control of Doklam Plateau, it will make it easier for its PLA to conduct military manoeuvres aimed at blocking the Siliguri Corridor  the narrow stretch of land linking Indias North-East with rest of the country.

Strong sentiments

Nepal is one of the South Asian nations where China has been trying to elbow out India. The Modi Governments response to the new constitution of Nepal in 2015 triggered strong sentiments against India. New Delhi was accused of imposing an unofficial economic blockade, choking supply of essentials from India to Nepal. Just weeks after the stand-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA started in April-May 2020, Prime Minister K P Sharma Olis Government in Kathmandu lodged protest over a new 80-kilometer-long road New Delhi built from Dharchula in Uttarakhand to the Lipulekh Pass  an India-Nepal-China tri-junction boundary point. It alleged that the road passed through Nepal  a claim dismissed by India. Kathmandu, however, went ahead, published a new map, which showed nearly 400 sq km of Indias areas in Kalapani, Lipulekh Pass and Limpiyadhura as part of Nepal. It also got the Nepalese Parliament amend the countrys constitution to endorse the new map. Though a new government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress has now taken over, it will remain politically difficult for any successive dispensation in climbing down from the maximalist position Nepal already took in its territorial dispute with India.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas Awami League government in Dhaka has been friendly to India. But China has of late stepped up its attempt to spread its tentacles in Bangladesh, with soft loans for infrastructure projects and tariff concessions. Hasina has also been upset over the Modi Governments Citizenship Amendment Act and the process to update the National Register of Citizens in Assam as well as some comments by the top BJP leaders about alleged illegal migration from Bangladesh to India. New Delhi has also been concerned about rising radicalism in Bangladesh.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solihs government in Maldives replaced his predecessor Abdulla Yameens pro-China policy with an India First policy. But an India Out campaign gained momentum in the Indian Ocean archipelago, apparently launched and run by the elements supported by Pakistan and China. India responded cautiously to the coup detat in Myanmar to avoid disturbing its relations with the South East Asian nations military leaders, who always had close relations with the Chinese PLA. Indias cautious and muted response to military takeover drew flak from the pro-democracy activists in Myanmar.

Chinas debt-trap diplomacy earlier made Sri Lanka leasing out its Hambantota Port for 99 years, causing security concerns for India. The government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa scrapped a trilateral agreement Sri Lanka had earlier signed with the governments of India and Japan for development of the East Container Terminal of the Colombo Port. It, however, clinched a deal with the Adani Group of India for development of the West Container Terminal of the port. But New Delhi remains concerned over the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill, which could end up allowing China to virtually establish a colony in Sri Lanka  not far from the southern tip of India. China is also trying to build infrastructure projects in Tamil-majority northern province of Sri Lanka, causing much unease for India.
Our neighbourhood today presents a variety of differentiated country situations, each unique in itself. Afghanistan has seen a revolutionary reversal - an order has been overthrown and an older regime reinstated. For India, this represented a major setback. But then, the Afghanistan situation is also a good example of how much remains outside the ambit of government policy per se and how external factors over which we have little or no control, can massively impact us in our own neighbourhood.

With Pakistan, since 2016, there has been a virtually uninterrupted deterioration in bilateral ties with a progressive downsizing of cultural, economic and finally political relations. Things now appear more stable after the Line of Control (LoC) ceasefire of February 2021 but only minimally so. Have any structural changes occurred at all in bilateral relations since 2016? All the tensions and issues of the past five years seem to be following older rhythms. The only real change over the past 25-30 years has been the progressive falling behind of Pakistan vis-a-vis India in the accumulation of national power. Pakistan has, however, been able to address this power gap, even if not entirely neutralise it, because of the close relationship it has with China and the increase in the corresponding gap between India and China. In sum, we encounter today the same variables and constraints in dealing with Pakistan as always had faced.

If the China factor has always been there with regard to Pakistan, it has now become more prominent to the east in Nepal. Our getting sucked into Nepals internal Constitution drafting conflicts meant a downturn in relations in 2016 and a corresponding cementing in Nepal-China relations. With other South Asian neighbours - Sri Lanka and Myanmar in particular - while the big crests and troughs so evident in dealings with Nepal have been avoided, the China factor is strong and remains as an added complexity in our relations. Similarly in Bhutan, after the spike in India-China frictions following the Doklam standoff, there has been a greater foregrounding of the China factor than previously.

Each of our South Asian relationships is unique and there is no single explanatory or analytical lens that would yield a magic bullet of appropriate policy toolkits. While there is certainly much to be concerned about, there has never been a time when we would have been sanguine about all our South Asian relationships or totally satisfied with the results of our policies.

It is in the nature of all neighbourhood relations that they pose the greatest difficulties to any countrys foreign policy. We should have no expectation of beating this general trend. Given our size and preponderance and the overlap of ethnicity, religion and language in South Asia, it is inevitable that at any given moment one or more of our neighbours will have some cause to be dissatisfied with us as indeed we will have with them.

Are there any specific takeaways from the present context of our neighbourhood? Two related narrative factors come to mind. The first is China but not simply as a military, geo-economic or geo-political player. The fact is that across our entire region, China today provides a new narrative of modernity which appears almost irresistible to our neighbours. Obviously, this is because of the enormous material progress China has made in the past four decades and because the trickle down effect of this progress is so visible in China.

For our neighbours, who have long chaffed at being next to a much larger India, the rise of China has provided the perfect balancer. While this China card is not in itself new, what has changed is the narrative force behind this card. There is little that we can do in the near term as it is an external factor over which we have no control. We can, however, modulate our response to it. Hopefully our own future growth will also show dramatic results and speak for itself. What is important in the present juncture is that we avoid viewing this change through an excessively securitised perspective however much Chinese postures push us to do.

Key factor

How and to what extent we can resist an excessive securitisation of our approach to South Asia as a whole will be really the key factor in determining how well we face up to the changes sweeping our neighbourhood today. Would a more de-securitised approach apply for Pakistan also even while recognising that security considerations will remain dominant here?

There are no easy answers but we certainly need a clinical analysis of the efficacy of dealing with Pakistan only as a security issue on the LoC and not with a more broad based approach incorporating other aspects of our national power including economy, trade, culture but most of all diplomacy.

The second factor is that of a south Asia wide approach itself. Our frustrations with SAARC emerged and crystallised on account of the eroded relationship with Pakistan.

While largely opting out of SAARC process, we have simultaneously accorded higher priority to sub-regional cooperation minus Pakistan through Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). The Bay of Bengal community is obviously important in itself but there are obvious problems in viewing BIMSTEC as a counter to SAARC.

This is another area where it is now time to evaluate clinically whether in underplaying the narrative value of SAARC we have ended up undermining Indias central position in the region. The fact is that an empty space now exists in the regional cooperation space and this has possibly also facilitated the emergence of sub-regional groupings without India such as the Chinese Covid and poverty related initiatives that included other SAARC members barring India, Bhutan and the Maldives.

While there will always be areas and influences over which we have minimal control and which nevertheless impact our relations with our neighbours profoundly, we have to be on our guard that acts of commission or omission on our part do not create narrative vacuums for others to move into.

(The writer is a former High Commissioner of India to Singapore and Pakistan)
Deputy Commissioner Dr Sateesha B C will visit Hosaguthi village at 10 am on October 30 as a part of the 'Jilladikarigala Nade Halliya Kade' programme.

The event will be held at a government school in the village.

The residents of Harohalli, Hosalli and Hosaguthi villages can submit applications pertaining to mistakes in pahani, pauthi khata, seeking assistance under various welfare schemes, revision of voters' list, compensation for damage to houses and others.
Transport yourself back to the time when M S Subbulakshmi mesmerised people not just with her music but also with the stunning Kanjeevaram silks that she wore as a mark of respect to the handloom weavers. MS Blue, a shade named after her in the early 1960s, is said to have been created by Muthu Chettiar, a weaver in Kancheepuram who cherished the doyens music.

The aesthetics of weaving has evolved over thousands of years and every generation has a bearing on the multiple transformations brought about for gaining relevance. The classic Kanjeevaram silk is a case in point. Kanjeevaram silk has reconstructed itself from time to time to indeed remain timeless. One cannot help notice its spanking new palette of colours. The motifs, originally inspired by temples and Tamil scriptures, have evolved too with the weave itself celebrating resourcefulness and enterprise.

Reaching out to all ages

Kanjeevaram has managed to connect itself to people of all ages, says Padmaja Sakhamuri, Committee Member of the Crafts Council of Karnataka, and Convener, Vastrabharana. Every weave has to evolve, she says, otherwise one cannot expect a prolonged survival. Look at the doors that have opened for Kanjeevaram! The silks now even come with a Paithani-styled border; there are Kanjeevaram sarees inspired from Ikkat and some have even adapted a Pochampally border. Mind you, these are not copies, but innovations with an overpowering Kanjeevaram stamp. Today, even kalamkari and bandhini designs can be found on Kanjeevarams, says Padmaja.

Timeless artistry

Several textile revivalists and brands dealing with Kanjeevaram weavers have created custom-made sarees to help preserve its timeless artistry.

As they say, theres more to the sky than just the stars; similarly, theres more to the Kanjeevaram saree than just the silk, says Bharathy Harish who runs a revival boutique in south Bengaluru.

Pointing at a rich bottle-green with contrast rani-pink pallu with striking motifs of 44 parrots worked upon with zari and thread work, Bharathy elucidates the motif-connotations: The parrot is a positive symbol, a parrot is able to repeat whatever we say with love and devotion, one is able to parrot the ways of the divine... The Yazhi motif is a symbol of harmony. Yazhi is typically a combo of lion and elephant or peacock and swan...a harmonious coming together of diverse energies.

Kanjeevarams have almost become a cliche; its a common term used for South Indian silks, according to textile revivalist, research scholar and designer Sabita Radhakrishna, an active member of the Crafts Council of India. Women who drape Kanjeevarams will hardly know how old this silk is or how it represents a coming together of traditions that thrived under the royal patronage of dynasties such as Chola, Pandyas, the Vijayanagar empire, nawabs of Arcot and the British. While the kingdoms rose and fell, the Kanjeevaram silk industry continued to thrive, because of its distinctive splendour.

The looms of Kancheepuram

Popularly known as the City of Silk and the City of 1,000 temples, Kanchipuram, 70 km from Chennai, is synonymous with handwoven silk sarees. The Kanjeevaram silks take their name from the old British reference to the town, Conjeevaram; this silk was recognised with a Gl tag in 2005. The sarees are made from mulberry silk procured from Karnataka, which adds to the dense fabrics rich lustre and smooth finish; the rich zari (silver threads coated in gold) is sourced from Surat in Gujarat.

There are more than 7,000 families and 60,000 weavers involved in producing silk sarees in Kancheepuram, apart from other parts of Tamil Nadu such as Mannargudi, Kumbakonam and Rasipuram. Built-in looms are part of every home here.

A play of colours

While most Indian textile genres are woven with a single warp, the Kanjeevaram silk has its finer points typically using two or three warps dyed in distinct colours and woven in the long-drawn-out interlocking technique, locally known as the Korvai weave. This technique ensures that the body is woven separately, and the pallu and borders are woven independently. They are later joined so sturdily that even if the sarees get worn out, the joints dont detach, says B Krishnamoorthy, a third-generation weaver and a 2010 national awardee settled in Kanchipuram.

Loom Chronicles is a monthly series on Indias diverse handlooms, their signature elements and the history hidden within their folds.
Mili: Janhvi Kapoor and Boney Kapoors first collaboration to be wrapped soon; deets inside

Soon after finishing up the promotion spree of her horror comedy Roohi, actress Janhvi Kapoor wrapped up the shoot of her next project Good Luck Jerry, which is reportedly a black comedy crime film. A few months later in August, she began shooting for her very first collaboration with her father and popular filmmaker Boney Kapoor. An official remake of Malayalam hit Helen, their film has been titled Mili. Well, according to latest buzz, the shoot is almost complete.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Janhvi Kapoor (@janhvikapoor)

In a report shared by Mid Day, a source revealed, The Mumbai leg of the shooting kickstarted on August 4, and by October 30 the shooting in Dehradun and Mussoorie will be wrapped up. Post which, the crew will return to Mumbai and complete the remaining portions in five days on a set. The source was further quoted saying, Makeup artiste Ranjith Ambady, who won the National Award for Best Makeup Artiste for Helen, was flown down to Dehradun to do Jahnvis makeup.

As reported earlier, Janhvi will play the role of a working class girl who ends up locked inside a freezer at a supermarket. While initial rumors suggested that Boney might play Janhvis on-screen father along with producing the film, it was later revealed that Manoj Pahwa has been roped in to portray the character.
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A 20 year old man who repeatedly punched and kicked a man who had pushed his girlfriend and broken her earphones, thinking she had a taser, has had his case adjourned at Dundalk district court, so he can pay the victim 500 as a token of his remorse.

The solicitor for Cian Ward formerly with an address at Gosling Terrace, Dundalk but who's now living in Dublin, told the court last Wednesday that his client had brought the money with him but had lost his wallet which contained the cash and his bank card.

Both men were before the court for separate prosecutions - Cian Ward was charged with assaulting Paul Spollen causing him harm on July 15th last year.

Mr. Spollen with an address at Back Lane Hostel, Dublin 8 was charged with assaulting the woman and causing criminal damage.

The court heard the 62 year old ,who was described as a vulnerable man, had a slight cut to his ear and swelling on his face, when gardai arrived on the scene.

He told them he thought the woman had a taser, he felt threatened and ran to take it off her and broke her earphones.

A witness told gardai a man had approached Paul Spollen and hit him 16 times and stamped on him.

Cian Ward said his girlfriend had texted him saying she needed help and claimed he heard her scream as he ran back across the car park, and she told him shed been attacked.

However, Judge Eirinn McKiernan said there was no justification for what he did saying he kept kicking Paul Spollekn like he was a piece of dirt on the ground and she rejected Cian Wards claim that he thought his unborn child was dead saying his partner was standing up fit and well.

The cases were adjourned and last Wednesday Judge McKiernan dismissed the case against Mr. Spollen under the Probation Act after he paid 500 compensation to the woman.

The judge also put back Mr. Ward's case to January 5th for an updated Probation report and payment of 500 to Mr. Spollen.
A new 65-house development was opened in Dundalk last week on the Ramparts, with houses in the area set to cost an average of 240,000.

Minister for Housing, Darragh OBrien officially launched the new housing estate on Friday, October 15th alongside Tuath Housing, who are set to run the estate.

Speaking during the launch of the 65 new turnkey homes, Minister OBrien said that it was a great pleasure to officially open Cathedral View in Dundalk.

This is a really special day, with 65 homes here for real families, said Minister OBrien.

This is a really special collaboration between the Department of Housing, Louth County Council and Tuath as well.

The quality of them is exceptional.

This is one of the best parts of the job, to actually see a family moving into a new home, and 64 more families will be moving into new permanent homes here, and its great for this part of Dundalk too.

Sinn Fein Cllr and leas Cathaoirleach of Dundalk Municipal District, Kevin Meenan, said that itwas a prestiguous day for Dundalk, and that the standard of houses in the new estate was excellent.

Minister OBrien said that 2022 would be a significant year for building new social homes across the country and in Louth, with 9,000 new social homes set to be built across the country.

According to the Minister, Louth County Council has been set a target of 660 new social houses to be built by the local authority by the end of 2022.

He added that while solving the housing crisis will be difficult, it was eminently doable.

Chief Executive of LCC, Joan Martin said that it was a great day for Dundalk to see people moving into their new homes.

Ms Martin also said that the council would do their best to try and deliver the 660 new social homes in 2022.

The Minister said that the target for next year was 9000 nationally, I dont know how we managed to get over 600 of it. In the smallest county in Ireland, said Ms Martin.

Minister OBrien said that the council would be well able to do it and that was why their target is so high.

Alongside his visit to Dundalk, Minister OBrien visited the site of the Narrow Water Bridge alongside Senator Erin McGreehan and Minister for Infrastructure, Nichola Mallon MLA.

Senator McGreehan said that the project was huge for north Louth, and after years of false starts she is optimistic that the project will be delivered.

If this was in any other part of the country there would have been a bridge long ago, it is only because it's on the border that it has been forgotten. It feels like we are finally beginning to move on and people are believing in this region, said Senator McGreehan.
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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
Just after his first week of official practice, new transfer Jesse Miritello persuaded sever
FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, file photo, Ahmaud Arbery's father, Marcus Arbery, bottom center, listens to Jason Vaughn speak during a memorial walk and candlelight vigil for Ahmaud at the Satilla Shores development, in Brunswick, Ga. The judge and attorneys trying to seat a jury in the trial over Ahmaud Arbery's killing aren't finding many jury pool members who are blank slates in the case.
2021 - 2021 The services for infant Ellie Faith Nance will be held at noon Saturday, November 20, 2021, in the Central Assembly of God Church. Burial will follow in the Kremlin Cemetery. Services are under the direction of Brown-Cummings Funeral Home. Ellie Faith Nance was born November 17, 
Under the agreement initially passed in 2014, the city wouldve over seven years initially reimbursed the Tulsa-based company 65%  nearly $600,000  of those repair costs using tax revenue to be calculated though monthly tax returns provided to Enid Regional Development Alliance. However, plans for a hotel operated by Loves have since been scuttled.
Sunday, October 24, 2021

If your congressman, governor or senator were an animal, what animal would he be? That is a standard question I ask in focus groups. If the politician in question is sitting next to me in the viewing room (as was possible before corona), there can be awkward moments. But it is a great question as it allows voters to express things that they would otherwise not volunteer. If a politician is described as an alligator, rat, or snake, that is usually not a good sign. Oftentimes voters use these animals to refer to corruption allegations.

Focus groups are all about the "why" and in that sense, the reasoning for the chosen animal matters more than the animal itself. A mayor was once described as a cat who does not want to leave the house and get wet, meaning that voters were not happy with the mayor's crisis management. A dove that comes from outside and lands in the city, refers to a candidate who has no roots in the area. A monkey that climbs up other people's houses was meant to describe a politician's marital infidelity. On the other hand, a monkey can also mean somebody who is smart. A carabao usually stands for a politician who is seen as hardworking. Similarly, a roaring tiger was meant to describe a politician who delivers for his constituents.
For the past five years, Roy and Kara Ritthaler have built an altar to display at the citys annual Dia de los Muertos Festival, festooning it with candles to symbolize those who have died.

It wasnt until this year that the Ritthalers realized their ofrenda could be so much more.

The revelation was sparked by David Bowie, of all people. Last winter, Kara was watching a 1999 interview with the late musician, who said that in rock music the audience was becoming at least as important as the artist.

The idea is that the piece of work is not finished until the audience can come to it and add their own interpretation, said Bowie, who died in 2016.

At that moment, Kara pledged to invite the community this year to interact with her altar. The Ritthalers bought hundreds of tiny candles for visitors to scrawl the names of their departed loved ones on and stack together in a communal display of grief and joy at the ninth annual Muertos Fest at Hemisfair.

By Sunday morning, their altar was brimming with more than 1,000 candles.

Robin Jerstad /Robin Jerstad

Arts there to be interacted with, Roy Ritthaler said. People receive it, and people give it.

On ExpressNews.com: Food Network show features San Antonians commemorating Dia de los Muertos

Jim Mendiola, artistic director of Muertos Fest, welcomed the creativity that underpins what he called a South Texas interpretation of the Day of the Dead.

Day of the Dead is getting so big, he said. Primarily, its sources are Mexican, Mesoamerican. Depending on who you talk to, there are lots of rules  ideas on where the marigolds go, what they represent. And what you see about the San Antonio interpretations, they kind of go everywhere.

Mendiola gestured at a nearby ofrenda celebrating conjunto heroes who have died.

This thing wouldnt play in Mexico, he said. But it plays here.

Other altars bucked tradition to honor the dead.

Robin Jerstad / Robin Jerstad

One made by students at Nimitz/STEM Middle School celebrated actors in the Star Wars movies who have died. Another by students at Harlan High School grieved for the late actor Chadwick Boseman. At least four were dedicated to the many victims of COVID-19, including one that reimagined the virus scowling in colorful facepaint.

Some elements of the citys beloved festival, at least, were familiar.

This year, our theme is eternal love, that we are forever, Kara Ritthaler said as visitors piled even more tiny candles on her altar.

Lets face it, our theme is always eternal love, Roy Ritthaler said. It really is, in one form or another.

bchasnoff@express-news.net
Re: Division spills into school districts, Front page, Sunday:

Now that an administrator in the Carroll Independent School District, following the new Texas law, has said teachers should teach both sides of the Holocaust, Im wondering how teachers will handle these other controversial subjects: the good that Hitler did, the positive side of racism, how mass killings are good for communities, the bad side of public education and how the ideals of the American Revolution are evil.

Richard S. Pressman

Wrong on props

Re: Voting near; our view on Props 1-4, and Early voting set to begin; our take on Props. 5-8, Editorial, Thursday and Friday:

I note a lack of thought behind some of the recommendations of the Express-News.

Proposition 4: How is additional years of experience significant? It is not raising the bar. It limits the pool of candidates. For Supreme/Appeals Courts, experience would have to be in a Texas court by a lawyer licensed to practice law in Texas, further limiting the pool. Qualifications should be addressed by education.

Proposition 5: Does adding responsibilities to an agency outside the scope of that agency make an election fair? Misconduct by lawyers can be handled in existing agencies. There is a difference between misconduct by a lawyer and a judge.

Proposition 6: Health care facilities have procedures for the designation of essential caregivers. How is it an improvement for the Legislature to tell health care facilities how to run their business?

Your editorials are good re-statements of Republican party talking points.

Charles Daniels

Fix flood areas

Re: Second flood victim is recovered, Front Page, Oct. 16:

This headline is all too familiar in the San Antonio/Bexar County area. Every time there is substantial rainfall, some of the usual flood-prone areas become death traps. Discussions will focus on whether the victims disobeyed warning signs, went around barriers, if there were or werent barriers in place, or if drivers could not see the floodwaters, etc. This has been going on since the invention of the automobile. Why does it continue? How about a bridge over troubled waters at these sites or a realignment of the roadways to avoid these areas altogether?

Too expensive, you say? How many low-water crossings in the area could be improved for the cost of tax abatements the city and Bexar County recently approved for the new Spurs facility?

Steve Spear

Columbus harm

Persona non grata, Your Turn, Oct. 15:

The writers simple condemnation of Indigenous Peoples Day shows what America has become today. Columbus sought a sea route to the East so he could get rich from the China trade. He enslaved some of the Indians he found and murdered others in the Caribbean Islands where he landed. When he returned to Spain, he declared that the people would be easy to conquer, as they were friendly.

Perhaps the descendants of these indigenous people cant hunt for their next meal because all of the free lands have been fenced and taken over by white people and the buffalo was slaughtered to make way for white peoples cattle and horses. Never mind the microwaves or toaster ovens, the writer mentions, I am sure he shops at a Walmart for cheap China goods. Thank you, Columbus.

Sometimes, simple answers to complex questions and ideas are not enough. I suggest the writer and others with similar views read Howard Zinns A Peoples History of the United States. Perhaps then you will have a different view of Columbus and others like him and what they did to my distant ancestors.

Here is a simple explanation: We were here first and will remain here in spite of thinking such as yours!

Fred M. Vasquez, Native American/Texan

Bear false witness

It baffles me that of the people who claim the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, the majority are proud to tout their Christianity. What bothers me about their proclamations is that one of the Ten Commandments is, Thou shalt not bear false witness. Daily, we are barraged with Christians bearing false witness. News anchors, senators, representatives, congressmen, governors, clergy, women, the list goes on. I wish these Christians would stop lying and at least try and practice their faith.

William Schiller

Save SA Symphony

Open letter to San Antonios personal injury lawyers: You spend a fortune on publicity to boast of your massive settlements and build your brand. Heres a way to put your brand over the top and become a San Antonio Super Hero: Donate to keep our symphony musicians here, to perform for all of us. Less than $1 million would do it!

Anne Alexander
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP)  Joan Vandawaker has to pass armed guards and show a military ID to get to church on Sunday mornings.

She could attend any number of houses of worship in the Charleston area, but going to the chapel at Joint Base Charleston is special for her. She likes to sit in the same row each week with her father, 80-year-old retired Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Albert Hoyte. As a retired Air Force officer herself, its a way to bond with her father each Sunday.

I grew up going to this chapel; I began my faith journey at Joint Base Charleston, Vandawaker said. There are wonderful churches in the Charleston area but theres something incredibly unique about attending a service where people understand military culture.

An average of 50 people make up the Sunday congregation at the Protestant worship service. But attendees like Vandawaker and Hoyt are worried their weekly trip to the base may come to an end.

Lt. Col. Joel Kornegay, the senior chaplain at Joint Base Charleston, has told the congregants the number of military retirees attending has dwindled significantly over the years and there are too few active-duty airmen in attendance each week.

We have seen roughly a 30 percent drop in attendance in our Sunday morning Protestant worship service, Kornegay said in a statement.

Kornegay has told longtime churchgoers that participation needs to rise to warrant keeping the service time on the schedule. Some of those who have spent their lives in the church are upset at the prospect of losing it.

We were in an uproar, we were appalled, Hoyte said. If one active-duty Airman attends the service, that should be enough to keep it open.

THE PANDEMIC DECLINE

Whats happening at the base chapel isnt a new problem in the military or a sudden, unforeseen issue facing churches across the nation. Data shows that younger generations are not as engaged with religion in general, while older congregants are slowly passing away with fewer new members to fill their spots in pews.

Membership in most all houses of worship overwhelmingly declined last year, dropping below 50 percent for the first time in 80 years, according to a recent poll from Gallup. By the numbers, in 2020, 47 percent of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50 percent in 2018 and 70 percent in 1999.

Last year saw the sharpest decline due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic putting a pause on in-person church services. Joint Base Charlestons chapel likewise was hit hard by the virus.

Before the pandemic, we had about 120 attendees, Hoyte said. After they reopened the service last year, membership dwindled to around 40.

The base began livestreaming the Sunday services to be cautious amid the pandemic. The stream also fueled the decline of in-person attendance.

Attending chapel on a military base is unique. The services are only open to active-duty service members and military retirees with proper ID. They often bring their wives and families, and raise their children in the church.

A majority of the Charleston AFB congregants have been attending services at the chapel since the mid-1970s, after they first were assigned to Charleston. That includes service members like 87-years old David Ferguson. The 30-year military retiree was married to his second wife, Linda, at the chapel. The two have worked there cooking and preparing meals for potluck dinners, breakfasts and church picnics.

The loss of the Sunday service would mean losing a cornerstone of their social life.

Ive been in the service since I was 19 years old, David Ferguson said. I dont know anywhere else to go if it were to close. Id be a stranger if I went somewhere else. It wouldnt be the same.

ATTRACTING YOUNG CHURCHGOERS

Church attendance across the nation has been on a steady decline for several reasons, but the impact can be especially felt in military site worship houses where the young and single make up the great bulk of new enlistees.

Its always been a problem with young people attending church, when they join the service they lose that obligation to go with families and they have their freedom to go or not, Hoyt said.

Kornegay, the base senior chaplain, has told congregants that his chaplains are stretched thin and are mainly focused on one-on-one spiritual guidance for each unit on base. Additionally, chaplains have overwhelmingly been focused on suicide prevention in the military amid an alarming number of deaths among the ranks in 2020.

The suicide rate for active-duty troops rose to 28.7 per 100,000 last year, up from 26.3 the previous year, according to the latest Defense Department report.

Notably, a 2020 Gallup poll showed that mental health ratings across the nation sank to a new low amid the pandemic, but pointed out that frequent church attendees show the least change in their mental health ratings.

The numbers come amid a chaplain shortage in the military, especially among Catholic priests.

The Catholic church often has to provide incentives for priests to join the military, such as paying for half their religious education. At Joint Base Charleston, the priest on base is a contracted government employee.

While the protestant service at the chapel faces the threat of being cut, the Catholic Mass is safe at the moment.

Vandawaker said that keeping the hourlong protestant Sunday service would not be an unusual burden on the chaplains and pointed out that the protestant service could be another important resource for airmen who are struggling.

Air Force policy 52-101 states that Mass times and religious services are provided in response to the validated religious needs of assigned Airmen and their authorized dependents with consideration of staff capabilities and available resources.

The Sunday morning churchgoers are trying to recruit more active-duty families to come to the chapel on base. Ideally, theyd like to see new congregants make up around 40 percent of their congregation before the end of the year.

Congregants like Linda Ferguson are staying hopeful that attendance will bounce back. So far theyve increased the number of active-duty families on Sunday from two to six.

A group of churchgoers plans to speak with Col. Marc Greene, the commander of Joint Base Charleston, next week about their concerns and their progress in recruiting new attendees.

We feel comfortable and feel at home at that church, Hoyte said. Were a big family.
FAIRFIELD  Jon Warburg had always voted in the state and federal elections, but hadnt given much thought to the local ones until 2017.

He began to research who will appear on his ballot and was frustrated to find there wasnt one place that compiled all of the candidates, their bios and statements. He could find information from the parties, local news outlets and the League of Women Voters, but said it was piecemeal.

Thats when he and his partner, Sarah Karlson, decided to create a one-stop source for Fairfield elections. Know Your Reps launched during the 2019 local election and has returned even bigger this year, including more candidate videos, responses and student volunteers.

Were trying to provide useful information, Warburg said.

Karlson said the goal is to help residents become better informed voters and in turn help build a better Fairfield.

She said the people elected in November will have a hand in countless issues that affect all residents, from development to education to taxes and property values.

The local elections are so important to our everyday lives that I can argue they should be paid attention to even more, Karlson said.

All of the candidate information is generated by the candidates or parties. Each person also had the opportunity to make four videos explaining who they are, why theyre running, the issues they care about and why people should vote for them. About 25 candidates took them up on that offer.

Were a platform for the candidates to put their best foot forward, Karlson said, adding theyre not operating an independent news organization.

This is a starting point for people, Warburg added.

Know Your Reps has also gotten more help from the town and other organizations to spread the word about the website.

Weve been getting broader support from organizations with a megaphone to get our message out, which has been important, Warburg said.

The website includes information, not only about the 114 candidates running this year, but also basic information about how Fairfields town government works, including its makeup, structure and what each position or board does.

Evan Papageorge, a senior at Warde, said hes learned a lot about local government from working on the project, going beyond what he already learned in his classes.

Aniket Martins, a junior at Ludlowe, agreed.

I never knew there are so many positions that are volunteer-based and you run for, he said, adding that while the first selectman is prominent, other boards that are key in making Fairfields wheels turn arent as much in the public eye.

Hes always followed politics, but was drawn to this organization after hearing about it through his work on the school newspaper, and learning its strictly information-based and nonpartisan.

Martin said hes enjoyed working with Karlson, Warburg and all of the other high school students, as well as meeting the different candidates and elected leaders.

Last time around, the couple had three student volunteers who spent a lot of the time building the website and designing the logos for it.

Now, the initiative is up to seven students and counting, with the students focusing on the videos and spreading the word. All of the students attend either Ludlowe or Warde high schools.

Warburg said it was very important to get students involved. About two-thirds of the town budget goes to the schools and he believes education is crucial.

I really wanted to get kids engaged as much as possible, he said, adding its a civics lesson for both adults and teens.

The couple reached out to teachers in June to see if any of their students would be interested and began working with the volunteers in September.

Papageorge said he decided to volunteer after learning about it from one of his teachers because he likes to help others and supports sharing information from different perspectives. He also enjoys government and his interest in architecture has shown him the intricacies of local zoning.

He said hes already gained media, people and interviewing skills. Its also made him more aware of the different political thinking.

I know its made me open to different political ideals, he said, adding the interviews hes done helped him compare and contrast the different platforms.

While Papageorge turns 18 in March and cant vote this November, hes directed his peers to the website to help prepare them for their first trip to the polls.

He hopes they and others use Know Your Reps to see the different viewpoints.

I hope we get all eligible voters to vote and vote honestly and not be blinded by their party, Papageorge said.

He hopes even more students join Know Your Reps for the next local election in 2023 so it can continue for generations.

Martins put the call out even earlier to interested students saying its not too late to get involved now.

Its an amazing organization, he said. We have a lot of fun and we get a lot of great work done.
(The Center Square)  The National School Boards Association late Friday apologized to its members for a letter it sent to the Biden administration that compared parents protesting local school policies such as COVID-19 mask mandates and the teaching of critical race theory to acts of "domestic terrorism."

More than 20 state school boards associations moved to distance themselves from the NSBA over the letter, which called for immediate assistance from federal law enforcement to help school boards that it said are dealing with a growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation, saying such acts could also be considered hate crimes.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland subsequently ordered the FBI to investigate parents protesting at local school board meetings.

"On behalf of NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter," the association said in the Friday memo to state affiliates. "There was no justification for some of the language included in the letter. We should have had a better process in place to allow for consultation on a communication of this significance. We apologize also for the strain and stress this situation has caused you and your organizations."

The Biden administration has faced significant criticism over the Justice Department's response to the NSBA's letter, with state governments, school groups and others calling it overreach by the federal government.

Concerned parents passionate about their kids education are not terrorists, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a letter also signed by the attorneys general from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. The Biden administration and its special-interest allies need to dial down the rhetoric and respect the rights of parents to be heard.

The NSBA, in its Sept. 29 letter, asked the Biden administration to "deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation," without citing any such incidents.

"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 wrote.

In its Friday apology, NSBA acknowledged that parents should have a say in their children's education.

"As we've reiterated since the letter was sent, we deeply value not only the work of local school boards that make important contributions within our communities, but also the voices of parents, who should and must continue to be heard when it comes to decisions about their children's education, health, and safety," the apology letter said.
New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - October 24, 2021) - Beaver Finance is a Single-Asset Intelligent Yield Farming platform which is the first in DeFi to integrate Liquidity Mining with the Option-based cutting-edge Hedging solution for Impermanent Loss. According to Beaver Finance officials, the much awaited platform will be launched in mid-November. Now let's explore the secrets and excitements of the Beaver World.

1. Introduction of Beaver Finance Protocol and the team behind it

Beaver Finance provides safe, carefree and high & real yield strategy for crypto holders, users can stake single-asset to participate in dual-asset yield farming achieving high-yield return on mainstream DEXs; and what tells Beaver apart from similar harvest platform would be Beaver hedges Impermanent Loss(IL) through a set of European Option Portfolio. Most mining aggregation platforms display the return rate without taking the hidden but also usually huge IL into considerations, while Beaver Finance tackles the IL headache by options to provide real profit rate of farming.

There are two sections in Beaver platform, Liquidity Providers(LP) asset pools for mining and Impermanent Loss Hedger(ILH) asset pools for hedging. Assets in ILH pool are used as principal for constructing options portfolio for hedging IL of mining positions from LP section. Assets staked in ILH pools are guaranteed lossless and those in LP pools are also being hedged, so LP users can gain actual yield returns without being offset by impermanent losses.

The founding team of Beaver Finance consists of Wall Street veterans as quantitative derivatives traders, scholars from renowned academic institutions, DeFi scientists as designers of multiple token economies, and a team of experienced developers from Silicon Valley. This world-class team is committed to solving the problems of infamous impermanent loss and systematic risks in AMM mechanism, and creating the most secure and high-profit yield aggregation platform.

2. Motivations of Beaver Finance

First of all, Beaver Team found that there's still a huge market for depositing crypto assets. Many crypto holders cannot find a secure and efficient single-asset yield generating platform, while providing dual-asset liquidity for farming in DEXs is accompanied with huge uncertainties which are resulted from high volatility of cryptocurrencies and impermanent losses associated with AMM. Quite often, ILs even exceed mining profits generating a negative return eventually.





Chart 1

As shown above, uniswap are slipping from the TVL ranking and the fluctuation represents asset escaping during the dramatical trends of major cryptocurrencies.

APR/APY is the "go-to" indicator for liquidity providers. However, those attractive high figure APYs displayed on DEXs or yield aggregators are all under the assumption of the undamaged principal, nevertheless, that is unrealizable for liquidity mining because of the Impermanent Loss. Currently no yield aggregator counts IL into their APR/APY, which gives investors the misinterpretation of final return when they collect farming tokens and principals, especially for newcomers who are hardly aware of the destructiveness of IL, they are surprisingly realize that without constantly pay attention on the exchange rate change and adjust the positions, the eventual APY are never as enjoyable as displayed on the platforms.

So, one of the initial motivations of Beaver Finance is to solve the above "false APY" problem once for all. Since Beaver applies options strategies to hedge Impermanent Loss, mining principals are fully protected. The actual return rate is the same as displayed APY on Beaver, and investors can enjoy harvesting carefreely.

3. Similarities and differences between Beaver Finance and other yield aggregators

Similar to platforms as Alpha Homora, Alpaca, etc, on Beaver Finance, users can stake single-asset to achieve high-yield return comparable to dual-asset farmings. Meanwhile, there are also distinctive features innovated by Beaver.

(1)Asset Allocation Engine: dynamically pairs equal-valued tokens from LP pools by algorithms for supplying liquidity on major DEXs, which enables users to automatically gain the high yields of dual-token LP farming in single-token staking mode. By contrast, Alpha Homora and similarities would add an extra swapping step to form the pair which would instantly cause depreciation of the asset and jump of exchange rate resulting in IL.

(2)Impermanent Loss Hedging Engine: supported by Asteria Finance Lab, protects LP assets of farming positions by constructing European Option Portfolios for hedging against IL. With ILH, Beaver Finance would be able to protect LP principal and provide real P&L rate for users on asset management operations.

4. Competitive advantages of the Beaver Finance

Beaver has mainly 5 competitive advantages compared with other yield aggregators:

(1) Simplicity

Beaver integrates multiple liquidity pools of major DEXs and provides dynamic APY updates, providing fully automatic and one-stop service of single-token staking + token pairing + LP supplying + yield farming + asset adjustment, which saves users from navigating among different DEXs and liquidity pools to conduct complicated mining operations.

(2) High Yields

Compared with the low returns of single-token staking on DEXs or other yield farming protocols, built on a solid theoretical foundation and rich DeFi practical experiences, Beaver's strategies optimize asset allocation efficiency and achieve high-yield returns comparable to dual-token farmings.

(3) Lossless Hedging

Based on the Option Portfolio Hedging Module developed by Asteria Finance Lab, IL hedgers can enjoy returns of options market makers without any principal damages; while helping minimize IL on LP asset pools as well. Under comprehensive backtesting under multiple simulations, Beaver's hedging model not only eliminates principal loss for ILH pools but also realizes stable returns.

(4) Professional

Beaver's financial team is composed of experienced Wall Street derivative quants and traders, researchers from reputable academic institutions, and technical team previously lead developing of multiple top DeFi projects. Hedging algorithms are built based on the solid theories of Carr-Madan Formula and classic Black-Scholes-Merton model, back tested in multiple scenarios to optimize the functionality and minimize user cost.

(5) Security

System and asset security is the top priority of Beaver Finance: the financial models and investment strategies are repeatedly backtested by the professional team; smart contracts are coded and examined by security experts, and audits are conducted by top blockchain security laboratories. Preventative techniques are adopted for a series of security problems such as re-entrancy, arithmetic over/under overflow, default visibilities and floating points & precisions, etc.

5. How do users participate in Beaver Finance?

Beaver Finance makes straightforward zero-based user experience as their target. In general, users can choose to be either or both two roles: Farmer and Hedger.

Farmer => LP Mining (LP) Section:

Beaver Finance would support cryptocurrency pairs with high yields and a level of safety on major DEXs. Users can choose any token pairs and deposit either asset into Beaver LP pools and leave the rest of work such as token pairing, LP supplying, and staking for mining for the platform to automatically exercise.

Hedger => Impermanent Loss Hedger (ILH) Section

The capital of ILH pools are used to hedge possible Impermanent Loss of LP mining positions. Option portfolios are constructed by rigorous mathematical models and automatic Delta Neutral hedging are also carried out simultaneously, which not only shield LP assets from IL but also ensures the stability of ILH pools.

6. Beaver's Impermanent Loss Hedging (ILH) Engine

Beaver hedges Impermanent Loss from liquidity mining through a set of European Option Portfolio supported by Asteria Finance Lab.

Mathematical Principle: Carr-Madan Formula

The basic concept is that for any return structure f(xi) with respect to Xi that expires at time T, it can be realized by constructing a European Option portfolio with Xi as the target and expiration date T, under the condition of f(Xi) is second-order derivable, which is essentially a static investment strategy.

Don't be scared by the above mathematical description, shortly put, it has been mathematically proved that the IL caused by X*Y=K model can be hedged by a series of reverse-direction options.

Upon this basis, the classic Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model is applied to calculate the cost and hedging result:

'



Chart 2

During the backtests of three-year data (2019, 2020, 2021), the average cost is 0.7% and hedge completeness is 99.8% (blue line), compared with the unhedged asset loss (yellow line), the LP principal is almost lossless.

Beaver Team also conducted detailed backtestings on the principles staked in ILH pool, and according to the backtesting data, Beaver guarantees that single-token staking in ILH pool is lossless.

7. Current Stage, Vision and Future Plans

Beaver Finance is under thorough auditions of a number of reputable security labs and will be officially launched on the BSC by mid-November! First believers and early contributors in multiple kickstart events will receive surprising rewards! By the way, the earlier TVL contributors can not only get risk-free single-asset staking profits, but also higher points similar to the mechanism of DYDX and eventually would be rewarded in the Beaver ecosystem.

Beaver Finance is committed to integrating the top-notch profiting and hedging models in traditional finance with decentralized technologies, building a single-asset yield aggregation platform that is secure and trustworthy. Through deep research and understanding of options, Beaver Finance has eliminated the risks in liquidity mining, and provides a carefree passive income channel for all cryptocurrency holders.

Beaver Finance team will continuously work with Asteria Finance Lab to build DeFi infrastructures such as stable coin swap and multi-asset management based on derivatives. At the same time, Beaver Team will continue to integrate more advanced blockchain developments such as NFTs and financial strategies, providing users with full-range and one-stop financial services. For more information, visit website https://beaver.fi/ and join telegram https://t.me/beaver_finance to get the latest updates.

Contact:

Beaver Finance / beaver.fi

Michael Li

+1 773 895 4530

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100675
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(CNN) -- The leader of the Italy's right-leaning Lega party, Matteo Salvini, lashed out at the start of his trial for the alleged kidnapping of 147 migrants while he was interior minister.

The migrants were on board a ship owned by Spanish NGO Open Arms to whom Salvini denied permission to disembark in Italy in August 2019, leaving them stranded at sea and putting their lives at risk.

Among the witnesses listed in the lawsuit is American actor Richard Gere, who visited the migrants on board while they waited off the coast of Italy, which, for Salvini, is an example of the lack of seriousness of the accusations leveled against him.

"Let's talk about Richard Gere. You tell me how serious a trial is where someone comes from Hollywood to testify about my nastiness," he questioned, speaking to reporters after the first hearing in Palermo on Saturday.

A day earlier he had joked that if Gere was officially named a witness, he would ask for an autograph for his mother.

Other evidence to be used against Salvini includes communication records from emergency calls from the NGO ship and Italian Coast Guard when they assigned the port of Lampedusa as a port of disembarkation, to determine at what point and in what form Salvini intervened.

Salvini has repeatedly denied the accusations of kidnapping but has admitted to blocking the ship from docking in Italy, saying it was his duty as interior minister.

He argues that because the Open Arms vessel was Spanish flagged, the migrants should have been taken to Spain.

His lawyer Giulia Bongiorno, who previously represented Rafaelle Sollecito in his trial with Amanda Knox for the murder of Meredith Kercher, has argued that this trial should not even be held under Italian jurisdiction because the ship is Spanish and that a Spanish-flagged ship did not have authority to dock in an Italian port without permission.

The-CNN-Wire

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Bettina Lerman was on a ventilator for weeks after getting COVID-19 and hadn't responded to doctors' efforts to wake her from a coma when her family made the difficult decision to take her off of life support.
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Keep the conversation about local news & events going by joining us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Recent updates from The News-Post and also from News-Post staff members are compiled below.
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
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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BELLEVUE, Wash., Sept. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 5G Americas, the wireless industry trade consortium and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas, today announced the election of Uruguay operator Antel to its Board of Governors. Antel joins other key stakeholder entities committed to the progress 5G in North, Central and Latin America.

5G Americas is pleased to welcome Antel to the Board of Governors, stated Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas. We are honored to have another technology leader from the Latin America region contribute their expertise and insight to our association.

Antel, the state-owned Uruguayan full-service telecommunications provider, headquartered in Montevideo, is a technology innovation leader in Latin America. It was the first operator to launch commercial LTE services in the region in late 2011, as well as the first operator in the region to launch a 5G commercial network in April of 2019. The operator provides fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) connectivity to more than 80 percent of Uruguayan households.

Antel recognizes wireless communications' pivotal role as a catalyst for digital transformation and economic growth. We look forward to collaborating with other leading wireless companies from the Americas on technical and regulatory issues to help drive 5G adoption and promote measures that will help it meet its full potential, said Humberto Roca, Chief Technology Information Officer, Antel.

About 5G Americas: The Voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas

5G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of leading telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organizations mission is to facilitate and advocate for the advancement and transformation of LTE, 5G and beyond throughout the Americas. 5G Americas is invested in developing a connected wireless community while leading 5G development for all the Americas. 5G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. More information is available at 5G Americas website and Twitter.

5G Americas Board of Governors Members include Airspan Networks Inc., Antel, AT&T, Ciena, Cisco, Crown Castle, Ericsson, Intel, Liberty Latin America, Mavenir, Nokia, Qualcomm Incorporated, Samsung, Shaw Communications Inc., T-Mobile US, Inc., Telefonica, VMware, and WOM.

Contact:

5G Americas

Viet Nguyen

+1 206 218 6393

Viet.Nguyen@5GAmericas.org

About Antel

Established in 1974, Antel is a Uruguayan telecom company (Administracion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones) with over 6000 employees and revenues near $900 million. Headquartered in Montevideo, the company provides various types of communications services throughout the nation of Uruguay including mobile, broadband, fixed and Internet services. Antel is committed to closing the digital divide in providing a wide array of communication services to individuals, households, and businesses.
Agreement between Start Campus and EllaLink to strengthen Portuguese international connectivity between the future Hyperscale data center and Latin America, Europe and Africa through the submarine cable recently inaugurated in Sines

Start Campus and EllaLink partnership is crucial to turn Sines into a Digital Hub of excellence at European level

SINES, Portugal and DUBLIN, Ireland, Oct. 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Start Campus, the company responsible for the development of the Hyperscale data center project - SINES 4.0, one of Europe's largest Hyperscale sustainable data centers to be developed in Sines, Portugal, signed an agreement with EllaLink, company that recently inaugurated the first direct high-speed connection by submarine cable between Europe and South America.

This agreement reinforces the combination of two essential components that establish the internets backbone, Hyperscale data centers and submarine cables, that together guarantee 99% of intercontinental digital connectivity.

The partnership will provide a framework of cooperation between Start Campus and EllaLink guarantying that the infrastructures interact, knowledge is shared and synergies are established to promote Sines as a new digital hub in global data network systems. The goal is to link the two projects to boost Portugals international connectivity and reinforce direct connections with Europe, South America, Africa and Asia.

The companies will work together to explore and improve the development of new cable routes as well as promote the existing ones. Today, Sines is directly connected to Lisbon and Madrid in Europe, Fortaleza, Sao Paulo & Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In the future, the connectivity will be extended to Marseille, Barcelona and Casablanca and furthermore to the United States, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

According to Afonso Salema, Managing Director of Start Campus, "Weve partnered with EllaLink to connect SINES 4.0 to South America and Africa and, in doing so, well explore all the benefits it will bring to the Portuguese and European connectivity. This partnership enhances the two projects and helps transform Portugal into a World Digital Hub, futureproofing the Portuguese economy by bringing skilled jobs and economic benefits to the country."

For Diego Matas, EllaLinks COO, "This partnership is an important step in the affirmation of Sines as a true technological hub. With it, we reiterate EllaLink's willingness to enhance the existing route integrated into a true ecosystem that offers high capacity, route diversity, low latency connectivity and a state-of-the-art infrastructure."

Start Campus announced, in April, the project SINES 4.0, an Hyperscaler Data Centre, with a capacity of up to 495MW, in Sines, representing an investment of up to 3.5 billion. It will be one of Europe's largest data center campus, responding to the large international technology companies' growing demand. It will create up to 1,200 highly skilled direct jobs and 8,000 indirect jobs by 2025. Located in Sines, it will benefit from all strategic advantages such as state-of-the-art seawater cooling systems, access to the high voltage power grid, connectivity through high-capacity international fiber optic and the usage of 100% green energy.

SINES 4.0 will have an environmentally neutral outset having a strong competitive green energy production component, with strong indicators of water consumption and highly efficient Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). This will be one of the largest data center ecosystems with 100% green energy at competitive prices in a premium European location, which is the perfect gateway to Europe and the world.

EllaLink has built and operates a brand-new modular cable landing station (CLS) in Sines that welcomes a 7 fiber pair submarine cable with a potential capacity of 190 Terabits per second directly connecting Brazil, Cabo Verde, Madeira and Morocco. This CLS is as well directly connected to major data centers in Lisbon and Madrid through a secure and diverse optical ring.

About Start Campus

Start Campus, owned by Davidson Kempner and Pioneer Point Partners, is responsible for the development of the project SINES 4.0, an Hyperscaler Data Centre campus with a capacity of up to 495MW in Sines, an investment of up to 3.5 billion. It will be one of Europe's largest data center campus and responds to growing demand from large international technology companies. It will create up to 1,200 highly skilled direct jobs and 8,000 indirect jobs by 2025. It will be in Sines and will benefit from all strategic advantages such as seawater cooling systems, access to the high voltage power grid, connectivity through the connection to high-capacity international fiber optic cables with North America, Africa, and South America. SINES 4.0 will be one of the largest data center ecosystems with 100% green energy at competitive prices in a premium European location, which is the perfect gateway to Europe and the world. The inauguration of the first building is scheduled for Q1 2023. 400 people are expected to be involved in the construction of the first phase, and up to 100 new direct jobs will be created.

For more information visit startcampus

About EllaLink

EllaLink is an advanced optical platform offering secure high-capacity connectivity on a unique low latency transatlantic route serving the growing needs of the Latin American and European markets. The EllaLink network directly connects Brazil and Europe, linking the major hubs of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza with Lisbon, Madrid and Marseille.

The EllaLink System has been built with state-of-the-art coherent technology initially offering 100Tbps of transatlantic capacity over four direct fibre pairs between Europe and Brazil. EllaLink is a privately funded and independent company committed to providing products and services on a Carrier Neutral and Open Access basis. Marguerite II, a pan-European equity fund active in the renewables, energy, transport and digital infrastructure sectors, is the main shareholder of EllaLink.

For more information visit ella.link

About Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP

Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP ("Davidson Kempner") is a U.S. based global institutional investment management company with over 37 years of experience focusing on fundamental investment with a multi-strategy approach. Davidson Kempner has more than $36 billion in assets under management, with more than 400 professionals in five offices, including New York, Philadelphia, London, Hong Kong and Dublin.

About Pioneer Point Partners LLP

European investment company Pioneer Point Partners was founded in 2008 and focuses on the energy transition, communications infrastructure, and environment sectors. Pioneer has provided more than 3 billion of capital to 9 platform investments since its inception. Pioneer has nearly one billion assets under management, including capital available for new investments. Through its investments, Pioneer aims to contribute to the transition to a carbon-neutral economy.

Companies selected from the Pioneer / Davidson Kempner portfolio

Echelon Data Centers is developing up to 180 MW of data centers at three locations in Ireland. The capital invested should focus on energy infrastructure, energy supply and renewable energy projects connected to Echelon's data center sites. Nature Energy, based in Denmark, is a global leader in biomethane (green gas), derived from agricultural and livestock waste. Nature Energy owns 12 plants in operation, 2 under construction and 10 under development and currently transforms 4 million tons of waste per year.

Editorial Contact

Afonso Vaz Pinto (+351 96 965 82 56) avazpinto@jlma.pt Clara Casanova info@ella.link

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e1e419bc-7cf6-4121-bcf4-9776462629a7
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct. 24, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Secure DeFi Ecosystem GloryDoge, launches a hub for sharing, Investing, and Developing Innovative Ideas. GloryDoge is a blockchain platform for kickstarting ideas and attracting investors.



Groundbreaking ideas seem to be popping up faster than ever. DeFi enthusiasts and professionals are always eager to explore the potential of decentralized finance and improve various areas of lives. Moreover, it has never been easier for anyone interested in supporting a project to invest their digital funds.

But there's a catch, many fundraising methods aren't as reliable as they appear to be. As a matter of fact, various ICOs and other forms of attracting investors have turned out to be scams relying on the lack of knowledge among inexperienced crypto investors.

Enter GloryDoge

Essentially, GloryDoge is a blockchain platform for kickstarting ideas and attracting investors. The secure DeFi ecosystem comes with a range of tools that can help innovators get funds from the interested parties. More importantly, GloryDoge offers investors a detailed overview of what they want to invest in.

GloryPad: Next-Gen IDO Launchpad

GloryPad is the main feature of GloryDoge. It's a launchpad that aims to attract all innovators, investors, developers, pretty much anyone interested in developing exciting ideas or investing in them.

The launchpad is currently in the works, and it's expected to be released during the third phase of development (we'll cover the roadmap below).

There's an important feature that makes GloryPad stand out from the pack and ensures investing is secure. Namely, innovators can create a set of tasks that need to be completed in order for their project or service to be launched.

Therefore, investors will not fund the entire project. Instead, they will have an overview of all tasks and the associated cost for each of them. As a result, they will get to choose a task that they can invest in to support a project.

This approach by GloryDoge adds a new layer of transparency and security for all fundraising activities that will take place on the platform. Not only will the entire process weed out the scam cryptocurrencies, but it will also attract investors interested in supporting great ideas and seeing them come to fruition task by task.

The early version of GloryPad will also feature an activity pad, where one can learn about popular sales, activities, and more.

Finally, GloryPad will support all major blockchains, starting with Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, and Avalanche. The team behind the project plans to add more blockchains in the future.

Speaking of the team, let's see who's behind GloryDoge.

GloryDoge Team

The real identities of the people behind this platform have not been revealed. However, the official whitepaper states that the founder and co-founder are already doxxed on DessertFinance. In addition to that, Techrate and DessertFinance have audited the entire project, and an additional audit is expected in the future from Certik.

So far, only names are learned (or online pseudonyms) of the team members  William (CMO), Joey (CEO and lead developer), and Light (CDO). They have years of experience in software engineering, marketing, and design.

GloryDoge Token Economics

The GloryDoge Token is the main currency of the GloryDoge ecosystem.

This token's contract is written from scratch, which isn't that common nowadays. However, the team wanted to build maximum trust among everyone involved in GloryDoge and avoid some common issues that tokens with copied contracts face. The developers have taken into account a range of harmful actions and made sure that they aren't possible with the new contract. For instance, if the owner/deployer wants to set taxes higher than 10%, it will not be allowed.

Here's how the taxes are distributed:

4% of every transaction is distributed to all holders.

2% of every transaction is called "marketing tax" and is used for attracting founders and investors.

4% of every transaction is dedicated to the team and developers.



The good news is that there are no taxes if tokens are moved from wallet to wallet.

Finally, 50% of revenue from GlodyDoge DAPPs is distributed as BNB through staking, and 10% is locked for liquidity on PancakeSwap.

GLORYD Token Sale

The private sale has been officially concluded. The next phase is the presale, which will take place on PinkSale . It will officially start on October 28, where a total of 245,000,000,000,000 GLORYD tokens will be distributed. Users will have a chance to obtain the GloryDoge Token at the following rate: 1 BNB = 490,000,000,000 GLORYD. The minimum allowed amount one can buy is 0.1 BNB, whereas the maximum is 3 BNB.

The presale will start at 16:00 UTC, and it will last for 24 hours.

Roadmap: When is the GloryDoge Launch Expected?

The development roadmap for GloryDoge is divided into three phases:



Phase 1  The first phase includes deploying the token, distribution, and private sale contracts on BSC, in addition to releasing the white paper and launching the website. This phase has been completed.

Phase 2  The second phase is underway, with doxxing, contract audit, and the private sale being concluded. The next step is to conduct the presale, get additional contract audits, promote the project, and list the token on CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko.

Phase 3  The last phase includes a security audit, finalization, and release of GloryPad. The team also plans to hire additional members and promote the project further to increase the user base. The final step is to automate the revenue distribution to holders and work on new features and DAPPs.

Final Thoughts

The third phase isn't really the end. In fact, once GloryPad is launched, there will still be plenty of work to do, as the team wants to develop and launch various new DAPPs that aim to reshape the crypto space. For now, though, GloryPad will help many innovators and investors join forces and work on many new and groundbreaking ideas.

To learn more about GloryDoge visit GloryDogeCoin.com

Social Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GloryDogeCoin

Telegram: https://t.me/GloryDogeCoin

Github: https://github.com/GloryDoge

Media Contact

Company: GloryDoge

Email: hello@glorydogecoin.com

Website: https://glorydogecoin.com/

SOURCE: GloryDoge
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Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, October 24, 2021  IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A., EURONEXT), the world leader in particle accelerator technology and the worlds leading provider of proton therapy solutions for the treatment of cancer, today announces that its proton therapy contract with Advocate Radiation Oncology, via its affiliate Southwest Florida Proton, has been finalized. IBA will start to recognize revenue from the contract in 2021.

The finalization of the contract follows the announcement earlier in the year that IBA had been selected by Advocate Radiation Oncology for its new radiation oncology center. The site will serve the greater population of Southwest Florida in a centralized location between Lee and Collier County. The contract involves the delivery of IBAs ProteusONE* solution including Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS), Cone Beam CT (CBCT), Philips Ambient and a fully integrated quality assurance (QA) hardware and software package from IBA Dosimetry America, Inc. Advocate Radiation Oncology expects to start treating patients by 2023.

The typical end-user price for a ProteusONE system with a 10-year maintenance contract ranges between 40 and 50 million US dollars.

Olivier Legrain, Chief Executive Officer of IBA, commented: The finalization of this contract highlights the growing momentum of proton therapy in the US. As we continue to reinforce our position in the region, we are hugely excited about the future opportunity there. We look forward to attending the ASTRO meeting this weekend and engaging with further potential partners.

Arie Dosoretz, CEO of Advocate Radiation Oncology, said: We are firmly committed to providing the cancer patients of Southwest Florida with every radiation option they need and are excited for the next steps of this critical project. IBA delivers the most innovative proton technology in the world, and our patients deserve nothing less.

*ProteusONE is a brand name of Proteus 235

***ENDS***

About IBA

IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.) is the world leader in particle accelerator technology. The company is the leading supplier of equipment and services in the field of proton therapy, considered to be the most advanced form of radiation therapy available today. IBA is also a leading player in the fields of industrial sterilization, radiopharmaceuticals and dosimetry. The company, based in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, employs approximately 1,500 people worldwide. IBA is a certified B Corporation (B Corp) meeting the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance.

IBA is listed on the pan-European stock exchange EURONEXT (IBA: Reuters IBAB.BR and Bloomberg IBAB.BB).

More information can be found at: www.iba-worldwide.com

About Advocate Radiation Oncology

Advocate Radiation Oncology is a locally owned practice with convenient locations in South Florida. The practices mission is to provide compassionate health care expertise to cancer patients. Advocate Radiation Oncology is directed by a team of world-class, board-certified radiation oncologists,

For more information, please visit AdvocateRO.com .

CONTACTS

Soumya Chandramouli

Chief Financial Officer

+32 10 475 890

Investorrelations@iba-group.com

Olivier Lechien

Corporate Communication Director

+32 10 475 890

communication@iba-group.com

Consilium Strategic Communications

Amber Fennell, Angela Gray, Lucy Featherstone

+44 (0) 20 3709 5700

IBA@consilium-comms.com

Attachment
Amos R. Miller, 74, of Goshen, died Thursday, Nov. 18, at Goshen Hospital, after a brief illness. He was born Sept. 15, 1947, in Goshen, to Robert and Lizzie (Hershberger) Miller. On Oct. 19, 1967, in Middlebury, he married Polly Ann Bontrager. She survives. Survivors in addition to his wife
TotalEnergies E&P Angola has exercised an option for the 7th-generation drillship Maersk Voyager to drill the ultra-deepwater Ondjaba-1 exploration well in Angolas Block 48.





The Ondjaba-1 well will be drilled at a new world record water depth of 3,628 m (2.25 miles). The current world record is 3,400 m, set by Maersk Voyagers sister drillship Maersk Venturer when it drilled the Raya-1 well for TotalEnergies offshore Uruguay in 2016.

Maersk Voyager is a high-spec ultra-deepwater drillship which was delivered in 2014; the ship is a Samsung 96K designed drillship with several Maersk Drilling upgrades. It is currently operating offshore Angola for TotalEnergies.

Maersks modern ultra-deepwater drillships feature an advanced positioning control system that automatically maintains a fixed position even in waves of up to 5.8 meters high and wind speeds of up to 26 meters per second (58 mph).

Each drillship is equipped with Multi Machine Control (MMC) on the drill floor, and this high degree of automation removescrews from the red zone and delivers an efficient and consistent performance.

The large deck space on the drillship can accommodate a full well test, completion and stimulation spread. This eliminates the need to demobilize equipment at different stages in the operation, thus lowering costs and increasing safety because of the reduced need for rigging heavy equipment up and down.

The contract extension has an estimated duration of 54 days, which means that Maersk Voyager is now contracted until February 2022.

The work on Ondjaba-1 commenced in October 2021, after which the rig is scheduled to move to Namibia to drill the Venus well. One one-well option remains on the contract.
A cross-industry group of European metals-producing and -using industries and their workers have issued a warning about the potentially catastrophic impact of the Chinese magnesium supply shortage.

The group, which includes Eurofer, ACEA, Eurometaux, industriAll Europe, ECCA, ESTAL, IMA, EUWA, EuroAlliages, CLEPA and Metals Packaging Europe, issued an urgent call for action against the imminent risk of Europe-wide production shutdowns as a consequence of a critical shortage in the supply of magnesium from China.

Magnesium is a key alloying material and widely used in the metals-producing industry. Without urgent action by the European Union, this issue, if not resolved, threatens thousands of businesses across Europe, their entire supply chains and the millions of jobs that rely on them, the group said.

Annual demand for magnesium is about 1.2 million tonnes, with 87% being produced by China and 39% being used by China. Europe and North America use each around 19%. Japan uses 4%. Europe is particularly hit by the current supply shortage since almost all magnesium used in Europe is imported from China.

Due to the Chinese Governments effort to curb domestic power consumption, supply of magnesium originating from China has either been halted or reduced drastically since September 2021, resulting in a supply crisis of unprecedented magnitude.

With the European Union almost totally dependent on China (at 95%) for its magnesium supply needs, the European aluminum, iron and steel producing and using industries together with their raw materials suppliers are particularly impacted, with far-reaching ramifications on entire European Union value chains, including key end-use sectors such as automotive, construction and packaging.

The current Chinese supply shortfall has already resulted in record prices and worldwide distortions in the supply chain. Todays remaining magnesium imports are trading at prices of about $10,000 to $14,000/tonne, up from approximately $2,000/tonne earlier this year, making it almost impossible for European companies to produce or source magnesium-containing materials at a viable level.

Europe is expected to run out of magnesium stocks by the end of November, with production shortages, business closures and associated job losses to follow, the group said.

The industries jointly called on the European Commission and national governments to work urgently towards immediate actions with their Chinese counterparties to mitigate the short-term, critical shortage issue as well as the longer-term supply effects on European industries.

The European Commission said it is holding talks with China to ease severe shortages of magnesium.
GREENWICH  The towns population has grown very little over the past decade, but one neighborhood recorded the most new residents in Greenwich, with much of the increase due to an influx of Hispanic residents, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Since 2010, Greenwichs population has risen by only 2,347 people, a 3.8 percent increase overall, bringing it to a total of 63,518 residents in 2020, according to recently released data from the Decennial 2020 Census. And Hispanic-identifying residents made up 93 percent of that increase.

One neighborhood saw the largest increase to overall population as well as its population of children  Chickahominy. The neighborhood gained 585 new residents, of whom 87 percent identified as Hispanic in the 2020 Census.

Chickahominy, which is near downtown on the western side of town, in particular has long been a diverse area of Greenwich, according to lifelong resident David DAndrea, who helps run the Chickahominy Reunion Association.

Its strength is diversity, its hard-working people, DAndrea said. They love their property, love St. Rochs (Church), love their families.

DAndrea said he has witnessed six decades of change in the neighborhood, but in that time the heart of Chickahominy has remained the same.

I see the same values for education, for religion and for family, he said of the generations of families who have inhabited the area.

When he was growing up, DAndrea said the neighborhood was filled primarily Italian families who had a history of working as stone masons, building many of the towns mansions and the local church. Its now about made up of about 30 percent Hispanic residents, second in Greenwich only to Byram, with about 36 percent Hispanic residents

The move to Greenwich by Hispanic and Spanish-speaking families is largely motivated by one desire: a good for education for their children, said Hector Arzeno, an immigrant from South America and a member of the Greenwich Representative Town Meeting.

The reason why they move to Greenwich is because of the public school system, its clear-cut. Those families, theyre looking for better opportunities for their children. Its the same reason I moved to Greenwich, Arzeno said. The public school system is the No. 1 consideration.

Byram and Chickahominy

Overall, the town is now made up of about 13 percent Hispanic-identifying residents, according to 2020 census. Most of the that population is concentrated in that southwest corner of town, in Byram and Chickahominy, raising concerns of segregation.

Its always been an issue in every town and certainly some of that has touched on Greenwich, but I think one way to combat that is to focus on it, First Selectman Fred Camillo said of the population distribution.

Some residents in both neighborhoods have said they felt neglected in the past, but Camillo said the town has been making efforts to improve the areas.

Camillo recently met with some community leaders in Chickahominy to hear their ideas for and interest in making improvements in their neighborhood.

Its a wonderful part of town, and thats why were getting more people together to make it something wonderful for residents old and new, he said.

Arzeno said he met many Hispanic residents when he ran unsuccessfully for the state House of Representative in 2020 and said he doesnt see any barriers in the town.

Greenwich iscentrally located for Hispanic workers in the service sector, and many work at country clubs or at landscaping companies in Westchester County, N.Y., or elsewhere in southern Connecticut, he said.

There is also a significant contingent of upper-income professionals from Latin America who live in Greenwich, with its valuable proximity to New York City, said Arzeno, who has worked for decades in finance.

Arzeno said it seemed to him that most of the Spanish-speaking immigrants in Greenwich are from Guatemala, Mexico and Ecuador, with smaller numbers coming from the Caribbean or other countries in Central America. He noted there were local residents from Argentina, Chile and Colombia, as well.

Similar to other immigrant groups, the adults tend to stay within their own enclaves and ethnic communities, Arzeno said.

I dont see a problem with segregation. They (Hispanic immigrants) group among themselves, but the children are integrated, the schools integrate them. Its like any other immigration pattern in the U.S., Arzeno said.

He said the high school appears to be inclusive for Hispanic students.

All five of his children attended public schools in town, he said. One of his daughters is currently enrolled at Greenwich High School and is co-president of the Hispanic Society there. Very inclusive, he said.

Younger population

In addition to seeing the greatest population increase overall, Chickahominy has also seen the largest rise in residents who are under the age of 18.

Hamilton Avenue School reported twice as many Hispanic or Latino students compared with a decade ago, according to school districts profile with the Connecticut State Department of Education. The school now sees an enrollment of 54 percent Hispanic or Latino students, while the educators at Hamilton Avenue are just under 4 percent in that category, according to the profile.

On the other side of town at Riverside School, the student body is 77 percent white, closer to the school district student body overall at about 70 percent white, according to the profile.

The Greenwich community overall hasnt grown by much over the past few decades. The towns population has increased by only 9,779 people from 1960 to 2020.

The neighborhoods of Glenville and Pemberwick, which share a census tract, had the second largest increase in population in the last decade, gaining 426 new residents, according to the Census data.

The population growth in these neighborhoods can be linked to the new housing, with Chickahominy and the Glenville/Pemberwick tracts gaining just under 100 units combined in recent years.

Chickahominy also lends itself to new housing because it has areas zoned for condominiums and because it also allows multifamily homes. Also, Greenwichs newest public housing in 2018 and 2020 was built in Chickahominy.

Its a diverse community, but a very spirited community, said Mark Pruner, a real estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway in Greenwich.

In fact, it can be difficult to move into the neighborhood because the residents who move to that area usually stay there, Pruner said.

Theres very little turnover in Chickahominy, which is very different from the rest of Greenwich, he said. Chickahominy is one of the places where people hand houses down from their parents to their children.

Home values in the neighborhood are the least expensive in all of Greenwich, with a median price of under $1 million, according to Redfin.com. House in the most affluent areas in town can fetch an average of $2 million, Pruner said.

The older families who hand down their properties to their children turned them into multifamily rentals, DAndrea said. Its that rental market, along with the new condominiums, that have made Chickahominy  and Greenwich  accessible to more people, he said.

mdignan@hearstmediact.com; rmarchant@greenwichtime.com
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  Haitis capital has been brought to the brink of exhaustion by fuel shortages, after staggering along despite an earthquake, the assassination of the president, gang violence and mass kidnappings.

More than two weeks of fuel deliveries interrupted by gang blockades and abductions of fuel truck drivers have driven residents of Port-au-Prince to a desperate search for gasoline and diesel. The fuels are widely used to run generators needed to compensate for the countrys unreliable electrical system.

The city's main fuel terminals are located in or near gang-dominated neighborhoods like Martissant, La Saline and Cite Soliel, and some gangs have reportedly been demanding extortion payments to allow fuel trucks through.

The gangs have become a powerful force in Haiti. One of the gangs recently kidnapped 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group and reportedly demanded a ransom of $1 million each for their release, warning that the hostages will be killed if their demands arent met. There is no word yet on their fate.

The gangs have also kidnapped hundreds of Haitians, and the government appears unable, or unwilling, to take them on.

Protests broke out Saturday in the Delmas neighborhood, where gas stations have run out of fuel. Police arrived and dispersed the crowds with warning shots of what appeared to be live rounds.

Some of the country's cellphone networks suffered service declines as fuel to run cell tower equipment ran short.

Officials at the Saint Damien hospital, the capitals foremost pediatrics center, said it had only three days of fuel left to run generators that power ventilators and medical equipment. The hospital can run partly on solar power, but that doesn't provide enough electricity for all its needs.

Denso Gay, the hospital's project manager, said Saint Damien is treating two patients with COVID-19 and also handles urgent surgeries, like C-sections.

I am very worried, Gay said. The situation is very critical.

The oxygen is running on electricity. If we don't have electricity to run the oxygen and the (medical) apparatus, we will need to close to new patients, he said.

Gay estimates the approximately 1,500 gallons of fuel left in the hospital's reserve tanks would last only for about three more days.

The hospital normally gets deliveries of about 3,000 gallons of fuel twice a month.

We contacted the company, and they said they cannot deliver, they cannot come across town because of the danger to the drivers, Gay said.

The United Nations Children's Fund warned Sunday that hundreds of women and children who seek emergency care in health facilities are at risk of dying if solutions are not found to the fuel shortage prevailing in Haiti for weeks due to insecurity.

It said several hospitals across the country have sent pleas for help directly to UNICEF and its partners.

With the insecurity prevailing in Port-au-Prince, the lives of many child-bearing women and newborn babies are in danger because hospitals that should give them life-saving care cannot operate normally due lack of fuel. They risk dying if health services cannot give them adequate care, said Raoul de Torcy, UNICEF Deputy Representative.

UNICEF said it had secured a contract with a local provider to supply hospitals in and around Port-au-Prince with 10,000 gallons of fuel. But due to insecurity, the provider eventually declared he could transport fuel neither in the Haitian capital, nor in other provinces ... because many truck drivers no longer accept to ply the roads crossing gang-controlled areas for fear of being kidnapped and their truck hijacked.

Meanwhile, capital residents were on a desperate chase to get fuel. Many gas stations remain closed for days at a time, and the lack of fuel is so dire that the CEO of Digicel Haiti announced last week that 150 of its 1,500 branches countrywide were out of diesel.

On Thursday, hundreds of demonstrators blocked roads and burned tires in Port-au-Prince to protest the severe fuel shortage and a spike in insecurity.

Alexandre Simon, an English and French teacher, said he and others were protesting because of the dire conditions facing Haitians.

There are a lot of people who cannot eat, he said. There is no work ... There are a lot of things we dont have.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  A crew member says she has raised safety concerns in the past about the assistant director who authorities say unwittingly handed actor Alec Baldwin the prop gun that killed a cinematographer on a film set.

Maggie Goll, a prop maker and licensed pyrotechnician, said in a statement that she filed an internal complaint with the executive producers of Hulus Into the Dark series in 2019 over concerns about assistant director Dave Halls' behavior on set. Goll said in a phone interview Sunday that Halls disregarded safety protocols for weapons and pyrotechnics and tried to continue filming after the supervising pyrotechnician lost consciousness on set.

Halls has not returned phone calls and email messages seeking comment.

This week's fatal shooting and some of her previous experiences point to larger safety issues that need to be addressed, Goll said, adding that crew member safety and wellbeing are top issues in ongoing contract negotiations between a union that represents film and TV workers and a major producers' group.

This situation is not about Dave Halls. ... Its in no way one persons fault, she said. "Its a bigger conversation about safety on set and what we are trying to achieve with that culture.

Baldwin fired a prop gun on the New Mexico set of the film Rust Thursday, killing 42-year-old Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her.

The gun Baldwin used was one of three that a firearms specialist, or armorer, had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed, according to court records. Halls grabbed a gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating that the weapon was safe by yelling cold gun," court papers say. But it was loaded with live rounds, according to the records.

Baldwin, 63, who is known for his roles in 30 Rock and The Hunt for Red October and his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, has described the killing as a tragic accident.

Goll said it should not have happened because there are so many steps that you have to go through ... that the possibility of it even getting there should be impossible.

Actor Ray Liotta agreed that the checks on firearms are usually extensive.

They always  that I know of  they check it so you can see, Liotta said in an interview Sunday at the Newport Beach Film Festival. They give it to the person youre pointing the gun at, they do it to the producer, they show whoever is there that it doesnt work."

Rust Movie Productions has not answered repeated emails seeking comment.

Baldwin, who is a producer on Rust, met with Hutchins' husband and 9-year-old son Saturday at a hotel in Santa Fe where the actor had been staying during filming. Baldwin and Hutchins' husband can be seen embracing in a photo published by the New York Post.

A vigil for Hutchins was held Sunday in Southern California, where attendees exchanged tearful hugs and speakers called for heightened safety standards on film sets.

Goll said in her email that during work on Into the Dark, Halls didn't hold safety meetings and consistently failed to announce the presence of a firearm on set to the crew, as is protocol. The assistant prop master admonished Halls several times for dismissing the actors before they had returned weapons to the props table, she said.

She became most concerned, however, when the supervising pyrotechnician, who is diabetic, was found unconscious in a chair, she said. Halls wanted to resume filming after the man was removed from the set even though Goll, the remaining pyrotechnician on site, didn't have the qualifications to supervise the complicated series of pyrotechnic effects that were planned.

One of the things that stuck out to me most about that day is the fact that he called out on radio over channel one, Hey, Maggie says we can keep going! and I basically held the button down so he couldnt transmit to anyone else on that channel while I yelled out, No, Dave, thats not what I said. Were not doing that, she recalled in a phone interview.

She filed an internal complaint with the executive producers of Blumhouse Productions about that day, she said.

To my knowledge nothing was done after my complaints, she said in an email.

I am gutted at not pushing harder for greater accountability and safety," she wrote. "Many of us have messaged each other wondering the same thing: is there something we could have done then that would have prevented the tragedy?

___

Flaccus reported from Portland, Oregon. Associated Press writers Jake Coyle and Jocelyn Noveck in New York; Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles; Walter Berry in Phoenix; and Michelle Eaton in Newport Beach, California, contributed to this report.
NEW DELHI, India (AP)  Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as its own employees cast doubt over the companys motivations and interests.

From research as recent as March of this year to company memos that date back to 2019, the internal company documents on India highlight Facebooks constant struggles in quashing abusive content on its platforms in the worlds biggest democracy and the companys largest growth market. Communal and religious tensions in India have a history of boiling over on social media and stoking violence.

The files show that Facebook has been aware of the problems for years, raising questions over whether it has done enough to address these issues. Many critics and digital experts say it has failed to do so, especially in cases where members of Prime Minister Narendra Modis ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, are involved.

Across the world, Facebook has become increasingly important in politics, and India is no different.

Modi has been credited for leveraging the platform to his party's advantage during elections, and reporting from The Wall Street Journal last year cast doubt over whether Facebook was selectively enforcing its policies on hate speech to avoid blowback from the BJP. Both Modi and Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have exuded bonhomie, memorialized by a 2015 image of the two hugging at the Facebook headquarters.

The leaked documents include a trove of internal company reports on hate speech and misinformation in India. In some cases, much of it was intensified by its own recommended feature and algorithms. But they also include the company staffers' concerns over the mishandling of these issues and their discontent expressed about the viral malcontent on the platform.

According to the documents, Facebook saw India as one of the most at risk countries in the world and identified both Hindi and Bengali languages as priorities for automation on violating hostile speech. Yet, Facebook didnt have enough local language moderators or content-flagging in place to stop misinformation that at times led to real-world violence.

In a statement to the AP, Facebook said it has invested significantly in technology to find hate speech in various languages, including Hindi and Bengali which has resulted in reduced the amount of hate speech that people see by half in 2021.

"Hate speech against marginalized groups, including Muslims, is on the rise globally. So we are improving enforcement and are committed to updating our policies as hate speech evolves online, a company spokesperson said.

This AP story, along with others being published, is based on disclosures made to the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided to Congress in redacted form by former Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugens legal counsel. The redacted versions were obtained by a consortium of news organizations, including the AP.

Back in February 2019 and ahead of a general election when concerns of misinformation were running high, a Facebook employee wanted to understand what a new user in the country saw on their news feed if all they did was follow pages and groups solely recommended by the platform itself.

The employee created a test user account and kept it live for three weeks, a period during which an extraordinary event shook India  a militant attack in disputed Kashmir had killed over 40 Indian soldiers, bringing the country to near war with rival Pakistan.

In the note, titled An Indian Test Users Descent into a Sea of Polarizing, Nationalistic Messages, the employee whose name is redacted said they were shocked by the content flooding the news feed which has become a near constant barrage of polarizing nationalist content, misinformation, and violence and gore.

Seemingly benign and innocuous groups recommended by Facebook quickly morphed into something else altogether, where hate speech, unverified rumors and viral content ran rampant.

The recommended groups were inundated with fake news, anti-Pakistan rhetoric and Islamophobic content. Much of the content was extremely graphic.

One included a man holding the bloodied head of another man covered in a Pakistani flag, with an Indian flag in the place of his head. Its Popular Across Facebook feature showed a slew of unverified content related to the retaliatory Indian strikes into Pakistan after the bombings, including an image of a napalm bomb from a video game clip debunked by one of Facebooks fact-check partners.

Following this test users News Feed, Ive seen more images of dead people in the past three weeks than Ive seen in my entire life total, the researcher wrote.

It sparked deep concerns over what such divisive content could lead to in the real world, where local news at the time were reporting on Kashmiris being attacked in the fallout.

Should we as a company have an extra responsibility for preventing integrity harms that result from recommended content? the researcher asked in their conclusion.

The memo, circulated with other employees, did not answer that question. But it did expose how the platforms own algorithms or default settings played a part in spurring such malcontent. The employee noted that there were clear blind spots, particularly in local language content. They said they hoped these findings would start conversations on how to avoid such integrity harms, especially for those who differ significantly from the typical U.S. user.

Even though the research was conducted during three weeks that werent an average representation, they acknowledged that it did show how such unmoderated and problematic content could totally take over during a major crisis event.

The Facebook spokesperson said the test study inspired deeper, more rigorous analysis of its recommendation systems and contributed to product changes to improve them."

Separately, our work on curbing hate speech continues and we have further strengthened our hate classifiers, to include four Indian languages, the spokesperson said.

Other research files on misinformation in India highlight just how massive a problem it is for the platform.

In January 2019, a month before the test user experiment, another assessment raised similar alarms about misleading content. In a presentation circulated to employees, the findings concluded that Facebooks misinformation tags werent clear enough for users, underscoring that it needed to do more to stem hate speech and fake news. Users told researchers that clearly labeling information would make their lives easier.

Again, it was noted that the platform didnt have enough local language fact-checkers, which meant a lot of content went unverified.

Alongside misinformation, the leaked documents reveal another problem plaguing Facebook in India: anti-Muslim propaganda, especially by Hindu-hardline groups.

India is Facebooks largest market with over 340 million users  nearly 400 million Indians also use the companys messaging service WhatsApp. But both have been accused of being vehicles to spread hate speech and fake news against minorities.

In February 2020, these tensions came to life on Facebook when a politician from Modis party uploaded a video on the platform in which he called on his supporters to remove mostly Muslim protesters from a road in New Delhi if the police didnt. Violent riots erupted within hours, killing 53 people. Most of them were Muslims. Only after thousands of views and shares did Facebook remove the video.

In April, misinformation targeting Muslims again went viral on its platform as the hashtag Coronajihad flooded news feeds, blaming the community for a surge in COVID-19 cases. The hashtag was popular on Facebook for days but was later removed by the company.

For Mohammad Abbas, a 54-year-old Muslim preacher in New Delhi, those messages were alarming.

Some video clips and posts purportedly showed Muslims spitting on authorities and hospital staff. They were quickly proven to be fake, but by then Indias communal fault lines, still stressed by deadly riots a month earlier, were again split wide open.

The misinformation triggered a wave of violence, business boycotts and hate speech toward Muslims. Thousands from the community, including Abbas, were confined to institutional quarantine for weeks across the country. Some were even sent to jails, only to be later exonerated by courts.

People shared fake videos on Facebook claiming Muslims spread the virus. What started as lies on Facebook became truth for millions of people, Abbas said.

Criticisms of Facebooks handling of such content were amplified in August of last year when The Wall Street Journal published a series of stories detailing how the company had internally debated whether to classify a Hindu hard-line lawmaker close to Modis party as a dangerous individual"  a classification that would ban him from the platform  after a series of anti-Muslim posts from his account.

The documents reveal the leadership dithered on the decision, prompting concerns by some employees, of whom one wrote that Facebook was only designating non-Hindu extremist organizations as dangerous.

The documents also show how the companys South Asia policy head herself had shared what many felt were Islamophobic posts on her personal Facebook profile. At the time, she had also argued that classifying the politician as dangerous would hurt Facebooks prospects in India.

The author of a December 2020 internal document on the influence of powerful political actors on Facebook policy decisions notes that Facebook routinely makes exceptions for powerful actors when enforcing content policy. The document also cites a former Facebook chief security officer saying that outside of the U.S., local policy heads are generally pulled from the ruling political party and are rarely drawn from disadvantaged ethnic groups, religious creeds or casts" which "naturally bends decision-making towards the powerful.

Months later the India official quit Facebook. The company also removed the politician from the platform, but documents show many company employees felt the platform had mishandled the situation, accusing it of selective bias to avoid being in the crosshairs of the Indian government.

Several Muslim colleagues have been deeply disturbed/hurt by some of the language used in posts from the Indian policy leadership on their personal FB profile, an employee wrote.

Another wrote that barbarism" was being allowed to flourish on our network.

Its a problem that has continued for Facebook, according to the leaked files.

As recently as March this year, the company was internally debating whether it could control the fear mongering, anti-Muslim narratives pushed by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a far-right Hindu nationalist group which Modi is also a part of, on its platform.

In one document titled Lotus Mahal, the company noted that members with links to the BJP had created multiple Facebook accounts to amplify anti-Muslim content, ranging from calls to oust Muslim populations from India and Love Jihad, an unproven conspiracy theory by Hindu hard-liners who accuse Muslim men of using interfaith marriages to coerce Hindu women to change their religion.

The research found that much of this content was never flagged or actioned since Facebook lacked classifiers and moderators in Hindi and Bengali languages. Facebook said it added hate speech classifiers in Hindi starting in 2018 and introduced Bengali in 2020.

The employees also wrote that Facebook hadnt yet put forth a nomination for designation of this group given political sensitivities.

The company said its designations process includes a review of each case by relevant teams across the company and are agnostic to region, ideology or religion and focus instead on indicators of violence and hate. It did not, however, reveal whether the Hindu nationalist group had since been designated as dangerous.

___

Associated Press writer Sam McNeil in Beijing contributed to this report.

___

See full coverage of the Facebook Papers here: https://apnews.com/hub/the-facebook-papers
CHICAGO (AP)  Illinois Democrats have unveiled updated congressional maps that propose a second Latino-leaning Chicago area district and could mean primary matchups for two Democratic incumbents in the suburbs and in two other races featuring Republican incumbents.

Democrats, who control state government and redistricting in Illinois, released the revised maps Saturday. The maps come weeks after their first draft of boundaries that were also aimed at giving Democratic candidates an advantage in elections as the party fights to keep control of the U.S. House in 2022.

State legislators are scheduled to meet in Springfield on Tuesday and Wednesday to consider the maps, which are redrawn every decade based on census data. Illinois, which currently has 18 U.S. House members, will lose a congressional seat because of population loss.

Under the new maps, a proposed congressional district would connect Latino populations on the northwest side of Chicago with the city's West Side and western suburbs for a second Latino-leaning district, in addition to the one currently represented by U.S. Rep. Jesus Chuy Garcia, a Chicago Democrat.

The changes made in this updated congressional map will help ensure the diversity of Illinois is reflected in Washington, state Sen. Omar Aquino, a Chicago Democrat who is chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee, said in a statement. We appreciate the many advocacy groups and individuals that continue to guide our work with passion and dedication, as we remain focused on the creation of a fair map that will provide equal representation for all.

The new proposed maps also mean some potential incumbent matchups next year. The Illinois primary is in June.

First-term Rep. Marie Newman of LaGrange and two-term Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove, both Democrats, would be in the same suburban Chicago district. That's different from the first version of the maps in which six-term Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump, was drawn into Newman's district. The revised maps would put Kinzinger's hometown into the same sprawling district as four-term Republican Rep. Darin LaHood of Dunlap, a strong Trump supporter.

The revised map also means a potential GOP primary matchup between first-term Rep. Mary Miller of Oakland and four-term Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro.

The Illinois Republican Party and advocacy groups have blasted the mapmaking process as partisan and lacking transparency. Democrats held several public hearings, but almost all were without any draft maps for the public to comment on and were attended mostly only by lawmakers.

Illinois GOP spokesman Joe Hackler on Sunday called the latest maps an even more aggressive plan to protect Democrats.

As we said for the last version of the map, Illinois Democrats, led by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, have made it clear that they are willing to disenfranchise Illinois voters and break repeated campaign promises to do the bidding of (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and (Washington) D.C. power brokers," Hackler said in an email.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  A senior U.S. diplomat on Sunday urged North Korea to refrain from additional missile tests and resume nuclear diplomacy, days after the North fired off its first underwater-launched ballistic missile in two years.

Sung Kim, the U.S. envoy on North Korea, spoke after meeting with South Korean officials to discuss North Koreas recent missile tests while nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang remain stalled.

We call on the DPRK to cease these provocations and other destabilizing activities, and instead, engage in dialogue, Kim told reporters, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

We remain ready to meet with the DPRK without preconditions and we have made clear that the United States harbors no hostile intent towards the DPRK, he said.

Last Tuesday, North Korea fired a newly developed ballistic missile from a submarine in its fifth round of weapons tests in recent weeks.

South Korean officials said the submarine-fired missile appeared to be in an early stage of development. That marked the Norths first underwater-launched test since October 2019, and the most high-profile one since President Joe Biden took office in January.

Missiles fired from submarines are harder to detect in advance and would provide North Korea with a secondary, retaliatory attack capability.

Tuesdays launch violates multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban any activity by North Korea in the area of ballistic missiles. Kim said the test poses a threat to the international community and is concerning and counterproductive to efforts to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Kims South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, said the two had an in-depth discussion on Seouls push for a symbolic declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War as a way to bring peace. Noh said he and Kim also reaffirmed that North Koreas issues of concern can be discussed once talks are restarted.

The U.S.-led talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program have been largely stalled since early 2019, when a summit between then-President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un collapsed due to disputes over U.S.-led sanctions on the North.

The Biden administration has repeatedly said its ready to meet North Korea anywhere and at any time without preconditions. But North Korea says a return to talks is conditional on the U.S. dropping what it calls hostile policy, an apparent reference to the sanctions and regular military drills between Washington and Seoul.

Before the submarine missile launch, North Korea had also tested several other new weapons systems over a six-week period, including its longest-range cruise missile and a hypersonic missile currently under development.

Those weapons potentially put U.S. allies South Korea and Japan within striking range. Some experts say North Korea may also in coming weeks test a missile that could reach the American homeland in order to maximize its pressure campaign on the United States.

___

Associated Press video journalist Kim Yong Ho contributed to this report.
The first OLED displays to be used in mobile phones arrived in 2003  almost all of them flip phones. And theres a simple reason for that, the displays were tiny and were placed as the secondary screen on the outside of the flip.

Some of them were able to render 256 colors, though others were monochrome. Phones like the Samsung E700 and the LG G7030 had such color displays with 96x64px resolution, while the inner screen were 128x160px that could deliver 65K colors (16-bit).



Samsung E700  LG G7030  Motorola V303  Maxon MX-7990

OLED continued to be used exclusively on flip phones for the next few years until the first AMOLED display arrived on mobile in 2006. These days OLED and AMOLED are used somewhat interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. The AM stands for Active Matrix and it is key for having a high resolution, good quality display.

Well skip over the details, but the important thing to note is that an Active Matrix attaches each pixel to a transistor and capacitor to maintain the pixels state. A Passive Matrix is simpler since it omits these components and saves on complexity and cost. But it limits the displays to low resolutions and refresh rates.

Perhaps we also need to say a few words on LCD vs. OLED. An LCD has a backlight (typically white) and it blocks light from it using several polarizing layers (including a liquid crystal layer). An OLED  Organic Light Emitting Diode  doesnt need a backlight as each LED emits its own light. Theres no need for polarization layers either (though these can come in handy as well see soon).

Which phone was the herald of the AMOLED domination we see today? The BenQ-Siemens S88. This brand arose when Taiwans BenQ bought Siemens struggling phone division, but folded pretty quickly after massive loses early on. Anyway, the S88 featured a 2MP camera with autofocus and LED flash, a memory card slot and basic 2G connectivity.

BenQ-Siemens S88 was the first mobile phone with an AMOLED display

More important for our story today is the 2.0 AMOLED panel that was manufactured by AU Optronics. It had a resolution of 176 x 220 px and was capable of displaying 256K colors. This resolution was not atypical for the era, though it is on the low side compared to some competitors. What set it apart is its ability to display true black. Though we may have rose-colored glasses.

Reviewers at the time knocked the display for being dim (AMOLEDs were dimmer than LCD for many years to come). And at that size and resolution true blacks were probably not a major boon. Also, while AMOLED always offered vibrant colors, color accuracy took some doing.

Things were pretty quiet after the S88 launched, at least until the Nokia N85 arrived in 2008. It had a larger 2.6 AMOLED display of much higher quality  240 x 320 px resolution (154 ppi) and capable of rendering 16M colors. It was a Symbian phone with a capable 5MP camera and a slew of multimedia and other advanced features. This was a sequel to the Nokia N95 after all, arguably the most capable phones of its day.



The Nokia N85 had a brilliant 3" AMOLED display that could render 16 million colors

Samsung also joined the AMOLED party with the M7500 Emporio Armani, which arrived in December of 2008, just a couple of months after the Nokia launched. There were a couple of other Samsung phones announced in 2008, but they wouldnt reach the market until 2009.

Also, a couple of AMOLED-equipped Sagem phones arrived with edgy Porsche Design... designs.



Samsung M7500 Emporio Armani  Samsung i7110  Samsung i7110  Sagem P9521 Porsche

Things really picked up in 2009 with many iconic Samsungs. This includes the Samsung I7500 Galaxy, the first ever Galaxy phone (we will cover this one in more detail in the future). There was also the Pixon12, several Windows Mobile and Symbian powered Omnia phones and the Samsung S8000 Jet, one of the most capable feature phones ever. Nokia released the N86 8MP, but it was clear that Samsung was the biggest fan of the AMOLED technology at that point.



Samsung I7500 Galaxy  Samsung M8910 Pixon12  Samsung I8000 Omnia II  Samsung S8000 Jet

Still no Super AMOLED, though. As we mentioned in the story of the original Galaxy S, it may have popularized the new panel type, but it wasnt the first to use it.

That was the Samsung S8500 Wave from 2010. Having launched Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian smartphones (not to mention dozens of featurephones), its clear that Samsung hadnt settled on a single platform at the time. The Wave was the first of a series of phones to run Bada OS (bada is Korean for ocean, hence the Wave naming of the series).



The Samsung S8500 Wave was the first phone to use a Super AMOLED display

The Samsung Wave had a 3.3 Super AMOLED display with 480x800px resolution (283 ppi) and a sheet of first generation Gorilla Glass on top. Super AMOLED is the name Samsung gave to a specific AMOLED panel that it developed  it had an integrated touch digitizer (the thing that senses when your finger touches the screen). Previously, the digitizer was a separate layer, but that leads to worse optical qualities. Super AMOLED reflects much less light than a typical AMOLED touchscreen of the day, since theres no gap between the touch and the display layers.

Removing air gaps from the display is not the only way to improve how the display handles bright ambient light. Nokia created what it called ClearBlack for its AMOLED screens, a polarization filter that greatly reduced glare. It was first featured on the likes of the Nokia C6-01 and Nokia E7.



The Nokia C6-01 used ClearBlack technology to reduce the glare and reflectivity of its display

The Samsung Galaxy S II is also notable to our story as one of the first  and one of the few ever  phones with an RGB AMOLED display. Most AMOLEDs then and now stick to some arrangement where individual pixels dont have the full RGB stripe.



The Samsung Galaxy S II is one of the few phones ever to have a full-stripe RGB AMOLED display

AMOLED displays soon developed another advantage over LCD  they could be made on a plastic substrate. This meant that the display itself could flex, even if its protective glass (or indeed the rest of the phone) could not. This led to the first phones with curved displays, which we covered last week. This included some flexible phones, though that was more of a party trick than a precursor to the modern day flexible phones.

The Samsung Galaxy Round was curved (but not flexible)

LG developed a curved, flexible display and battery for the G Flex

Thats still something only possible with AMOLED, however. Another is that the AMOLED panel is not opaque  you can put things behind it. Things like an optical fingerprint reader. The first phone to pull that off was 2018s the vivo X20 Plus UD (UD standing for under display). Heres our first meeting with the phone:

That was just the start. As quality improved, engineers were able to get a camera to work behind the display  the first to bring this to market was the ZTE Axon 20 5G from last year. It wasnt perfect, neither the display nor the camera, but weve already seen the second generation technology, which showed improvement on both counts.

Now that weve caught up to the current state of OLED on mobile phones, what does the future look like? Well, there are two major challenges to OLEDs domination  mini-LED and microLED.

Despite sounding similar, the two are (literally) as different as LCD and OLED. Indeed, mini-LED is just an LCD with smaller LEDs used in the backlight, enabling a greater number of dimming zones. Micro-LED is basically OLED without the organic compounds in the LED make-up  these will be brighter, more efficient and wont suffer from burn in.

But micro-LED isnt ready for prime time yet, meaning OLED will be with us for some time to come. Especially since costs have come down and now even mid-rangers can have an OLED display.
Weekly poll: Pixel 6 series is going on sale next week, who is getting one?

It finally happened  Google bought modern image sensors to the Pixels! Previously it relied on its image processing magic, sometimes (but not always) backed by its custom chip, the Pixel Visual Core.

The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro do have a custom chip inside them, the most important chip, in fact. The Tensor is Googles first custom chipset for mobile phones, crafted with the help of Samsung and its 5nm foundries.

Its an unusual chip, the first one weve seen with two Cortex-X1 cores (the Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100 only have one), plus it makes the odd decision to use the older Cortex-A76 cores in the middle. It will be interesting to see how those perform, but its the custom parts that were most curious about.

Theres the Titan M2 security chip, which will be in charge of protecting sensitive data on your phone. Google has decided to offer 5 years of security patches, but only 3 years of Pixel Feature Drops. Also, there is custom image processing hardware inside the chipset, which will help out the camera app.

Back to the cameras. Both phones share the 1/1.3 Samsung GN1 sensor with 1.2 m pixels (before the 4-in-1 binning takes place). Then there is a 12 MP ultra wide camera and thats it for the smaller Pixel.

The Pro model also boasts a 4x telephoto lens with a 48MP sensor behind it  were eager to see this in action with Googles Super Res Zoom algorithm (which previously had only a tiny 12MP sensor and no optical magnification to work with). Actually, were eager to see HDR+ work its magic on that main sensor too.

Lets compare the screens next. The Pixel 6 Pro panel is larger, 6.7 vs. 6.4, though with the curved sides the two phones arent that different in size. The higher resolution, 1440p+ v.s. 1080p+, and higher refresh rate, 120 Hz vs. 90 Hz, should be noticeable. Also, the Pro has the advantage of an LTPO panel with a variable refresh rate.

Then there are the batteries, both quite large  5,000 mAh on the Pro, 4,614 mAh on the vanilla. They support 30W fast charging (50% in half an hours) and fast wireless charging 23/21W. Youd need to buy your own chargers, though. If you want to go wireless, the new Pixel Stand may be the way to go.

We should also mention that the connectivity section includes mmWave sometimes. In markets with active networks, the Pro has it, the smaller phone has it sometimes  depending on which carrier you get it from. Note that mmWave support costs more (e.g. in the US Verizons version is $100 exactly due to having mmWave support).

mmWave 5G is available in some markets, though it makes some Pixel 6 units pricier

Having reached the topic of pricing, lets have a closer look. The Pixel 6 starts at $600/650, the Pixel 6 Pro at $900/900. Thats a sizable $300/250 gap between them  all that for a periscope and an LTPO display, is it worth it?

Thats what were asking you today, but we should warn you that the Pixels will be available only in a few countries: the US and Canada, the UK and Ireland, Australia, Germany, France, Taiwan and Japan. Google confirmed that (for now) the phones are not coming to India.

Lets have a look at some competition before you head to the polling station. The iPhone 13 starts at $800/800 and comes with upgraded main and ultra wide cameras (no telephoto). However, it missed out on the high refresh rate, so its display runs at 60 Hz. Does that make the Pixel 6 an easy pick? Not so fast  Apple is still releasing new iOS versions for its 5-year old phones, so software support is a win for the iPhone. Also, the 13 is smaller (6.1) and has better water resistance.

The iPhone 13 Pro starts at $1,000/1,150, more expensive than even the Pixel 6 Pro, the Pro Max model is even more expensive. You do get 3x telephoto lenses with these along with 120 Hz LTPO AMOLED panels. And the better software support (we really thought that Google using its own chipset would improve things in that regard). Plus, while the main camera has only a 12 MP sensor, who needs binning with pixels as large as 1.9 m?



Apple iPhone 13  Apple iPhone 13 Pro  Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max

A Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 starts at $1,000/1,050 and that is if you have nothing to trade in. It offers a foldable experience that Google hasnt delivered yet (though we keep hearing rumors), so its a chance to try out a new form factor, even if the camera situation wont be as nice.

Samsung does have better cameras on the Galaxy S21 and S21+ (the two use identical setups, in fact). Thats a large 1/1.76 sensor that has 1.8m pixels, plus that 64MP camera that offers both smooth zoom up to 3x and full resolution 64MP stills. You could also consider the S21 Ultra, that one has a 108MP main camera (1/1.33 sensor), plus a regular and periscope telephoto lenses. It costs more. How much?

The Galaxy S21 starts at $850/900, the S21+ is $1,000/1,100 and the S21 Ultra is $1,200/1,300 (again, with no trade-ins). If youre considering the Pixel 6 Pro then the Galaxy prices are comparable, but the vanilla Pixel 6 certainly undercuts the competition.



Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G  Samsung Galaxy S21 5G  Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G

There are other phones to look at, e.g. the Sony Xperia 1 III. Its pricey and Sony only promises at least two years of OS updates. As did Motorola for the Edge 20 Pro. Other than that both are capable flagships with near-stock Android and there arent too many of those around. An Asus Zenfone 8 Flip, perhaps, which is in the same boat of 2 years of OS updates.



Sony Xperia 1 III  Motorola Edge 20 Pro  Asus Zenfone 8 Flip

So, will you be picking up a new Pixel phone and which one? And don't forget that the first units will start shipping out on October 28, until them you have the chance to score some pre-order goodies. You can find more details on the goodies here (or here for the US).

If youre having issues voting with the embedded widget above, try casting your vote here.
Do you know what aswang are? Basically, think of your worst fears come to life. It could be the man-eating monsters who come out at night, or the shadow that lurks beneath your bed.

Think about those, and then magnify it by a hundred. Aswang is a general term for all of the man-eating monsters in the Philippines, and there are as many tales of them as the islands from which they come.

So you could imagine my surprise when my grandma told me, Did you know that some of your family in the Philippines are half aswang?

According to my grandmother, Mila Danganen, When I was young, my mother always made sure we never visited them in fear that something might happen to us if we did.

The reason why they believed this is because of what my grandmothers great aunt witnessed when she stayed overnight with the so-called half aswang.

She woke up in the middle of the night because she kept on hearing some thuds coming from one of the rooms, and when she went to check she saw what looked like half of someones body floating, a manananggal, Danganen said.

A manananggal, according to my grandfather, Reynaldo Danganen, is a blood-sucking monster that consists of a severed torso and can fly.

Generally, when we hear wings flapping at night, it is believed to be the sound of the mananangal searching for its next meal, my grandfather said.

They like to eat 1-month-old babies. But if there is a pregnant lady nearby, the mananangal will use its long tongue to get to the baby in the stomach and suck on its heart. To them, thats their lechon! my grandfather said.

There are a lot of them seen in Visayas because a lot of the pregnant women there give birth at home since there are not a lot of hospitals there, he added.

These legends make up a big part of Filipino culture, and they have resulted in common practices that Filipino people do to avoid getting hurt or cursed.

According to 15-year-old Gwenn Nava, a Dededo resident who was raised in the Philippines for most of her childhood, It is believed that if we see an ant hill, we would have to say tabi tabi po to pay respect and let them know you were there, as if saying excuse me, so that it wont bother the small people living in there.

Disturbing them could lead to you having weird marks or bruises depending, however, I have never experienced any of these.

The small people that Nava is referring to are known as duwendes. They are dwarves who live in anthills, and depending on what color they are, they could bring good or bad luck. Guam has similar stories of duendes, or little people, who live in the jungle and play tricks on people.

Another infamous supernatural creature in the Philippines is the kapre, also known as the tall man, according to my aunt, Rochelle Rasco.

They like to sit in trees and smoke cigars. So, if you smell some smoke in the jungle, it might be them.

From what is understood about the kapres, they generally are nonchalant and arent out to hurt humans  unless somebody cuts down their tree.

Kapres, duwendes, and manananggals only make up a small portion of supernatural creatures in the Philippines, so be on the lookout for more when you visit!
October marks National Bullying Prevention Month, and some Guam teens are sharing their experiences with cyberbullying and in-person bullying.

I experienced bullying in elementary and middle school, said Steylizahae Houkel, 16-year-old George Washington High School student. I used to get bullied for being Chuukese. I also didnt fit in with others, said Houkel, who lives in Mangilao.

I didnt want anyone worrying about me so I kept everything that happened in school to myself. I wasnt comfortable with sharing personal problems with any elder, said Houkel. I didnt want my mother worrying about me. Thats why I didnt tell her at all, I also was worried about my sister because of how some students were in school.

Unwanted behavior

Bullying is unwanted aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated or has a potential to be repeated over time, said Sgt. Magdalena Maggie Naputi, who is in charge of the Guam Police Departments Juvenile Section.

While there is no law against bullying, incidents could fall under various crimes such as harassment, assault or terrorizing, she said.

Although police have not been receiving significant numbers of reports about bullying during the pandemic, that doesnt mean its not happening, they say.

When students are on campus, teachers or counselors are available to help victims report bullying incidents, but during remote learning periods, kids may not have the resources or guidance on how to alert authorities about cyberbullying, according to Guam Police Department spokesman Sgt. Paul Tapao.

Cyberbullying

Police have been investigating quite a few cases of cyberbullying this year, Naputi said. But as Tapao indicated, not all cases get reported.

Maria Isabel Santos, a 16-year old Okkodo High School student, said she experienced cyberbullying on a variety of apps, including Facebook Messenger, Instagram and Snapchat.

The only concern I had was self-insecurity. However, I managed not to take in negativity, Santos said. I had trusted adults, but I told them that everything was under control even if inside I was a little down.

The issue is pervasive, and not even the children of police officers are immune.

Be an upstander

My daughter was a victim of what we call WhatsApp cyberbullying, Sgt. Tapao said. They were just belittling my daughter.

He said a friend of hers saw what they were doing online, and rather than being just a bystander, became an upstander  someone who takes action when they witness bullying. She was that upstander who said, You know, you guys, this is not right. Shes a good person, you know, shes my friend, Im not going to be a part of this, and Im going to tell her, and she did.

His daughter also had the support of her parents, who talked to her about staying positive against all the negativity directed at her.

We encourage parents to listen to whats going on with your kids, and work together at finding solutions, and understanding that, you know, its not the same when we were kids. We have to find out what is best suited for the child, based on the situation.

He also encouraged children and teens to take the same actions as his daughters friend.

You as an individual if youre seeing somebody or you know somebody thats being bullied, dont be a bystander. Be an upstander, make a difference in that persons life because you have the greater connection to bringing change.

How to be an upstander

If youre a bystander and witness someone bullying another student, heres what you can do, according to StopBullying.gov:
Corrections & Clarifications: Previous versions of this story incorrectly stated the recipient of the Agana Shopping Center donations. The donations are going to Guam Cancer Care.

Halloween is less than a week away and despite the restrictions due to the ongoing pandemic, several shopping establishments opted to adjust.

In anticipation, residents are looking to prepare for the family night by calling the malls, the main epicenters for holiday celebrations. They want to know whether or not they will be holding in-person or virtual events, according to Guam Premier Outlet Marketing and social media coordinator Nicole Carriaga.

We received phone calls asking whether or not we will be doing the drive-thru (or) would it be in the same area?, Carriaga said.

Prepared

Although Public Health didnt issue their Halloween guidelines until Oct. 13, some business establishments had already gone ahead to plan both virtual and in-person activities since the start of October.

I had reached out to the governors office and inquired if we could do the curbside trick or treating like we did last year and they said basically, as long as we follow the same routine, wed be okay, said GPO Marketing and Shopping Center Manager Suzanne Perez.

Changing course

As for another shopping mall establishment, Agana Shopping Center found themselves having to scrap their plans and re-strategize.

Originally we planned to have our No Tricks All Treats Halloween Event five months ago because we wanted to have everything prepared ahead of time, said ASC Promotions Coordinator Kerissa Espinosa. We invited businesses to purchase a table and all of the proceeds would benefit Guam Cancer Care for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and at the same time, they would be giving out candy. Unfortunately, due to the mandate, were unable to do so.

Fortunately, Espinosa said that they still have donations and plan to give them to Guam Cancer Care.

Along with re-strategizing, she also mentioned that ASC will continue its Halloween spirit by having a doorbuster giveaway on Halloween and allow their tenants to pass out Halloween goodies.

Going virtual

Because of their experiences from last year, the malls decided to hold many of their other events virtually, some throughout the month so residents have a chance to join in on the festivities while still within the COVID-19 restrictions.

A lot of our customers are a little bit more relieved that they (the events) are virtual this year versus having them face-to-face, said Perez. This year, were following the same format and the only thing we need to work on is traffic control which we are communicating right now with our security team.
Parents and students are asking the Guam Department of Education to implement activities that would teach real-life lessons to benefit students after graduation.

Guam DOEs Strategic Planning Committee holds sessions to review policies and address updates to the State Strategic Plan. The goal is to address fundamental weaknesses that make it difficult for the department to achieve its goals and objectives.

Life skills

During a meeting last week, while officials were presenting the draft plan, many parents and students said the plan should include lessons in real-life skills such as building a resume, financial literacy and applying for jobs after the students graduate.

I think as a DOE official, and working on a strategic plan, we definitely do think about reading, writing, and math. But of course, we would want competency and efficiency in those areas, said Superintendent Jon Fernandez.

The department is looking to address areas where there is a lack of balance in the curriculum, instruction and assessment practices. The department also wants a framework to connect goals, objectives and activities.

Fernandez said if students and parents feel they are not addressed in the strategic plan, he will work with them so they know the importance of the input sessions.

I always think from parents, what you want to know is what do you dream for your kids? And some families say that I just want them to have a steady job. Some say I want them to travel the world. Its those types of goals, and if we have those shared goals, we want to understand, because thats the important part of the strategic plan said Fernandez.

Previous suggestion

Deputy Superintendent Erica Cruz said since 2012, shes wanted to have students graduate with resume portfolios.

What I wanted to see was that as every student becomes seniors, they have a police clearance and court clearances, go through a job fair, have a resume and by the time they graduate, they can start working or going to college, said Cruz.

Other sessions

Other virtual sessions have touched on topics such as special education, specialized training for teachers and faculty, improvements and maintenance of school facilities and maximizing the use of technology in academics.

Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum Joe Sanchez said some of the feedback has been incorporated into strategies in the draft.

In November, the department will present its second draft of the strategic plan to the Guam Education Board.
Asher Kaeden Banzal, 3, looks on as his father, Jaime Banzal, 41, receives a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 booster shot from Federal Emergency Management Agency-contracted EMT Katherine Mata at a vaccination clinic at the University of Guams Calvo Field House in Mangilao Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021.




Haiti - Mexico : Important round table on bilateral cooperation with Mexico





Friday, October 22, 2021 the Ambassador, Hugues Momplaisir Fequiere accompanied by Minister Counselors, Jean-Claude Lappe, Ms. Darline Florestal and Counselor Paul Tialy Nazaire, took part in an important round table with the Secretariat of External Relations of Mexico, the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID), the Ambassadors of Argentina, Panama, the Dominican Republic and the representatives of Brazil, Colombia and Cuba.



The main objective of this event was to take stock of Haitian-Mexican cooperation and then consider other prospects for cooperation, in particular Haiti's participation in the programs "sembrando vida" (sowing life) and "jovenes construyendo el futuro" (young people building the future) on reforestation and agriculture which should be implemented in favor of young people and farmers/cultivators



In the context of academic cooperation with Mexico, it was discussed:



Academic cooperation between the two countries;



From the graduation ceremony to the 300 former scholarship holders;



The renewal of the scholarship program.



In terms of energy cooperation, it was discussed in particular:



The rehabilitation of the distribution network of Jeremie;



The rehabilitation of the distribution network of Port-de-Paix;



The rehabilitation of the Petion-Bolivar-Marti (PBM) plant in Cap-Haitien;



Rehabilitation of the PBM Central in Gonaives



Rehabilitation of the Carrefour PBM Central



Construction of a 1.2 MW photovoltaic power plant in Jeremie



From the perspective of the rehabilitation of the Anse-a-Veau electrical system.



Issues relating to the crisis Haiti is facing, including the migration crisis, were also discussed. The representatives of the countries at this round table expressed the will of their government to continue their cooperation with Haiti. In addition, they agreed on the need to consider coordinating this cooperation in order to better contribute to the development process of Haiti.



HL / S/ HaitiLibre


















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Editor: Calling all Democrats and Independents! Did you vote for candidate Joe Bid
Dr. Raymond Bushland, one of the two researchers the laboratory was named for, loads an irradiation chamber with screwworm pupae in this undated photo.
Carolina Village resident becomes 'Kentucky Colonel'

Nancy Vance Cooper received her Kentucky Colonel medal from Pete Denton, long-time friend and nominator, in a small ceremony at Carolina Village on Oct. 14.

Nancy Vance Cooper, a Carolina Village resident, has received the highest civilian honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. She is now a Kentucky Colonel.

A Kentucky Colonel Commission certificate is awarded in the name of the Commonwealth by the Governor to individuals with for noteworthy accomplishments, contributions to society, remarkable deeds, or outstanding service to community, state, or nation. The tradition goes back to 1795.

Pete Denton, Coopers nominator and decades-long friend, was present at Carolina Village on Thursday to present Cooper with the honor.

I do not yet have your commission in hand but have notice that the Governor and Secretary of State have signed and it is in route to me to be delivered to you, Denton said. Such a recognition of distinction is a happy event. You earned the accolades. The August Occasion is yours.

Denton went on to explain why Cooper was nominated.

You have all the characteristics of a Kentucky Colonel  good standing in church, community, and circle of influence, high character, sound ethics, intellect, education and social skills, noteworthy accomplishments, kind and generous to others, and ability to find good while forgiving or understanding distractions, he said.

Responded Cooper, I am speechless. Bewildered is a good word. I certainly feel unworthy since I have virtually no contact with the Bluegrass state, don't know much about fine horses or strong drink or any of those other images that come to mind.

Cooper does have family roots in Kentucky, though almost long forgotten. Her maternal grandfather was from Kentucky, but then moved to South Carolina and Atlanta.

Denton added, Those characteristics are displayed by Kentucky Colonels not just in the Commonwealth but in all states and across the Free World.

Many famous and noteworthy people have received commissions and been recognized as Kentucky colonels, including Muhammad Ali, George Clooney, Walt Disney, J. Edgar Hoover, Pope John Paull II, John Lennon, Loretta Lynn, and, of course, Colonel Harlan Sanders.
A WOMAN from Henley has urged people to use quiet fireworks after witnessing one of her dogs shake with fear at the noise.

Donna Crook, a town councillor who lives in Abrahams Road, has two rescue dogs, Binky, a terrier cross, and Bramble, a spaniel cross.

During last months Henley Festival, when there was a fireworks display every night, she gave the dogs medication and turned up her radio but two-year-old Bramble was still absolutely petrified by the noise.

Now she is worried more animals will suffer the same ordeal in the run-up to Bonfire Night and wants people to use quiet alternatives to traditional fireworks.

Councillor Crook, whose house is triple-glazed, said: Bramble physically shakes when the fireworks go off and its quite upsetting to watch.

He will shake and quiver and it goes on for half an hour after the fireworks have stopped.

I have used calming medication and I try turning the radio up loud but nothing seems to work. Its not like I can remove him from the situation because it happens so frequently at this time of the year.

I just think its unfair on animals. There are quiet fireworks and if people used those it would be fantastic.

We have a higher than average amount of fireworks going off in this area from October to December.

There are always people having their own little displays, which is ridiculous.

Because we live on the River Thames, the noise is amplified. I think people feel that if the fireworks are louder then they are somehow bigger but they arent. Its almost as if they are showing off.

I really dont see why the noise is necessary and its such a waste of money  just give the money to charity.

I dont want to spoil the fun for anyone but they should just use quiet ones and be more considerate.

Cllr Crook is also concerned about the impact the bangs have on people with autism or post-traumatic stress disorder.

She presented a motion to the town councils town and community committee in May asking it to encourage firework display organisers to consider using alternatives to traditional fireworks, such as a light show or drone displays.

She said: They are more environmentally friendly and do not cause spent waste to fall randomly, do not startle vulnerable people or distress animals and can provide more visually impressive and flexible displays.

Technology is changing all the time and I think in a few years time there will be better alternatives but for now I think people should just have quiet fireworks.

In 2018, nearly 300,000 people signed a petition calling for fireworks to be banned, triggering a debate in Parliament.

However, the existing legislation, which limits the sale of fireworks to those measuring 120 decibels or less, was deemed appropriate.

In the same year, the Henley Standard launched its Ban the Bangs campaign, encouraging the use of quiet fireworks.

This was in response to an appeal by Wargrave resident Jane Foddy, who first became aware of the issue when her Irish soft-coated wheaten terrier, Teddy, had a bad response. Later, she appeared on ITVs This Morning to discuss the issue with presenters Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford.

Mrs Foddy, a PR consultant who lives in Loddon Drive with her husband John, said: Its not necessary these days because there are alternatives. It is getting better but we still have a way to go.

Using quiet fireworks is much kinder to people and animals and it is such a simple solution. Awareness is a fantastic thing and Im glad people are starting to realise just how far-reaching the damage can be.

It needs local authorities to get on board and press organisers of events to make them realise how animals and people suffer.

The Henley Festival has defended its use of traditional fireworks.

Chief executive Jo Bausor said they were abn integral part of the five-day festival and made it spectacular and memorable for the audiences.

She added: By selecting the fireworks carefully and responsibly  and taking into account the proximity of houses from the firing area  we can ensure that at this point the noise levels will not peak at more than 80 to 85 decibels.

A fireworks event advertised as the UKs largest low-noise display choreographed to music will be held at the Culden Faw Estate from 5pm to 9pm on Bonfire Night.

A spokesman for Xplosive Events, which is staging the display, said: Fireworks do not have to shake the earth. In fact, what we take away by reducing noise levels is significantly made up for in visual impression.

Low noise does not mean no noise. However, without the huge explosions, many more families are able to enjoy a breathtaking and enormous fireworks display without upsetting children, or causing disruption to the local community.
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Dennis and Shelly Hartmann, owners of True Blue Farms in Grand Junction, were inducted earlier this year into the Michigan Farmers Hall of Fame. This past Thursday, the couple and their business received the Manufacturer of the Year award from the South Haven Area Chamber of Commerce.


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Yeong-su Oh, best known for his role as Player 001 on Netflix's hit series, Squid Game, says that the success of the show has changed his life. The 77-year-old actor discussed his newfound fame on South Korea's How Do I Play.

I feel like Im floating on air. It makes me think, I need to calm down, organize my thoughts, and hold myself back right now, he said, according to Soompi.

He explained: So many people have been contacting me, and because I dont have a manager to help me, its hard for me to handle the volume of calls and messages Ive been receiving. So my daughter has been helping me."



Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images

Netflix reports that Squid Game saw the biggest release for a series ever on the platform and reportedly earned the company nearly $900 trillion in earnings.

Things have changed quite a bit. Even when I go out to a cafe or somewhere like that, I now have to be aware of [how I appear to others]. Its made me think, Being famous is tough, too, he explained.

Despite the show's success, it remains unclear whether there will be a second season at some point.

[Via]
WASHINGTON - Democrats are considering a plastic tax to encourage the industry to increase recycling and back off the production of single-use products.

One of the tax provisions under discussion for inclusion in Democrats' budget package is a 20 cent per pound tax on the production of "virgin" plastic resin used for single-use products like food containers and beauty products, which could generate billions of dollars a year in revenue.

RELATED: A look into plastic's trash crisis

The idea stems from legislation introduced this summer by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., designed to encourage manufacturers to switch to recycled plastic and help pay for the clean up of plastic waste.

"The plastics industry has done far too little to address the damage its products cause," Whitehouse said this summer. "Plastic pollution chokes our oceans, hastens climate change, and threatens peoples well-being."

Scientists estimate approximately 8 million metric tons of plastic waste  nearly 20 billion pounds  end up in the worlds oceans each year. The plastic is broken down into smaller and smaller pieces by the combination of salt water, waves and sun, slowly poisoning the fish and other marine creatures that eat it, eventually ending up in humans' food supply.

But plastics is also a core industry in regions like the Texas Gulf Coast, employing 92,000 people in the United States alone and generating $1.2 trillion in annual revenues worldwide. In a letter to Congress earlier this month the Plastics Industry Association warned the tax stood to raise the cost of plastic products by more than 25 percent and drive U.S. production overseas.

"Simply slapping a new tax on virgin resin and expecting significant change ignores the fact that the supply of recycled plastic is limited," read the letter.

If passed in its current form, the plastic tax would start at 10 center per pound of virgin plastic, increasing to 20 cents by 2024.

According to the American Chemistry Council, the United States produces 8.2 billion pounds of plastic resin a month. Under the legislation only plastic employed in single use products would be taxed, leaving plastic items like synthetic clothing and car parts exempt, along with resin that is exported abroad.

In 2018 roughly 40 percent of U.S. plastic production went to single-use products, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  Gov. Ned Lamont has submitted a request for a major disaster declaration to the Biden administration, seeking federal funds to help Connecticut recover from damage caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida.

The Sept. 1 storm dumped as much as 8 inches of rain on parts of the state, resulting heavy flooding and an estimated $7.2 million in damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure, Lamont said.

It also resulted in the death of State Police Sgt. Brian Mohl, whose vehicle was swept away in floodwaters.

The effects from the remnants of Hurricane Ida were of such severity that effective recovery is beyond the capabilities of state and local governments, and as a result, supplemental federal assistance is necessary, Lamont wrote Friday in a letter to the president.

Lamont's request would allow homeowners in Fairfield and New London counties, as well residents of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and the Mohegan Tribal Nation, to receive federal reimbursements for the costs of uninsured damage to their housing and personal property.

According to Lamonts request, just 8% of damaged homes in New London County and 23% in Fairfield County had flood insurance.

The proposed declaration also would allow municipalities in Fairfield and Middlesex counties to receive up to 75% federal reimbursement of the costs of uninsured damage to roads and other infrastructure, as well as costs for emergency response.

The governor's office said public assistance damage assessments in Litchfield, New Haven and New London counties have not been completed and his request could be updated.
PEVELY, Mo. (AP)  A 54-year-old Missouri man was killed Friday evening after he was knocked off his scooter and struck by a tractor-trailer on Interstate 55 near Pevely, Missouri.

A Missouri State Highway Patrol report said Dante R. Trice of St. Louis was driving his 2014 Lance Cali Classic 50 scooter when a man driving a Chevrolet Cruze hit the back of the scooter, causing him to fall off.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

James Colgrove, Columbia University

(THE CONVERSATION) The ongoing battles over COVID-19 vaccination in the U.S. are likely to get more heated when the Food and Drug Administration authorizes emergency use of a vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, expected later this fall.

California has announced it will require the vaccine for elementary school attendance once it receives full FDA approval after emergency use authorization, and other states may follow suit. COVID-19 vaccination mandates in workplaces and colleges have sparked controversy, and the possibility that a mandate might extend to younger children is even more contentious.

Kids are already required to get a host of other vaccines to attend school. School vaccination mandates have been around since the 19th century, and they became a fixture in all 50 states in the 1970s. Vaccine requirements are among the most effective means of controlling infectious diseases, but theyre currently under attack by small but vocal minorities of parents who consider them unacceptable intrusions on parental rights.

As a public health historian who studies the evolution of vaccination policies, I see stark differences between the current debates over COVID-19 vaccination and the public response to previous mandates.

Compulsory vaccination in the past

The first legal requirements for vaccination date to the early 1800s, when gruesome and deadly diseases routinely terrorized communities. A loose patchwork of local and state laws were enacted to stop epidemics of smallpox, the eras only vaccine-preventable disease.

Vaccine mandates initially applied to the general population. But in the 1850s, as universal public education became more common, people recognized that schoolhouses were likely sites for the spread of disease. Some states and localities began enacting laws tying school attendance to vaccination. The smallpox vaccine was crude by todays standards, and concerns about its safety led to numerous lawsuits over mandates.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld compulsory vaccination in two decisions. The first, in 1905, affirmed that mandates are constitutional. The second, in 1922, specifically upheld school-based requirements. In spite of these rulings, many states lacked a smallpox vaccination law, and some states that did have one failed to enforce it consistently. Few states updated their laws as new vaccines became available.

School vaccination laws underwent a major overhaul beginning in the 1960s, when health officials grew frustrated that outbreaks of measles were continuing to occur in schools even though a safe and effective vaccine had recently been licensed.

Many parents mistakenly believed that measles was an annoying but mild disease from which most kids quickly recovered. In fact, it often caused serious complications, including potentially fatal pneumonia and swelling of the brain.

With encouragement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all states updated old laws or enacted new ones, which generally covered all seven childhood vaccines that had been developed by that time: diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps and rubella. In 1968, just half the states had school vaccination requirements; by 1981, all states did.

Expanding requirements, mid-20th century

What is most surprising about this major expansion of vaccination mandates is how little controversy it provoked.

The laws did draw scattered court challenges, usually over the question of exemptions  which children, if any, should be allowed to opt out. These lawsuits were often brought by chiropractors and other adherents of alternative medicine. In most instances, courts turned away these challenges.

There was scant public protest. In contrast to todays vocal and well-networked anti-vaccination activists, organized resistance to vaccination remained on the fringes in the 1970s, the period when these school vaccine mandates were largely passed. Unlike today, when fraudulent theories of vaccine-related harm  such as the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism  circulate endlessly on social media, public discussion of the alleged or actual risks of vaccines was largely absent.

Through most of the 20th century, parents were less likely to question pediatricians recommendations than they are today. In contrast to the empowered patient/consumer of today, an attitude of doctor knows best prevailed. All these factors contributed to overwhelmingly positive views of vaccination, with more than 90% of parents in a 1978 poll reporting that they would vaccinate their children even if there were no law requiring them to do so.

Widespread public support for vaccination enabled the laws to be passed easily  but it took more than placing a law on the books to control disease. Vaccination rates continued to lag in the 1970s, not because of opposition, but because of complacency.

Thanks to the success of earlier vaccination programs, most parents of young children lacked firsthand experience with the suffering and death that diseases like polio or whooping cough had caused in previous eras. But public health officials recognized that those diseases were far from eradicated and would continue to threaten children unless higher rates of vaccination were reached. Vaccines were already becoming a victim of their success. The better they worked, the more people thought they were no longer needed.

In response to this lack of urgency, the CDC launched a nationwide push in 1977 to help states enforce the laws they had recently enacted. Around the country, health officials partnered with school districts to audit student records and provide on-site vaccination programs. When push came to shove, they would exclude unvaccinated children from school until they completed the necessary shots.

The lesson learned was that making a law successful requires ongoing effort and commitment  and continually reminding parents about the value of vaccines in keeping schools and entire communities healthy.

Add COVID-19 to vaccine list for school?

Five decades after school mandates became universal in the U.S., support for them remains strong overall. But misinformation spread over the internet and social media has weakened the public consensus about the value of vaccination that allowed these laws to be enacted.

COVID-19 vaccination has become politicized in a way that is unprecedented, with sharp partisan divides over whether COVID-19 is really a threat, and whether the guidance of scientific experts can be trusted. The attention focused on COVID-19 vaccines has given new opportunities for anti-vaccination conspiracy theories to reach wide audiences.

[Over 115,000 readers rely on The Conversations newsletter to understand the world. Sign up today.]

Fierce opposition to COVID-19 vaccination, powered by anti-government sentiment and misguided notions of freedom, could undermine support for time-tested school requirements that have protected communities for decades. Although vaccinating school-aged children will be critical to controlling COVID-19, lawmakers will need to proceed with caution.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/parents-were-fine-with-sweeping-school-vaccination-mandates-five-decades-ago-but-covid-19-may-be-a-different-story-168899.
For years, Pastor Kim Kossie McGees father prayed for his neighborhood.

He asked God to work through his neighbors to revitalize the Fifth Ward  to create more opportunities and a stronger community.

As McGee walked among local vendors tents and listened to kids squeal in a bounce house set up across Lyons Avenue from her Latter Day Deliverance Church on Saturday, she said it felt like a divine promise kept. Her father, who was pastor at the same church before he died in 2018, would have marveled, she said.

To see all thats happening now, its just amazing, McGee said. He would be beyond thrilled. All the things he prayed for  its happening.

Saturday marked the first I Love Fifth Ward Block Party, which organizer Ashley Ruiz hopes to make an annual event. Small business owners, many from Fifth Ward, lined Benson Street. One woman set up yoga mats and prepared to offer a free class to those who attended, artists showed children painting techniques and neighbors shared stories as they browsed the partys offerings.

It was one of the first events in Fifth Wards burgeoning cultural and arts district, located along Lyons Avenue. Ruiz purchased the old Louis White Grocery store building right in the middle as an investment a couple of years ago and plans to turn it into an event space for the community through her business, Urban Engaged HTX.

A venue like what Ruiz is planning is sorely needed in Fifth Ward, said Deshara Goss, community initiatives manager with the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation. She said there arent any event spaces in the neighborhood, and having it will mean there will be more for residents to do nearby.

Its frustrating to have to travel 20 to 30 minutes out of the neighborhood to celebrate a holiday or go to an event, she said. This will give us more options to celebrate together.

Its a reality Ruiz knows well having grown up in Fifth Ward and now raising a 4-year-old son, Chastin, there too. But Ruiz said shes learned much about her neighborhoods history as she has worked to open up the space. The buildings old owner was Elnora White, who helped plant the seeds of the civil rights movement locally in the late 1940s. She was arrested then for talking back to a white man, according to Houston Chronicle archives. After that, she joined local civil rights groups before gravitating to national civil rights organizations.

All the while, Whites store served as a haven in Fifth Ward, offering credit, counseling and medical help for neighbors who were hard on their luck and often faced discrimination when they would seek those resources elsewhere.

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Ruiz said she wants to continue that legacy. She plans to dedicate each Tuesday and Thursday to the community, offering up her space for things like credit workshops for adults and arts classes for kids.

Even though she died in 2002 and I never met her, I feel a connection, Ruiz said. People here know the building, but they dont know her story. Shes like the Rosa Parks of the Fifth Ward.

shelby.webb@chron.com
Rapper Playboi Carti's concert at NRG Arena was canceled Saturday night due to security concerns.

Videos and photos posted to social media show some fans breaching security barriers outside the stadium, where hundreds of people waited in hourslong lines to see the well-known artist.

The breach prompted a heavy police response, according to photos, though it's unclear if anyone was arrested or injured.

NRG officials said ticketholders seeking a refund should contact the place from which they purchased tickets.

An earlier version of this story misstated the location of the concert.

This story will be updated.
Eight months ago, state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, convened a local press conference to decry the shift toward more lenient bail decisions in Harris County that he said was contributing to the citys uptick in violent crime, and he came with a bill he believed would help.

The pendulum has gone too far in this area, he said.

Standing on the dais with Bettencourt in support of the legislation  which would have limited the use of personal recognizance bonds and set minimum cash bail limits on defendants charged with multiple felonies  was Michael Kubosh, an at-large Houston city councilman and former bondsman.

Kuboshs support made sense. Reforms in Harris and Dallas counties that had vastly reduced the number of misdemeanor defendants needing to post bail cut into profits for the $2 billion bail bonds industry, and Bettencourts bill boosting bail amounts could restore some lost revenue.

But for the industry, the more important aspect of the bill was what it didnt do. While it targeted judges perceived role in speeding defendants return to the streets, it failed to even mention the deals that Harris County bondsmen have for years been cutting on an increasing number of violent felonies, also helping defendants to secure their freedom more easily while they await trial.

A recent Houston Chronicle investigation found that bail bondsmen are charging lower fees and requiring much smaller cash payments to secure bonds  sometimes as small as 1 or 2 percent. Some defendants are even allowed to pay off their balance on a payment plan.

This trend of lenience, which apparently became even more popular this year, is essentially the bondsmens own version of bail reform, except unlike Harris Countys efforts, designed to free low-level, misdemeanor suspects, bondsmen are floating bail for violent offenders.

The Chronicles review of data from the first six months of 2021 found 141 cases  including 31 violent felonies  where defendants were allowed to pay less than 10 percent of their bond amounts.

There may be good reason to offer flexible terms for a defendant looking to post bond. But what we find so curious is that even as the Legislature moved this past year to impose new limits and transparency requirements on nonprofit groups who help arrange cash bail for poor defendants, they left out any reform of the bail bond industry. New requirements to track the success of each bond, and hold accountable groups whose clients skip out, easily could have been applied to both the charitable groups and the bail bondsmen.

The for-profit bonding industry is under pressure, its true. Companies operate in markets buttressed by inherently unfair cash bail systems, which are losing their luster as jurisdictions such as Harris County have implemented bail reform. Bail licenses in Harris County have dropped by nearly two dozen since 2017, the year bail reform was adopted. Bail bond earnings in Harris County plummeted from $3.5 million in 2015 to just over $500,000 in 2019, according to an estimate from federal court monitors tracking misdemeanor bail reform.

Threatened by dwindling revenue streams, bail bondsmen have also tried to drum up business by flexing their political muscles. The industry donated tens of thousands of dollars to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, according to a report by Reform Austin, for instance, before he made the bail reform bill that eventually passed a top priority. That law, which takes effect in December, limits the ability of some defendants to be released on low bonds, but doesnt limit a bondsmans latitude to make even sky-high bonds easy for a defendant to post if thats what it takes to get business.

Were business people, Kubosh told the Chronicle. You collect what you can.

Thats fair. They provide a service and as long as there is a cash bail system in Harris County, bondsmen have the right to try and profit from it.

But its not fair for Republican politicians, prosecutors and victims advocates to exempt the bail industry from the same scrutiny thats being heaped on judges and charitable organizations.

No one should equate the for-profit bail bond industry with public safety. For that matter, no one should romanticize the traditional money bail system as a panacea when it clearly has holes you could drive a getaway car through.

Everyone truly committed to fighting rising violent crime in Harris County and getting dangerous repeat offenders off the streets needs to acknowledge all the culprits behind this crisis. Chief among them are the pandemic and a massive court case backlog dating back to Hurricane Harvey thats delaying trials and creating more opportunities for offenders to commit more crimes.

Bondsmen should also be on that list. Why are we outraged by a judge setting a low bond but not a bondsman offering bargain basement discounts on those bonds? The result is the same.

Lawmakers should target the industry for reforms, which could include minimum bail fee percentages  four states employ such requirements  that would preclude negotiating deals for violent offenders. Each bond company is associated with an underwriter. The Legislature should require surety companies to audit each bail bond company and share those results with relevant officials, similar to a law that Minnesota passed in 2016. If bondsmen are giving unusually generous terms to suspects in violent cases who go on to reoffend, shouldnt we know about that?

Yet even good-faith transparency wont solve the root of the problem: Texas very use of money bail to determine release needs reform. This editorial board has called for a system that keeps people charged with especially violent crimes, or who pose substantial, imminent risks to public safety, in jail, whether rich or poor  even if that takes, as it likely will, changing the Texas Constitution. Bail bondsmen who profit off of the cash bail system by cutting deals with violent offenders and allowing them to walk free is further evidence that the status quo simply isnt working.
Regarding Charles Blow: Texas, harbinger of doom, (Oct. 15): I just finished reading Charles Blows column . He truly hit the nail on the head when he said Texas is a harbinger of doom. How well I remember moving here in 1977 and being so proud of the fact that I was now a Texan. Texas  where anything was possible if you worked hard and where people were willing to listen to one another and work together. As a member of the Texas Legislature for several sessions I saw that actually take place and I was privileged to author several bills in which my Republican colleagues stepped forward and supported me. Today, I am the recipient of phone calls from friends around the country WHO essentially say How can you continue to live in Texas? I live here because Im an optimist and I truly believe if good people step forward and are willing to run for office, to listen to one another and to compromise we can turn this shipwreck around. At least thats what Im hoping for and working towards.

Ellen Cohen, Houston

A hairy situation

Regarding Editorial: Hey Magnolia, let the boys grow their hair long, (Oct. 21): If I had a boy at Magnolia who wanted his hair long and was told to cut it to above the collar in accordance with Magnolia ISD policy, I would:

(a) Take an old shirt and cut off the collar.

(b) Attach said collar to the waistband of whatever he wears with needle and thread.

(c) Take a picture of his hair hanging down his back above the bottom of the shirt collar attached to his waist.

(d) Post it to the internet and email it to school staff stating that my son is now wearing his hair above the bottom of the shirt collar he is wearing, by my parental direction.

(e) Respectfully suggest that I employ them to take care that information and skills get inside my sons brain, not to monitor his hair length.

Enough idiocy already.

Marie Lewis, Conroe

The pictures of Daniel Hoosier that accompanied the editorial on Magnolia ISDs hair policies are perfect examples of why some standards regarding hair are needed. While I dont typically get bent out of shape over hair styles or even see why gender-specific policies are required, these pictures show a hairstyle where hair is hanging into the field of vision. Unimpaired vision is important to effective learning. Students who continually have to remove hair from their line of vision are distracting to those around them. At the very least, schools should be able to have hair policies that require students to wear their hair so that it does not obstruct their field of vision while at school and school events.

Ray Hansen, El Campo
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Countries voted on Thursday to sanction Belarus under an international environmental treaty following its closure of an anti-nuclear NGO, in an unprecedented move.

Belarus will be losing some of its rights and obligations to the Aarhus Convention on public participation in environmental matters unless it reinstates the NGO Ecohome, which it shut down on 31 August.

The conventions compliance committee, which reviews victims complaints of environmental rights abuses by the countries, had found that the liquidation of the Belarusian organisation by the Supreme Court constituted a further incident of persecution, penalisation and harassment.

The group of environmental advocates had collaborated with the committee in the past on a complaint brought forward against the Belarusian government for arresting a group of anti-nuclear activists back in 2012.

It's a fundamental right not to be persecuted for your activities, Maryna Dubina, Ecohomes executive director who was present at the meeting, explained to Geneva Solutions.

Hundreds of Belarusian organisations have been closed in a sweeping crackdown on civil society since protests broke out against President Alexander Lukashenko in August 2020.

The committees findings faced unprecedented resistance from Belarus and a handful of sympathetic countries including Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Armenia delegations were called to vote for the first time in the history of the treaty.

The Belarusian minister for natural resources and environmental protection Andrei Khudyk, present at the meeting, called the decision discriminatory, unfounded and politically motivated.

For three days we tried to find a [compromise] with different countries and Belarus, said Dubina.

This is the first time the convention has taken such harsh steps against one of its members. The Compliance Committee would never intervene for just any organisation, but here they acted very strongly and very quickly because [the organisation] was a communicant on a case, Yves Lador, Geneva representative for the US-based NGO Earthjustice, told Geneva Solutions.

It is unprecedented, but it's also the first time that we're having such a severe repression against an organisation, he added.

However rare the move is, its only a slap on the hand, Lador said. From February on, Belarus will lose certain rights and obligations such as chairing expert groups of the convention, but will keep its voting rights.

Asked if she feared reprisals for participating in the meeting, Dubina said: for me it's important to participate here just to say that it's not a normal practice at all.

The 46 governments from Europe and Central Asia and the European Union  the only regional group to be a member  that have signed up to the treaty also passed the creation of a rapid response mechanism to protect environmental defenders.

Among the parties to the Aarhus Convention, incidents of persecution, penalisation and harassment of environmental defenders have been reported in 16 countries since January 2017, the Aarhus Convention said in a statement, citing cases in France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine and Romania.

Its very important that we got a rapid response mechanism which precisely is trying to act in a preventive way, not wait for the situation to degrade, but to have someone from the meeting of the parties that can act as early as possible once we have the very first indications [of a violation], Lador added.

The countries will elect a special rapporteur in 2022  in the image of those of the UN Human Rights Council  who will be tasked with receiving complaints by victims and raising the issue with the accused governments. Austria and Ireland have announced they will be co-leading the initiative.
1. New Twist In Aryan Khan Drug Case As Witness Claims Rs 26 Crore Deal; NCB Denies Claim

Twitter

In a major development in the ongoing cruise ship drugs case, in which Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan has been under arrest, a witness has filed an affidavit in the court claiming a pay-off against Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). The witness, Prabhakar Sali, has also alleged that private detective KP Gosavi, whose viral selfie with Aryan Khan went viral has been missing.

2. Pakistan Asks TV Channels To Not Air Hug Scenes As They Are 'Indecent', People Criticise

Twitter

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has directed all the Pakistani TV channels to censor and not air intimate and indecent scenes as they do not reflect the culture of the country. These scenes include hugging scenes and caressing scenes as well. People are now criticizing it.



3. Drugs Case: After Court Rejects Armaan Kohli's Bail Plea, Actor Moves Bombay High Court

Twitter

As per a report on PTI, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had allegedly recovered a small quantity of Cocaine drug from Kohli's residence during a raid. Following this, he was taken for further interrogation. At the time of his arrest, he was found in an inebriated condition, informed NCB officials.



4. Gorkha: The Brave Story Of Major General Ian Cardozo, Who Amputated His Own Leg On Battlefield

Twitter

In the film, Kumar will essay the lead role of the brave soul (who is now 84-year-old) who amputated his own leg during the Indo-Pak War of 1971 led to the freedom of East Pakistan and the formation of Bangladesh. Here is his inspiring story.



5. If Shah Rukh Khan Joins BJP, Drugs Will Become Sugar Powder: Maharashtra Minister

YouTube

In the wake of the same, the senior NCP leader said, "Drugs will become sugar powder if Shah Rukh Khan joins the BJP."


The Nagaland Peace process does not seem to be reaching any conclusion anytime soon. With the Central government wanting to end this seven-decade-old conflict, the Naga leaders seem adamant about their demands. These demands appear to be the roadblock in the peace process.

The government has been negotiating with National Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM), the most prominent Naga group fighting the Indian state since the 1970s, and Naga National Political Groups (NNPG), an umbrella of about seven outfits.

The Indian state has been negotiating with Naga rebels since 1997 but reached a breakthrough in 2015 when they signed a framework agreement with NSCN(IM) and another agreement with NNPG in 2017. But no final arrangement has been reached till now.

PTI

What is the conflict?

The Naga conflict is rooted in the year-old Naga Nationalism, according to which many Naga groups demanded an independent Nagaland. On August 14 1947, Naga National Council NCC led by Angami Zapu declared independent Nagaland.

In 1952, Zapu established the Naga Federal Government and Naga Federal Army. This was met with a military response by the Indian state and AFSPA was enacted in the region. In the 1970s, dialogue was initiated to resolve the issue and in 1976 the Shillong Accord was signed.

However, the accord was rejected by prominent NNC leaders, since they were not ready to accept complete Indian sovereignty.

In the early 1980s top Naga Leaders like Isak Chishi Swu, Thuingaleng Muivah, S S Khaplang left NNC and formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland NSCN. their aim was to establish a sovereign Naga state.

They continued with their struggle using arms. In 1988 the group split into two NSCN(IM) led by Muivah and Isak and NSCN(K) led by Khaplang.

IM remains, to this day, the most prominent and influential group in the region. In 1997 the group signed a ceasefire agreement with the Indian state and since then has been talking to the state.

Wikipedia

Naga Peace Accord 2015

After many rounds of talk, the group signed a framework agreement for the Naga Peace Accord in August 2015. Since the signing of the framework agreement, in spite of a number of rounds of talks, no agreement could be reached between the two sides.

Things went rather stagnant after the talks concluded on the set deadline in October 2019. No new progress was seen after that. It is said that both sides differed on the interpretation of the framework agreement.

The NSCN (IM) in particular remained adamant on its stance of shared sovereignty, greater Nagalim i.e stretching the borders beyond the state of Nagaland apart from the demands of a separate constitution and separate flag.

These were never acceptable to the central government, even though the group claims that they had assurances from the center regarding these issues during talks. R N Ravi was appointed as an interlocutor by the center.

After the talks concluded between both sides, the Indian side particularly R N Ravi realized the differences they had with the Naga group were extreme especially with regards to shared sovereignty and separate flag and constitution.

Such demands could not be acceptable particularly post the abrogation of article 370. The NSCN(IM) on the other hand is not ready to compromise on these demands and consider them as fundamental to the peace process.

Many believe Indias agreement with NNPG could be one of the reasons for NSCN(IM) to harden its stance since it considers the umbrella group as its rival.

UCA News

'Unnegotiable demands'

In 2019 N Ravi was made the governor of Nagaland. He openly expressed his frustration against NSCN (IM) for being responsible for stagnation in the peace process. At this point in time, it became clear that both sides stood on two different grounds and none of the sides was ready to move.

Ravi at one point made it clear that these demands by the IM group will never be met and openly spoke against the group while continuing talks with other Naga groups. He even declared that the accord would be signed with or without the IM group. NSCN (IM) on the other declared that their basic demands were unnegotiable and that the framework agreement included the provisions for such demands.

The group spoke against Ravi, alleging that he misinterpreted and manipulated the framework agreement and even demanded his ouster as states governor. In September this year, he was appointed as the governor of Tamil Nadu, and earlier this month he resigned as the interlocutor.

The talks between the two sides resumed a couple of weeks earlier. The government appointed A K Mishra, former special director of IB, its emissary in this peace process. He already met many Naga leaders. However, one will have to wait to find how things will turn with Naga leaders adamant on their demand.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News.
With more revelations coming in about Facebook's alleged misconduct from a new whistleblower, it appears that Facebook's woes are far from over.

By the end of this month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will announce the company's new name, suggesting a shift from being a social media tech giant to a metaverse company. With this move, Facebook hopes to further blur the lines between the physical and digital.

Before that happens, the whistles need to stop blowing.

Reuters

Unnamed whistleblower attacks Facebook

The new whistleblower alleged that Facebook is well-aware of the hate speech and illegal activity that takes place on its platforms and refuses to take action for the same. In conversation with The Washington Post, the unnamed whistleblower said that the allegations were reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US.

Also read: New Whistleblower Alleges Facebook's Criminality, Says She Has 'Blood On Her Hands'

The complaint lays bare a series of inaction by Facebook. Apparently, Zuckerberg's Facebook often discarded protocol and safety rules to avoid angering former US President Donald Trump, who has remained banned on both Facebook and Twitter in the aftermath of insurrection attempt on the US Capitol. The company also reportedly did not take any action to avoid angering Donald Trump's allies and fears of losing its mammoth profits.

Xinhua

The whistleblower alludes to Tucker Bounds, a Facebook communications official who reportedly did not take concerns about Facebook's role in election engineering seriously enough.

Also read: Whistleblower Alleges Facebook's Dismal Response To Hate Speech In India



The Post further reported that the affidavit refers to the conversation Bounds had with the whistleblower, wherein he said that "some legislators will get pissy". He added that they would then move on to something else while Facebook is "printing money in the basement".

Claims match previous whistleblowers

These claims are in line with what Facebook's former employee and the first whistleblower Frances Haugen alleged in a testimony to US Congress. Haugen said that Facebook prioritises profit over safety across its platforms, while urging officials to help Facebook as they are unable to fix the problem on their own.

Reuters

Haugen also explained why Facebook poses threat to democracies around the world owing to its content moderation policies and lack of safety measures in place against hate speech and misinformation.

What do you make of these whistleblowers revealing the inner workings of Facebook? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, continue reading Indiatimes.com.
Since its inception, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has given every Indian innumerable milestones to be proud of. ISRO was institutionalised in 1969 and since then, it has never failed to achieve its vision to 'harness space technology for national development.

ISRO

After its establishment, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) set many milestones, but did you know about the young man, who initiated India's space research and helped develop nuclear power in the country.

Today we share an inspiring story of Dr. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai - known as the father of the Indian space program (ISRO). In 1962, Vikram Sarabhai was given Isro's charge and worked for a token salary of one rupee in view of his personal wealth.

Who was Vikram Sarabhai?

Vikram Sarabhai: The father of Indian Space Programme | Twitter

One of India's most admired scientists Vikram Sarabhai, in full Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai, was born in Ahmedabad on August 12, 1919. Vikram Sarabhai was born into a family of industrialists. His father Ambalal Sarabhai built Calico Mills, one of Ahmedabads oldest textile mills that ran for over a century. The Sarabhai family were committed members of the Quit India Movement against the British Raj. He attended Gujarat College, Ahmadabad, but later shifted to the University of Cambridge, England, where he took his tripos in natural sciences in 1940.

Vikram Sarabhai: The father of Indian Space Programme | pellipetakulu.com

Due to the immense restrictions caused by the Second World War, Sarabhai returned to India, where he undertook research in cosmic rays under physicist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. In 1945 he returned to Cambridge to pursue a doctorate and wrote a thesis, Cosmic Ray Investigations in Tropical Latitudes, in 1947. He founded the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad on his return to India.

Father of the Indian Space Program

Vikram Sarabhai, who initiated India's space research and helped develop nuclear power in the country was a great institution builder and established, or helped to establish, a large number of institutions in diverse fields. Vikram Sarabhai founded the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad on November 11, 1947. He was only 28 at that time. Sarabhai was a creator and cultivator of institutions and PRL was the first step in that direction. Vikram Sarabhai served of PRL from 1966-1971. from 1966-1971.

Vikram Sarabhai: The father of Indian Space Programme | vssc.gov.in

The range and breadth of Sarabhais interests were remarkable and realising the need for professional management education in India, Sarabhai was instrumental in setting up the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Ahmedabad in 1962.

The establishment of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was one of his greatest achievements. Sarabhai successfully convinced the government of the importance of a space programme for a developing country like India after the Russian Sputnik launch (a series of three artificial Earth satellites).

ALSO READ: Shiv Nadar's Legacy: Meet The Man Who Led HCL To Success



First rocket launching station in India

Vikram Sarabhai: The father of Indian Space Programme | Google

Architect of the atomic dream Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha supported Dr. Sarabhai in setting up the first rocket launching station in India. This centre was established at Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram on the coast of the Arabian Sea, primarily because of its proximity to the equator.

After a remarkable effort in setting up the infrastructure, personnel, communication links, and launch pads, the inaugural flight was launched on November 21, 1963, with a sodium vapour payload.

Contribution of Vikram Sarabhai to DRDO

After the death of physicist Homi Bhabha in 1966, Sarabhai was appointed chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India. Carrying forward Bhabhas work in the field of nuclear research, Sarabhai was largely responsible for the establishment and development of Indias nuclear power plants. He laid the foundations for the indigenous development of nuclear technology for defence purposes.

Four giants of science in one frame:Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Homi Jehangir Bhabha, CV Raman, Vikram Sarabhai | Twitter

As a result of Dr. Sarabhai's dialogue with NASA in 1966, Satellite Instructional Television Experiment or SITE was an experimental satellite communications project launched in India in 1975, designed jointly by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

The project made available informational television programs to rural India. The main objectives of the experiment were to educate the financially backward and academically illiterate people of India on various issues via satellite broadcasting, and also to help India gain technical experience in the field of satellite communications.

ALSO READ: Meet Ramesh Babu, The Billionaire Barber Who Owns A Rolls Royce And 400 Other Luxury Cars

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.

ISRO

The Department of Space was created in 1972 and ISRO became a part of it and remains so to 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.

Aryabhata: India's First Satellite

Aryabhata: India's First Satellite | Twitter

The Indian satellite programme began in the 1970s after the success of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) success of the Rohini rocket programme in the 1960s. Reportedly, Vikram Sarabhai, the ISRO's founder appointed a team of scientists and engineers led by space scientist Dr UR Rao to develop the satellite.

Vikram Sarabhais legacy

Vikram Sarabhai is remembered as the Father of the Indian Space Program for his contributions to the field of space science. He was awarded two of Indias highest honours, the Padma Bhushan in 1966 and the Padma Vibhushan awarded posthumously in 1972.

Vikram Sarabhai and Jawaharlal Nehru | Image courtesy: PRL, Ahmedabad

Vikram Sarabhais legacy lives strong today and continues in the Indian space programme and the nuclear programme, both of which focus on indigenous development just as he envisioned.

The lander of Indias Chandrayaan-2, Vikram, was named after him, and so was the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISROs facility for rocket development in Thiruvananthapuram.

A crater on the moon, at Mare Serenitatis or Sea of Serenity, visible to us on the near side, is called the Sarabhai crater in his honour.

For more interesting stories like this, click here


The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of a suspect who shot a man Oct. 20 at a Falls Church-area ATM, officials said Oct. 29.
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Music filled Cork city today as live bands played on side streets, outdoor stages, parks and pavements.

Music also floated through the open windows of pubs while bright bunting outside announced the return of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival.

Queues snaked patiently along pavements as people waited cheerily for covid passes to be checked and contact details recorded.

A queue of hundreds of people looped around the Grand Parade as revellers chatted under umbrellas and laughed together despite the misty rain and occasional belts of wind.

Jennifer Fitzpatrick was one of those queuing for Deep South on Grand Parade.

Were so excited to be here for Jazz, to see everyone. We all went to college in UCC so its great to be back for a big reunion in Deep South, she said.

Some of us live in London so its great to be back for the weekend and for Deep South. In 2019 we were all here, it was brilliant so were looking forward to it again.

Jennifer Fitzpatrick cheerily braved the queue for Deep South at #CorkJazzFest for a welcome reunion with friends #GuinnessCorkJazzFestival pic.twitter.com/5bkJYqSq7h  Liz Dunphy (@LizDunphy1) October 23, 2021

Mary Kate Ford had also recently returned to Ireland and was reuniting with friends after spending the last two years in Canada.

Im buzzing to be out, she said.

Its really great to see everyone, particularly after everything thats happened in the last 18 months.  Despite this being her second time in the queue for Deep South today - having initially left when a 22-year-old friend was refused entry due to age restrictions - she remained upbeat and cheerful as she stood in the queue with Eoin McKenna, Maurice Costelloe and Andrew Murphy.

We nearly got in earlier, we had been queuing from 1.10pm until it opened at about 2.15pm. But its OK, the queue is moving. I love being home and just seeing everyone, she said.

Holly Flynn and Ellie Dillon were visiting Cork from Dublin for the Jazz Festival.

Maurice Costelloe, Andrew Murphy, Eoin McKenna and Mary-Kate Ford were 'buzzing' to be out together for the Cork Jazz Festival again since Mary-Kate recently returned from two years in Canada. Picture: Liz Dunphy/Twitter

Its our first time here so we dont know what to expect. But were looking forward to going out, Ms Flynn said as they walked up Washington St.

Paul Montgomery, owner of Clancys Bar, Conways Yard, and a number of restaurants in the city centre, said that the weekend has been better than expected so far.

Its fantastic. There has been a real buzz," he said/

The Jazz is better than expected. Considering all the uncertainty coming up to it its been really, really good. So were thrilled.

Its fantastic, theres a real buzz. The Jazz Festival has been better than expected, Paul Montgomery @montycork of Clancys and Conways Yard says about #CorkJazzFest so far #GuinnessCorkJazzFestival pic.twitter.com/o5d5VEQQpP  Liz Dunphy (@LizDunphy1) October 23, 2021

But one remnant of stricter pandemic measures may be here to stay as he believes retaining table service may create a better quality night for revellers. From last night, counter service at bars was allowed for the first time since they were first closed by Covid.

We had an interesting dynamic last night where we stuck more with table service here in Clancys and then we reverted to more counter service in the more nightclub scene in Conways Yard. And I think that there was a better quality of night here [in Clancys].

I think well stick to what weve got used to over the last few months, of serving people at their table. I think theres a better night out for people if they know they have their table and they know theyre going to get served. I think the consumer has got used to that over the last two years.

He said that last-minute changes to the rules for bars and nightclubs made things difficult to plan this week.

We had different rosters made out depending on what was going to happen. But the main event is that people coming to Cork and people in Cork could get out over the last 24 hours and this weekend. They could plan their late night out, thats the most important thing. The difficulties, weve got over them and were up to speed now.

He encouraged anyone considering a trip into the city this weekend to come.

Get into Cork city. Theres loads of tables and chairs on the streets, on the rooftops, in the bars. Youll be very welcome, he said.

Covid Pass compliance seemed to be high across the city, with employees and business owners carefully checking people entering cafes, pubs and restaurants.

Outside the Metropole Hotel on MacCutain Street, men in top hats and tails checked everyone carefully in the orderly queue before they entered the iconic destination for jazz in Cork.

Others lined the pavements of MacCurtain St, sitting leisurely outside bars, restaurants and cafes, soaking up the sights as live music floated up the street from nearby Harleys St.

There, a jazz band played beside food stalls and mobile cocktail stations below brightly coloured murals on the pedestrianised road just above the River Lee.
One of the things that always bothered Leo Varadkar when he was a practising GP was the number of patients who couldnt afford to take a day off work.

Theyd turn up at his surgery, ask for some medicinal cure-all and, despite him advising them to rest, theyd go straight back to work.

It struck him how they were so hard up they would rather do that  and risk infecting other workers  than go without being paid.

Fast forward to today, and the former St James's Hospital and Connolly Hospital junior doctor is now at the helm of Irelands first statutory sick pay scheme.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) and the likes of Cork People Before Profit TD Mick Barry have been campaigning for years for a statutory sick pay scheme.

If all the legislative hurdles pass through the Oireachtas this year, it will be in place some time in 2022 and it will see workers getting 70% of their daily wage for, in the first year, the first three days off sick.

They will, however, need to produce a sick cert from their GP, and they have to have been working for the company for at least six months.

Employment Minister Leo Varadkar is at the helm of Irelands first statutory sick pay scheme.

When the Government approved the drafting of the General Scheme of the Sick Leave Bill 2021 in June, the Employment Minister described it as part of the pandemic dividend.

Its not right that people feel forced to go to work when they are sick and its not good for public health, he said at the time.

Asked about his own personal motivation behind his involvement in the scheme, he told the Irish Examiner: As a doctor, I frequently had patients who could not take time off when they were sick as they could not afford to lose a few days pay.

"This always bothered me as it delayed their recovery and, when they had an infectious disease, they risked spreading the illness.

In other jobs, in some cases, they could have been a safety risk to themselves and others if they were unable to focus on their work due to pain or fever while operating equipment.

Unintended consequences

There are those who believe the scheme either goes too far  or not far enough.

And regardless of which side you are on, both sides agree there could well be unintended consequences to it.

Ictus head of Social Policy and Employment Affairs, Dr Laura Bambrick, said the scheme was decades overdue.

Unfortunately, it took a global pandemic for politicians in Ireland to commit to bringing in this basic workers right, she said.

As a result of the Ictus public awareness raising campaign on a root cause of Covid-19 outbreaks in meat plants and our successful calls to make sick pay mandatory, legislation will be introduced.

She added: This legislation has overwhelming public support.

'As a result of the Ictus public awareness raising campaign on a root cause of Covid-19 outbreaks in meat plants and our successful calls to make sick pay mandatory, legislation will be introduced.'

However, among the unions reservations about the incoming scheme are concerns about the requirement that not only should an employee be working for six months before they can qualify for sick pay but that they also need a GP cert.

This has the potential to incentivise some employers to opt for casual employment contracts to avoid their obligation under the legislation, she said.

While the requirement to have the sickness certified by a doctor is common practice in sick pay schemes throughout Europe, Ireland is unusual in that workers here have to pay to see a GP.

Ictu is concerned that this cost will create a barrier for workers exercising their new right to paid sick leave.

We will be lobbying for an amendment to the bill at committee stage to have a number of the sick pay days uncertified as a work around to our lack of free basic healthcare."

Mick Barry TD also has his own reservations.

His campaigning on the issue of sick pay includes raising issues in 2005 over subcontracted migrant workers involved in Cork Citys major regeneration projects.

People Before Profit TD Mick Barry: 'The unfortunate reality is this scheme can't hold a candle to those enjoyed by workers in some other European countries.' File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

"Fine Gael have trumpeted the new sick pay scheme as a sure sign they are in the workers' corner, he said.

But the unfortunate reality is this scheme can't hold a candle to those enjoyed by workers in some other European countries.

"In Germany, a worker will receive 100% of their wages for the first six weeks, whereas in Ireland it will be a mere 70% of salary for the first 10 days in a few years.

I'd also be concerned the six-month rule will incentivise some unscrupulous employers to let staff go before they've clocked up the six months.

I think this rule should be scrapped."

According to the Government, the 70% sick pay rate and the daily cap are to ensure excessive costs are not placed solely on employers, who may also have to deal with the cost of replacing staff out sick at short notice.

It says the bill is primarily intended to provide a minimum level of protection to low-paid employees, who may have no entitlement to company sick pay schemes.

The fact it is being phased in over four years is, the Government also says, a sign it is taking what it describes as a balanced approach to plug a well acknowledged gap in our social protections.

And it says it is doing this while also responding to the cost concerns of small businesses in the current economic environment.

The Irish Small to Medium Enterprises Association (Isme) is, like Ictu, in favour of a statutory sick pay scheme but its members have reservations.

Chief executive Neil McDonnell said: Employers are paying 11% PRSI for a really low set of benefits.

We agree employers' PRSI is low by comparison with European norms.

But our social insurance system doesn't work as a social insurance system. It works as a tax system.

And while employers pay 11% into the fund uncapped, the benefits from that are all fixed.

He says high social benefits make it "very hard, very expensive" to employ people.

What we would worry about is, in Geneva, they have a really weird social problem over there in that none of the blue-collar workers in Geneva can afford to live there.

So we have to be very, very careful about the cost of living and the cost of employment because as you ratchet that up, you make it much more expensive to employ people.

A fisher, whose income is derived entirely from their share of the fish caught on each trip, told the Irish Examiner they will not benefit from the scheme.

Only the really big boats have protections for its fishermen, they said.

Basically, if you are off sick, its just tough luck.

Most trawler owners cant afford to pay anything else.

The facts

Mary Watters, regional manager with North Dublin Citizens Information, provides information, advice and advocacy on public and social services.

The Citizens Information Board provides the Citizens Information website, citizensinformation.ie, and supports the network of Citizens Information Centres and the Citizens Information Phone Service.

It also funds and supports the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (Mabs), the free, independent and confidential service for people who are in debt or at risk of falling into debt.

We would get people from all walks of life," Ms Watters said.

Probably the more difficult ones are the people who would be considered to be on better incomes and have a better standard of living.

When they hit roadblocks in their life, they are often less prepared for them.

Many of them have no experience of having to manage with less money.

People who have encountered difficulty all their lives have had to access the welfare system earlier on in life and tend to be better equipped to deal with challenges that hit them. Sickness and terminal illnesses don't choose which income bracket to hit. They hit across the income bracket."

She said the new scheme would help alleviate the hardship for people in the opening days of an illness.

Many people just dont realise there is far more supports out there than they realise.

Benefits in numbers

The Department of Social Protection spent 593m on standard illness benefit in 2020.

On top of that, enhanced illness benefit  for people either diagnosed with Covid-19 or who are a probable source of infection of the virus  was introduced in March 2020.

Expenditure on the enhanced illness benefit was 57m in 2020.

Some 68m was paid out from January to the end of September this year and is expected to be about 84m for all of 2021.
Burma Myanmar's Junta Seizes Veteran Student Leader

Ko Jimmy, also known as Kyaw Min Yu, a prominent 88 Generation Student leader, has been detained by the junta for his anti-regime activism. / Maung Thein

Ko Jimmy, also known as Kyaw Min Yu, a prominent 88 Generation Student leader, was detained by the junta on Saturday night in North Dagon Township, Yangon, according to his wife, Daw Nilar Thein.

Daw Nilar Thein said she worried about his health. The military council must take all responsibility for whatever happens to him, she posted on Facebook on Sunday.

There are unverified reports that Ko Jimmy, 52, sustained a severe head injury while being beaten by junta troops during his arrest at the Pin Lon housing development.

Ko Jimmy has been evading arrest since February. Within two weeks of the Feb. 1 coup, the junta issued arrest warrants for him, U Min Ko Naing, another prominent 88 Generation figure, and a few others on Feb. 13 for alleged incitement.

Myanmars junta has killed nearly 1,200 people and detained more than 9,000 others since the Feb. 1 coup, according to the advocacy group the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners.

Ko Jimmy rejected the militarys seizure of power from the democratically elected government after it alleged voter fraud in last Novembers general election.

He said in a public video message that we dont trust the military as it uses its old tactics to deceive, arrest and kill civilians. His message came while the junta was detaining the members of the NLD-appointed Union Election Commission in mid-February.

The former political prisoner was jailed two times under previous military regimes for his activism.

He was freed in a mass amnesty on January 13, 2012, after spending five years in prison for protesting against fuel price hikes in August 2007. He has since worked with the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society to promote peace and social development.

He spent 15 years behind bars from 1988 to 1996 for participating in the popular August 1988 or 8888 nationwide uprising.

You may also like these stories:

Myanmar Junta Condemns Foreign Recognition of Civilian Government

Myanmar Junta to Vaccinate School Students Against COVID-19

Myanmars Ousted Civilian Leader Suu Kyi and President Deny COVID-19 Charges
Weve all watched the news stories of Honduran families making the treacherous journey across our southern border.

So today, I have only a couple of questions.

What makes them take such a risk? Why do they trek thousands of miles through harsh weather, violence and rough terrain? Why do they risk arrest or even worse  rape, robbery, human trafficking or being separated from their children?

Public schools are overcrowded, underfunded and poorly staffed. Children without the needed resources find school difficult and drop out. Children are required to buy expensive uniforms and have little hope of progressing past sixth grade because advanced education requires costly private schools.

Thats why my daughter, Sara, started the Chispa Project, pronounced cheez-pah, meaning spark in Spanish. Hondurans use the word to describe people with spark or drive.

Chispa has a simple mission: Sponsor childrens libraries and equip them with quality books in Spanish by working side by side with Honduran community leaders and educators.

In the 60 schools where Chispa works, they build alliances with communities to design, fund and manage their own libraries. Community members also volunteer in the library project and raise a symbolic portion of the funding that ensures sustainability and ownership.

Chispa, like Hondurans, wants to see children educated and grow up so they can remain united with their families and have choices in their future. It wants to see Honduran children dreaming their own American-like dream.

Of the many Hondurans Ive met, most dont want to leave their homes. They dont want our country. They dont want our welfare dollars or our jobs. They want their country. They want their homes. They want a way to provide opportunities for their children.

Now, one more question: Would you consider spending a week in Honduras with me and 25 other volunteers to start three new libraries?

Come fly with me. Itll be fun, I promise. Its only a three-hour flight from Houston and we remain on Central Time.

The day after we arrive, we begin decorating libraries that will make children proud of their school. We paint the walls with colorful murals, assemble bookshelves, and stock and catalog an entire library.

Imagine us working together, rolling two coats of white paint on crumbling walls. The paint provides a bright pallet for those murals intended to inspire future readers.

The children surround us, chattering the few English words they know. Their smiles go for hours and hours as they read the picture books we bring.

The days are sometimes hot and long, but not to worry. I reward my volunteers with ice-cream cones from a street vendor.

I know some of you are asking me a question right now: Is it dangerous?

Thats a risk you will have to assess on your own, but I can tell you that I have brought and safely returned several octogenarians in past years. I can also tell you that Im comfortable with my daughter, Sara, her husband and her 1-year-old baby living in Honduras full time.

Now is the time to sign up for one of our two available volunteer trips. The first for May 15-22, 2022, and the second, June 19-26, 2022.

I know you have more questions, so check out our website at ChispaProject.org/volunteertrip. Read the details, fill out the forms, and watch the five minute video. Email me or Sara if you have your own questions.

And if you cant fly with me, will you consider a donation to help us establish these libraries? Whoops. I guess I promised only two questions.

Donate at chispaproject.org/thechaplain or send a check payable to Chispa Project 10556 Combie Rd. Suite 6643 Auburn, CA 95602. Read more columns at www.thechaplain.net
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
Betty Jean Pulley, 95, passed away November 4, 2021, at Windridge Nursing Home, Miami, Oklahoma. Betty was born September 7, 1926, at home in Riverton, Kansas, to Albert Petty Cutright and Alta Elizabeth (Newkirk). She graduated from Riverton High School Class of 1944, and attended Joplin Ju
The Overland Park Police Department offense report just came to light, but was filed by Principal David Ewers on Nov. 8 at 1 p.m., a couple of hours after hundreds of students walked out while holding signs saying things like, "Protect the victims, not the assailants," "It's not a joke," and
One of the most anticipated Kdrama "Jirisan," finally premiered, giving the viewers a round of heart-stopping scenes featuring Ju Ji Hyun, Ju Ji Hoon, Sung Dong Il, Oh Jung Se and more.

Following the much-awaited premiere, the tvN series even made it to Twitter's trending topic with hashtag #JirisanEp1 while loading the action thriller drama's twist and turns.

'Jirisan' Episode 1 Highlights: Jirisan Park Ranger Welcomes Newbie Kang Hyun Jo

Mt. Jirisan's park ranger embarked on a challenging mission to find the 14-year-old boy left hiking in the mountains.

"Jirisan" episode 1 featured 2018 when Kang Hyun Jo (Ju Ji Hoon) first became one of the park's rangers.

On his first day, he immediately experienced his first-ever rescue mission to find the missing student. Kang Hyun Jo was paired with Seo Yi Kang (Jun Ji Hyun), also known as "demon Seo."

With the rangers rushing to rescue the kid before the golden time ends, the team endured the grueling mission despite being hounded by a strong typhoon.

Unfortunately, the situation left the rescue team in a tough and dangerous circumstance and was ordered by their captain to abort the mission.

Kang Hyun Jo and Seo Yi Kang Believes that the Boy is Still Alive

At the park station, Kang Hyun Jo believes that the child is still alive and has to be rescued immediately. It came after he visualized something and thought that he could track the location of the boy.

As for the senior park ranger, she also had an inkling that the 14-year-old was still alive. It was after she spoke to the boy's grandmother where she told her that the search would resume once the rain had stopped.

Here, she saw the boy's last message to his grandmother, saying, "I'm sorry, grandma."

With this, she secretly went to the mountain alone despite the harsh weather.

Interestingly, she happens to bump into Hyun Jo, who is also searching for the lost hiker.

The newbie told his senior that he would regret it if he did not come and save the boy.

"Jirisan" episode 1 highlights the start of the duo's connection as field partners.

Will Kang Hyun Jo's First Rescue Mission be Successful?

As they attempt to locate the survivor's possible spot, Hyun Jo mentions going to the Bidam Cliff where he believes they can track down the boy's location.

It was after he saw a vision of the rock formation in an oak tree, hinting that the mountain was signaling him about the possible area where they could find the survivor.

After a challenging and dangerous hike on the trail, Kang Hyun Jo saw the boy, who was unconscious due to the low temperature.

Fortunately, the child was safe and was immediately transferred to a hospital.

Here, Seo Yi Kang confronted the newbie and asked him how he knew about the location.

"I saw it," he said, adding, "I can see the place where the person who was in distress is on this mountain."

Initially, she did not believe it but then realized that Hyun Jo's statement must be valid after a cultural resources researcher told them about the signal they found under the rock.

It was used during the ancient times when they fell behind or lost contact with their tribe. With this, Hyun Jo thought that they might use it if they could not reach one another through walkie-talkies.

Seo Yi Kang Returns After Two Years

"Jirisan" episode 1 also illustrates the devastating incident that happened to Yi Kang and her partner.

The head of Mt. Jirisan park ranger, Jo Dae Jin (Sung Dong Il) says that someone will return to be one of their team members.

Jung Goo Young (Oh Jung Se) was surprised to see Yi Kang as one of the park rangers despite being in a wheelchair.

Here, Seo Yi Kang managed to track down the lost hiker who has been locating by the team for months.

She then pointed out the signals which she and Kang Hyun Jo used to utilize.

Rookie ranger Lee Da Won (Go Min Si) then mentioned that it might be her partner who has been placing the signals, to which Jo Dae Jin disagreed.

It was then revealed that Kang Hyun Jo was in a coma after facing an accident on the mountain.

IN CASE YOU MISSED: 'Jirisan' New Stills Features Park Ranger Jun Ji Hyun Caught in a Heavy Rain in Attempt to Rescue Victims

KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
Medford, Ore. - This Saturday is international overdose awareness day; it's the world's largest annual campaign to end overdose, remember without stigma those who have died, and acknowledge the grief of the family and friends left behind.

At Hawthorne park in Medford, local members of the community remembered those we have lost to overdose, and provided training and free naloxone kits, along with live music.

Many local service and resources organizations made an appearance at the event; from mental health, treatment and recovery, expungement, and many more.

It's a great opportunity to talk to service providers all in one place and listen to some great speakers, all in the continuing process towards recovery.

People were also invited to bring a photo of a loved one to the event's remembrance area that has lost their life as a result of an overdose.

You can also reach out to Max's Mission on their website for assistance or more information.
CHILOQUIN, Ore-- Late last night, on October 22, 2021, around 10:00 p.m. Klamath County Sheriffs Office deputies were sent to assist Chiloquin Fire & Rescue on an EMS call in the 300 block of Wasco Ave. in Chiloquin.

After arriving to the scene law enfrocement found a KCSO deputy, who was in the area, giving CPR with EMTs on Gabriel

Moreno, 22 of Chiloquin.

KCSO has infomred NewsWatch 12 that Moreno was later pronounced deceased at the scene.

The Klamath County Major Crime Team was activated and detectives from KCSO, Klamath Falls Police and Oregon State Police, conducted an investigation.

Police later found that the incident was the result of an altercation between Moreno and Shay Michael Treetop, 36 of Chiloquin.

Police say that Treetop has been taken into custody and is being lodged at the Klamath County Jail.

Treetop is currently being charged with Criminally Negligent Homicide.
RIDDLE, Ore. - A Riddle man is in custody after he attempted to elude police and was tracked down by K9 Zoro.

On Friday, October 22, 2021, shortly after 10:30 pm, a Douglas County Sheriff's Deputy attempted to stop a 2003 Hyundai Tiburon in the 1100 block of Glenbrook Loop Road in Riddle for traffic violations. The driver failed to stop and attempted to get away from the deputy.

The driver of the vehicle continued to the 4000-block of Glenbrook Loop before making a U-turn. The male driver continued to the 3500-block of Glenbrook Loop when he stopped the vehicle and fled on foot. A female passenger then took control of the vehicle and continued to attempt to elude law enforcement.

The female, later identified as 34-year-old Sierra Marie Thompson of Riddle, was eventually stopped by a Myrtle Creek Officer and taken into custody.

K9 Zoro began tracking the male suspect from where he had ran from the vehicle. Zoro led deputies to the back of a property near a fence line, where the suspect, 36-year-old Travis John Byrd of Riddle was located hiding in the brush. Byrd surrendered to deputies after being located by K9 Zoro without further incident.

Both Byrd and Thompson were transported to the Douglas County Jail where they were lodged on the following charges:

Byrd: Attempt to Elude - Vehicle, Attempt to Elude - Foot, Obstruction of Justice, Interfering with Police Officer, Felon in Possession of a Restricted Weapon, Violation Amount of Possession of Methamphetamine, Warrant Arrest.

Thompson: Attempt to Elude - Vehicle, Obstruction of Justice, Interfering with Police, Felon in Possession of a Restricted Weapon, Violation Amount of Possession of Methamphetamine.

K9 Zoro, a 3 year-old German Shepherd, has been with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office since September 2019. He was purchased by an anonymous donor in the community and gifted to the agency. The Sheriff's Office K9 program, consisting of three K9 teams, is supported financially by private donations and the Friends of Umpqua Valley Police K9 Programs, a non-profit organization whose mission is to support local police K9 teams.

Bailey's Veterinary Clinic provides medical care for the Sheriff's Office K9 program while Coastal Farm and Home Supply provides food.
Premier John Horgan at a press conference Thursday shows the home screen of his phone, which he claimed has been the subject of frivolous FOI requests filed by the Opposition BC Liberals.
Tim Wel and Bree Cooper are pictured in the "A Better Tent City," community in Kitchener, Ont., on Thursday, October 14, 2021. The community provides small cabins set up as an alternative to the homeless shelter system in the area. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Nadine Green is pictured in the "A Better Tent City," community in Kitchener, Ont., on Thursday, October 14, 2021. The community provides small cabins set up as an alternative to the homeless shelter system in the area. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Gateway Technical College officials are planning two new associates degree programs aimed at providing students with a clear roadmap to an eventual four-year degree.

Gateway administrators on Thursday announced the next steps for two-year associates degree programs that heavily emphasize the general education requirements that are commonplace at four-year universities.

Its really about access for our students, said Zina Haywood, executive vice president and provost for academic and campus affairs. Its about creating that pathway to the bachelors degrees that we were not able to do before.

Beginning with the 2022-23 academic year, Gateway will offer an Associate of Science degree emphasizing the science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, fields. The college also will include in its catalog a separate Associate of Arts degree that will emphasize different areas of study, including the humanities and social sciences.

Gateway officials announced plans to introduce the pair of university-friendly programs at the beginning of the year, and multiple steps had to take place, including approvals from the local District Board, as well as state-level approvals from officials within the Wisconsin Technical College System and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents.

Students taking either of the associates degree programs will be able to seamlessly transfer their 60-credit degrees to four-year schools within the University of Wisconsin System and apply them to bachelors degrees.

While Gateway has long had a close working relationship with the University of Wisconsin-Parkside through 14 separate articulation agreements, Haywood said the new degrees are pivotal for students interested in continuing their higher education pursuits after graduating from the technical college.

UW-Parkside will continue to play an important role with the new programs. In some instances, students enrolled in the pair of programs will take courses at UW-Parkside, rather than Gateway, to reduce the need to launch full-fledged programs.

Haywood pointed to physical education, which is not currently offered at Gateway, as an example. Rather than create a program and staff a department from scratch, Haywood said students will be able to take classes at UW-Parkside.

R. Scott Pierce, chair of the Gateway District Board, said he was pleased with the progress that has taken place.

Its something weve been pushing for years, he said. I know it was a lot of work.

Tax levy reduced

Also Thursday, the District Board gave final approval to Gateways 2021-22 school year budget, which initially was adopted in June, but has been modified as additional data was made available.

The college is reducing its property tax levy, which is a reversal from the plans originally set in motion.

The levy total clocks in at $38.14 million, which is a reduction from the $40.18 million earmarked in the June version of the budget. The college received more funding than anticipated from the state, which resulted in the tax levy trim.

The bulk of the levy, $23.37 million, will fortify the operating budget. The remaining $14.76 million will go toward paying down existing debt.

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The Health Service Executive (HSE) has said some regions will run additional walk-in vaccine clinics this weekend.

It said it is part of a national drive to encourage uptake of the vaccine as Covid-19 numbers rise across the country.

Over the bank holiday weekend, vaccines will be available at walk-in clinics or by registering online or by telephone for an appointment.

Appointments are not needed for the walk-in clinics, which are open to adults and children over the age of 12.

Government and health officials have been encouraging the approximately 370,000 people who are not vaccinated, or are not fully vaccinated, to get the jab.

The HSE said the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine, dose one and two only, will be available at the clinics.

Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Group Clinical Lead for Covid-19 for the region Dr Sarah O'Connell said because of the higher risk of hospitalisation for unvaccinated people that they should attend a walk-in clinic this weekend.

"Recently we have seen very high rates of community transmission and an increased number of hospitalisations. This has put a further strain on our healthcare system, and it continues to do so unfortunately.

"Walk-in clinics are a great way to get your vaccine if you're unvaccinated, as no appointment is necessary. Before Winter comes, now is the time to protect yourself, your family and friends as much as possible against Covid-19," Dr O'Connell added.

The HSE said anyone attending a clinic or appointment should bring photo identification.

A full list of walk-in vaccination clinics can be found here.
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A new business has opened in Kilkennys Hebron Industrial Estate this weekend: Educational and sensory toy specialist McTivities has joined forces with Huggable Home to open their new shop just in time for Christmas.

Emma McGuinness and Denise Simpson expanded and grew a business during lockdown, trading online and at Mountain View Market in Ballyhale where they met and decided to open a physical store.

We were honoured to have Mayor Andrew McGuinness cut the ribbon, not only as a public representative but as my brother-in-law too, it meant a lot," said Emma McGuinness.

The McTivities toy shop motto is 'learning through play'. Emma prides herself on sourcing high quality educational, sensory and wooden toys that allow the kids imaginations to run wild. The kids have fun while also working on major developmental skills.

Denise from Huggable Home promises to bring colour and fun to every home as she creates her own range of colourful and cosy hats and scarfs and also stocks the most incredible range of unique, bright, fun gifts, homewares and accessories.

I was delighted to cut the ribbon on this fantastic new business. Both girls' businesses really compliment each other and they are delighted to bring you a one stop shop this Christmas, where you can pick up gifts for both kids and adults under the one roof, said Mayor Andrew McGuinness.

The shop is situated in the Hebron Industrial Estate, just after Aldi.
A consumer watchdog has issued a warning to people to be wary of suspicious online traders and stick to reputable retailers this Christmas.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) said people may be concerned that Covid, Brexit-related shipping delays and stock shortages will impact their shopping plans and urged them them to watch out for rogue traders.

It advised customers to buy from reputable retailers when shopping online as it can be hard to know who you are buying from, so its important to do some quick research.

Check reviews, social media pages and where the business is based. If you cant find this information easily, approach with caution. If the business is based outside of the EU, you may consider finding an alternative EU store to ensure you have stronger rights should an issue arise.

It also said to be careful of small, unknown traders offering a high-demand product online or on social media that is out of stock everywhere else.

Do some research, look at online consumer forums and on social media for additional consumer reviews or feedback about the business before you buy. Also, remember that while the price is important, dont let it be the only deciding factor when buying online.

A cheaper price doesnt always mean a better deal and if it looks too good to be true, more often than not, it probably is.

When reading consumer reviews on business websites, be wary if all of the reviews are positive.

Its important to keep in mind that products and services with authentic consumer reviews are more likely to have a mix of consumer feedback across the rating scale. So, watch out for products or services with only positive reviews or exclusively five-star ratings!

Watch out for poor English, such as spelling and grammar mistakes, or language that doesnt sound right. Just because a website has a .ie address does not mean it is an Irish registered business.

You should also check that the website lists contact information, including a contact email address, phone number and geographical address. You can also look for VAT numbers or company registration numbers, as this information can be verified through government and EU websites.

Reputable and legitimate companies will always list ways to get in touch with them, so if the website doesnt have a Contact us page, it could well be fraudulent. Additionally, if the site has a Contact us page but only offers a form to fill out, be wary.

Consider using online payment services, such as PayPal or a pre-pay credit card, to avoid potential scammers getting a hold of your bank account details.

Pre-paid debit cards or credit cards provide an extra layer of protection as there is no direct withdrawal from your bank account. Be alert to traders who offer a bank transfer facility, or request that you pay by card over the telephone, or to come into the store (sometimes a pop-up) to pay by cash.

Concerned about #COVID19 & #Brexit related #delays & stock shortages impacting your #Christmas shopping? High demand for certain products can provide an opportunity for rogue traders to take advantage Follow our simple steps before you #buyonline https://t.co/dfSETdvg66  CCPC (@CCPCIreland) October 21, 2021

When you are paying, look out for a s after http at the beginning of the url and a padlock symbol in your browsers task bar, which shows that the website is secure. If it isnt there, be very wary of proceeding any further. Keep all records, as it is important to have all of the details of your interactions with the trader in case an issue arises.

If you buy online, dont just hide the boxes away until Christmas. Open the packages and check the items for any irregularities or issues as soon as they arrive.

If you are buying childrens toys online, be sure to look for the CE mark on the product, in the instruction manual or on the packaging. The CE mark is essentially the manufacturers declaration that the product complies with EU safety regulations and standards.

If there is no visible CE mark, it may be an indication that the toys do not meet the required safety standards and should not be used.

Grainne Griffin, Director of Communications with the CCPC said,

We expect that high levels of online shopping will continue in the build up to Christmas 2021. Generally at this time of year we begin to see growing demand for certain products, which can lead to pressures on parents and families. This year we know that consumers have additional concerns regarding shipping and possible stock shortages.

"Its important for everyone to be aware that these are ideal circumstances for ill-intentioned or rogue traders, both online and in-store (including pop-up shops), to take advantage of consumers who are having trouble sourcing a particular product or toy.

"Therefore, we are asking consumers to follow a number of steps before they buy so that they have no unexpected surprises. Our website www.ccpc.ie also provides a range of information to help consumers whether they are shopping online or in-store, and our helpline at 01 407 5555 is there to assist any consumers looking for help.
CHARLES CITY, Iowa  Charges have now been dismissed against two people arrested after a winter drug investigation in Floyd County.

Valerie Rose Frascht, 39 of Charles City, had been accused of possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine and possession of marijuana. Blake Lee Steege, 26 of Fredricksburg, was charged with possession with intent to deliver meth.

Law enforcement had said Frascht and Steege were at a Charles City home on February 9 when it was searched and 76.76 grams of meth and over 36 grams of marijuana were found.

The Floyd County Attorneys Office now says there is insufficient admissible evidence to justify the prosecution and conviction of Frascht or Steege and all charges against them have been dropped.
ALBERT LEA, Minn.  A man accused of burglarizing a former church is pleading guilty.

Jonathan Michael Boyd, 44 of Albert Lea, was arrested on September 10. Boyd is accused of breaking into an old church in the 400 block of Freeborn that is being converted into a private residence. The owner of the building told authorities he was upstairs when he heard someone rummaging around downstairs. The owner says when he went downstairs, he saw Boyd walking around outside. Another witness told investigators they saw Boyd forcefully pulling on one of the doors of the old church.

Law enforcement says it arrested Boyd about three blocks away from the old church and found him with wire cutters and a can of Pepsi that had the same matching date as cans at the old church.

Boyd has now pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary. His sentencing is set for December 16.
BALSAM LAKE, Wix.  A Hancock County man is sent to prison for a fatal collision in northeast Wisconsin.

Authorities say Michael Charles Barkema, 49 of Klemme, was driving drunk when he crashed into another vehicle on February 23, 2020. The female driver of the other vehicle was killed and law enforcement says Barkema had a blood alcohol content of .28, more than three times the legal limit, when the collision happened.

Barkema pleaded guilty to homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle. Hes been sentenced to three years in Wisconsin state prison, followed by 10 years of extended supervision. Barkema will have to complete 100 hours of community service for each year of extended supervision.
OSAGE, Iowa  A second sentence is handed down for a string of burglaries in Mitchell County.

Amanda Sue Smith, 26 of Osage, pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree burglary and has been given three to five years of supervised probation. Nine other criminal charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

Smith has received a deferred judgment, so this conviction will be removed from her record if she successfully completes her probation.

Law enforcement says Smith and Zebulon Rosendahl of Osage were responsible for multiple crimes in Osage starting on July 6 and continuing through October 3.

Rosendahl previously pleaded guilty to three counts of third-degree burglary, one count of second-degree burglary, and one count of possession of burglar tools. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Authorities have identified the 21-year-old man who was shot and killed in northeast Des Moines Friday morning.

Police said Sunday that Kalvyn Roy Kline was killed in the shooting. A day earlier, police said 27-year-old Darren Antwon Diggs had been charged with first-degree murder and robbery in connection with the shooting. Gunfire was reported shortly before 6 a.m. Friday. Officers who responded to the area found Kline with gunshot wounds.

The officers attempted to save Klines life but he died at the scene. Police have said Kline and Diggs knew each other, and the shooting appears to have been motivated by a drug-related robbery.
Citibank Korea's main branch in Seoul is seen in this April file photo. Yonhap



Details about divestment to be announced Monday



By Park Jae-hyuk



Citibank Korea's management informed its board of directors Friday that attempts to unload the consumer banking unit here had failed, leaving the U.S. headquarters with no alternative but to shut the unit down without selling it, according to industry sources and media reports, Sunday.



The bank will announce the specifics about its exit plan through a statement to be issued Monday, after notifying its employees of the decision.



"We have yet to be informed of the result of Friday's board meeting, because it finished several hours after it started at 5 p.m.," a Citibank Korea spokesperson said.



The financial authorities are said to have already been notified of the bank's decision to phase out its retail banking operation here without selling it to another financial firm.



Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Koh Seung-beom said at a National Assembly audit Thursday that the commission would ascertain whether a phased liquidation of the bank's consumer banking unit needed its approval.






By Trudy Rubin





As soon as I learned that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had died Oct. 18, my mind flashed back to his infamous U.N. speech on Feb. 5, 2003, in which Powell pressed for a war to disarm Iraq. I can't forget my unease as I watched him  on TV in northern Iraq, where I was awaiting the start of the Iraq war.



I was stunned. It was already widely known that Saddam Hussein had no nuclear weapons  despite Bush administration claims. Rumors were rife that defectors were feeding fake information to U.S. sources about bio-weapons. Moreover, it was clear on the ground in Iraq that U.S. troops would face a broken nation on the brink of ethnic and religious civil war, even if the invasion went well.



Powell himself presciently tried to warn President George W. Bush in 2002 that an invasion would saddle the United States with huge Iraq burdens, coining what became known as the Pottery Barn rule: "If you break it, you own it."



Still, despite his skepticism, this soldier-statesman somehow was conned by bad intelligence briefs and inserted them into a U.N. address that he later admitted would "blot" his record forever. Indeed, that speech figures prominently in all the obituaries about Powell's passing from COVID-19 complications (amidst a battle against cancer that had weakened his system against both the disease and the vaccine).



Yet, that blot, although hard to ignore, shouldn't overshadow the greatness of the man.



Colin Powell symbolized the values this country once respected, and a kind of moderate Republican that has virtually gone the way of the dodo. He supported leaders of both parties, depending on who he thought would do the best job, and who he thought might bring the country together.



So what Powell will be remembered for goes far beyond his professional achievements. It can be summed up in a word: "character."



Of course, his character underlaid his achievements, which were enormous, and deserve listing. Born in New York City to Jamaican immigrants, he rose to become the youngest and first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He oversaw the first, successful Iraq War in 1991 and laid out the Powell Doctrine, calling for applying military might only with overwhelming and decisive troop strength.



He served as national security adviser under President Ronald Reagan and became the first Black person to serve as secretary of state under President George W. Bush. Although he had long considered himself a Republican, he endorsed Barack Obama, praising "the inclusive nature of his campaign."



Indeed, it was that search for inclusivity, and worry about increasing incivility in politics that was a hallmark of his political outlook dating from the 1990s, when he considered, then ruled out, running for president. He said he lacked "a calling." Perhaps he understood how ugly partisan politics was already becoming.



Powell stood on principle in criticizing the growing divisiveness and ugly political culture that was taking hold of the Republican party. He finally abandoned his effort to "help the party of Lincoln move once again close to the spirit of Lincoln" when the GOP became the party of Donald Trump. He rightly labelled Trump a liar.



After the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, Powell said he no longer considered himself a member of Trump's GOP. "We need people that will speak the truth," he said.



So it's not surprising that, as deeply felt tributes pour in from Powell's close associates, many come from those who are lean to the left and left-center of the political spectrum. A small sample of the praise: "Wonderful human being," Gen. Wesley Clark said.



"Character, competence, integrity," was the praise offered by Col. Bill Smullen, Powell's former chief of staff. "Class act," stated Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons.



"Colin embodied the highest ideals of both warrior and diplomat. America has lost a patriot of unmatched honor and dignity," hailed President Joe Biden.



But what's more surprising is the outpouring from GOP Trump supporters in Congress, many too cowardly to publicly adopt Powell's principled stance.



They include Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., a Trump acolyte in the House minority leadership, who refuses to reject the Big Lie about a stolen election, who said, "America has lost a true leader and American patriot." Similar accolades have flowed from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, whom Trump recently endorsed, along with Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who leads the GOP Senate campaign committee.



Maybe they never noticed when Trump called Powell a "stiff" who brought on the 2003 Iraq war (which Trump originally supported, despite lying about it). Or maybe these Trumpists are trying to have it both ways, appealing for votes from people of color by showering Powell with accolades, while embracing a leader whose lies drove Powell out of the GOP.



Perhaps they secretly recognize that Colin Powell stood for principles most Americans still want their leaders to embody but they are too weak to emulate: decency, honesty, inclusiveness, love of country, and the elevation of those values above partisan politics and pursuit of office.



Powell will be remembered for his strength of character, unlike many who now praise him. We can only wish his legacy would inspire others to follow suit.





Trudy Rubin (trubin@phillynews.com.) is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer. This article was distributed by Tribune Content Agency.


By Kim Won-soo





Volatility in the strategic equation of the Korean Peninsula has recently risen. From a short-term perspective, the volatility largely stems from the growing anxiety over a prolonged stalemate in North Korea's dialogue with the United States. It remains uncertain at this time whether the North will choose tension or rapprochement to break the stalemate.



From a long-term perspective, the cycle of North Korean behavior needs to be understood in the context of the evolving strategic equation in and around the Korean Peninsula. The equation is complex as it involves the two Koreas as well as four other major powers, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.



Each of these four is among the most powerful countries in the world and have direct but often conflicting stakes in Korean peninsula issues. The equation is also heavily loaded with a full agenda array spanning from politics to socioeconomics, including humanitarian and human rights issues and security.



Recently, typical of its behavioral pattern, North Korea is sending two conflicting signals simultaneously. The alleged launch of a series of new missiles, including a submarine-launched ballistic missile and a hypersonic gliding vehicle (HGV), was synchronized with some overtures for dialogue.The launch came as yet another example of a predictable surprise by North Korea.



It was predictable as a follow-up to the stated intention made by the North Korean leader earlier this year. But it was still surprising since it took place faster than generally expected. Subject to further analysis, North Korea may have joined a select group of very few countries possessing HGV technology, including Russia, China and the United States. North Korea also offered some olive branches on the inter-Korean front by suggesting the reconnection of severed communication hotlines as well as hinting at the resumption of dialogue with strings attached.



As usual, we need to read between the lines about these seemingly contradictory acts by North Korea.



In my view, reading between the lines reveals three things. First, it is meant as a warning to its neighbors, particularly South Korea and the United States, to take its military advances seriously. Of course, further details need to be carefully analyzed to verify the claim. Undoubtedly, however, the launch itself of new missile systems has serious implications on the efficacy and credibility of the respective missile defense systems of the U.S. and South Korea.



Secondly, it is a reminder that time is not on our side as far as the nuclear and missile clock is concerned. With the passage of time, North Korea will continue to make advances both in the quantity and quality of their nuclear and missile arsenals. Thirdly, it is a coded confession by North Korea about its growing difficulties caused by the triple sources of pain: 1) international sanctions; 2) internal, self-imposed restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and 3) repercussions of natural disasters aggravated by its weak infrastructure and coping capacity. In that sense, time is not on North Korea's side, either.



Our response to these complex messages sent by North Korea must be two-pronged. On the one hand, we need to carefully assess the implications of North Korea's continuing advances in nuclear and missile capabilities and make necessary adjustments in our deterrence and defense postures. On the other hand, we need to work harder with the U.S. and other friends to explore yet another path to a negotiated settlement. The pursuit of this path will be tough, as it has been so far. We all know too well that there is no magic solution.



But it is also clear that a negotiated settlement still remains the best possible, or at least the least terrible option, as all other options are worse. Its pursuit requires creativity and flexibility. We need to learn from our past trials and failures and think anew. We also need to have a long-term perspective in view of the myriad challenges affecting all aspects of our life on the Korean Peninsula.



The pursuit of a negotiated settlement backed by robust deterrence must be our preferred way forward. This journey, we must assume, will be tough and long.



We can think of it as a bumpy ride pulled by six horses  the two Koreas and the four surrounding powers. There is a consensus about the destination, which is a lasting peace and complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. But this remains mostly as a declaratory goal without clarity on how we get from here to there.



A huge vacuum exists on the methodology and substance of the journey. Each of the six horses differs in terms of size and interests. Each has a different agenda with different priorities, and therefore wants to pull the cart in different directions. Here comes the role of South Korea. Despite its smaller size relative to the other four except North Korea, South Korea must play the role of an anchor to steady and steer the journey.



For that, South Korea needs bipartisan consensus on the way forward. The first and foremost task of the next president of South Korea, whoever is elected next March, is to design a long-term roadmap of the journey and get it endorsed with bipartisan domestic support. Divided, South Korea will be unable to steady itself and others. A united South Korea is the only way to steer the challenging journey toward the shared destination.





Kim Won-soo (wsk4321@gmail.com) is the former under-secretary-general of the United Nations and high representative for disarmament. As a Korean diplomat, he served as the foreign affairs secretary to the Korean president. He is now the chair of the international advisory board of the Future Consensus Institute (Yeosijae) and a member of the Group of Eminent Persons for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBTO).


By Bhaskar Anand and Muhammad Qasim





Bhaskar Anand Muhammad Qasim

Politicians often ignore scientific admonitions for exigent climate action to mitigate the severity of climate change's impacts and may perhaps envisage it as "climate mythology." But the recent cataclysmic events such as wildfires in Greece, Turkey, Algeria and the U.S., as well as floods in Germany, China and India are perfect evidence of the climate crisis and its devastating consequences.



The sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), "Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis" published in August, said "The world will face a series of irreversible climate tipping points if we do not make significant and immediate reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions."
Brian Howey is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana at howeypolitics.com. Find him on Facebook and Twitter @hwypol.
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Patchy power outages are possible for parts of western Oregon Sunday as a low-pressure system brings widespread showers and gusts in excess of 50 mph on the coast.

FOX 12 Meteorologist Jeff Forgeron says Crown Point Vista House in the Gorge clocked at least two wind gusts above 50 mph Sunday morning. That east wind will veer out of the south later Sunday afternoon as the weather system positions itself to the northwest.

Portland-area arborist prepares for winter weather PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV) - It's fall in Portland, which means winter weather is on the way and local arborists, like Monkeyman's Tree Service, ar

Wind gusts will be in the ballpark of 50-65 mph along the coast, and will push up the Willamette Valley at about 30-40 mph. Thunderstorms will also start to develop along the coast by mid-to-late morning, and will continue this afternoon. Theres a threat for severe thunderstorms (mainly along the coast), which could include decent size hail, lightning and the potential for isolated tornadoes. We wont see as many thunderstorms inland, but the wind profile will be favorable for a few funnel clouds.

Power companies suggest you keep an outage kit that includes flashlights, a car charger, blankets, a supply of food and water, and some activities to pass the time.

The wind will gradually let up on Monday as the low pressure system pushes northward into Canada. Click here for the seven-day forecast.
SPOKANE, Wash. - With Halloween and the holiday season quickly approaching, That means it's time to protect yourself from porch pirates.

The pandemic has caused more people to shop online and while delivery numbers have grown nationwide, unfortunately, more packages delivered has also meant more packages stolen.

Halloween marks a spooky start to this holiday season and although we love seeing Captain Hook walking the streets. We're talking about a different more disruptive kind of pirate that shows its face around this time: the porch pirate.

You see it every day on apps like Ring Neighbors or NextDoor. Stolen packages, stolen goods, porch pirates on the roam

For Mindy Timpani, the thief was quick.

"The package was sitting there for 30 minutes, but we had noticed the van was following the truck around to be able to go up and steal the packages," Timpani said. "They were on it too fast. Way too fast."

In this case, there was even a scout.

"Checking to see if there was actually something in the package and then running back and to tell him," she said. "He comes back in a mask thinking that you know, if I actually take the package with the mask on, they're not going to catch me."

Even though more houses are equipped with security cameras like the ring doorbell, out of the over 20 billion parcels shipped each year in the United States, which has gone up because of the pandemic. Around 14% or 35.5 million Americans have been victims of package theft in the last 12 months according to a survey done by Finder. At an average value of just over $150 Americans have lost 5.4 billion dollars this past year. That's a lot of money.

"I find it funny because I mean they got dog food for one hand they got laundry soap, so hopefully they're able to use the dog food and do some laundry," she said. "It just sucks that we have to know for me, I rely on you know, delivery and stuff just because it helps me with my busy life. But now I've had to cancel all orders and have it delivered only when I'm at home. I just get nervous because the holidays are coming up and I'm nervous now that I can't even order anything that's remotely expensive because I don't want a chance that somebody's gonna come steal it off my porch so most likely we will be going back into the stores this year, unfortunately.

Although Timpani caught the thief on camera and called Crime Check the reality is, catching these pirates is difficult. While data ranges and depends on the city, only about 10% of the time police make arrests.

"Pretty small but the new systems that are coming in are helping quite a bit," Jake Willard, a Neighborhood Resource Officer for Spokane Police said.

Willard deals with this every year and said there are ways to protect yourself.

"Get to know your neighbors, build friendships, find places to put it safely and send it places you know it'll be safe," he said.

Timpani said the UPS driver heard about the porch theft and has started delivering her packages behind the home's screen door. Just one way our community is trying to help in preventing these crimes.

If you want to report a crime, you can call crime check or use SPD new online reporting website SREC911.org

To file a Crime Check Report online:

1. Go to: SREC911.org

2. Click on Crime Check and then Online Reporting when the window pops up.

3. Scroll down and click on the Spokane Police Department badge icon.

4. Select the type of incident being reported.

5. Fill out all of the information when prompted.

6. Once completed, a temporary report case number will be provided until the report has been approved.

This service will not be monitored 24/7. Citizens who are reporting incidents that are currently in progress should contact 9-1-1 or Crime Check at (509) 456-2233 depending on the incident being reported
Sen. Joe Manchin, seen here at the U.S. Capitol on June 22, in Washington, DC, said Thursday that $1.5 trillion is his limit on the Biden economic agenda price tag.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
DELAVAN  Aram Public Library recently received the Wisconsin Library Associations Programming Innovation Award for 2021.

The librarys Summer Storyteller Series is why the library was nominated for the award. The series was created by Katherine Schoofs, Arams youth librarian and assistant director.

Each summer, as part of Arams summer reading program, a local business partner reads a childrens book. The reading is shared on the librarys Facebook page. Local celebrities have read in English, Spanish and in American Sign Language.

Via Facebook, our community can listen to stories delivered by people they see in the community every day, said Aram Director Michelle Carter.

She believes those who read in the program encourage literacy while they are connecting with the community.

Its a really fun program and weve had many a shy reader really get in the spirit of reading a childrens book, Carter said. Katherine does an excellent job in reaching out to our local businesses and selecting fun reads.

Linda Zell, a trustee at Aram Public Library, made the nomination.

Zell said she has been describing the library as small but mighty, and she is honored to have a small part in the recent recognition.

Through the series, Schoofs appealed to the diverse cultural and economic populations in Delavan, benefitting Arams youngest patrons by partnering with the deaf, Latino, educational, political and business communities.

Because of Katherines innovative virtual program, the youngsters of Delavan were exposed to the concept that reading is an activity enjoyed and shared by many, Zell said.

Aram is located at 404 E. Walworth Ave., Delavan.
Lake Geneva Police reported multiple fights at Badger High School between Sept. 10 and Oct. 5, with an additional battery citation issued on Oct. 11.

Many of the fights occurred in the morning around 7:30-7:40 a.m.

Jim Gottinger, the Lake Geneva school superintendent, said, We are not taking them lightly.

When fights happen they work with police and citations are issued. There is a full-time police officer in the school that is payed for half by the district and half by the police department.

Gottinger said following the fights, a number of students have been suspended. At least one student was also expelled this year, although Gottinger was not able to provide details.

In the morning can be a time where there are issues because of social media interactions the night before, Gottinger said. They have increased supervision in the hallways in the morning, he said.

According to the police blotter issued weekly by the Lake Geneva Police Department:

On Friday, Sept. 10 at 7:40 a.m. the school resource officer was informed that a fight had occurred and issued a 16-year-old male student from Lake Geneva a citation for disorderly conduct.

On Friday, Sept. 17 another fight was reported at 7:40 a.m. A 15-year-old male from Sharon and a 17-year-old male from Lake Geneva were both issued disorderly conduct citations.

That same morning on Sept. 17, a 17-year-old male student from Pell Lake was also issued a citation for disorderly conduct. Its unclear if there were two fights or if the Sept. 17 citations were related.

On Friday, Oct. 1, at 7:40 a.m. another fight was reported between two students. Two 16-year-old males, one from Genoa City and another from Burlington, were issued disorderly conduct citations.

That same morning, Oct. 1, a fight was reported involving a 14-year-old male from Lake Geneva and 15-year-old male from Genoa City. Both were issued disorderly conduct citations.

That afternoon, Oct. 1, at 11:45 a.m. a 15-year-old from Genoa City was issued a citation for battery and a 14-year-old from Pell Lake was issued a citation for criminal damage. Details were not immediately available about what led to those citations.

On Tuesday, Oct. 5, another fight was reported at 7:30 a.m. between two students. A 16-year-old male from Burlington and 16-year-old from Lake Geneva were issued citations for disorderly conduct, involving a fight.

On Monday, Oct. 11 at 7:40 a.m., a 15-year-old male student from Genoa City was issued a citation for battery. Additional information was not immediately available.
The Autumn Gettysburg Civil War & Militaria Show is 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 31
Steve Groffs business plan is to continue learning about growing, processing and marketing hemp while finding the niche that capitalizes its strengths.
New Delhi, October 24: Former member of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and senior leader of Communist Party of India Marxist Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami on Sunday expressed unhappiness over recent remarks made by Union Minister Amit Shah and said that the Home Minister repeated his old adages and made no new announcements for the Union Territory.

"I had lots of expectations from Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to Jammu and Kashmir but unfortunately, he (Shah) repeated his old adage ways and made no new announcements for the Union Territory," he said.

Also Read | PM Narendra Modi to Inaugurate 9 Medical Colleges in UP, Launch Several Development Projects on October 25.

Speaking to ANI, Tarigami said, "We expected that maybe after the arrival of Home Minister Amit Shah in the UT, he will say something about the recently held meeting between the Prime Minister and Jammu and Kashmir leaders, about what all the government has done for the UT. Instead, he reiterated that there will be delimitation, elections and then there will be a restoration of statehood at the appropriate time. I wonder why such things? Giving statehood is not an obligation on the people of Jammu and Kashmir."

"Political parties of J-K believe that a great injustice happened with the people of Jammu and Kashmir by dividing and downsizing the state into two union territories. Even in the meeting with the Prime Minister, all the political parties demanded not to divide the state in two Union Territories. Parties demand the restoration of full statehood in Jammu and Kashmir " he said.

Also Read | Sonu Sood Organises COVID-19 Vaccination Awareness Drive in Mumbai With Frontline Workers.

CPI (M) leader questioned the return of 'normalcy' in Jammu and Kashmir and said, "Even today, if you go to Kashmir, you will see in every corner that there are security forces sitting and keeping a vigil. To whom do you want to say normalcy has returned? Civilian killings continue, labourers and businessman killings continue.... is this normalcy? Still, you create a drama of normalcy. It is a way of deceiving the country in my eyes."

Union Minister Amit Shah is on a three-day visit from October 23 to 25 in Jammu and Kashmir.

Shah on Saturday said that the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir will be restored after the delimitation of constituencies and assembly elections. Union Minister, who is on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, was interacting with members of Jammu and Kashmir's youth clubs on Saturday.

(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 24 (ANI): India reported 15,906 new COVID-19 cases and 16,479 recoveries in the past 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family welfare on Sunday.

With this, the active caseload of the country now stands at 1,72,594 in the country, which is the lowest in 235 days.

Also Read | Karnataka Shocker: Depressed Over Wifes Death, Ex-Army Man Kills Four Children, Dies By Suicide In Belagavi District.

The country's active cases account for 0.51 per cent of the total cases reported so far, which is the lowest since March 2020.

With a total of 16,479 new recoveries, the overall recovery rate stands at 3,35,48,605 which has been increased from 98.16 per cent to 98.17 per cent.

Also Read | Inaugural Srinagar-Sharjah Flight Flagged Off by Amit Shah From Sheikh-ul-Alam International Airport.

The weekly positivity rate is 1.23 per cent while the daily positivity rate stands at 1.19 per cent.

As per the health ministry, 59.97 crore samples have been tested for the presence of the virus so far.

Meanwhile, over 102.10 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Lakhimpur Kheri (UP), Oct 24 (PTI) Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra's son Ashish Mishra, who is currently in jail in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, has contracted dengue, a senior police official said on Sunday.

Ashish Mishra, who was taken in police remand, was sent back to the district jail on Saturday evening for treatment at its healthcare facility, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Arun Kumar Singh said.

Also Read | Zika Virus in Uttar Pradesh: First Patient Found Infected in Kanpur, 10 Teams Set Up To Check the Spread of Virus.

Ashish Mishra, along with three others, was taken in two-day police custody on Friday evening for further interrogation.

Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 in violence that erupted during a farmers' protest.

Also Read | Mathura Jail Mulling To Propose Jail-Themed Restaurant Outside Its Premises.

Thirteen people, including Mishra, have so far been arrested in connection with the incident.

Three accused arrested on Saturday -- Mohit Trivedi, Rinku Rana and Dharmendra -- were produced before a magistrate in the evening. The investigators moved an application for their 14-day police custody remand. The hearing on the application will take place on Monday.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Poonch, October 24: One terrorist, associated with proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was killed in an encounter with security forces in the Bhata Durian area of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday.

According to a statement of Jammu and Kashmir police, a terrorist has been identified as Zia Mustafa.

Also Read | PM Narendra Modi to Visit Italy and the UK From October 29 to November 2; to Attend G20, Climate Summits.

"Zia Mustafa, a Pakistani LeT terrorist was taken to the Bhata Durian for identification of terrorist hideout during the ongoing operation in which three Army jawans and a JCO was killed," said police in a statement.

Earlier in the day, two policemen and an army jawan had sustained injuries after terrorists opened fire on them in the Bhata Durian area of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir.

Also Read | After Fuel Price Surge, Cooking Gas and Transportation Price Expected to Soar Upsetting CNG, PNG Rates.

"During the search, when the team approached the hideout, terrorists again opened fire on the joint team of police and army personnel in which two policemen and an army jawan sustained injuries. Zia Mustafa also sustained injuries and he could not be extracted from the site due to heavy fire," it added.

Police informed that injured personnel are under treatment at the nearby health facility. It added operation is still in progress and the legal process has been initiated.

"A fresh attempt will be made with reinforcements, and operation at the site is still going on," said the statement.

(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 24 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday recalled the police personnel who had laid down their lives in the line of duty and highlighted that presence of women security personnel naturally instils a sense of confidence among the people, especially women.

Addressing the radio programme Mann Ki Baat today, the Prime Minister said, "Just a few days ago, on October 21, we celebrated Police Commemoration Day. On this day we especially remember our brave hearts of the police who have laid down their lives in the service of the country. Today I would like to remember these policemen along with their families. A tough service like the police is very difficult without the support and sacrifice of the family."

Also Read | Pune: Senior Citizen Duped Of Rs 3.16 Lakh By Cyber Fraudsters While Trying To Purchse Red Wine Online.

"There is one more thing related to police service that I want to convey to the listeners of 'Mann Ki Baat'. Earlier it was believed that services like army and police are meant only for men. But today it is not so. The statistics from the Bureau of Police Research and Development show that in the last few years, the number of women police personnel has doubled. In 2014, while their number was close to 1 lakh 5 thousand, by 2020 it has increased by more than double and this number has now reached up to 2 lakh 15 thousand," the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister said, "Even in the Central Armed Police Forces, the number of women has almost doubled in the last seven years. And I'm not talking just about numbers. Today the daughters of the country are performing even the toughest duties with full force and zeal. For example, many daughters are currently undergoing one of the most difficult training, that of Specialized Jungle Warfare Commandos. They will be a part of our Cobra Battalion. Friends, today when we go to airports, metro stations or see government offices, brave women of CISF are seen guarding every sensitive place."

Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Shocker: Aspiring Model Sedated, Filmed in Nude by Woman and Her Associates at Guest House in Lucknow.

In his address, the Prime Minister said that the most positive effect of this is on the morale of our police force as well as society. "The presence of women security personnel naturally instills a sense of confidence among the people, especially women. They naturally feel connected to women security personnel. Because of the sensitivity in women, people tend to trust them more. These policewomen of ours are also becoming role models for lakhs of other daughters of the country. I would like to request the women police personnel to visit the schools in their areas once the schools open and talk to the girls there," PM said.

The Prime Minister felt assured that this conversation will give a new direction to our new generation and will also increase public confidence in the police. "I hope that more women will join the police service in future, lead the New Age Policing of our country," PM Modi 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)
Bhadohi, Oct 24 (PTI) Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said that while the erstwhile governments of Uttar Pradesh considered their families to be the state, for him, the state is his family.

He also alleged that the previous governments are responsible for the criminalisation of politics.

Also Read | Yogi Adityanath Says Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic Almost Over in Uttar Pradesh.

Adityanath was speaking at an event here to inaugurate and lay the foundation of 74 projects worth Rs 373 crore.

"For me, my state is my family. For those who were in power earlier, their family was the state. We say 'sabka saath, sabka vikas' (with all, for everyone's development), but they used to say 'mera parivar, mera vikas' (my family, my development)," he said.

Also Read | Delhi Logs 37 New COVID-19 Cases, No Deaths in Past 24 Hours.

Adityanath claimed that under the previous governments, people could not get electricity, cooking gas and ration even after paying money, while the poor were caned by the police. They are responsible for the criminalisation of politics.

The ration of the poor was stolen and their lands grabbed. Now if criminals try to commit such a crime, then the bulldozer is ready for them, he said.

The chief minister asked the gathering if the Ram temple could have been built under the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party or the Congress.

These parties should be asked why they could not do in 70 years the work that the BJP government has done in four-and-a-half years, Adityanath said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
London [UK], October 24 (ANI): The British Military has flown over 100 people who had fled from Afghanistan to the United Kingdom.

"The RAF [Royal Air Force] has airlifted over 102 people who had already left Afghanistan from a neighbouring third country," the ministry said on Saturday.

Also Read | Anjali Ryot, Indian-Origin LinkedIn Engineer and Vlogger, Shot Dead in Mexico Drug Violence.

The ministry also emphasised that these flights are the first military relocation of "eligible Afghans and British nationals since the end of the evacuation from Kabul, known as Operation PITTING," Sputnik reported.

The transported individuals include British nationals and Afghans who are eligible for relocation to the UK, the defence ministry specified.

Also Read | Sri Lankans Protest Against Pakistan for Supporting Taliban in Afghanistan.

"Further flights are due to arrive in the UK in the coming weeks with more eligible people on board," the ministry said.

In early August, the Taliban stepped up their offensive against the Afghan government forces and entered the capital city of Kabul on August 15.

The US military withdrawal from Afghanistan was completed at the end of August, ending the nearly twenty-year American military presence in Afghanistan. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Beijing [China], October 24 (ANI): Gansu, China's Northwest province, has announced the suspension of all tourism activities after a surge in the COVID-19 cases in the region, reported local media.

All tourists in Lanzhou -- where most COVID-19 cases in the province were reported -- required to stay in wherever place they were and be quarantined, said Global Times.

Also Read | Afghanistan: ISIL Claims Responsibility for Detonating Power Pylon in Kabul That Cut Main Electricity Line.

Gansu registered -- from October 18 to Saturday night -- a total of 41 confirmed cases, of which 30 are from Lanzhou, seven from Zhangye, two from Jiayu Pass, one from Tianshui, and one from Longnan.

Gene sequencing revealed the cases in Gansu were caused by the Delta variant. Infections in Beijing, Inner Mongolia, and Shaanxi were also reportedly caused by the Delta variant.

Also Read | India Has To Further Boost Engagement With Neighbours To Counter China, Says CDS General Bipin Rawat.

The National Health Commission on Sunday said that the Chinese mainland, on Saturday, reported 26 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases.

Of the new local cases, seven were reported in Inner Mongolia, six each in Gansu and Ningxia, four in Beijing, and one each in Hebei, Hunan and Shaanxi, reported Xinhua.

Also reported were 17 new imported cases, of which eight were reported in Zhejiang, four in Shanghai, and one each in Beijing, Heilongjiang, Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Peshawar, Oct 24 (PTI) Unidentified gunmen on Sunday shot dead a police constable escorting a team of polio workers in northwest Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the third such incident within a week.

The constable, identified as Ikramullah, was killed by the gunmen riding a motorcycle in Dera Ismail Khan district of the province, police said.

Also Read | Afghanistan: ISIL Claims Responsibility for Detonating Power Pylon in Kabul That Cut Main Electricity Line.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Police have cordoned off the area and launched an operation to nab the culprits.

Also Read | India Has To Further Boost Engagement With Neighbours To Counter China, Says CDS General Bipin Rawat.

Ikramullah is the third policeman to be killed in north-west Pakistan in a week.

On Thursday, gunmen killed a traffic constable, who was returning to his native village after completing polio duty in Chagharmatti area in Peshawar district.

Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world along with its neighbour Afghanistan.

The Pakistan government has suspended the anti-polio drive and post-campaign evaluation in the past following the increasing number of attacks on polio workers in different parts of the country.

Attempts to eradicate the crippling disease have been seriously hampered by deadly targeting of vaccination teams in recent years by militants, who oppose the drives, claiming that the polio drops cause infertility.

(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 24 (ANI): Russian Foreign Ministry launched a flashmob Sunday to celebrate the anniversary of the United Nations Day. On this day in 1945, UN Charter came into force.

"On the UN Day, which is marked worldwide today, we would like to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the #UNCharter, and to remind the global community that the #UNCharterlsOurRules," Russian envoy to India Nikolay Kudashev said in a tweet.

Also Read | Afghanistan: ISIL Claims Responsibility for Detonating Power Pylon in Kabul That Cut Main Electricity Line.

As part of the flashmob, the Russian embassy in India posted several posts of people highlighting the importance of the UN Charter. Kudashev, in a statement, stated that the principles stipulated in this fundamental document are of great relevance for the current vibrant geopolitical developments.

"The principles stipulated in this fundamental document such as equality of all nations, resolving international disputes by peaceful means, refraining from the threat or use of force, non-interference in domestic affairs, respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity, etc., are of great relevance for the current vibrant geopolitical developments, as we are seeing increasing attempts to use the 'might is right' approach instead of right is might," said Russian envoy.

Also Read | India Has To Further Boost Engagement With Neighbours To Counter China, Says CDS General Bipin Rawat.

For Russia, Kudashev said that global threats and challenges can be countered effectively only through collective efforts and in strict compliance with the universally recognized norms of international law.

"Based on the goals and principles of the UN Charter, Russia and India promote the special and privileged strategic partnership. Our countries stand for the United Nations to play the central coordinating role in global politics, using all its potential of universal multilateralism and legitimacy," he added.

UN Day, celebrated every year, offers the opportunity to amplify our common agenda and reaffirm the purposes and principles of the UN Charter that have guided us for the past 76 years. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kota, October 24: In a shocking incident, a 25-year-old man allegedly died by suicide in Rajasthan's Kota district on Friday. The deceased was identified as Pankaj Vaishnav. He was a resident of Srinathpuram. He allegedly set himself on fire by pouring petrol on him after a fight with his wife. Vaishnav sustained burn injuries and was shifted to a hospital. On Saturday, he succumbed to his injuries. Chennai Shocker: 48-Year-Old Man Sets Himself on Fire in Front of CM MK Stalin's Residence.

The deceased was an alcoholic. According to a report published in The Times of India, the man was in an inebriated state when he set himself on fire. On Friday evening, he reportedly reached home drunk. A scuffle broke out between Vaishnav and his wife. After the fight, he left home at around 7 pm in clothes soaked in petrol and set himself on fire.

As per the media report, Vaishnav was rushed to MBS Hospital with severe burn injuries. However, on Saturday, he succumbed to his burns during the treatment in the wee hours. Vaishnav breathed his last at around 3 am. The deceased was a daily wager. The police have started an investigation into the matter.

In another incident, a 25-year-old man allegedly ended his life by hanging himself in the Anta area of Rajasthan's Baran district, police said on Saturday. The deceased, identified as Naresh Mali of Anta town, was in an inebriated state when he took the extreme step, they said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 24, 2021 02:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Nina and Ahmad have lived happily together in their small one-bedroom apartment for years. They share the cost of groceries; they split the rent.

But in Iran, where Islamic teachings are woven into all aspects of life, theirs is a delicate  and illegal  arrangement: They are not married.

The pair is among a growing number of young couples in Iran who are living together without exchanging vows, a trend that the government says undermines the countrys religious values.

Last year, the chief of staff to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called cohabitation shameful.

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The Islamic ruler should strongly fight this kind of life, said Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, and officials should show no mercy in cracking down on the practice.

In April, the government shut down a womens magazine for dedicating a special report to cohabitation, a practice commonly referred to as white marriage.

There are no official estimates on the number of unmarried couples cohabiting in Iran, where those who engage in sex, dating or even hand holding out of wedlock find themselves on the wrong side of the law. But officials such as Siyavash Shahrivar, deputy governor of greater Tehran, say that white marriages are on the increase.

With about 60% of the population younger than 30, cohabitation is inevitable in Iran, according to Nina Ansary, an expert on womens rights in the Islamic Republic. And although the official rhetoric is hard-line, a significant portion of Iranian society is more sophisticated and less hidebound than the ruling establishment.

Iranian women, Ansary said, are fearless.

Everything that is forbidden, from dancing to drinking to having sex, is being practiced underground, she said. Whats remarkable about a generation born and raised in this climate is that they do not reflect the conservative laws.

Many Iranians cohabit before marriage. Its economical. Its a way to date and live together and not be bound by the heavy weight of marriage in a country that handicaps its youth at every turn.

To mask their mores, many unmarried couples wear fake wedding bands and memorize each others family trees, small protections to make their phony marriages seem real in case they are stopped by police.

Its just a way of self-preservation, Ansary said. A way to remain under the radar of orthodoxy.

Like other unmarried couples, Nina and Ahmad declined to give their last names. She is in her second white marriage. Living together, though illegal, is more humane than a rushed marriage, she said.

Her family doesnt mind the living arrangement. They dont stick their noses into her affairs, she explained.

When you earn your living and  are an independent woman, nobody should dare to ask you about marriage, said Nina, 28.

Government officials disagree, however, and say white marriage puts women at a disadvantage. If a boyfriend is abusive, they argue, a woman has no legal protection.

Nina scoffed at that argument.

We can break up whenever we want, she said. We dont know what our future will be.

For Ahmad, white marriage is also attractive for financial reasons. Traditional marriage can be too expensive for young Iranians struggling to cope in a poor economy, he said.

Why on earth do we have to spend tens of millions of tomans to be locked into married life and potentially a very expensive divorce? Ahmad, 30, said.

The nations divorce rate has nearly tripled in the last 15 years and about 20% of marriages end in divorce, according to Iranian media reports.

Not only are divorces expensive in Iran, but they are also difficult for women to get. If a husband is unwilling to divorce his wife, she has to prove, legally, that he has been physically abusive, has psychological problems or has failed to fulfill his marital duties.

Jumping through such hoops once was enough for Ziba, who divorced after one year of marriage. The 32-year-old now lives with her boyfriend, Amir Ali, in an apartment near Tehran University.

Wedding ceremonies are getting more expensive and dowries are neck-breaking, Ziba said.

Dowries in Iran, called mehrieh, are usually paid in the form of gold coins, but some women have begun waiving the cash in exchange for divorce settlements.

Traditional marriages are collapsing anyway, Amir Ali said. If one day we can afford it, we will get married. Its not anyones business  our parents or our government.

The couples only legal alternative to traditional marriage is sigheh, a temporary marriage under Islamic law. The short-term contract allows relations before marriage. Sigheh can last for as little as a few hours or it can span decades, and it doesnt end in costly divorce.

Although government officials and clerics advise young men to consider temporary marriages, the practice is frowned upon by many Iranians, especially educated young women such as Ziba, who find it offensive.

As she sat in her living room filled with the books and DVDs that she and Amir Ali have collected together, Ziba wondered how long unmarried Iranian couples will have to live a double life. She said she hopes that one day, Irans government will be more accepting of white marriage.

Inshallah, Ziba said. God willing.

Special correspondent Mostaghim reported from Tehran and Times staff writer Parvini from Los Angeles.

Twitter: @ParviniParlance
Supermacs is appealing to its customers in Laois to support overseas development agency, Trocaire, in rolling out lifesaving Covid-19 vaccines to vulnerable communities in Somalia, East Africa.

The Irish family food group is asking customers in to donate in store to ensure communities in Somalia, a poor and fragile country ravaged by conflict, drought and hunger, are protected from the killer virus.

Over the years Supermacs and its generous customers in Laois and all over Ireland have contributed an incredible 500,000 plus to support Trocaires work throughout the world through in-store tap and donate, collections and fundraising events.

Paul Healy, Trocaires Country Director in Somalia, said the support of Supermacs customers in Laois and Ireland will be vital in helping the agency administer Covid-19 vaccines to communities in Gedo, southern Somalia, where Trocaire manages the health system.

He said: While Ireland is emerging from lockdown, with 90 per cent of people over 16 years fully vaccinated, only 1.5% of the population of over 17 million people are vaccinated in Somalia.

This is reflective of the massive vaccine inequity in the world. Devastated communities in Gedo are suffering and extremely vulnerable. The impact of Covid-19, conflict and climate change have left people hungry, without livelihoods, and in urgent need of medical care.

Mr Healy said Trocaire is the main vaccinator in Gedo region, an area slightly bigger than Ireland, where the agency runs four district hospitals. It is overseeing the storage and administration of vaccines, as well as Covid and PCR testing.

He added a huge challenge is vaccine hesitancy and awareness amongst high-risk people including those who have been internally displaced due to conflict and climate change.

Even getting people to adopt simple measures like handwashing can be a challenge. As well as administering the vaccine we have reached over 160,000 people with screening, treatment of cases and COVID-19 awareness messages. But there are millions more in need of support.

The donations from Supermacs customers are greatly appreciated and have helped change the lives of so many. We look forward to continued support for the most vulnerable people in the world.

Supermacs MD, Pat McDonagh, said: The global pandemic has ravaged communities throughout the world. We have seen its impact on communities here at home, but as we emerge from the clutches of the pandemic, it is important that we support those in need of vaccines throughout the world.

Trocaire is a charity very close to the hearts of myself and my wife myself Una and we are delighted to support its lifechanging work. Our family and teams across the organisation have seen for ourselves the impact of Trocaires work on the ground in Africa and Central America. It is devastating to see the levels of poverty. We would like to thank our customers, suppliers and the entire Supermacs family for their fantastic contributions to the charity.

Supermacs customers can donate to this appeal in all outlets throughout Laois and Ireland.
Former Intel Ireland manager and RTE journalist, Liam Cahill, has published a new book on the Spanish Civil War.

The book, titled From Suir to Jarama, is not simply about the role of the Irish who fought in the mid 1930s conflict. Because the chief protagonist of the book is a Waterford citizen, Maurice Quinlivan, known as Mossie, who is a relative of the author, it touches on how his bravery affected family members.

Just as the period of the Irish Civil war divided families, Liam Cahills book looks at the effect Maurices role in the war had on his wider family.

The book highlights the crucial role of volunteers from both parts of Ireland in one of the most important battles of the Spanish Civil War, at Jarama, outside Madrid, in February 1937.

It looks at the Irish involvement on the Republican side through the life and fate of Mossie in particular. It also notes that in going to fight Franco, Mossie was fighting with a British brigade, the 15th International Brigade, which included experienced British soldiers who had fought with the British Black and Tans in the War of Independence in Ireland.

The book, which has its roots in studies the author did for a Creative and Non Creative Writing course at Maynooth University, involved research through family and non-family sources.

Mossie, born on St Patricks Day, 1911, had, at this stage of life in late 1936 and 1937, socialist leanings, and joined 40,000 international volunteers in what was for them a fight against Fascism.

Mossie arrived in Spain in early December, 1936. By 17 February 1937, he was dead, the only one of eleven fellow Waterford volunteers, who was killed.

He was shot by a sniper when trying to rescue a wounded comrade.

Mossie was one of 500 UK/Irish republicans who took part in the Battle of Jarama, which started on February 12, 1937. One hundred and fifty died in the battle and another 150 were injured.

The book includes an account of an attack at Wolfe Tones grave in Bodenstown, Kildare in 1934 and events in the 1990s/2000s and later when politicians in Ireland, Spain and elsewhere, highlighted the role of those who died in the Spanish Civil War. Mossies father was a brother of Nicholas Quinlivan  the authors grandfather. Mossie, who is buried in Morata de Tajuna, the nearest cemetery to the battlefield in Spain, came from a well known Waterford political and business family. He went to Waterpark school in the city, for better off folk, where rugby was played.

Liam Cahill notes that within the wider family, Mossies role and bravery got sidelined as some family members supported the Blueshirts, supporters of Franco. He says Mossies role did not suit their political narrative.

Others who believed as Mossie did, lost their jobs in teaching due to the power of the Catholic Church.

Liam concluded: Clearly, he (Mossie) believed in something  call it communism, republicanism or democracy and unlike most of us, he was prepared to fight and die for what he believed in.

From Suir to Jarama (10e) is published by Orla Kelly Publications. It is on sale in book shops including, Woodbine Books, Kilcullen.

It can be ordered online from buythebook.ie, a community of self-published Irish authors at www.buythebook.ie/liamcahill, Books.ie and TheBookshop.ie
A Kildare teenager has won first prize in a prestigious national art competition.

The Draw Our Heroes art competition, sponsored by Uniphar Group plc and Richard Mulcahy, have announced, and presented prizes to its winners, consisting of talented young artists from across the country. There were over 1,600 entries received for the competition.

First announced in April of last year, during the onset of the first lockdown, this innovative art competition centred on the theme everyone is a hero in their own right. It asked budding artists from all around Ireland to immortalise the everyday heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic by submitting their original portraits to a national competition.

Based on the everyday hero in all our lives, entries included portraits of parents and family members working in the front lines or from home to keep everyone safe, grandparents, politicians and other public servants, and other important community members that included our frontline medical, emergency and security personnel as well as retail and other essential service providers. Overall, the competition aimed to recognise and celebrate the many different professions and people who are bravely working to bring Ireland safely through the pandemic. The contest was open to anyone up to the age of 18 years. Entries were also submitted with a written piece outlining why the artwork highlights this hero and what makes them so special.

RTE broadcaster Joe Duffy and ceramic artist Olga Fitzpatrick sat on the panel of judges for this exciting competition and presented the awards to the winning entries. Celebrated artist Graham Knuttel also sat on the judging panel.

Della Cowper-Gray from County Kildare won first prize in the age 13-15 category.



The winning entries will first be placed online for viewing, with a public exhibition planned later as a tribute to the heroic efforts of thousands of our citizens throughout the pandemic. A prize pool of 2,500 has been awarded to the top 3 entries across 4 age categories and a further 2,500 which will be paid to the heroes nominated by the winning artists.

The competition has attracted much attention from some of the public figures depicted by the young people. For example, Director General of The World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was painted by the 3rd prize winner in the 13-15 age category, Anna Louise Lumingkit, spoke with the young artist through zoom at the presentation of prizes.

Speaking about her work, winner of the 13-15 years age category and Kildare resident, Della Cowper-Gray, said, I choose Aideen to be my hero as during Covid 19 lockdown she worked hard as a career for the elderly. She came to our house to care for my Grand Uncle Amby (who is 91). She put herself at risk but always remained cheerful and greeted us all with her uplifting smile before putting on her mask.

Competition originator Richard Mulcahy has stated, At the onset of the first lockdown, it was clear to me that while the pandemic brought great sadness and fear, it also brought us closer together as nation. We could see how resilient and inventive we all can be during challenging times and the pandemic also brought into sharp relief the amazing work our ordinary healthcare and frontline workers do every day. I wanted to do something to help honour all these amazing people. I was so impressed by the creativity of our young entrants. This past year and a half has been so challenging for young people and it was wonderful to see them really use their artistic flair to connect with the message and bring it to life. Congratulations to all our winners and thank you to everyone who participated.
A walk-in COVID-19 vaccination clinic is taking place at Sligo Racecourse on Monday 25 October from 1pm to 7.30pm.

The walk-in clinic is open to anyone aged 12 and above who has yet to receive their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Anyone aged 16 or older can attend a walk-in clinic alone. Children aged 12 to 15 must attend with a parent or guardian who will need to give consent for their child to get their COVID-19 vaccine. Children attending alone will not be vaccinated.

Also, people who are waiting for their second dose Pfizer vaccine may also attend the walk-in clinic, once the interval between doses has been reached. It is important to note that walk-in clinic is for first and second dose only. You cannot get a third dose or a booster vaccination at a walk-in vaccination clinic.

All COVID-19 vaccines are free of charge and will give protection from COVID-19.

Details of the Walk-in COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic at the Sligo Vaccination Centre which has relocated to the Sligo Racecourse:

 Monday 25 October: 1pm to 7.30pm. Pfizer dose 1 for age 12 or older.

Pfizer dose 2 for anyone who received their first dose on or before 4 October.

For first dose vaccine, bring with you:

 PPS number. If you do not have a PPS number, you can still get vaccinated. You will need to bring proof of address.*

 Eircode

 mobile phone number

 email address

 photo ID that has your date of birth  this can be a passport, driving licence, Garda age card, school ID.

*Your proof of address can be a:

o household bill in your name

o bank or financial institution statement

o letter from a public service department or agency

o rental agreement

o letter from the owner of the property to confirm you live there - this can be your parent

o bill or letter from a hotel or Airbnb

Aged 12 to 15? Parental consent is required

A parent or legal guardian will need to give consent for their child to get their COVID-19 vaccine and will need go to with the child to the walk-in clinic in person to give consent if they have not given consent online in advance.

The child getting the vaccine will also be asked if they are happy to get the vaccine when in the clinic.

Children aged 12 to 15 attending alone will not be vaccinated. If the parent or legal guardian has given consent online in advance, it is possible for them to ask another adult to bring their child to the appointment. If consent has not been given in advance online, the child's parent or legal guardian has to be there.

Aged 12 to 17 and have no photo ID?

Bring your birth cert if you are aged 12 to 17 and you have no photo ID.

It will also be helpful to have proof of your Personal Public Service (PPS) number. For example, a child benefit letter containing your PPS number. But you do not need it to get vaccinated.

If a 12 to 15 year old does not have any identification, the adult with them can confirm their identity and age.

Getting your second dose?

You can go to any walk-in clinic to get your second dose, as long as your vaccination is due and you have proof of your first dose. For example, your vaccination record card.

It does not matter where you had your first dose - even if you were vaccinated at a GP, pharmacy or in another country. If you lost your vaccination record card, go back to the GP or pharmacy where you got your first dose to get proof of vaccination.

Bring photo ID with you. If your photo ID does not have your date of birth on it, you should also bring a copy of your birth cert or some other documentation that has your date of birth.

Getting 2 different vaccines

If you had a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and you do not want a second dose of AstraZeneca, you can choose to get an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose such as Pfizer instead. This will mean that you are fully vaccinated.
LIMERICKs Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest launched a 1.7m European Climate Leadership programme to help achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

The project, entitled REMARKABLE, will support leaders across seven European countries to help progress towards carbon neutrality.

REMARKABLE aims to achieve carbon neutrality by reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions across all EU states by cutting emissions, protecting natural environments, and investing in sustainable technologies.

This goal is set out in the European Green deal and written into European Climate Law.

Partners from a mix of universities, government and energy agencies from the six partner countries of Austria, Croatia, France, Sweden, Slovenia and Spain travelled to Ireland to officially kick off the project.

Senior Project Officer at TUS, Darren Barry stated:

REMARKABLE is a top-down, bottom-up project that will identify leaders and provide a roadmap to help achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Our project partnerships are integral to continuing TUS's leading role in climate action and it was wonderful to meet our partners from across Europe here in Thurles for the launch of this extremely important project."

REMARKABLE will run until 2024 and identify existing leaders in climate action; and through a Climate Leadership Programme (CLP), will build new leadership capacity in seven countries, inclusive of their public authorities.

The project will also develop a suite of tools including consortiums and digital tools to support leaders.

The REMARKABLE CLP will also facilitate the creation of 60 Roadmaps for public authorities aiming for climate neutrality by 2050.

These roadmaps will allow climate leaders to translate strategic aspirations and policy ambitions into concrete and disruptive far-reaching measures, stimulating 300m investment by 2030.

We are leading the way by highlighting the importance of sustainable climate action within all our activities, Mr. Barry concluded.
THERE is a plague flowing through the town, Askeaton councillor Kevin Sheahan declared dramatically when he condemned the lack of action in addressing the flow of raw sewerage into the Deel river at Askeaton.

A report, carried out on behalf of the Askeaton Swimming Club, he said, had warned that children entering the river could face paralysis or blindness as a result of e-coli in the water.

Askeaton is no longer a problem. It is a crisis, he said.

Testing of the water in the Deel has continued since last July when the Askeaton Swimming Club first discovered that e-coli in the water was above acceptable limits. A detailed report presented to Adare/Rathkeale Municipal District councillors within the last week showed the area between the Lep and the swimming pool to be the most polluted by human waste. It also said a significant risk was the discharge from the Askeaton Waste Water Treatment Plant.

Discharges from the plant, councillors were told, are monitored by the council for Irish Water under licence and passed to the Environmental Protection Agency who have the responsibility of policing the licence.

Have the results been forwarded to the EPA and to Irish Water?  Cllr Stephen Keary wanted to know. It is pointless doing testing if the results just sit there.

Cllr Adam Teskey pointed out that in Dublin, the EPA had brought Irish Water to court for breach of an operations licence. What is good in Dublin is good in Limerick, he said. We should ask the EPA to investigate Irish Water.

The EPA stand accused by us of neglect of duty, Cllr Sheahan declared but he took issue with the claim in the report that the town had a waste water treatment plant. What the town had, he argued, was a series of settlement beds built in the 1940s for a town of 500 people and which were now totally inadequate and had been for years. When there is heavy rain, he said, the manholes pop and raw sewerage combined with storm water flows on to the streets. There is money for everything, greenways, runways and riverways, and they cant find money for a sewerage system for the oldest town in the county.

Being on a list for sometime after 2025 was not good enough, he added, and he was prepared to take legal proceedings if necessary.

The 10m needed to build a plant in Askeaton was a drop in the ocean Cllr Emmett OBrien said. We have two ministers in this constituency. If they cant get the money, God help us, who can?

It is an absolute affront to public decency that raw sewerage is going into any river, he said, agreeing with Cllr John ODonoghue that the Deel is not the only river being polluted.

Councillors agreed to invite the three Limerick County TDs to a meeting to discuss the issue.

Cllr Bridie Collins asked that a representative from the EPA also be asked to attend, given their role in vetting the discharge licence. They need to answer why they are not being more effective, she said.
A MAN, in his 60s, who kept tapping his partners head with an empty vodka bottle and wouldnt stop when asked to do so, was convicted of assaulting her when he appeared before Judge Carol Anne Coolican at Newcastle West Court.

Cedric Lenihan, Havengate, Kilmurray, Kildimo contested the charge but gave no evidence himself.

His partner told the court that on February 15 last year, Cedric Lenihan began drinking vodka and coke from breakfast time.

About 4pm, he started being aggressive and moody, she said, and she retreated to the bedroom. After a while, he left the house but returned about half an hour later.

While she was in the bedroom, he came down and started roaring and shouting and saying have you nothing to do but stay in bed. He came down a couple of times, she said.

The second time, he started tapping me on the head with an empty bottle. I was lying on the bed. He started tapping me. I asked him to stop.

She told him if he didnt stop, she would call the gardai. When he told her you cant, she said she would go to a neighbours house.

The woman then got up but couldnt find the house phone and left the house to go to a neighbours. He followed. I dont know if he pushed me or I slipped but I fell into a dyke, what I call a cot, a shallow stream, she said. Cedric, she said, turned away.

Eventually she got out of the dyke and went to a neighbours house where she made a statement to Garda Alan ODonnell and went back to Havengate with him. Cedric was very aggressive, shouting and roaring, she said. She got a change of clothes and left.

Cross-examined by Andrew Quinn BL, the woman said she had not been drinking that day.

She said she didnt have a mobile phone but Cedric had two and there was a house phone. He wouldnt give me the phone, she said.

I wanted him to stop and he wouldnt stop, she continued. She rejected Mr Quinns suggestion that she was confused about what had happened and where, and that perhaps she was the aggressor.

Garda ODonnell said the woman was clearly distressed and when he brought her back to her home, he encountered Cedric Lenihan. He was highly intoxicated, very irate.

He became very aggressive towards me and (the woman), the garda said. He didnt feel it was safe for her to stay in the house and made alternative arrangements for her. She was very coherent. If I felt she was intoxicated in any way I wouldnt have taken the statement.

After the incident, he approached Mr Lenihan about making a statement. Mr Lenihan said he wanted to take legal advice and then told the garda he didnt want to make any statement.

In reply to Mr Quinn, he said he didnt detect any injuries requiring medical treatment on the woman.

Mr Quinn argued there was not enough evidence to convict. There was no apparent physical injuries, there was no medical report and (the woman) was confused about a lot of the evidence, he said. She mentioned tapping. It is certainly not at the high end.

But Judge Coolican said Mr Lenihan had a case to answer. Do you want to call your client? she asked. No, he replied.

Inspector Andrew Lacey said it was a Section 2 assault, a technical assault which didnt require evidence of harm. The woman's evidence was very clear and honest, he said.

Judge Coolican refused to accept two references proffered by Mr Quinn saying: I dont see the benefit of references if people arent here in court.

The judge convicted Mr Lenihan. Pleading for his client, Mr Quinn said he was an elderly man in poor health and asked for leniency.

Mr Lenihan was fined 300 on conviction.
TO mark the centenary of his death, a new booklet has been produced to tell the story and honour the memory of Sean Finn, the Rathkeale man who played a leading role in the War of Independence in West Limerick.

The booklet, which has been produced by the West Limerick Old IRA Memorial Committee, was publicly launched in Rathkeale on Friday.

Sean Finn was shot in action during a three-hour engagement at Ballyhahill on March 30, 1921, when his flying column was attacked late at night by three lorry loads of Black and Tans. He was 23.

The Ireland of the time had become a violent place, historian Dr William Murphy of DCU writes in the booklet, putting the event into context. Five others died on the same day as Sean Finn and in the first three months of 1921, over 2,500 men had been incarcerated in internment camps.

But the main story is carried by Tom Toomey, author of The War of Independence in Limerick 1919-1921, who says that in terms of the War of Independence, Sean Finn Is probably one of the most understated and forgotten men of the struggle.

Born in 1897 in Rathkeale, from a young age Sean showed a huge interest in all aspects of Irish culture and was a member of Conradh na Gaeilge. He joined the Fianna Eireann and became officer in command at the age of 17. In 1915, he was appointed captain of the Rathkeale company of the Irish Volunteers. In 1918, the Volunteers were organised into a battalion of the Irish Republican Army and Sean Finn was appointed Brigadier Commandant, with up to 2,000 men under his command.

He also campaigned for Sinn Fein and played a role in setting up the Sinn Fein Courts in the area.

Dan Breen, who recounted his own involvement in My Fight for Irish Freedom, is quoted, describing Sean Finn as One of the bravest and most chivalrous Irishmen that I have ever met.

A more personal light is shone on the man by his grand-niece Cliona Murphy, whose grandmother Rita McElligott was Seans sister.

From what my grandmother told me, as a child, they lived in a very lively household where newspapers were devoured and politics the topic of the day, she writes. Sean was very close to his siblings and was known affectionately, as Jackie to his family. He was a very gifted and keen hurler who had hoped to play for his county and probably would have, had he lived.

The booklet is illustrated throughout with family photographs, rare photographs of historical events of the time and photographs of the monument to Sean Finn in Ballyroe.

Tom Toomey was the guest speaker at the launch.
NEWCASTLE West gardai have appealed for witnesses following a serious road traffic collision on the N21 on Friday.

A garda spokesperson said the alarm was raised shortly before 4pm following reports of a two car head-on collision at Reens Pike, near Rathkeale.

"Both drivers (female, aged in her 50s, and male, 80s) were seriously injured. They were the sole occupants of the cars. The male was taken to University Hospital Limerick while the female was airlifted to Cork University Hospital," said the garda spokesperson.

While both are continuing to receive treatment in hospital, their conditions are not thought to be life threatening.

Due to the seriousness of the collision that stretch of the N21 between Rathkeale and Newcastle West was closed for 24 hours until Saturday evening. Detours were in place.

Gardai from Newcastle West, two appliances each from Rathkeale and Newcastle West Fire Stations, ambulance paramedics and the air ambulance all attended. The firefighters remained at the scene for over 10 hours, returning to base at 2.30am on Saturday morning.

Any witnesses are asked to contact Newcastle West Garda Station (069) 20650 or the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111.
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When Bank of Montreal began considering how climate change could affect its business in 2019, it turned to others for help. The bank collaborated with a climate mapping company, used third-party software to study how its portfolios would fare under different scenarios and worked with academics at a Canadian university on a climate-risk research project.

The Canadian investment bank has now hired its own climate experts and considers its expertise on the topic extensive enough that it founded its own climate institute earlier this year. It is now considering how to use what it learned to inform and attract clients.

It would have been unimaginable 10 years ago that banks would have climate expertise in this way," said Michael Torrance, BMOs chief sustainability officer. We thought, We have now got these capabilities, we could really accelerate this, we could use this as a differentiator."

Companies are racing to understand and communicate how a warming world could present new risks as investors press them for more information and regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, are exploring whether to make such disclosures mandatory.

The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, a G-7-backed group that seeks to provide a standardized framework for climate-related financial reporting, says alignment with its guidelines is increasing each year but many companies arent moving fast enough. Known as the TCFD, the group is chaired by businessman Michael Bloomberg.

The TCFD, which was created in 2015, said this month that 32% of roughly 1,650 companies it reviewed met its guidelines on climate disclosure, up from 19% in 2018.

We are thrilled to see those increases, but at the same time our goal is 100% and we still have a way to go," said Mara Childress, director of global public policy at financial-data and media company Bloomberg LP, who has served on the TCFDs secretariat since 2015. It is always bittersweet...Our recommendations were released in 2017 and we think that by now there should be more disclosure out there," she said.

A patchwork landscape of competing reporting frameworks and a dearth of in-house expertise often make a complicated task seem even more daunting for companies, Ms. Childress said.

A survey of 800 large companies in the U.S. and U.K. published this month by Cervest, a climate intelligence firm, suggests the biggest issue holding companies back might be the tasks complexity.

Nearly nine out of 10 respondents said their company understands the financial risk of climate change, while the same proportion said they had already seen at least one physical asset such as an office or warehouse affected by extreme weather in the past five years. However, only about half said they had factored climate change into their risk management.

The knowledge gap has spawned big business. Ratings firm Moodys Corp. bought a majority stake in climate-data company Four Twenty Seven in 2019 and catastrophe-risk-modeling group RMS in a $2 billion deal this year, looking to cater to financial institutions that want detailed risk data for their assets exposure to events such as wildfires and floods. U.K. insurance and consulting firm Willis Towers Watson PLC bought climate-change adviser Acclimatise last year.

For some companies, early efforts to plan for climate change have already helped to defend operations against extreme weather.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said that steps it took to mitigate climate risks in 2020 helped it to dodge the impact of a drought in Taiwan earlier this year.

The companys factories require large quantities of water to clean chips after they are manufactured, among other things. TSMC said the moves, such as building a water reclamation plant and stepping up water conservation efforts, were part of the reason its factories could keep running as usual, while others saw costs rise.

Illinois-based chemicals maker Stepan Co. said mapping software that forms part of its hurricane-preparedness plan helped the company manage the impact on its supply chain from the freak winter storm that struck the Gulf Coast in February and caused shutdowns for some petrochemical companies.

Stepan began disclosing its steps to adapt to climate change in early 2020, although some procedures, including the hurricane-preparedness plan, have been in place for a decade.

I think taking the first step of disclosure may be seen as something that is a bit of a challenge," said Jason Keiper, the companys chief technology and sustainability officer. It was really about taking that first step and having that confidence in the story that we have to tell."

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text

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Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins that bind to the body's foreign invaders and signal the immune system to get to work.

Antibodies are specialized, Y-shaped proteins that bind like a lock-and-key to the body's foreign invaders  whether they are viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites. They are the "search" battalion of the immune system's search-and-destroy system, tasked with finding an enemy and marking it for destruction.

"They're released from the cell and they go out and hunt," said Dr. Warner Greene, the director of the Center for HIV Cure Research at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco.

When antibodies find their target, they bind to it, which then triggers a cascade of actions that vanquish the invader. Antibodies are part of the so-called "adaptive" immune system, the arm of the immune system that learns to recognize and eliminate specific pathogens, Greene said.

Related: Diagram of the human immune system (infographic)

What do antibodies look like?

The two arms at the top of the antibody's Y shape bind to what's known as the antigen. The antigen can be a molecule, or a molecular fragment  often some part of a virus or bacteria. (For instance, the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has unique "spikes" on its outer coat, and some antibodies bind to and recognize these spike proteins.)

The bottom of the Y, or the stalk, binds to several other immune-system compounds that can help kill the antigen or mobilize the immune system in other ways. One set of these, for instance, triggers the complement cascade, Greene told Live Science.

"Complement is actually the executioner," that punches holes in the target cell, such as the membrane of a virus, Greene said.

Antibodies, which are also called immunoglobulins (Ig), all have the same basic Y-shape, but there are five variations on this theme  called IgG, IgM, IgA, IgD and IgE, said Jason Cyster, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Each variation looks slightly different and plays slightly different roles in the immune system. For instance, immunoglobulin G, or IgG, is just one Y, whereas IgM looks a bit like the 10-armed Hindu goddess Durga, with five Ys stacked together, and each prong can bind one antigen.

IgG and IgM are the antibodies that circulate in the bloodstream and go into solid organs, Cyster said. IgA is "squirted out of the body," in mucus or secretions, Cyster told Live Science. IgE is the antibody that typically triggers allergic responses, such as to pollen or peanuts, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. IgD has historically been enigmatic, but one of its roles is to help activate the cells that make antibodies.

Related: Hay fever & seasonal allergies: Symptoms, causes & treatment

Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins. The two arms at the top of the Y bind to the intruder molecule. The bottom of the Y, or the stalk, binds to several other immune-system compounds that can help kill the intruder or signal the immune system to take care of it in other ways. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Where do antibodies form?

To understand antibodies, you first need to know about B-cells, which are a type of white blood cell that forms in the bone marrow. There are about a trillion B-cells in the body, and each one has a unique IgM antibody that sits on the B-cell surface and each binds, to one antigen, said Simon Goodman, the Science and Technology Program Manager for The Antibody Society, a nonprofit organization that represents those involved in antibody research and development.

This staggering level of variation allows the body to recognize almost any substance that could enter. Heres how it achieves that diversity: In each B-cell, the genes that code for the antibody's binding site are shuffled like playing cards in a deck.

"The amount of rearrangement that can occur is enormous," Cyster told Live Science.

Related: 11 surprising facts about the immune system

These B-cells then patrol the body, often lingering longer in areas like the lymph nodes or the tonsils, Cyster said. Most of the time, these B-cells don't bind anything. But if, by a one- in-a-million chance, a B-cell does bind some foreign substance, "that triggers the B-cell to say 'Hey we need to get activated,'" Cyster said.

The B-cell grows in size and starts to divide in what's called "clonal expansion," Cyster said.

"It's an identical copy of the parent, just like the mother," Cyster said. After a week or so, there may be hundreds of thousands to a million of these copies.

Eventually, these clonally expanded B-cells differentiate into plasma cells, which are antibody factories.

"They secrete 10,000 antibodies per cell per second. They can do that for weeks or years if you're lucky," Cyster said.

But not all B-cells divide the same amount.

"If you consider the B-cell to be a lock, and you consider all of these different things to be floating around to be different keys, then some of the keys will fit better, some will fit worse, and some won't fit at all," Goodman told Live Science. "And depending on how well the key fits into the lock on the surface of a particular B-cell, that cell will be triggered to divide more." Then, the more prolific B-cells produce more plasma cells and churn out more of a specific type of antibody.

The body doesn't just produce one type of antibody either; it produces a messy, chaotic zoo of them. Each locks onto different parts of an invader.

Drawings of a B-cell, T-cell, antibodies and a macrophage. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

And antibodies don't all do the same thing once they've bound to a target. Some will nip infection in the bud by directly neutralizing a threat, preventing a pathogen from entering a cell. Others tag invaders, so that the immune system's killer cells (which arent antibodies) can remove it, Greene said. Still others may wrap viruses or bacteria in a gooey coating. And other antibodies might tell Pac-Man-like immune cells called macrophages to come gobble up the invader. (That strategy can sometimes backfire with viruses, which may co-opt this response to invade new cells, Cyster added.)

The first type of antibody to form after you are exposed to a virus is IgM, which emerges within 7 to 10 days after exposure, Greene said. IgM can bind to an invader, but each "Y" in this 10-armed protein does so fairly weakly. But, just as five weak people working together can tackle a large, strong adversary, IgM's five Y's (10 arms) working together can bind tightly to an antigen, he added.

At about 10 to 14 days, the body begins making IgG, which is the immune system's "major workhorse," Greene said. IgG can cross the placenta in a pregnant woman, giving a newborn passive protection against disease until their own immune system can ramp up, Greene added.

Normally, the immune system is stunningly good at recognizing the enemy and ignoring, or tolerating, our own cells. Sometimes, however, this process goes awry. Thats when T-cells (another type of white blood cells) come in. The body uses these T-cells to cross-check targets  only if both a B-cell and a T-cell recognize something as a foreign invader will an immune response be triggered, Goodman said. The body is supposed to remove B-cells that make so-called auto-antibodies, which react to the body's own cells. But when that doesn't happen, the body may mark its own cells for destruction and then relentlessly eliminate them. Autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or type 1 diabetes can result, Goodman said. There are more than 100 autoimmune disorders, according to the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association.

What are monoclonal antibodies?

Antibodies have become the basis for some of the most useful medicines, as well as some of the most powerful lab techniques in biology, Goodman said. One of these clinical and therapeutic superstars is what's known as a monoclonal antibody.

To create a monoclonal antibody, researchers vaccinate an animal (or possibly a human) to stimulate the production of antibodies against a particular substance. The body will gradually make antibodies that are more and more effective against that antigen. These antibody-producing cells are then filtered out of white blood cells and put into a dish to see which cells bind the antigen best, Goodman said. The cell that binds the best is then isolated  it is an antibody-producing factory, specifically honed to churn out one super-selective antibody.

From there, that cell is fused to a blood cancer cell, producing something called a hybridoma. This hybridoma, or monoclone, is an inexhaustible generator of exactly the same antibody, over and over and over. (Researchers bind the monoclonal cell to a cancer cell because cancer just continues to reproduce.)

"It just produces and produces and produces, and it will never stop, and it's a cancer, so it's essentially immortal," Goodman said. What it produces is a monoclonal antibody.

Related: Ebola survivor's blood could lead to future vaccine

Such cell lines have an incredibly diverse range of uses. There are millions of commercial monoclonal antibodies, which are used in labs to tag the tiniest, most specific cellular targets for study, Goodman said.

"They're incredible, they're amazingly precise tools," Goodman said.

Monoclonal antibodies also form the basis for many blockbuster drugs. For instance, the drug adalimumab (brand name Humira), is a monoclonal antibody that treats rheumatoid arthritis by inhibiting an inflammatory protein known as a cytokine. Another, called bevacizumab (Avastin), targets a molecule that fuels blood vessel growth; by blocking this molecule, bevacizumab can slow the growth of lung, colon, kidney and some brain cancers.

And in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, doctors around the world are racing to create monoclonal antibodies that will hopefully neutralize the new coronavirus, Greene said. These antibodies are filtered from the plasma of people who have recovered from COVID-19 (also called convalescent serum). The hope is that by isolating the most effective antibodies, and then producing them en-masse, doctors can create a treatment that provides a temporary, "passive" immunity until the body can catch up and mount an effective, more long-lasting response on its own, Greene said.

Related: 1 in 5 people tested in New York have antibodies to the coronavirus

By contrast, polyclonal antibodies are derived from multiple B-cells. Polyclonal antibodies are a library of antibodies that all bind to slightly different parts of the antigen, or target. Polyclonal antibodies are typically produced by injecting an animal with the antigen, stimulating an immune response, and then extracting the animals' plasma to produce antibodies en masse, according to a 2005 study in the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) journal.

Unlike monoclonal antibodies, which can take up to 6 months to produce, polyclonal antibodies can be made in 4 to 8 weeks, and require less technical expertise. In addition, for certain types of tests where you are trying to detect the antigen, polyclonal antibodies might have a better chance of binding to the target antigen, making them potentially more sensitive. The downside of polyclonal antibodies is that, because each individual animal might produce a different array of antibodies, making polyclonal antibodies that are consistent from batch to batch can be more challenging, and it isn't as easy to have a large supply, according to a 2005 study in the journal Biotechniques.

How do antibody tests work?

Antibody tests detect whether the body has produced detectable quantities of antibodies to a certain molecule, and can therefore reveal whether someone has been infected by a specific virus or bacteria in the past. Usually, these tests are detecting IgM or IgG, Live Science previously reported.

For instance, SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests typically detect either part or all of the coronavirus' spike protein and can reveal whether someone has had COVID-19 in the past. Because the body takes time to ramp up its production of antibodies, people usually only test positive about two weeks after they were first exposed to the pathogen, Live Science previously reported.

Related: Can antibody tests tell if you're immune to COVID-19?

There are two common types of antibody tests  lateral flow assays and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests. Both involve fixing an antigen to a surface and then detecting whether an antibody binds to that antigen. Usually, a chemical reaction, such as fluorescence or a color-change, is triggered when the antibody binds to the antigen. Lateral flow assays are similar to pee-on-a-stick pregnancy tests; rather than pee, for antibody tests, blood or serum is washed over the flat surface, which is usually paper. ELISA tests work on a similar principle, only the tests are conducted in microplates and require a lab technician, and the results may not read out instantly, Charlotte Svrke Jrgensen, who studies Virus and Microbiological Special Diagnosis Serology at the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, previously told Live Science in an email.

A good antibody test is one that produces few false positives and few false negatives, Live Science previously reported. To ensure that happens, scientists need to "calibrate" their test, for instance, by making sure that samples known to not have the antigen do not falsely produce a positive test. For instance, with SARs-CoV-2, that would mean testing blood samples from before the pandemic started and making sure no samples come up positive. They also need to take samples that definitely have the antibody in them, and make sure the antibody test does a good job of detecting those positives.

Additional resources:
Deer, crocodiles and even a human are just some of the odd meals engulfed by pythons . How do they gorge on such giant fare? Python snakes don't dislocate their jaws (a common myth), but instead rely on the springiness of the tissues connecting their jawbones.

Unlike in mammals, python snakes have a lower jawbone that is split into two parts that move independently of each other; and they are not connected by a bone in the front. In addition, the so-called quadrate bone that attaches the lower jaw to the skull is not rigidly attached in snakes, giving a python lots of wiggle room for devouring enormous prey.

"The two mandibles are not joined at the front by a rigid symphysis, as ours are, but by an elastic ligament that allows them to spread apart," Patrick Gregory, a biology professor at the University of Victoria in Australia, told Live Science previously . Here's a look at hungry snakes in action.

Pelican for breakfast

(Image credit: FLPA / Alamy)

This African rock python (Python sebae) squeezed the life out of this white pelican in Kenya, before devouring the bird. Considered Africa's largest snake, these rock pythons can reach 20 feet (6 meters) in length and are known as powerful constrictors. In 2013, two boys were strangled to death by this snake in New Brunswick, Canada, National Geographic reported.

The snake has a stout, brown-gray body with two large, dark blobs running down its center, according to the Florida Museum.

A wallaby?

(Image credit: Ken Griffiths/Shutterstock)

An oliver python (Liasis olivaceus), which is endemic to Australia and can grow up to 13 feet (4 m) long, just snagged the meal of the year: a wallaby. Like other pythons, this one used constriction to immobilize its prey, before gulping it down.

Go big, or ...

A wallaby? How about a crocodile? This olive python took down one of the giant reptiles near Mount Isa, Queensland, where kayaker Martin Muller captured the feat in all its gory glory on May 31, 2019. In addition to being able to fit enormous meals through their specialized jaws, pythons also have several adaptations to help the snakes digest such beasts all at once. For instance, researchers found that Burmese pythons modify their metabolism post-meal and even increase the size of internal organs  including intestines, pancreas, heart and kidneys  in order to process the huge caloric intake, Live Science previously reported.

Too much to handle

(Image credit: Conservancy of Southwest Florida)

A Burmese python in Florida met its match with a white-tailed deer that was supposed to be lunch for the hungry snake. In April 2015, biologists found the 11-foot-long (3 meters) Burmese python engorged with a tummy-full of deer at the Collier-Seminole State Park in Naples. Once the scientists, from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida (CSF), moved the snake to an open area, things got ugly. The python literally lost its lunch, regurgitating the prey, which turned out to be a fawn weighing some 36 pounds (16 kilograms); that was more than the arguably hefty snake, which tipped the scales at 32 pounds (14 kg). The incident was the largest prey-to-predator weight ratio ever reported in Burmese pythons, Live Science reported .

Peering beneath the skin

(Image credit: Henrik Lauridsen and Kasper Hansen, MR Research Center, Aarhus University Hospital, Skejby, Denmark.)

To learn more about how Burmese pythons shuttle their prey through their bellies, researchers put the giant snakes through scanners. They used magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography to scan fasting pythons before and after ingestion of a rat. The post-meal scans, at , 16, 24, 48, 72 and 132 hours after ingestion, showed a gradual disappearance of the rat's body and an overall expansion of the snake's intestine; meanwhile, the python's gallbladder shrunk and its heart increased in volume by 25%, Live Science reported at the time in 2011.

Head-first

(Image credit: mjf795 via Getty Images)

A green tree python (Morelia viridis), which is native to New Guinea, consumes a mouse. The feasting snake is also sitting in its signature pose, with according to the Denver Zoo. "They coil their body around prey and each time the victim exhales, the snake tightens the coils eventually suffocating the prey animal. The snake then swallows the prey headfirst," the Denver Zoo said.

Oh, deer!

(Image credit: Paul Grace Photography Somersham via Getty Images)

An Indian python swallowed a spotted dear in Yala National Park in Sri Lanka. Once a python has suffocated its prey, there's still work to do, as the snake must move its oversized meal through its body toward the digestive system. To do so, the python will open its mouth to begin swallowing the animal whole. It uses rhythmic muscular contractions of its body to pull the prey farther down its throat and into the stomach, according to the San Diego Zoo. And what about breathing? How did this Indian python continue to breathe while devouring a deer? Turns out, it has a special tube that stays open at the bottom of its mouth, the zoo explained.

Snake strangulation

(Image credit: Joe McDonald via Getty Images)

Reticulated pythons (Malayopython reticulatus) are one of the world's largest snakes, according to Zoo Atlanta. And like other pythons, the giant reptile has several rows of sharp, S-shaped teeth that it uses to grab onto prey, like the mouse shown here, while coiling its might body tightly around the prey until all breathing ceases. In the wild, the reticulated python eats all kinds of birds and mammals, including large deer and boar, Zoo Atlanta said.

Backing in

(Image credit: Cortez Hunter / EyeEm via Getty Images)

In this close-up image of a hungry ball python (Python regius), you can see its lower jaw allows the mouth to stretch wide to fit a pudgy mouse, shown here in a zoo. In the wild in West and Central Africa, ball pythons rely on such rodents for survival. To catch their prey, ball pythons tend to pull back the head and neck before rapidly striking their meals. Next, the ball python either just swallows the prey or first immobilizes it with strangulation, according to the Animal Diversity Web (ADW), supported by the University of Michigan.

They get their name from their "balling" behavior, in which they form a tight ball with their bodies  with the head at the center  to protect themselves when threatened, ADW explained.

That's a big rat

(Image credit: Peter Righteous / Alamy)

Though the Australian black-headed python (Aspidites melanocephalus) primarily eats other reptiles, mainly skinks, this individual took down a black rate (Rattus rattus). The python calls northern parts of Australia home, where it slithers through dry scrublands, savannas and damp forests, according to the University of Michigan's Animal Diversity Web.

Originally published on Live Science.
ISTANBUL (AP)  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that he had ordered 10 foreign ambassadors who called for the release of a jailed philanthropist to be declared persona non grata.

The envoys, including the U.S., French and German representatives in Ankara, issued a statement earlier this week calling for a resolution to the case of Osman Kavala, a businessman and philanthropist held in prison since 2017 despite not having been convicted of a crime.

Describing the statement as an impudence, Erdogan said he had ordered the ambassadors be declared undesirable.

I gave the instruction to our foreign minister and said You will immediately handle the persona non grata declaration of these 10 ambassadors, Erdogan said during a rally in the western city of Eskisehir.

He added: They will recognize, understand and know Turkey. The day they dont know or understand Turkey, they will leave.

The diplomats, who also include the ambassadors of the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and New Zealand, were summoned to the foreign ministry on Tuesday.

A declaration of persona non grata against a diplomat usually means that individual is banned from remaining in their host country.

Kavala, 64, was acquitted last year of charges linked to nationwide anti-government protests in 2013, but the ruling was overturned and joined to charges relating to a 2016 coup attempt.

International observers and human rights groups have repeatedly called for the release of Kavala and Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas, who has been jailed since 2016. They say their imprisonment is based on political considerations. Ankara denies the claims and insists on the independence of Turkish courts.

The European Court of Human Rights called for Kavala's release in 2019, saying his incarceration acted to silence him and wasn't supported by evidence of an offense. The Council of Europe says it will start infringement proceedings again Turkey at the end of November if Kavala is not released.

The current U.S. ambassador, David Satterfield, was appointed in 2019. The nomination of his replacement, Jeff Flake, was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.

After Erdogan's order was reported, the State Department said in a statement, We are aware of these reports and are seeking clarity from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Cable news flickered on the flat screen television in Ruth and James Jones's living room. The CNN ticker read: "Biden lowers spending bill price in effort to lure Manchin and Sinema." The couple watched and listened.

They are raising two grandchildren, ages 10 and 17, on a limited income - James's part-time earnings as an Applebee's cook and Ruth's Social Security payments. Like thousands of other West Virginians, their financial burden has been eased since July by monthly federal payments, championed by the Biden administration, to support families with children. Now, however, those funds - which total $500 a month - could vanish if lawmakers agree to the demands of their own senator, Joe Manchin III.

Appearing on CNN in September, the moderate Democrat from West Virginia implied he would not support extending the monthly payments, which come in the form of an expanded child tax credit, without changes. "There's no work requirements whatsoever," he said. "There's no education requirements whatsoever for better skillsets. Don't you think, if we're going to help the children, that the people should make some effort?"

Then on Oct. 17, Axios reported that Manchin also wanted to restrict the program to families with incomes of around $60,000 or less. If he prevails, it would most likely mean the end of those payments for James and Ruth.

"We want Manchin to take a little bit more active role in protecting us as far as West Virginians," James, 64, said from his chair. "We're not a bunch of deadbeats. We work for a living and we're due."

A spokeswoman for Manchin did not respond to requests for comment, including when asked about what specific requirements the senator would like to see in exchange for his support for continuing the expanded payments.

In West Virginia, 170,000 children became newly eligible under the tax credit expansion, which was included in President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus package passed in March. The changes to the tax credit raised the maximum benefit from $2,000 to $3,600 per child per year and dramatically expanded the share of poor families receiving the credit. In July, the food insecurity rate in West Virginia households with children dropped from 11.6 percent to 8.4 percent, and in September a survey found 86 percent of West Virginians felt the payments had made a "huge difference."

In interviews, families across the state said they used the money for essentials and small luxuries: new clothes for growing middle-schoolers, firewood to heat a home in the coming winter, pumpkins and a cheery scarecrow to mark the fall season, a 3-year-old's class pictures. But now, advocates for the poor caution Manchin's requirements could impact thousands of households, from parents grappling with expensive child care, to families earning over $60,000 but still struggling, to grandparents who are raising grandchildren but aren't able to reenter the workforce.

"It takes everything out of us just to make sure these children are fed and taken care of and clothed," said Ruth, 61. "We've been taking care of the children on our own dime."

The future of the expanded child tax credit remains unclear as negotiations continue over the White House's package of far-reaching social programs. Biden has signaled that he will resist attaching work requirements to the program.

For the Joneses, the cloakroom discussions and cable news debates playing out on television only seem to spotlight the gulf between their family and policymakers.

"The struggle is real," James said. "These are not just numbers, these are people."

- - -

As the payments hit bank accounts in July, the benefit reached an estimated 60 million children in 39 million households across the country.

A team of researchers from Columbia University determined that the first round lifted 3 million children out of poverty and that if all eligible children had access to the payments, child poverty would be reduced by 40 percent.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that in West Virginia, 93 percent of children would benefit from a permanent expansion of the credit.

"For some of our clients, this is keeping them above water right now," said Beth Zarate, president and chief executive of Catholic Charities West Virginia. "West Virginia just has so many challenges. We struggle with jobs, we struggle with our people leaving our state for other jobs. So the Child Tax Credit has been huge."

But even as the program's benefits were registering in West Virginia, Manchin expressed concern over what he saw as an overly lax social program available to too many. Fortifying Manchin's criticism was a recent study from the University of Chicago finding roughly 1.5 million workers would quit the labor market under the Biden plan.

Proponents of the plan counter that an expanded CTC offers a unique chance to combat poverty and say children should not be cut off from resources because of their parents' circumstances.

"The opportunity to cut child poverty in half in West Virginia is one that we have to take and imposing a work requirement basically neutralizes that benefit right out the gate," said Seth DiStefano, policy outreach director at the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, a nonpartisan research organization. "Let's be clear: parenting is working, raising kids is work."

- - -

Relative to other states, large numbers of West Virginia grandparents are raising their grandchildren - a partial legacy of the opioid pandemic that tore through Appalachia.

For that demographic, including James and Ruth Jones, the idea of rushing into the job market seems like an insurmountable barrier. "It's hard to get a job at this age," Ruth said.

Neither Ruth nor James feel capable of returning full-time to the workforce. Ruth has multiple sclerosis and receives around $1,300 each month from Social Security. Before retiring due to health reasons, she worked for a Charleston hospital for 36 years. James's part-time work as a cook earns him about $1,400 a month, but he can't work more because he has to take care of his elderly mother, who lives nearby.

The $500 monthly payments have helped with household repairs and senior pictures for their grandson, the couple said. In the past, to make sure the children had what they needed, Ruth had to forgo buying medicine to treat her MS, she said.

Despite her ailments, Ruth's days start at 6 a.m., with the neighborhood outside her window still wrapped in darkness. One recent October morning, she coaxed her granddaughter Ayricah awake and packed snacks while the local news played on television. With a black marker she wrote, "Have a great day," on the clear plastic bag before reminding the girl to take a mask for school.

Before leaving, Ayricah silently showed Ruth one of her graded assignments.

"100%? Very good!" Ruth replied. "Share some of those smarts with your granny."

- - -

Mali Gank and her husband Cris, who live in a small town in West Virginia's rural northeast, have gotten by on her teacher's salary for the last three years, ever since Cris, 47, was laid off from his manufacturing job. They have a 3-year-old son and infant twins, born in February.

Gank, 43, has learned to budget "to the penny," creating spreadsheets that lay out an entire year of expenses. The first credit hitting their bank account this summer felt like "relief," she said.

They used the money to stockpile truckloads of firewood - enough to feed the family's wood-burning stove through the winter. The temperature inside the home can get to 90 degrees or higher when the fire is going, but it's the most economical way the family has found to keep warm in a state where electricity prices can fluctuate wildly in the winter.

They've also managed to get ahead on car repairs, a constant worry when contending with the area's often-rough, potholed roads.

Depending on how strict a work requirement Manchin succeeds in imposing, and whether it would apply to both parents, Gank and her husband may be at risk of losing access to the expanded credit.

If Cris were to work, his income would likely put them over the $60,000 threshold, even though most, if not all, of the extra money would go toward paying for child care.

Right now, Cris cares for the twin boys while Gank teaches. When she did try to find licensed child care in their rural area, she was quoted a price of $1,300 per month at a day care an hour away.

"I don't feel like there should be a penalty for one parent staying home," Gank said. "It would also feel like a penalty for our husband being the one instilling values in our children."

- - -

Jess Greenlief, 38, is the executive director of a family basic needs pantry in Gilmer County, a rural region in central West Virginia where the poverty rate is 25.5%.

With a 1-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter, Greenlief was both a recipient of the payments as well as a witness to their impact on clients coming through her pantry door.

"It takes close to an hour to get anywhere important," she said. "A lot of the resources that typically are available elsewhere don't trickle down to us. Many of our jobs are related to the gas and oil industry, and a lot of those jobs are on hold right now or are out of state."

Greenlief used her $550 monthly payments for school clothes and car repairs - a necessity in an area with limited public transportation options.

Often she works with families that are fully employed, making more than the proposed $60,000 income cap but still unable to meet their daily needs, she said.

"What we see a lot of are upper-class poor," Greenlief said. "These are individuals who make too much money for programmatic support, but they are still struggling on the whole."

Greenlief said that she often sees families where one or both parents are "working to survive" - meaning rent, food and utilities swallow up their salaries, leaving little to spare. That's when they show up at Greenlief's pantry looking for basics such as baby formula, laundry detergent or personal hygiene products.

For this group, the expanded payments have also been critical, she said.

"The families that I've been working with over the past several years, they have not had to come back to see me after the CTC."

- - -

Yeganeh Torbati reported from West Virginia. Kyle Swenson reported from Washington.
BARDSTOWN, Ky. (AP)  Striking workers at one of the world's largest bourbon producers voted to a ratify a new contract Saturday, a day after announcing a tentative agreement with Heaven Hill.

About 420 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23D went on strike about six weeks ago, forming picket lines at the company's operations in Bardstown, Kentucky, after rejecting a previous contract proposal.

The tentative agreement came just days after the company signaled it intended to start hiring permanent replacement employees for bottling and warehouse operations. The workers then voted to ratify the five-year agreement Saturday, according to a statement from Heaven Hill.

We look forward to welcoming our team members as we transition back to normal operations, company spokesperson Josh Hafer said in the statement.

The dispute revolved around health care and scheduling, the latter a sign of the bourbon industrys growing pains as it tries to keep up with global demand.

Family-owned and operated Heaven Hill produces Evan Williams, one of the worlds top-selling bourbons. The spirits companys other brands include Elijah Craig, Henry McKenna, Old Fitzgerald, Larceny and Parkers Heritage Collection.

On Monday, Heaven Hill announced the contract talks had reached an impasse. The company said it would begin the process of hiring permanent replacement workers.

Union leaders responded that they were willing to continue negotiations and accused the company of wanting to replace the striking employees with non-union workers. The two sides resumed bargaining Thursday, resulting in a tentative agreement announced on Friday.

Workers often spend long careers at Kentucky bourbon distilleries, and the jobs regularly attract multiple generations of families. Disputes flare up occasionally, and other strikes occurred in recent years at Jim Beam and Four Roses  other iconic names in the bourbon sector.

The bourbon industry has been on a long upward trajectory.

Combined U.S. sales for bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and rye whiskey rose 8.2%, or $327 million, to $4.3 billion in 2020, despite plunging sales from bars and restaurants because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States reported early this year.

Kentucky distilleries produce 95% of the worlds bourbon supply, according to the Kentucky Distillers Association.
This week, United ISD Federal and State Programs hosted its first United Council of Parents meeting in person since February of last year. UCOP meetings are held throughout the school year where topics of discussion are designed to increase parental involvement with children at home and at school.

The program agenda included discussions about district finances, campus security, COVID-related safety etiquette, student assessments and social media. Current problems like shooting threats and TikTok trends were also addressed to explain to parents what is going on at schools and how they can help combat these circumstances from home or at school.

Superintendent David H. Gonzalez began the meeting by welcoming and thanking parents for working with the district to help students cope with the many changes that COVID-19 has brought over the past year and a half. The superintendent confirmed around 93% of employees at UISD are vaccinated now.

Also presenting during the meeting were Deputy Superintendent for Safety and Student Services Gloria S. Rendon, Associate Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Emma Leza and Chief Financial Officer Laida Benavides.

Associate Superintendent Emma Leza emphasized the importance of returning to on-campus learning, as it has been a long time since students were present with their teachers and able to use their manipulatives. Remote instruction will still be provided for those students who have been exposed to COVID-19 or have medical conditions medically requiring at-home learning.

This remote learning is provided in cycles. At the moment, 150 students are doing remote learning.

We adopted this right before the pandemic, that we were going to provide every single eighth grade student an opportunity to take the Texas Success Initiative Assessment, Leza said. They have to meet a certain score at the end of eighth grade to be able to be eligible to start early college courses when they go to high school. This is very important to us. Why? Because by the time your children graduate from high school, they wouldve earned at least 30 hours of college credits. ... The tuition that you are going to be able to save is amazing.

Another success for UISD this year is also having designated early college high schools. This means having the ability to graduate high school and Laredo College at the same time, earning a high school diploma and an Associate of Arts degree, equivalent to two years of going to LC.

The problem with the social media app TikTok was also addressed, with Leza commenting that although there are some good trends and content in this app, other trends and videos are not a good influence for the children of UISD. Leza encouraged parents to talk with their children and teach them to reevaluate what they see on social media before following trends or challenges that are not good for them or their peers. She encouraged parents to teach their children the good thing to do and to show kindness. Leza also asked parents to get involved with the emotional and social lessons they are learning at school.

Laredo ISD is a small circle and United is everything, said Deputy Superintendent for Administration & Operations Gloria S. Rendon, explaining the growth UISD has achieved.

Rendon pointed out that UISD has grown outside of Laredo, even reaching Encinal with school buses starting their routes at 5 a.m. each morning. She informed parents the school year started with 32,000 students enrolled out of the expected 42,000. Today there are 39,000.

This re-enrollment of students is thanks to the schools efforts to combat and mitigate COVID-19 transmissions at school. The low numbers of enrollment were due to parents fear of their children being infected and transmission at school, but thanks to their trust in how UISD is handling the precautions at their campuses, she says parents have decided to bring back their children. Rendon also reminded parents of the 10-day quarantine for all students and employees  vaccinated and unvaccinated  if they have a positive COVID-19 test.

Addressing the campus threats, Rendon attributed the high stress environment to people being angrier since the pandemic started.

What I have noticed, now you noticed, people are angry, theyre mad, she said. I dont know if it was 18 months of isolation or just being in your household, but there is more anger in our settings. ... At least once a week, we have a threat.

Rendon explained how hard it is for everyone at school when sudden threats appear written in bathrooms, cafeterias or paper notes. She remarked that dates when a shooting is supposed to happen is usually the safest day to send their kids to school, as there is more presence of police, Constables, members of the District Attorneys office and even use of metal detectors.

Rendon added that the schools have preparations for cases of shooting emergencies. She said these protocols include the standardized system in which the areas and rooms of the schools have been labeled and shared with police departments to help them localize rapidly where something is occurring.

Lockdown drills are also practiced and monitored at school to help students and employees react accordingly to any emergency they may face. Finally, she urged parents to not come into the schools in any given emergency, because they block access to emergency and police services needing to enter schools to do their job.

Chief Financial Officer Laida Benavides also spoke to inform parents how UISD funds and finances are being distributed in the district. The total district allocation stands at $172 million. Inside the ESSER lll allocations, the biggest investments went to learning acceleration with $50.5 million, high quality instructional materials with $10.9 million and safety with $50.4 million.

At your own homes, you all have wifi, said Benavides in regards to technology and infrastructure, which has a $4.7 million ESSER fund. This is the technology we need in all our campuses and our district facilities to be able to use our devices and for your kids to use their devices.

Were putting our commitment to make sure our schools are updated network-wise.

Inside the safety budget, funds were allocated toward COVID teams  adding more nurses to help the school nurses who have the most COVID-19 cases at UISD campuses. Although the Texas Education Agency does not require schools to have a registered nurse, UISD has one at every school campus as well as hiring nurses aids.

cecilia.trevino@lmtonline.com
Longfords day at the top of the Irish Businesses Against Litter rankings is not far off according to Cathaoirleach of Longford County Council Peggy Nolan, thanks to the civic-minded people who take pride in their county.

Longford returned to the top ten cleanest towns in Ireland in the first post-lockdown survey by IBAL. Last January, having failed to attain clean status, there was disappointment for Longford town as it slipped to the 25th in the IBAL litter league rankings.

Now, ranking at number 10, it seems Longford is well on its way to becoming one of the cleanest towns in Ireland.

There is a Pakman award given annually and this year Longford is the only local authority to be nominated for that award.

Thats taking place in the Shelbourne on Friday week, Cllr Nolan told the Longford Leader.

The Environmental Department picked up, throughout lockdown, 35 tonnes of litter. Shame on those who discard litter like that. Were back in the top ten now and Im blown away by the civic-minded people of Longford who are out morning, noon and night picking up litter. There are people in this county who believe in their county and make a difference. As a county, we are totally indebted to those people.

As Cathaoirleach, Im more than delighted to see were back in the top ten. Would I have loved to have seen us in the top two or the top one? Yes. But, as they say, our day will come and, with the civic-minded people taking pride in our county, that day is not far off.

The An Taisce report for Longford town, a previous winner of the cleanest town accolade, stated: A welcome bounce back for Longford after a period in the doldrums. Over half of the sites surveyed received the top litter grade and there were no seriously littered sites. All approach roads were top-ranking, as was New Street and the Bring Facility by Peplo / Dealz.

Portlaoise emerged as the cleanest town in this latest survey. The study found no fall-off in PPE litter across the country.

The number of areas deemed clean by An Taisce, who carry out the survey on behalf of IBAL, rose from 17 to 23. In all, 68% of towns showed an improvement on last year.

By contrast, the majority of urban areas fared worse than in 2020, among them Dublin, Cork and Limerick City Centres, which were all deemed littered.

The study showed a near-30% increase in the prevalence of PPE masks on our streets and an increase in alcohol-related litter such as cans and bottles.

2021 is the 19th year of the IBAL Anti-Litter League.
The eagerly awaited Longfords Republican Story 1900-2000 will be launched in a series of events over the coming week.

After five years of painstaking research, the author, Sean O Suilleabhain, has brought to fruition the biggest and most extensive book ever written on County Longford.

The book runs to 590 pages with 450 photographs and documents.

It carries the story of Nationalist / Republican activity in County Longford from the days of the Irish Parliamentary Party in 1900, right up to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.

Launches

There will be four launches in County Longford, as follows:

Monday, October 25 in Colmcille Community Centre at 8pm.

Wednesday, October 27 in Longford Library at 8pm

Thursday, October 28 in Granard Library at 8pm

Friday, October 29 in Ballymahon Library at 8pm

Tuesday, November 2 in Ballinamore Community Centre at 8pm

People are invited to attend whichever launch is convenient for them.

War of Independence

It is appropriate that in this year when we commemorate the end of the War of Independence, the most extensive chapter in the book is on that conflict. There are biographical sketches of the leading IRA men and extensive coverage of the main engagements in the county.

Cumann na mBan is also given appropriate coverage, as is the activity of Unionist groups and the Orange Order in the early part of the century.

The Civil War occupies the next biggest chapter. While Longford was spared the sort of atrocities that took place in other counties, there was, nevertheless, a good deal of activity in the county and Free State troops, under General Sean Mac Eoin, many of them from Longford, were in the thick of things in the West.

Names of 3,223 IRA Men and 969 Women listed by Parish

There is hardly a family, whose roots are in Co Longford, that wont find a relative who was in the IRA during the War of Independence.

The lists of 3,223 men, as well as 969 women in Cumann na mBan, will enthrall people the length and breadth of the county.

Major events in the 1930s and 1940s

The book covers the shooting of Richard More OFerrall in Edgeworthstown in 1935, the killing of Barney Casey in the Curragh Camp in 1940 and the execution of Richard Goss in Portlaoise in 1941.

Events that have seldom been given coverage before, like the Ballinalee Post Office dispute in 1953, are highlighted.

The Troubles

The period of the Troubles had sporadic impacts on County Longford. The Bloody Sunday killings in Derry in 1972 sent shock waves throughout the county, as happened throughout Nationalist Ireland.

The period of the H-Blocks hunger strikes in 1981 was the other occasion when Longford woke up to the reality of what was happening in the Six Counties.

There are numerous other Longford connections to the Troubles, such as the story of the Longford man who first highlighted the case of the innocence of the Birmingham Six and the Longford man who was sentenced to twenty years in England, the longest sentence ever imposed on a Longford Republican.

Taking the whole century of activity, the two figures that loom largest are Sean Mac Eoin during the War of Independence and afterwards, and Ruairi O Bradaigh in the second half of the century. These two men were the dominant Republican figures in their respective periods.

Launch events

The Colmcille launch will be performed by Mait O Bradaigh, son of Ruairi O Bradaigh, and grandson of Matt Brady, who was seriously injured in the very first engagement of the War of Independence in Longford.

The Longford launch will be performed by Peggy Nolan, Cathaoirleach of Longford County Council.

The Granard launch will be performed by Sr Maeve Brady and Bernard Sexton. Sr Maeves father and Bernards grandfather fought alongside each other in the North Longford Flying Column.

The Ballymahon launch will be performed by Martin Morris, County Archivist.

Availability

The book will be available in shops throughout the county after the launches.

For any enquiries in regard to the launches, please ring 087 6821566. Beidh failte roimh gach duine.
(Alliance News) - Talks are set to continue in the coming week between the UK and the EU amid a warning the two sides are still far apart on issues surrounding the Northern Ireland protocol.

UK officials described as "constructive" the first round of talks in Brussels this week, which came after the EU proposed new measures earlier this month.

It is understood that while there was common ground in some areas, there were still substantial gaps on what were seen as fundamental issues mainly surrounding governance, PA reported.

Sources close to the negotiations said "real progress" must be made soon and a process of "endless negotiation" must be avoided. But reports over Christmas crackers being delayed by the protocol was "yet another practical example" of the disruption caused by the agreement.

A team from the European Commission is set to travel to London on Tuesday for several days of intensive discussions.

UK Brexit Minister David Frost and EU Commission Vice President Sefcovic are then due to meet in person in Westminster for talks at the end of the week.

The two leaders will take stock and assess progress so far.

A UK government source said: "The talks this week were constructive and we've heard some things from the EU that we can work with a but the reality is that we are still far apart on the big issues, especially governance.

"There's been plenty of speculation about governance this week but our position remains unchanged: the role of the European Court of Justice in resolving disputes between the UK and EU must end.

"We need to see real progress soon rather than get stuck in a process of endless negotiation because the issues on the ground in Northern Ireland haven't gone away.

"Whether we're able to establish that momentum soon will help us determine if we can bridge the gap or if we need to use Article 16 to safeguard the Belfast (Good Friday) agreement".

The protocol, which was agreed by the EU and UK to maintain a free-flowing land border on the island of Ireland, has created a series of economic barriers on the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

Measures proposed by the EU would see an 80% reduction in checks envisaged for retail agri-food products arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

The proposed changes also remove the prospect of certain British produce, including Cumberland sausages, being banned from export to the region.

The EU plan to ease the resultant trade friction also includes a 50% reduction in customs paperwork required.

And more products and companies would be exempt from customs tariffs as a result of expanding trusted trader arrangements and a concept that differentiates between goods destined for Northern Ireland and those "at risk" of onward transportation into the Irish Republic.

The EU has also offered to legislate to ensure no disruption to the supply line of medicines from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

However, the measures contained in four separate papers published by the bloc do not offer any concession on a key UK government demand, the removal of the oversight role for the ECJ.

Frost has made clear the removal of the court's oversight function in policing the protocol is a red line for the government if a compromise deal is to be struck.

Under the terms of the protocol, which was agreed by the UK and EU as part of the 2020 withdrawal agreement, the ECJ would be the final arbitrator in any future trade dispute between the two parties on the operation of the protocol.

The UK now wants to remove that provision and replace it with an independent arbitration process.

The European Commission has insisted it will not move on the ECJ issue.

By Geraldine Scott, PA Political Correspondent

source: PA

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
With half-term in England, families - as well as all other travellers - will be welcoming the change to travel regulations that is in force as from today (October 24). Travellers returning to England can take the cheaper lateral flow tests rather than the more expensive PCR tests.

This applies to fully-vaccinated people arriving from a non-red list country. The test has to be used on or before day two of the return to England. Wales is due to make the same change to travel regulations in a week's time, while Scotland and Northern Ireland have indicated that they may also make the change.

The lateral flow tests for returning travellers must be bought from private providers. Prices start from nineteen pounds.
Mankato, MN (56001)

Today

Clear this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low near 30F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Clear this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low near 30F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Shah Rukh Khan and his family have been held firmly captive under the spotlight since the arrest of his son Aryan Khan by the NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau). Aryan Khan was arrested on 3rd October by the government agency after they raided a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast over suspicion of illicit drugs aboard the vessel.

 ANI

Despite no drugs being found on Aryan Khans person, hes been jailed in the Arthur Road prison in Mumbai since then. A special court in Mumbai has extended the judicial custody of those accused in the case, including Aryan, till October 30.



The special NDPS court had previously rejected Aryan Khans bail plea, however, his representatives persisted and moved the Bombay High Court on Wednesday. Aryans bail plea will now be observed by the High Court on October 26.

 ANI

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleged a special interest in NCBs part in chasing Bollywood celebrities. He said, "While you're sniffing small quantities of ganja, our cops have seized drugs worth Rs 150 crore". Thackeray then asked, "Is (drugs seizure) only happening in Maharashtra? Drugs worth crores were seized from Mundra Port. Where is this Mundra port situated?"



 ANI

Taking this opportunity to land a potshot on the BJP regarding Aryan Khans case, Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal hinted that Shah Rukh Khans family wouldnt have had to face such an ordeal if the actor were to join the BJP. If such a situation transpired, Bhujbal said drugs would become sugar powder.



At a time when the nation has bigger concerns to be contending with, like the mammoth consignment of heroin seized at the Mundra Port in Gujarat, Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhubal alleged that the NCB, which is a Central agency, has been chosen to harangue Shah Rukh Khan instead.

The NCP MLA retorted, "Drugs will become sugar powder if Shah Rukh Khan joins the BJP.

The case that the BJPs political rivals are hinting at is regarding the 2,988.21 kg of heroin seized at Mundra Port, Gujarat. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) confiscated the drug haul on September 16. This case was moved under the NIAs jurisdiction on October 6.

The contraband was smuggled into the Mundra Port inside two containers and is believed to have arrived from Afghanistan via Irans Bandar Abbas Port in the name of Aashi Trading Company of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.

Do you think the NCB is investing the taxpayers money wisely by making a scapegoat out of Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan Khan and other Bollywood celebs?

Do let us know in the comments.
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GUEST COLUMN

We cant combat climate change without minerals that must be mined, in our backyard
Ambassador of Belarus V.Rybak meets the President of the Council of Higher Education of Turkey

On October 7, 2021, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Turkey Viktor Rybak met with Chairman of the Council of Higher Education of Turkey Erol Ozvar.

The head of the Belarusian foreign mission congratulated E.Ozvar on his appointment to the post of the head of the Council.

The parties discussed the prospects for the development of Belarusian-Turkish cooperation in the field of higher education in the context of the joint work done over the past two years.

The interlocutors focused on the modalities of organizing the visit to Turkey of a delegation of representatives of Belarusian educational institutions and holding of the Second Forum of Rectors of Higher Education Institutions of the two countries.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  Pivotal Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin appears to be on board with White House proposals for new taxes on billionaires and certain corporations to help pay for President Joe Bidens scaled-back social services and climate change package.

Biden huddled with the conservative West Virginia Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the presidents Delaware home Sunday as they work on resolving the disputes between centrists and progressives that have stalled the Democrats wide-ranging bill. A person who requested anonymity to discuss Manchins position told The Associated Press the senator is agreeable to the White House's new approach on the tax proposals.

What had been a sweeping $3.5 trillion plan is now being eyed as $1.75 trillion package. Thats within a range that could still climb considerably higher, according to a second person who requested anonymity to discuss the private talks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that even at half the original $3.5 trillion proposed, Bidens signature domestic initiative would be larger than any other legislative package with big investments in health care, child care and strategies to tackle climate change.

It is less than what was projected to begin with, but its still bigger than anything we have ever done in terms of addressing the needs of Americas working families, Pelosi said Sunday on CNNs State of the Union."

Democrats are working intensely to try again to wrap up talks on the measure so the president can spotlight his administrations achievements to world leaders at two overseas summits on the economy and climate change that get underway this week.

Biden met with Manchin and Schumer, D-N.Y., at the presidents home in Wilmington after Democrats missed last weeks deadline to resolve disputes. Biden has said he'd like to see a $2 trillion package and they are trying again this upcoming week to reach agreement.

Its unclear what level of the new taxes Manchin would support, but he generally backs the White House proposals, according to the person who requested anonymity to discuss Manchin's position. Neither person requesting anonymity was authorized to discuss the negotiations by name.

The White House said the breakfast meeting was a productive discussion about the presidents agenda. The talks appeared to last for hours, but no decisions were announced. The Democrats continued to make progress, the White House said in its post-meeting statement.

Resolving the revenue side is key as the Democrats insist the new spending will be fully paid for by the various taxes.

Manchin and another Democrat, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have almost on their own halted Bidens proposal from advancing. With Republican opposition and an evenly split 50-50 Senate, Biden has no votes to spare and the two Democratic senators have insisted on reducing the size of the enormous package and pressed for other changes.

One key debate has been over the revenues to pay for the package, after Sinema rejected an earlier plan to reverse the Republican-led 2017 tax cuts and raise rates on corporations earning more than $5 million a year and wealthy Americans earning more than $400,000, or $450,000 for couples.

Instead, the White House is considering a tax on the investment incomes of billionaires  fewer than 1,000 of the wealthiest Americans with at least $1 billion in assets. It also has floated a 15% corporate minimum tax that is designed to ensure all companies pay what Biden calls their fair share  ending the practice of some big-name firms paying no taxes.

Democrats initially planned that Biden's package would contain $3.5 trillion worth of spending and tax initiatives over 10 years. But demands by moderates led by Manchin and Sinema to contain costs mean its final price tag could well be less than $2 trillion.

Disputes remain over far-reaching investments, including plans to expand Medicare coverage with dental, vision and hearing aid benefits for seniors; child care assistance; and free pre-kindergarten.

Pelosi, D-Calif., said on CNN that Democrats were still working to keep in provisions for four weeks of paid family leave but acknowledged that other proposals such as expanding Medicare to include dental coverage could prove harder to save because of cost.

Pelosi reiterated that about 90% is wrapped up and said she expected an agreement by weeks end, paving the way for a House vote on a separate $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill before next Sunday, Oct. 31, when a series of transportation programs will lapse. The Senate approved over the summer the package of road, broadband and other public works projects, but the measure stalled in the House during deliberations on the broader Biden bill.

Manchin, whose state has a major coal industry, has opposed Biden's initial climate change proposals, which involved a plan to penalize utilities that do not switch quickly to clean energy. Democrats are now also compiling other climate change strategies to meet Bidens goal of reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030.

Democrats were hoping Biden could cite major accomplishments when he attends a global conference in Scotland on climate change in early November after attending a summit of world leaders in Rome.

Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, said the expected cuts to the clean energy provisions in the spending bill were especially disappointing.

If were going to get the rest of the world to take serious steps to remedy this problem, weve got to do it ourselves, King said on NBCs Meet the Press."

Pelosi insisted that Democrats had pieced together other policies in the spending bill that could reduce emissions. We will have something that will meet the presidents goals, she said.

Democrats also want to make progress that could help Democrat Terry McAuliffe win a neck-and-neck Nov. 2 gubernatorial election in Virginia.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, maintained that his caucus will not budge on supporting the infrastructure bill before Oct. 31 if there is no agreement on the broader package, which would be passed under so-called budget reconciliation rules.

The president needs the reconciliation agreement to go to Glasgow, Khanna, D-Calif., said on Fox News Sunday. He added: Thats what is going to deal with climate change, thats whats going to hit his goals of 50% reduction by 2030. Im confident we will have an agreement.

___

Associated Press writer Alan Fram contributed to this report.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP)  A radical Islamist party agreed Sunday to suspend for three days its march of thousands toward the capital Islamabad after Pakistan agreed to drop pending charges against the party's leader.

Party supporters Saturday departed the eastern city of Lahore, clashing for a second straight day with police who lobbed tear gas into the crowd. The group began its journey a day earlier with the goal of reaching Islamabad to pressure the government to release Saad Rizvi, head of the Islamist Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party. Rizvi was arrested last year amid demonstrations against France over the publication of caricatures of Islams Prophet Muhammad.

Raja Basharat, provincial law minister, told The Associated Press that under the agreement Punjab will withdraw charges against Rizvi and release all those detained during the protest march by Tuesday.

Rizvi had been detained pre-emptively on a charge of inciting people to assemble unlawfully. It was unclear when he would be released.

Basharat also said the agreement stipulates that the federal government will honor a previous agreement with the TLP to address diplomatic ties with France over the publication of the caricatures.

Sajid Saifi, spokesman for Rizvis party, confirmed the ministers account and said thousands of party supporters will stay in the town of Mureedke waiting for the release of party leaders and members who have been detained.

Pakistan Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed told reporters that the TLP's demand that the French ambassador to Pakistan be expelled over the caricatures would be taken to a parliamentary committee in the coming days.

Basharat, Ahmed and Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri took part in the talks with the TLP executive council.

Violent clashes erupted between security forces and the Islamists in Lahore killing at least two police and injuring about a dozen, police said. Saifi claimed four party supporters were killed by police fire and many others were injured. Police said the demonstrators torched several police vehicles there.

Ahmed said the government was unaware of any deaths of TLP supporters.

Rizvis party gained prominence in Pakistans 2018 elections, campaigning on the single issue of defending the countrys blasphemy law, which calls for the death penalty for anyone who insults Islam. It has a history of staging violent protests to pressure the government to accept its demands.
WATERBURY  Police arrested four individuals after they allegedly drove erratically and waved guns from their car on Saturday afternoon, officials said.

Waterbury police arrested 18-year-old Nayshaun Owens, 19-year-old Savion Ettson, 20-year-old Ariangelie Martinez and 19-year-old Jose Soares on charges of illegal possession of a weapon, carrying a pistol without a permit and other offenses, officials said.
ROCHESTER, Ind. (AP)  A northern Indiana prosecutor is seeking to block the early prison release of a woman convicted in a 2018 crash that killed three siblings who were crossing a rural highway to board a school bus.

Fulton County Prosecutor Mike Marrs filed a motion Thursday seeking to prevent Alyssa Shepherds early release. She was sentenced in 2019 to four years in prison after being convicted of three counts of reckless homicide, criminal recklessness and passing a school bus, causing injury.

Marrs said Shepherd has already cut six months off her sentence by successfully completing a faith-based, self-improvement class, and she could get up to 90 additional days off for Community Involvement.

We just dont feel like its justice. It just further erodes the justice system, Marrs said Thursday during a rally for the crash victims at the Fulton County Courthouse, WSBT-TV reported.

Shepherd was driving her pickup truck when she plowed into the four children on Oct. 30, 2018, as they crossed two-lane State Road 25 in Rochester to board a school bus. The crash killed 6-year-old twin brothers Xzavier and Mason Ingle, and their 9-year-old sister, Alivia Stahl, and seriously injured a fourth child.

Shepherd told authorities she didnt realize that she was approaching a stopped school bus, despite its activated stop arm and flashing lights.

A judge is expected to rule on Marrs' motion in the next month to decide if Shepherd will get out of prison by Dec. 20 or if she will not be released until March, WTHR-TV reported.

Brittany Ingle, the mother of the three children killed in the crash, said she hopes the judge prevents more time from being shaved off of Shepherd's prison time.

Again, you cannot buy way your way out of hell no matter what good deeds you choose to do for your own selfish reasons, she said.
The Mississippi attorney general can take over a case when a local prosecutor steps away, but the takeover needs to be voluntary
Party: Democrat

Current job: Retired educator, 35 years Bridgeport Public Schools

Education: BA SCSU, MAT Sacred Heart University 6th year SCSC

If elected my focus would be on budget and improved air quality in our schools. All budgets need to be viewed under the lens of needs versus resources.Slash and burn mentality does not serve our student. As a former board member of both the Connecticut and National Education Associations, one of my responsibilities was to review the annual budget, discuss and make changes before referring to membership for approval. Some of these budgets were larger than our current BOE budget.

My understanding of the process of curriculum development and implementation in Milford,is that curriculum is developed in committees of teachers and administrators. It goes through a vetting process before being referred to the superintendent. The curriculum for the district is posted on the website. If parents have concerns, then they need to bring those concerns to administration for clarification. If concerns still remain then the superintendent needs to address those concerns. We need to respect the knowledge and training of our teachers and administrators to properly implement curriculum. I find that the curriculum in place is quite robust, and there is clear evidence of thought and planning.

In my opinion, the BOE has done their due diligence in funding our schools. The needs of our students are in constant flux, and the BOE needs to be able to make sure that those needs are met.

I have been a Milford resident for the past five years. I chose to run for the Milford BOE based on my 35 years in public education. I have taught grades 4 to 6, and for most of my career taught in the Talented and Gifted Program in Bridgeport. I worked in human resources as the staff mediator, resolving teacher evaluation issues. I served for nine years as the president of the Bridgeport Education Association, and sat on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut and National Education Associations for five years. I have lobbied on the state and national level for our students as well as teachers. I know what it is to stand before a class of 30 students and use my craft to meet their needs. I want to continue to be an advocate for public education.
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP)  Pakistan's security forces say they killed 16 militants in separate shootouts during raids against extremists and separatists on Saturday, with two soldiers killed in the process.

One raid was conducted in the Mastung area of Baluchistan province, the provincial counterterrorism department said in a statement. Earlier in the week, a bomb attack killed a police officer and wounded 19 others in the same area.

The statement said militants opened fire on police triggering a gun battle that left nine terrorists dead. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but the bombing earlier in the week was claimed by the Pakistani Taliban. The statement said the raid also yielded nine Kalashnikov assault rifles, explosives and rocket-propelled grenades.

In the evening, security forces say they killed six separatists in another raid in the Harnai district of Baluchistan. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

Earlier in the northwest, two soldiers and a militant were killed in an exchange of fire during a separate raid, according to a military statement. That raid took place Friday in Miran Shah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan. The military statement said weapons and ammunition were seized during the raid.

Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2,400-kilometer (1,500-mile) internationally recognized border known as the Durand Line, which was drawn in the 19th century when the British dominated South Asia. Kabul has never recognized the boundary.

Before the Taliban came back into power in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan often accused each other of turning a blind eye to militants operating along the porous frontier. The Taliban's return to power in August apparently emboldened Islamic militants in Pakistan, where attacks on security forces have increased in recent weeks.
October 24, 2021

The MoA Week In Review - OT 2021-082

Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:

---

Other issues:

Imperial Britain:

Fake whistleblower:

Fake illness:

Use as open thread ...

Posted by b on October 24, 2021 at 13:36 UTC | Permalink

Comments

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After struggling to hire workers for its outlet store, Balsam Hill finally opened on Sept. 1. But the next day, the online purveyor of high-end artificial holiday trees was forced to close after four of its five workers quit.

The main gripe for three of them? Working on weekends. So they found jobs elsewhere with better hours.

Balsam Hill reopened weeks later with nine workers, hiking the hourly pay by $3, to $18 per hour. But more importantly, it changed its approach: Instead of only focusing on the needs of the business, it's now closely working with each employee to tailor their schedules based on when they want to work.

"We're working against people who have the choice of wherever they want to work," said Kendra Gould, senior retail strategist at Balsam Hill. "Now, it's more about what do you need as an employee and how can we make you happy?"

Companies are confronting demands by hourly workers on terms that often used to be non-negotiable: scheduling. Taking a page from their white-collar peers who are restructuring their workdays to accommodate their lifestyles, hourly workers are similarly seeking flexibility in how  and when  they do their jobs. That means pushing back on weekend, late night or holiday shifts.

Job openings are plentiful, so workers can afford to be picky. There were 10.4 million job openings at the end of August and 11.1 million openings the month before, the highest on record since at least December 2000, when the government started recording that figure. At the same time, the Labor Department said that the number of people quitting their jobs jumped to 4.3 million in August from 4 million in July.

Among the new workers Balsam Hill hired was Rickey Haynes, 62, a pastor for a local Baptist church. He retired in July but still preaches in the community. He said he was looking for part-time work in retail, but didn't want to work Sundays because of his preaching. Balsam Hill was willing to work around his schedule.

"They were accommodating," he said. "If I could, I could work with them until I am done."

A recent study from ManpowerGroup Solutions revealed that nearly 40% of job candidates worldwide said schedule flexibility is one of their top three factors in career decisions.

The shifting mindset is showing up in data from job site platforms.

SnagAJob.com, an online marketplace for hourly workers, says the word "flexibility" now accounts for roughly 11% of the more than 7 million job postings on its site compared with 8% earlier in the year. But overnight shifts at restaurants have also increased significantly since January.

Instawork, a staffing marketplace that connects local businesses with skilled hourly workers, says the rate at which employers were able to fill weekend shifts dropped significantly from January through August compared with weekday shifts.

Such challenges are happening as companies struggle to hire holiday workers. Target Corp. said this month it will pay $2 an hour more to employees who pick up shifts during peak days of the holiday season, including Saturday and Sunday, as well as on Christmas Eve or on the day after Christmas. That's on top of companies already dangling bonuses and loosening requirements for drug testing and educational minimums that have kept some people out of the workforce.

Sumir Meghani, co-founder and CEO and founder of Instawork, says such perks don't solve the root of the problem.

"It's about flexibility," said Meghani, noting that available shifts on Instawork have surged eightfold from right before the pandemic to August 2021. "It's about workers saying 'I don't want to work weekends' or 'I can't work Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays because I don't have child care or schools haven't reopened' or 'I am worried about COVID.'"

Meghani says hourly workers are asking how can they get the same work-life balance as their peers who can work remotely.

"The challenge is, if you are a bartender you have to work until 2 a.m.," he says.

Employers of such jobs are limited in what they can do given the nature of how they operate, especially with customers having grown accustomed to getting what they want when they want it.

Radial, which fills online orders for retailers like Dick's Sporting Goods and PetSmart, says it's working to align its schedules with candidate expectations at each location. Increasingly, it's accommodating popular shifts such as Monday through Friday only, or Saturday and Sunday only.

But Sabrina Wnorowski, Radial's vice president of human resources, says it's difficult to address everyone's needs given the unpredictable nature of spending during the holidays.

On the flipside, the working poor have long struggled with erratic work schedules, particularly in the food service and retail sectors, says Daniel Schneider, professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government whose Shift Project focuses on inequality of low-income workers.

"The problem isn't new, and we've shown that the consequences for workers and their families are dire," said Schneider, noting day-to-day instability of work schedules is inextricably linked to job instability. That leads to high job turnover for workers, which in turn imposes costs on individuals and on firms.

During the pandemic, hourly workers were hit especially hard when non-essential businesses like department stores and restaurants were forced to close for a few months during the spring of 2020. Those who remained employed at essential businesses like grocery stores found themselves overworked under the crush of shoppers' purchases for basic items.

When demand for dining and shopping rebounded as more people got vaccinated this past spring, businesses couldn't hire workers fast enough. And many of the hourly employees found new jobs as they redefined their priorities. That contributed to a labor shortage, forcing employers to look for ways to make their jobs seem more attractive while also being forced to cut back on hours of operation.

The National Restaurant Association says that 68% of the 4,000 operators it polled in a September survey say their restaurants reduced hours of operation on days it was open for business from June through August. The survey also found that 45% of the operators polled said they closed their restaurant on the days that it would normally be open during that time frame.

Donald Minerva is the owner of a restaurant called Scottadito Osteria Toscana in Brooklyn, New York. He says that right before the pandemic he had 16 workers who worked various shifts at his restaurant, which was open six days a week. Now, Minerva has 14 workers but a good chunk of them don't want to work double-shifts and so the restaurant is now open just five days a week with limited hours.

Minerva says 70% of his staff are from the pre-pandemic days and want to work 40 hours a week. But the new workers want more flexibility.

For Minerva, that means he has to spend more time working on their schedules and less time on priorities like coming up with new strategies to bring in customers.

"It's a juggle to find them, and a juggle to keep them," he said.
Food companies are coming under renewed pressure to use less salt after U.S. regulators spelled out long-awaited guidelines aimed at reducing sodium levels in dozens of foods including condiments, cereals, french fries and potato chips.

The voluntary goals finalized for 163 food categories are intended to help lower the amount of salt people eat. A majority of the sodium in U.S. diets comes from packaged or restaurant foods  not the salt added to meals at home  making it hard for people to make changes on their own.

To get people used to eating less salt, the Food and Drug Administration said reductions have to be gradual and across the entire food supply so people dont keep reaching for higher sodium options.

By putting out the targets, that really helps to level the playing field across the industry, said Susan Mayne, director of the FDAs food safety and nutrition division.

Over the next 2.5 years, the FDAs target sodium levels aim to cut average intake by 12%  from 3,400 to 3,000 milligrams a day. That would still leave average intake above the federally recommended limit of 2,300 milligrams a day for people 14 and older. But the agency says it will monitor industry progress and keep issuing updated targets to bring levels closer to the recommended limit over time.

The FDA said it took into consideration industry feedback after issuing its draft guidance in 2016. Ketchup, mustard and hot sauce, for example, were split up and now have different targets. Another difference: The final guidance does not spell out a time frame for reaching longer-term targets.

Its a huge disappointment that the 10-year goal didnt come out at the same time, said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Tufts Universitys Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

Mozaffarian said some food companies resisted reduced sodium targets, but that more scientific support has emerged for the federal guidance on sodium. In 2019, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine tied the recommended limit to a reduced risk of chronic disease. A recent study in China also found lower rates of stroke and major heart-related events among people using a salt substitute compared with those using regular salt.

Whether the targets are effective in pushing the industry to lower sodium levels will hinge on how the FDA monitors progress and publicly communicates about it, Mozaffarian said.

In a statement, the National Restaurant Association said it provided feedback to the FDAs draft guidance and that its member companies continue to provide options that address customer demand.

The American Frozen Food Institute said member companies have already been offering lower sodium options to meet consumer demand.

Even though the guidance is voluntary, companies might feel pressure to make changes to avoid stricter regulatory action, said Dr. Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has called for mandatory sodium standards.

If it turns out that the impact is not what we would hope, I think its back to the drawing board, and mandatory cuts are on the table, he said.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP)  Paid sick leave. Taxpayer-funded community college. A phased-in $15 minimum wage.

New Jersey has taken a decidedly liberal shift under first-term Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, increasing income taxes on the wealthy, expanding voting rights and tightening the state's already restrictive gun laws. Its a notable change from his predecessor, Republican Chris Christie, who spent two terms pushing more moderate policies.

Murphy's agenda will be on the ballot on Nov. 2, when voters will decide whether to give him a second term or steer the state in another direction by electing Republican Jack Ciattarelli. History isn't necessarily on Murphy's side: New Jersey hasn't reelected a Democrat as governor in four decades and hasn't elected a governor from the same party as the president in three decades.

Its one of the big, animating reasons why were running like were 10 points behind, Murphy said in an interview. Were taking nothing for granted. I mean, history has proven that this can be a very fickle year in terms of politics.

But Murphy does have some sizable advantages. He is leading in public polls and has raised more money than Ciattarelli, and New Jersey has 1 million more registered Democratic voters than Republicans. He's also welcoming some Democratic heavy-hitters to the state: Former President Barack Obama appeared on Saturday, and President Joe Biden was set to visit on Monday to promote his spending plan.

The race has national implications, though it has gotten less attention than Virginia's high-profile governor's contest. A loss for Murphy would be shocking in a state that Biden won over Republican Donald Trump by nearly 16 percentage points last year. It would also raise questions about whether moderate voters repelled by Trump were returning to the Republican Party now that the former president is no longer in office.

New Jerseys left turn has been years in the making: The state has voted Democratic in every presidential contest since 1992. It hasn't elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since Clifford Case in 1972. But governor's races have been continually in play for the GOP. The last three Republicans elected governor have won two consecutive terms.

My focus is solely New Jersey, Ciattarelli said in an interview. To win as a Republican, youve got to be focused on what it is thats bothering the people of New Jersey, and thats exactly what Ive done for the past 22 months.

Public polls show that Murphy has gotten high grades from voters for his response to COVID-19, even though New Jersey was one of the hardest-hit states at the beginning of the pandemic. About 35% of the state's nearly 25,000 deaths came from nursing and veterans homes. Murphy held daily news conferences about the pandemic at the beginning and is now holding two a week. He ordered most nonessential businesses to shut down early in the pandemic, including restaurants, theaters, gyms and most retail stores. Masks were required and social distancing was encouraged. Schools shuttered and then went mostly remote.

Many people are very happy with the way he handled the COVID-19 era. The numbers are very clear," Republican state Sen. Michael Testa acknowledged.

Some Republicans are also concerned that Trump's unpopularity could be dragging down Ciattarelli's approval numbers. Since a bruising June primary with rivals who claimed Trumps mantle, Ciattarelli has sounded more like the moderate he was while in the Legislature, speaking about his support for the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion and for immigrants without legal status to get drivers licenses, for instance.

He's been playing up his credentials as an accountant and the founder of a small business while campaigning in Democratic-leaning cities as well as GOP strongholds.

Ciattarelli has also had to balance the more traditional GOP wing with the Trump faction. Thats meant calling for lower property taxes, a perennial issue in New Jersey, and decrying COVID-19 restrictions. But it has also meant confronting questions about his appearance at a rally centered on Stop the Steal, a reference to Trumps false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Ciattarelli said he didnt know the rally was focused on the former presidents false claims.

Appearing with Murphy in Newark on Saturday, Obama said of Ciattarelli, When youve got a candidate who spoke at a Stop the Steal rally, you can bet hes not going to be a champion of democracy.

Asked whether he would welcome Trump campaigning for him, Ciattarelli said he does his own campaigning and isnt into endorsements. He has also said he accepts that Biden was legitimately elected.

The state's political environment shifted decidedly to the left during the Trump administration, with Democrats picking up all but one House seat in the state in 2018. They lost a second one when Jeff Van Drew left the Democratic Party over Trump's first impeachment. Murphy himself won election in the first year of Trumps presidency running on a self-styled progressive platform. His win was helped by the unpopularity of Christie, whose top lieutenant ran against Murphy in the 2017 race.

When you look which way the wind is blowing, it is very tough for a candidate to be a good candidate if the wind is not blowing at your back, said Assembly Republican leader Jon Bramnick. And in New Jersey, the wind is blowing definitely more Democratic."

Shavonda Sumter, a Democratic Assembly member and chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, said the push for more progressive policies like early in-person voting and expanded vote by mail began at least a decade ago. Those policies, vetoed by Christie, became law after Murphy became governor.

Sumter sees the real turning point coming in 2020 during the national reckoning on racial injustice followed the killing of George Floyd by police. She said white people's increased consciousness of the role race can play in politics has helped Democrats politically.

Folks woke up and realized this fight is not done, she said.

For Toby Sanders, a Trenton resident who attended a recent Murphy gun control rally in Bloomfield, this year's governor's contest is more than just a state race.

Its a bellwether for the nation. Its a foundation to build on, said Sanders, who considers himself a progressive.

For other voters, state and local issues are more important.

Mike Gardner, a municipal party official and retired attorney who worked at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said his top issue is getting rid of the high property taxes. He backs Ciattarelli.

Jim Arakelian, a real estate agent and retired law enforcement official, said he doesn't think police officers have been respected by the Murphy administration, citing the decision to release certain police disciplinary records as a big concern. Hes also skeptical about the media and the polling in the race, citing 2016 and Trumps surprise victory.

Polls can be skewed anyway the press wants, said Arakelian, who attended a Ciattarelli campaign stop at a New Milford pizzeria.

In their own way, some Democratic voters are also skeptical about polls, not wanting to take them for granted.

America is contested space right now. There is a battle quietly and loudly going on," Sanders said.
In a study of crayfish in the Current River in southeastern Missouri, researchers discovered  almost by chance  that the virile crayfish, Faxonius virilis, was interbreeding with a native crayfish, potentially altering the natives genetics, life history and ecology. Reported in the journal Aquatic Invasions, the study highlights the difficulty of detecting some of the consequences of biological invasions, the researchers say.

The virile crayfish is probably the widest-ranging native crayfish in North America, said study co-author Christopher Taylor, a curator of crustaceans at the Illinois Natural History Survey. Even though its native to North America, F. virilis is considered invasive in many parts of the U.S. because it quickly dominates new habitats when introduced  for example, by fishermen moving crayfish from one stream to another in a bait bucket, he said.

Taylor conducted the research with Eric Larson, a professor of natural resources and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Zachary Rozansky, a graduate student who led the research.

The Ozarks in Missouri and Arkansas are just a great place to be a crayfish, Larson said. The streambeds are rocky so you can hide from fish predators, the water chemistry is good, theres lots of calcium in the stream and there are a lot of groundwater springs that feed into the main river. Thats why there are so many native crayfish there.

The virile crayfish was not native to the Current River watershed, however, and its presence could lead to declines in native crayfish species, he said.

Other invasive crayfish have disrupted the ecosystems they invade, Larson said. For example, the rusty crayfish is native to the Ohio River Basin but has invaded the waters of many other regions in the U.S. and Canada. It hybridizes with native crayfish, displacing them and reducing their reproductive output. It also consumes large quantities of aquatic plants and other invertebrates, undermining populations of some sport fish and crayfish species.

The virile crayfish was first detected in 1986 in the Current River, a pristine watershed, parts of which are administered by the U.S. National Park Service.

The spread and impacts of an invasive species could cause substantial harm to this unique ecosystem, Larson said.

The researchers hoped to determine the extent of the F. virilis invasion by collecting and identifying mitochondrial DNA from environmental samples, an emerging approach for invasive-species surveillance known as environmental DNA, or eDNA. However, as they started collecting crayfish for genetic analysis to develop their eDNA sampling method, they discovered a surprising problem.

Initially, we were finding that some of the native spothanded crayfish, Faxonius punctimanus, had mitochondrial DNA sequences that were aligning with invasive virile crayfish, Rozansky said. We also discovered the inverse: Some virile crayfish had the mitochondrial DNA of spothanded crayfish.

This meant that the two species were hybridizing with one another, he said.

We did not observe any differences in colors or patterns indicating they were hybrids, Rozansky said. They looked like one or the other.

The discovery should come as a warning to those using environmental DNA to look for an invasive species in an area with closely related native species, said Larson, whose laboratory specializes in the use of eDNA.

It was by chance that we found an invasive crayfish that had native spothanded crayfish mitochondrial DNA, he said. Currently, most eDNA detection markers use mitochondrial DNA, so the results of this research highlight the possibility of missed detections of invasive species if hybridization is occurring.

Although it is rarely documented, researchers working with invasive crayfishes should not discount the possibility that the invaders are hybridizing with native species, Rozansky said.

The implications for the native crayfish in the Current River system in Missouri are still unknown, the researchers said.
Sudan: Political tensions continue as protesters block roads View Photo

CAIRO (AP)  Pro-military protesters briefly blocked major roads and bridges in Sudans capital Sunday, amid growing tensions between the generals and the pro-democracy movement that fueled the uprising against autocratic former president Omar al-Bashir.

The development came a day after U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman met with military and civilian leaders in Khartoum to find a compromise to the dispute.

The souring ties between the military and civilians in the ruling government threaten Sudans fragile transition to democracy since the militarys ouster of al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019 after nearly three decades of autocratic rule.

The current crisis surfaced with a coup attempt last month. Officials blamed al-Bashir loyalists for the move. But the generals lashed out at the civilian part of the government, accusing politicians of seeking government posts rather than helping ease peoples economic suffering.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of the ruling Sovereign Council, said that dissolving the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok could resolve the ongoing political crisis. That suggestion was rejected by hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters who took to the streets of Khartoum and elsewhere in the country Thursday.

That generals accusations, echoed by Burhan and his deputy, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, have aroused fears among civilians that the military may eventually hijack the countrys transition to civilian rule.

Pro-military protesters rallied in Khartoum earlier this month, echoing Burhans demands. The protesters have since held a sit-in outside the presidential palace in the capital. Last week, they attempted to storm the Cabinet headquarters as Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok met with his Cabinet. Security forces dispersed them using tear gas.

On Saturday, dozens of pro-military protesters stormed the reception area of the headquarters of the countrys state-run news agency and set tires ablaze outside the agency offices. It delayed a news conference for pro-democracy activists, according to Mohamed Abdel-Hamid, director of SUNA news agency.

In an escalation Sunday, pro-military demonstrators cut off major roads and bridges, including the Mec Nimr Bridge, which links Khartoums downtown with other areas of the capital, according to activist and rights defender Tahani Abbas. The move caused traffic to clog the streets early Sunday, the first work day of the week, especially Nile Street, a main traffic artery in Khartoum.

What is happening  is an official coup sponsored by Burhan, she said. Abbas shared photos of protesters blocking a bridge with passenger buses and vehicles being turned back.

Later in the day, security forces dispersed the protesters using tear gas to open the blocked roads. Video on social media purportedly showed protesters fleeing over the bridge and on Nile Street.

Feltman, the U.S. envoy, met in Khartoum with Buhan, Dagalo and Hamdok and emphasized U.S. support for a civilian democratic transition in accordance with the expressed wishes of the Sudanese people, the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum said.

He urged Sudanese leaders to commit to working together to implement the constitutional declaration and the Juba Peace Agreement between the government and an alliance of rebel groups, the embassy said.

The tensions come weeks ahead of a scheduled rotation of the leadership on the ruling sovereign council from the military to civilians, according to the constitutional declaration that established the joint government in August 2019.

BY SAMY MAGDY

Associated Press
Islamists suspend march under agreement with Pakistan govt View Photo

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP)  A radical Islamist party agreed Sunday to suspend for three days its march of thousands toward the capital Islamabad after Pakistan agreed to drop pending charges against the partys leader.

Party supporters Saturday departed the eastern city of Lahore, clashing for a second straight day with police who lobbed tear gas into the crowd. The group began its journey a day earlier with the goal of reaching Islamabad to pressure the government to release Saad Rizvi, head of the Islamist Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party. Rizvi was arrested last year amid demonstrations against France over the publication of caricatures of Islams Prophet Muhammad.

Raja Basharat, provincial law minister, told The Associated Press that under the agreement Punjab will withdraw charges against Rizvi and release all those detained during the protest march by Tuesday.

Rizvi had been detained pre-emptively on a charge of inciting people to assemble unlawfully. It was unclear when he would be released.

Basharat also said the agreement stipulates that the federal government will honor a previous agreement with the TLP to address diplomatic ties with France over the publication of the caricatures.

Sajid Saifi, spokesman for Rizvis party, confirmed the ministers account and said thousands of party supporters will stay in the town of Mureedke waiting for the release of party leaders and members who have been detained.

Pakistan Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed told reporters that the TLPs demand that the French ambassador to Pakistan be expelled over the caricatures would be taken to a parliamentary committee in the coming days.

Basharat, Ahmed and Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri took part in the talks with the TLP executive council.

Violent clashes erupted between security forces and the Islamists in Lahore killing at least two police and injuring about a dozen, police said. Saifi claimed four party supporters were killed by police fire and many others were injured. Police said the demonstrators torched several police vehicles there.

Ahmed said the government was unaware of any deaths of TLP supporters.

Rizvis party gained prominence in Pakistans 2018 elections, campaigning on the single issue of defending the countrys blasphemy law, which calls for the death penalty for anyone who insults Islam. It has a history of staging violent protests to pressure the government to accept its demands.

By BABAR DOGAR

Associated Press
File Photo: Heavy Rain In Yosemite View Photo

Heavy rain that has fallen over the area will continue to bring rises to some local creeks into early tomorrow morning.

The National Weather Service has extended the Flood Advisory for Tuolumne County, Calaveras County and the Central Valley until 5 AM Tuesday.

Low lying areas have experienced water buildup. Minor flooding is ongoing. Flooding of creeks and low spots will continue to be likely. Widespread roadway flooding is expected with some roads possibly becoming impassable. Flooding will also continue to be possible in poor drainage areas.

Additionally, a Flash Flood Watch remains in effect for Yosemite National Park and the lower Sierra Nevada in Mariposa County through 11 PM this evening.

The Merced River at Pohono Bridge may rise to near the flood stage of ten feet by this evening.

A Flash Flood Watch means that conditions may develop that lead to flash flooding. Flash flooding is a very dangerous situation. You should monitor forecasts for Flash Flood Warnings and/or Flood Warnings.

Turn around, don`t drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Be aware of your surroundings. In hilly terrain there are hundreds of low water crossings which are potentially dangerous in heavy rain. Do not attempt to cross flooded roads. Find an alternate route. Move away from recently burned areas. Life-threatening flooding of creeks, roads, and normally dry stream beds is likely. The heavy rains will likely trigger rockslides, mudslides and debris flows in steep terrain, especially in and around these areas.

Additionally, the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for the western slope of the northern Sierra Nevada and Yosemite National Park above 6,000 feet, until 11 PM tonight.

Additional snow accumulations of one to seven inches is likely above the 6,000 foot elevation.

Winds in the Sierra Nevada may continue to gust as high as 65 mph. Very strong winds could cause extensive tree damage.

Campers and hikers should also be especially prepared for the winter like conditions. The weight of the snow can cause tree limbs to break and fall, so use caution when picking a campsite.

A Winter Storm Warning means there will be snow covered roads and limited visibilities. Travel is not recommended while the Warning is in effect. If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency.
Floridas top doctor refuses mask, is told to leave meeting View Photo

MIAMI (AP)  Floridas top health official was asked to leave a meeting after refusing to wear a mask at the office of a state senator who told him she had a serious medical condition, officials have confirmed.

Florida Senate leader Wilton Simpson, a Republican, sent a memo to senators Saturday regarding the incident at the office of Democratic state Sen. Tina Polsky, asking visitors at the building to be respectful with social interactions. Polsky, who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, had not yet made public her breast cancer diagnosis.

Polsky told The Associated Press about the tense exchange with state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo that was first reported by the news site Florida Politics. She said Ladapo and two aides were offered masks and asked to wear them when they arrived for the Wednesday meeting. She did not tell him she had breast cancer, but said she had a serious condition.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cancer patients are at a higher risk to get severely ill from COVID-19 and may not build the same immunity to vaccines.

Ladapo had asked to meet her in Tallahassee as he seeks confirmation in the Senate after being named to the post by Gov. Ron DeSantis last month.

It was so shocking to me that he treated me in this manner, Polsky said. If he is a surgeon general for the next several years, I am really concerned about a future public health emergency and not being able to rely on him for necessary guidance and proper scientific leadership.

Ladapo offered to go outside, but the senator said she did not want to sit on the metal picnic tables on a warm day when her office was nice and spacious. She said she asked whether there was a reason why he couldnt wear a mask, but he wouldnt answer.

Democrats have opposed the appointment of Ladapo, criticizing him for comments and actions related to the pandemic.

A day into his job, Ladapo signed new rules allowing parents to decide whether their children should quarantine or stay in school after being exposed to people who tested positive for COVID-19.

On Thursday at a press conference with DeSantis to oppose vaccine mandates, Ladapo said people were not comfortable with the vaccines because the federal government has not been open about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines, saying there was a concerted effort to hide stories of people with adverse reactions.

Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine has received the full approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, meeting high standards required for the vaccine to be considered safe. It has been administered to millions and proven to be effective against hospitalization and death. However, immunity against infection can wane over time.

Authorities in Sweden, Denmark and Norway earlier this month suspended or discouraged the use of Modernas COVID-19 vaccine in young people because of an increased risk of heart inflammation, a very rare side effect associated with the shot.

Ladapo also wrote an opinion column in the Wall Street Journal saying masks have little or no effect on respiratory virus transmission.

The CDC still recommends people with weakened immune systems, and those in high-transmission areas to wear masks. Studies have supported their use, with some finding that cloth masks are less effective.

In the memo sent by Simpson, the president of the Florida senate, he said that while theres no mask mandate in the Senate, senators can request social distancing and masking within their offices.

It shouldnt take a cancer diagnosis for people to respect each others level of comfort with social interactions during a pandemic, he said. What occurred in Senator Polskys office was unprofessional and will not be tolerated in the Senate.

The Florida Department of Healths spokeswoman Weesam Khoury said the agency was not aware of any specific Senate protocol, but said it would ask members ahead of time and make necessary accommodations such as meeting through Zoom or outdoors.

The Department of Health will be addressing this directly with members of the Senate, rather than letting this play out publicly, Khoury said in an email.

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON

Associated Press
Obama sharply criticizes Youngkin in Va. governors race View Photo

RICHMOND, Va (AP)  Former President Barack Obama offered a sharp rebuke of the Republican candidate for Virginia governor, Glenn Youngkin, as he encouraged voters on Saturday to support Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the closely watched race.

Obama accused Youngkin of portraying himself as a friendly everyman while encouraging what Obama called lies and conspiracy theories about widespread voting fraud in the 2020 elections. Former President Donald Trump has continued to push the false narrative about election fraud, which fueled the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Either he actually believes in the same conspiracy theories that resulted in a mob, or he doesnt believe it but he is willing to go along with it, to say or do anything to get elected. And maybe thats worse  because that says something about character, Obama said.

Youngkin, a former private equity executive and a first-time candidate, initially made election integrity the centerpiece of his campaign and refused for months to say whether President Joe Biden was legitimately elected. He has since said that Biden was, and that there was not widespread fraud in last years elections.

Obama described McAuliffe  the states governor from 2014-2018  as an experienced, steady hand and told a crowd of what organizers said was 2,000 people gathered outdoors at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond that the Nov. 2 election would show the country and the world that were not going to indulge in our worst instincts.

The former president said he understood voters are worn down, both from the countrys divisive politics and the strain of the pandemic. But he said theres too much at stake to not cast a ballot.

We dont have time to be tired. What is required is sustained effort, he said.

Asked for comment, a Youngkin campaign spokesman called Obamas remarks false statements and accused The Associated Press of indulging the fantasies of the Terry and the left because they cant run on their failed record and radical vision for the future.

The Youngkin campaign has said election security is a bipartisan concern and has tried to draw a comparison between the false claims of fraud today and the 2000 presidential election, when a Supreme Court ruling decided the winner and McAuliffe blasted the decision and said the election had been stolen.

McAuliffe is seeking a return to office in the only state where the incumbent cannot serve consecutive terms. Less than two weeks out from the Nov. 2 election, polls show a tight race in a state Biden carried by 10 percentage points last fall.

While New Jersey is also holding an election for governor on Nov. 2, its the Virginia race thats grabbed national attention as a possible indication of voter sentiment before next years midterms.

Numerous Democratic elected officials including U.S. Reps. Donald McEachin and Bobby Scott, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine and Gov. Ralph Northam also delivered remarks at Saturdays event.

The officials cast the election as a choice between a proven leader and an extremist who would roll back progressive reforms implemented during the past two years of full Democratic control of state government, including an expansion of voting rights and abortion access, tighter gun laws and criminal justice reforms. Multiple speakers acknowledged the contest is close.

We cannot take any chances, Northam said.

Several speakers sought to tie Youngkin and his running mates to Trump.

Glenn Youngkin is extreme. This guy is a fanboy for Donald Trump, said Jaime Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Obama also visited Virginias capital to rally Democrats during Northams 2017 race for governor against Republican Ed Gillespie, who lost by about 9 percentage points.

His visit marked the latest in a series of appearances by high-profile Democrats who have come to the state in recent days to press the case for McAuliffes candidacy. They include voting rights activist Stacey Abrams, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Vice President Kamala Harris, who told a crowd Thursday night, This race is tight.

Biden, who campaigned with McAuliffe over the summer, is joining the Democratic nominee in northern Virginia on Tuesday.

National Republican groups criticized McAuliffe on Saturday for the procession of high-profile surrogates.

As Bidens poll numbers continue to tank, McAuliffe is going down with him and no amount of heavy hitter politicians will right the ship, said Maddie Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Republican Governors Association.

Youngkin, who has generally steered clear of outside supporters in the final stretch, held a Saturday evening rally in suburban Richmond at the start of a statewide bus tour.

Speaking to a crowd of what the campaign said was 2,000 people in a field next to a grocery market, he delivered a half-hour outline of his platform, promising to cut taxes, roll back red tape, ban critical race theory and roll out an expansive charter school program.

He said the election offered a chance to change the trajectory of the state to one where the relentless pursuit of a better life, of prosperity is not burdened or blocked by self-dealing politicians.

This thing is a toss-up, he said, and later predicted that he would win.

Youngkin did not directly address Obamas harshest criticisms. But the former collegiate basketball player did crack a joke in reference to one element of Obamas remarks, saying that he had challenged the former president, an avid basketball fan, to a game of one-on-one.

Trump has not campaigned alongside Youngkin, and Youngkins campaign has not responded to questions from The Associated Press about whether he has been asked to. Trump has endorsed Youngkin multiple times and called into a rally organized by a right-wing radio host this month to exhort the crowd to vote for him.

By SARAH RANKIN

Associated Press
Getty Images

An assistant director who handed Alec Baldwin a loaded prop gun on the set of the western "Rust" told the actor the firearm was "cold," or unloaded, officials say.

The assistant director "did not know live rounds were in" one of the three guns set aside on a cart for filming before Baldwin fired the gun, striking cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in the chest and director Joel Souza in the shoulder, killing Hutchins and hospitalizing Souza, according to court records obtained by the Associated Press, New York Times and Santa Fe Reporter on Friday. While the warrant affidavit filed by Santa Fe Sheriff's Office investigators offers new details about the moments immediately before and after Thursday's shooting at Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico, the document does not answer how the live round ended up in the gun.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea on Saturday accused the Biden administration of raising military tensions with China through its reckless backing of Taiwan, and said that the growing U.S. military presence in the region constitutes a potential threat to the North.

In comments carried by state media, North Korea Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Ho criticized the United States for sending warships through the Taiwan Strait and providing Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as part of its territory, with upgraded weapons systems and military training.

The United States indiscreet meddling in issues regarding Taiwan, which the North sees as entirely a Chinese internal affair, threatens to touch off a delicate situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Paks statement came a day after President Joe Biden told a CNN townhall event that the United States was committed to coming to Taiwans defense if it comes under attack from China. While that seemed to blur Washingtons long-held stance of maintaining strategic ambiguity on whether it would intervene if China were to attack Taiwan, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Biden had no intent to convey a change in policy.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, and although it maintains formal diplomatic relations only with Beijing, the U.S. remains committed by law to ensure Taiwan can defend itself from outside threats.

North Korea has increasingly criticized the broader U.S. security role in the Indo-Pacific amid an intensifying competition with China, Pyongyangs major ally and economic lifeline. Last month, the North threatened unspecified countermeasures following the Biden administrations decision to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.

It is a well-known fact that the U.S. troops and its military bases in (South Korea) are in use to put pressure on China and that the huge forces of the U.S. and its satellite states, which are being concentrated near Taiwan, can be committed to a military operation targeting the DPRK at any time, Pak said, using an abbreviation of the Norths formal name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

He said the increasing military presence of U.S.-led hostile forces in the region was based on a lame assertion that North Korea and China would cause trouble in Taiwan and the Korean Peninsula.

This reality proves that the U.S. is in its bid to stifle our country and China, both socialist countries, in order to hold on to its supremacy, Pak said.

Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled for more than two years over the issue of relaxing crippling U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea in return for steps by the North to wind down its nuclear weapons program.

Pyongyang sees the possession of nuclear weapons as the ultimate guarantor of the survival of the Kim dynasty that has run the country with an iron fist since the 1940s.

Ending a monthslong lull in September, North Korea has been ramping up its missile 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.

Sung Kim, Bidens special envoy for North Korea, arrived in South Korea on Saturday for talks with allies on reviving negotiations with the North. Kim told reporters he expected productive discussions with South Korean officials during their meeting on Sunday, before leaving the airport without taking further questions.

The Biden administration's pullout from Afghanistan underscored a broader shift in U.S. focus away from counterterrorism and so-called rogue states like North Korea and Iran. That is putting the focus on confronting a near-peer adversary in China, and part of that apparent strategy appear to be offering the North a resumption of talks without preconditions.

But the North has so far rejected the idea of open-ended talks, saying that Washington must abandon its hostile policy, a term North Korea mainly refers to sanctions and U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises.
Sea Otters Are Adorable Stewards Of Underwater Sea Grass Meadows HuffPo

Flooding could leave billions of US municipal debt under water FT. From last week, still germane.

Al Gore urges overhaul of global finance to cut greenhouse gases FT

A Quartet of Warnings Highlight Climate-Related Threats Defense One

Googles Biggest Moonshot Is Its Search for a Carbon-Free Future Bloomberg

Defend the deep Aeon

#COVID19

In Major Shift, NIH Admits Funding Risky Virus Research in Wuhan Vanity Fair

NIH grantee in Wuhan faces questions, deadline for more information on research Roll Call

* * *

Severity of Disease Among Adults Hospitalized with Laboratory-Confirmed COVID-19 Before and During the Period of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 (Delta) Predominance  COVID-NET, 14 States, JanuaryAugust 2021 Morbidity and Mortality Report, CDC. From the Abstract: Analysis of COVID-NET data from 14 states found no significant increases in the proportion of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with severe outcomes during the Delta period. The proportion of hospitalized unvaccinated COVID-19 patients aged 1849 years significantly increased during the Delta period. Lower vaccination coverage in adults aged 1849 years likely contributed to the increase in hospitalized patients during the Delta period. COVID-19 vaccination is critical for all eligible adults, including adults aged <50 years who have relatively low vaccination rates compared with older adults.

No Significant Difference in Viral Load Between Vaccinated and Unvaccinated, Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Groups When Infected with SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant (preprint) medRvix. n = 869. From the Abstract: We found no significant difference in cycle threshold values between vaccinated and unvaccinated, asymptomatic and symptomatic groups infected with SARS-CoV-2 Delta. Given the substantial proportion of asymptomatic vaccine breakthrough cases with high viral levels, interventions, including masking and testing, should be considered for all in settings with elevated COVID-19 transmission. Layered defense once more.

Mask Effectiveness for Preventing Secondary Cases of COVID-19, Johnson County, Iowa, USA Energing Infectious Diseases, CDC. From the Abstract: we matched exposure information from COVID-19 case investigations with reported test results and calculated the secondary attack rates (SARs) after masked and unmasked exposures. Mask use by both parties reduced the SAR by half, from 25.6% to 12.5%. Longer exposure duration significantly increased SARs. Masks significantly reduced virus transmission when worn by both the case-patient and the contact, but SARs for each group were higher than anticipated. This finding suggests that quarantine after COVID-19 exposure is beneficial even if parties wore masks. So, a layered defense. And:  In addition, on the basis of evidence of airborne transmission (6), JCPH classified persons as close contacts if they had spent >2 consecutive hours in the same enclosed space as a case-patient. So, weve redefined close contact from droplets to aerosols. Well done. Its like turning a supertanker. When the bridge doesnt know what its doing.

* * *

Box Fan Filter Mass Production (list) @DavidElfstrom. Heres one of many examples:

We assembled 100 Corsi-Rosenthal filter boxes. Lets do the math: 100 x 30 students per classroom = more than 3,000 students who will have another layer of protection when they attend school. pic.twitter.com/A29Tx2FYPL  Rosie, on Team Human vs Covid, evil infiltrator (@BkPhilanthropy) October 12, 2021

Pretty amazing, given that the CDC doesnt encourage Corsi boxes, nor does the Biden Administration, nor does our famously free press.
(Natural News) As Americans watch the disturbing coverage of what is happening to freedom and human rights across the globe, from supposed democracies, we note the terrifyingly apathetic reactions of nearly half of Americans.

(Article by Susan Duclos republished from AllNewsPipeline.com)

Here at ANP we have watched and written about the Australian government, among other nations, rapidly rushing into outright dictatorship, as published video coverage show people being taken from their homes for just being suspected of having COVID and forced into indefinite stays at their COVID Hotels.

Law enforcement attacking and choking people in the streets for refusing to comply with what they consider, as do many of us, unreasonable mandates.

Forced check-ins with an image, cops rounding up legal citizens in the streets, shared on social media along with video evidence, and much more dystopian nightmare antics, begging the question, When Will Someone Hold Human-Rights Hearings on Australia?

Perhaps it was inevitable that a nation like Australia that began as a prison colony would be the first to become one again using COVID as an excuse to put the heel of their boot once again on their citizens throats.

The area functioned as a prison state for the next eight decades, and over the course of that time, around 160,000 convicts were sent there. The effects have been long-lasting, and according to the BBC, about 20 percent of todays Australians can trace their roots back to a convict marooned there by the British. That includes their former prime minister, Kevin Rudd. His family goes back to his great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, who had been sentenced to life in Australias penal colonies when she was just 11 years old. The crime? Robbery. Australia has always had a bit of a conflicted relationship with its convict past. According to The Conversation, its gone from shoving aside thoughts and memories of their ancestors to talking about them with a sense of pride. Because it wasnt just a case of were going to send all these murderers to Australia, it was much more complicated than that. But no matter how you look at it, life in the Australian penal colonies was incredibly messed up.

The point here is basically Australia is a warning to rest of the world, and yet half of Americans either root them on in the name of safety, or deny that could happen here in America, or worse yet, want America to become more like Australia.

Enough about Australia, it was simply used as an example of what is likely to be an attempt by the International Community, including the liberals of America, to turn all nations into dictatorships where the citizens are nothing more than slaves.

The image at the top of this piece is astoundingly horrifying as liberals have become so control and power-hungry that is is not hard to imagine an argument by the control-freaks of the nation being Well we can check your vaccine status if you let us slap barcodes on your forehead!

Yes, to them this would likely be a welcome suggestion as long as a liberal leaders made it, yet if a conservative President were to suggest it, they would be screaming bloody murder about authoritarianism.

DEATH PANELS ARE HERE

Remember years ago, during the Obamacare debate when we were assured their would never be death panels here in America?

Well, using COVID and vaccination status has brought about a number of examples of present day death panels for Americans.

One recent high profile example is when a hospital in Colorado, has refused to perform a kidney transplant, because she is unvaccinated.

A Colorado woman with stage 5 renal failure was months away from getting a new kidney. Now, she and her donor are looking for another hospital after learning UCHealths new policy. According to UCHealth, the majority of transplant recipients and living donors are now required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Neither woman has received their shots For transplant patients who contract COVID-19, the mortality rate ranges from about 20% to more than 30%. This shows the extreme risk that COVID-19 poses to transplant recipients after their surgeries

The donor, a friend of the patient, offered her view of this type of death panel-like decision, when she stated Here I am, willing to be a direct donor to her. It does not affect any other patient on the transplant list How can I sit here and allow them to murder my friend when Ive got a perfectly good kidney and can save her life?

This turn of events is not exactly new, and we are seeing more and more stories such as one found at MSN titled No Vax, No Visit: South Florida Doctor Wont Treat Unvaccinated Patients in Person.

The family practice physician based out of South Miami sent a letter to her patients saying they will no longer continue serving patients who are not vaccinated from COVID-19 by Sept. 15.

Back in August 2021, an Alabama doctor also sent a letter telling his patients he would be stopping the treatment of unvaccinated current patients, and even posted a sign on his door.

More and more medical entities, whether hospitals like the one in Colorado, or private practitioners, are setting themselves up as their very own death panels.

Read more at: AllNewsPipeline.com
(Natural News) The vast majority of big tech firms are run by closet capitalists who like to pretend they are patriotic Americans in order to get most of us to patronize them, but the reality is, they arent patriots, they are adherents to a foreign political ideology and they use their wealth and power to crush opposition.

We already knew platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Google and others censored patriotic conservatives and blocked or banned people whose views they disagree with. Now we can add the fundraising platform GoFundMe to the list of digital Marxists.

The site once offered a neutral site for those seeking to support others with similar views or interests. The company now insists that it will only allow people to gather on the site if it believes their views are true and correct, famed constitutionalist and law professor Jonathan Turley wrote last week on his blog.

However, it was still surprising to see the site take down a fundraising account for litigation against vaccine mandates, he added.

Turley explained that a former nurse named Jennifer Bridges was attempting to raise money to file a legal challenge to a vaccine mandate, noting that courts are often the final arbiters of what is ultimately considered or not considered misinformation. But she will have to find another, less popular, platform because the digital Marxists at GoFundMe wont permit her to find a resolution to her legal question.

Bridges was fired from Houston Methodist Hospital after she refused to comply with the hospitals vaccine mandate. She had raised some $180,000 for her lawsuit before GoFundMe shut down her campaign, calling her legal complaint misinformation.

Heidi Hagberg, a spokesperson for GoFundMe, told Business Insider in a statement that when our team initially reviewed the fundraiser, it was within our terms of service as the funds were for legal fees to fight vaccine mandates. The fundraiser has since been updated to include misinformation which violates our terms of service.

Turley gave his legal advice:

What is striking about this latest ban is that the courts are the place for such claims to be weighed in a neutral and dispassionate forum. Misinformation can be addressed by judges after both sides are allowed to present evidence. Bridges lawsuit was dismissed in June, Bridges attorneys appealed the decision. We should all favor such reviews. Indeed, if GoFundMe believes that Bridges is wrong, it should invite further judicial review to established a clear record on such issues.

GoFundMe admits to have taken down hundreds of fundraisers that included statements of misinformation related to vaccines.

Do you see what is happening? The left has embraced full-on authoritarianism over the COVID-19 pandemic and issues associated with it like lockdowns, limits on social gatherings, mask and vaccine mandates. Its like the left is using the pandemic to further their own power and their sides political control over the country, as though its a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Notice that while there are flu vaccine mandates for some sectors of society like health care and the military, private-sector companies are embracing the vaccine mandate like bosses. And why? Because the powers that be  the government that can regulate them out of existence  is requiring it.

Weve never seen anything quite like this.

I do not agree with the arguments against the vaccine. I and my family are vaccinated. However, I am equally concerned with avoiding the growing virus of censorship. In the last few years, we have seen an increasing call for private censorship from Democratic politicians and liberal commentators, Turley wrote.

Faculty and editors are now actively supporting modern versions of book-burning with blacklists and bans for those with opposing political views. The most chilling aspect of this story is how many on the left applaud such censorship. A new poll shows roughly half of the public supporting not just corporate censorship but government censorship of anything deemed misinformation, he added.

For those of you who thought Donald Trump was the tyrant, here we have Turley, a self-avowed liberal Democrat, calling his own party out for practicing real tyranny.

Sources include:

JonathanTurley.org

BusinessInsider.com

Vaccines.news
(Natural News) Police officers in Chicago who face being fired for their refusal to get vaccinated for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) now have a refuge in nearby Indiana.

Law enforcement officials in the Hoosier State issued an open-ended invitation to Chicago cops to come work for them instead of continuing to be tyrannized by Branch Covidian fascists in the Land of Lincoln.

Hey Chicago police officers, were hiring! tweeted a spokesman from the Indiana State Police (ISP). No vaccine mandate  lower taxes, great schools, welcoming communities.

As of Oct. 15, all of the Chicago Police Departments (CPD) roughly 12,000 officers were told that they need to immediately show their injection status to higher-ups. Those who cannot produce proof of the jab must get tested for the Fauci Flu weekly until further notice.

CPD has also been ordered by a judge not to discourage its officers from getting injected, as there was apparently an uprising of sorts trying to fight against the mandate.

As of Tuesday, at least 21 officers at CPD have refused the shots and are now being punished by having to be constantly tested for the Chinese Flu. Of the two-thirds of CPD officers who have submitted their vaccine status into Chicagos database, about 82 percent are fully vaccinated.

4,000 Chicago cops havent shown covid vaccine status  will they be moving to Indiana?

There are currently about 4,000 officers at CPD who have not yet shared their vaccine status with the city. Chances are that most, if not all, of these officers are unvaccinated.

What this suggests is that there could very soon be a mass exodus of officers from Chicago to Indiana, leaving the city of crime and lawlessness with even less manpower in place to maintain at least some semblance of law and order.

Chicagos Fraternal Order of Police has spoken out strongly against the injection mandates, clashing with city officials like Lori Beetlejuice Lightfoot who want everyone to be forcibly jabbed immediately.

Union president John Catanzara is the guy who was told by a local judge to stop talking about the injections in a negative light, restricting his freedom of speech and impinging upon the First Amendment.

Chicagos city attorney actually accused Catanzara of municipal sedition and treason after he exercised his free speech rights on social media by expressing skepticism about the Operation Warp Speed pharmaceuticals.

Earlier in the week, Catanzara announced that Chicagoans can expect a lot less officers on the street because of Lightfoot and other city officials covid vaccine mandates.

U.S. Sen. Mike Braun from Indiana tweeted a welcome message to the CPD officer refugees who are planning to come to his state to avoid being forcefully injected.

My office stands ready to help connect Chicago police officers to an Indiana police department that is hiring now and doesnt have a vaccine mandate, he further wrote.

In a statement to Fox News, Braun added that CPD officers deserve respect, which they are not being shown by Chicagos government. Braun further promised that any CPD officers who flee to Indiana will not be subject to the same government overreach.

Our police do the hardest job in the world, and they deserve respect  not losing their pay or being fired for refusing to comply with a ridiculous vaccine mandate, he said.

According to Lightfoot, however, her jab mandates are very respectful because without them officers could die of the Chinese Virus.

I want to make sure that our officers who are literally working their tails off every single day, risking life and limb, are absolutely able to take advantage of this lifesaving vaccine, Lightfoot announced.

Chinese Virus infection fascism is spreading all over the place. To keep up with the latest, visit Fascism.news.

Sources for this article include:

KansasCity.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Dr. Malik Peiris, who previously served on the Lancet medical journals COVID-19 origins investigation committee, received Chinas Nobel Prize for research affirming the Chinese Communist Partys false narrative that COVID-19 developed naturally.

(Article by Natalie Winters republished from TheNationalPulse.com)

Peiris, a Sri Lankan virologist working in Hong Kong, was one of 12 scientists leading the now-defunct Lancet probe into the origins of COVID-19. While the task force is no longer listed on the medical journals website, as it was forced to disband due to extensive conflicts of interests with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, archived web pages reveal Peiriss participation in the effort.

Following Peiriss stint on the task force, the Chinese Communist Party awarded him with the prize in life sciences in the 2021 Future Science Prize  dubbed Chinas Nobel Prize. Chinas top scientific honor is accompanied by a $1 million prize, which is funded by several Chinese Communist Party-linked companies such as Baidu, Hillhouse Capital, and Sequoia Capital China.

State-run media outlet Global Times claimed the award was for his major discoveries of SARS-CoV-1 as the causative agent of the global SARS outbreak in 2003 with impact on combating COVID-19 and emerging infectious diseases. Peiris shared the award with co-author Kwok-Yung Yuen.

In an exclusive interview with the Chinese Communist Party-run media outlet, Yuen asserted this is one of the most important prizes not just in China but also internationally.

Peiriss research was praised by award reviewers as playing an integral role in tracing the origins of COVID-19, as reviewer Wang Xiaodong noted Chinese scientists were able to quickly identify the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to their contributions. The research bolstered the Chinese Communist Partys fake narrative that COVID-19 developed naturally as opposed to escaping from a lab.

As Global Times explains, Peiriss research helped support the bat origin of SARS-CoV-2:

When asked how their discoveries affect peoples understanding of the cause of COVID-19, Yuen explained that since he and his team discovered in 2005 that the horseshoe bat was the natural animal reservoir for the ancestral SARS-CoV-1, they believe that SARS-CoV-2 also went from bats to another mammal(s) before jumping into humans.

Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 replicates very well in both bat and human intestinal organs, which further supports the bat origin of SARS-CoV-2, he said.

Read more at: TheNationalPulse.com
(Natural News) The Biden regime has reportedly lost track of some 45,000 illegal immigrant children who arrived at Americas southern border before mysteriously disappearing.

This represents nearly half of the 114,000 missing persons cases that have occurred at the border just this year, which critics say is suggestive of foul play by Biden and his cronies.

The decision to weaken the vetting process contributed, in part, to the Biden administrations loss of contact with 40% of the more than 114,000 unaccompanied children who entered the U.S. illegally, reported Just the News, citing data obtained by Axios via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) warned back in September that nearly half of the time, the Biden regime is not following up with unaccompanied illegal minors. The potential consequences of this could be dire for the children.

When the Trump administration was unable to account for the whereabouts of around 1,500 children released from [Department of Health and Human Services] shelters during a three-month period, the media grilled the former president, despite his efforts to end child trafficking. Now that Biden has misplaced 30 times that number of children, however, the media is mostly silent about it.

If all this sounds familiar, thats because its redolent of a 2014 incident in which UACs [unaccompanied minors] were found to have been placed with traffickers, who then forced them to work up to 12 hours a day, six to seven days a week, on egg farms in and around Marion, Oh., reported CIS.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says Biden is participating in child abuse, trafficking

In a statement, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott slammed the current White House occupant for repeatedly fail[ing] to address the problem of child trafficking at Americas southern border.

By refusing to seal up the border and stop the flow of illegals, many of whom are children, Biden is presiding over the abuse of children, Abbott says.

Following a recent trip to southern Texas, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas said that the number of illegal immigrant apprehensions so far this year has topped 212,672, which is a 21-year high.

It is out of control, added Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican. Its a self-inflicted wound.

This rampant lawlessness by the Biden regime is not going unnoticed, especially since Kamala Harris has yet to even make an appearance at the border. Many are wondering what exactly this woman is doing other than hiding in the shadows while Resident Biden makes a total mockery of the office of president.

The Biden regime is creating a lawless situation just like the one where these immigrants came from, noted one commenter at Headline USA. This is a tragedy.

One cant lose track of someone they never had track of in the first place, wrote another. The Biden cabal mixes incompetence with stupidity in large measures.

Others pointed out the hypocrisy of the mainstream media being silent about Bidens complicity in the child trafficking situation at the southern border when Trump was blasted endlessly for allowing just a fraction of this amount of activity to occur under his watch.

That is about 90x more than Trumps admin and the progressives celebrate, one commenter wrote. Not only that, Trump worked to unite kids with families, some which would not take their children back. Biden isnt even trying.

Yet another suggested that these missing children are clearly fodder for traffickers, sex trade and otherwise. That the Biden regime has done absolutely nothing to even try to stop any of it speaks volumes about its true nature.

The latest news about the Biden regimes child trafficking activities can be found at Evil.news.

Sources for this article include:

HeadlineUSA.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Hundreds of current and former employees of Southwest Airlines gathered outside of their headquarters in Dallas to protest the companys vaccine mandate on Monday. Many of those present were holding signs bearing slogans such as No jabs for jobs, Terminate the mandate and Freedom, not force.

The events organizers said they wanted to convey the message that they are against vaccine mandates, saying that more than ever, we want to get back to the heart of Southwest hospitality where all employees feel welcomed, cared for and appreciated.

The company was forced to cancel thousands of flights this month as rumors swirled employees were staging walkouts, and although their leadership insisted it was not related to its vaccine mandate, some employees are making their opposition clear.

Pilot Chris Hill told KDFW-TV: This country stands for freedom, and it should mean that everywhere. You should not have to put anything in your body to keep your employment.

In footage of the protest posted on Twitter, some workers can be heard chanting a popular slogan normally used by people in favor of abortion rights, My body, my choice. The idea behind using this slogan is to point out the hypocrisy of liberals who are in favor of medical freedom when it comes to abortion yet fully support taking away medical freedom when it comes to vaccine mandates.

A Southwest spokesperson commented on the protests: Southwest acknowledges various viewpoints regarding the Covid-19 vaccine, and we have always supported, and will continue to support, our employees right to express themselves, with open lines of communication to share issues and concerns.

The companys mandate will require its 54,000 employees to have received their second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by November 24. Although workers can seek exemptions for medical or religious reasons, it is not clear if they will be allowed to continue to work if their request is granted. Southwest recently dropped plans to put unvaccinated workers who are still awaiting approval of their exemption on unpaid leave starting in December. Those workers will now be able to continue to work until their accommodation is processed, following mask and distancing guidelines in the meantime.

The airline said the mandate was instituted due to the Biden administrations requirement that companies with federal contracts have vaccinated staff. The airline works for the government carrying mail for the U.S. Postal Service and flying military members in emergencies. The rules for federal contractors are stricter than the ones being placed on large compares in general by the Biden administration as the latter will be allowed to opt for regular COVID-19 testing instead of vaccination.

Pilots labor unions have been seeking to block the mandates or allow for alternatives such as regular testing to be offered.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton attended the protest and told the media that legal action is forthcoming. Were already planning our lawsuits, he stated. Im already organizing with other states. I promise you this: We will fight for you. We will do everything under our constitution.

Other airlines are also instituting vaccine mandates

United Airlines became the first major airline in the U.S. to require its staff to be vaccinated in August; workers who cant get the vaccine because of medical or religious reasons were told they would be put on unpaid leave until infection rates go down. However, some employees sued the company over the move, and a federal judge has temporarily blocked the company from moving forward with its plans.

American Airlines, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines are also requiring their staff to be vaccinated. New hires at both American and Southwest will have to present proof of vaccination prior to their first day of work.

Sources for this article include:

WesternJournal.com

FoxBusiness.com

Fox4News.com
(Natural News) The diabolical nature of the Biden regime puts America and Americans more at risk every day as these lunatics continue to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to weaken our country in the face of our enemies, such is their hatred for our liberties.

Nuclear weapons may be one of those things we, as members of the human race, may wish we could un-invent, but they are here now, have been for decades, and they are now a vital part of our national security. But the current regime is hell-bent on destroying even this advantage we hold over our two primary competitors  Russia and China  which have nuclear weapons inventories of their own.

According to multiple reports, literally dozens of employees at the Los Alamos nuclear weapons research and development lab in New Mexico face termination after refusing to get a COVID vaccine, and among those at risk of being fired include some of our countrys top nuclear scientists.

The deadline for all federal workers and federal contractors at the lab to get the vaccine has come and gone and its not clear at this point if any of the highly skilled researchers have actually been terminated, but clearly that is a consideration and if we lose those personnel, there isnt any way to rapidly replace the skill set and the decades of knowledge they collectively obtain.

To that point, 114 employees filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the vaccine mandate, which The Hill reported last week, Workers at the New Mexico laboratory, which created the atomic bomb, filed a lawsuit claiming that exemptions to the mandate have been denied without proper justification.

However, a state judge has already struck down the suit, KRQE13 reported:

On Friday, Judge Jason Lidyard denied the request of the 114 employees asking for the vaccine mandate at LANL to be blocked. Jonathan Diener is an attorney representing some of the plaintiffs, who argued to the judge that LANL should be considered a government entity.

To me, its perfectly clear that employment is a benefit that the government is giving these people at LANL and theyre taking it away because theyre exercising their constitutional right to decide what goes in their body, said Diener.

According to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, workers had until Oct. 15 to be vaccinated. Employees granted religious exemptions will go on vacation or unpaid leave until pandemic conditions improve. Judge Lidyard said that was an ok religious accommodation, the local outlet reported.

But the plaintiffs attorney disagreed.

That was not a real accommodation and Im shocked that the judge accepted that as a legitimate accommodation for those people, said Diener.

In a statement, officials from Triad National Security LLC, the federal contractor that runs the lab, said, Triad values the contributions of all employees, and our decision to mandate the vaccine was made only after considerable thought.

The safety and health of our employees remains our top priority as we fulfill our national security mission, and as a result, our vaccine mandate remains in effect. We appreciate the thorough review and consideration provided by the court on the important issues presented at the hearing, the statement continued.

The company said that 96 percent of employees at the lab were vaccinated, but clearly, some of the most important and talented employees  nuclear scientists  were not.

The plaintiffs include scientists, nuclear engineers, project managers, research technicians and others who have some of the highest security clearances in the nation for the work they do, The Associated Press reported.

Some employees have estimated the lab could lose anywhere from 4% to 10% of the workforce because of the mandate, the newswire service continued.

This pandemic has been so politicized  by Democrats seeking to expand and consolidate unconstitutional powers  it almost has to have been intentional.

Sources include:

APNews.com

TheHill.com

NaturalNews.com
The USGS continues to keep a close eye on volcanoes around the US, with four now at elevated Orange / Watch due to activity noticed at the four of them. The Great Sitkin, Pavlof, Semisopochnoi, and Kilauea are the four volcanoes showing signs of unrest.

Except for Hawaii's Mauna Loa, which remains Yellow / Advisory, all other volcanoes the USGS is keeping a close eye on are Green or unrated.

The USGS tracks about 169 volcanoes that could possibly become active within the United States with the majority in Alaska.

Alaska harbors a lot of volcanoes, although there are over 130 volcanoes and volcanic fields which stayed active within the geologically young last 2 million years. Since the mid-1700s, 50 have remained active and they were among the volcanoes studied by AVO.

Great Sitkin Volcano

The Great Sitkin Volcano is a basaltic andesite volcano in the central Aleutian Islands that dominates the northern half of Great Sitkin Island, which is a part of the Andreanof Islands group. It is the most active volcano in the world.

In terms of distance from Anchorage, it's about 26 miles east of Adak, 1,192 miles southwest. As described by the AVO, the volcano has a composite structure made up of an ancient dissected volcano and a newer parasitic cone with a 1.8-mile-diameter summit crater as its centerpiece.

During an eruption in 1974, a steep-sided lava dome was formed in the middle of the crater, occupying the whole interior. A massive explosive eruption on the southwest slope of the volcano occurred around 280 years ago, resulting in pyroclastic flows that partially filled the Glacier Creek valley.

Also Read: Explosions of Mt. Pavlof in Alaska Caught on Cam, USGS Raises Alert Level

Pavlof Volcano

Pavlof Volcano is a stratovolcano located 600 miles southwest of Anchorage on the Alaskan Peninsula. The volcano is 4.4 miles in diameter and has active vents near the summit on the north and east sides.

The volcano has erupted over 40 times in the past, making it one of the most active in the Aleutian Islands. The Aleutian Arc lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a volcanic hotspot.

The AVO recorded earthquakes and small explosions in the past 48 hours. Despite the cloud cover, AVO estimates these explosions likely produced low-level ash emissions.

Semisopochnoi Volcano

Semisopochnoi is the easternmost land place in the United States and North America, based on its geographic position on the globe at 17946 East. It is situated only 9.7 miles west of the 180th Meridian, making it the easternmost land location in the world.

Located in the Aleutian Islands, Semisopochnoi is one of 14 big volcanic islands and 55 smaller uninhabited islands that make up a chain. These islands, with their 57 volcanoes, form the northernmost section of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The AVO reports that Mount Cerberus' north crater is still erupting.

Kilauea Volcano

Due to its appearance from the air, many thought Kilauea was just a satellite of its more prominent neighbor, Mauna Loa. However, decades of investigation show that Kilauea has a magma-plumbing system that reaches the surface from a depth of almost 60 kilometers.

Its top is really part of a curving line that covers Mauna Kea and Kohala but not Mauna Loa. Mauna Loa is the world's tallest active volcano at 13,681 ft above sea level.

Mauna Loa eruptions likely produce a large amount of fast-moving lava flows capable of impacting regions on the east and west part of the Big Island from Kona to Hilo.

Related Article: Kilauea Volcano: Lava Eruption is Sending 'Pele's Hair' into Hawaii's Skies

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The Federal Reserve on Thursday said that businesses have reported COVID-19 vaccine mandates have hurt employment and are contributing to labor supply problemseven before President Joe Bidens previously announced vaccine mandate for private businesses goes into effect.

While employment increased at a modest to moderate rate in recent weeks, the Feds so-called Beige Book noted that the U.S. economy has been dampened by a low supply of workers, partially due to vaccine mandates.

Transportation and technology firms saw particularly low labor supply, while many retail, hospitality, and manufacturing firms cut hours or production because they did not have enough workers, its report summary said. Firms reported high turnover, as workers left for other jobs or retired. Child-care issues and vaccine mandates were widely cited as contributing to the problem, along with COVID-related absences.

Individual Fed banks said they have heard of employees quitting over mandates. While the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that few businesses lost employees over the mandates, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta reported that companies were worried that implementing a vaccine requirement could cost them workers.

Most employers shared that they would like to implement COVID-19 vaccine mandates but were concerned about losing employees, the Atlanta Fed said in the report. Worries about employee mental health, burnout, safety, and vaccine mandates impacting company culture were mentioned.

Some manufacturing businesses reported a higher labor turnover that some attributed to the lagged effects of the pandemic but some said the quits were in response to vaccine mandates, the Boston Fed also said in its report.

A few employers expressed concern that federally mandated COVID regulations, such as vaccine requirements, could exacerbate their workforce challenges, the Richmond Fed also said. Average wages increased moderately as firms offered higher starting pay and increased wages to recruit and retain staff. Many also continued to provide sign-on and stay-on bonuses.

Some 4.3 million workers quit their jobs in August, according to the most updated data from the Labor Department. That figure represents an all-time high since recordkeeping began in December 2000.

On Sept. 9, Biden announced that private businesses with 100 or more employees would have to either mandate vaccinations or have workers submit to weekly COVID-19 testing, as well as mandates for federal contractors, federal workers, and healthcare staff who are employed at Medicaid- or Medicare-funded facilities.

As a result several large corporations, including most major airlines and healthcare companies, began to implement vaccine requirements in recent weeks.

Although Biden made the announcement in early September that he will direct the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to come up with an emergency rule on COVID-19 vaccines, the agency submitted its mandate for private employers on Oct. 12. So far, the White House has not provided a clear timeline on when the rule could be implemented or what penalties businesses could face.

By Jack Phillips

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter at The Epoch Times based in New York.

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
WASHINGTON (AP)  The spiritual leader of the worlds 200 million Eastern Orthodox Christians was hospitalized Sunday in Washington on the first full day of a planned 12-day U.S. visit and will stay overnight, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America said.

The archdiocese said Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was preparing to leave for a service at the Cathedral of Saint Sophia in the nation's capital when he felt unwell due to the long flight and full schedule of events upon arrival.

His doctor advised him to rest and out an abundance of caution" go to George Washington University Hospital for observation, according to the archdiocese, Later Sunday, it said the patriarch is feeling well and was expected to be released Monday.

Bartholomew, 81, has a broad agenda spanning religious, political and environmental issues. His schedule includes a meeting Monday with President Joe Biden and various ceremonial and interfaith gatherings.

The patriarch is considered first among equals in the Eastern Orthodox hierarchy, which gives him prominence but not the power of a Catholic pope.

Making the latest of several trips to the country during his 30 years in office, Bartholomew is expected to address concerns ranging from a pending restructuring of the American church to his churchs status in his homeland, Turkey.

Bartholomew is scheduled to receive an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame on Thursday in an event highlighting efforts to improve Orthodox-Catholic ties, centuries after the two churches broke decisively in 1054 amid disputes over theology and papal claims of supremacy.

Just as his influence is limited in Turkey, it is also limited in the Eastern Orthodox communion, rooted in Eastern Europe and the Middle East with a worldwide diaspora. Large portions of the communion are in national churches that are independently governed, with the ecumenical patriarch having only symbolic prominence, though he does directly oversee Greek Orthodox and some other jurisdictions.

The Russian Orthodox Church, with about 100 million adherents, has in particular asserted its independence and influence and rejected Bartholomews 2019 recognition of the independence of Orthodox churches in Ukraine, where Moscows patriarch still claims sovereignty.

In addition to his scheduled meetings with top U.S. officials, Bartholomew also plans to hold a ceremonial door-opening at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine in New York City, which was built to replace a parish church destroyed during the 9/11 attacks, and to memorialize those killed at the nearby World Trade Center.

A 2017 Pew Research Center report found that there were about 200 million Eastern Orthodox worldwide. It reported about 1.8 million Orthodox in the United States, with nearly half of those Greek Orthodox.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Weather Alert

...FROST ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM TO 8 AM EST SATURDAY... * WHAT...Temperatures as low as 34 will result in frost formation. * WHERE...Portions of north-central Georgia. * WHEN...From 1 AM to 8 AM EST Saturday. * IMPACTS...Frost could kill sensitive outdoor vegetation if left uncovered. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. &&
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Mostly clear early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 31F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 31F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).
A kiosk for Champaign County Crime Stoppers sits near the library at Parkland College in Champaign, one of the new ways the organization has tried to reach the public over the last few years.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 32F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 32F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
Columnist

Tom Kacich is a columnist and the author of Tom's Mailbag at The News-Gazette. His column appears Sundays. His email is tkacich@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@tkacich).
Which concept should the city use for an entryway monument in South Longview?

You voted:
Today, CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., M.P.H., endorsed the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' (ACIP) recommendation for a booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines in certain populations. The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) authorization and CDC's recommendation for use are important steps forward as we work to stay ahead of the virus and keep Americans safe.

For individuals who received a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the following groups are eligible for a booster shot at 6 months or more after their initial series:

65 years and older

Age 18+ who live in long-term care settings

Age 18+ who have underlying medical conditions

Age 18+ who work or live in high-risk settings

For the nearly 15 million people who got the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, booster shots are also recommended for those who are 18 and older and who were vaccinated two or more months ago.

There are now booster recommendations for all three available COVID-19 vaccines in the United States. Eligible individuals may choose which vaccine they receive as a booster dose. Some people may have a preference for the vaccine type that they originally received and others, may prefer to get a different booster. CDC's recommendations now allow for this type of mix and match dosing for booster shots.

Millions of people are newly eligible to receive a booster shot and will benefit from additional protection. However, today's action should not distract from the critical work of ensuring that unvaccinated people take the first step and get an initial COVID-19 vaccine. More than 65 million Americans remain unvaccinated, leaving themselves  and their children, families, loved ones, and communities vulnerable.

Available data right now show that all three of the COVID-19 vaccines approved or authorized in the United States continue to be highly effective in reducing risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even against the widely circulating Delta variant. Vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself and reduce the spread of the virus and help prevent new variants from emerging.

The following is attributable to Dr. Walensky:

"These recommendations are another example of our fundamental commitment to protect as many people as possible from COVID-19. The evidence shows that all three COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States are safe  as demonstrated by the over 400 million vaccine doses already given. And, they are all highly effective in reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even in the midst of the widely circulating Delta variant."
Citizen-generated data could help combat the misuse of medicines and prevent antimicrobial resistance (AMR), says a report by the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD).

According to the report, antimicrobial resistance could push up to 24 million people globally into extreme poverty and cause about ten million deaths a year by 2050.

AMR occurs when micro-organisms, including bacteria and viruses, become resistant to an antimicrobial agent which would previously have been effective against them. It renders medicines ineffective, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease transmission and severe illness.

The report says that countries rely on surveillance data to track antimicrobial resistance but most African countries are not generating such data, leading to missed opportunities to fight the problem.

"Citizen-generated data gives communities an opportunity to provide their views, experiences. It's participatory and speaks to the real challenges facing citizens," said Karen Bett, policy manager, data equity and inclusion at GPSDD, which created the report in partnership with Africa's Voices Foundation.

According to the report,citizen-generated data (CGD) could increase the capacity of healthcare workers to engage patients and tackle misinformation on antibiotics.

As part of a project that was implemented from August 2020 to July 2021 in Kenya, researchers engaged citizens through 40 interactive radio shows, more than 20,000 text messages, 48 listening group discussions and 16 interviews to gather citizen-generated data that could provide solutions to combat antimicrobial resistance.

From the study, 78 per cent of people surveyed in the counties of Bungoma, Kiambu and Kilifi in Kenya reported that they knew little or nothing about antimicrobial resistance.

Bett toldSciDev.Netthat such methods of data generation build the capacity of citizens as co-creators to produce and analyze data to develop solutions to challenges facing them.

We desperately need data on AMR. Relying on surveillance data alone will never be enough to guide policymaking." Karen Bett, policy manager, data equity and inclusion at GPSDD

Currently, only global statistics on AMR exist because of limited surveillance infrastructure and systems for reporting within countries in Africa, Bett added.

"Laboratory capacity must therefore be strengthened to provide us with sufficient surveillance data and ensure citizens get antibiotics only when they need them after a laboratory test," Bett added.

During a meeting held virtually last month (30 September) to launch the report, Samuel Kariuki, acting director-general of Kenya Medical Research Institute, said that communities have valuable data that has been neglected for a long time in policymaking.

"AMR is a growing pandemic, and the results will be devastating if not mitigated especially, for middle to low-income countries," said Kariuki. "The report shows that citizens can generate data that can guide appropriate health interventions."

Simon Kibias, acting head of the directorate of health standards, quality assurance and regulation at the Ministry of Health (MOH), Kenya, said that COVID-19 has led to an increase in self-medication, and patients have become more susceptible to infections resulting from AMR.

"It's easier to prevent than treat infections. Interventions should be guided by data collected nationally and enforced by rigorous stewardship programs," he explained.

Rashid Aman, the Kenyan health ministry's chief administrative secretary, explained that AMR is one of the most complex public health threats and requires well-coordinated actions across sectors, disciplines and institutions to fight it.

Benjamin Avusevwa, director of statistical coordination and methods at the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, said that national databases have data gaps that CGD could fill.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics is considering developing a quality criterion to include CGD in official statistics, Avusevwa added.
Scientists have long suggested that getting enough sleep at night is vital to staying healthy. Few studies, however, highlight the necessity of sufficient sleep during the first months of life. New research from investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and collaborators suggests that newborns who sleep longer and wake up less throughout the night are less likely to be overweight in infancy. Their results are published in Sleep.

While an association between insufficient sleep and weight gain is well-established in adults and older children, this link has not been previously recognized in infants. In this study, we found that not only shorter nighttime sleep, but more sleep awakenings, were associated with a higher likelihood of infants becoming overweight in the first six months of life." Susan Redline, MD, MPH, study co-author, senior physician, Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham and Women's Hospital

To conduct this research, Redline and colleagues observed 298 newborns born at Massachusetts General Hospital between 2016 and 2018. They then monitored their sleep patterns using ankle actigraphy watches -; devices that measure patterns of activity and rest over multiple days. Researchers extracted three nights' worth of data at the one- and six-month marks while parents kept sleep diaries, recording their children's sleep and wake episodes.

To collect growth measurements, scientists measured infant height and weight and determined their body mass index. Infants were classified as overweight if they fell into or above the 95th percentile on the World Health Organization's growth charts.

Notably, researchers found that just one additional hour of sleep correlated with a 26 percent decrease in infants' risk of being overweight. In addition, infants that woke up less throughout the night faced a lower risk of excess weight gain. While it's unclear exactly why this correlation exists, scientists speculate that getting more sleep promotes routine feeding practices and self-regulation, factors that mitigate overeating.

Investigators note that African American individuals and families of lower socioeconomic statuses were underrepresented in their dataset. Additionally, confounding variables, such as breastfeeding duration, could have impacted infant growth. In the future, the researchers aim to extend this study to evaluate how sleep patterns impact growth within the first two years of life and identify key factors that mediate the correlation between sleep and weight gain. They also aim to evaluate interventions for promoting healthy sleep habits.

"This study underscores the importance of healthy sleep at all ages," said Redline. "Parents should consult their pediatricians on the best practices to promote healthy sleep, like keeping consistent sleep schedules, providing a dark and quiet space for sleeping, and avoiding having bottles in bed."
The Clalit Research Institute, in collaboration with researchers from Harvard University, analyzed one of the world's largest integrated health record databases to examine the effectiveness of the Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162B2 vaccine against the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 among adolescents. The study provides the largest peer-reviewed evaluation of the effectiveness of a COVID-19 vaccine among adolescents in a nationwide mass-vaccination setting, and the first such study where the Delta variant was dominant. The study was conducted in Israel, an early global leader in COVID-19 vaccination rates.

The results of this study validate and complement the previously reported findings of a Pfizer/BioNTech Phase-III randomized clinical trial, which focused on symptomatic infections in the face of non-Delta variants, and which, with 1,983 vaccinated adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 years, could not precisely assess vaccine effectiveness. The present study's large size allows a more precise assessment of the vaccine's effectiveness across different time periods.

The study took place from June 8, 2021 through September 14, 2021. It coincided with Israel's fourth wave of coronavirus infection and illness, during which the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant was the dominant strain in the country for new infections.

Researchers reviewed data from 94,354 vaccinated adolescents aged 12 to 18. These adolescents were carefully matched with 94,354 unvaccinated adolescents based on an extensive set of demographic, geographic and health-related attributes associated with risk of infection, risk of severe disease, health status and health seeking behavior. Individuals were assigned to each group dynamically based on their changing vaccination status (13,423 individuals moved from the unvaccinated cohort into the vaccinated cohort during the study). Multiple sensitivity analyses were conducted to ensure that the estimated vaccine effectiveness was robust to potential biases.

The results show that in fully vaccinated adolescents (7 to 21 days after the second dose), the risk of symptomatic COVID-19 decreased by 93% compared with the unvaccinated, while the risk of documented infection decreased by 90%. In the period immediately preceding the second dose (days 14-20 after the first dose), vaccine effectiveness was lower, but still substantial -- the risk of symptomatic COVID-19 decreased by 57% in vaccinated individuals, and the risk of documented infection by 59%. There was insufficient data to provide an estimate on the reduction in the incidence of severe disease, hospitalization and mortality, as these outcomes are rare among adolescents.

The research was conducted by Dr. Noam Barda, Dr. Noa Dagan, Michael Leshchinsky, Dr. Eldad Kepten, and Prof. Ran Balicer from the Clalit Research Institute, as well as Prof. Miguel Hernan and Prof. Marc Lipsitch of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Prof. Ben Reis of Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

"The extensive nationwide rollout of Israel's COVID-19 vaccination campaign to adolescents at the very beginning of the delta variant wave, provided the Clalit Research Institute with a unique opportunity to assess, through its rich and comprehensive digital datasets, the effectiveness of the vaccine for adolescents against delta in a real-world setting," said Prof. Ran Balicer, senior author of the study, Director of the Clalit Research Institute and Chief Innovation Officer for Clalit. "These results show convincingly that one week after the second dose, this vaccine is highly effective in adolescents against symptomatic COVID-19 and against all documented infections. These data should facilitate informed individual risk-benefit decision-making, and, in our view, make a strong argument in favor of opting-in to get vaccinated, especially in countries where the virus is currently widespread," added Prof. Balicer, who also serves as Chairman of Israel's National Expert Advisory Team on COVID-19 response.

Prof. Ben Reis, Director of the Predictive Medicine Group at the Boston Children's Hospital Computational Health Informatics Program and Harvard Medical School, said, "To date, one of the main drivers of vaccine hesitancy has been a lack of information regarding the effectiveness of the vaccine. This careful epidemiological study provides reliable information on vaccine effectiveness, which we hope will be helpful to those who have not yet decided about vaccination."

This research is a perfect example of how randomized trials and observational healthcare databases complement each other. The adolescent-focused trial of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine provided compelling evidence of its effectiveness to prevent symptomatic infection, but the estimates for severe disease and specific age groups were too imprecise. This analysis of Clalit's high-quality database emulates the design of the original trial, uses its findings as a benchmark, and expands upon them to confirm the vaccine's effectiveness in adolescents. This combination of evidence from randomized trials and observational studies is a model for efficient medical research, something which is especially important in COVID times." Prof. Miguel Hernan, Director, CAUSALab and Professor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Prof. Marc Lipsitch, Director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics and Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said, "In all studies of vaccine effectiveness, a major challenge is to ensure that those we are comparing to identify the vaccine's effect are similar in the other characteristics that may predict whether they get infected or ill. This is especially hard in the context of a rapidly growing, age-targeted vaccine campaign. Clalit's extraordinary database made it possible to design a study that addressed these challenges in a way that provides tremendous confidence in the inferences that come out of the study."
Vulnerable renters struggling due to the impact of the pandemic will be helped by a 65 million support package announced by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities today (23 October 2021).

The funding will be given to councils in England to support low-income earners in rent arrears - helping to prevent homelessness and support families get back on their feet.

Renters across the country have been protected throughout the pandemic because of government action, including a ban on evictions and a 400 billion support package for the economy.

Today's extra funding comes on top of the 500 million Household Support Fund, which was announced by the government in September and is helping vulnerable households across the country with the cost of food, energy, water and other essentials.

Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing Eddie Hughes MP said:

We have taken action throughout the pandemic to support the most vulnerable families, and it is vital we continue to provide support as we enter the winter months. This new funding will support families that are struggling and help to get them back on their feet as we begin to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic."

The 65 million will be available through the winter months and households at risk of eviction or homelessness should contact their local council if they require support. The fund recognizes the impact the pandemic has had on households in the private rented sector with the lowest income.

The government has already provided 310 million to councils this year through the Homelessness Prevention Grant and this funding will increase that grant by a further 65 million this year. 140 million is also available through Discretionary Housing Payments, which can also be used to prevent evictions and help people find a new home.

The 500 million Household Support Fund provides 421 million to help vulnerable people in England, with the devolved administrations receiving almost 80 million. The funding is primarily being used to support households with the cost of essentials, although councils have flexibility to best address local needs. At least 50% of the funding is reserved for households with children.

It is for councils to determine the best way to support each household on a case-by-case basis. Any payment is likely to be paid directly to the existing landlord, or a new landlord if the money is being used to support a household to find a new home.

The government is grateful to landlords for their support and the funding will mean more of them will be able to reach agreements with existing tenants.
The Centre for Health Protection today said it is investigating four additional COVID-19 cases, all of which are imported.

Three of the new cases involve mutant strains and the mutation test result of the remaining case is pending.

Among the four patients, aged 37 to 51, three arrived in Hong Kong from the Philippines while the other one came from Saudi Arabia.

Two of them tested positive for the virus during quarantine while the other two tested positive by the test-and-hold arrangement upon arrival at the Hong Kong International Airport.

The centre reminded specified people linked to Tower 10, Phase 3 - The Graces, Providence Bay in Tai Po to undergo compulsory testing in accordance with the compulsory testing notice tomorrow.

A total of 58 cases were reported in Hong Kong in the past 14 days, all of which are imported.

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.
Jerry Piotter, a farmer who lives near Macy, flies a Nazi flag on his property near the Nickel Plate Trail.
(Newser)  The wife of the Pulse nightclub gunman was in March 2018 found not guilty of helping Omar Mateen plan the 2016 massacre that left 49 dead. Many were left unconvinced. The jury foreman went so far as to provide a statement to the Orlando Sentinel just hours later indicating the jury thought she knew something but lacked specifics, and that it would have made a difference if her alleged confession to police had been taped. Noor Salman didn't testify, and other than a New York Times interview she gave months after the attack, she hasn't publicly come to her own defense. That's now changed: Salman has spoken at length to Rhana Natour at Vice, describing the abuse she suffered at Mateen's hands and the pains she has taken to hide her identity over the years.

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Natour writes that Salman has changed her last name, tells anyone who asks that her son was the result of a one-night stand, and, until recently, wore gray contacts and hair extensions to mask her appearance. The 35-year-old explains to Natour that she's ready to speak because she is tired of her silence being interpreted as guilt. "I just didnt talk because I didnt have the strength," she says. Salman met Mateen online in 2011 and says the abuse didn't begin until she became pregnant. She describes being raped, punched, kicked, slapped, and verbally insulted, and describes the one time she reached out to family for help. As for her confession, Natour describes her as "guarded" in answering, but saying that she was desperate to get out of the room (it was an 11-hour interrogation) and repeatedly asked to be given a lie-detector test. (Read the full story for much more, including why the defense declined to bring up the abuse at trial.)
(Newser)  As the investigation into how one was killed and another injured with what was supposed to be a prop gun on an Alec Baldwin film set, many have turned their focus to Rust's young head armorer. Per TMZ, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was in charge of guns on the set where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed last week just as her career was taking off. In a recent podcast interview, the 24-year-old conveyed some self-doubt she was feeling recently on the set of Nic Cage's The Old Way--her first as head armorer, the staffer in charge of prop firearms and gun safety on set. "I was really nervous about it at first," she said on Voices of the West, per USA Today. "I almost didnt take the job because I wasnt sure if I was ready but doing it, it went really smoothly."

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Per the Daily Beast, not everyone on set agrees with Gutierrez-Reed's summation. A source told the outlet she gave a gun to an 11-year-old actress without checking it properly, after which filming was briefly stopped. The source called Gutierrez-Reed "a bit careless" and said she loaded blanks into guns in ways others considered unsafe. That criticism would follow her to Rust, where a Daily Beast source called her "inexperienced and green and where reports have emerged that there were misfires on set before last week's tragedy. Crew members told Los Angeles Times that on Oct. 16, just days before the fatal shooting, the prop gun Baldwin's stunt double was handling misfired two times after he'd been told the gun didn't have ammo or blanks in it, meaning it was "cold."

"There was no assurance that it wouldn't happen again. All they wanted to do was rush, rush, rush." Another staffer sent a text, seen by the Times, to the unit production manager, warning, "We've now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe." It's not clear when the third misfire is said to have happened. A source who talked to Deadline backs up part of the Times report, noting, "A gun had two misfires in a closed cabin...A person was just holding it in their hands and it went off." The AP cites court records made public Friday that detail further what happened in Baldwin's case, noting that assistant director Dave Halls was the one who grabbed one of three guns off a cart near where the scene was being shot and handed it to Baldwin, assuring the actor it was "cold." The guns on the cart had been placed there by Gutierrez-Reed, per the report. (Read more Alec Baldwin stories.)
(Newser)  Former President Barack Obama offered a sharp rebuke of the Republican candidate for Virginia governor, Glenn Youngkin, as he encouraged voters on Saturday to support Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the closely watched race. Obama accused Youngkin of portraying himself as a friendly everyman while encouraging what Obama called lies and conspiracy theories about widespread voting fraud in the 2020 elections. Former President Donald Trump has continued to push the false narrative about election fraud, which fueled the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. Either he actually believes in the same conspiracy theories that resulted in a mob, or he doesnt believe it but he is willing to go along with it, to say or do anything to get elected. And maybe thats worse...because that says something about character," Obama said, per the AP.

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Youngkin, a former private equity executive and a first-time candidate, initially made election integrity the centerpiece of his campaign and refused for months to say whether President Joe Biden was legitimately elected. He has since said that Biden was, and that there was not widespread fraud in last year's elections. Obama described McAuliffethe state's governor from 2014-2018as an experienced, steady hand and told a crowd of what organizers said was 2,000 people gathered outdoors at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond that the Nov. 2 election would show the country and the world that were not going to indulge in our worst instincts. The former president said he understood voters are worn down, both from the country's divisive politics and the strain of the pandemic. But he said there's too much at stake to not cast a ballot.

We dont have time to be tired. What is required is sustained effort," he said. Asked for comment, a Youngkin campaign spokesman called Obama's remarks false statements and accused the AP of indulging the fantasies of the Terry and the left because they cant run on their failed record and radical vision for the future." The Youngkin campaign has said election security is a bipartisan concern and has tried to draw a comparison between the false claims of fraud today and the 2000 presidential election, when a Supreme Court ruling decided the winner and McAuliffe blasted the decision and said the election had been stolen. McAuliffe is seeking a return to office in the only state where the incumbent cannot serve consecutive terms. Less than two weeks out from the Nov. 2 election, polls show a tight race in a state Biden carried by 10 percentage points last fall.

While New Jersey is also holding an election for governor on Nov. 2, its the Virginia race thats grabbed national attention as a possible indication of voter sentiment before next years midterms. Numerous Democratic elected officials including U.S. Reps. Donald McEachin and Bobby Scott, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine and Gov. Ralph Northam also delivered remarks at Saturday's event. The officials cast the election as a choice between a proven leader and an extremist who would roll back progressive reforms implemented during the past two years of full Democratic control of state government, including an expansion of voting rights and abortion access, tighter gun laws and criminal justice reforms. Multiple speakers acknowledged the contest is close. (Read more Barack Obama stories.)
(Newser)  Thousands of California's famed giant sequoias are doomed in the wake of devastating wildfires that have swept the Sierra Nevada. Per ABC News, upwards of 10,000 of the trees, which can reach 275 feet and live for 3,000 years or more, must be culled for safety reasons. The trees line Generals Highway--which cuts through Sequoia National Park, Giant Sequoia National Monument, and Kings Canyon National Park--and have been weakened not only by the fires but by drought and disease. Per an NPS press release, the "hazard trees" have a high probability to fail and the potential to strike people, cars, other structures, or create barriers to emergency response services.

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In worse news for the rare giants, the release goes on to say that count does not include hazard trees in the backcountry, where mitigation planning is ongoing. As The Hill notes, the Kings Canyon National Parks Complex fire, which started Sept. 10, has left the highway closed for weeks. The NPS estimates the fire is 60 percent contained, having now burned 138 square miles. Earlier this month, officials revealed that "hundreds" of sequoias had been killed by the blaze, which was started by lightning on Sept. 9 has burned into 15 giant sequoia groves in the park. Multiple burned trees fell in Giant Forestwhich is home to about 2,000 sequoias, including the General Sherman Tree, considered the world's largest by volume. (Read more giant sequoias stories.)
(Newser)  Poaching wild animals isnt safe for humans, either. Another suspected poacher was found dead in Kruger National Park in South Africa on Thursday, USA Today reports. Just last April, rangers caught three men hunting for rhinoceros and gave chase. One of them was caught, but another one came across a herd of elephants and was trampled to death. Park officials investigating the incident say they think the man was killed by elephants, and that none of the parks resident wildlife was harmed. In a tweet, representatives for the park said it is dangerous to hunt illegally in the KNP. Criminals stand to lose their lives and their freedom. The mans body was found during an operation in the park organized to crack down on poaching.

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Officials say a cell phone was found with the deceased, which authorities are hoping will lead to his accomplices, CBS News reports. Rhinoceros poaching is common in the park, which has lost 70% of its rhinos in the last ten years. Elephant poaching has become so prevalent that the population appears to be evolving, with more and more calves born tuskless. Four rhino poachers were caught Tuesday, though, as part of a recent effort to stop poachers before they actually hunt any animals. COVID travel restrictions have decreased the number of poachers, too, and the park says the number of illegal kills is down 37 percent compared to 2020. (Read more poaching stories.)
(Newser)  Asked Sunday when congressional Democrats will reach an agreement on President Biden's social safety net legislation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it could be any time now. "I think we are pretty much there now," Pelosi said on CNN's State of the Union. "We have 90% of the bill agreed to and written. We just have some of the last decisions to be made," the Hill reports the Democratic speaker as saying. A deal on that package would allow Biden's infrastructure bill to move toward a vote.

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The social safety net legislation has been slashed from $3.5 trillion to no more than $2 trillion to try to pick up support from Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. On Sunday, Biden had Manchin over to his Delaware home for a meeting, per Politico, trying to cut a deal before the president leaves Friday for the climate summit. Manchin is insisting on a $1.5 trillion total, which especially imperils paid leave and Medicare expansion for dental, vision, and hearing. The original bill also has money in it for child care, education, and climate programs, per NBC.

Pelosi said Sunday that she wants paid leave in the final version but sounded less committed to other provisions. "Dental is very expensive," the speaker said. Even in a smaller version, the Biden's plan would be "transformative," she said: "It is less than what was projected to begin with, but it is still bigger than anything we've done in terms of addressing the needs of American working families." (Democrats find trying to negotiate with Sen. Krysten Sinema frustrating.)
Saudi, the Bahrain statement added, is striving to stop the deterioration of the humanitarian situation of the brotherly Yemeni people augmented by Houthi militias practices and violations of all international laws.

The UN statement voices the international support for the sincere efforts made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to reach a comprehensive political solution to the Yemeni crisis, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The attacks, Bahrain said, reflect the Houthi determination to reject calls for a ceasefire in Yemen and to engage in the political process to restore security and stability there.

Bahrain yesterday welcomed the United Nations condemnation of the cross-border terrorist attacks by Houthis against civilian facilities in Saudi Arabia.

Members of the UN Security Council had condemned the increasing number of incidents off the coast of Yemen, highlighting the 8th October attack on King Abdullah Airport and the drone attacks striking the Abha civilian airport.

The 15-nation body said the attacks on civilian and commercial ships pose a significant risk to the maritime security of vessels in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

The council, which includes the US, Russia, China and others, stressed the need for de-escalation by all, including an immediate end to the Houthi escalation in Marib.

The security council also condemned the recruitment and use of children, and sexual violence, in conflict.

Members states demanded an immediate nationwide ceasefire and called for inclusive dialogue.

They also recalled their welcoming of the announcement of Saudi Arabia on 22 March in this regard.

Security Council also expressed concern regarding the lack of progress in the peace process, saying this could be exploited by terrorists in Yemen.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition announced killing more than 82 Houthi terrorists in the Marib governorate in airstrikes.

The members of the Security Council expressed their unwavering support for United Nations Special Envoy Hans Grundberg.

They reiterated their expectation that the parties meet with him and with each other under United Nations auspices, in good faith and without preconditions.

Saudi Arabias ambassador to the UN Abdallah Al-Mouallimi welcomed the Security Council statement and said it constitutes a strong condemnation of the Houthi militia.
Daughter wins legal battle against father to return and pursue her studies in Bahrain

Daughter wins legal battle against father to return and pursue her studies in Bahrain

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

A female student of the Asian School in Bahrain fought back her right to return to Bahrain and continue her studies here, despite her father abandoning her following a family feud while staying abroad.

The girl and her mother are currently in the south Indian state of Kerala.

According to case files, the girls father tricked them into flying back to Kerala and then returned to Bahrain and secured the childs TC from the school without their consent, reports a local language daily in Kerala.

However, the girl filed a complaint expressing her wish to return to Bahrain with the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights in her home town in India.

The complaint said that her fathers action denied them their right to return to Bahrain, where the child wishes to pursue her studies.

She is an eighth standard student of the Asian school here.

Her parents, though living separately, are not legally separated.

The girls father was not present during the hearing.

The Commission, following a hearing, ordered the father to send the child and her mother NOC via email to obtain a visa to fly back to Bahrain and continue her studies.

The Commission also directed the Indian Ambassador of Bahrain to take necessary actions if the father fails to comply with the orders.

The Commission further directed to file a report on the actions taken within 30 days.

The childs ordeal received the attention of the mainstream news outlets in Kerala.


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NEW MILFORD  Creating more affordable housing in town is one of the top issues for lifelong resident Ted Hine, a Democrat, who is running for mayor against incumbent Pete Bass, a Republican.

Hine has worked on the affordable housing portion of the towns Sustainable Connecticut initiative achieve Silver status. Currently, the town has Bronze status.

According to the Sustainable CT website, this is a voluntary, independently funded certification program to recognize thriving and resilient Connecticut municipalities. Municipalities choose Sustainable CT actions, implement them, and earn points toward certification.

As towns take those steps, they can earn recognition as either a bronze or silver certified community.

Hine said the towns housing authority has hired a consultant to put together an affordable housing plan.

For the town to be sustainable into the future, we really need to embrace that plan and expand out the execution of it to the full scope, he said.

He added he doesnt think the town has the right mixture of housing stock  from a rental perspective and also from families that are starting out  to have starter homes.

Additionally, he said, if elected as mayor, he will encourage people to open businesses in town.

We want new businesses to come to town but we need the people who work there to be able to find places to live in town, he said.

He also said New Milford needs to take a critical look at its zoning regulations and adjust them to allow for affordable housing so developers can come in and develop and build what we need.

He said the housing trust that has been established in town towards affordable housing is a good start, but more needs to be done.

There was $1,000 seed money put in the trust, Hine said, adding this amount should be increased.

The way the town council looked at it was they were only looking at it from a workforce affordable housing  They only want to offer the trust for workforce affordable housing, such as police officers and teachers.

But Hine said he would like to see the trust extended to more people.

I call it a baby step, he said. For it to be effective, there has to be support year over year and we have to figure out how to build that trust up. Hine said.

He added the funding for the trust doesnt have to all come from the town and from the taxpayers. There has to be a campaign from the housing authority to get philanthropists to donate to that trust fund as well, he said.

He added the housing authority needs to step up and start working on what zoning changes need to happen and start influencing where they can across the town to be able to make those changes, as well as figuring out how to fund the housing trust.

Another part of achieving sufficient affordable housing pertains to the aging population in town, Hine added.

He said this population may have raised a family in town and now doesnt need a three or four bedroom house.

Theyd rather downsize and not have to worry about (home maintenance tasks) such as mowing the lawn, Hine said. Thats another piece of housing stock that we dont have. The prediction around our population is that were going to go right back into a declining population.

He said as people get older, they want different options, and he thinks they are finding those options in other towns, rather than in New Milford.

I would much rather keep people in town and service them with the right kind of housing stock, he said.

sfox@milfordmirror.com
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat said on Saturday that "overflow" of the situation in Afghanistan can happen in Jammu and Kashmir and "we have to prepare for it."

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat said on Saturday that overflow of the situation in Afghanistan can happen in Jammu and Kashmir and we have to prepare for it. CDS Gen Rawat said on the sidelines of an event in Guwahati, What is happening in Afghanistan, we know its overflow can happen in Jammu and Kashmir, We have to prepare for it, seal our borders, monitoring has become very important. We have to keep an eye on whos coming from outside, checking should be done. He also said that common people and tourists have to face the burden of heavy checking and they should understand that its for their safety and security.



Talking about internal security, he said that every citizen should be educated about it. Nobody will come to our defence, we have to defend ourselves, defend our people, and defend our property. Internal security is very much, a concern for us and in order to defend, I think we must actually educate our people about internal security, Gen Rawat said. If every person living in this region, living anywhere in the country understands his/her duty, you will find we will be able to take care of internal security, he added.



He also called upon people to fulfil their duties towards internal security. If every citizen plays his and her part, you can deal with the situation. People come and live in your neighbourhood, you must know who lives in your neighbourhood. No terrorist can stay in our neighbourhood if we are agile. Every citizen should question if they feel suspicious about anyone and inform the local police about it, he said.
The recent promotions in the Western Theatre Command (WTC) made by Xi Jinping are interesting to analyze. The first of such promotions is the new Commander of the WTC, General Wang Haijiang, who had earlier been heading Xinjiang Military District, assigned the job of looking after India.

There have been numerous changes in the Western Theatre Command (WTC) lately by Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to a news piece published in The Hong Kong Post, five new appointments were made in the PLA including the promotion of Lt. Generals to Generals to make them Theatre Commands. This is seen to have big implications on India, and here we analyze its impact on India. The Chinese military has made numerous aggressive military deployments against India in the past, every single one of them following a set pattern. This time is the same, the only difference being the precision of motives and intentions, according to the newspaper.



The recent promotions in the Western Theatre Command (WTC) made by Xi Jinping are interesting to analyze. The first of such promotions is the new Commander of the WTC, General Wang Haijiang, who had earlier been heading Xinjiang Military District, assigned the job of looking after India. The other such promotions include General Lin Xiangyang, Commander of the Central Theatre Command and Don Jun, Commander of the PLA Navy, reported the newspaper. Interestingly, there have been four commanders of the WTC since 2020. General Wang, a veteran of the Vietnam war and a confidant of Xi Jinping is assigned the job of looking after the borders with India. General Zhao was appointed as WTC Commander in 2016 who served for four years and was succeeded by General Zhang Xudong in December 2020. According to the news piece, he was replaced by General Xu Qiling who was appointed Commander of the Ground Forces in the rank of Lt. General from June 2020 till June 2021 and was promoted to General as he was made Commander of the WTC in June 2021.



Chinese President Xi Jinping had met the officers of the PLA in a special but restricted meeting on July 23, 2021, in Lhasa where he had complimented them for confronting the harsh conditions. He also asked them to prepare for future wars. According to the newspaper, Chinese analyst, Jayadeva Ranade noted that the designation of the officers sitting in the hall was interesting. He said in his observation that the ones who seated in the front row with Jinping were General Zhang Youxia, CMC Vice Chairman; General Ju Qiansheng, who had just that month been promoted and appointed PLA Strategic Support Force (SSF) Commander; General Xu Qiling, then WTC Commander; Lt. Gen. Wang Kai, Commander of the Tibet Military Region; Lt. Gen. Zhong Shaojun, Director of the CMC General Office; and Lt. Gen. Zhang Xuejie, Political Commissar of the Tibet Military Region. Calling the presence of the SSF Commander significant, the news piece said that the significance extends not only to roles like combat support, but also space, cyber and electronic warfare force of PLA.



Several high CPC dignitaries visited Tibet following the visit of Xi Jinping in July. Furthermore, Jinping had written a letter to the Unit stationing at Gangba County, Chumbi Valley and commended them for guarding the territory. Thus, the WTC is important for Xi Jinping when it comes to Chinas relation with India.

The conduct of numerous military exercises by the PLA in the past two years further proves the assertion.

According to Ranade, as many as 108 military exercises were conducted in a year between May 2019 and May 2020. Likewise, the PLA conducted 98 major exercises between June 2020 and June 2021. Besides, it has become easier for the troops to move as the Chinese military has created points of contact along the Line of Actual Control. Roads leading off the main highway, today connect all the Chinese posts on the LAC from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh. If this is not a military threat to India, then what is? said the opinion piece in the newspaper. With the election coming up in China, Xi Jinping has to have something to show as achievement in 2022. According to the newspaper, almost 66 Lt. Generals have been promoted to Generals since 2012.
NEW YORK (AP)  James Michael Tyler, the actor known widely for his recurring role as Gunther on Friends, has died. He was 59.

Tyler died Sunday at home in Los Angeles from prostate cancer, said his manager, Toni Benson. Tyler was first diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2018.

The world knew him as Gunther (the seventh Friend), from the hit series Friends, but Michaels loved ones knew him as an actor, musician, cancer-awareness advocate, and loving husband, Benson wrote in a tribute. Michael loved live music, cheering on his Clemson Tigers, and would often find himself in fun and unplanned adventures.

Tyler had appeared briefly in 1990s series like Just Shoot Me! and Sabrina the Teenage Witch" before being cast as a background character in the second episodes of Friends in 1994. Over the show's multi-year-run, he became the most frequently recurring guest star on the series playing Gunther, the Central Perk barista with an unrequited affection for Rachel (Jennifer Aniston).

Tyler was initially cast while working as a barista at the Bourgeois Pig coffee shop in Los Angeles. He didn't have a line of dialogue on Friends until he had made 33 appearances on the show, according to the 2019 book, Generation Friends: An Inside Look at the Show That Defined a Television Era," by Saul Austerlitz. Over the 236 episodes, Tyler appeared in 150 of them.

Warner Bros. Television, which produced the hit series, mourned the death of Tyler, a beloved actor and integral part of our Friends family.

Once Friends concluded in 2004, Tyler made appearances on Scrubs," Modern Music" and he played himself on an episode of Matt LeBlanc's Episodes in 2012.

After being diagnosed with cancer, Tyler starred in two short films while undergoing treatment and gave a spoken word performance of the Stephan Kalinich poem If You Knew to help raise awareness for the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Tyler is survived by his wife, Jennifer Carno.
PAHOKEE, Fla. (AP)  Pahokee Marinas stubborn blue-green algae infection flared again early this month, defying four nanobubble-blowing machines targeting the recurrent toxins with high-octane oxygen.

But Florida Gulf Coast University researcher Barry Rosen said an Oct. 4 reading of microcystin levels near what is considered harmful to humans is not an indictment of the nascent bubble technology that was installed at the marina Sept. 9.

Power outages and storm-driven winds that knocked over the washing machine-size blowers have challenged the $356,000 experiment to use bubbles 2,500 times smaller than a grain of salt to breakthrough a slime layer protecting the single-cell cyanobacteria Microcystis.

Rosen said the streaks of green algae in the marina early this month blew in from the lake, finding accommodations in the warm, still marina where it bloomed in water that later tested for 5 parts per billion (ppb) of microcystin. The EPA says toxin levels over 8 ppb are unsafe.

Were not saying for sure that this is going to work, said Rosen, a professor in FGCUs department of ecology and environmental studies. The Pahokee Marina is a perfect catchers mitt for this stuff off the lake. If this is the way its always going to be, we may need to rethink where we have the treatment locations.

The experiment, which was paid for by a Florida Department of Environmental Protection grant, is expected to last six months. California-based Moleaer created the nanobubble machines, which emit such tiny bubbles they are mostly invisible and non-buoyant so they stay in the water column instead of floating to the surface.

Moleaer was founded in 2016 and has machines in private lakes throughout Florida, but also works with fish farms and in agriculture to add oxygen.

What we can understand from (Pahokee) will go a long way in figuring out how to size units, what are the outside influencers in the environment, and how do we do better designs in the future, said John Bond, Moleaers southeast business development manager, who has an office in St. Augustine. If we can be preventative, its always better than being reactive.

Rosen said its not clear exactly how the tiny bubbles will affect the cyanobacteria, possibly attaching to its mucus shell to keep it from floating to the surface for sunshine, or by rupturing the membrane in a way that harms the cell, or by adding oxygen to the water that tempers the release of bacteria-friendly phosphorus.

A key benefit of using oxygen is its harmless, unlike the sometimes unknown repercussions of adding chemicals to breakdown algae blooms, Rosen said.

The marina struggled with algae outbreaks this past spring and into summer with a particularly potent bloom in April showing microcystin levels 100 times higher than whats considered harmful to humans. Septic-tank vacuums sucked up spongey cakes of toxic algae until the South Florida Water Management District was able to piggy-back on a state contract for algae removal services performed by a dredging company.

In addition to physically removing the algae, the water management district applied a peroxide-based algaecide dust called PAK 27 to tackle the wispy green algae remains that can evade floating vacuums used for the bigger chunks.

The technology works, but its a question of whether it will work in the Pahokee Marina, Rosen said about the nanobubbles. Its a harsh environment.
A lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Dr. Moses Wallad on Saturday said Nigeria was heading to t...





A lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Dr. Moses Wallad on Saturday said Nigeria was heading to total collapse, unless something was done urgently to break back the first love, that brought us together as one entity.





Dr. Wallad who spoke to newsmen in Zaria on Sunday said Nigerians are passing through horrible nightmare, which may lead to tall destructions and complete end of the country that has come to stay since 1960.





According to him, since Nigeria gained her independence, never in its history, man steals man at gunpoint and later demand for, or sold him back to his/her relatives in the form of ransom.





What I experienced while growing up as a little young boy was love for one another. There was no clear distinction between Muslims and Christians. As christians, we go to Muslims during salah or any muslim festive period and eat, wine and dine with them. Likewise, during Christmas, Muslims brothers and sisters go to Christians houses to celebrate with them.





 Never in the history of Nigeria we heard of bandits, terrorists. We only heard of armed robbers stealing cars and vehicles, and perhaps dispossessing some travellers of their belongings.





 Today, all that isnt in vogue. Men with powerful weapons will choose who to steal in form of kidnapping, demand payment of ransom. If payment doesnt come in good time, they take decision that best suits them. They become Lords, so powerful that they control the lives of their victims. Its amazing.





He reasoned that, should the bandits continue to dominate, one day, the criminals will take over the control of this country, rename it and control it the way they want.





According to him criminals have succeeded in stopping farmers from going to farm. They have made it difficult for Nigerians to get enough food to eat, adding that, many are suffering in abject poverty, frustration, lack, while others are dying silently because they have given up to hunger.





He praised the Army, Air Force and other security operatives for their relentless efforts aimed at eliminating banditry and other forms of criminalities in Nigeria.
President Joe Biden talks to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as they leave a House Democratic caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 1, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/TNS)
In its 10-year history, the Mystic Krewe of Nyx swiftly went from a hastily arranged startup parade, to one of the biggest and brashest Carnival organizations. That was before a controversial social media post by founder and captain Julie Lea led to a mass walk-out of its members, leaving the krewe in limbo. Some felt Nyx's meltdown exposed institutional racism. Others viewed it as an example of unwarranted cancel culture.

Just a year ago, on Feb. 19, 2020, Nyxs fleet of roughly 80 floats set out on the Uptown parade route, with almost 3,500 women riders tossing beads, baubles and hand-decorated purses to curbside crowds. No one could have foretold that the Feb. 19, 2020, parade would end in tragedy and that it might be the superkrewes last mighty procession.

Before the parade even reached St. Charles Avenue, a 58-year-old spectator named Geraldine Carmouche was somehow caught between the halves of a two-part float, was run over, and killed. As the police worked the scene, the parade was stopped short, with those floats that had already passed proceeding downtown and the rest towed off of the route.

Back in 2011, Lea was a New Orleans Police Department sergeant who had worked many a parade detail herself. As she watched the floats rumble past, year after year, she had sketched a mental picture of an all-female parade that would share the Wednesday night-before-Mardi Gras slot with the Mystic Krewe of Druids. At the time, the city had not sanctioned a new parade in a decade, but Lea broke the bureaucratic logjam, founding the Mystic Krewe of Nyx, named for the Greek goddess of the night, who was feared even by the king of the gods.

The announcement of the new krewe struck a chord. As soon as we got approval, we had a waiting list immediately, Lea said in a Feb. 7, interview on WWL radio.

Lea said that her hopes for Nyx went beyond a parading group. My vision was to create an environment for women where they had the opportunity to become close, as a sisterhood, she said. And the sisterhood was inclusive. As Lea put it, the members got to meet women who looked different than them, and think different than them, and came from different places than them.

The inaugural 2012 parade rolled with 534 riders, doubled in size in 2013, and continued to mushroom. My intent initially, was to be bigger than Endymion, Lea said, referring to the half-century-old, 3,200-member, all-male superkrewe. By 2020, she had reached her goal.

Then history intruded, when George Floyds death in Minneapolis at the hands of police provoked Black Lives Matter protests across the country.

Lea, who had left NOPD in 2015, said that she set out to be a voice of unity when she posted a meme that featured a photo of a black child caressing the face of a white child under the slogan #ALLLIVESMATTER Our Souls Are the Same Color on a Nyx social media site. But thats not how the message was received. The phrase all lives matter is broadly seen as a dismissal of the Black Lives Matter movement, and immediately social media commenters criticized Leas posts, with some vowing to boycott the parade.

+7 Krewe of Nyx captain apologizes for All Lives Matter post that angered some members The captain of New Orleans largest Carnival parading organization has apologized for social media posts that featured a photo of a black chil

Lea said she was unaware of the divisive meaning of her post and asked forgiveness. The Krewe of Nyx is built on a sisterhood that includes members from all walks of life, including many in the African American community  I now realize, no matter how it is used, All Lives Matter is divisive and tone deaf, she acknowledged via press release.

Leas social media faux pas was the first rumbling of an avalanche. Though shed issued a mea culpa, Lea had not declared Nyxs allegiance with the Black Lives Matter movement, and many members of the sisterhood didnt accept her apology. In an open letter, members stated that Leas racist statement does not represent us.

On a rainy June 6, roughly 50 Nyx sisters assembled near the Krewes Mid-City headquarters to protest, calling for Lea's resignation as captain. Lea refused to step down, and in no time the majority of Nyx float lieutenants and hundreds of members waved goodbye. In the weeks and months that followed, the meltdown of the superkrewe made the news time and again.

In June, The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate published a letter to the editor in which Lea proposed a reconciliation with the alienated membership in which she stated her abhorrence of police violence. Causing death through excessive force is deplorable, she wrote. But her plea had no apparent effect on the membership hemorrhage. Meanwhile, a founding member of the krewe alleged that Leas husband, an NOPD technology director, had hacked the membership waiting list of another all-womens krewe, Muses, to glean possible Nyx recruits back in 2012. The public accusation prompted an internal NOPD investigation.

+3 Krewe of Nyx hacking allegations lead to internal NOPD investigation The controversies swirling around the Mystic Krewe of Nyx and its captain have now caught the attention of the New Orleans Police Department.

In July former Nyx members formed three new krewes, titled Themis, Phoenix and Harmonia, which made a Nyx reconciliation seem even less likely. In August, someone handling the Nyx Twitter account liked a comment that included the phrase White Power, which earned the krewe another flurry of criticism. Lea blamed an apprentice for what she said was a keyboard mistake.

In Jan, up to 50 remaining Nyx members assembled for a masked ball in a Biloxi Casino. Social media photos of the event, in which participants were unmasked, lead to a rebuke by New Orleans officials, who threatened to withhold the krewes future parade permit for irresponsible behavior during the coronavirus crisis.

On Feb. 10, five former Nyx members sued Lea and the krewe in civil court for unethical practices, alleging that the management of the parading group had engaged in racketeering.

Lea declined to comment for this story, relying on attorney Doug Sunseri to discuss the krewe's many controversies. Sunseri said Lea has declined interview opportunities because shes in a lot of pain about the treatment toward her. It was Sunseri who hosted the WWL radio show that Lea called in to on Feb. 7, but the two did not discuss the current conflicts dogging the krewe.

Sunseri said that Lea and the krewe she founded have been the target of cancel culture and that nothing she can say at this point will sway her detractors. What do you have to do, he asked, "issue a second, third apology, grovel? Some people will never be satisfied. The inclusive character of the krewe she formed speaks to Lea's social attitudes, Sunseri said.

How many members remain in the krewe that some onlookers feel no longer exists as a viable parading group? Sunseri said hes not sure. Theyve definitely had an exodus, he said, but they have a strong core that provides a foundation for next year.

+6 Controversial Nyx captain Julie Lea accused of 'racketeering' in wide-ranging civil lawsuit Julie Lea, the captain of the Mystic Krewe of Nyx, and the all-female Nyx organization were sued in Orleans Parish Civil District Court on Wed
New Orleans Entrepreneur Week will be back next March the first in-person gathering of the city's premier event for emerging businesses since the 2020 conference was cancelled because of the pandemic.

Idea Village, the small business "accelerator" that provides a range of support for start-up and emerging businesses in New Orleans, said the event will return in accordance with public health guidelines. It is scheduled for March 21-25.

The event was last held in 2019, when about 2,000 people gathered at the downtown Ace Hotel to network and hear presentations on topics designed to create the next wave of successful business owners.

"Not being able to convene in person for the last two years has been heartbreaking and we are optimistic about the opportunity to start getting people back together while also embracing all we have learned about hybrid and digital communication this spring," said Jon Atkinson, CEO of Idea Village.

News of the revived event coincides with Idea Village's call for would-be entrepreneurs to apply for its latest accelerator program, which will run from January to March next year.

Since it started Entrepreneur Week more than a decade ago, Idea Village each year has picked owners of early stage "technology-enabled" companies with high growth potential for the intensive four-month program. Those selected receive mentoring from industry leaders, lessons in finance and marketing, and the opportunity to network with potential funders.

Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

The program culminates in a "pitch competition" between three finalists, with the winner taking away $50,000.

But some of the most successful start-ups to come through the program were not winners of the pitch competition. That includes Levelset, a company that is now 10 years old and sold last month for $500 million to a Californian tech company, a record sale by a Louisiana start-up tech company. Levelset is in the unglamorous business of helping people in the construction industry deal with contracts and smooth out bill collection.

After The Idea Village accelerator program, our company was unrecognizable," said Scott Wolfe, founder and CEO of Levelset. We became a more mature business post-program, with a clear understanding of our vision, mission and values.

The winner at the last NOEW pitch competition was RentCheck, developer of an app to smooth the relationship between tenants and landlords. The company is now one of Idea Village's "10 Companies to Watch," along with previous startups like Lucid, an advertising data firm that has raised more than $100 million since it passed through the program.

Though there was no in-person Entrepreneur Week last year, the accelerator moved forward with a dozen companies participating. They ranged from Bywater-based Culturalyst, an online network for creative types in New Orleans, to Youni Co., whose idea is well-designed, eco-friendly reusable underwear for the adult incontinence market.

The Idea Village said 286 companies have been through the accelerator program and they estimate those firms had a combined $367 million in revenue just in the past year.
NEW ORLEANS

Kendra Smith-Parks and Carlisle Rieveschl have been promoted by Gambel Communications.

Smith-Parks, now communications strategist, joined Gambel earlier this year and most recently held the position of communications coordinator. As a communications strategist, Smith-Parks handles media relations, community relations and social media for clients from a variety of sectors. She earned a bachelor's in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Rieveschl, now communications associate, joined the company in 2020 and most recently held the position of communications associate. Rieveschls responsibilities include media and community relations, as well as social media and digital marketing for clients representing a wide variety of disciplines. She earned a bachelor's in integrated marketing communications from the University of Mississippi.

BATON ROUGE

Stephanie Anderson will retire later this year from her position as executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Womans Hospital.

Anderson has been at Woman's for 31 years, playing a key role in the financial management of the hospital. She oversaw the sale of $319.5 million in tax-exempt bonds that financed the construction of the hospital's current campus. She was also involved in other aspects of the hospital, such as helping to start an HIV transmission prevention program, with the goal of protecting newborns from contracting the disease from their mothers. And she helped create the Woman' Center for Wellness, which offers fitness programs, occupational therapy, audiology services and other services for women with cancer.

A Lafayette-native, Anderson is a two-time LSU graduate and a fixture in the Baton Rouge business community. A graduate of the Leadership Louisiana and Leadership Greater Baton Rouge programs, she served on the boards of Capital Area United Way and the American Heart Association at both the local and national level, serving as the 2018-2019 president of the Baton Rouge chapter and chair of the 2020 Go Red for Women event.

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Dawn Cantrell has been promoted to senior vice president, health services operations for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana.

Cantrell, who has been with Blue Cross for 35 years, will now lead strategies toward market-leading, cost-effective health services operations.

Cantrell earned a bachelor's in marketing from Southeastern Louisiana University. She serves on the board of Keep Louisiana Beautiful, an organization for which she is a long-time volunteer and has led pro-bono volunteer efforts through Blue Cross over the years, and is a member of the Southeastern Louisiana University Foundations Board of Directors.

Other Blue Cross employees have also been recently promoted to to key leadership positions in the health services division.

These include:

 Dr. Deirdre Barfield, now vice president, medical management. She had been filling the job on an interim basis. Barfield has been senior medical director since 2015. She earned a bachelor's at Louisiana State University in Shreveport and a doctor of medicine from LSU Medical Center Shreveport.

 Angela Gauthier promoted to vice president, provider networks and contracting. She has been with Blue Cross since 1999. Gauthier earned a bachelor's in accounting from the former University of Southwestern Louisiana and a law degree from Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU.

 Natalie McCall promoted to vice president, health care value. She has been with Blue Cross since 2014 and had held the job on an interim basis. McCall earned a bachelor's in science-business from the University of Notre Dame.

 Michelle Stevens promoted to vice president, health services systems & support. She had been director of value based operations since 2016. Stevens earned a bachelor's and a master's in business administration from LSU.

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 Dr. Jeremy Wigginton promoted to vice president, health quality and innovation. He has been with Blue Cross since 2016. Wigginton earned a bachelor's in biological engineering from Mississippi State University and a doctor of medicine from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine.

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Dr. Steven Heymsfield, professor and director of the Metabolism and Body Composition Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, has been named as an Amazon Scholar.

The Amazon Scholars program is designed for academics who want to work on large-scale technical challenges while continuing to teach and conduct research at their universities.

Heymsfield will help develop digital health and wellness tools for the Amazon Halo organization. This is a new health and wellness membership that helps customers understand and manage different facets of their health in one place, the Halo app.

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Susanne Romig has been named executive director of Port City Enterprises, a Port Allen-based service provider for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Romig, a Brusly native and resident, will expand services throughout West Baton Rouge and beyond to address the shortage of resources for people with special needs and their families.

She served as director of community relations for The Arc of Baton Rouge for four years, before taking over as executive director in 2018.

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Dionne Rousseau is the new chair of the City Year Baton Rouge Advisory Board.

Rousseau, a partner at Jones Walker, has served on the advisory board since 2015. She earned a bachelor's in history from Georgetown University and a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.

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United Community Bank has made the following additions and promotions.

 Monica Blackwood was named banking officer and internal auditor.

 Dustin Arcement was named assistant vice president and credit analyst.

 Andrea Steib was promoted to retail manager/banking officer.
Since its beta launch on Aug. 8, 2020 (International Cat Day), cat owner dating app Tabby has amassed 50,000 users who wish to prioritize a cat-forward lifestyleand with their coming appearance on ABC reality show "Shark Tank," cofounders Leigh DAngelo and her sister Casey Isaacson are taking the New Orleans-based business nationwide.

When you're dating, thinking about the type of lifestyle you want to lead and it involves animals, a dating app is also about pet care, DAngelo said. No matter what happens on 'Shark Tank,' were excited to tell the world were not kitten around. Were here to help cat people find love.

DAngelo couldnt disclose how much she and her team asked of the ultra-rich, celebrity sharks in terms of investment, but she did say she hoped for offers from Marc Cuban and Kevin OLeary based on their track records of dating app investing.

We were really dedicated to making a deal because we knew the benefits would be incredible, DAngelo said.

+3 After Mandeville moms' 'Shark Tank' success, sales frenzy ensues for 'better bedder' invention Nita Gassen and Judy Schott had a life-changing experience when they appeared on the ABC reality show "Shark Tank" in February to pitch the Be

The sisters aren't the only Louisiana duo to make waves on "Shark Tank" this year. Nita Gassen and Judy Schott appeared on the show in February to pitch the Better Bedder, a band that goes around the mattress to turn bed-making into an easier chore. Their appearance quadrupled sales and turned the Mandeville moms into local celebrities.

The "Shark Tank" team approached Tabby founders after "The Bachelorette" star Katie Thurston touted the dating app on social media. Tabby is the feline spinoff of Dig, a dog-centric dating app that DAngelo, a former WVUE Fox 8 anchor, and Isaacson, who lives in Brooklyn and works in advertising, launched in 2018.

Isaacsons dating woes were the impetus for Dig, which the sisters funded as part of The Idea Village in 2017. It now has more than 250,000 users and an in-house developer team.

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(My sister) was dating a guy who tried to be a dog person for her, but by the end of the relationship, he didn't want her Cavapoo in the apartment, DAngelo said. She said, I wish I knew from the start that this wouldn't work because of my dog.

Since then, Isaacson has found love with someone she met thanks to Dig. DAngelo and her husband got together before the dating app launched, adopting a German short-haired pointer early in their courtship.

Dig and Tabby feature profiles of both owners and their pets. It also offers pet-centric date ideasgoing to a zoo to see big cats, or baking catnip treats for a buffet-style date involving felinesand photos of local, adoptable, very cute cats and dogs.

Even if they dont find a love connection, users may meet a like-minded neighbor to help with dog-walking or cat-sitting. Plus, pets can facilitate otherwise difficult questions about lifestyle preferences.

Pets make it easier to meet people and talk to people. You can use them as a proxy for the things that matter most to you, DAngelo said. When people talk about animals, theyre talking about how they travel, how clean they keep their house, how they spend and save moneyall those things come out.

You arent just dating for yourself; you are dating for the animal you love, and when you come to a dating app with that mindset, everything changes."

Tabby, The Cat Persons Dating App appears on "Shark Tank" at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29 on ABC.

Sara Pagones contributed to this report.
A man was robbed at knifepoint and another man had his head slashed in separate incidents in the French Quarter on Saturday afternoon.

Elsewhere in New Orleans, a man was shot in the St. Roch neighborhood shortly after midnight and four people were carjacked early Sunday morning in the 7th Ward.

Shortly after 3 p.m. on Saturday, a woman approached a man near Canal and Bourbon street and then led him down an unknown street, where another man was waiting with a knife and robbed him, police said. The victims age was not disclosed.

About three hours later, an altercation occurred in Jackson Square and a 56-year-old man was cut in the back of his head and neck with an unknown object. The suspect fled down St. Ann Street, according to the NOPD.

Just after midnight, a 27-year-old man was driving east in the 2500 block North Galvez Street when he heard several shots fired and realized hed been hit. The victim drove to a nearby home and called an ambulance.

Shortly after 5:30 a.m., two men with guns approached four people getting out of a car in the 1800 block of Law Street. The men with guns demanded the keys, took the car and fled northbound on St. Bernard Avenue.
The current incarnation of the New Orleans City Council is about as progressive as any in memory. Based on whos running in the Nov. 13 election, thats not going to change once the new group is sworn in.

Pick your issue. Over the past four years, the council has essentially decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, pushed for Entergy New Orleans to shift to renewable power generation, raised minimum wages for both public employees and people who work for city contractors, and talked at length about easing the housing affordability crisis.

But theres one plank in the collective national progressive platform that hasnt come up here: Nobody is talking about defunding the police.

In fact, the opposite is true. Consider the platforms of major candidates for the two at-large positions.

City Council President Helena Moreno, a heavy favorite for reelection who led the drive to decriminalize marijuana, has called the departments current low staffing level alarming.

Former state Sen. JP Morrell, who authored a landmark criminal justice constitutional amendment ending the states Jim Crow-era reliance on split juries, is pushing a plan to better retain and recruit officers.

Hes running for the open at-large seat against City Council member Kristin Gisleson Palmer, who authored the citys ban the box ordinance aimed at helping formerly incarcerated people enter the workforce. Shes calling for up to 1,700 cops, well above the current staffing level of somewhere around 1,100, and proposing measures to boost civilian and technical support for the officers on the street.

Both Morrell and Palmer also want to change the rule that forces experienced officers from other jurisdictions to enter NOPD at the entry level, a self-defeating policy on its face.

All three of these politicians have serious criminal justice reform bona fides. And all three are for beefing up NOPD, as are pretty much all the serious candidates for district seats.

One takeaway from this trend is that defunding the police, which became a rallying cry as protests against racial injustice spread across the country last year, was always a faulty frame.

The slogan was meant to be shorthand for shifting resources away from traditional policing and toward mental health and other types of public services better suited to some situations where police traditionally get involved.

Doing the latter is not a bad idea at all, and indeed, its one that most politicians on the ballot support. But in places such as New Orleans where violent crime is a scary reality, residents also want more cops who will do their jobs respectfully and constitutionally, not fewer cops to patrol and respond when needed. Its not a question of either/or, but and.

And that brings us to a more important takeaway: Candidates are talking about supporting the New Orleans Police Department because the department, once so lawless that the feds were called in, has made huge strides under the far-reaching civil rights consent decree that it entered in 2012.

They dont all agree with Mayor LaToya Cantrell that the department is ready to be free of federal oversight just yet, but theres strong consensus that NOPD is well along the right track. As just one example of successful reform, the departments EPIC (Ethical Policing is Courageous) program, which trains officers to intervene if their colleagues are behaving badly, has become a national model.

One recent poll suggests the candidates stances are in line with voter opinion. A New Orleans Crime Commission survey released in June found that residents are deeply concerned about crime, with 64% saying they dont feel safe, but that a majority approve of NOPDs performance. The poll also found overwhelming support for more cops and support for their work, and also for more social services.

All this comes at a time when disturbing patterns are surfacing in other policing agencies, including Louisiana State Police and the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office, which have been rocked by revelations of brutality against Black people. After years of resistance, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto just recently ordered body cameras for his deputies, which NOPD has been deploying under the consent decree.

Concerns remain in New Orleans, of course, ranging from slow response times to a problem of trust among witnesses.

But if the generally agreed-upon solution is that the department needs more resources to do what its trying to do, then somethings going right.
Not too many people make appetizing, delicious meals in kitchens without chopping, dicing, slicing and turning up the heat. Fast-food dining options are mostly quick fixes, satisfactory for the moment but not what we might call cherished delectable meals. Really good meals usually take time, and patience. Those closest to the preparation add a little of this, a bit of that and adjust according to taste and the desired result.

Those of us waiting to partake are often oblivious to the details. We just want to know when its done. We want to enjoy the scrumptious results, often leading to seconds and sometimes lasting memories.

When a U.S. president really wants to do something significant, something that goes beyond tax cuts, making government bigger or smaller and something that lasts, a concept or idea is presented and the chief cook gets scores of chefs involved who help with chopping, dicing, slicing and adjusting the heat.

Elected leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate get involved. Leaders of advocacy groups provide context, make requests and sometimes make demands. Sometimes it appears that the original idea is becoming something entirely different.

In the case of President Joe Bidens $3.5 trillion Build Back Better measure, Republicans are sitting on the sidelines and letting Democrats figure out whether they can make a delicious gumbo with lots of cooks. There are significant issues with the reconciliation measure is a 10-year plan to fund free community college, child care, family and medical leave and expanded Medicare. It also would significantly increase funding to support higher education for thousands of Black students, faculty and staff.

Historically Black colleges and universities were a part of the original legislative package. Providing funding for HBCUs is still in the mix. But the amount being considered has shrunk significantly. The original plan included $20 billion. Recent reports have put the updated figure at $2 billion  and the schools would have to compete for that money with better-funded institutions.

HBCU institutions are critical to the development of Black individuals, families, neighborhoods, communities as they provide foundations for upward mobility. Louisianas HBCUs  Dillard and Xavier universities in New Orleans, the Southern University System headquartered in Baton Rouge and Grambling State University in Grambling  would benefit, but not nearly as much as predominantly White colleges and universities have historically.

Higher education institutions operate on student tuition and fees, federal and state grants, research dollars and funding from their respective state legislatures in the case of public institutions. These days, state universities are more state-located than they are true state institutions of higher education because state legislatures continue to talk up education and slash these institutions' budgets. That's more challenging for public HBCUs. There are public and private HBCUs. Federal funding is important to them all.

Biden promised HBCU advocates and leaders he would deliver if elected, and deliver big. Congressional negotiations have caused a reluctant president to admit that his original set of plans will be slashed, likely to $2 trillion or so. That means something has to be cut, and that something now includes HBCUs. Presidents of 37 HBCU institutions responded, reminding the president and his helpers that a promise was made. In a letter earlier this month, and without mentioning the original dollar amount or any new dollar amount, Dillard President Walter Kimbrough and the others provided a summary about how HBCUs benefit this nation and what types of funding is critical to improving the institutions and successfully producing graduates who contribute to the national economy.

But HBCUs are at a significant disadvantage. Combine all HBCU endowments and that total is shy of several individual predominantly White higher education institutions. HBCUs have to do more with less as they work to provide uplift to students who become good citizens.

Although HBCUs generate a significant return on investment, they are historically underfunded, face discrimination with investments, and have tighter budgets based almost exclusively on tuition from underserved students, the letter said. Nearly 75% of HBCUs students are Pell Grant eligible, 52% are firstgeneration scholars, and 94% receive some type of financial aid.

The HBCU presidents are asking for what was promised. Truthfully, anything more will be appreciated, but its clear that what was promised would be so much better.

A significant investment in HBCUs as a part of this reconciliation process would be transformative for many institutions. If the president, congressional leaders and others can find their way to being bold, doing something big, Im certain wed have significantly more HBCU-inspired entrepreneurs, scientists, physicians, attorneys, mayors, governors and, one day, a president.
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Local agriculture communities will have the opportunity to speak with legislators working in agriculture and a local attorney specializing in agriculture law during two upcoming events.

Agriculture Breakfast

Centre County, Pa. -- A free agriculture breakfast will take place on Friday, Oct. 29, for farmers and those interested in hearing the latest updates from state and federal officials on agriculture-related issues.

Hosted by Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, the event will be held at Grange Fair Grounds, Triangle Mercantile Bldg 62 (use entrance 4), 149 Homan Lane in Centre Hall from 8-10 a.m.

In addition to hearing from Benninghoff, attendees will also hear from Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding and others in the agriculture community.

Space is limited, so interested attendees should RSVP with Benninghoffs Bellefonte office by calling 814-355-1300.

Agricultural Law Workshop for Veteran Farmers

Columbia County, Pa. -- Farmers with a veteran or active military background are invited to discuss legal concerns with attorney Rob Davidson in an event sponsored by the PA Veteran Farming Project. The discussion will be oriented toward small farms.

The event will take place on Friday, Nov. 19, at Columbia County Ag Services Building Conference Room, 702 Sawmill Road, Bloomsburg, Pa.

Discussion topics include:

Agritourism liability considerations

Not-for-fee landowner liability

Accounting/Taxes considerations when choosing business structures

Zoning and how it affects farms

PA's Right to Farm law

Ag Security Area Law (benefits and regulations)

Nutrient vs Manure Management Plans

Following the event, Davidson will offer half-hour consultations. A limited number of consultations are available only to veterans/military/spouses attending the workshop and presenting proof of service. Questions may be emailed. Registration is open on the PA Veteran Farming Project website.

Attorney Davidson is himself a farmer in Columbia County, raising lambs. While currently a small practice attorney, he previously held senior positions with AgChoice Farm Credit and the PA Department of Agriculture.




Updated at 8 p.m.

Lewisburg, Pa.  A bicyclist was killed Friday night when he was struck by a vehicle on Colonel John Kelly Road in Kelly Township, Union County.

Samuel F. Sauder, 77, of Lewisburg, died of his injuries at Evangelical Community Hospital shortly after the accident occurred at 7:08 p.m. Oct. 22, according to Pennsylvania State Police at Milton.

The driver, Lilya Y. Borisova, 28, of Milton, was traveling east at the 3000 block of Colonel John Kelly Road behind Sauder when she struck him. Borisovas vehicle and Sauders Trek bicycle both continued east for a short distance before coming to rest on the south side of the roadway.

Sauder had both his front and rear lights on at the time, according to state police. He was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

Borisova was not injured in the crash. Police said cell phone use was not a contributing factor in the crash.

William Cameron Engine Co. and EMS assisted at the scene.

State police continue to investigate.
Jersey Shore, Pa. A woman in Jersey Shore reported medication missing this week when she noticed her prescription was gone.

The woman reported to Tiadaghton Valley Regional Police officer Brian Fioretti, who investigated the incident. According to Fiorettis report, the woman identified the only person with access to her room.

Autumn Roxanne Glass, 33, of Jersey Shore was the only other person with access to the womans bedroom, according to the report. Fioretti said the accuser stated Glass went to the bathroom earlier in the day after she dropped off groceries.

According to the report, the bathroom was located next to the womans bedroom where the medication was stored. The accuser said Glass was upstairs for awhile before returning.

Fioretti said he spoke with Glass at her home and questioned her about the missing medication. Initially, Glass told officers she did not use the bathroom at the residence.

Fioretti told Glass fingerprints would be lifted from the cabinet and it would not look good if they were hers. According to the report, Glass then gave officers the medication. Glass allegedly told them she took two pills from the bottle.

Glass was charged with one count each of third-degree felony criminal trespassing, third-degree misdemeanor theft by unlawful taking, and third-degree misdemeanor receiving stolen property.

Glass posted $10,000 unsecured bail and was released from the Lycoming County Prison on Oct. 20. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 27 with Judge Jerry Leply.

Docket sheet

Correction Otober 26, 2021 Sergeant Brian Fioretti's name was misspelled in the original article and has been corrected.
Google has confirmed that its five years of software support for the Pixel 6 series does not cover all software for the devices. Unfortunately, Google can only guarantee five years of security patch updates, with three major OS updates coming the way of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro too.

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Google announced the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro to much attention this week. During its presentation, Google confirmed that the smartphones would receive five years of updates, supposedly because of its move away from Qualcomm SoCs.

To date, Pixel smartphones have received three years of OS and security patch updates, coverage that only OnePlus matched until recently. Older smartphones like the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL remain some of the first to receive OS upgrades, which cannot be said even for last-generation OnePlus flagships.

The likes of Samsung and Xiaomi have upped their games though, with the 11T series promised three OS upgrades and four years of security patch updates. Initially, Google was expected to bring four major OS updates to the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, as we reported. Unfortunately, the company can only guarantee OS upgrades until October 2024, or Android 15.
Indiana is offering $1.8 million in clean air grants funded by its share of the Volkswagen emissions scandal settlement in order to reduce diesel emissions across the state.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management opened up round three of funding through the program. Businesses and local governments can get grants between $50,000 and $100,000 for clean air projects.

Volkswagen was found to have systematically violated the Clean Air Act in 2015 after selling 590,000 vehicles with fraudulent defeat devices that let them pass emissions testing while actually polluting as much as 40 times more than allowed by federal law. The German automaker agreed as part of a 2017 guilty plea to pay $4.3 billion in a settlement in the scandal.

Indiana got a $41 million share that is being used to replace older diesel vehicles with more modern and environmentally friendly options.

IDEM will distribute the latest round of grant money to non-road vehicles such as trains that significantly reduce diesel emissions in the Hoosier State. The state, for instance, will fund projects that replace diesel-powered switcher locomotives with electric locomotives or diesel-powered marine engines with clean-burning versions. Ports, for instance, can replace diesel-powered cargo handling equipment with new electric options.
A highly anticipated Restaurant Depot wholesale big-box store serving local restaurateurs has set an opening date for its new location in Griffith.

Restaurant Depot, which touts itself as the nations premier cash-and-carry food wholesaler, plans to open on Dec. 8 at 627 E. Ridge Road in Griffith.

The New York-based chain bought and demolished four houses to make room for the 55,000-square-foot store, where restaurant owners will shop for food.

The company is investing $6 million in the new construction, which is close to being completed. The store will sell food, cups, napkins, utensils and countless other restaurant supplies.

Restaurateurs from across Northwest Indiana are expected to utilize the new Restaurant Depot, which is close to the Cline Avenue exit off the Borman Expressway. Some already travel out to the chain's nearest location in Alsip, Illinois.

Founded in 1996 with roots dating back to Brooklyn in the 1970s, Restaurant Depot offers free membership to anyone who owns or manages a restaurant, coffee shop, bar, pizzeria, night club, catering company, deli, food service distributor or nonprofit. It carries both brand names and in-house brands.
Shively, who was born in Ohio, said he has spent a lot of time in South Bend and Mishawaka, where many of his family members live. Shively said he's happy to be back on stage after the pandemic shut everything down. The actor said the cast of "Paradise Square" is a joy to work with.

"It's (also) the biggest cast I've worked with," he said.

"Paradise Square," which is produced by Garth Drabinsky, features a book by Christina Anderson, Marcus Gardley, Craig Lucas and Larry Kirwan. The play is directed by Tony winner Moises Kaufman. It stars choreography by Bill T. Jones with the score written by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen along with Masi Asare and Larry Kirwan.

Lyricists Nathan Tysen and Masi Asare said they've enjoyed working on the songs for the score of this musical which has such an important story to relay and a poignant message.

"The music has a contemporary feel," said Tysen. "It's 1863 but it feels of the moment."

Asare said this was a time when the two communities of Five Points were "living together with love and respect."

Added Tysen, "I was so attracted to the project because it so clearly shows disparaged groups living and creating together."
'Dear Jill,

We recently watched a movie about women who became wealthy selling fake coupons. While it is a comedy, I read it was based on a true story.

I would like to know how these ladies got away with selling fake coupons for so long. How did they actually work when scanned at the store if they were fake? Were they punished at all? In the movie, one fled and moved to Europe.

I would also like to know if the companies hurt by the actions of these women were reimbursed. It seemed that they made millions of dollars.

Chelsea B.

The movie Queenpins is a fictionalized version of the story of a women-run counterfeit coupon ring that was busted in Phoenix, Arizona in 2012. In the real-life story, three women were arrested for selling counterfeit coupons. The police seized over $40 million worth of counterfeits, along with multiple luxury vehicles, a speedboat, and dozens of firearms.
With thousands of eviction cases filed a month statewide, court officials and task force members announced a plan to implement a pre-eviction diversion program to help struggling landlords and tenants.

The Indiana Eviction Task Force has recently recommended the Indiana Supreme Court order statewide actions for trial courts, according to a news release. The statewide pre-eviction diversion program aims to aid landlords and tenants in gaining access to federal funds.

The court order, which outlines required actions for trial courts in possible eviction matters, will be effective starting Nov. 1, officials said.

According to the report, a total of 22,344 eviction cases were filed in Indiana from Jan. 1 to June 30, which averages to 3,724 cases per month for both residential and commercial cases.

Data shows eviction case filings are the highest they have been all year this past September with 5,135 filings.
In addition to open-heart surgeries, Addie had issues with aspiration and pneumonia and had a G-tube placed for tube feeding.

Addie initially wasn't eligible to be on the heart transplant list because of a pulmonary hypertension condition, Becky Hughes said.

She underwent yet another surgery and it reduced the pressure, allowing Addie's name to be placed on the heart transplant list in early November.

The wait for a heart transplant was long, but on Sept. 15, the family got the call they were praying to receive.

"We were told that they had a potential match for her," he said.

Their joy was short-lived.

"The donor was not a viable match for her. We were let down, but we went back to normal," he said.

Four days later, the family got another call that a donor heart had been found for Addie.

That one worked, and on Sept. 20 she had that surgery that took well," he said.

Becky Hughes said the hardest part about having a toddler in the hospital for such a long time is trying keep things somewhat normal including her not being able to take a shower.
Following the Jan. 6 insurrection, Young called it the result of a failure for many of our leaders to be truthful to the American people about what precisely has happened in our elections in recent months. Asked if President Trump played a role in encouraging the violence, Young responded, Of course. Hes president of the United States.

'She's nutty'

As for Rep. Greene and whether she should be in the GOP, Young said in a conference call with reporters, There should be no debate about Marjorie Taylor Greene. Shes nutty. Shes an embarrassment to our party. Theres no place for her in the Republican Party. There ought to be no place.

A reporter asked Young if he is worried about facing a Republican primary challenger when he faces reelection in 2022. Ive got a pretty low pulse. You know, I really dont worry, Young said. I didnt worry when Evan (Bayh) entered my race. I got a lot of fallback options. So, you know, unlike some career politicians who are wedded to their titles and their positions, I got a good life.

So Young has had a complicated relationship with Donald Trump.
Not since the Industrial Revolution have we seen such a massive reorganization of how people think about place..., said Evan Hock, MakeMyMove co-founder and chief operating officer.

Instead of following jobs to cities, working remotely means working from anywhere, Hock said. But money drives migration as well. Respondents to a MakeMyMove survey last summer indicated that their reluctance to pull up roots  Moving is expensive and it's risky, Hock said  withers when there's a monetary incentive.

The same mechanics that are driving remote workers to make moves would apply to any type of worker, Hock said. A lot of people are moving to find someplace thats more affordable, some people are wanting to move closer to amenities like the outdoors or to have a lot of land.

For Aimie Logan, it was a combination of things that brought her to Mount Sterling last spring, but one thing is certain: She never dreamed of living outside Chicago, where she'd spent her entire adult life. Then, the pandemic forced the company where she worked to cut her hours. Logan, 37, lured west by a friend in the area and what looked like Dot's friendly work environment, decided she was ready for a change. And she got it.
The death of Colin Powell, Vietnam War veteran, former chairman of the joint chiefs of the U.S. armed forces, former defense secretary, and former secretary of state, was a reminder of his level-headed view of Korea. South Korea had had only limited success in reaching out to North Korea, he said in a visit to Seoul in 2008. You have to be firm with the North Koreans.

That advice, if repeated today at either the Pentagon or State Department, would undoubtedly not be welcomed by South Korean leaders as they beseech the Americans to look for the magic password for drawing the North into dialogue and above all to agree to a statement saying the war is over. What war, and why repeat the obvious, would be the response from the vast majority to whom the discussion is massively irrelevant.

Powell himself came close to asking the same question last year at a conference in Seoul marking seven decades since the opening months of the Korean War. On a link from the U.S., he said China would not stand for North Korea waging another Korean War and he wasnt concerned about North Korean missile tests. Mercilessly, he berated Donald Trump, hot on the campaign trail for reelection as president, for demanding South Korea pay far more than seemed reasonable for having 28,500 U.S. troops on major bases in-country, and he praised the South for what its done for its own people.
Despite being a politician all his life, and never having worked in a blue-collar job, President Joe Biden declared, "I'm a union man," when he announced his presidential campaign at a Teamsters union hall in Pittsburgh in April 2019.

What our president really loves is big government and political power, and there is no more reliable money trough for Democrats than unions.

According to OpenSecrets, which tracks political spending, Biden's campaign received $27.5 million in contributions from unions, compared with $360,000 from unions that went to former President Donald Trump's campaign.

So, it is no surprise that the president and his party are now unfurling legislation aimed at protecting unions. It's called the PRO Act  Protecting the Right to Organize.

The bill passed in the House, but with little prospect of it making it on its own in the evenly split Senate, Senate Democrats have buried it in the budget reconciliation bill that can pass with a simple majority and is not subject to filibuster.
KAMPALA, Uganda  Armed men in white minivans without license plates picked up people off the streets or from their homes.

Those snatched were taken to prisons, police stations and military barracks where they say they were hooded, drugged and beaten  some left to stand in cellars filled with water up to their chests.

The fear is still so palpable in the capital, Kampala, that many others have gone into hiding or left the country.

Three months after Ugandas president, Yoweri Museveni, won a sixth five-year term in office in the most fiercely contested election in years, his government appears to be intent on breaking the back of the political opposition. The president of Uganda, a strategically located country in East Africa, is a longtime U.S. military ally and major recipient of American aid.
Another, more expansive study last year of almost 5,000 middle-aged men and women of various ethnicities likewise found that 10,000 steps a day are not a requirement for longevity. In that study, people who walked for about 8,000 steps a day were half as likely to die prematurely from heart disease or any other cause as those who accumulated 4,000 steps a day. The statistical benefits of additional steps were slight, meaning it did not hurt people to amass more daily steps, up to and beyond the 10,000-steps mark. But the extra steps did not provide much additional protection against dying young, either.

Realistically, few of us reach that 10,000-step goal, anyway. According to recent estimates, most adults in America, Canada and other Western nations average fewer than 5,000 steps a day.

And if we do reach the 10,000-step target, our feat tends to be ephemeral. A famous study in Ghent, Belgium, provided local citizens in 2005 with pedometers and encouraged them to walk for at least 10,000 steps a day for a year. Of the 660 men and women who completed the study, about 8 percent reached the 10,000 step daily goal by the end. But in a follow-up study four years later, almost no one was still striding that much. Most had slipped back to their baseline, taking about the same number of steps now as at the studys start.

The good news is that upping our current step counts by even a few thousand additional strides most days could be a reasonable, sufficient  and achievable  goal, Dr. Lee said. The formal physical activity guidelines issued by the United States and other governments use time, not steps, as a recommendation, and suggest we exercise for at least 150 minutes a week, or a half-hour most days, in addition to any moving around we do as part of our normal, daily lives. Translated into step counts, Dr. Lee said, that total would work out to a little more than 16,000 steps a week of exercise for most people, or about 2,000 to 3,000 steps most days. (Two thousand steps equal approximately a mile.) If, like many people, we currently take about 5,000 steps a day during the course of everyday activities like shopping and housework, adding the extra 2,000 to 3,000 steps would take us to a total of between 7,000 and 8,000 steps most days, which, Dr. Lee said, seems to be the step-count sweet spot.

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Which is to say, with a significant shift in emphasis from 19th-century European to 20th-century global; an endorsement of fashion and furniture design as equal partners to painting and sculpture in the encyclopedic museum hierarchy; a comprehensive effort to be socially woke; and with a sincere invitation for visitors to get their hands on things.

DAM wants its 800,000 annual guests to be themselves  and see themselves  in the museum. It has spent $150 million rearranging the art but also bolstering interactive spaces, such as the thread studio integrated into its textile galleries, where visitors can practice their own sewing and knitting, and the design lab, where they can marvel at the museums modern sofas and lamps, then dream up their own home accessories.

Throughout every gallery, the emphasis is on the now with contemporary artists getting equal, or even top, billing alongside institutional classics. Visitors to the Asian galleries, for example, are greeted first by a recent and irreverent Mao jacket piece by the Chinese sculptor Sui Jianguo before they move on to DAMs ancient treasures from Cambodia, Japan and India.
The new work, which the Gorky estate is calling Untitled (Virginia Summer) (1946-47), is a brand-new addition to his oeuvre. Nobody knew it existed  though his two daughters, one of his biographers and a couple of conservators had long known that something was there. His daughter Maro Spender called it a truly remarkable happening.

Michaela Ritter, one of the two Swiss conservators who did the uncovering, said: Its not that we have something like this every year. Its really special.

The new work, a painting on canvas, was tucked just beneath The Limit, (1947), a well-known painting on paper that had been on loans to the National Gallery of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art for years, hanging on the walls with no one the wiser about the treasure underneath it.

The Limit is one of the most important late works of Gorky, and unique in many ways, said Carlos Basualdo, a curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Its a distillation of everything he was working on at the time.
But they have remained high, with more than 130,000 cases reported in the second week of October, the American Academy of Pediatrics said, accounting for a quarter of all cases nationwide. Fewer than two percent of those cases resulted in hospitalization, but that figure was based on data from only half the states, the organization said.

Pfizer and BioNTech announced a month ago that their vaccine worked well for young children, but no comprehensive clinical data was released publicly until Friday. Children in the trial received two doses of 10 micrograms  one-third of the adult dose  three weeks apart. Researchers said that the dosage was safe, and that trial participants had seen only mild side effects.

Of 2,268 children in the trial, twice as many were given the vaccine as received a placebo. Sixteen children who received the placebo got Covid-19, compared with three who received the vaccine. All of the Covid cases occurred in July or later, as the highly transmissible Delta variant was spreading in the United States and globally, according to the company. The F.D.A. said it could not determine whether the cases were caused by the Delta variant.

Pfizer said it had follow-up safety data for an additional 2,250 children, but only for a median of two-and-a-half weeks after they received a second dose.

There were no cases of severe Covid among trial participants, and no cases of two rare heart conditions that have been linked to the vaccine in teenagers and adults, especially young males. But the trial was likely not big enough to detect whether those particular conditions  myocarditis and pericarditis  might appear with any frequency in younger children.

Minor side effects in the study group generally occurred more frequently after the second dose, the F.D.A. reported; the most common were pain at the injection site, fatigue and headache.

The F.D.A. modeled different scenarios with varying levels of viral spread to determine the number of symptomatic Covid cases, including severe ones, that would be prevented by the vaccine. They balanced that against the risks from myocarditis and pericarditis cases associated with vaccination.
NEW DELHI  The Afghans stranded in India held protests, went from office to office and pleaded with relatives around the world to chip in for plane tickets. There was only one flight available to take them back home, to a country that had fallen to the Taliban since they had left it.

None of them had any doubts about what awaited them in Afghanistan: economic hardship, the loss of basic liberties and even the possibility of persecution. But ties to home cant always be explained away with the cold logic of risk calculation. Home, no matter how much it is burning or broken, evokes compulsions that can pull you in even as thousands are desperately trying to leave.

Among those on the manifest for the flight from Delhi to Kabul earlier this month were cancer patients who had run out of money for treatment and wanted to be on their own soil if death came. They had seen how complicated it was to transport, across the borders of a bitterly divided region, the bodies of those who died in one country but wished to be buried in another.

Among the group were parents separated from young children for nearly two months, grown children separated from dying parents. There were newborn babies, stateless at birth.
That man, whom Cambodian officials refer to only as Lion, has spent two years escorting officials to dozens of remote sites where, Cambodians say, he and his gang systematically uprooted and carted away for sale massive stone statuary, intricate bronze sculptures and ceramic burial jars filled with royal gold and jewels. Most of those items, the former looter said, were sold through brokers in Thailand.

Image Phoeurng Sackona, the Cambodian culture minister, said the account of a reformed looter was critical to compiling evidence on stolen items. Credit... Sovannara/Xinhua, via Alamy Live News

Cambodias culture minister, Phoeurng Sackona, said the former looters information was critical to identifying the 45 Met items that officials have focused on. They have also inspected the dates of the museums acquisitions and physical evidence like chiseled stands and broken remnants found at the original sites. Of the 45 artifacts, she said, Lion recognized 33 as items he removed himself and another 11 as matching the appearance of statues stolen by others.

The artifacts were acquired by the Met between the years 1977 and 2003, according to the research by Cambodian officials.

It surprises me and disappoints me that there are so many statues of ours in the Met, the culture minister said, adding: We want to see the truth come out, we want to see all the facts come out about this. We want them all returned.

In addition to the 45 items listed on the spreadsheet, Cambodian officials said they had questions about roughly 150 other artifacts in the Mets collections that left Cambodia between 1970 and 2000, three decades during which the nation was torn apart by war, genocide and political upheaval.

In July, the U.S. attorney embraced the credibility of Lion when prosecutors cited him in court papers connected to the return of a Khmer statue, Skanda on a Peacock, which he says he looted. An unidentified private owner voluntarily handed over that artifact, according to a Justice Department news release that identified Lion as Looter 1.
In 2018, I had been targeted with a suspicious text message that Citizen Lab determined had likely been sent by Saudi Arabia using software called Pegasus. The softwares developer, the Israel-based NSO Group, denied its software had been used.

Image A screen shot from Ben Hubbard's phone of a WhatsApp message from June 2018 inviting him to a protest at the Saudi Embassy in Washington. Technology researchers later identified it as an attempt to hack his phone, likely by Saudi Arabia.

This year, a member of The Timess tech security team found another hacking attempt from 2018 on my phone. The attack came via an Arabic-language WhatsApp message that invited me by name to a protest at the Saudi Embassy in Washington.

Bill Marczak, a senior fellow at Citizen Lab, said there was no sign that either attempt had succeeded since I had not clicked on the links in those messages.

But he also found that I had been hacked twice, in 2020 and 2021, with so-called zero-click exploits, which allowed the hacker to get inside my phone without my clicking on any links. Its like being robbed by a ghost.

In the second case, Mr. Marczak said, once inside my phone, the attacker apparently deleted traces of the first hack. Picture a thief breaking back into a jewelry store he had robbed to erase fingerprints.

Tech security experts told me it was nearly impossible to definitively identify the culprits.

But based on code found in my phone that resembled what he had seen in other cases, Mr. Marczak said he had high confidence that Pegasus had been used all four times.

In the two attempts in 2018, he said, it appeared that Saudi Arabia had launched the attacks because they came from servers run by an operator who had previously targeted a number of Saudi activists.
To the Editor:

Re Theater Needs a Gender Reckoning, Too, by Theresa Rebeck (Opinion guest essay, Oct. 15):

Ms. Rebeck tells it like it is: Female playwrights have been passed over for male playwrights at almost every theater in the country  not because men write better plays, but because of prejudice.

Why is it that male artistic directors can understand the issue of diversity when it involves race, but not when it involves gender? Especially if it involves women who are over 50? Or 60? Or 70?

Older female playwrights are tough and wise. We have stories to tell because we have been watching and listening and writing  stories that are raw, surprising, entertaining, stories that reflect the precarious reality we live in now.

The victors write the history, but the rejected, neglected, disdained and ignored women who have the stamina to keep writing know a deeper, more profound reality, because we live it.



Elizabeth Diggs

Austerlitz, N.Y.

The writer is a playwright.
For the past 18 months, while I was undergoing intensive physical therapy and many neurological tests after a complicated head injury, my friends would point to a silver lining: Now youll be able to write about your own bills. After all, Id spent the past decade as a journalist covering the often-bankrupting cost of U.S. medical care.

But my bills were, in fact, mostly totally reasonable.

Thats largely because I live in Washington, D.C., and received the majority of my care in next-door Maryland, the one state in the nation that controls what hospitals can charge for services and has a cap on spending growth.

Players in the health care world  from hospitals to pharmaceutical manufacturers to doctors groups  act as if the sky would fall if health care prices were regulated or spending capped. Instead, health care prices are determined by a dysfunctional market in which providers charge whatever they want and insurers or middlemen like pharmacy benefit managers negotiate them down to slightly less stratospheric levels.

But for decades, an independent state commission of health care experts in Maryland, appointed by the governor, has effectively told hospitals what each of them may charge, with a bit of leeway, requiring every insurer to reimburse a hospital at the same rate for a medical intervention in a system called all-payer rate setting. In 2014, Maryland also instituted a global cap and budget for each hospital in the state. Rather than being paid per test and procedure, hospitals would get a set amount of money for the entire year for patient care. The per capita hospital cost could rise only a small amount annually, forcing price increases to be circumspect.
Last week the New York City Council voted unanimously to remove a statue of Thomas Jefferson from the Council chamber in City Hall. The decision was not a surprise; Black and Latino lawmakers have long lobbied for its removal, given Jeffersons tarnished history as the owner of some 600 humans. Amid the debate over race, history and the statue, it is important to understand the reason Jefferson was placed there in the first place. Uriah P. Levy, the Jewish naval hero who donated the statue, by Pierre-Jean David dAngers, in 1834, intended it to serve as a symbol of religious liberty.

Jefferson, for all of his blindness concerning the evils of slavery, championed religious liberty in Virginia and in the nation as a whole. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others, he wrote in Notes on the State of Virginia in 1781. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. And he specifically championed the rights of Jews. He expressed pride that the University of Virginia, whose founding he considered one of his supreme achievements, both accepted Jews and set the example of ceasing to violate the rights of conscience by any injunctions on the different sects respecting their religion.

Even as he denied his enslaved people their liberty, Jefferson espoused high-minded views concerning religious liberty as well as the inalienable rights that he detailed in the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Levy, like many Jews, honored him for that.

Born in 1792 into one of Americas leading Jewish families, Mr. Levy ran away from home as a boy of 10; a decade later he entered the U.S. Navy, hoping to serve in the War of 1812. He briefly fell into British hands. When freed, he was awarded an independent naval command. His unorthodox path to power was resented by his fellow officers. They thought that a naval commander should be better bred.
On June 24, 2015, Dawn Dorland, an essayist and aspiring novelist, did perhaps the kindest, most consequential thing she might ever do in her life. She donated one of her kidneys  and elected to do it in a slightly unusual and particularly altruistic way. As a so-called nondirected donation, her kidney was not meant for anyone in particular, but for a recipient who may otherwise have no other living donor.

Several weeks before the surgery, Ms. Dorland decided to share her truth with others. She started a private Facebook group, inviting family and friends, including some fellow writers from GrubStreet, the Boston writing center where she had spent many years learning her craft.

After her surgery, she posted something to her group: a heartfelt letter shed written to the final recipient of the surgical chain, whoever they may be. Ms. Dorland noticed some people shed invited into the group hadnt seemed to react to any of her posts. On July 20, she wrote an email to one of them: a writer named Sonya Larson.

A year later, Ms. Dorland learned that Ms. Larson had written a story about a woman who received a kidney. Ms. Larson told Ms. Dorland that it was partially inspired by how her imagination took off after learning of Ms. Dorlands donation.
In internal correspondence, company administrators warned of inadequate service levels, deficient processes and systems that are prone to delay and error.

The extent of the problem puts in stark relief how Amazons workers routinely took a back seat to customers during the companys meteoric rise to retail dominance. Amazon built cutting-edge package processing facilities to cater to shoppers appetite for fast delivery, far outpacing competitors. But the business did not devote enough resources and attention to how it served employees, according to many longtime workers.

A lot of times, because weve optimized for the customer experience, weve been focused on that, Bethany Reyes, who was recently put in charge of fixing the leave system, said in an interview. She stressed that the company was working hard to rebalance those priorities.

The companys treatment of its huge work force  now more than 1.3 million people and expanding rapidly  faces mounting scrutiny. Labor activists and some lawmakers say that the company does not adequately protect the safety of warehouse employees, and that it unfairly punishes internal critics. This year, workers in Alabama, upset about the companys minute-by-minute monitoring of their productivity, organized a serious, though ultimately failed, unionization threat against the company.

In June, a Times investigation detailed how badly the leave process jammed during the pandemic, finding that it was one of many employment lapses during the companys greatest moment of financial success. Since then, Amazon has emphasized a pledge to become Earths best employer. Andy Jassy, who replaced Mr. Bezos as chief executive in July, recently singled out the leave system as a place where it can demonstrate its commitment to improve. The process didnt work the way we wanted it to work, he said at an event this month.

In response to the more recent findings on the troubles in its leave program, Amazon elaborated on its efforts to fix the systems pain points and pay issues, as Ms. Reyes put it in the interview. She called the erroneous terminations the most dire issue that you could have. The company is hiring hundreds of employees, streamlining and connecting systems, clarifying its communications and training human resources staff members to be more empathetic.

But many issues persist, causing breakdowns that have proved devastating. This spring, a Tennessee warehouse worker abruptly stopped receiving disability payments, leaving his family struggling to pay for food, transportation or medical care.
In a year rife with ransomware attacks, when cybercriminals have held the data of police departments, grocery and pharmacy chains, hospitals, pipelines and water treatment plants hostage with computer code, it was a win, rare in the scale of its success.

For months, a team of security experts raced to help victims of a high-profile ransomware group quietly recover their data without paying their digital assailants a dime.

It started in late summer, after the cybercriminals behind the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, known as DarkSide, emerged under a new name, BlackMatter. Soon after, the cybercriminals made a glaring mistake that most likely cost them tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars.

Ransomware criminals encrypt a victims data and demand a ransom payment, sometimes millions of dollars, to return access. But when BlackMatter committed a critical error in an update to its code, researchers at Emsisoft, a cybersecurity firm in New Zealand, realized they could exploit the error, decrypt files and return access to the datas rightful owners.
Democrats are also increasingly eager to deliver the bipartisan legislation to Mr. Bidens desk before elections for governor in Virginia and New Jersey on Nov. 2, to show voters the party is making good on its promise to deliver sweeping social change. And a number of transportation programs will lapse at the end of the month without congressional action on either a stopgap extension or passage of the infrastructure bill, leading to possible furloughs.

The legislation is expected to include a one-year extension of payments to most families with children, first approved as part of the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan, as well as an increase in funds for Pell grants, support for home and elder care, and billions of dollars for affordable housing. It would also provide tax incentives to encourage use of wind, solar and other clean energy.

While aides cautioned that details were in flux, the plan is also expected to address a cap on how much taxpayers can deduct in state and local taxes, a key priority for Mr. Schumer and other lawmakers who represent higher-income residents of high-tax states affected by the limit.

But negotiators on Sunday were still haggling over a number of outstanding pieces, including the details of a federal paid family and medical leave program  already cut to four weeks from 12 weeks  Medicaid expansion and a push to expand Medicare benefits to include dental, vision and hearing. With Mr. Manchin pushing for a $1.5 trillion price tag, Democratic officials are urging for him to accept more spending in order to avoid dropping other programs.

Mr. Biden raised the prospect of an $800 voucher to help grant access to those benefits, but he said during a CNN town hall event on Thursday that he believed Mr. Manchin and Ms. Sinema both had reservations about the program. Talks are also continuing with moderate Democrats in both chambers over a proposal that would help lower the cost of prescription drugs.

While Ms. Sinema has refused to embrace increasing either the corporate or individual tax rates, she has privately committed to enough proposals that would fully fund up to $2 trillion in spending. The details of those specific proposals, however, remain unclear.

Ms. Sinema and Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, have spoken repeatedly about a number of alternatives that would ensure that corporations and wealthy people pay more in taxes without addressing those rates, according to an aide, some of which Ms. Warren had initially proposed earlier this year.
FRANKLIN, Tenn.  For decades, when Hewitt Sawyers drove past the monument of the Confederate soldier standing tall in his citys public square, he felt the weight of slaverys long shadow.

Mr. Sawyers, 73, had attended a segregated school in Franklin, about 20 miles south of Nashville. He read from torn books passed down from the local white high school. The courthouse offered a colored water fountain, and the movie theater did not welcome him on the lower floor. As Confederate monuments across the South began to come down after a 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., he wanted the 37-foot local statue, known as Chip, gone, too.

Chip represented a large part of the reason I was not part of the downtown arena, Mr. Sawyers, a Baptist minister, said. Every time I went around that square, it was a reminder of what had gone on.
NAIROBI, Kenya  The long-distance Kenyan runner Agnes Jebet Tirop was having a very good year. She competed in the Tokyo Olympics in August, set a new world record in the women's 10-kilometer race in Germany in September and was widely seen as a rising star in her countrys highly competitive running circuit.

But on Oct. 13, Ms. Tirop was found stabbed to death in her home in the Rift Valley of western Kenya. Her husband was arrested in her killing as he tried to flee to a neighboring country, the authorities said.

Ms. Tirop, who was 25 years old and a two-time World Championships bronze medalist, had told fellow athletes that he had threatened to break her legs and kill her. He has not yet been charged.

Her killing, just days after her last race in Switzerland, was a shock that energized a conversation in Kenya over how to combat violence against women, a longstanding problem. In the conservative nation, where domestic and sexual violence is largely seen as a private matter, Ms. Tirops case and an increase in abuse during Covid-19 lockdowns have spurred calls to break the silence on gender-based attacks.
MOGADISHU, Somalia  The C.I.A. convoy rolled out of Mogadishu in the dead of night, headed south along a crumbling ocean road that led deep into territory controlled by Al Shabab, one of Africas deadliest militant groups.

The vehicles halted at a seaside village where American and Somali paramilitaries poured out, storming a house and killing several militants, Somali officials said. But one man escaped, sprinted to an explosives-filled vehicle primed for a suicide bombing, and hit the detonator.

The blast last November killed three Somalis and grievously wounded an American: Michael Goodboe, 54, a C.I.A. paramilitary specialist and former Navy SEAL, who was airlifted to a U.S. military hospital in Germany. He died 17 days later.

His was a rare American fatality in the decade-old shadow war against Al Shabab, the worlds wealthiest and arguably most dangerous Al Qaeda affiliate. But Mr. Goodboe was also a casualty of an American way of war that has flourished since the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, now under greater scrutiny than ever.
As tens of millions of Americans remain unvaccinated, state and local governments have introduced mandates requiring public employees be fully inoculated against the coronavirus. And while orders in some localities have translated into a last minute surge in vaccination rates, they are also met with steadfast refusal, leading to legal challenges or concerns over staffing issues.

Washington States mandate, one of the strictest in the country, went into effect on Monday. The order requires more than 800,000 public workers to be fully inoculated against the coronavirus, save for a religious or medical exemption, or risk losing their jobs. Yet as the mandate kicked in, some resistance remained firm.

The Washington State Patrol announced that 127 employees left the agency, or just under 6 percent of its work force. In one high profile case, Washington State University fired its football coach, Nick Rolovich, and four of his assistants, for their failure to comply.

Similar issues are playing out elsewhere across the country. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio took one of his administration's most aggressive steps yet by requiring that all municipal workers get at least one shot by the end of the month or risk losing their paychecks. The order was met with mixed reactions from unions representing those workers, though many agree that the move could burden city agencies by leading to widespread resignations or early retirements.
One of the confederations biggest affiliates, the Hong Kong Professional Teachers Union, said it would dissolve this year. That organization was the citys largest teachers union, with more than 100,000 members, but it started disbanding after state media attacked it as a malignant tumor and the government said it would no longer recognize the group.

Activist groups have also been decimated. The Civil Human Rights Front, which had organized large marches, closed in August after Beijings office in Hong Kong accused it of opposing China and the police opened an investigation into its funding. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organized an annual vigil to mourn those killed in the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen protest movement, disbanded after the authorities began looking into its funding and accused most of its leadership of national security offenses, including subversion. The authorities removed displays from the groups museum and blocked access in Hong Kong to the groups website.

The past 32 years, with the Hong Kong Alliance keeping those memories alive, signaled that Hong Kong was different from mainland China, Richard Tsoi, the only officer of the group not in custody, said of the vigils. But things have changed significantly.

Many groups continue to operate, but some fear that the crackdown could spread.

We are not interested at all in politics, said Brian Wong, a member of Liber Research Community, an independent research institute that focuses on land use. But from what we can see on the mainland, eventually all of civil society can be seen as a threat.

The Hong Kong Journalists Associations relative distance from politics may have also insulated it thus far. Mr. Chan, the unions head, says its leadership has been hardened by years of covering crackdowns and street protests.
Germanys health minister, Jens Spahn, though, noted the countrys high vaccination rate and said that the emergency order could be lifted while other rules are put in place, like mask mandates and proof of vaccination. About 70 percent of the population has received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine.

Pandemic restrictions in Germany are set individually by the countrys 16 states, and in general, masks are required on public transportation and in stores. Since August, visitors to Germany have had to show proof of vaccination, recovery from infection or a recent negative test for entry to indoor public spaces, like restaurants, salons and gyms. Clubs in Berlin, famed for its hedonistic nightlife, reopened last month for the first time in over a year.

Cases are also resurging in Britain, where the government lifted virtually all restrictions in July, arguing that a rapid vaccination rollout had helped mitigate rates of hospitalizations and deaths. In June, the country reported as few as 2,000 cases a day, but last week, it reported an average of 47,209 new cases a day, a 30 percent increase over the average two weeks ago.

The government has rejected calls for an immediate reintroduction of some coronavirus restrictions, but it has also said that rules could be put back in place if a vaccine booster program did little to stop the spread. Health experts are cautioning that while vaccines do help prevent serious illness, they alone will not be enough to stop the upward trajectory of infection rates.
That has left the United States lagging behind dozens of nations in the pursuit of full vaccination. Although, with a population of about 330 million, it ranks third in the sheer number of administered doses, more than 411 million, after Chinas more than 2.2 billion doses and Indias more than one billion.

Other early vaccination leaders have also stumbled. Israel got an early start on its vaccination campaign on Dec. 20 and rapidly outpaced virtually every other nation in getting jabs into arms  and now in giving booster shots to nearly half of its eligible population. But today, with hesitancy remaining among Arab, Orthodox Jewish and younger Israelis, the country reports that just 63 percent of its population is fully vaccinated, less than South Korea, Italy and some 40 other countries.

Public health experts blame the shortcomings of the U.S. effort partly on a toxic political environment, amplified by misinformation on social media and muddled messaging by government authorities.

Every country has an anti-vax movement, but in most countries its exceedingly small, said Dr. John Swartzberg, a professor at the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley who has taught a seminar on vaccine hesitancy for several years. Its not a new movement, but its never had the traction it has today.

Social media has been irresponsible in dealing with unfounded rumors, he said, and the United States has been the poster child of a country that has not handled the messaging about vaccines.
ARMAGH , Northern Ireland - - (Independent Irish Political Press Release) - - An Independent Irish Alternative Medicine Consultant on the Island of Ireland , Professor Doctor Joseph Chikelue Obi , has once again boldly stuck his neck out to diplomatically broker a Public Peace Accord between the Opposing Factions of a United (and Totally Independent) Island of Ireland. "I am (Absolutely) Confident that there is still (more than) enough 
Ottumwa, IA (52501)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low near 35F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low near 35F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
MANISTEE COUNTY  The following includes reports made to the Manistee County Sheriffs Office from Sept. 24-28.

All calls may not be reported. This is part of a lengthy report and is compiled by assistant editor Arielle Breen.

Sept. 24

 Truancy was reported in Onekama Township at 8:06 a.m.

 Threats were reported in Onekama Township at 8:52 a.m.

 A domestic incident involving child custody was reported at 9:14 a.m. in Kaleva.

 A traffic hazard was reported at 10:41 a.m. in Filer Township.

 Animal control was called to Springdale Township at 1:09 p.m.

 A deputy assisted a citizen at 1:26 p.m. in Manistee Township.

 A person was reported to have been driving while license suspended at 2:37 p.m. in Kaleva.

 Harassment was reported at 7:21 p.m. in Maple Grove Township.

 A domestic assault was reported at 11:23 p.m. in Filer Township.

Sept. 25

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 4:50 a.m. in Onekama Township.

 A person was reported to have been driving with an expired license plate at 8 a.m. in Filer Township.

 A person was reported to have been driving without insurance at 9:45 a.m. in Maple Grove Township.

 A person was reported as voluntarily missing at 11 a.m. in Pleasanton Township.

 Larceny was reported at 1 p.m. in Manistee Township.

 Larceny was reported at 4 p.m. in Springdale Township.

 Deputies assisted EMS at 12:03 p.m. in Filer Township.

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 7:41 p.m. in Stronach Township.

 A person was reported to have been driving without insurance at 9 p.m. in Stronach Township.

 Trespassing was reported at 9:36 p.m. in Norman Township.

 A person was reported to have had a concealed carry weapon and an unregistered handgun at 12:02 a.m. in the county.

 A child custody incident was reported at 8:03 p.m. in Filer Township.

RELATED: Eight deer crashes in three days reported in Manistee County Sheriff's Office blotter

Sept. 26

 Deputies dispatched a deer at 12:44 p.m. in Manistee Township.

 A traffic hazard was reported at 9:59 a.m. in Manistee Township.

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 5:30 a.m. in Maple Grove Township.

 Larceny from a vehicle was reported at 2:15 p.m. in Dickson Township.

 Deputies conducted a well-being check at 8:02 a.m. in Springdale Township.

 Larceny from a vehicle was reported at 1:49 p.m. in Marilla Township.

 A civil matter was reported at 9:57 a.m. in the Village of Kaleva.

 Larceny from a vehicle was reported at 6 p.m. in Dickson Township.

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 8:36 p.m. in Norman Township.

 A verbal domestic incident was reported at 7:42 p.m. in Norman Township.

 A reckless driver was reported at 7:01 p.m. in Filer Township.

Sept. 27

 Larceny was reported at 8:16 a.m. in Stronach Township.

 Deputies assisted EMS at 9:28 a.m. in Maple Grove Township.

 Attempted fraud was reported at 12:12 p.m. in Norman Township.

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 8:50 p.m. in Manistee Township.

 A person was reported to have been driving with a suspended license at 10:22 p.m. in Norman Township.

 A two-vehicle personal injury crash was reported at 11:43 p.m. in Bear Lake Township.

Sept. 28

 A child protective services investigation was conducted at 6 a.m. in the county.

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 6:11 a.m. in Manistee Township.

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 7:02 a.m. in Springdale Township.

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 8:01 a.m. in Manistee Township.

 A person was reported as being unwanted at a location in Manistee Township.

 Truancy was reported at 9:40 a.m. in Dickson Township.

 A child protective services referral was reported at 6 a.m. in Dickson Township.

 Truancy was reported at noon in Dickson Township.

 Truancy was reported at 12:10 p.m. in Dickson Township.

 A person was reported to have been driving without insurance at 3:03 p.m. in Manistee Township.

 Insurance fraud was reported at 2:27 p.m. in Manistee Township.

 Larceny of vehicle parts was reported at 4 p.m. in Dickson Township.

 A domestic incident was reported at 4:59 p.m. in Filer Township.

 Malicious destruction of property was reported in Norman Township.

 A suspicious situation and assault were reported at 5:17 p.m. in Manistee Township.

 Reckless discharge of a firearm was reported at 8:22 p.m. in Stronach Township.
The staff at Grandmas Pumpkin Patch in Midland have proved you dont need to be scared to have a good time around Halloween. This weekend, the farm hosted its first flashlight corn maze of the year.

Adventurers of all ages trekked through the rows of corn on Friday and Saturday nights. Amanda King of Grandmas Pumpkin Patch stated the farm receives about 300 people at the three-acre maze on a busy night.

Grandmas Pumpkin Patch has been providing the corn maze activity shortly after being established in 1994. Kings sister brought the idea to Delia Sandow, the "Grandma" of Grandmas Pumpkin Patch, after seeing a corn maze in Indiana where she went to school.

(Sandow) couldnt believe people paid to walk in a field, King said with a laugh.

A couple years after the farm began the corn maze, they heard about other corn mazes having patrons go through at night with flashlights. Since there were no opportunities for such an event in Midland, the staff at Grandmas Pumpkin Patch decided to give it a try.

Theres haunted houses and theres spooky trail walks, but theres not a lot for families. Thats what were targeting  we want families to come out here and have fun, King said.

While there are no jump scares or creepy elements to the flashlight corn maze at Grandmas Pumpkin Patch, visitors should come prepared to face obstacles, including a few wrong turns and wet earth. Due to some rain that came through Midland the previous day, visitors had to slog through deep mud on Saturday night; more than a few emerged from the maze with their lower pant legs, even the seats of their pants, covered with mud.

King suggested that families bring their own flashlights into the maze; the farm has glowsticks for sale. Boots are also a good idea to ward off the cold and mud.

While visitors spend an average of 20 minutes going through the maze during the day, the typical finish time at night is about 30 minutes. Guests can mark their progress by finding six checkpoints dotted along the paths. There have been times where people got so lost that they needed to be rescued from the maze.

King explained the staff always checks the parking lot before they go home for the night to make sure no one is left behind. They have not had to send in any search teams yet this year.

Two more flashlight corn mazes are scheduled this year: from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 29 and Saturday, Oct. 30. The cost to enter the maze is $7 per person; those who bring a donation to Aarons Gifts from Home will receive $1 off admission. Grandmas Pumpkin Patch is located at 4277 N. Eastman Road.
CAIRO (AP)  Pro-military protesters briefly blocked major roads and bridges in Sudans capital Sunday, amid growing tensions between the generals and the pro-democracy movement that fueled the uprising against autocratic former president Omar al-Bashir.

The development came a day after U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman met with military and civilian leaders in Khartoum to find a compromise to the dispute.

The souring ties between the military and civilians in the ruling government threaten Sudans fragile transition to democracy since the militarys ouster of al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019 after nearly three decades of autocratic rule.

The current crisis surfaced with a coup attempt last month. Officials blamed al-Bashir loyalists for the move. But the generals lashed out at the civilian part of the government, accusing politicians of seeking government posts rather than helping ease peoples economic suffering.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of the ruling Sovereign Council, said that dissolving the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok could resolve the ongoing political crisis. That suggestion was rejected by hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters who took to the streets of Khartoum and elsewhere in the country Thursday.

That generals' accusations, echoed by Burhan and his deputy, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, have aroused fears among civilians that the military may eventually hijack the countrys transition to civilian rule.

Pro-military protesters rallied in Khartoum earlier this month, echoing Burhans demands. The protesters have since held a sit-in outside the presidential palace in the capital. Last week, they attempted to storm the Cabinet headquarters as Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok met with his Cabinet. Security forces dispersed them using tear gas.

On Saturday, dozens of pro-military protesters stormed the reception area of the headquarters of the countrys state-run news agency and set tires ablaze outside the agency offices. It delayed a news conference for pro-democracy activists, according to Mohamed Abdel-Hamid, director of SUNA news agency.

In an escalation Sunday, pro-military demonstrators cut off major roads and bridges, including the Mec Nimr Bridge, which links Khartoums downtown with other areas of the capital, according to activist and rights defender Tahani Abbas. The move caused traffic to clog the streets early Sunday, the first work day of the week, especially Nile Street, a main traffic artery in Khartoum.

What is happening ... is an official coup sponsored by Burhan, she said. Abbas shared photos of protesters blocking a bridge with passenger buses and vehicles being turned back.

Later in the day, security forces dispersed the protesters using tear gas to open the blocked roads. Video on social media purportedly showed protesters fleeing over the bridge and on Nile Street.

Feltman, the U.S. envoy, met in Khartoum with Buhan, Dagalo and Hamdok and emphasized U.S. support for a civilian democratic transition in accordance with the expressed wishes of the Sudanese people, the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum said.

He urged Sudanese leaders to commit to working together to implement the constitutional declaration and the Juba Peace Agreement between the government and an alliance of rebel groups, the embassy said.

The tensions come weeks ahead of a scheduled rotation of the leadership on the ruling sovereign council from the military to civilians, according to the constitutional declaration that established the joint government in August 2019.
Kampala, Uganda (PANA) - At least three people were feared killed and about seven severely injured in an explosion on Saturday night in a bar in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, the local media reported on Sunday
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Japan have signed an agreement to support the "People Project" aimed at providing technical and advisory support to the High National Elections Commission in Libya (HNEC)
The Arizona Western College Parker Learning Center is located at 11th Street and Geronimo Avenue in Parker. The college is looking for ideas for training programs in La Paz County.
Head of Monitoring Unit of the Forestry Commission, Charles Owusu has expressed disappointment in President Nana Addo for not declaring his stance on the anti-LGBTQ+ bill.



President Nana Akufo-Addo, in an interview on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' on Thursday, October 21, responded to the calls on him to tackle the LGBTQ+ issues with particular emphasis on whether or not he supports the bill.



He called for civil discourse on the LGBTQ+ controversy but stressed he cannot be pressured to declare his position.



"It's in Parliament. It's a Private Members Bill. We have been fighting for [many, many] a long time the opportunity for private members to also sponsor bills of Parliament . . .The Parliament is looking at it. Let's see how the process develops.



"No! I can't feel pressured. We're talking about public opinion. We're talking about legitimate processes that are being used. What I would hope for is that the debate itself will be civil and that we will recognize the need for us to be tolerant of each other, even when there are opposing views," he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi.



But the President's statements do not sit well with Charles Owusu.



Reacting on Kokrokoo on Friday, he appealed to the President to make his position clear to Ghanaians saying ''it's either you are for or against. There is no middle stand in this LGBTQ+ issue. All Ghanaians know the bill is already in Parliament. We know it. We all know it's a private members bill. Whether civil or whatever manner, with all due respect, Your Excellency; Ghanaians who voted for you to become President say they don't like this thing''.



He cautioned the President stressing the LGBTQ+ ''will never happen in Ghana for us to accept same sex marriage. Mark my words!''



''Any government that will dare Ghanaians and try this thing is a redeemed change'', he warned.

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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Kenyas churchgoers have been used to smartly dressed politicians rolling up in flash cars to attend services on Sundays  often with cameras in tow.



They tend to arrive flush with cash donations  carried by their handlers in shoulder bags  which can be used for the construction of mega churches and the purchase of loud music systems.



In exchange for this largesse, midway through the service, the politician takes to the pulpit, where the congregation becomes a captive audience for their message, which often has little to do with the bible.



These sermons often make it to TV bulletins to satisfy an insatiable appetite for news about those manoeuvring ahead of the next election, still nine months away.



Some tour around in search of new congregations, leading to some clashes inside churches with politicians accusing each other of invading one anothers turf.



Priests have also been known to be invited to politicians homes to discuss development affairs  as part of negotiations to ease these turf wars.



There are allegations  denied of course  that some of the donations are the proceeds of ill-gotten gains.



Now leaders of the established churches have had enough. They have banned politicians from the pulpit, accusing them of making divisive and unedifying remarks that desecrate the church.



In order to reduce media attention, the churches will also no longer disclose the amounts donated by politicians towards church projects.



Partly priests are to blame for the capture of the church by politicians. There was need to return the practice into its purity, Catholic Archbishop Anthony Muheria explained to the BBC.



The head of the Anglican Church in Kenya, Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit, concurred that it was a mistake to give leeway to politicians in churches in the first place.



I own it 100%. But we cant remain in the same mistake for long. A moment of repentance  a turnaround  is needed, he said when the ban was announced last month.



Politicians are selfish people



The move has been welcomed by some  especially these churchgoers I spoke to in the capital, Nairobi.



To be honest it was a distraction. I have been waiting for church leaders to deal with it, said Eunice Waweru.



Janet Nzilani agreed: Im glad the decision was made because politicians are selfish people. They are not there to inspire people or to call for unity. They dont value people at all. Pastors should just recognise their presence [in church] and nothing else.



Florence Atieno said that politicians should be treated with respect, acknowledged by a pastor if they were in the congregation and be allowed to greet congregants after a service.



My only problem is when they start campaigning and abusing each other in church, she said.



But these women all attend evangelical churches whose clerics may not necessarily agree with the pulpit ban.



It is being led by the Anglican, Catholic and Presbyterian churches and is facing resistance from those ministries where allegiance to self-proclaimed prophets and faith healers is huge.



Big business



Kenyans are predominantly Christian  85.5% of the countrys 50 million people, according to the 2019 census  with most now going to evangelical churches. The Catholic Church is the next most popular denomination.



The faith economy is big business  and a fundraiser with the right politician can greatly improve the fortunes of a church.





Many churches have been left cash-strapped as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, so it is no surprise that some evangelical clerics have opposed a blanket pulpit ban.



I dont think it will take root because we have churches that are opportunistic, they are looking for politicians who will give them money, sometimes they even invite them themselves, media commentator Barrack Muluka told the BBC.



Author and scholar Peter Kimani explains that the clergy of the established churches no longer have the control they did in the 1990s.



It is no longer a unifying force The evangelicals are briefcase operations and have no organising principles, he told the BBC.



Religious studies scholar Josephine Gitome notes that many worshippers may not be that bothered by the politicians behaviour.



Most Kenyans may be churchgoers, but are not that religious day-to-day: There is concern about whether their behaviour between Monday and Saturday concurs with their behaviour on Sunday.

Source: BBC









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An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced four persons to a total of 60 years imprisonment in hard labour for snatching a Dahatsu taxi cab valued at GHC22,000.



Frank Obeng, 23, trader, alias Khalifa, Richard Quaye, 36, IT technician, alias Shasty, Kwasi Asamoah, 35, labourer, alias Faroy and Samuel Lartey, 32, trader, alias Gravity, leader of the gang, all denied conspiring to snatch the cab.



They also denied causing hand, finger and back wounds to David Anku, the complainant and victim but were found culpable after trial.



Meanwhile, Francis Addy, a driver, was acquitted and discharged on the charge of dishonestly receiving the stolen car.



General Sergeant Thomas Sarfo, the prosecutor, told the Court presided over by Madam Adelaide Abui Keddey, that Anku resided at Gbawe whilst Obeng lived at Auntie Aku, Quaye and Asamoah at Odokor and Odokor Official Town, respectively and Lartey at Anyaa.



The Court heard that on September 16, 2020, at about 0315 hours, the complainant was in charge of Dahatsu cab with the registration number GS 5742-20 within Dansoman Junction when Obeng hired him to Awoshie at a fee of GHC15.00.



He said on reaching a section of the road at Onyinase-Awoshie, Obeng instructed the complainant to park the car so he could take the fare from his friend.



The prosecutor said Lartey surfaced and at gun-point pulled the driver to the back seat.



He said Quaye and Asamoah also rushed on the victim and started beating him with screw drivers and broken bottles because he struggled with them.



The prosecutor said, as a result, Anku had a finger slashed, sustained several screw driver pinches at his back as well as wounds on his head from the broken bottles.



He said Quaye took charge of the steering wheel and drove the car away until they reached Anyaa, where Anku was pulled out of the car.



The prosecutor told the Court that, Anku was not only robbed of the cab but also his cellular phone valued GHC150.00, cash of GHC630.00, his wedding ring, tools and gearbox belonging to another car, were stolen.



He said the gang met Addy at Ablekuma, where he took the vehicle and sold it at GHC5,000, giving the proceeds to Lartey who shared it among the four.

The prosecutor said while a formal complainant was being lodged with the Anyaa Police, eight people were brought to the Station by the police patrol team and Anku identified Obeng as one of his attackers.



He said Anku was issued with a medical form to attend hospital and during investigations, Obeng mentioned Quaye, Asamoah and Lartey as his accomplices, leading to their arrest.



The prosecutor said four days later, intelligence led to the arrest of Addy.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Kenyan police have launched a manhunt for a suspect identified as Patrick Mumo Ngenge, who raped his 90-year-old mother on October 20, 2021, in Mbooni-Makueni county before going into hiding.



The octogenarian was found in her bedroom by her eldest son writhing in pain and complaining of waist pains.



The Directorate of Criminal Investigations said the 45-year-old suspect invaded his mother's house at 8:00 pm before committing the heinous act.



The DCI said in a statement; She tearfully narrated her harrowing ordeal in the hands of her younger son Patrick Mumo, 45, who forced his way into her bedroom at around 8:00 pm as she slept and subjected her to the beastly act."



The lady was immediately rushed to Kisau Sub-county hospital in serious condition, where she is currently undergoing treatment. Doctors at the medical facility have since confirmed that indeed she had been raped.



Patrick Mumo Ngenge has been asked to turn himself in as the law will eventually catch up with him.









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 Member of Parliament for Akyem Oda constituency in the Eastern region and the Vice Chairman of the Trade, Industry and Tourism committee in Parliament, Alexander Akwasi Acquaqh, has questioned the moral right of the NDC and ex-President John Mahama to continuously talk about the Komenda Sugar factory.



He said he was surprised the NDC will blame the current government on why the factory is not operational till now.



Contributing to 'The Punch' programme on Kessben Radio which was also aired on Kessben TV, the MP said the NDC must not miss the opportunity to apologise to the chiefs and people of Komenda for the false hope of activating a factory that could offer employment to Ghanaians.



Komenda would have been a vibrant industrial village if the NDC had planned the operations of the factory well.



According to him Ghanaians need some explanation on why the factory stopped operating just some months after its establishment.



Alexander Akwasi Acquaqh said, "President Akufo-Addo has shown the way by apologising to the people of Cape Coast, so the NDC should follow suit and apologise to the people of Komenda and the whole of the Central Region and by extension Ghanaians."



The MP also gave a revival plan of the government in its effort to get the factory working.

Source: Emmanuel Akorli/Parliamentary Correspondent/Peace FM









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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Logansport, IN (46947)

Today

Cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later in the day. High 47F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers later at night. Low 34F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
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Carlos Chang has taken down the 2021 World Series of Poker Event #41: $2,500 Freezeout for $364,589 after a 3.5-hour heads-up battle against Brady Osterman, . His maiden bracelet is the third for Taiwan and the second in 2021. The tournament attracted 896 players during the registration period which yielded a total prize pool of $1,993,600 with the biggest prize going to Chang in the end.

After reaching the final tables of the 2015 Little One for One Drop here in the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, the Monster Stack of the 2015 World Series of Europe, and The Closer in 2019, Chang finally managed to grab that elusive title.

"I think this is my biggest cash, yes, this is my fourth final table. I told myself, this year if I make a final table, I will win the bracelet. And it happened! I am pretty excited. I was focused all day and yesterday."

Chang joins the ranks of Pete Chen who won an online bracelet earlier on WSOP.com and James Chen. "I don't know if I can count myself to the greats of Taiwan, I am a hobby player, I'm probably the better non-pro out there." he said with a smile. Pete Chen was actually on his rail together with John Reading who finished in fourth place in the Little One for One Drop back in 2015, one spot higher than Chang but captured a bracelet later on.

Carlos Chang with John Reading and Pete Chen

Chang and Osterman were joined by familiar names and faces like Adrien Delmas, Sergi Reixach, Arthur Conan, and Sung Joo Hyun on the final table today while Christopher Basile and Uri Reichenstein busted the night before to make it one of the most international final tables of the series up till now.

Event #41: $2,500 Freezeout Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 Carlos Chang Taiwan $364,589 2 Brady Osterman United States $225,333 3 Adrien Delmas France $161,731 4 Sergi Reixach Spain $117,650 5 Arthur Conan France $86,757 6 Sung Joo Hyun South Korea $64,864 7 Gerald Cunniff United States $49,179 8 Quang Ngo United States $37,820 9 Christopher Basile United States $29,506 10 Uri Reichenstein Israel $23,358

From Eight Players to the Heads-Up Battle

Chang came into the final table with the chip lead and had a clear strategy: "At the beginning, I was trying to attack the middle and short stack. I lost a three-bet the first two hands, that got me down to 6 million, lost two flips, down to 2.8 million, the shortest and then I slowly came back. I got lucky when I hit the straight flush draw against the kings. I got lucky on Day 2 too, I started with 8.5 big blinds, won three flips in a row. The strategy I employed this time, just play one hand at a time. That's the key I suppose instead of trying to win immediately. When you know you're losing, it's time to give up, don't try to force any plays that might get you into trouble. If you're losing, just wait for the next hand. That's what I was trying to do, my goal was to win one hand at a time."

It would take almost two hours before Quang Ngo busted to Conan and another two before Gerald Cunniff fell to Reixach. Hyun was the only bracelet winner on the final table but fell to Conan too in sixth place. Just twenty minutes later, Conan ran his lower pocket pair of sevens into the nines of his fellow countryman Delmas.

Adrien Delmas finished in third place for $161,731

Four-handed play lasted an hour before Reixach fell victim to Chang who had flopped a straight. Delmas had the biggest and loudest rail of all the players, singing songs from one side to the other but to no avail. Delmas had shoved on the flop with an overpair but Chang had flopped the flush and improved to a straight flush on the turn to get Delmas down to less than a big blind. Chang claimed those chips too to get to the heads-up stage of the tournament.

Hobby Player Wins the Heads-Up Battle

The heads-up battle was a long one with the chips going back and forth for a while.

"I had to pick out some spots. Brady was pretty aggressive and I wasn't getting any cards. He was taking a lot of chips from me. We flipped once with eights versus his ace-king. I doubled up, from there it went back and forth. And finally, the flush helped me. He called. I knew he calls a lot, so I figured out, I'll just go all-in, he'll call. And he really called, because he never folds actually." Chang said while laughing.

Carlos Chang and Brady Osterman shake hands

Despite many jeers from some of the guys from Osterman's rail, Chang got it done eventually when he doubled with the aforementioned rivered flush and then took the rest when he hit the straight on the final card of the final hand. Chang got up, shook Osterman's hand, and then walked over to Chen and Reading to celebrate. Chen and Chang are planning their bracelet ceremony together at some point during the Main Event when more of their friends have come over to Las Vegas.

This concludes the PokerNews coverage of another Freezeout tournament, but make sure to follow all the ongoing WSOP action on the live reporting hub.

Carlos Chang

Check out our 2021 WSOP Hub here!
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A 50-room hotel that would be part of a mixed-use project with apartments and retail has been approved for a downtown Charleston lot where a much larger proposed lodging was denied last year.

For more than a century, the property, which is less than a block from upper King Street, housed Hughes Lumber. That store closed in 2016, and, a few years later, the city was reviewing a proposal to build offices on the site.

Final approval was given to designs for a nine-story office building, but that project ultimately didn't work out.

In early 2020, a new application came before the city's zoning board, asking to open a 215-room hotel there instead.

That request was turned away, with some board members arguing it didn't "contribute to a...diverse mixed-use district," a requirement that's been part of Charleston's hotel-related rules since they were updated in 2019.

When that denial was challenged, the BZA doubled down on the decision and voted against a request to reconsider.

The current proposal for the property comes from a different developer and meets the city's requirements, zoning administrator Lee Batchelder told board members at an Oct. 19 meeting.

Bennett Hospitality, owned by local developer Michael Bennett, asked for 50 rooms, which would occupy a portion of a building that would also have 78 rental residences, a restaurant, retail, meeting space and a pool.

The hotel would be four stories, and the apartment section of the building would rise to the full eight stories allowed at that site.

Retail, the restaurant, the hotel lobby and a lobby bar would make up the first floor, with parking spaces below, according to the plans.

Bennett is also developing a previously approved mixed-use project adjacent to the Mary Street lot, at 411 Meeting St. That proposed project will have a much larger hotel, with 300 guest rooms, plus buildings with apartments, condominiums and event space.

Between that development and the proposed mixed-use building at 82 Mary would be an extension of the planned Lowcountry Lowline park, running from Reid to Mary streets. Plans also include a courtyard that would be accessible from the Lowline.

In a letter to the zoning board weighing in on the Mary Street proposal, Erin Minnigan of the Preservation Society said the group was encouraged by the incorporation of the Lowline and the opportunity for "coordinated redevelopment" of the site with the other Bennett-owned property next to it.

Batchelder said city staff recommended approval, and board members voted unanimously in favor of the 50-room hotel request.

Along with the 300-room hotel that's yet to be built on the adjacent property, the project will also be close to the Homewood Suites on Meeting, the 200-room full-service hotel being built at the former Morris Sokol site and couple other boutique-sized lodgings approved on King Street.

Bennett owns a dozen existing hotels in the Charleston area and has approvals in hand for several others downtown.
We've all watched the news stories of Honduran families making the treacherous journey across our southern border.

So today, I have only two main questions.

First question: What makes them take such a risk?

For instance, why do they trek thousands of miles through harsh weather, violence and rough terrain? Why do they risk arrest or even worse  rape, robbery, human trafficking or being separated from their children?

Public schools are overcrowded, underfunded and poorly staffed. Children without the needed resources find school difficult and drop out.

Thats why my daughter, Sara, started Chispa Project, pronounced "cheez-pah," meaning "spark" in Spanish. Hondurans use the word to describe people with spark or drive.

Chispa has a simple mission: Sponsor children's libraries and equip them with quality books in Spanish by working side by side with Honduran community leaders and educators.

In the 60 schools where Chispa works, they build alliances with communities to design, fund and manage their own libraries. Community members also volunteer in the library project and raise a symbolic portion of the funding that ensures sustainability and ownership.

Chispa, like Hondurans, wants to see children educated and grow up so they can remain united with their families and have choices in their future. It wants to see Honduran children dreaming their own American-like dream.

Of the many Hondurans I've met, most don't want to leave their homes. They don't want our country. They don't want our welfare dollars or our jobs. They want their country. They want their homes. They want a way to provide opportunities for their children.

Now the second question: Would you consider spending a week in Honduras with me and 25 other volunteers to start three new libraries?

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Come fly with me. It'll be fun, I promise. It's only a three-hour flight from Houston, and we remain on Central Time.

The day after we arrive, we begin decorating libraries that will make children proud of their school. We paint the walls with colorful murals, assemble bookshelves and stock and catalog an entire library.

Imagine us working together, rolling two coats of white paint on crumbling walls. The paint provides a bright pallet for those murals intended to inspire future readers.

The children surround us, chattering the few English words they know. Their smiles go for hours and hours as they read the picture books we bring.

The days are sometimes hot and long, but not to worry. I reward my volunteers with ice cream cones from a street vendor.

I know some of you are asking me a question right now: Is it dangerous?

That's a risk you will have to assess on your own, but I can tell you that I have brought and safely returned several octogenarians in past years. I can also tell you that I'm comfortable with my daughter, Sara, her husband and her 1-year-old baby living in Honduras full time.

Now is the time to sign up for one of our two available volunteer trips. The first is for May 15-22, 2022, and the second, June 19-26, 2022.

I know you have more questions, so check out our website at ChispaProject.org/volunteertrip. Read the details, fill out the forms and watch the five-minute video. Email me or Sara if you have your own questions.

And if you can't fly with me, will you consider a donation to help us establish these libraries? Whoops. I guess I promised only two questions.

If you live in the Charleston area, come see Sara and me in person this week! Check out our schedule at ChispaProject.org/charleston.

Donate at ChispaProject.org/thechaplain or send check payable to Chispa Project to 10556 Combie Road, Suite 6643, Auburn CA, 95602.
MYRTLE BEACH  Former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride, one of 12 Republicans planning a primary challenge of U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, is raffling off an AR-15 rifle.

McBride is offering a Cormac Carbine AR-15 5.56 "in defiance of Biden, Pelosi, and the rest of the Socialists," he wrote in an email to supporters on Oct. 20.

"The Socialist Democrats HATE that I'm giving away an AR-15 and HATE that I support the police, and Law and Order," McBride added, "and that's why after this one, I'm going to give away a few more."

Firearm giveaways by political candidates are not unheard of in South Carolina.

In 2018, Gov. Henry McMaster raffled off a 9mm pistol during a gun show at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia while seeking a full term in office. State Sen. Lee Bright offered up an AR-15 during his unsuccessful campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Rice is facing GOP opposition to win a sixth-term for his seat in the state's heavily Republican 7th Congressional District seat because of his vote to impeach President Donald Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Rice, a Myrtle Beach accountant and lawyer, was one of 10 GOP House members to vote for impeachment.

The winner of McBride's rifle raffle, chosen on Nov. 24, must follow regulations in their state and could need provide proof of identity, licenses and permits, the contest rules say.

South Carolina laws do not require any permits, registration or licenses to purchase or own a firearm.

The semiautomatic rifle, McBride said, comes from Cormac Arms and Outfitters, a Myrtle Beach gun shop, with a retail value of $1,000.

The raffle comes just a day after McBride's opponent Graham Allen was endorsed by controversial Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, and a few days after his third quarter campaign fundraising fell far short in comparison to Rice and Allen.
NORTH CHARLESTON  An old drug store on Reynolds Avenue has been refurbished into a multiuse building. Its current tenants include a political campaign, a crystals store and a barbershop.

Less than 2 miles around the corner, on Spruill Avenue, an old ice distribution center has been redeveloped into office spaces for an architectural studio, real estate company and construction businesses.

A local nonprofit also has plans within the next 18 months to build more than a dozen new affordable homes in the neighborhood.

The projects point to what urban planners and municipalities describe as "infill development," or the kind of development that focuses on building businesses, homes and infrastructure in existing communities by repurposing old structures or building upon underused land. The idea has gained regional popularity within the past decade as planners seek to combat urban sprawl, or growth that extends farther out into rural areas.

North Charleston's centralized location, along with the large number of vacant properties in the city's older neighborhoods, make it ripe for infill. The challenge is how to bring about successful change while maintaining affordability and ensuring neighborhood residents benefit from the growth.

The city's overall strategy has been creating projects that attract investment, Mayor Keith Summey said.

In the Chicora-Cherokee community, the city has worked with nonprofit Metanoia to redevelop the neighborhood's old elementary school into space that would house artist studios and an early childhood education program.

Also, North Charleston would like to see a new senior center constructed on the former tank farm site in Chicora. The community has a number of vacant lots that could be developed as well, Summey said.

The neighborhood has seen challenges over the years. It's in an area where the median family income sits below $40,000 and where community leaders have long worked to rid the neighborhood of crime. Part of the city's goal is to help make the community desirable to investors, Summey said.

It's about creating the things that draw people to do the infill," he said.

'Eye of the hurricane'

Developers believe infill development can be used to combat the urban sprawl that's particularly being seen in once-rural parts of Berkeley and Dorchester counties. Developers and community leaders argue the traffic has worsened over the years partially due to more people living in subdivisions built farther away from their jobs.

Promoting infill is also cost-effective because it focuses growth toward places with existing infrastructure, such as water and sewer lines, said Kathryn Basha, planning director of the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments.

"That's a cost you don't have to pass on through the housing," Basha said.

While North Charleston has encouraged infill, the city has also extended its borders in recent years with the annexation of thousands of acres west of the Ashley River in Dorchester County. The development, known as Watson Hill, is under construction. The area will feature 1,000 homes. North Charleston's Finance Committee approved on Oct. 21 a $4.5 million bid from Trident Construction to design and build the community's new fire station.

Summey said the city can both focus on expanding its traditional city limits while also filling in the holes that exist throughout the municipality. The increased tax base will help to fund services in other parts of the city, he said.

"That growth helps pay for services that we provide in areas that do not raise enough money to pay for the services," Summey said.

Infill development should continue to be a top priority because it promotes connectivity by creating jobs and homes within close proximity, said North Charleston developer Ed Sutton.

North Charleston's Reynolds Avenue is particularly attractive for growth because it's close to Interstate 26, he said.

The roadway will also be near the new Lowcountry Rapid Transit bus route that will extend from Dorchester County into downtown Charleston and is expected to spur mixed-use developments along its path.

"I kind of describe the Reynolds area as the eye of the hurricane," Sutton said.

In 2018, Metanoia spearheaded efforts to bring attention to the Reynolds Avenue area, which is in the city's Chicora-Cherokee neighborhood. The organization partnered with Clemson University's urban design students and the community to discuss what kinds of community improvements and investment the neighborhood desired.

Since then, a number of locally owned businesses have taken residence along Reynolds. New restaurants include a bakery, two Mexican eateries and a rotisserie chicken spot.

The city has worked to draw investment to the area as well. North Charleston has been selling properties and intends to use the proceeds to build new parking lots. Also, the S.C. Department of Transportation recently agreed to hand over ownership of Reynolds and Spruill Avenues to the city, giving the North Charleston more control over what happens on that side of town. Ultimately, officials would like to see both corridors become more pedestrian-friendly. They hope to install a bike path along Spruill Avenue.

The city's vision for Spruill Avenue piqued the interest of WRS Inc. Real Estate Investments, the company redeveloping the old ice house building at 4287 Spruill Ave., into office and retail spaces. New businesses like Holy City Brewery and Firefly Distillery had already opened their doors along the Spruill strip. Young people were moving to the nearby Park Circle community.

"We saw the area was really coming on," said Pat Marr with WRS.

North Charleston has worked to encourage infill in other parts of town, too. North Charleston established a special financing district near Remount Road to help fund infrastructure improvements for the area, which will soon see 200 affordable townhomes. The developer for the project, known as Greenwood Townhomes, has said the dwellings will go for $185,000 to $195,000.

We do need some more opportunities for young people to be able to afford to live in that area," Summey said.

Affordability a priority

Metanoia got involved in housing work in the Chicora-Cherokee neighborhood around 2002 after realizing the students in the nonprofit's educational program lived in dilapidated housing conditions.

Since that time the nonprofit has gotten involved in building affordable housing. This is important because the growth and revitalization of Park Circle threatens to gentrify Chicora and other surrounding neighborhoods that are low-income and predominantly Black.

To combat the issue, Metanoia has created more than 40 affordable-housing units within Chicora. The group plans to build 22 more within the next 18 months, Stanfield said.

"It's so needed," he said. "We have a long waiting list of people when we build a house to move into these homes."

Similar work has been happening in Union Heights, where a developer has completed 10 two-bedroom and three-bedroom houses that all sold for under $200,000.

The city is also considering building reasonably priced living spaces for seniors in that neighborhood, Summey said.

Other communities, such as Dorchester-Waylyn and Dorchester Terrace, have also seen an uptick in refurbished housing projects, the mayor said.

"The problem is getting all of this done without prices going out of sight," he said.

Stanfield said more resources should be made available for the cause. Neither Charleston County nor the city of North Charleston has a local funding source for affordable housing outside of federal dollars, he said.

"Were trying to improve the fabric of the community, " Stanfield said. "Housing is not the end for us. Community stability and equity is the end for us."

The new bus rapid-transit line presents an opportunity for local municipalities to encourage affordability. North Charleston recently adopted a new overlay zone along Rivers Avenue that incentivizes developers to set aside 20 percent of units for multifamily housing to be rented at affordable rates.
Four. Billion. Dollars.

That's how much it's expected to cost to widen and improve the 13 miles of Interstate 526 from North Charleston through Daniel Island and into Mount Pleasant.

It would be South Carolina's most expensive road project, and it's only one part of a larger plan.

The Lowcountry Corridor East project, as it's called, sounds deceptively simple: doubling the width of the highway from four to eight lanes.

If You Go The I-526 Lowcountry Corridor East public information meetings will be held: Tuesday, Oct. 26, 5-7 p.m., at the R. L. Jones Center, 391 Egypt Road, Mount Pleasant.

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 5-7 p.m., at the Felix C. Davis Community Center, 4800 Park Circle, North Charleston. To get there by bus, use CARTA Routes 13 and 104. The information is also online, at 526lowcountrycorridor.com/eastvpim2021/ To get a public information meeting packet by mail, call 842-258-1135 or email info@526LowcountryCorridor.com

What that involves, however, is likely replacing both the Don Holt and James B. Edwards (Wando) bridges, substantially redesigning the Long Point Road interchange in Mount Pleasant and buying out the owners of dozens of homes and businesses located near the highway.

The estimated price tag  nearly four times the cost of building a proposed sea wall around Charleston  works out to about $308 million per mile.

The interstate runs through three of South Carolina's four largest cities, is the main truck route for the state's largest port and is a known trouble spot for motorists.

Youve only got two lanes in each direction with shoulders that range from 4 to 10 feet," said Joy Riley, manager of the project at the S.C. Department of Transportation. "That doesnt allow trucks to interact with other traffic well."

"This is really a safety issue, when you get down to it," Riley said.

Even minor accidents can bring traffic to a halt, and since much of the road is elevated, drivers stuck behind a wreck often can't get off or turn around to seek another route.

The massive price tag is a stark example of the infrastructure costs borne by taxpayers that can follow rapid population growth and development. When I-526 connected Mount Pleasant to Daniel Island and North Charleston in 1992, that kicked off the development of Daniel Island and the Cainhoy peninsula.

Mount Pleasant's population has tripled since then, adding about 60,000 residents.

The road today is one of South Carolina's most congested stretches of highway.

The Lowcountry Corridor East project runs from near Virginia Avenue in North Charleston to U.S. Highway 17 in Mount Pleasant. The other part of the Lowcountry Corridor plan, the West portion that would cost an estimated $2.98 billion, would widen the interstate through North Charleston and West Ashley and redesign the interchange with Interstate 26.

Lowcountry Corridor West is being treated as a separate project due to its size and is farther along in planning and funding, with construction starting as early as 2027. Improving the often-snarled I-526/I-26 interchange is a key part of the plan.

The East portion would be the second part of the project. Riley said it wouldn't make sense to widen the highway from Mount Pleasant to North Charleston without first addressing the I-26 interchange.

However, parts of the East project, such as reworking the Long Point Road interchange in Mount Pleasant, could potentially be tackled before the main road-and-bridge part gets underway, she said. Even without the truck traffic there, Riley said the volume of commuter traffic is enough to support a triple-lane left turn from the interstate to Long Point Road.

On Oct. 26 and 27 people will have a chance to see the most detailed plans yet for the East project at in-person meetings in Mount Pleasant and North Charleston.

Its going to happen," North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey said. "What we have to do is make sure its acceptable to the people it will affect on a daily basis."

I think the main issue is that theyre going to have to make sure it has connectability to both North Rhett (Avenue), which needs improvement as it is, and Virginia Avenue," he added. "Particularly for truck traffic and things of that nature."

SCDOT is hoping for feedback on the different alternatives and the big-picture parts of the plan. For example:

The Wando bridge could be replaced by two parallel bridges that would be lower, about 65 feet above the water instead of the current 138, pending Coast Guard review. A bike and pedestrian path between Mount Pleasant and Daniel Island would be included.

The Don Holt Bridge could be replaced by two parallel bridges that could be 186 feet above the water, a height increase of 31 feet, to allow the largest containerships to pass under the bridge.

At least four options are being presented for the interchange of I-526 and Long Point Road in Mount Pleasant, where trucks carrying shipping containers to and from South Carolina's busiest port access the highway.

"What comes out of the study were doing now is were looking at all the alternatives we developed," Riley said. What were trying to figure out is what improvements would fix the problem."

What is not being presented is the precise location of dozens of homes and businesses that would have to be relocated.

In the five alternatives the DOT has laid out, between 64 and 80 homes and businesses would be lost to the road project.

Most of the impacts are on both sides of the Wando bridge," said Riley. We dont want people to focus too much on that right now.

Both sides of the Wando bridge means property on Daniel Island, which is part of the city of Charleston, and in Mount Pleasant, where Riley said there is pretty dense development on both sides of the interstate."

We are always promoting land development control, but thats something DOT has no control over," she said.

Riley said specific homes and businesses in the path of the five scenarios under consideration haven't been publicly identified because the state is not ready to buy properties and identifying them could cause hardship for the owners.

Such specifics would come with more detailed planning, but property owners might be able to look at the plans to get a fair idea if they should worry.

"While the devil is always in the details, which we haven't fully seen yet, the city believes that traffic relief along these major corridors is critical to our region's economy and our citizens' quality of life," said city of Charleston spokesman Jack O'Toole. "With that in mind, we look forward to learning more about any potential impacts on city residents and businesses, and will have further comments as those details become clearer."

While some scenarios would leave the Don Holt Bridge intact, most call for it to be replaced with two parallel bridge that would be much taller. That's a priority for the State Ports Authority, because taller bridges would allow the largest containerships to reach the North Charleston Terminal.

Building new bridges on each side of the existing ones limits the impact of the project, Riley said, because building one large bridge would concentrate the impacts on homes and businesses along one side of the highway.

The expected payoff, which would be years in the future assuming the funding falls into place as expected, could be a big boost for the State Ports Authority but may sound disappointing to motorists. That's because after years and billions of dollars in expense, travel times in 2050 would be about what they are today, according to DOT. It's widely accepted that so much more traffic is expected due to residential development and the trucks flowing to and from the Wando port terminal.

As with most road projects, one option on the table is doing nothing.

With no changes, average daily traffic is expected to increase by 72 percent by 2050, and the rush-hour traffic would be a bumper-to-bumper crawl every weekday, DOT forecasts. That would mean a nearly hourlong trip from U.S. Highway 17 in Mount Pleasant to Virginia Avenue in North Charleston, according to those forecasts.

The two in-person I-526 Lowcountry Corridor East public information drop-in meetings this month are: Tuesday, Oct. 26, 5-7 p.m., at the R. L. Jones Center, 391 Egypt Road, Mount Pleasant; and Wednesday, Oct. 27, 5-7 p.m., at the Felix C. Davis Community Center, 4800 Park Circle, North Charleston.
NORTH AUGUSTA  Aiken Regional Medical Centers held a groundbreaking ceremony for its planned ER at Sweetwater in North Augusta.

The freestanding facility is scheduled to open June 2022 off Austin Graybill Road near Exit 5, and will provide care for all ages.

We are committed to meeting the health care needs of Aiken County so we can best accomplish our goal, CEO of Aiken Regional Medical Centers Jim OLaughlin said. Our goal is to bring convenient, high-quality health care closer to home. Establishing a freestanding emergency department in the west end of Aiken County will allow us to better serve the needs of the community we serve.

The emergency room, according to Aiken Regional, is expected to open in June 2022 with 24/7 operating hours.

Aiken Regional Medical Centers has placed the health of our community as its very, very top priority," said Gerald Gordon, infectious disease specialist and chairman of the Board of Governors at Aiken Regional. "We have all in this community risen to the challenge COVID-19 brought to our region. Constructing an emergency services route on this site is another good example of how our team is transforming health care delivery and bringing resources that are needed in a more convenient manner to residents in our region, said Gerald Gordon, infectious disease specialist and chairman of the Board of Governors at Aiken Regional.

(The) freestanding emergency department will provide top-notch care where minutes really matter, especially for those that are having strokes, heart attacks and other severe illnesses that require a rapid diagnosis and providing those services in North Augusta and this area of Aiken, residents can be assured that emergent care is needed to be available closer to home, Gordon said.

The emergency room will house six exam rooms with three rapid medical exam spaces. The more than 11,000-square-foot facility will also have full service radiology and laboratory services, and will be open with a physician on staff.

We think this is going to be a great facility for us and a great option for citizens of Aiken County and North Augusta, said Chris DeLoach, director of Aiken County medical services.  This would allow people to stay in their hometown and receive quality health care. The impact that a facility like this can have, when we talk about minutes, can save lives. Family members can continue to spend time together.

North Augusta Mayor Briton Williams also attended the ceremony.

People get how critical it is for us to have this standalone ER in North Augusta, Williams said. This is something, as citizens, we are going to embrace; and we have, so I think that is fantastic.

The city of North Augusta grew about 13% from 2010 to 2020, according to Williams and the U.S. Census.

Aiken Regional Medical Centers started as a hospital in 1917. The hospital today, now located near the USC Aiken campus, has 273 beds and provides a range of services. Over 1,700 health care workers and volunteers keep the hospital running.
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.
MYRTLE BEACH  When 10 Republican members of Congress broke ranks to impeach former President Donald Trump earlier this year, Trump loyalists looking to mount primary challenges found thousands of angry voters ready to finance them.

Gun-rights activist and Wyoming state Sen. Anthony Bouchard announced his candidacy within days of Wyoming Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheneys vote for impeachment, using a series of interviews with conservative media outlets and an aggressive online advertising blitz to raise $334,000 in the first three months of his campaign.

Illinois U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Washington Republican Jaime Herrera-Beutler would see similar challenges, with deep-pocketed opponents seizing the opportunity to mount campaigns against them.

Fundraising in SC-07 Tom Rice (SC-07) Spent: $350,400

Raised: $1,132,400

Cash On-Hand: $1,846,000

Burn Rate: 30.9% Graham Allen Spent: $434,500

Raised: $738,200

Cash On-Hand: $303,500

Burn Rate: 58.9% Russell Fry Spent: $4,000

Raised: $222,000

Cash On-Hand: $221,000

Burn Rate: 1.8% Ken Richardson Spent: $107,000

Raised: $123,500

Cash On-Hand: $116,400

Burn Rate: 86.7%

S.C. Rep. Tom Rice of Myrtle Beach, another impeachment voter, was not spared. With several challengers declaring early, Rice faces nine opponents in his bid for re-election in 2022, several of whom have raised or self-funded six-figure reserves in their effort to replace him.

But an analysis by The Post and Courier of nine months of campaign-finance returns indicates being first to the party isnt always a sustainable fundraising strategy.

Of the top fundraising candidates in eight competitive primaries involving Republicans who supported impeachment, just two  Kinzinger challenger Catalina Lauf and Herrera Beutler challenger Joseph Kent  have seen substantial improvement in their fundraising efforts.

And according to their campaign-finance reports, nearly all candidates  including the top fundraising Rice challenger, Graham Allen  are spending at substantially higher rates than their incumbents with more than one year left until the election.

At the close of the third quarter, Allen had spent about 59 percent of his $738,000 raised  nearly twice the spending rate Rice reported. And while Rices fundraising has remained consistent, Allens fundraising is down significantly, reporting just under $237,000 raised in the third quarter after a $409,000 kickoff over the summer. Much of his spending, according to campaign finance reports, went toward digital consulting and marketing.

While fellow challenger Ken Richardson reported a fundraising uptick this quarter, the candidate has spent 87 percent of what hes raised nine months into 2021, and has bolstered his reserves with the infusion of $100,000 of his own money. (His high spending, however, is due to his accounting: Some donors appear to have contributed money through LLCs, which were later refunded, resulting in disbursements that effectively cancelled out when they re-donated months later.)

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Other candidates with six-figure fundraising totals  Dr. Garrett Barton and Barbara Arthur  have accomplished those totals largely through the use of five- and six-figure loans to themselves.

Rice, meanwhile, reported his strongest quarter of the year, raising more than $400,000. Roughly $71,000 of that total came from political action committees.

Rice said in a statement that 7th District voters know I have a strong, conservative, and commonsense record in Congress. This quarters report speaks for itself. Im overwhelmed by the support Ive received.

The declines in fundraising may not have everything to do with waning enthusiasm against incumbents, however. In Wyoming, Bouchard saw a significant decline in fundraising in the third quarter after the entry of Trump-endorsed candidate Harriet Hageman over the summer, who immediately raised more than $300,000.

A similar situation was seen in South Carolina in the races targeting Rice. Early into the third quarter, South Carolina House Majority Whip Russell Fry entered the race, amassing more than $222,000 in a single quarter to become the races third-largest fundraiser. Meanwhile, Allens fundraising fell by more than $172,000. Allen did not respond to requests for comment.

There was one key difference between them, however. While the brunt of Allens donations came from a national network of small donors, nearly all of Frys donations came in increments of $500 or more, and were almost all from within South Carolina.

"As enthusiasm for some candidates keeps dropping, Russell Fry's campaign is clearly growing," Mark Powell, a spokesman for Fry's campaign, said. "The positive response from South Carolinians, especially in the Grand Strand and Pee Dee, shows they agree with his message. 'It's time to come home, Tom.' "
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As an undergraduate I took two English courses on the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer, the first on The Canterbury Tales and the second on Troilus and Criseyde. Both courses were taught by Peter Travis (the first with the late, great Alan T. Gaylord), then in the early years of his distinguished career as a teacher, medievalist, and Chaucerian. Both courses were among the highlights of my education.

Although he retired from his faculty position in 2015, Professor Travis has continued to teach in the Osher adult education program affiliated with Dartmouth and open to the public. Through the Osher program and the miracle of Zoom I was able to reconnect with Professor Travis fifty years later. He looks and sounds almost exactly like he did then. He remains an engaging, exuberant, and learned teacher.

Earlier this year Professor Travis taught three Arthurian romances to a full class via Zoom. We read Yvain: The Knight of the Lion (by Chretien de Troyes, translated from old French by Burton Raffel), The Death of King Arthur, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (authors unknown, translated by Simon Armitage from the Middle English). What a blast.

These are long alliterative poems (Sir Gawain employs a complex form that also includes rhyme in part). Sir Gawain is a masterpiece that has survived in a single manuscript in the British Museum. It was essentially discovered only in the nineteenth century. A movie version was released this summer. I recommend the translations by J.R.R. Tolkien or by Marie Boroff. Tolkiens is posted online here.

I also took Professor Traviss Osher course on The Canterbury Tales. Again, the class was fully subscribed. We finished up this past Tuesday. It isnt difficult to read Chaucer in the original Middle English, but it takes a few days to get up to speed. We used Sheila Fishers new verse translation of The Selected Canterbury Tales with the original text on the facing page.

Fifty years later, with my attention more focused, I found that even the tales I had read before were new to me. Running the gamut of human experience, they are endlessly interesting, deeply humane, challenging, disturbing, funny, elusive. I had forgotten that Chaucer makes himself a character in the work. He gives a self-deprecating self-portrait in the The Prologue and Tale of Sir Thopas.

Incidentally, I wrote about The Pardoners Tale in the 2005 Weekly Standard column Tales of the Senate. From Chaucers pardoner to Senator Robert Byrd we went our way, though it was not a pilgrimage.

I also studied Chaucer with Professor Jeffrey Hart in a survey course for English majors. Professor Hart made a point that has stuck with me. The Church dominated English society. Chaucer portrayed and even drew on the corruption of the Church for several of his tales, the pardoners foremost among them. Professor Hart suggested that to understand Chaucer it would help us to think of an equally dominant and corrupt institution in our own era. In 1970 he proposed the university and that is an insight that time has not staled.

Professor Travis has given two introductory talks on Chaucer in Vermonts First Wednesday humanities lecture series. In April 2018 he spoke on Chaucers Canterbury Tales: Still Funny After All These Years. They brought him back in 2019 to answer the question Wheres Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales? Both of these lectures are worthwhile if you have any interest. I have posted the first below. As Chaucer says of the Clerk of Oxenforde, gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche.
Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever! That was George Wallaces battle cry when he was the Democratic Governor of Alabama, and today Wallaces Democratic successors are doing their best to make good on his pledge. This comes from Wellesley, Massachusetts:

A Massachusetts public school system is actively promoting racially segregated student groups and a bias reporting program that encourages students to report instances of their peers biases to school officials for disciplinary action, a lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges. Parents Defending Education filed the lawsuit against the Boston-area Wellesley Public Schools Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusettsa lawsuit that specifically targets both the racially segregated student groups and the schools speech policies.

Racism is pervasive among todays liberals:

The school system has held multiple racially segregated events for students, the Parents Defending Education lawsuit said, describing how the school districts equity director lamented that the school did not keep a list of students sorted by race and ordered white students not to come to certain events.

***

When parents expressed outrage to the school system that it was offering racially segregated events, the school system issued a statement defending its Racial Affinity Group Policy and promised to keep creating the groups. And when parents asked that the school system recognize other minority groups, the school system reportedly refused. Despite WPSs commitment to using affinity groups to support historically marginalized groups, the policy appears to apply only to certain minority groups, the lawsuit said. In response to the Racial Affinity Group Policy, parents asked WPS whether it intended to create affinity groups for Jewish students, a historically marginalized people, in the wake of public acts of antisemitic violence and discrimination. WPS refused to create such a group.

Wherever liberals rule, dissenting views are prohibited and free speech is suppressed (links omitted):

Wellesley Public Schools definition of biased speech is so broad that it includes everyday expressions, such as using the words normal and regular to refer to one person or way of life as opposed to another. The school system maintains that such language perpetrates hegemony. Words like forefathers, mankind, and businessman are also frowned upon by the school system, since these words deny the contributions (even the existence) of females, according to Wellesley Public Schools guidance. Another example of biased speech frowned upon by the school district: describing Native American tribes from early America as roaming, wandering, or roving across the land. According to Wellesley Public Schools, such language implicitly justifies the seizure of Native lands by more goal-directed white Americans who traveled or settled their way westward, according to the lawsuit.

***

During a school sponsored presentation at Wellesley High School in the spring of 2021, according to the lawsuit, students were told that pro-law enforcement groups like Blue Lives Matter are associated with white supremacy, far-right nationalism, and racism and that supporting these groups could be harmful to  BIPOC [black, Indigenous, and people of color] students.

For now, we will have to rely largely on the courts to vindicate our constitutional rights. I will only add, thank God that Merrick Garland is not a member of the Supreme Court.

This is the Parents Defending Education complaint:
Steve ( Do you know who I am?) Descano is the Soros-backed Fairfax County, Virginia prosecutor who makes sweetheart plea deals with child molesters and rapists. Local judges are less than pleased with his soft-on-crime approach, and one of them refused to go along with a Descano deal under which the sex-offender who raped a girl four times would have received a sentence of only three years.

But when it comes to the police officers  the folks charged with protecting people from perverts and other criminals  Descano transforms himself into a gung-ho prosecutor. Unfortunately for him, but happily for the public, at least one judge isnt fond of this incarnation of Descano, either.

In the case in question, Descano decided to prosecute two U.S. Park Police officers who fatally shot a motorist who was driving his car towards one of them. When the U.S. Justice Department declined to charge the officers, Descano stepped in and had them indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless use of a fire arm.

But federal officers have immunity from state prosecution if their actions are necessary and proper and are undertaken as part of their duties. Accordingly, this week U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton, after finding that the actions of the two officers met this standard, dismissed the charges against them.

The facts of the case are as follows: Bijan Ghaisar was involved in an accident on the GW Parkway in Northern Virginia. He drove away, but a passenger in the other car called 911 to report the accident.

Two park police officers spotted Ghaisars car and signaled for him to pull over. Ghaisar initially complied, but then drove off.

The officers pursued Ghaisar and he pulled over a second time. Again, however, he drove off.

The officers caught up with Ghaisar again, and this time they blocked his car from pulling away. As one of the officers stood in front of Ghaisars vehicle with his gun drawn, Ghaisar rolled it forward towards the officer. At that point, the two Park Policemen fired multiple shots, mortally wounding Ghaisar.

Judge Hilton found that the officers reasonably feared for the life of the officer towards whom Ghaisars vehicle lurched. The reasonableness of that fear was bolstered by Ghaisars reckless driving, suggestive of intoxication, and the fact that he twice drove away after initially pulling over.

This, I take it, was also the view of the Justice Department when it decided not to prosecute the two officers. Police officers cant be expected to stand by while an erratic, non-compliant driver rolls his car towards one of them.

That, though, is what Descano demands. Hell throw the book at police officers placed in that position due to a suspects criminal behavior, even as he cuts sweetheart deals with child molesters and rapists.

The Washington Posts report on this case tilts strongly in favor of Descano and Ghaisar. The bias of Post reporter Tom Jackman is clear throughout the article, and extends to a gratuitous discussion of Judge Hilton.

Jackman notes that Hilton is 80 years old. So what? Ruth Bader Ginsburg was 87 and still serving on the Supreme Court. I dont recall the Post citing her age in discussing her opinions. If Ginsburg could interpret the U.S. Constitution at age 87, why is there a problem with Hilton applying the immunity standard at age 80?

Jackman also reviews Hiltons pre-judge career. It notes that he was a prosecutor for two years early in his career and once represented a sheriff in a civil rights case.

The horror!

Is it now the Posts view that judges cant rule justly in criminal cases if they have ever served as prosecutors or represented a law enforcement official? If so, what about all those civil rights lawyers Joe Biden is appointing to federal courts? How can we expect them to rule fairly in civil rights cases?

If not, why is the Post telling us, for example, that Judge Hilton spent a year as an assistant prosecutor in Arlington soon after graduating from law school in the 1960s? I believe the Post is telling us this because, like Descano, it is anti-cop and anti-law enforcement.

The petition by Virginians for Safe Communities to remove Steve Descano is here.
The Federal Government and some Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have decried increasing cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) against women and girls in spite of the domestication of extant laws in the country.

They also expressed concern over harmful traditional practices against women and girls when there are laws against such practices.

These stakeholders expressed their divergent views in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of various events recently held to commemorate the 2021 International Day of the Girl-Child in Abuja, an annual occasion marked on October 11 to raise awareness on challenges of the girl-child.

They attributed the increasing cases of SGBV to delay by some state governments to adopt and implement the Child Rights Act and the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act, delay in the prosecution of offenders, the culture of silence, traditional practices, among others.

The Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, while describing Nigeria as one with a high rate of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) cases, said such harmful practice persists in spite of a number of reforms and laws to curb the trend.

FGM is the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia, usually done in many communities for non-medical reasons, a violation of the fundamental rights of the female gender.

Ms Tallen said although government has undertaken a number of health reforms, including laws against harmful traditional practices, many cultural and religious practices still put the health of women in doldrums.

I wish to state that the ministry is committed to abolishing all traditional practices that endanger the health and dignity of girls and womanhood in Nigeria and in this regard, will work more with the Ministry of Health.

She said violence and harmful practices endanger the lives of women and girls, hence the need for all states of the federation to domesticate laws and implement them to serve as a deterrent and eliminate it in totality.

According to her, in spite of government and partners positive interventions, high and community-level advocacy, capacity building of circumcisers, including the provision of alternate income for circumcisers, the practice of FGM still persists.

She, therefore, urged stakeholders to support girls and women and ensure the implementation of all enacted policies/laws on ending SGBV and harmful practices.

Ibukunoluwa Otesile, the Founder of Hope for Second Chance Foundation (HOSEC), an NGO, said the culture of silence by survivors and their families impedes success in eliminating SGBV and harmful practices in the country.

She said the culture of silence is one of the things that has continued to endanger violence against women and children in Nigeria. The culture makes it difficult for the tools that the government has put in place to actually work. If people refuse to speak out against it when it happens, there is nothing government can do about it.

It goes beyond just having the instruments and the laws; we as a people must criminalise every form of violence against women, girls and children, particularly sexual violence so that we dont have situations where they will say we will go and settle in the family.

It is not something that should be settled, it is a crime against the state and it should be attended to as such.

On her part, Amarachi Chukwu, the Assistant Programme Officer, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), said the establishment of special courts to handle GBV cases would help to expedite prosecution of cases and ensure survivors got justice, which would serve as deterrent to others.

She added that the more such cases are delayed, the more traumatised the survivor becomes. But as soon as the survivor gets justice, they get better. (NAN)
The insecurity across Nigeria continued last week as the number of people killed by non-state actors increased compared to the previous week.

No fewer than 47 Nigerians were killed by non-state actors in various attacks across the country last week (October 17 to 23). The tally of casualties was compiled by PREMIUM TIMES from media reports. Thus, unreported cases were not included.

The victims include two traditional rulers and a soldier. The remaining were civilians.

The number of people killed signifies an increase of about 50 per cent when compared to the previous week where 31 persons, including 10 soldiers were killed.

While the number of people killed increased, there was a decline in the number of incidents. Only four incidents were recorded in the week under review.

Over 90 per cent of the reported killings were carried out in the North-west zone by bandits while others were carried out in other parts of the country.

Here are the cases compiled from media reports last week.

43 in Sokoto

At least 43 persons were killed on Sunday when gunmen invaded Goronyo market in Sokoto State, North-west Nigeria.

The terrorists stormed the market around 5 p.m. while shooting sporadically at traders and buyers.

According to reports, the bandits operated for close to two hours without any resistance from security forces, who could not be informed of the attack as a result of the shutdown of telecoms in the area. While officials said 43 people were killed, a report said the casualty was at least 62.

The attack was condemned by many Nigerians with President Muhamadu Buhari threatening ultimate destruction of the perpetrators and other armed groups in the region.

Two traditional rulers in Imo

Tragedy struck in Imo State on Tuesday evening as gunmen opened fire on traditional rulers during a meeting, killing two of them.

The traditional rulers were having a stakeholders meeting at Nnenasa, the headquarters of Njaba Local Government Area when the hoodlums struck.

Many other traditional rulers at the meeting were left with various degrees of injuries.

Imo has been the most affected by attacks by suspected members of the ESN, the armed wing of the outlawed separatist group, IPOB.

The Nigerian government said on Friday that at least 175 security officials have been killed by suspected IPOB members in Imo and other states in the South-east and South-south regions of Nigeria.

IPOB has, however, denied responsibility for most of the attacks.

One in Kwara

The Kwara State Police Command confirmed the killing of an Ilorin-based estate agent identified as Sina Babarinde.

The spokesperson of the command, Okasanmi Ajayi, who confirmed the incident on Monday, said that the deceased was reportedly shot dead by gunmen during a church service at the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Living Word Parish, Basin Road, Ilorin.

According to him, the incident happened during the 7:00 a.m. church service of the RCCG.

One soldier in Imo

There was tension in Etekuru, in the Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State on Wednesday when soldiers and youth in the community clashed.

The report said that a soldier had earlier been ambushed and killed, while his rifle was stolen.

In a reprisal, soldiers invaded the community and burnt houses which led to the clash between the two groups.

Security Expert reacts

A security expert, Davidson Akhimen, suggested that the mass killing in Sokoto by bandits was out of frustration.

He said the killings were done to get back at the government because the telecommunications shut down has affected the operation of the bandits.

I think the government is already working in the right direction especially by disconnecting the digital connection that allows bandits and kidnappers to communicate with the relations of their victims.

So it puts them in disarray and they will not be able to communicate between themselves and coordinate their activities, I think that is a very big step that the government has taken and as a result they have been recording successes.

The killings you are seeing now is as a result of fury on the part of the bandits, seeing that the government has already gotten a upper hand on the matter. So annoyance, fury is what is leading them to kill their victims. But this is going to be short-lived as government forces are pressing harder towards achieving total victory, Mr Akhimen said.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported how some banditry kingpins were relocating to Sokoto following a clampdown by security forces on their former bases in Zamfara.

A few months after a notorious bandit, Bello Turji, fled his base in Zamfara State to Tozai in Sokoto, another outlaw, Halilu Sububu, also moved his headquarters to a forest in Sokoto.

Apart from Zamfara and Sokoto, other North-west and North-central states affected by banditry include Katsina, Kaduna and Niger.
Claim: A Twitter user claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was yet to commence the distribution of permanent voters cards (PVCs) to newly registered voters, days to the 2021 Anambra governorship election.

Verdict: True. INEC is yet to commence distribution of permanent voters cards to newly-registered voters in Anambra State for the 2021 governorship election.

Full Text: As the election for who becomes the next governor of Anambra State draws near, Nigerians have continued to express concerns over the safety of voters, owing to the spate of insecurity in the state, occasioned allegedly by the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The separatist group has been linked to recent violent attacks across the state, targeting private citizens, security agents, and even government parastatals, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), whose state office in Awka was attacked in May 2021. Office blocks, vehicles and vital election materials were destroyed in the attack, further setting back preparations and creating doubts over the possibility of the conduct of the November 6 elections.

One of such concerns was recently re-echoed by a Twitter user, Ifeanyichukwu (@OgbajiIfeanyi), in a series of posts. He claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had not started distribution of permanent voters cards to newly-registered voters in the state, with just a few days left until the election, calling into question the preparedness of INEC to conduct the elections.

23 days to Anambra elections, but @inecnigeria is yet to start distribution of PVC after CVR. Na Tinubu Portfolio we go take vote? he tweeted, attaching a photo of former senator and ex-governor of Lagos, Bola Tinubu and Nigerias president, Muhammadu Buhari, the tweet reads.

The user who has over eight thousand followers also tweeted: 20days to Anambra elections, but @inecnigeria is yet to start distribution of PVC after CVR.. @PoliceNG don already map out 35k officers and 2 Helicopters, na Biafran war?!, in addition to other tweets, here and here.

@VoterEduNG, a handle dedicated to voter education in Nigeria also shared a similar tweet: Anambra State Gubernatorial election is 21 DAYS away. Reports say 1.2 million were registered during the CVR. @inecnigeria is yet to start distribution of PVC. How are Anambra residents supposed to vote ?. @NewsWireNGR @ConstitutionLab @nassnigeria #VoterApathy @OgbajiIfeanyi.

Verification:

Findings by Dubawa showed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had not abandoned plans to conduct the 2021 Anambra State Governorship election, despite the uncertainty over the election.

Dispelling rumours of rescheduling the election, the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, who spoke at an emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) in October, assured that the election will not be postponed.

From the reports we have received, the stated goal of many of the attackers is that the governorship election scheduled for 6 November 2021 must not hold, Mr Yakubu said.

However, to forestall this plan, Mr Yakubu noted that the commission will continue to work closely with security agencies, respected opinion leaders in Anambra State and the National Peace Committee, to ensure that these attacks do not derail the electoral process.

To underscore this determination, the commission is implementing two more activities on the Timetable for the election in the next few days. The register of voters will be presented to political parties in Awka on Thursday 7 October 2021. On the same day, the commission will publish the final list of candidates for the election, he said.

INECs National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Festus Okoye, said in a statement that the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) will also be ready for collection on or shortly after October 7, 2021.

The PVCs of the new registrants will be ready for collection on or shortly after October 7, Mr Okoye said.

While INEC has published the final list of candidates for the election and presented the register of voters to the political parties  two activities also scheduled for October 7  findings by Dubawa revealed that the commission has yet to resume the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in the state.

As of October 21, 2021, two weeks after October 7 slated for the commencement of the process, registered voters had not started collecting their PVCs.

Speaking with Dubawa, Nonso Okafor, a resident of Obosi, said the exercise had not commenced. I have not collected my PVC and I have not received any email from them so far. The last time I went there they said we should come back, he said.

Another resident, Austin Nze, noted that while the collection of PVCs had not commenced, a lot of people are not interested in the process due to the current security challenges in the state.

Theres just this apathy and indifference in the state, which I can understand, given the Awka and Anambra situation, and the whole IPOB issue, he said.

Given that, it is not exactly the safest place to be, and everyone here just has that intention of staying low during the election.

When Dubawa contacted Mr Okoye, he restated the commitment of the commission to conduct the election as planned, adding that the PVCs for newly registered voters were currently being printed and will soon be ready for collection.

We are printing the PVCs presently. We have their (voters) telephone numbers and email addresses. The moment their PVCs are ready, we will send emails to them and text messages and call them by phone and they will come and pick their PVCs.

Everybody who registered and really wants to vote will get their PVCs at least a week before the election, he said.

Conclusion

The claim that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has not commenced the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to newly registered voters is true. Findings by Dubawa showed that two weeks after the date given by INEC for the commencement of the collection of the PVCs, the commission has yet to commence the exercise.

However, INEC told Dubawa that the printing of PVCs was currently ongoing and would be ready for collection by voters, at least a week before the election.
Although he has been reluctant to declare bandits operating in Northern Nigeria as terrorists, President Buhari said Sunday that they are essentially no different to Boko Haram in some areas.

Mr Buharis spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said this in response to the UK based news magazine, The Economist, which reported that the security situation in Nigeria was getting worse under Mr Buhari.

But this too the Economist inaccurately described: bandits who have the resources and technology to shoot down a military fighter jet are not bandits at all  but rather highly organised crime syndicates with huge resources and weaponry. Yet they are essentially no different to Boko Haram in this regard who are now cornered, Mr Shehu wrote in his response that he sent to PREMIUM TIMES.

Many Nigerians including the Nigerian Senate and Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai have asked the president to declare the bandits as terrorists.

The bandits, several armed groups operating mainly in North-west and North-central Nigeria, have killed or kidnapped thousands of people since Mr Buhari assumed office.

In his response, Mr Shehu acknowledged the various security challenges facing the country but said President Buhari was addressing them.

The Economist is correct: Nigeria faces multiple threats. They confluence now not because of this government; but on the contrary, it is this government which is addressing them concurrently, and simultaneously  when no other prior administration sought to adequately address even a single one, the spokesperson wrote.

Read the full statement by Mr Shehu below.

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

ECONOMISTS FLAWED, ANTI-NIGERIA COVER: PRESIDENT BUHARI IS STRENGTHENING AFRICAS DEMOCRACY

*Resilience and fortitude of patriotic Nigerians will see the nation through the difficult times

The Economist is correct: Nigeria faces four key threats to the stability and prosperity of the nation  namely: ISWAP/Boko Haram terrorism in the North-East; kidnapping and crime in the North-West; herder-farmer disputes in the central belt; and the delusions of IPOB terrorists in the South-East.

The Economist is also accurate to state that they have come to a head under President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, (APC) administration. Yet they do so, because for so long, under previous administrations, whether military or democratic, tough decisions have been ducked, and challenges never fully met  with the effect of abetting these dangers and allowing them all to fester and grow. Today, all four threats are being fought concurrently and it is only this Presidents administration which has finally had the will and determination to confront them.

The Buhari administration has sought to push back terrorism which has been a threat for more than two decades since the first emergence of Boko Haram. It is only the Buhari administration that has now sought to intervene against the kidnapping and banditry that has been a simmering threat for far longer. It is only this Presidents government which has taken on IPOB, the violent terrorist group which bombs police stations and offices of security agencies, while also threatening those who break their Monday-sit-ins whilst claiming the mantle of forebears who half a century ago fought a civil war. And it is only the Buhari leadership which has sought  ever, in over one hundred years  to identify the root causes of the herder-farmer clashes and find durable solutions.

The forms may have altered, and the threats posed by each may have waxed and waned, but what has been constant is that administration after administration since independence  whether military or democratic  none sought to fully address these threats to Nigeria as President Buharis government does now.

Today, the military is engaged in almost all the states of Nigeria because the President has insisted upon addressing these decade-after-decade-long issues during his time in office.

In the North, Boko Haram members  many of whom now fight under the breakaway banner of Islamic States West Africa Province (ISWAP)  have been pushed back. At the start of the Presidents tenure, Boko Haram was launching attacks across the majority of the country  including in southern states and Lagos. Today they are cornered and confined along with their ISWAP compatriots in our countrys outermost fringes of the border, unable to spread further.

In the South-East, IPOB  which the Economist rightly describes as delusional  the arrest and present trial of the terrorist leader of the group is the beginning of its demise. The Presidents administration is redoubling efforts to have IPOB rightfully designated as a terrorist group by our allies outside of Nigeria  an act which will collapse their ability to transact gains from crime and extortion in foreign currencies. It is important to remind the Economist and the global media that this groups aggression and widespread presence on social media does not reflect their public support, for which they have none: all elected governors, all elected politicians and all elected state assemblies in the South-East  which IPOB claim to be part of their fantasy kingdom  reject them completely.

The only government of Nigeria which has ever sought a solution to the centuries-old herder-farmer disputes of the central belt is President Buharis administration. The Federal ranches programme, launched shortly after the Presidents re-election is the first of its kind  and it is working: during the last 12 months clashes have significantly reduced. The government now calls on State governors to have the imagination to join forces with the Federal administration and expand this programme by making available state lands for those interested, now that its effectiveness has been demonstrated.

The Economist opinionated and reported on banditry and kidnapping in the North-West. While this has been simmering for generations, it is the newest of the organized threats Nigeria faces to her stability. But this too the Economist inaccurately described: bandits who have the resources and technology to shoot down a military fighter jet are not bandits at all  but rather highly organised crime syndicates with huge resources and weaponry. Yet they are essentially no different to Boko Haram in this regard who are now cornered. It will take time, but the President is unwavering in his determination to collapse this challenge to public order.

The Economist is correct: Nigeria faces multiple threats. They confluence now not because of this government; but on the contrary, it is this government which is addressing them concurrently, and simultaneously  when no other prior administration sought to adequately address even a single one. That is the difference between what has gone before and what we have now. It is why the President and his party were re-elected with an increased majority in national elections two years ago.

Garba Shehu

Senior Special Assistant to the President

(Media and Publicity)

October 24, 2021
The police in Kogi have arrested three suspects believed to belong to a gang of kidnappers terrorising motorists on Itobe-Anyigba highway.

They are Danlami Shauibu, Kabiru Amodu and Adejoh Tijani all of Adumu village in Ofu Local Government Area. They are suspected to be responsible for a series of kidnappings in the area.

A statement signed by William Aya, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), on Saturday, in Lokoja, said that the suspects were arrested by police operatives attached to Itobe Division in Ajaokuta Area Command.

Mr Aya said that Danlami Shauibu and Kabiru Amodu were initially arrested on October 16, by a police team, following an intelligence-led operation.

He said the operation was conducted to curb criminal activities, especially high volume of kidnappings in Itobe and its environs particularly, the Itobe-Anyigba highway.

The PPRO revealed that during preliminary investigations, one of the suspects gave useful information that led to the arrest of the third suspect, Adejoh Tijani of the same address on October 22, at about 8:30 a.m.

The spokesperson said upon a search of their houses, the police recovered one cut to size single barrel gun and a locally made pistol.

Other items recovered, according to him, were one POS Machine, one battle axe, a face mask, five live cartridges and assorted charms.

He said that efforts were being made to arrest other members of the gang and that the suspects would be charged to court at the conclusion of investigations.

To this end, he said, the state Commissioner of Police, Idrisu Dabban, has commended the officers for their thoroughness and the breakthrough, while assuring members of the public of the commands determination, in synergy with other security agencies in the state, to ensure adequate security of lives and property.

(NAN)
Umar Mohammed, Director-General, Tinubu Support Group (TSG), has called on Nigerians to support the group to ensure the actualisation of a Bola Tinubu presidency in 2023 for a new and better Nigeria.

He made the call on Saturday in Abuja, while inaugurating the Tinubu Support Group and its State Steering Committee.

May I call on Nigerians to join us, as we work hand in hand in the journey to build the country of our dream.

A new and better Nigeria is possible. We solicit your cooperation and partnership to let this happen.

It is with immense gratitude to God Almighty that I address you today on a very special and historic occasion of the inauguration of TSG and the States Steering Committee in support of our collective aspiration for a new and better Nigeria from 2023, he said.

He said the TSG had reflected deeply on the outstanding leadership qualities, personal attributes and antecedents of Bola Tinubu, adding that he is a man with the attributes of hard work.

Mr Mohammed said Mr Tinubu has extensive vision, rich experience and striking intelligence and networks of vital contacts, sense of equity, justice and fairness with high regard for the rule of law.

According to him, Mr Tinubu, who is one of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is a bridge-builder across regional, ethnic and religious lines that is capable of uniting the country.

He added that Mr Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, is an exceptional manager of resources and a seasoned administrator, saying that the country needs him in the next dispensation.

He added that Mr Tinubu had been identified as a patriot in words, in action, and indeed, a leading light among the people.

He described him as a detribalised strategic thinker with a national outlook and balanced judgment whose strides in the nations political landscape remain outstanding.

The TSG Director-General said Mr Tinubus style of governance while he was governor of Lagos State was responsible for the bold imprint on the development index of the state.

He added that the enduring pillars of massive socio-economic infrastructure and lasting institutions he bequeathed as legacies which adorned the landscape of the state had remained a phenomenal watershed.

It is on this note and given these narratives, that we call on Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to avail the nation of his enormous wealth of experience, outstanding and visionary leadership qualities, to contest the 2023 presidential election.

He said the formal inauguration of the TSG was a bold and decisive step to alter the narratives and secure the countrys future.

Mr Mohammed charged members of the State Steering Committee to constitute Local Government and Ward structures that must be men and women of proven integrity and capacity to deliver.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that TSG is described as a socio-political group of grassroots-based progressive Nigerians consisting of men, women and youths of all faiths, tribes and ethnic nationalities.

The TSG cuts across all strata of the federation and some Nigerians in the diaspora.

The event was attended by members of the Diplomatic Corps, members of the APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), some state governors and state and federal lawmakers among others.

(NAN)
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, says there is no hiding place for all the escaped inmates from the Abolongo Correctional Centre in Oyo Town on Friday night.

Mr Aregbesola spoke on Sunday during his visit to the correctional centre in Oyo.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that suspected gunmen attacked the correctional facility on Friday at about 9.50 p.m., freeing 837 awaiting trial inmates.

I am assuring Nigerians that there is no hiding place for any inmate that escaped from our facilities.

This is because, we have the records of all the inmates, including their biometric data, which are being forwarded to the Interpol.

This will make it impossible for them to travel, apply for any travel document, engage in any financial transaction or present themselves at any border post in any country in the world.

They are fugitives and will remain on the run until we apprehend them; we shall surely apprehend them, the minister said.

He said security agencies were already on their trail and would not rest until they are able to bring in the last one dead or alive.

Mr Aregbesola, however, called on Nigerians to be patriotic and report to the nearest security post whenever they sight an escaped inmate, promising that handsome rewards awaits the informants.

He said it was a criminal offence, punishable by a jail term for anyone to offer any assistance, not even giving a cup of water, to any inmate that escaped from lawful custody.

You cannot help them in any way absolutely, by way of cash, food, clothing, medical care, employment, road direction and any form of help, other than to encourage them to turn themselves in and report them to the law enforcement agencies.

The Federal Government, however, out of magnanimity, is giving them a small window to voluntarily turn themselves in, for which they will be pardoned for escaping from custody, he said.

The minister condoled with the families of the victims of the attack.

More inmates recaptured

In his comments, the Assistant-Controller in charge of the Abolongo Correctional Centre, Adams Ongaji, said a total of 378 inmates had been recaptured, while 460 are still at large.

READ ALSO:

Also, the Deputy Controller-General in charge of Operations ,Tukur Ahmad, debunked the rumour that the attackers came purposely to rescue Iskilu Wakili, a suspected kidnap kingpin.

Mr Ahmad said Mr Wakili was not kept at Abolongo Correctional Centre, adding that the only high-profile inmate in the facility was being tried by the EFCC and he was still in the facility.

In his remarks, the Alaafin of Oyo, Lamidi Adeyemi III, who also visited the facility, called on the people of the state to be calm, saying that government would respond to the situation appropriately.

The state governor, Seyi Makinde, also ordered immediate installation of CCTV to all the Correctional centres in the state and the grading of the bad road leading to the centre.

(NAN)
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has ordered that Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras be installed in all the correctional facilities in the state.

Mr Makinde gave the order on Sunday when he visited the Abolongo Correctional Centre, Oyo, which was attacked on Friday night by unknown gunmen, and hundreds of inmates escaped.

Nearly 1,000 inmates were freed in the attack, but a prison official said 262 people have been recaptured.

The governor, who was accompanied by top government functionaries on the inspection, directed that the security cameras be linked with the state security situation room.

He said his government would take immediate steps to protect the facility and also directed that the main road leading to the place be immediately graded.

He appealed to the general public, especially residents of the state, to be calm.

This is shocking, unfortunately; we lost a soldier and an Amotekun operative, also another person is on the danger list at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, as we speak.

In the main, investigation is still ongoing and we cannot say precisely whether this is an isolated event or the beginning of a wider issue that we have to deal with.

But whatever the case is, we have made an assessment and taken some immediate decisions.

We have challenges around the country; banditry, insurgency and terrorism.

And we can only deal with those issues when we have the people in alignment with what the leadership is trying to do.

So people should please believe that their leaders will tell them the exact situation of things at the appropriate time.

Also, we are making a list of critical state assets that we need to monitor and I have also asked that the entrance and exit points into the state be monitored.

We still have almost 300 criminals that are on the loose in the state. So, efforts will still continue to try and apprehend the criminals and bring them back here, the governor stated.

(NAN)
Colombias most-wanted drug trafficker and the leader of the countrys largest criminal gang has been captured.

Dairo Antonio Usuga, known as Otoniel, was seized at his jungle hideout by the countrys security forces, Al Jazeera reports.

The Colombian government had offered $800,000 reward for information about his whereabouts, while the United States placed a bounty of $5 million on his head.

President Ivan Duque hailed Mr Otoniels capture as a victory, according to Al Jazeera. He likened it to the arrest three decades ago of the notorious Colombian drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar.

This is the biggest blow against drug trafficking in our country this century, he said. This hit is only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s.

One police officer died during the operation, the president said.

Mr Duque, quoted by AFP news agency, described the operation as the biggest penetration of the jungle ever seen in the military history of our country.

He added that Mr Otoniels arrest marks the end of the Gulf Clan, but Al Jazeera analysts worry the move could result in more violence at a time of worsening clashes between armed groups.

How was he caught?

The drug lord was captured in his rural hideout in Antioquia province in north-western Colombia, close to the border with Panama.

BBC reports the operation involved 500 soldiers supported by 22 helicopters.

Mr Otoniel, 50, had used a network of rural safe houses to move around and evade the authorities, and did not use a phone; instead, relying on couriers for communication, the BBC said.

But his location at the time of his capture was pinpointed two weeks ago, it added by quoting El Tiempo newspaper.

Colombia police chief Jorge Vargas said his movements were traced by more than 50 signal intelligence experts using satellite imagery. The U.S. and UK agencies were involved in the search.

There have been several huge operations involving thousands of officers to capture the 50-year-old in recent years, but until now none has been successful.

The notorious drug kingpin became the head of the Gulf Clan, previously known as the Usuga Clan, after its previous leader  his brother  was killed by police in a raid on a New Years Eve party in 2012.

Since then, Colombias security forces labelled the gang as the countrys most powerful criminal organisation, while authorities in the U.S. describe it as heavily armed [and] extremely violent.

The gang, BBC said, operates in many provinces and has extensive international connections. It is engaged in drug and people smuggling, illegal gold mining and extortion.

It is believed to have about 1,800 armed members, who are mainly recruited from far-right paramilitary groups. Members have been arrested in Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, Peru and Spain.

The gang controls many of the routes used to smuggle drugs from Colombia to the US, and as far away as Russia.

The Colombian government, however, believes it has decimated its numbers in recent years, forcing many leading members to hide in remote regions in the jungle.

Mr Otoniel now faces a number of charges, including sending shipments of cocaine to the U.S., killing police officers and recruiting children.
The road to heaven is paved with good intentions. However, our good intentions are not enough.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. (Mark 12:29).

Everything about the Christian faith is one: There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all. (Ephesians 4:4-6).

God hates the double-minded. He despises the double-tongued. The believers eyes must be single and focused. Accordingly, there can only be the same calling for every believer.

Once a man meets the Lord, it is time to start praying for him that the eyes of his understanding may be enlightened that he might know the hope of Gods calling. (Ephesians 1:18).

The purpose that is purposed

What precisely is the purpose behind Gods calling? What is Gods agenda for those who are called, according to His purpose?

Paul says: (He who God) foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called. (Romans 8:29-30).

This indicates that the purpose that is purposed for those called by God is to be exactly like His Son, Jesus, so that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Is that not wonderful?

Indeed, Gods prophecy says when we finally see Jesus, we shall be exactly like Him:

Yes, dear friends, we are already Gods children, right now, and we cant even imagine what it is going to be like later on. But we do know this, that when he comes we will be like him, as a result of seeing him as he really is. (1 John 3:2).

I know of no Christian who does not want to be like Jesus. But there is one little problem. To be like Jesus, we have to suffer.

Problematic appointment

When Jesus called Paul, He sent Ananias to him saying: I will show him how many things he must suffer for My names sake. Acts 9:16).

Peter says: Since Christ suffered and underwent pain, you must have the same attitude He did; you must be ready to suffer, too. For remember, when your body suffers, sin loses its power. (1 Peter 4:1).

Sinless Jesus came to save us from our sins. Suffering is the only way through which we can deal with the problem of sin. The scriptures teach that we can only learn obedience through suffering. It says of Jesus: Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. (Hebrews 5:8).

To be like Him, we must follow His example. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6).

Moreover, we cannot know God unless we suffer: For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. (Hebrews 2:10).

Jesus Himself acknowledged that if He had not suffered, He would not have entered into glory. He asked Cleopas and his companion: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? (Luke 24:26).

Therefore, to be exactly like Jesus, to be partakers of Gods divine nature, we have to suffer unjustly without grumbling or complaining. We are called to suffer persecution for righteousness sake. We are called to do good and to suffer for it.

Jesus blueprint

This is what happened to Jesus: He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7).

Thus, Peter says: This is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps. (1 Peter 2:19-21).

When the Christians in Thessalonica suffered persecution, Paul wrote a similar thing to them: No one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. (1 Thessalonians 3:3).

When the Disciples of Jesus were flogged for preaching in the name of Jesus, they rejoiced in the knowledge that this validated their calling:

When they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. (Acts 5:40-41).

Fighting the truth

The road to heaven is paved with good intentions. However, our good intentions are not enough. Our dilemma is that we want to go to heaven, we want to be like Jesus, but we do not want to suffer.

The chief young ruler wanted to inherit eternal life. However, when he understood the requirements, he had a change of heart. When Jesus told him to sell all he has and give the proceeds to the poor, the man lost all interest. He wanted eternal life but found the cost to be too expensive.

The Israelites wanted to go to the Promised Land. But when they discovered that to get there, God would suffer them to hunger and thirst and they would have to fight against giants, they opted to go back to Egypt.

Solomon says history tends to repeat itself. As it was in the days of old, so it is now. Christians want to be like Jesus, but then again we do not want to be like Him because we despise the fellowship of His sufferings.

New wine, old bottles

The choice is ours to make, but the requirements will not be amended for our convenience. If God did not want us to suffer, He would have given us new bodies immediately after we were born again. But by leaving us in this body of death, He has consigned us in this lifetime to pain and suffering.

That is why we are groaning in ourselves to be released from pain and suffering by the redemption of our bodies. In the meantime, the born-again Christian is like new wine in old bottles.

The counsel of God says: We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22). Jesus confirms this: These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. ((John 16:33).

Satan is the ruler of this world. (1 John 5:19). Therefore, all those that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. (2 Timothy 3:12). The devil will make sure that the wicked persecute the righteous. (Gal 4:28-29).

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken. (Psalm 34:19-20).

Faribisala@yahoo.com; www.femiaribisala.com
The EndSARS protests were a clarion call on us to put the Nigerian house in order, atone for the blood spillages that the Constables Ifeanyis have committed and find ways of rolling back the massive hopelessness in the land. We however slipped into deep slumber and dirty compromises after October 20, 2020.

Oga, mek we kill am!, the gangling police constable had told my father. This was sometime in the early 1980s and the scene was the ever busy Ilesa-Akure expressway, in the old Oyo, now Osun, State. My father, an Inspector in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), headed the Ilesa Signals Corps of the police. However, short of officers to lead police patrols, in the light of the ever-bludgeoning criminal activities in the Ife-Ijesa zone of the time, the Divisional Police Officer authoritatively yanked the Inspector from the drudgery of his signals unit office. He then drafted him to the road. On this particular night, armed robbers had reportedly snatched a vehicle and the expressway was their surest route of escape.

It was late in the night. Ifeanyi (real name), a lanky policeman, was a member of the patrol. He was notorious in the Ayeso, Oke-Iyin police barracks for his constant alcoholic reveries. Always looking skunk-drunk and frail like a deboned chicken, this young cop, of about 30 years of age, constantly had his eyes dilated, almost all the time you encountered him. Dark, pitiably thin, with an aquiline nose and some eczema-looking graffiti bordering his nose, Ifeanyis dress sense too was inverted. He was also renowned for wearing his police uniform awkwardly. Curiously, about 35 years after and almost about the same number of years after Ifeanyi suddenly died mysteriously from an undisclosed ailment, his sadistic picture still hovers around my face like some grotesque apparition.

Ifeanyi was manning the road that night, while the Inspector sitting some meters away. As usual, he was reeking of liquour and made a few totters he assumed were walking steps. As characterisitic of this state, with scant provocation, he would intermittently raise his voice at motorists. Then Ifeanyi walked up to his boss, seemingly trembling and agitated. He sounded very animated, his usual cheetah speed manner of talking making an even faster sprint. He had just stopped, searched a motorist, he told his boss. Alas, when he asked the man to open his car trunk, he found it loaded to the brim with cash. Oga, mek we kill am it is our chance to make money! he whispered conspiratorially.

The Inspector was alarmed, shocked and bewildered. How could such thought that oozed with major Mephistophelean odour issue out of a law enforcement officer, a man born of a woman? Years later, my father told me that he, there and then, made some quick calculations. The first was to assure himself that it was not time to assert his role as boss on this expressway at such critical time. If he did, forcefully preventing Ifeanyi from this consuming blood-thirst of his, armed with a police rifle and drunk, the lanky bloke could waste him and the motorist conveying the money. So, my dad told me that he cleverly accosted the motorist, confirmed that he legitimately owned the money and whispered to him in Yoruba to speed off.

The above impunity and brutality are as ancient as the Nigeria Police Force. Not minding its prohibition of abuses by national and international laws, a 2005 investigation of Nigeria Police by the Human Rights Watch found out that torture, and other cruel, degrading and inhuman treatments are being meted to the accused in their charge. Last Wednesday, as some television stations beamed live videos of policemen of the Lagos Police command and men of the Neighbouhood Watch, torturing Uber driver Adedotun Clement, the notorious image of Ifeanyi came streaming back into my consciousness. What seems to be unchanging and stagnantly hanging on the uniform of the Nigerian policeman is a long-held culture of lawlessness and impunity. Though they share spatial affinity with the common man on the streets  being our brothers, fathers, friends and all that  Nigerian policemen seem to be at war with the common people of Nigeria. I submit here that this brutality is borne out of the forces ontological dysfunction, a genetic disorder, if you like.

Any attempt at evaluating the current state of the NPF without going into its historical foundation will be an exercise in futility. Erudite historian, Toyin Falolas Colonialism and Violence in Nigeria is an ample guide in this regard. It examines the spate of violence and instability in Nigeria, pre and post-colony, and how these play a major dominant role in institutional relationships today. Among others, it also examines the conditions that created a legacy of violence bequeathed to Nigeria by colonialism and how violence is deployed as a tool of domination and resistance. In it, you will find out why democracy and all its appurtenances of civility, respect for the human person and allied indices, have failed abysmally in a democratic Nigeria.

In the book, Falola locates the roots of the Nigeria Police Forces inherent hostility to the Nigerian people in the wonky conception of the colonial police. It was an extension of the colonialists brutish and selfish quest to protect themselves and their domination from native resistance. It was never a friendly apparatus for the protection of the Nigerian people, nor an organ to defend them. Confronted by initial resistance by the natives to its rule, the colonial constabulary was established to crush dissent of resistant natives, and patterned to be above the law, whilst equipped with deadly weapons to crush opposition of any kind.

As it is customary with the Nigerian government to offer escapism and palliatives in place of thorough combat and the mental exploration of issues, the earth-shaking EndSARS youth protests of last year were followed by the institution of panels of enquiry. Just like a medic who abandons the symptomatic manifestations of leprosy to diagnose the treatment of eczema

This is why, till date, due to its wonky conception, the police holds scant regard for the system it serves and the Nigerian people it seeks their friendship. The abode of its officers and men is hardly better than a pigsty, and their pay is dispiriting. When I take friends to the pigeon nest one-room apartment that I lived with my siblings and parents at the Ayeso barracks in Ilesa for about ten years, they find it incredulous. There is no way anyone will be born in that kind of environment and such a person would not be rebellious against the system, nor will a resident of the environment not develop a complex and anger against the society that made such their lot.

At the anniversary of the bloody October 20, 2020 EndSARS protest at the Lekki Toll Gate, right under the tip of the nose of Hakeem Odumosu, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, his team could not shroud its innate bestial underpinning. Even when these policemen saw a battery of journalist cameras pointed at them, they still could not restrain themselves from inflicting a regime of brutal, wicked and inhuman torture on Clement, identified as a Uber driver. I watched the macabre scene on Arise TV as police folded Clement like fish prepared for an oven grill, pepper-sprayed his eyes and threw him on the floor like a bag of beans. The scene looked indistinguishable from a grotesque drama.

Clements inhuman torture, in spite of his very plausible account of how he got to the Lekki Toll Gate that morning and even his non-involvement in the protest, gave Nigerians and the world at large a peep into the cosmetic disbandment of the SARS last year. While its physical structures were pulled down by the Inspector General of Police, the police establishment retained the restless hyenas and foxes who are operatives of SARS, and who daily bay for the blood of Nigerians. It is a pointer to the fact that unless some foundational surgical operations are done about the ontology, the total nature of the being of the Nigeria Police, the people will continue to grapple with this cruel and inhuman policing model. Force, violence and the sweeping criminalisation of everyone in civilian clothing is the modus operandi of the Nigerian police. There is no gainsaying the fact that it is unapologetically corrupt and its enforcement model diametrically opposed to the wishes and aspirations of the Nigerian people.

As it is customary with the Nigerian government to offer escapism and palliatives in place of thorough combat and the mental exploration of issues, the earth-shaking EndSARS youth protests of last year were followed by the institution of panels of enquiry. Just like a medic who abandons the symptomatic manifestations of leprosy to diagnose the treatment of eczema, the panels, either out of naivety or systemic ignorance, failed to realise that grief and reconciliation have a philosophy of their own. The panels ultimately ended up with the prescription of compensations to victims. Do they know that their terms of reference made them mini truth and reconciliation commissions? And that in seeking truth and reconciling aggrieved people, especially those whose loved ones were mortally cut down in their prime, the commodification (reducing to cash) of grouses is misplaced?

Antjie Krog, celebrated South African broadcast journalist with the South African Broadcasting Cooperation (SABC) and poet, best known for her award-winning book, Country of My Skull, a chronicle of South Africas Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), identified the nexus between truth, grief, being aggrieved and, ultimately, reconciliation. With a cover photograph of Joyce Mtimkulu holding a fist-sized mound of all that was left of her incinerated son, Krog said of truth: It does not bring back the dead, but releases them from silence.

Unlike the TRC, the EndSARS panels set up in Nigeria, purportedly in the context of responses to abuses of power by Nigerian policemen, so as to confront human rights violations of years past and make a new beginning, were just mere facades. They were never set up to discover truth or placate the aggrieved. They were some placatory measly meal to barking dogs to keep them silent.

In Nigerias EndSARS panels, governments believed that monetary compensations, rather than truth, contriteness, sobriety or acknowledgement of guilt, will release the victims families from their burdens. Police perpetrators of the heinous crimes leveled against them feel no remorse and it is never demanded of them. From Krogs experience in covering the TRC, however, perpetrators need to acknowledge the wrong they did. Why? It creates a communal starting point. To make a clean break from the past, a moral beacon needs to be established between the past and the future. To get to the bottom of the truth and reconcile those aggrieved by Nigerian police brutality, we cannot lump police perpetrators together as the police. We must put names and faces to the human rights violators within SARS, who committed grievous inhuman crimes, right from the founding of the unit in 1992. This is because, in the words of Jurgen Habermas, collective guilt does not exist; whoever is guilty has to answer individually.

The revolt of the youths in the EndSARS protests should have been an awakening to a sensible leadership that is not possessed by a pit-hole mentality. Virtually all families in Nigeria parade victims of the closet-mindedness of successive leaders. On the streets, you will see them early in the morning, jobless, unemployed and many unemployable.

I am emboldened to accept the need for individual transgressors to personally show acceptance of guilt, judging by the example of Alan Michael Lapsley. Lapsley, originally born in New Zealand, was a South African priest and social justice crusader during the anti-Apartheid era. As national chaplain of South African Anglican students during the 1976 Soweto massacre, Lapsley fought the apartheid lords, leading to his expulsion from the country. He then moved into exile in Lesotho and became a member of the African National Congress (ANC), travelling all over the world to mobilise global support for the liberation struggle.

Lapsley later moved to Zimbabwe and in 1990, three months after Nelson Mandelas release from prison, he was parcel-bombed like Dele Giwa. Just as Giwa thought his parcel must be from the president, Lapsley ostensibly thought his was from the Civil Cooperation Bureau which, unknown to him, was an underground outfit of the apartheid security. The bomb was concealed within two religious magazines. The blast shattered his two hands and left eye, seriously burning him. At the TRC, with two prostheses replacing what used to be his arms, Lapsley said he was ready to forgive those who bombed him but he wanted acknowledgement and sobriety from them. Of Lapsley, Mandela said: Michaels life represents a compelling metaphor: We read about a foreigner who came to our country and was transformed by what he saw of the injustices of apartheid. His life is part of the tapestry of many long journeys and struggles of our people and part of the tapestry of the many long journeys and struggles of our people.

Nigerian elite and leaders have merely been playing the ostrich with our lives. Since 1966 when the military struck, successive governments have been bothered only about the now, and never the tomorrow. That was why, in spite of the trillions of naira accruing from petrodollars in about six decades, there were no mental projections or planning for today. Never did it occur to Nigerias past leaders that a time would come when the country would be in the hands of a clueless leadership like it is now, one that cannot distinguish its left hand from right hand, as it is said. Nigeria is so unlivable, so much that its restless youths prefer to die in the Mediterranean than being trapped within the country. Hundreds of them have so perished due to our collective contributions, over,time, to the dross that is Nigeria today. Neither us nor our leaders feel the sense of guilt that German theologians, after World War II, came to terms with. One of them, Karl Jaspers, said that in our kind of national travails, we should be sobered by what he called the metaphysical guilt. If I survived, while my brother is killed, I am a victim of metaphysical guilt.

Each of the emigres who successfully left Nigeria, labeled the japa generation, having taken unimaginable risks to escape the country of their birth, celebrate their exit with orgies. Japa has successfully been incorporated into the Nigerian lexicon. The slang is derived from a combination of ja, which in Yoruba means run swiftly away from danger and pa, signifying in totality. For this, parents cough out their life savings to spirit their wards away from the calamity that is to come.

Unfortunately for all of us, except we collectively address the Nigerian problem, especially as it relates to the future of our youths, those children we send out to Harvard, Oxford and wherever will come back someday, at the zenith of their success, to meet their waterloo in the hands of their angry, unsuccessful and bitter compatriots, who are pining away at home. When Chief Obafemi Awolowo told us that the problem of born trowey  apologies to Mrs Patience Jonathan  children of the North called almajiri, was a collective national problem, we laughed him to scorn. Now, those born trowey children have come of age, maiming, raping, killing, kidnapping us, downing fighter jets, blasting rail tracks and hiding in the Sambisa forests as Boko Haram insurgents. Yet, we learn no lesson!.

The revolt of the youths in the EndSARS protests should have been an awakening to a sensible leadership that is not possessed by a pit-hole mentality. Virtually all families in Nigeria parade victims of the closet-mindedness of successive leaders. On the streets, you will see them early in the morning, jobless, unemployed and many unemployable. The EndSARS protests were a clarion call on us to put the Nigerian house in order, atone for the blood spillages that the Constables Ifeanyis have committed and find ways of rolling back the massive hopelessness in the land. We however slipped into deep slumber and dirty compromises after October 20, 2020.

On compromises, Krog had quoted Chilean lawyer, defender of human rights during General Augusto Pinochet regime and ideological purist, Jose Zalaquett, who said it is better to suffer longer under a tyranny when there is hope for a politically purer outcome than to progress by messy compromises. The Federal Government saw the EndSARS protests as a regime battle that it, through the help of Almighty Allah vanquished. It compromised feeble-minded persons and a captive media into projecting its narratives of a conquest from the hands of EndSARS protesters comprising haters of Fulani, Hausa and the North. We then returned to our peace of the graveyard. And, as a country, we woke up lost, gaining nothing and learning absolutely nothing. But we trudge on still in our nothingness, full of trashy egos and false wellness. The future, our future, sadly waits to bear the brunt of our serial failures. And still, we walk mindlessly on, in the dark alley of our common woes. Totally lost.

Festus Adedayo is an Ibadan-based journalist.
The Nigeria Union of Journalists will on Monday hold a peaceful march aimed at ensuring the safe return of a journalist, Tordue Salem, who is said to have been missing since October 13.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that Mr Salem, a reporter who covers the House of Representatives for the Vanguard newspaper, was last seen on October 13 at Garki district of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

The FCT branch of the NUJ had described Mr Salems sudden disappearance as an extension of the deteriorating state of insecurity in the nations capital and again questions the efficiency of the countrys security operatives.

It urged all security agents to live up to their expectations by solving the reporters mysterious disappearance in due time.

The body, on Sunday, issued a notice calling on members to participate in a peaceful march which will culminate in the submission of a petition to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) in Abuja on Monday.

It asked its members to converge on the Ministry of Women Affairs Building in Abuja from where they will proceed to the IGPs office.

This, according to the body, was part of efforts to ensure the return of Mr Salem who, as of Sunday, has now been missing for 11 days.

The notice, tittled, Invite for a Peaceful march, was signed by the secretary, NUJ FCT, Ochiaka Ugwu.

It read: Following a congress resolution to embark on a peaceful march to Police Force Headquarters to submit petition to IGP for the safe return of our missing colleague, Comrade Tordue Henry Salem, I am directed to invite members to join in the procession that will take place 9 a.m Monday October 25, 2021.

Members are to converge at the Ministry of Woman Affair Building by 8: am.

The body, in line with COVID-19 protocols, urged members participating in the march to take proper precautions while joining the march.

It added that the chair will give some information on marching safety before the commencement of the exercise.

The Conference of Benue Journalists (CBJ), which Mr Salem also belongs to, had simarly called on security operatives to discharge their role of protecting lives and property as expected of them in a democratic dispensation as we have in Ni

The CBJ President, Anule Emmanuel, noted that like every other citizen, journalists in Abuja and indeed the country at large require full protection as they go about their lawful duties of informing members of the public without fear of molestation, intimidation, and harassment.

He urged fellow journalists and family members of Mr Salem to be prayerful, and remain calm while search effort is on to establish his whereabouts.
Mohamed Salah assumed the mantle of the highest-scoring African in Premier League history after the Egyptian netted a 12-minute hat-trick in Liverpools 5-0 demolition of Manchester United on Sunday at Old Trafford,

Sundays loss was Uniteds third Premier League defeat in four games as the pressure on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer continues to mount with results just not going his way.

Naby Keita set the tone for what turned out to be a whitewash as he opened the scoring inside five minutes into the contest with a neat finish past David de Gea.

Diogo Jota doubled the lead for the Reds before Salah took centre stage, scoring three times to overtake Didier Drogba as the all-time highest-scoring African in the EPL.

Uniteds miserable outing was compounded when Paul Pogba who came on as a half-time substitute was sent off for a rough tackle on Keita.

The Red Devils thought they had pulled one back through Cristiano Ronaldos low finish but his effort was chalked off for offside by VAR.

Earlier in the day, two Super Eagles players, Frank Onyeka and Kelechi Iheanacho- were in action at the Brentford Community Stadium as Brentford hosted Leicester City.

While Iheanacho was on for 90 minutes, his compatriot played for 76 minutes before he was substituted

In the end, it was the Foxes who claimed the maximum points as they recorded a 2-1 win over the Bees.

Leicester took the lead in the 13th minute when a headed clearance fell to Youri Tielemans who lashed the rebound home from 25 yards.

Mathias Jorgensen drew Brentford level on the hour but Tielemans then helped tee up James Maddisons first goal since February.

This was Leicester Citys first back-to-back win back in the Premier League matches since April.

In the London derby between West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur, the Hammers prevailed 1-0 courtesy of a second half goal from Michail Antonio.

Chelsea lead the EPL table with 22 points, followed by unbeaten Liverpool on 21 while the defending champions, Manchester City, are third with 20 points.

In the relegation places are Burnley and Newcastle with four points while Norwich are rock-bottom with two points. All three teams are yet to win a league match in the new season.
ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, American Trucking Associations' Chief Economist Bob Costello will formally release new estimates of the current driver shortage, and discuss several proposed solutions, during a media availability at ATA's Management Conference and Exhibition in Nashville, Tennessee.

What: Discussion of latest driver shortage estimates and solutions

Who: ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello

When: 11:30 EDT/10:30 CDT, Monday, October 25

Where: Music City Center Room 209B or via Video Conference

To RSVP and get credentials for the video conference, please RSVP to Sean McNally at [email protected].

American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils, ATA is the voice of the industry America depends on most to move our nation's freight. Follow ATA on Twitter or on Facebook. Trucking Moves America Forward

SOURCE American Trucking Associations

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NEW YORK, Oct. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of the securities of The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE: SAM) between April 22, 2021 and September 8, 2021, inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important November 15, 2021 lead plaintiff deadline.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Boston Beer securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Boston Beer class action, go to http://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-2159.html or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than November 15, 2021. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Boston Beer's hard seltzer sales were decelerating; (2) as a result, Boston Beer was reasonably likely to incur inventory write-offs; (3) Boston Beer was reasonably likely to incur shortfall fees payable to third party brewers; (4) a result of the foregoing, Boston Beer's financial results would be adversely impacted; and (5) as a result of the foregoing, defendants' positive statements about Boston Beer's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Boston Beer class action, go to http://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-2159.html or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

-------------------------------

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

[email protected]

[email protected]

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www.rosenlegal.com

SOURCE Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

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VASANT KUNJ, India, Oct. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Designistic's media company, Mr. Vishal Kalra in collaboration with Tech Innovation Global Incorporated a new platform for technology initiatives, stories and profiles of entrepreneurs, business leaders, services and products ranging from United States of America to Worldwide. Companies can also actively invest in initiatives across countries. Designistic is an IT start-up with a measure of return and ways for new thresholds of opportunities awarded and organized by Brand Opus India, a share capital. Several investors and organizations, online forums drive shares in the market. Companies includes many sectors of services. Tech Innovation Global Inc. and Seerletics seerletics.com combines social networking and big data analytics to help you customize plans. Data analysis from Tech Innovation Global Incorporated's platform and services reopened America during COVID-19. Tech Innovation Global Inc. announced a $20 million funding round and details will be in International Media, The Top Talk, a series of entrepreneurs, business leaders, services and products and organizations. Data analysis from Tech Innovation Global Incorporated's platform and services includes:

Connecting Globally Data analysis Seerletics fitness app seerletics.com GenConnect Consultants Health COVID-19 Consulting

From workforce solutions to filling vacancies, you can upload products new lines and more with the magazine and Global B2B. Designistic is collaborating with several companies in the global marketplace.

You can login at https://techinnovationglobalinc.com/global or call 1-888-214-1033. WOSB Alicia Carroll Consultant W. Culver

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Companies technology initiatives during 2021 to 2031 (10 years), you can also pay and go to https://www.techinnovationglobalinc.com for products, apps and services. For more information go to Tech Innovation Global Incorporated, 600 Boulevard Ste 104, Huntsville Alabama 35802. 2019 - 2021. All Rights Reserved.

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The donor, an alumnus who wishes to remain anonymous, is making the gift to honor his parents for their wisdom and sacrifices in sending him to Webb, and as a recognition for Webb's indelible impact on his life.

The Webb Schools include Webb School of California, Vivian Webb School and the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology, the only accredited museum of paleontology on a high school campus. WSC celebrates its centennial in September 2022.

"This transformative gift at least $100 million will enable Webb to dramatically expand access to our unique, unbounded program to the very best and deserving students regardless of financial circumstance," said Head of Schools Taylor B. Stockdale, who has been with Webb since 1988. "It is the single greatest act of philanthropy in Webb's history."

Webb's "unbounded" approach fosters an entrepreneurial spirit that creates scholars with a rich array of perspectives and goals. The program draws on hands-on learning, unique academic partnerships and a location in the heart of the cultural, academic and environmental riches of Southern California.

The philosophy encompasses in-depth studies in all disciplines driven by the passions and knowledge of Webb's expert teachers. For example, students unearth fossils during Alf Museum trips, conduct original research and author scientific papers published in peer-reviewed journals.

In making the gift, the alumni donor traced Webb's potent impact to this extraordinary academic focus.

"When great teachers share experiences and exchange ideas, the invaluable art of teaching becomes electric. This energy attracts the best and most imaginative students eager to be challenged, both by their teachers and by each other," the donor said.

"In turn, these students go on to become inspired graduates coveted by the world's best colleges and universities. And, more importantly, students get exposed to enough of what the world has to offer that they are able to find the place  be it a niche or an arena  where they can make their mark. Webb then truly becomes a place where the opportunities are boundless."

The gift is the centerpiece of Webb's Centennial Campaign, called The Next 100, an effort aimed at generating at least $200 million by 2025. The campaign, which entered its public phase on Oct. 23, has raised more than $170 million, including the estate gift of at least $100 million.

The landmark donation will serve three purposes:

Leverage the schools' location by creating new partnerships enabling Webb students to be actively involved with the many educational, cultural and service institutions in the greater Los Angeles area

area Attract, nurture and retain exceptional, life-changing teachers, and

Ensure that a curious, high-energy, kind and hard-working student body is enrolled regardless of financial circumstance

Jim Dahler, who has been teaching at Webb for 34 years, said the campus community serves as an extended family that supports students long after they graduate.

"I am astounded by the donor's generosity and excited by this gift's promise to transform the lives of Webb students and teachers," Dahler said.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the American Transportation Research Institute, the trucking industry's not-for-profit research organization, released its 17th annual Top Industry Issues report, identifying a number of the industry's key concerns including the driver shortage, driver retention, driver compensation, lawsuit abuse reform, truck parking and for the first time, the shortage of diesel technicians.

"The ATRI list of top industry issues provides a critical snapshot of the challenges impacting our industry at any given moment," said ATA Chair Sherri Garner Brumbaugh, president and CEO of Garner Trucking, "and this year is no exception as supply chain constraints dominate the nation's headlines. ATRI's annual analysis not only captures the industry's sentiment on the criticality of each of these issues but also maps out a course for addressing each through the stakeholder-ranked strategies."

For the fifth year in a row, the Driver Shortage topped the list of industry concerns, garnering more than four times as many first-place votes as the number two issue, Driver Retention. Further reflecting the industry's workforce challenges, Driver Compensation was ranked third overall. Lawsuit Abuse Reform rose three spots this year to take the number four spot and the lack of available Truck Parking rounded out the top five industry concerns. The Diesel Technician Shortage made the top-10 list for the first time this year, as the 10th ranked most critical issue in the industry.

Nearly 25 percent of the survey respondents were professional truck drivers and among driver respondents, Driver Compensation and Truck Parking tied for the number one industry concern. Detention / Delay at Customer Facilities was ranked by drivers as their second most pressing concern.

More than 2,500 trucking industry stakeholders participated in this year's survey, including motor carriers, drivers, industry suppliers, driver trainers, law enforcement, and others.

"This year's large response shows just how serious our industry is about identifying the most critical concerns and more importantly, figuring out how we collectively deal with each issue," said ATRI President and COO Rebecca Brewster.

"It really is no surprise that truck driver-related issues  notably the driver shortage and driver retention  ranked so high on the survey. Coming out of the pandemic, with the increased demand for goods and other pressures on the supply chain, getting and keeping drivers has been a real challenge industrywide," Brewster said. "We also see the impacts of the current supply chain crunch in how highly issues like driver compensation, truck parking, infrastructure and driver detention ranked on the list."

The complete results of the annual survey were released as part of 2021 American Trucking Associations' Management Conference and Exhibition. The full report can be found at ATRI's website  Truckingresearch.org.

ATRI is the trucking industry's 501(c)(3) not-for-profit research organization. It is engaged in critical research relating to freight transportation's essential role in maintaining a safe, secure and efficient transportation system.

SOURCE American Transportation Research Institute

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Lakhimpur Kheri : , Oct 24 (IANS) Ashish Mishra, son of union minister Ajay Mishra Teni and the main accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, is reportedly suffering from dengue and has been hospitalised.

According to sources, Ashish's health deteriorated and he had to be admitted to the jail hospital.

Ashish who was taken on police remand on Friday, had complained of fever and his blood reports on Saturday confirmed that he was suffering from dengue.

He was admitted to the jail hospital at 10.p.m on Saturday after his condition deteriorated.

Ashish Mishra was arrested in connection with the violence that was triggered after he allegedly ran his car over protesting farmers in Tikunia in Lakhimpur Kheri.

Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in Lakhimpur Kheri when a group agitating against the Centre's three new farm laws was staging a demonstration against the visit of UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on October 3.

Two BJP workers, a driver and a journalist were killed in the violence that followed.

Meanwhile, three more persons were arrested on Saturday in connection with the case, taking the total number of arrests to 13.
Kolkata, Oct 24 : Owing to a fund crunch because of the huge financial drain to meet the commitment of the social schemes launched by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal government is slowly leaning towards central projects that had been strongly opposed by the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Though the state government is yet to take a final policy decision regarding taking the Centre's share in the different ongoing schemes in the state, top officials have already instructed all the departments to look into whether the financial benefits of the central projects can be used in various projects in the state.

The two areas where the state has already given the nod for central assistance are Ayushman Bharat - the health scheme for citizens and 'Krishak Bandhu', the crop insurance scheme for farmers. Countering the Centre's Ayushman Bharat the state had launched its own scheme, 'Sasthya Sathi Prokolpo', where all the citizens of the state were given an annual health coverage of Rs 5 lakh.

According to an estimate the state will have to cough up approximately Rs 2,000 crore annually for the successful implementation of the scheme. Even a year back the estimate was around Rs 925 crore but after Banerjee announced before the elections that all the citizens of the state will be covered under 'Shastha Sathi' there was a quantum leap in the budget.

There are several other projects that have huge cost involvement and are making a serious dent in the state's finances. According to officials in the recently announced 'Lakhmir Bhandar project' where the state will give Rs 1,000 to women from SC/ST/OBC communities and Rs 500 to women belonging to the general caste, the government has allocated a budget of Rs 12,900 crore for around 1.8 crore women who have so far registered themselves for the scheme.

In addition to this, the state has spent more than Rs 8,277 crore on the Kanyashree project where so far 2,39,66,510 girls were given financial help for their education. The objective of the scheme is to ensure that girls stay in school and delay their marriage till at least the age of 18.

The scheme is divided into two phases. The first is an annual incentive of Rs 750 to be paid to the girls in the age group of 13 to 18 years (studying in Class VIII equivalent or above for every year that they remained in education, provided they are unmarried at the time. The second is a One-Time Grant of Rs 25,000, to be paid after a girl turns 18, provided that she was engaged in an academic or occupational pursuit and was unmarried.

"Apart from that there are several other social schemes like Sabujshree, Jol Dhoro Jol Bhoro, Free rationing system, Duare Sarkar which is also putting a huge pressure on the exchequer of the state. Last year due to the lockdown and the pandemic the revenue was very low and this year also the state's economy is just showing signs of improvement and in this condition, it is getting difficult for the state to carry on with its development works and at the same time continue with the schemes," a senior official of the finance department said.

Though Mamata Banerjee is yet to take a policy decision to allow central schemes in the state, there are indications that the state government is turning soft towards using the central grants in the state-run schemes. The state is already taking a large stake in the central project in the field of health infrastructure. In other cases, officials from different departments are examining the possibilities.

Though Banerjee was strongly against the PM Kisan Yojna - the central scheme to assist the distressed farmers and launched her own 'Krishak Bandhu Prokolpo', but recently the state has given the nod for PM Kisan Yojna in the state.

However, the state has not yet agreed to all the central projects. It has not yet approved the Centre's Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises or FME project. There are some projects where the centre and the state have equal share.

"If the centre can give their name and the photo of the Prime Minister then why can't we use our own name and give the photograph of the chief minister because we have an equal stake in the project?" an official questioned.

It is obvious that state Secretariat Nabanna leaving its earlier hard stance has become much more lenient towards the central schemes.

"There is no reason to neglect all the projects and we should try to get a central partnership wherever possible. The state is not in a position to ignore central funds. More importantly we need to understand that the centre itself does not pay! The states pay a share of the money they collect in taxes. So it is the state's money that is coming back from the centre and there is no reason for not taking it," the official added.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : When popular smartphone brands like Xiaomi and realme entered the laptop market in India last year, they were expected to shake the existing giants, specifically under the Rs 50,000 category. However, chip shortage and supply crunch have somewhat dented their plans to make a significant mark to date.

According to industry experts, the issue with smartphone makers entering the laptop category is two-fold.

The first one is a massive supply crunch in the laptop component market and only big brands are able to get volume and supplies.

The other factor is that the traditional players are very strong in the consumer laptop market. Top 3 players control more than 70 per cent of the market and strong portfolio, distribution, and channel reach as well as brand marketing has helped them massively.

"New brands can surely make a dent in the consumer laptop market but are challenged by supply issues right now. Watch out for them in 2022 as and when supply situation eases up," Navkendar Singh, Research Director, Client Devices & IPDS, IDC India told IANS.

Dominated by HP Inc, Lenovo and Dell, the traditional PC market (inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations) in India continued to be robust as the shipments grew by 50.5 per cent year-over-year (YoY) in the second quarter (Q2), according to IDC.

Notebook PCs continue to hold more than three-fourth share in the overall category and grew 49.9 per cent YoY in 2Q21, reporting a fourth consecutive quarter with over 2 million units. Desktops also indicated a recovery as shipments grew 52.3 per cent YoY after recording the lowest shipments of the decade in 2Q20.

According to Prabhu Ram, Head, Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, driven by the pandemic and the associated accelerated pivot to remote work, learn and unwind culture, PCs have been witnessing heightened demand.

"Despite the current supply chain constraints, PCs are here to stay in the new never normal. In the run-up to the festive season, established PC market leaders will continue to leverage their brand salience and gain market share," Ram told IANS.

"On the other hand, there is a niche market for those new market entrants that are able to differentiate themselves from the competition in terms of features and value.

"Alongside, they would need to back it with strong brand messaging to create awareness and recall amongst the target consumers," Ram added.

HP maintained its lead in the India PC market with a 33.6 per cent share as its shipments grew 54.2 per cent annually. Dell Technologies continued to hold the second position with a 22.1 per cent share and an impressive 86.1 per cent YoY growth in 2Q21.

Lenovo maintained the third position with a share of 17.8 per cent in 2Q21.

Arvind Suraj, Research Fellow, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said that there is always a trust issue with new brands.

"You won't buy a laptop in 6 or 7 months just like smartphones. In this case, we often go for existing players. Brands like Lenovo, HP, ASUS and Acer have already gained our trust," he said.

(Md Waquar Haider can be reached at waquar.h@ians.in)
Mathura, Oct 24 : The Mathura Jail is mulling a proposal to have a jail-themed restaurant outside its premises on the lines of the one in Tihar Jail in Delhi.

The idea was proposed by the Uttar Pradesh Apradh Nirodhak Samiti, a semi-government organisation, with an aim to provide employment to rehabilitate inmates after their term ends and to let people have a glimpse of the life inside.

The proposal has been sent to the Director General, Prisons, and the Additional Chief Secretary, Home, for approval.

If approved, the restaurant will be the first such facility in the state.

Chairman of the Samiti, Umesh Sharma said: "People are curious about life inside a jail and many want to taste prison food due to astrological beliefs." The restaurant will serve food prepared by prisoners.

Sharma said: "Once the restaurant is operational, priority will be given to hiring convicts who have served their full term. The profit will be used for rehabilitation of the prisoners and they will also get a salary while working for the restaurant." The ambience of the restaurant will be in keeping with the jail theme. The entrance will be designed like a prison gate and the interiors will comprise prison cells with dining tables and chairs.

"Handcuffs, waiters in prisoners' uniforms, red lights and other fixtures will be added to give an authentic look of the jail," said Sharma.

The project, estimated to cost Rs 25 lakh, will also have a home delivery system.

Sharma said Mathura is the best district to launch such a project as it attracts people from across the world due to its association with Lord Krishna, who was also born in prison.

Jail Superintendent Brijesh Kumar said that they were eagerly awaiting approval for the proposal.

He hoped that once this project is approved, it can be introduced at other prisons as well.

Similar initiatives have been taken across jails in the country. Delhi's Tihar has been running such a restaurant since 2014.

In a Kerala jail, inexpensive food and bakery items are sold through cafeterias or distributed through mobile vans.

The Burail jail in Chandigarh offers a wide range of food items which can also be ordered online.
Chennai, Oct 24 : Tamil Nadu Minister for Culture and Archaeology, Thangam Thenarasu has said that the state government will rope in oceanographers and archaeologists of international repute to conduct deep excavations at Korkai, the ancient port city of the erstwhile Pandyan empire.

This was after recent excavations at the port city unearthed several artefacts that revealed the business ties Korkai had with the Romans, Chinese and the Egyptians. The archaeology department has already reached out to several oceanographers and archaeologists for a detailed and scientific study of Korkai as it has great significance in the study of the period of the Pandyan empire and the connections it had with other nations.

The artefacts that were unearthed in Korkai included items like drainage pipes, remains of old houses, baked tiles, conch bangles, iron coins, and pots. These excavations prove that Korkai and its surrounding areas had a rich culture, architecture and arts even during 785 BCE.

Thangam Thenarasu who had directly supervised the excavations at Korkai told IANS: "Korkai is believed to be the ancient port city of the Pandyan empire and the excavations conducted till now have unearthed several items which show glimpses of the culture and heritage associated with Korkai town as well as the international business connections it had with Romans, Chinese and Egyptians." He said that the state government will be bringing in oceanographers and archaeologists of repute to determine the exact period of the Pandyans as well as the connection Korkai had with other countries.

The state government is also planning an onsite museum at Korkai to display the artefacts and the heritage materials excavated from the place. Korkai is even mentioned in ancient Sangam literature as well as classical Western literature with Greek mathematician, musician, traveller and astrologer Ptolemy writing about it in Greek literature, stating that it was known as Kolkhai.

The finds of the remains of black and red pottery with old Tamil Brahmi scripts (two to four letters in a line or two) and drawn images of the sun, fish, bow and arrow are estimated to be from the period between the 3rd century BC and 2nd century AD.

Interestingly, satellite imagery from around Korkai has found that the Tamiraparani river has shifted course progressively east and south while earlier it had mixed with the sea at Thoothukudi. Geologists who interpreted the satellite imagery indicated that in the 1st and 2nd century CE, the Tamiraparani river might have flown northeast from Eral and joined the sea at Thoothukudi.

Western writers such as Pliny the Elder (1st century CE), Strabo, and Ptolemy had said that Korkai was well known for pearl fishery. Archaeologists also testify that the main exports from Korkai were pearls, spices, ivory, and shells. The imports included horses, gold, glass, and wine.

R. Padmanabhan, Director of the Socio-Economic Development Foundation, a think tank based out of Madurai, told IANS: "Several archaeologists and writers including in Sangam literature, as well as western classical writers, have stated that Korkai was the port city of the ancient Pandyan empire. The government has already said that it would bring noted oceanographers as well as archaeologists to determine the materials excavated at Korkai. The Tamiraparani river and the culture associated with it have been sung as ballads in Tamil music and written extensively in Tamil literature. The government announcement of an open museum at Korkai is a welcome move."
Bengaluru, Oct 24 : There was a time when parents were not even ready to think about schools with Covid playing havoc. A campaign was undertaken with a slogan "no school till every child got vaccinated". Now, the situation has reversed. After 19 months of hiatus, parents are forcing school managements to reopen as they want their children not to miss out on academics anymore.

The Karnataka government has given the green signal to the primary schools to begin classes from 1st to 5th standard from October 26. Education Minister B.C. Nagesh has been touring across the state and visiting high schools. At a time when schools are reopening, the lockdown has left challenges for the student community, parents, teachers and school managements as well.

Experts say that it will take about 1 to 1.5 years for the children to catch up after losing out on offline classes for 19 months. High school students are really worried as they have to prepare for the Class 10 examinations.

When schools opened, only about 50 per cent of the students studying in Classes 9 and 10 came to school. After one week about 80 per cent attended classes and now it is 100 per cent. It is quite evident that in one month parents realized the importance of physical classes. They want classes to resume. There are positive vibes as jabs for children are coming, say school authorities.

Kiran Prasad, Core Committee Member of Associated Managements of Schools in Karnataka and an educator and founder of Vidya Vaibhav Education Institutes, said that parents know that children are lagging behind. The learning abilities of children are down by 50 to 60 per cent. Reading competencies, quantitative competencies related to mathematics and numeracy are reduced. The fourth standard student is still at the level of Class 1.

Mohammad Umar Farooq, Secretary of Private Schools and Children Welfare Association and Karnataka Union of Minority School Management Association, said that although not all parents are fed up with online classes, there is a good response to the opening of primary schools.

There are other concerns too. Kiran Prasad said that there will definitely be a 10 to 15 per cent dip in the performance of students. The student who scored 90 per cent will come down to 75 to 80 per cent. "In four-five months we have to get them streamlined by fulfilling their academic requirements. It is a very big challenge. Parents are realising it better. They are able to see where their child was and where he is now," he said.

On the other hand, during the first wave of Covid, teachers were laid off and work was given to external vendors. Those with good command over English joined BPOs and other avenues. They have a steady income. Teaching is not a desirable position anymore. Some of the teachers have joined construction work and they do not want to come back to teaching as they are offered meagre salaries.

Sandeep C.S., CEO of Thyagaraju Central School in Bidadi, stated that their institute retained all the teaching staff during the pandemic. Most of the schools which terminated the teachers are finding it difficult to find new ones.

Kempe Gowda A.V., Secretary of ANGV Educational Trust and Devanahalli Private Schools Association, said that school managements are in deep trouble following the lockdowns. "Lot of schools which are not able to repay loans are being threatened by financiers. Though a petition was submitted to the Reserve Bank of India and the Karnataka government it was of no use. The banks have stopped giving loans," he noted.

Riyaz S.K., Administrator of Jawahar English Medium School in Bidar, said the majority of the schools in the region depend only on tuition fees and since two years they have not got any fees. "We are like hand to mouth institutions. When there is nothing on hand, what will go to your mouth?" he asked.

Schools are now reopening and the situation will hopefully be better by January.
The political forces in the opposition have added a new shot in their anti-Modi narrative -- contending that the regime was flouting constitutional norms of governance. The Indian Constitution is all about defining democracy, secularism, welfare function of the state, Centre's primary responsibility for the security of the nation in keeping with India's identity as a union of states and judicial review of legislative and executive decisions by the Supreme Court to keep the power of the elected in check. The rhetoric of the opposition against the alleged flouting of constitutional norms by the Modi government is more of a war of words -- a closer look at each of the above-mentioned paradigms puts the latter in the clean.

So far as the amendments to the Constitution go, should it be said that it is the Congress that in its heydays in power evidently found fault with the Preamble of the Constitution of India -- so famously adopted in 1950 -- for not clearly defining India as a secular state and thus negated the meticulous effort of the Constitution-makers to get the secular thought embedded in the very foundation of the original document? India was to be governed through a transparent electoral process of 'one man one vote' regardless of creed,caste and gender, a provision of equal opportunities for development and same protection of law for all and a clear mandate that the political executive will not have a denominational stamp. This basic framework of secular governance has remained unchanged so far.

What was the compulsion, therefore, for the then ruling party to introduce the adjective 'secular' in the Constitution as late as in the third decade of its existence? Is this because secularism had now become a political instrument for claiming that the regime was giving special attention to the Muslim minority? Incidentally, India had inherited the legacy of violent communalism but as the democratic assimilation of communities gathered pace, the incidence of communal riots had shown a steady decadal decline. Strangely, however, the communal front registered a deterioration in the latter Seventies in spite of the amendment of the Preamble. Secularism of the state in India is maintained by the principles originally laid down in the Constitution and not because the word has been put into the book subsequently.

The Constitution underscored the federal character of India by assigning the law and order duties to the states thus getting them to have a feel of the autonomy of governance strengthened by a host of powers granted to them through the delineation of Centre-State responsibilities. However, it was made clear that India was a Union of States conferring the Centre with the duty of safeguarding the security of the country. National Intelligence organisations would work under the Centre and Intelligence function performed by the state machinery would, apart from its importance for maintaining law and order, supplement the charter of the central agencies.

The Directive Principles of the Constitution call upon the state to ensure internal peace and security and handle foreign policy for maintaining international order. The Constitution authorises the Centre to even declare emergency in an extreme case where security of India is threatened by war, external aggression or internal rebellion and assume overriding powers -- the Centre is thus given the total freedom to protect the nation's security. Prime Minister Modi has to be complimented for showing the political will power to order surgical strike at Balakot deep inside Pakistan, to punish the perpetrators behind the suicide bomber attack on a CRPF convoy in Kashmir in early 2019.

In the wake of the Kargil war that was sparked off by the surreptitious infiltration of commandos by Pakistan in the mountainous Drass region in early 1999, Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee established an apex body called National Security Council in November that year with a secretariat headed by the National Security Advisor who was also an ex-officio member of the council. The council chaired by the PM included Ministers of Defence, Home, External Affairs and Finance as members besides the Deputy Chairman of Niti Ayog whose inclusion marked the new doctrine of national security that considered economic security as its integral part. The NSC was to manage national security in its totality and help evolve the security policy and strategy. NSCS ensures Intelligence coordination, preparation of strategic assessment incorporating technical inputs and integral responses to an emerging threat.

The Constitution of India supports a contemporary principle of security vital for a democratic regime that says 'security for all means all for security' and underlines the importance of citizen's conscious contribution to making the nation secure. It defines Fundamental Duties that morally mandate everyone to preserve the sovereignty and integrity of the nation, strengthen the cause of internal peace and security and support the measures of the state to counter the attack of the enemy. In these days of Pak-sponsored proxy war against India in which the Pak ISI has used faith-based terrorism to destabilise this country, the role of our citizens in maintaining vigilance around them -- in streets, localities and places of congregations -- to detect suspicious behaviour of a stranger and report it the nearest authority, has become crucial.

Well-considered initiatives are necessary to inculcate security awareness amongst government servants, students and local-self bodies about the covert attempts of enemy agencies to recruit supporters and operators often by trapping them through social media. Lobbies exist within the country and outside to promote false narratives against the democratic government of India and influence public opinion against it often by building a narrative of anti-minority ethos, dictatorial outlook and attack on diversity. There is a convenient mutual empathy between these externally inspired elements and many in the opposition here with the result that real political contest is giving way to 'proxy politics' that detracts from the constitutional stability India is known for in the world.

The federal scheme of things laid down by our Constitution should have worked fine as the division of powers between the Centre and the states was meant to be complementary serving the overall national interests. As the primary repository of the responsibility of maintaining law and order states were expected to depoliticise police functioning in the interest of internal security -- state police is often the first responder to a terror threat now -- and make sure that enemy agents were not able to exploit the vulnerability of a weak administrative machinery to create sleeper cells by acquiring fake identities, cover occupation and social mobility. The Centre cannot take care of national security without the wholehearted commitment of the state governments who will have to learn to keep security above politics. Any incident of public violence against an individual or a violent clash is a reflection on the state's law and order management and the critics must target the administration concerned without drawing comparisons or giving a political tint to the happening.

Violence can easily negate democratic rule and some of the recent incidents in different parts of the country create the concern that the stability of governance provided by our Constitution might be getting sacrificed at the altar of incompetent state administrations. That this should happen when the Modi government on its part was succeeding in establishing the voice of India as a major power on the world scene, is particularly regrettable. The situation demands that the Centre should strengthen its monitoring of the law and order situation in the country by acquiring a bigger say in the appointment of heads of the State Police and State Administration. It is a matter of great satisfaction for all thinking citizens that this idea has already been endorsed by the highest court of the land.

(The writer is a former Director Intelligence Bureau)
Imphal, Oct 24 : Manipur police officer Brinda Thounaojam, who had earlier come into the limelight for her crusade against drugs and numerous other crimes, has decided to contest the state Assembly polls. She said that she is joining politics to "rectify the flawed system, which creates militancy, numerous social evils and deprived people specially the women".

Brinda, who is an Additional Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) submitted her resignation to the government earlier this month which has not been accepted yet. She said that she has closely watched the administration and society and found that so many imperfect policies of the government, a defective system and a wrong and immoral mindset were causing many problems including extremism in Manipuri society.

"There is huge political interference from influential quarters... honest and sincere officials cannot work freely and as per the prevailing law and norms." "That is why I have decided to fight the elections and become a lawmaker to make an endeavour to enact realistic and perfect laws in the assembly for the betterment of Manipur and its deprived people," the 42-year-old told IANS.

A mother of four children, Brinda said that bad governance destroys society in numerous ways and that is why appropriate laws are required to reform society and for the betterment of the people, specially the proper empowerment of women.

According to political pundits, even though women have been in the forefront in most societal aspects for decades in the erstwhile princely state of Manipur, but in governance women are not given a proportionate share.

For many years, female voters have outnumbered men but political parties are fielding very few women candidates in every election.

According to the latest electoral rolls, Manipur has a total of 19,58,087 eligible voters, of which 10,06,581 are women compared to 9,51,409 men, outnumbering them by 55,172. There are 97 transgender voters.

"Until princely state Manipur joined the Indian Union in 1949, the condition and position of women in the state was more or less good, but after that their condition gradually deteriorated. The women's economic deprivation caused diverse problems in Manipuri society." "Adequate numbers of capable women must come into politics and in governance to improve the situation for the future generations," said Brinda, whose husband Raj Kumar Chinglen is a software engineer in a private firm.

Daughter-in-law of former Chairman of the outlawed United National Liberation Front, Raj Kumar Meghen, the ex police officer with a law background said that she would contest from the Yaiskul assembly constituency.

A former "most wanted militant leader", Meghen is the great grandson of former Manipur king Tikendrajit Singh, who led the Manipur Army in the Anglo-Manipur War of 1891.

Brinda said that she was always looked at with suspicion in the police department since she is the daughter-in-law of Meghen, who is now out of jail and leading a normal life.

"Might be due to my relationship with my father-in-law, I was not given an appointment in the Manipur Police service despite having been selected in the Manipur State Public Service Commission examination," she said.

In January 2013, she filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking redress and the court directed Brinda to approach the Gauhati High Court, however, it directed the Manipur government to appoint her since she had already been selected.

Brinda joined the Mahila Battalion (an all-women battalion) in April 2013.

"Few national and local parties were keen to support me but I would take the decision as per the wishes of the people of my constituency, Yaiskul," she pointed out.

The 60-member Manipur assembly elections are likely to be held in February-March next year.

Brinda Thounaojam was in the limelight when she arrested Loukhoshei Zou, the chairman of the Autonomous District Council of Chandel district and six others, with a huge quantity of drugs worth Rs 27 crore in June 2018.

Manipur Chief Minister N.Biren Singh, who had declared a war against drugs, awarded her a commendation certificate for the arrest.

However, Zou was subsequently released on bail by the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act court in Manipur after it was "proved" that the seized drugs belonged to two other youths.

Criticising the "concerned authority" for granting bail to Zou, Brinda subsequently returned the commendation certificate reportedly informing the government that since "Zou claimed that he was innocent and the court granted him bail she did not deserve the commendation certificate".

The issue had triggered a huge controversy in Manipur politics and the administration.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
Lucknow, Oct 24 : Uttar Pradesh Ministers continue to wade into controversy, day after day.

After state Minister Upendra Tiwari claimed that 95 per cent people are unaffected by increase in fuel prices, it is now Minister Manohar Lal a.k.a Munnu Kori who has been caught on camera telling people, "Vote dena ho tau do, varna na do (give votes if you want to, otherwise don't)." The incident took place when the minister reached a fertilizer distribution centre on Saturday and had a tiff with the waiting farmers. The farmers asked the minister as to why they are being denied fertilizer.

A video clip of the minister's outburst is now going viral on social media.

On Friday evening, a farmer died in Lalitpur district after waiting for two consecutive days in a queue for fertilizer.
Lhasa, Oct 24 : bout 36.89 million domestic and foreign tourists visited Tibet in the first three quarters of this year, up 15.2 per cent year on year, according to local authorities.

The region's tourism revenue from January to September rose 26.6 per cent from a year earlier to 42.4 billion yuan ($6.6 billion), Xinhua news agency quoted the regional tourism department as saying in a statement.

The growth in the number of tourists and tourism revenue was partly due to effective epidemic control and rapidly developing infrastructure in Tibet.

A raft of preferential policies has been implemented to promote Tibet's tourism growth, including lower hotel prices and free tickets at many tourist attractions, between mid-October and the end of the year.

The incentives are expected to help Tibet meet the goals of receiving 42 million tourists and generating annual tourism revenue of 44 billion yuan in 2021.
Phnom Penh, Oct 24 : Cambodia has lifted a ban on all flights from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines after most of the kingdom's population have been vaccinated against the Covid-19, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said.

The decision to lift the ban was made by Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday and it took effect immediately, Xinhua news agency quoted Bunheng as saying.

"It's part of the country's move to reopen social and economic activities gradually in all areas by adapting to the new normal and to reactivate air transport services," the Health Minister added.

Cambodia banned all flights from the three ASEAN member states in August last year in an effort to curb Covid-19 transmission.

The ban's removal came after Cambodia had administered at least one dose of a Covid vaccine to 13.65 million people, or 85.33 per cent of its 16-million population, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said.

Of them, 12.94 million, or 80.8 per cent, have been fully vaccinated, and 1.62 million, or 10.1 per cent, have received a booster dose, it added.

The kingdom reported 144 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the national infection tally to 117,644, the MoH said, adding that 10 more fatalities have been recorded, bringing the overall death toll to 2,725.
Tehran, Oct 24 : The best option to save the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), from collapse is that all the parties to the agreement must fully comply with the original text, said Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former diplomat and a specialist on Middle East security and nuclear policy at Princeton University.

The remarks are from a recent article written by Mousavian and released by the Middle East Eye, a London-based news portal focusing on the Middle East events, just ahead of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi's visit to Iran to discuss the continuation of a deal between the two sides that allows the IAEA's inspectors to monitor activities at Iran's nuclear facilities, Xinhua news agency reported.

The collapse of the deal would be doomed unless the demands of all parties involved in the negotiations could be met, warned Mousavian.

Iran has already agreed to keep the surveillance of IAEA cameras and return to the negotiations in Vienna after it suspended them temporarily in June to allow its new administration to review what had previously been discussed.

Under the 2015 accord, Iran promised to limit parts of its nuclear program, such as placing caps on the capacity and stockpile of the uranium enrichment for a specific period of time, and to allow the IAEA to monitor and verify its compliance with the deal, in return for lifting of the UN and US sanctions on the country.

However, the US government under former President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in May 2018 and unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran.

In response, Iran gradually stopped implementing part of its commitments to the deal in May 2019.

Between April 6 and June 20 this year, the JCPOA Joint Commission, attended by a US delegation indirectly, held six meetings in Vienna to discuss a possible return of Washington to the JCPOA and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the deal.

"Iran neither wastes time, nor accepts unconstructive behaviour of the US, and it will not hold back the country with empty promises," Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian had said recently.

To enhance mutual trust, the world powers and Iran can agree on a step-by-step implementation mechanism, according to Mousavian, who had served in Iran's nuclear diplomacy team.

For instance, as a first step, Iran would halt enriching uranium at 60 per cent and the world powers would lift sanctions on the Iranian finance and banking sectors before a second step would see Iran stop enrichment at 20 per cent in return for sanctions relief on its oil, the Iranian scholar explained.

Iranian officials have been insisting on a JCPOA where nothing would be added to or removed from the original accord.

Mousavian, however, put forward an alternative scenario in which it could begin with "JCPOA minus" and end with "JCPOA plus".

Under the possible "JCPOA minus" with a guarantee of maintaining a "non-nuclear-weapon state", he said, Iran remains committed to all transparency measures, while in exchange, some specific sanctions relief in critical sectors of banking and oil sectors would be given so that other countries could work with Iran on these projects without fear about US retaliation.

To move from "JCPOA minus" to "JCPOA plus", both Iran and the world powers would need to agree on a venue to negotiate the regional issues in which the regional states would sit with Iran and agree on diverse issues, Mousavian added.

"JCPOA plus", which has been a demand of western states in Vienna negotiations, aims at curbing Iran's influence in the region and slow down the country's developing missile program.

The Islamic Republic has dismissed the calls.
Chennai, Oct 24 : The decision to release two Indian fishermen from the custody of the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL), will be taken on November 1.

The Sri Lankan Navy said on Saturday that legal proceedings were underway at Kayts Magistrate Court.

The two fishermen hail from Kottaipattanam and Pudukottai in Tamil Nadu and were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy on October 18.

According to the Sri Lankan Navy, Indian fishing boats crossing the IMBL were chased away but the boat in which the three Indian fishermen -- Suganthan, Xavier, and Rajkiran were fishing did not heed to the Navy and crossed into the Sri Lankan waters. The boat hit the Naval vessel and Raj Kiran was drowned but the other two, Suganthan and Xavier were taken into custody by the Sri Lankan Navy to Jaffna in Northern Lanka.

However, the Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu who were fishing in other boats close to 'Suresh', the boat in which the three Indian fishermen were in, said that the Sri Lankan Navy had deliberately collided with the boat used by the Indian fishermen and that Rajkiran was killed by the Sri Lankan Navy.

Prabhakaran, a fisherman from Kottaipattanam, Tamil Nadu who was close to the boat in which three fishermen were in, said that Raj Kiran was killed by the Sri Lankan Navy.

Meanwhile, the body of Rajkiran was handed over by the Sri Lankan naval officials to the Indian side at the IMBL. The body was brought into Kottaipattanan on Saturday where hundreds of people including Rajkiran's mother, wife, and other relatives were present when the body was brought to Kottaipattanam. The body was later cremated the same day.

Tamil Nadu law minister S. Raghupathy visited the residence of Rajkiran and handed over a cheque for Rs 10 lakh sanctioned by the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin as solatium to the family of the deceased fisherman.

The minister also promised to provide a job to Rajkiran's wife, Brinda, who is a qualified lab technician. Pudkottai district collector Kavitha Ramu also paid her last respects to Rajkiran.

Fishermen in Kottaipattanam, Pudukottai called off the agitation they were conducting since the news of Rajkiran's tragic death and the arrest of Suganthan and Xavier was received in the mainland.

Murugesan, leader of the fishermen association of Kottaipattanam while speaking to IANS said, "We are calling off the agitation for the time being after talking to the officials who visited us. We were expecting all three of them coming back together, however, Rajkiran's body was what we received but we trust the word of the officials and are expecting the other two to reach back home safely in a few days' time."
Islamabad, Oct 24 : Pakistan is witnessing a continuous rise of dengue cases and in the last 24 hours, an additional 832 people were infected in different areas of the country, health authorities said.

The new cases were detected in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, as well as in the capital city of Islamabad, reports Xinhua news agency.

In Islamabad, 118 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, including 79 recorded in the suburbs, bringing the city's total tally to 2,721, District Health Officer Zaeem Zia told local media.

In the cited period, 168 more dengue cases were detected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, taking the total number of infections to 4,672 in the province, local media said.

Five people have died from the disease in the province and 214 patients are currently hospitalized.

Meanwhile, 546 more dengue cases were recorded in Punjab, a health official told local media, adding that 361 of them were found in the provincial capital Lahore.

According to the official data, the total number of dengue cases across the province have risen to 9,491, with 6,294 of them reported in Lahore alone.

The Pakistani government is taking special measures at the dengue hotspots in order to curb the spread of the disease.
Patna, Oct 24 : In a surprise raid in the Khudiram Bose central jail in Bihar's Muzaffarpur, the police recovered three mobile phone, chargers and SIM cards from three hardcore Maoist commanders lodged there.

The raid was conducted on Saturday night. The hardcore naxals have been identified as Rohit Sahani, expert of land mind explosives and commander of attack wing; Lalbabu Bhasker, a zonal commander of Maoist Naxal organisation, and Abhayanand Sharma, another zonal Maoist commander.

An FIR has been registered against the three in Midnapur police station in Muzaffarpur district.

Bhagirath Prasad, the SHO of Mithnapur police station: "The call details of three phone numbers are under investigation. We believe that naxal commanders are operating their organisations from jail.

"We have been also investigating how they could manage to sneak mobiles and chargers in the high security jail," Prasad said.

As per the jail security procedures, every article coming from outside is thoroughly checked in three layers of security at the gate of the prison. The possibility of security personnel illegally nexus with the inmates cannot be ruled out, said the police.

"The inmates were taken for court appearances where they could have obtained the mobile phones and chargers and were helped by security personnel at the gate during frisking," the official said.

Besides, there is also a possibility that visitors may have given them the items with the help of security personnel at the gate, the official added.

"Earlier, we registered an FIR against three constables who were deployed at the gate of Muzaffarpur prison. They are absconding now," Prasad said.
Jammu, Oct 24 : Two policemen, one soldier and a foreign militant were injured on Sunday in fresh firing at the operation site in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.

Police sources said, "Two policemen, an army soldier and a Pakistani militant sustained injuries in fresh firing at Bhata Dhurian encounter site in Nar Khas area of Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district.

"Pakistani LeT militant, Zia Mustafa was taken to Bhata Durian for identification of a hideout during the ongoing operation.

"When the search team approached the hideout, militants again opened fire on the joint team of police and army in which two policemen and an army soldier sustained injuries.

"Let militant, Zia Mustafa also sustained injuries, but he could not be extracted from the site due to heavy firing.

"It is possible the militant might have got killed", sources said.

Nine soldiers, including two JCOs and six terrorists have so far been killed in this operation which started about two weeks back.
To state that the Naga peace talks have hit a roadblock over the issue of Naga flag and a separate constitution is actually a half truth. If these twin issues today can derail the basic peace process that began in 1997, it may not be erroneous to suggest that the peace negotiations never took place all these years.

The peace talks were kicked off during the tenure of I. K. Gujral as the Prime Minister. The United Front-II under Gujral, a suave former foreign minister himself, in the backdrop of UF-1 under H. D. Deve Gowda, was on a weak turf. But the most precious episode of 'peace efforts' with ultras took place during this regime heralding much optimism among various stakeholders. Most important players were aware of the various complexities in Naga peace parleys as this was unlike the Mizo talks in the mid-1980s.

The Vajpayee government, which soon succeeded the Gujral regime, appointed Swaraj Kaushal as peace interlocutor in 1998. Kaushal, husband of the late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, had handled the Mizo talks and was also Mizoram Governor later. The NSCN(IM) had issues with Kaushal and initially, it said the peace interlocutor was trying to resolve the Naga issue using 'Mizoram prism'. Well, things became difficult for Swaraj Kaushal and despite Sushma being a blue-eyed girl of both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L. K. Advani, Kaushal gave up the assignment.

Since then, the Government of India under Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi has banked on former central government officials. A retired IAS officer and former Union Home Secretary, K. Padmanabhaiah was the second negotiator. He gave indulgence to the militant groups and talks happened across the globe including a few well known South East Asian hubs.

In 2000-01, the Vajpayee government had toyed with the idea of putting in former Lok Sabha Speaker, P. A. Sangma, as the peace negotiator. This was objected to by Sangma's fellow Congress colleague Tarun Gogoi, who said no active politician from the Northeast should be given such a role. Sangma was furious with both Vajpayee and Tarun Gogoi.

Nothing much has happened in terms of details about the parleys since then. The then Nagaland Chief Minister S. C. Jamir knew well the machinations of his Naga brethren and hence he kept insisting with L. K. Advani and others that the 'agenda' of talks should be made public. The veteran Congressman had reportedly entrusted G. K. Pillai, then joint secretary in the Home ministry, to pass on the requisite question and information to L. K. Advani. But Jamir's voice was ignored perhaps deliberately; and also because Jamir was a trusted Congressman. He also never enjoyed any positive vibes with NSCN(IM) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah.

Had the agenda been 'made public' in the 1990s or even in the new millennium, we would not have had headlines screaming in October 2021 that the Naga peace talks have hit a roadblock due to twin issues of flag and constitution (Yehzabo). Even then, these twin issues were hanging fire but the babus (especially the retired club) did not brief the political leadership well and things went on. It was a virtual status quo in talks since 1997; and today it is circa 2021. Except for the issue of 'unity or bringing all contiguous Naga areas under one administrative umbrella' nothing much was perhaps discussed in a concrete manner.

After Padmanabhaiah, the Manmohan Singh government tried R. S. Pandey as the negotiator. A former state chief secretary and Nagaland being his state cadre, it was presumed that his approach would be different. On this front, sources say, Pandey often faced a handicap as then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hesitated to give 'political clearance'. In between the Manmohan Singh-led UPA-2 lost popularity over corruption issues and slowly its credibility. Pandey resigned in the run-up to the 2014 general elections and suddenly appeared along with Sunil Shastri and another former babu, R. K. Singh one afternoon and joined the BJP. R. K. Singh, the IAS officer who arrested L. K. Advani in 1990, is now Union Power Minister.

Under Modi, right from the beginning it was NSA Ajit Doval show vis-a-vis Naga talks. Rajnath Singh as Home Minister did not interfere much. R. N. Ravi, a friend of Doval, was made the new interlocutor. The NSCN (IM) never trusted Ravi but as the PMO put its foot down, talks went on. In between Doval and Ravi -- both from Intelligence background -- worked on other fronts and other Naga groups. The Naga National Political Group (NNPG), a conglomerate of seven Naga groups operating in Nagaland, came forward and said they were keen to ink a peace deal to ensure 'end of violence and arson' in Naga hills.

Ravi worked hard with the NSCN (IM) also and on August 3, 2015, he signed a Framework Agreement with none other than Muivah himself. The maverick Muivah had no option as his chairman Isak Chishi Swu was hospitalised in a serious condition. Subsequently, Ravi worked with the NNPG and on Nov 17, 2017, another pact titled 'Agreed Position or Preamble' was signed between the NNPG and the Government of India. The NNPG led by N. Kitovi Zhimomi is now ready to ink the peace pact. It has made it clear that they understand Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stance vis-a-vis flag and a separate constitution.

Another group led by Niki Sumi too has come forward showing keenness to embrace peace and development. In fact, in a recent statement after meeting with new interlocutor A. K. Mishra, it pledged to go by the "aspirations and wishes of the Naga people".

But the latest salvo from the NSCN(IM) does not augur well for the peace process. "....the talks failed to live up to all the hype as the Government of India continues to indulge in political escapism" on the very issues that are holding up the road to the Naga solution, the NSCN (IM) has said in a statement on Oct 23, 2021.

The negativity could have serious implications. Firstly, the Government of India may have to take a call to go ahead with some agreements with other groups -- NNPG and the Niki Sumi-led faction. In such a situation, there could be negative and violent fallout in more ways than one. Moreover, the NSCN(IM) has a strong presence in Manipur as the Tankhul Naga tribe (of Muivah himself) has a sizable presence in some pockets of Manipur. This Northeastern state goes to the polls along with Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Goa in February-March.

The Meitei Manipuris, the majority population in Manipur, have been always cautious that in no way the state's boundary should be affected. Violence in Naga inhabited hilly regions in Manipur would again hamper smooth conduct of elections in the state.

Future Tense: Now, what is the future road map? Are we heading towards the doctrine of 'Promissory estoppel'? This term in jurisprudence means that the government of the day is 'stopped or can be prevented' from going back on its promises. Even the NSCN(IM) says that the Nagas do not have faith in the Government of India's promises. "The Nagas cannot be carried away by the 'post solution narrative' which is just a well laid trap," says NSCN(IM).

As someone who has been covering governance under various dispensations, I cannot vouch that New Delhi has kept all its promises either to the Nagas or to the other sections of people. But under the given circumstances, allowing one or more Naga groups to go back to the jungle will not be advisable.

The Congress party has already said that, "The Naga peace talks have suffered a serious setback due to the ham-handed approach of the Modi government". Well, not many common Nagas will disagree with this allegation, but the same Naga people also know that the Congress party lost a golden opportunity between 2004 and 2014 when they were in power.

On the other hand, as a practical solution or a road map, one can suggest that the Modi Government should prepare a draft agreement for Nagaland and Naga people; and announce all its economic packages and other policy announcements. It can perhaps also express regret if not tender an apology for all 'past mistakes' and failing to keep 'old promises' made in the 1960 Statehood agreement to the Nagas.

The 'New India' as PM Modi keeps mentioning, can give a solemn assurance that it will not commit any breach of faith. Time to create a new set of 'gentleman's promises' and time to pledge to honour those. The Naga hills are crying for peace.

(Nirendra Dev is a New Delhi-based journalist. He is also author of 'The Talking Guns: North East India' and 'Modi to Moditva: An Uncensored Truth')
Belagavi : , Oct 24 (IANS) More shocking details are emerging from the suicide case reported in Belagavi district of Karnataka. According to police, the husband, not being able to cope with the death of his wife, had celebrated her birthday before poisoning his four children and himself.

Gopala Hadimani (46), a retired soldier was found dead along with his children Sowmya Hadimani (19), Shwetha Hadimani (16), Saakshi Hadimani (11) and Srujan Hadimani (8) at his residence in Boragal village in Hukkeri taluk on Saturday.

According to police, Jayashree, the wife of Gopala Hadimani who was infected with Covid-19, died due to Black Fungus on July 6.

Gopala suffered deep depression after the death of his wife. He had celebrated the birthday of his wife Jayashree with his children on Friday night.

The police said that after the celebrations, he gave water mixed with poison to his children and later he also consumed it. He had left a note stating that 'no one is responsible for the death of his children and himself'. He had also kept Rs 20,000 cash beside the note for the final rites to be conducted. Relatives and neighbours remembered that the children were excited to go to schools which were reopening from Monday.

Until now the state has reported 41 deaths due to Covid-19 depression, including five deaths that came to light on Saturday. The deaths have happened due to the fear of infection, losing dear ones and financial loss due to pandemic. Udupi district in Karnataka tops the deaths related to Covid depression with 11 cases while Bengaluru is in the second position with 9 deaths.

The Karnataka government while taking a serious note of the deaths due to Covid depression has appealed to people not to lose hope and take extreme steps. Govind Karjol, Minister for Water Resources, who is also in-charge of Belagavi district has made the appeal.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : Extending greetings to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on its Raising Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the force have answered the nation's call with the utmost dedication from "dense forests in Arunachal Pradesh to the icy heights of the Himalayas".

"From dense forests in Arunachal Pradesh to the icy heights of the Himalayas, our Himveers have answered the nation's call with utmost dedication. Their humanitarian work during times of disasters is noteworthy. Greetings to all ITBP personnel on their Raising Day," Modi said in a tweet.

Home Minister Amit Shah said that the ITBP are well known for protecting the motherland in the toughest of terrains and serving the nation during natural calamities.

Taking to Twitter, he said" "Raising Day greetings to all ITBP personnel and their families. ITBP is well known for protecting the motherland in the toughest of terrains and serving the nation during natural calamities. India is proud of ITBP's valour and determination." Lauding the courageous force, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the ITBP is dedicated towards keeping India safe.

"The indomitable spirit and professionalism of this force is deeply appreciated and admired," he added.

BJP leader and former Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said the Himveers are well-known for their prowess at high-altitude operations.

"We are proud of their valour, determination, and service to the nation," he said.

The 60th ITBP Raising Day Parade will be held at 39th Battalion ITBP, Greater Noida on Sunday.

Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, will take the salute.

The ITBP was raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese aggression and it has a strength of about 90,000 personnel with 60 battalions on the ground.
Mumbai, Oct 24 : Sunday is Karwa Chauth, a very auspicious day for all married women who keep 'Nirjala' fast and worship the almighty for the long lives of their husband and a happy married life.

Women dress up in the evening like newlywed brides, apply 'mehendi', wear new traditional attire, jewellery and do all the 'solah shringaar' (16 symbolics adorned by married women) to look beautiful.

It starts with an early morning bath before sunrise and sargi which is consumed in the morning itself. It includes bangles, sweets, new attire, sweet vermicelli and meethi mathri also.

On this special day we spoke to actress Ridhiema Tiwari who shared with us about her Karwa Chauth plan with her husband Jaskaran.

She says: "I have put on shagun ki mehndi. Jaskaran called for my favourite things to eat for Sargi secretly and woke up before me to decorate the Sargi plate. We did the Sargi ritual." Ridhiema Tiwari who will be soon seen in the second season of 'Sasural Genda Phool' adds: "I will be on a Nirjala vrat the entire day and will patiently wait for the moon. I will be getting ready in the evening for pooja in my bridal attire. Jas usually marches up and down the terrace to check on the moon. After the pooja and moon ritual, we will go out for dinner. This is Jaskaran's favourite festival and he is quite emotional about this. He actually waits an entire year to fast for me, wakes me up for Sargi and loves to put sindoor." She adds: "He also loves breaking the fast ritual with water and the fact that I specially dress up for him in the 'solah shringaar' style. Last year he gifted me a phone and I love surprises. So I will be waiting to unbox my gift, I had dropped a hint for a diamond ring." This fast is not only important for women but also for men. And this is what was reflected when actor Adhvik Mahajan spoke about Karwa Chauth celebration with his wife Neha. He plays the role of 'Jogi' in 'Teri Meri Ikk Jindri'.

He said: "Ever since Neha and I got married, we have been celebrating Karwa Chauth every year and we make it a point to fast together. In contrast to the traditional beliefs, I have always felt that the festival is celebrated between two married people and not just by one person in the family. As a kid I always saw my father fasting with my mom on Karwa Chauth and after my marriage I didn't hesitate once to follow the same tradition."
Davanagere : , Oct 24 (IANS) Nine months after the death of a woman, her husband, a doctor by profession, has been arrested on charges of killing her with a high dose of injection under the influence of black magic in Karanataka's Davanagere district, police said on Sunday.

Shilpa, the wife of Dr Channakeshappa (45), a resident of Rameshwara village in Nyamathi taluk, suffered from low blood pressure. He had given an overdose of Dexamethasone injection to her following which Shilpa became too sick and died on the way to hospital. The incident had happened on February 11.

The parents of Shilpa had lodged a complaint with the police, alleging foul play. Though, in the initial stages the accused appeared to be innocent, preliminary investigations revealed that Channabasappa, though a rich landlord was a drunkard, visited casinos and gambling centres.

According to police, he also believed in black magic. The black magicians had advised him to give a human sacrifice to get a treasure. The accused decided to give his wife as human sacrifice and killed her with an overdose injection, police said.

The reports by Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) confirmed that his wife died due to administration of an overdose of injection. Later, the police took the accused into custody. They have also submitted a charge sheet against him.
Sanaa, Oct 24 : The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen announced that it has destroyed four Houthi vessels in the Red Sea and a site for bomb-laden boats in the city of Hodeidah.

The coalition confirmed that the military operations had contributed to the protection of the navigation lines and international trade in Bab al-Mandab Strait and the southern Red Sea, the Saudi Press Agency tweeted.

The targeted vessels were equipped to carry hostile attacks, Xinhua news agency quoted the coalition as saying.

The coalition has been performing military operations recently in Yemen to deter the Houthi militia from launching attacks in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis have attacked sites in Saudi Arabia with drones and missiles, most of which were foiled by the coalition before reaching the targets.

The coalition completed its sixth year of war in Yemen against the Houthis in March 2021 to support President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Mogadishu, Oct 24 : Somali National Army (SNA) and Galmudug regional forces retook Guriel town in the country's central region from a paramilitary group following a fierce gunfight, army officials said.

SNA officers told Radio Mogadishu that the allied forces have concluded the security operations in the town after flushing out Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a (ASWJ), a moderate Islamic group based in the central region, which had occupied the town for barely a month, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Local administration and the police have fully taken over the security responsibilities in the town," the State-owned radio said.

Witnesses said residents were now back to the streets after intense fighting subsided.

"The joint forces stormed the town, sparking a fierce exchange of gunfire that lasted several hours early today. There were some casualties since it was heavy fighting," said a local resident.

The SNA officials said the offensive began at dawn after the paramilitary group fired several rounds of mortar shells which landed at the positions occupied by the allied forces Friday.

The latest move comes after the UN said on Friday that more than 100,000 people have fled Guriel town in Galmudug state due to high tensions and potential conflict between the local forces and ASWJ.

According to the UN, the displaced people include about 1,005 unaccompanied minors and 2,009 persons with disabilities and health-related complications.
Mumbai, Oct 24 : The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic posed challenges for banks like increase in overdue levels and higher infection rates among employees, impacting collections and resulting in higher slippages and some increase in the restructured book. However, despite these challenges, the steady operating profitability and reducing provisioning on legacy stressed accounts continued to provide relief to the bottom-line and the capital position of banks, ratings agency ICRA has said in a report.

The gross non-performing advances (GNPAs) and the net NPAs remained stable at 7.7 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively for banks as on June 30, 2021, compared to 7.6 per cent and 2.5 per cent as on March 31, 2021, and 8.6 per cent and 3.0 per cent as on March 31, 2020, i.e. at the beginning of the pandemic.

Of the total restructured loan book of Rs 2 lakh crore for the banks as on June 30, 2021, the restructuring under Covid 1.0 is estimated at 51 per cent of the total restructuring of Rs 1.0 trillion, while restructuring under Covid 2.0 is estimated at 31 per cent of the total restructuring or Rs 0.6 trillion.

Moreover, as per ICRA's estimates, of the total restructuring of Rs 1 lakh crore under Covid 1.0, 60 per cent was accounted for by corporates, 30 per cent by retail and the balance by the MSMEs as on June 30, 2021. The public sector banks (PSBs) were relatively more accommodative in restructuring requests of the borrowers as their restructured books stood at 2.4 per cent of the advances vis-a-vis 1.3 per cent of the private sector banks (PVBs).

Notwithstanding the positive headline asset quality numbers, the fresh NPA generation rate (or slippages) remained elevated during the second wave in absence of regulatory relief such as moratorium. The gross fresh slippages during Q1 FY2022 stood at Rs 1.0 lakh crore (annualised slippage rate of 4.1 per cent) compared to Rs 2.5 lakh crore or 2.7 per centp during FY2021.

ICRA expects this to remain elevated at Rs 0.7-0.8 lakh crore (2.8-3.2 per cent) during Q2 FY2022 but moderate to Rs 1.1-1.2 lakh crore (2.0-2.4 per cent) during H2 FY2022 as the impact of second wave wanes.

Commenting on the developments, Anil Gupta, Vice President - Financial Sector Ratings, ICRA Ratings says: "Considering that 30-40 per cent of the loan book was under moratorium during Q1 FY2020 across most banks, the loan restructuring at 2.0 per cent of advances after the second wave is a positive surprise and much lower than our earlier estimates. Despite the positive headline numbers, we continue to be watchful of the asset quality, given the elevated levels of the overdue loan book and for the performance of the restructured loan book." With net NPAs declining to the lowest levels in the last six years, the legacy asset provisioning for the banks has been declining in relation to their core operating profits.

As per ICRA's estimates the GNPAs and NNPAs are expected to further decline to 6.9-7.0 per cent and 2.2.-2.3 per cent by March 2022 which will continue to be a relief for the bottom-line of lenders. Despite expectations of moderation in gains on bond portfolios because of expectations of rising bond yields in FY2022, the Return on Equity for banks is likely to remain steady at 4.4-7.6 per cent for PSBs (5.1 per cent in FY2021) and 9.5-9.9 per cent for PVBs (10.5 per cent in FY2021).

With increased confidence on the position of banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also phased in the last tranche of the Capital Conservation Buffer (CCB) from October 1, 2021, which otherwise was deferred four times in the last three years. This will entail higher regulatory capital requirements, i.e. Core Equity Capital (CET) of 8.0 per cent compared to 7.375 per cent earlier, but the banks are well placed in our view for these enhanced capital requirements.

The PSBs raised Rs 10,300 crore of equity capital (0.18 per cent of risk weighted assets - RWAs) from the markets in H1 FY2022, which followed a capital raise of Rs 12,000 crore (0.21 per cent of RWA) in FY2021. Large private banks also remain well-capitalised though few mid-sized PVBs could need to raise capital.

Apart from the asset quality, the rollover of additional tier-I (AT-I bonds) of public banks remains to be monitored, given the sizeable quantum (Rs. 27800 crore) of bonds that have the scheduled call option in FY2022 and FY2023.

Apart from State Bank of India, none of other PSBs have raised AT-I bonds this financial year. As per ICRA's estimates, the PSBs may not need the capital budgeted by the government for FY2022 even with enhanced capital requirements. However, it provisions for any unforeseen events and shall provide confidence to banks as well as investors and credit growth.

"With the improved capital and profitability position of public banks, which accounts for a 62 per cent share in bank loans, and abundant liquidity in the banking system, supply of credit does not appear to be a constraint. Nevertheless, revival of credit demand and the willingness of banks to push growth will be the key drivers of the overall credit growth in the economy. We continue to maintain our credit growth estimate of 7.3-8.3 per cent for banks for FY2022 compared to 5.5 per cent for FY2021," Gupta said.
Los Angeles, Oct 24 : Oscar winner Helen Mirren has been appointed an ambassador for an Italian university in a region she calls her "second home." In photos shared by University of Salento officials on Twitter, the British actress is proudly holding up the certificate confirming her new assignment, reports aceshowbiz.com.

"By attributing this role to her, we recognize her as a representative of our university, of our territory, recognizing in her the qualities that characterize our community: pride, determination, passion," a university rector said of Mirren's appointment, according to the Daily Mail.

"We saw her fight alongside us to reconstruct the beauty of our landscape..., we read in her eyes the love for this land, for its history, for its humanity," he added.

"I love this land, it's my second home," said Mirren, who owns a 16th century farmhouse in the region with her director husband Taylor Hackford.

According to the university's social media post, Mirren was "honoured by the recognition" and "excited to collaborate on university projects." She also stressed the "importance of this generation of students," calling them, "Architects of the future." Mirren's latest feature film is the ninth installment of 'Fast and Furious' franchise. She reprised her role as Magdalene 'Queenie' Shaw.

She will next star in an upcoming war drama titled 'White Bird: A Wonder Story'. She is also tapped for DC superhero movie 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods'.

Her other upcoming big-screen projects include 'Sniff'.
Tel Aviv, Oct 24 : Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for another visit to the country, following their first-ever meeting in Sochi.

"The President invited the Prime Minister and his wife to visit the city of St. Petersburg," Bennett's office said in a statement.

Putin called Bennett on Saturday ahead of Bennett's departure from the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, where the two met on Friday for a five-hour talk on Syria, Iran and bilateral cooperation, reports Xinhua news agency.

"President Putin inquired about Prime Minister Bennett's well-being after the weekend in Sochi and thanked him for their good and in-depth meeting yesterday," the statement read.

Bennett thanked Putin for "the warm hospitality" and their "helpful" meeting, which according to the Prime Minister, will "help strengthen the ties between the countries." "The Prime Minister accepted the invitation and replied that he would be happy to pay a follow-up visit," the statement added.

This was Bennett's first official trip to Russia after becoming Prime Minister in June.

His predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, held many meetings with Putin.
Seoul, Oct 24 : Sung Kim, Washington's Special Representative for North Korea, said on Sunday that he looked forward to continuing exploring different options with South Korea to resume dialogue with Pyongyang, including the proposed declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War.

Kim reiterated Washington's willingness to help address the North's humanitarian concerns for its people in need, especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic, speaking to reporters right after a meeting here with his South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, Yonhap News Agency reported.

He also called on Pyongyang to stop "provocations" and other destabilizing activities, and return to dialogue.

Their talks in Seoul came after tensions resurfaced following the North's recent test-firing of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

They met in Washington last week -- a sign of stepped-up diplomacy to resume dialogue with the North.

"I look forward to continuing to work with special representative Noh to explore different ideas and initiatives, including the ROK's end-of-war proposal as we continue to pursue our shared objectives on the peninsula," Kim said.

ROK stands for South Korea's official name, Republic of Korea.

Calling the latest SLBM test "concerning and counterproductive", he highlighted Washington's "strong commitment" to the defence of the South and exploring "sustained and substantive" diplomacy with the North.

Kim described the latest launch as a breach of multiple UN Security Council resolutions but underlined the Joe Biden administration's desire to re-engage with the North.

"We remain ready to meet with the DPRK without preconditions, and we have made clear that the US harbours no hostile intent towards the DPRK," he said, referring to the North's official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"We hope the DPRK will respond positively to our outreach," he added.

Upon Kim's trip here, keen attention was drawn to whether he will shine more light on the U.S. position about President Moon Jae-in's recent proposal for the end-of-war declaration, but he didn't elaborate further.

Kim's characterisation of the North's latest SLBM test as a "provocation" came as Pyongyang demanded Seoul and Washington drop what it terms "double standards" in reference to the allies casting the North's missile launches as provocations while justifying their own as "deterrence".

Noh said the latest security situation on the Korean Peninsula underscored the urgent need for resuming talks North Korea, and Seoul and Washington are ready to discuss any issues at the negotiating table if the North accepts their talk offer.

North Korea remains unresponsive to US overtures. It has also stayed away from talks with the US since the Hanoi summit in 2019 between the US and North Korea ended without a deal.

The US envoy is scheduled to depart Seoul later in the day for Indonesia, where he doubles as Ambassador.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : Gin and Tonic is one such cocktail that has had the privilege to stand out among others, such as whisky and soda, rum and cola, and vodka and sprite. It is the one spirit that has earned the slang 'G&T'. For those of us who are unfamiliar it is gin with ice, tonic water, and a squeeze of lime on top.

Gin and tonic is an iconic drink that was created in India, way back in early 19th century when India was ruled by the Britishers, they mixed gin with quinine, water, and sugar to prevent malaria. This turned out to not only be a medicinal drink but an extremely good combination yielding to a flavour-some cocktail. Tonic water was born as a soda drink with quinine, and the result the classic Gin & Tonic.

British palates grew accustomed to the combination of bitter, sweet, and a tinge of citrus. Gin and tonic took its position in the global cocktail world when the British returned to the UK. Today, across UK there are multiple gin bars with a lengthy list of options to explore.

When people travel, they often try new cuisine and drinks from various cultures. In the United Kingdom, G&T has become the drink of choice, and visitors to the nation find it everywhere. As a result, its popularity among young millennials has grown because of its delicious blended clarity with a 5-7 per cent alcoholic strength.

Although it appears to be a simple drink, it is quite easy to go wrong. The following are crucial measures to remember while making a perfect G&T:

Gin -- Choosing a good quality gin is an excellent. Tanqueray London Dry is a magnificent choice for a well-balanced cocktail. Tanqueray 10 is ideal for those seeking a citrus-forward spirit. And for those who enjoy botanical flavors, Gordon's London dry gin is an excellent choice. Always measure your spirit to ensure that you know how much you're drinking and how much tonic to add.

Glass -- It's critical to have a glass that's clean, unchipped, and cold. However, you may drink your gin and tonic in a copa or red wine glass if you can locate one. The copa, or red wine glass, can hold ice and has a stem to keep the drink cold for longer. While taking a drink, the design allows the scent to be focused on the nose.

Ice -- Preferred choice should be a quality ice with a shape and size that delays the dilution process (often round or square), and that is dry enough not to melt quickly. This may be fixed with a block of clear ice, which is devoid of gas and contaminants, melts slowly, and does not react with the fizz in tonic. As a result, it stays bubbly for a long time.

Tonic Water -- Chilled tonic water dissolves CO2 and keeps it effervescent for a long time. To avoid disturbing the fizz, it should be poured carefully from the glass's wall. Maintain a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio (1 part gin to 3 or 4 parts of Tonic). If the ratio is not followed, the drink will likely taste spirit-forward or diluted, and both are going to ruin the experience.

Lime -- It is the most popular garnish. It should be squeezed over the drink to provide citrus flavor and freshness. Lime should be juicy, fresh and should not have been sliced the day before.

Some of the other most popular gin cocktails would be Negroni, Gibson, Gimlet, Martini, Tom Collins, Singapore Sling & Bees' Knees. Gin based cocktails hold great standard and class in a bar. The Martini right from its inception had been a signature cocktail for celebrities. Negroni had been extremely popular with elite get-togethers.

Drink responsibly! (Afzal Kaba, Diageo India Brand Ambassador)

(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)
Seoul, Oct 24 : South Korea's Coast Guard has seized a Chinese boat for fishing without a permit in the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the southern resort island of Jeju, officials said on Sunday.

The 272-tonne vessel carrying 11 crew members is suspected of conducting fishing activities in waters 116 km south of the city of Seogwipo on the island at 12 p.m. on Saturday without any authorisation, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The vessel is also alleged to have attempted to flee despite the Coast Guard's repeated calls to stop moving.

The Coast Guard plans to investigate the vessel's captain and other shipmates after they take Covid-19 tests, the officials added.
Chennai, Oct 24 : Fishermen association of Kanyakumari and Colachil areas in South Tamil Nadu have sought action against a Panama-flagged ship for having collided with an Indian fishing boat causing grievous injuries to those in the boat.

Seventeen fishermen were injured when the Panama-flagged ship collided with the fishing boat 20 nautical miles off the Coalchil coast on Friday night. Two of the 17 -- Arul Raj (60) and Chinnadurai (50) -- are said to be in serious condition.

Fishermen said that they were sleeping in the boat when the fish collided with it and all of them were thrown off into the sea water. They were rescued by other fishing boats that were fishing in the surrounding waters. Fishermen complained that the Panama-flagged vessel did not stop and was travelling from Singapore to Mumbai.

Charles Johnson, Secretary, Meenvar Orunginaippu Sangam has called upon the authorities to take legal action against the Panama-based ship. While speaking to IANS, Johnson said, "The Panama-flagged ship which caused injury to our fishermen will reach Mumbai on October 25 according to our information. Indian authorities must not allow the ship to leave our shores until legal action is taken against them and to make them pay proper compensation to our fishermen." The South Asian Fishermen Fraternity (SAFF) General Secretary, Father Churchil also demanded stringent action against the personnel in the foreign ship and called upon the Indian authorities to take immediate action against the foreign vessel for causing grievous injuries to Indian fishermen.

The owner of the boat, Anto Siju while speaking to IANS said that he has lodged a complaint with the Colachel marine police and demanded stringent action against the foreign vessel.

All the 17 people in the boat, 'Sijumon 1' were injured in the collision of which two are grievously injured and admitted to the Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College, Kerala. The duo was rushed to the Medical college in a Coast Guard helicopter.

The remaining 15 injured fishermen have been admitted to the Colachil Government hospital.

J. Rose, a fisherman who was in the boat 'Sijumon 1' told IANS, "We were sleeping in the boat and woke up with the collision and were thrown off all sides. Other fishing boats that were near to us rescued us and informed the Coast Guard who took the grievously injured to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College hospital."
Mumbai, Oct 24 : The daily soap 'Kyun Rishton Mein Katti Batti' has wrapped up its shoot and the last episode will air on November 5. It was an emotional moment for the lead actors Neha Marda and Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi as they thanked fans for supporting the show and shared their experience of being part of it.

Neha mentioned: "'Kyun Rishton Mein Katti Batti' has been one of the finest experiences for me, especially in terms of building beautiful relationships. I really want to thank Mr. Arvind Babbal and Mrs. Rekha Babbal for being the producers of the show. Whenever I am with them, I feel at home, they are very caring, like my parents. The cast is also like my extended family, and I feel really proud that our show did so well, and credit to all the people involved in the show. I feel I have gained a lot from this show." Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi also shared his experience of playing the role of 'Kuldeep' and how it was to shoot during the pandemic.

He added: "I always believe that a good story has to come to an end, so that we can move ahead when the time is right. Yes, it is a bittersweet feeling, anything that ends is not a good feeling altogether, but it is also the beginning of something new. While it had a good run of 11 months, we have been shooting the show for one and half years. We were also working during the second wave of the pandemic, which was a blessing as a lot of people lost their jobs. So, I'm grateful and thankful to the makers for having me on board and believing in me, I just hope that I have justified their support. Now, I am just looking forward to what's ahead." The last episode of 'Kyun Rishton Mein Katti Batti' will air on November 5 on Zee TV.
Mumbai, Oct 24 : Sonu Sood is a name that has become synonymous with relief measures in the country. The actor once again stepped up to spread awareness about vaccination as he visited Kala Qila in Mumbai's Dharavi with frontline workers and their children to spread awareness on the importance of vaccination.

India recently crossed the mark of 100 crore Covid-19 vaccination doses. As we move forward on the path of recovery and putting the pandemic behind us, the concern with regards to the inoculation of slum dwellers still looms large. The road to achieving public safety from the pandemic starts from inoculation.

Talking about the same, Sonu said, "We cannot take the Covid situation lightly as of yet. According to many researchers, there are many individuals in the slum areas who are not yet vaccinated. The idea is to get the entire nation jabbed to be corona-free." Talking about the cause further, he said, "With our Sunday drive, my agenda is to encourage maximum people to get their doses. I feel there is no one better than the kids of frontline workers who can help in motivating these countrymen for the same." On the work front, Sonu Sood has already wrapped his upcoming film, 'Prithviraj' with Akshay Kumar and is currently prepping for the Telugu film 'Acharya'.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : Delhi Police have arrested a man who sexually assaulted a seven-year-girl while she was playing in the capital city's Ranjit Nagar area, officials said on Sunday.

As per the complaint, the accused man, a former neighbour of the girl's family, approached her as she was playing with her friends, and told her that he would give her Rs 10 and buy sweets for her.

On his promise, the girl followed him to a vacant room where the accused raped her, the police said, citing CCTV footage.

A case has been registered.

However, no one had any clue about the accused and no other information about identity or whereabouts of the suspect was available.

No substantial progress was seen in 24 hours.

Additional Joint Commissioner of Police Suman Goyal led the investigation and after thorough frisking of CCTV camera footages, one suspect was zeroed in.

A thorough review of the case was done and additional teams from North District and Crime Branch were roped in to speedify and strengthen the investigation efforts.

With extensive door-to-door enquiry about the suspect, finally his identity was established and he was tracked and arrested in a late night operation.
Patna, Oct 24 : A married woman was gangraped and murdered in Bihar's West Champaran district, an official said on Sunday. The police have arrested two suspects in the case.

The incident took place in Chawgharia village under Ram Nagar police station.

"The 35-year-old victim had gone to the field for farming on Saturday but did not return in the evening. Her children along with neighbours started looking for her in the village. They searched for her the entire night. On Sunday morning, her dead body was found in a sugarcane field outside the village in semi naked condition," said Satyanarayan Ram, SDPO of Ramnagar range.

"Prima facie, its looks to be case of gangrape followed by murder by strangulation. A mark was visible on her neck," Ram said.

Angry villagers blocked the road following the incident demanding arrest of the culprits.

"We have arrested two suspects named Hiraman Ram and Mohamad Kalimuddin in this connection. The complaint was given by deceased's brother in law," Ram said.

The deceased's husband is a labourer who has gone to other state for work.
Bogota, Oct 24 : The Colombian government said that the country's most-wanted drug trafficker "Otoniel" has been captured.

According to the authorities, Dairo Antonio Usuga (50), who headed the country's largest drug trafficking gang known as the Gulf Clan, was captured in a rural area of the Department of Antioquia near the border with Panama, reports Xinhua news agency.

President Ivan Duque Marquez confirmed Otoniel's capture in a televised national address on Saturday.

"This coup is only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 90s. Otoniel was the most feared drug trafficker in the world, a murderer of policemen, soldiers, social leaders, and a recruiter of minors," he said.

After becoming the leader of the Gulf Clan, one of the most powerful criminal organisations in Colombia, Otoniel was considered one of the most-wanted target for Colombian authorities.
Mumbai, Oct 24 : Having ruled Bollywood in the 1990s, Mamta Kulkarni disappeared one day at the peak of her career. Her sudden withdrawal from the world of glamour left many people heartbroken as they never saw her or heard from her again. But recent pictures of the actress surfaced on the Internet, leaving her fans overjoyed at the glimpse of her.

The fan pages of the actress sourced her pictures and shared it on Instagram leaving the ardent of the actress amazed at her flawless beauty.

The actress, who is said to have married drug lord Vicky Goswami had earlier come under the scanner of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) when Vicky was arrested by the enforcement agency back in 2016. She was also tagged as wanted by the DEA.

The case involved a drug bust of 18.5 tonnes of ephedrine by Thane police. The substance was said to be worth Rs 2,000 crore in the international market. The police probe had revealed the seized substance was to be used to make methamphetamine.

However, she approached the Bombay High Court in 2019 to strike down the case against her. In her plea, she mentioned that the police had no solid ground for citing her involvement in the drug racket and that she was named just because she had cordial relations with co-accused Vicky Goswami.

She had also requested the court to de-freeze her bank accounts and FDs and de-seal two of her flats in Mumbai's Andheri, a plea which was later rejected by the court, earlier this year.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : The National Eligibility Test (NET) of the the University Grants Commission (UGC) saw two postponements with the first in December 2020 and another in October. Though NET is a minimum qualification for professors' recruitment, PhD holders are more in demand.

In fact, the Parliamentary Committee on Education is of the opinion that the NET should be modified to meet the new norms.

The present assessment system is ineffective and has failed to bring the aspiring youths to the teaching profession, it opined.

Post the Parliamentary Committee's report, the Delhi University has communicated to the pricipals of its affiliated colleges seeking ad hoc professors' PhD status report.

The information which has been sought includes whether the professor is pursuing PhD or has submitted the thesis, or the degree awarded to him in the past three years.

Hundreds of these Professors have been selected on the basis of NET, but now their PHD status is also being sought.

Former member of DU Academic Council Prof Hansraj Suman said, at present, either NET or PhD degree is needed for the post of Assistant Professor.

Technically, those who hold a PhD degree do not need to clear NET. However, candidate qualifying NET have less chance of getting appointed as Assistant Professor compared to PhD holders.

Moreover, after implementation of new rules of the UGC, prospects of NET candidates will dim, he said.

Prof Hansraj Suman said, for appointment of professors in colleges, other conditions like holding PhD degree and publication of research papers are being added.

The UGC has approved both NET and PhD for recruitment to the post of Assistant Professor till the year 2023.

Although applicants qualifying NET are given marks ranging from 5 to 10, while those with PhD are being given up to 30 marks in the assessment criteria.

Now, people who have completed Chartered Accountant (CA) and Company Secretary (CS) courses can also appear for UGC NET exam.

It has been decided that the CA and CS courses will now be considered equivalent to post graduate. UGC will also be providing them other opportunities, under which CA and CS could also appear in UGC NET and PhD programme.

Based on the representation submitted by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), the UGC has recognised CS as equivalent to PG degree.

The decision was taken by a special committee constituted by the UGC on the request of Indian Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), ICSI and Institute of Cost Accountants of India.

PhD degree will be a must from July 1, 2023 for appointment as Assistant Professor, UGC secretary Rajnish Jain said.

As per the Union Education Ministry, earlier one year relaxation was provided to non-PhD holders. Later, this exemption was extended till July 1, 2023.
Mumbai, Oct 24 : In a new bombshell, a witness in the cruise ship rave party raid case has accused the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of allegedly demanding bribes from Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan to release his son Aryan Khan, here on Sunday.

The witness, Prabhakar Sail, openly stated on various TV channels that he feared a threat to his life from none other than the NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, sparking off a huge uproar.

Identified as the personal bodyguard of the so-called private detective Kiran P. Gosavi, Sail has released a signed affidavit statement and videos pertaining to the arrest of Aryan Khan and others on October 3, a day after the ship raid (October 2).

One of the 9 witnesses listed by the NCB, among other things, Sail claimed that he was made to sign 10 blank papers by the agency and now feared for his life from Wankhede.

Gosavi, who is facing several cases, shot to focus earlier this month when Nationalist Congress Party National Spokesperson and Minister Nawab Malik made a series of expose involving him (Gosavi) and other BJP-linked persons in the NCB raids.

However, the BJP and NCB have rejected the charges by Malik, who has threatened to reveal more.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : Delhi's largest Muslim cemetery went out of space during the second wave surge. All cemeteries more or less were running out of space as the death toll was mounting every day. The pandemic saw rush at the cemeteries, but, the fact is that with a growing Muslim population in the national capital, the land for graveyards has not increased. The shrinking graveyard spaces is forcing Muslims to go for multiple or ash burial.

As per the reports, there are 704 Muslim graveyards in the various parts of the national capital territory. Of these only 131 graveyards are functional at present. Out of these 131 graveyards, 16 are not in use because of litigation over ownership of the graveyard land, bad landscape leading to water logging or other problems. Among the 11 districts of the city, South Delhi has the highest number of graveyards (33), followed by North West Delhi (19), North Delhi (17), South West Delhi (11), North East Delhi (10), West Delhi and East Delhi (9 each), South East Delhi (eight), Central Delhi (six), Shahdara (five), and New Delhi (four) in descending order.

The growth of the Muslim population has not been complemented with the numbers and space of the graveyards in the city.

Former chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board Mateen Ahmed told IANS that the capital city faces acute shortage of land for Muslim graveyards.

He said, "We don't have optimum numbers of graveyard in comparision with the Muslim population. Especially in the North East area and Okhla, which are Muslims dominated areas, but there are no cemeteries in that locality." He added, "Delhi Development Authority should provide us the lands for cemeteries in proportion with the Muslim population." On being asked about the graveyards' condition pre-Covid era, he said that the pathetic situation prevailed even then, adding that, most of the Delhi Waqf Board's graveyards are mainly situated where Muslims have negligible population as they migrated from there after Independence and now Hindus have settled down there. Resultantly, the Muslim dominated areas have no graveyards in the city. They have to travel miles away to perform the last rituals. He added that the Delhi Waqf Board has nothing to do much, but only DDA can take decision in this regard to provide land for the Muslims cemeteries.

Advocate Masroor Ul Hasan Siddqui, Member Managing Committee, Jadid Qabristan Ahle Islam, dismisses the minority commission report published in 2018, which predicted that Delhi will face acute land crisis to bury bodies in graveyards in next some years.

He said that after all Covid dead bodies of the city were buried in Delhi Gate Cemetry, we still have around 20 acres of land here for last rites which is enough for the next 10 to 15 years.

Contrary to popular perception, he said that all occupied lands are being reused as our religion permits to level up the graveyards after three years. In many cases, we use the same graves for multiple bodies of the same family after certain years, said Hasan Siddqui.

The Delhi Minorities Commission report on Christian cemeteries says that the commission found only 13 operational cemeteries out of which one -- Lothian Cemetery at Kashmiri Gate -- closed and was declared as a protected monument. Of the total cemeteries, only five are open to all Christians in the city, whereas five of them are open only for family graves or doubling. Also, two of these cemeteries -- one in Okhla and the other one in Mehrauli -- are open only for pastor families and members of the Church of North India respectively, the study says.

The Delhi Cemetery Committee Secretary Eugine Ratnam told IANS that the committee has written many times to the Urban Development ministry to allot the land for graveyards. The committee has five cemeteries under its ownership in Delhi and all are closed due to the paucity of the land from several years. In the absence of land, he said, people have to go all the way to Burari, Dwarka and NOIDA for last rites.

Eugine said that we have now started ash and multiple burials for the bodies because of the land crisis. In the ash burial, the body is being cremated and a handful of ashes is buried in the grave. Many times, the same grave is used for the family members in many cemeteries as multiple burials, he added.

The Christians travel long distances in the city to perform the last rites of their loved ones.

(Avinash Prabhakar can be reached at Avinash.p@ians.in)
Srinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, today inaugurated the new campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu in Srinagar on Sunday, October 24, 2021. (photo:Amit shah Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

Srinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, today inaugurated the new campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu in Srinagar on Sunday, October 24, 2021. (photo:Amit shah Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

Srinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, today inaugurated the new campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu in Srinagar on Sunday, October 24, 2021. (photo:Amit shah Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

Srinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, today inaugurated the new campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu in Srinagar on Sunday, October 24, 2021. (photo:Amit shah Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

Srinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, today inaugurated the new campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu in Srinagar on Sunday, October 24, 2021. (photo:Amit shah Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

Srinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, today inaugurated the new campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu in Srinagar on Sunday, October 24, 2021. (photo:Amit shah Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

Srinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, today inaugurated the new campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu in Srinagar on Sunday, October 24, 2021. (photo:Amit shah Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

Srinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, today inaugurated the new campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu in Srinagar on Sunday, October 24, 2021. (photo:Amit shah Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

Jammu, Oct 24 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that nobody will be allowed to scuttle peace, progress and prosperity in Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing a public rally in Bhagwati Nagar area of Jammu city, Shah said, "The monopoly of three families is over once and forever.

"I don't want to name them, but everybody knows them. They are today asking us what we have done. We have done what they could not do in 70 years.

"We have given employment, empowerment and space to those who remained neglected in 70 years.

"Power will now be exercised by Panchs and Sarpanchs, the days of monopoly and exploitation are over," he said.

He said at no cost would anybody be allowed to scuttle peace, progress and prosperity in J&K.

"I have come to assure you that the days of injustice with Jammu are over. Development will now take place for both Jammu and Kashmir", he said.

Shah said he had apprehensions whether he could address Sunday's rally or not due to bad weather.

"With the blessings of Mata Vaishno Devi, it is sunshine now and I am speaking to you.

"Today is a special day since it is the birthday of Prem Nath Dogra. Not only the people of Jammu, but the people of the entire country cannot forget him.

"He was the great personality who joined Syama Prasad Mukherjee and declared that one country cannot have two flags, two Prime Ministers and two constitutions.

"The souls of Syama Prasad Mukherjee and Prem Nath Dogra will be sending their blessings on Prime Minister Narendra Modi", Shah said.

Prem Nath Dogra was the founder of Praja Parishad party which was later merged into the Jan Sangh.

Earlier, Shah inaugurated the new campus at the IIT-Jammu and also laid foundation stones of many developmental projects.
Los Angeles, Oct 24 : Actresses Octavia Spencer and Kerry Washington are teaming up to bring Bobby and Cheryl Love's story to the small screen.

Spencer will executive produce 'The Bobby Love Story' and star as his wife while Kerry will produce, reports aceshowbiz.com.

The one-hour drama will be a true account of how an escaped convict, Bobby Love, was able to keep his prison past a secret from his wife of 35-plus years.

The Loves' story was featured in Brandon Stanton's 'Humans of New York' blog in 2020.

Master thief Bobby was convicted as a young man but escaped to New York, changed his name, and committed to life as a model citizen, working multiple jobs, getting married, starting a family, and becoming the perfect neighbour, church member, husband, and father.

Bobby and Cheryl Love and photographer and blogger Brandon Stanton will also serve as executive producers.
Kampala, Oct 24 : Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Sunday assured the citizens that the perpetrators of the bomb attack in the capital Kampala the previous night will be brought to justice.

"It seems to be a terrorist act but we shall get the perpetrators. The public should not fear, we shall defeat this criminality like we have defeated all the other criminality," Museveni tweeted.

The President said police are at the scene in Komamboga, a Kampala suburb, and will provide more information later as well as release guidelines to the public on dealing with possible terrorist threats, reports Xinhua news agency.

Museveni said available information shows that three people dropped off a polythene bag which later exploded, killing one person and injuring five others.

The blast came days after the British and French embassies here issued a security alert to their citizens, warning of a terror attack.
Mumbai, Oct 24 : At a time when Bollywood heroines of the 1990s -- from Juhi Chawla and Raveena Tandon to Pooja Bhatt -- are seeing a return to the limelight, thanks to OTT platforms, Mamata Kulkarni, who's still remembered for her role in Rakesh Roshan's 1995 reincarnation drama 'Karan Arjun' opposite Salman Khan, and drug bust accused, has surprised her fans by staging a comeback on social media.

Her present picture, where she comes across as matronly and not as the poster girl she was in the 1990s, was put up on her Instagram fan page and it caused quite a stir.

'Karan Arjun', it was rumoured at that time, was not a very happy experience for Kulkarni, especially because Salman Khan was said to have been quite nasty to her. Kulkarni had another brief dalliance with fame in the Aamir Khan-starrer 'Baazi' and then she appeared in a string of forgettable films, slowly fading out.

Briefly, she courted notoriety by doing a topless shoot for a film magazine and then dropped out of the public eye in 2000. Only to be back in the news -- now for the wrong reasons.

Kulkarni was reported to have married the Ahmedabad-born international drug lord Vicky Goswami, who had been first arrested on narcotics trafficking charges in Dubai in 1997 (only to be pardoned and let off in 2012), and then again in 2014 in Kenya, where he was freed on bail, pending his extradition to the United States to face charges brought against him by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Goswami and Kulkarni, in fact, had been arrested together in Kenya, but the former actress was let off. The DEA had charged Goswami with controlling the trade in mandrax, a narcotic substance, in sub-Saharan Africa.

Back in India, Goswami was wanted in a case, dating back to the 1990s, involved the recovery of 18.5 tonnes of ephedrine by the Thane police, then headed by the now-controversial cop Param Bir Singh. The substance at that time was said to be worth Rs 2,000 crore in the international market. The police probe had revealed the seized material was to be used to manufacture methamphetamine (popularly known as meth).

Although Goswami has throughout maintained that Kulkarni was his well-wisher and not his wife, and she had once said in a TV interview that they were trying to establish a business in imported food items, Kulkarni, who continued to live in Kenya, was also under a cloud of suspicion.

In 2016, after the seizure of a controlled substance, ephedrine, from a car by the Thane police, yet another case was brought against Goswami and Kulkarni. An NDPS court in Mumbai, which is empowered to take action under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, declared both Goswami and Kulkarni proclaimed offenders, and ordered the sealing of all properties owned by them.

Kulkarni approached the Bombay High Court in 2019 to strike down the case against her. In her plea, she mentioned that the police had no solid ground for citing her involvement in the busted drug deal and that she had been named just because she maintained a "cordial relationship" with Goswami.

She also requested the court to unfreeze her bank accounts and fixed deposits, and unseal two of her flats in Andheri, Mumbai. Earlier this year, the court rejected the plea, but it has not yet pronounced a verdict on Kulkarni's plea for the quashing of the case.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : Expressing confidence of sweeping the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, BJP Uttar Pradesh co-incharge Captain Abhimanyu Singh Sandhu in an exclusive interview with IANS talked about the improved law and order situation in the state and good governance under the Yogi Adityanath government.

He said the days of politics of casteim and minority appeasement are over and farmers' protest has no significant impact on the UP polls especially in western part. He also criticised the Samajwadi Party, Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party having lost their relevance and connect with the masses. Captain Abhimanyu said the BJP is going to be voted back to power in 2022 UP polls with more number of seats.

The former minister in the Haryana government and BJP's Uttar Pradesh co-incharge Captain Abhimanyu spoke on several issues regarding the UP Assembly elections.

Here are the excerpts from the interview: Q. What are your preparations for 2022 Assembly polls? A. BJP workers at the booth level are reaching out to people with the achievements of the Modi and Yogi governments. The BJP's goal is that the party workers should reach out to all sections of the society. Right from the booth level to every other level (including holding large public rallies), the BJP is trying to effectively present its views to the masses through various modes of campaigning.

Q. What is the major poll issue in UP in 2022? A. The law and order situation has improved in Uttar Pradesh due to which common man and particularly women have started feeling safe. There is a gradual fall in the incidents of crime in the state. The people of the state have seen good governance after a long time and I feel that the people will never want to return to the era of misgovernance.

Q. Which issue would you raise prominently before the people? A. In the last few years, there has been a transformational change in Uttar Pradesh. Now people are voting for the work of the government instead of casteism or other issues dividing the society. The people will again vote to repeat the good work done by the government. BJP will go to the people with the issue of improved law and order situation, better roads, better availability of electricity, transparency in government jobs, good governance and all other achievements of the government as well as the slogan of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'. As far as Ram temple issue is concerned, the opposition parties earlier used to taunt the BJP asking for the date of the temple construction. The BJP has already announced the date of construction as a symbol of the country's pride and honour. But this is not a poll issue for us and neither do we need to say anything about it.

Q. What about Priyanka Gandhi Vadra making frequent visits to the state? She is targeting the BJP government by raising issues such as security of farmers, minorities, Dalits and women.

A. During the last four-and-a-half years, the opposition leaders were neither actively involved in Parliament debates nor were they seen protesting on the streets. All opposition parties which were missing for the last four-and-a-half years are now seen jumping like frogs as the elections are close. These parties have lost their relevance and connect with the masses. They neither have an able leader, policy or vision. The people of UP are not taking them seriously.

Q. You are citing law and order as the biggest achievement of the Uttar Pradesh government but Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav is saying that UP has turned into 'jungle raj' with criminals flourishing in the state and crime rate soaring.

A. For the last four-and-a-half years, Akhilesh Yadav was sitting in AC room, playing politics and now when the elections are near, he is criticizing the state government. People have seen through their politics and have stopped taking the opposition parties too seriously.

Q. What will be the impact of farmers' agitation on the 71 Assembly seats in western UP? A. The western part of Uttar Pradesh is familiar to me. I have worked in this region in every state election since 2007. Even during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the organisation had given me the charge of western UP and we had won all 14 Lok Sabha seats in this region.

As far as the impact of the farmers' agitation is concerned, the farmers of only three-four districts of this region are active. However, these farmers will never want the politics of minority appeasement to return in the state with the SP-BSP coming to power. So I believe that at the time of elections, the farmers will trust the BJP's policy of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' and will vote for the good governance.

Q. But Akhilesh Yadav, who is contesting elections in alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in western UP, is claiming to defeat the BJP.

A. The people of western UP have suffered a lot under the Akhilesh Yadav government -- false cases were filed, people were tortured in jails. The people of this area can never forget the misrule of Akhilesh Yadav.

So the people of western UP will cast their votes only after taking these issues into consideration. As far as RLD is concerned, it has lost its relevance in the politics of Uttar Pradesh. RLD is nowhere in the state and only will have an impact on not more than 1-2 seats, so people are not likely to go with them. The RLD is fighting for its survival.

Q. Which party will pose a tough fight to the BJP in the state? A. In Uttar Pradesh today, BJP is way ahead of all opposition parties, so it is not fair to draw any comparison. The BJP is competing to improve its previous tally by winning more number of seats. The rest of the opposition parties are fighting to occupy the second or third position in the state.

Q. So how many seats do you expect to win in next assembly polls? A. The BJP is making a strategy to win all the seats. But seeing the people's pulse and the performance of the opposition parties in the state, I feel that we are going to form the government again in the state by winning more than 350 seats.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been working on the agenda of 'Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas' since 2014 but getting the support of the Muslims has been an elusive goal even now, as it was for the BJP's predecessor, the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, earlier.

Keeping this in mind, the BJP is trying to dispel its "hardline right wing" image to woo all sections of society.

There was a time when the BJP used to think that it would not get Muslim votes but now the party has started gaining the minority community's confidence, say party leaders.

Talking to IANS, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who is one of the party's top Muslim leaders, said that the BJP makes constant efforts to win the trust of minority community and working for them to get their votes, but the party does not believe in making deals for votes.

Citing several welfare schemes, including Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Saubhagya Yojana, toilets, Ujjwala Yojana, food grains, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had recently told the Legislative Council that though Muslim population in the state is 17 to 19 per cent, it is bagging benefits of 30 to 35 per cent from these schemes.

On the BJP's image and development works of the government, Naqvi said that some people take secularism as a "political facility", but for the saffron party, it has been a constitutional commitment.

In seven and a half years of the Modi government and even during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, one cannot cry discrimination in the matter of development, he said, adding that "we are on the path of universal empowerment and the party and government follows it too".

On the BJP's challenges in attracting support of Muslims, Naqvi said that the party is also well aware of this, so instead of running a big campaign to woo the community, it is making contact at personal level.

Talking to IANS, BJP Minority Morcha national President Jamal Siddiqui said that the Morcha has prepared a list of booths, where more than 70 per cent of voters are Muslims, in all the states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur, and Goa - going to polls.

In these booths, party's Muslim activists will go and spread awareness about welfare schemes run by the state and Central government and their achievements.

Siddiqui claimed that parties like the Congress, the SP, and the BSP "sell lies" to Muslims, but now the saffron party would reach out to the minority community and expose their lies.

For the upcoming Assembly polls, Siddiqui said the party is aiming to add 100 such people to each constituency who are either not very active now or are not directly associated with the party.

On the BJP being blamed for not giving ticket to Muslim candidates, Siddiqui said under a campaign, the Morcha has asked people to come forward to contest polls.

"If you can bloom a lotus on a Muslim majority seat, then you are also welcome to contest elections," Siddiqui said, adding that Morcha is also instructing its Muslim workers and leaders to prepare for contesting elections.

It will be too early to say whether the BJP will succeed in winning Muslim votes or not, but it is determined not leave the field open for the opposition.
Kolkata, Oct 24 : After the puja season when Covid is slowly surging back to the state, more than 1,200 children were admitted to the Burdwan Medical College in West Bengal in the last one month with acute respiratory problems, and nine of them have died, officials said on Sunday.

Though the doctors claimed that the fever and cough leading to breathing problems are a result of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and has nothing to do with Covid, the huge number of affected children has become a cause of worry for the district health administration.

"In the last one month, more than 1200 children have been admitted with high fever, cough, cold, and acute respiratory problems and we couldn't save nine of them. They were below six months old and were physically weak. We have tested all the children and all of them have been detected Covid negative," the Medical College's Head of the Paediatric Department, Kaustav Nayek said.

According to Nayek, all the children who are getting affected are below one year old and the children who are below six months are the most vulnerable to the disease.

"Every time at this time of the year, the children get affected because of season change, but it doesn't stay for more than two weeks... this year it is taking little longer because of the continuous rain. We are taking measures to control the disease," he added.

According to the doctors, the patient affected by RSV will have a cough and cold in the first two days and then they will develop breathing problems, and, in some cases, it turns out to be serious.

"We have created two additional wards with more than 200 beds to handle this situation. We need oxygen and nebulisers for the treatment and that we have told the Principal. We hope the situation will be under control in the next couple of weeks," Nayek said.

The state Health Department is keeping a close watch on the development of the situation and has asked the hospital authorities to send daily updates on the infection rate, the treatment protocol, and condition of the children.

"If the child is more than one year then there is nothing to worry about but the children who are below six months are the most vulnerable in this disease and so we have asked that a neo-natal ward be opened so that these cases can be treated separately and with care," a Health Department official said.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : Afghanistan's acting Minister of Defence Muhammad Yaqoob Mujahid said that the national army of Afghanistan will be delivering the message of peace to the people in Afghanistan and the world, Khaama Press reported.

Muhammad Yaqoob Mujahid in his recent voice message said that they are making sure that Afghanistan's soil will not be used against any other country in the region and world.

Muhammad Yaqoob Mujahid in his 30s, son of the Taliban founder Mullah Muhammad Omar Mujahid is the youngest minister in the Taliban's caretaker cabinet.

He said that they are working to establish an army, equipped with advanced weaponry that will have land and aerial capability and will defend the homeland with the highest morale.

"We assure the people of Afghanistan that the army of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will protect all their national interests", said Mujahid, as per the report.

The acting defence minister also said that the army will be responsible to protect all of Afghanistan's borders and will not allow anyone to invade the soil.

He also said that they protect Afghanistan's integrity against occupation during the past two decades and will do so again, the report said.

Mujahid made sure about the normal military and civil activities of the ministry of defense at a time when there is no sign of a national army after the previous one collapsed.
London, Oct 24 : A sub-variant of the Covid Delta strain -- AY.4.2 -- may be up to 15 per cent more transmissible than the original Delta, scientists estimate.

AY.4.2 made up almost 10 per cent of all infections in England in the fortnight ending October 9, the Daily Mail reported.

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, said scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute.

AY.4.2, which is one of 45 sub-lineages of Delta and dubbed by many as Delta plus, is likely to be named as Nu, the report said The strain could be the most infectious subvariant seen since the pandemic began, Professor Francois Balloux, director of the University College London Genetics Institute, was quoted as saying to the Financial Times.

The World Health Organisation 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, Balloux added.

However, he noted that since the UK is the only country where the sub-lineage has "taken off", its quick growth could also be a "chance demographic event".

"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," Balloux said.

"Here we are dealing with a potential small increase in transmissibility that would not have a comparable impact on the pandemic." The UK has recorded about 50,000 new Covid infections, marking another three-month high. Hospitalisations and deaths are also on the rise.

According to the latest weekly report from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) -- which has replaced Public Health England -- revealed Covid cases have risen in all age groups, but are now at a record high among school children.

AY.4.2 has spread to all but two dozen places in the country. 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.

However, there is yet no evidence that AY.4.2 is more deadly than earlier versions of the Delta strain, which was first identified in India last December, the Daily Mail report said.

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.
Chandigarh, Oct 24 : Punjab has become a preferred investment destination with investments of Rs 99,000 crore in various sectors from across the globe in the past four and a half years, state Industries and Commerce Minister Gurkirat Singh said on Sunday.

The sectors include bicycle, agriculture and food processing, logistics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles and alloy and steel, he said, adding that the investments are coming mainly from the US, the UK, the UAE, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and Singapore.

Singh said the state has not only witnessed global firms investing but also the existing players have expressed satisfaction and enthusiasm by expanding their presence and operations.

"The investors' confidence in the growth story of Punjab even amidst the Covid-19 crisis is a testimony to the state's strong infrastructural and policy framework," he said.

"We have always got required support from the Punjab government, which makes the state a nice place to live and work. Punjab is a state of young people, there is a good opportunity for auto-companies to setup their units," a statement quoted SML Isuzu Lts Director Eiichi Seto as saying.

He said that they have never faced a labour shortage in the state.

The state has made consistent efforts to develop an ecosystem where both the domestic and global businesses can thrive competitively, the statement said.

Punjab is holding the two-day Progressive Punjab Investors' Summit from October 26.
Lucknow, Oct 24 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the biggest health infrastructure scheme -- Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (PMASBY) worth Rs 64,180 crore on Monday from his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi.

The Prime Minister will be in the state to unveil nine medical colleges from Siddhartha Nagar, and 30 projects worth Rs 5,000 crore, along with the national medical scheme from Varanasi.

Under this scheme, the work of infrastructure, surveillance, and research among others will be carried out in urban and rural areas.

The union government announced the PMASBY for the health sector including a set of reforms and initiatives for long-term infrastructure strengthening the public health system.

According to the government spokesman, the PMASBY Scheme with an outlay of about Rs 64,180 crore over five years had been announced in the budget 2021-22.

The Prime Minister will launch the scheme on October 25 during his second visit to UP within a week.

Directions have been issued for the participation of healthcare professionals and staff from functional health and wellness centres at the Panchayat level, Block PHCs and CHCs, sub district and district hospitals at the block and district level, and the Government Medical College of Varanasi through virtual means.

The measures under the PMASBY scheme for the health sector focus on developing capacities of health systems and institutions across the continuum of care at all levels -- primary, secondary, and tertiary and on preparing health systems in responding effectively to the current and future pandemics/disasters.

The scheme provides a much-needed infusion of funds to develop the infrastructure needed for strengthening state health systems and meeting future pandemic needs.
Mumbai, Oct 24 : Sparking off a major controversy, a witness in the cruise ship rave party raid case on Sunday accused the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of allegedly demanding bribes from Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan to release his son Aryan Khan.

The witness, Prabhakar Sail, openly stated on various TV channels that he feared a threat to his life from none other than the NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede.

The NCB has taken cognisance of the allegations of threats and bribes and a top official said that the matter will be probed.

Sail, identified as the personal bodyguard of the so-called private detective Kiran P. Gosavi, has released a signed affidavit statement and videos pertaining to the arrest of Aryan Khan and others on October 3, a day after the ship raid (October 2).

One of the 9 witnesses listed by the NCB, among other things, Sail claimed that he was made to sign 10 blank papers by the agency and now feared for his life from Wankhede.

In the affidavit, Sail has contended that he "overheard" Gosavi and Sam D'Souza discuss a deal of Rs 24 crore which they "settled" for Rs 18 crore, of which Rs 8 crore would got to Wankhede.

He said that he saw SRK's manager, Pooja Dadlani arrive at the NCB office after Aryan Khan's arrest and also witnessed her talking with Gosavi and D'Souza inside her vehicle.

Sail alleged that Gosavi directed him to collect Rs 50 lakh cash from a spot near the Indiana Hotel and asked him to give the bags to D'Souza near the Trident Hotel where he counted it to find Rs 38 lakh cash.

Reacting to the allegations, NCB Deputy Director-General, South West Region Mutha Ashok Jain said that Wankhede has "categorically denied" the allegations.

"As some of the contents of the affidavit relate to vigilance matters, I am hereby forwarding the affidavit to the Director General, NCB and requesting him for further necessary action," Jain said.

Simultaneously, chiding Sail, Jain said that since he is a witness in the case which is now sub-judice, "he needs to submit his prayer to the honourable court rather than through social media if he has anything to say".

He also said that Sail has given details about his movements and activities on October 2 (on the day of the ship raid), and "vigilance related allegations against certain persons in the affidavit which are based on overhearing" by the witness.

In the affidavit, Sail stated that Gosavi is missing and feared that the NCB officials or other people may abduct or kill him.

Gosavi, who is facing several cases, shot to focus earlier this month when Nationalist Congress Party national spokesperson and Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik made a series of exposes involving him (Gosavi) and other BJP-linked persons like Manish Bhanushali, in the NCB raids.

However, the BJP and NCB have rejected the charges by Malik, who has threatened to reveal more.
Kanpur, Oct 24 : The widow of a constable who was martyred in the Bikru massacre last year, has alleged discrimination in providing ex-gratia to the family.

Divya, wife of constable Rahul, has sought her appointment to the post of Officer on Special Duty (OSD) and said that she would now seek judicial redressal in the matter.

Recently, the wife of a deceased trader who was killed during a police raid in a Gorakhpur hotel, was appointed as OSD in the Kanpur Development Authority (KDA).

Expressing her disappointment, Divya termed the programmes organised in memory of martyrs as "a mere formality".

In an attack by armed assailants in Kanpur's Bikru village on July 3, 2020, eight police personal including Deputy Superintendent of Police Devendra Mishra were martyred.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced government jobs, pension and financial assistance to family members of deceased.

The daughter of the deceased DSP was appointed an OSD after two months of the incident.

The brother of martyred constable Bablu Kumar was appointed to the same post while family members of Sub-Inspectors Nebu Lal, Mahesh Kumar and constable Jitendra Pal had asked for time to respond. Spouses of Sub-Inspector Anup Singh and constable Sultan did not qualify the physical test.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Rome and Glasgow from October 29 to November 2, 2021 to attend the 16th G-20 Summit and the World Leaders' Summit of COP-26 respectively.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs officials, Modi will be participating in the 16th G-20 Summit from 30-31 October at the invitation of Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi in Rome. The Summit will also be attended by Heads of State/Government of G-20 Member Countries, the European Union, and other invited countries and International Organisations.

This will be the 8th G-20 Summit that Modi would be attending.

The forthcoming summit under the Italian Presidency is focused on the theme of 'People, Planet, Prosperity', focusing on the areas of 'Recovery from the Pandemic and Strengthening of Global Health Governance', 'Economic Recovery and Resilience', 'Climate Change and Energy Transition' and 'Sustainable Development and Food Security'.

The Prime Minister will also hold a number of bilateral meetings, including with Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi.

The G-20 has emerged as the premier global forum for international economic cooperation. India is scheduled to host the G-20 Summit in 2023 for the first time.

PM Modi will, thereafter, travel to Glasgow to attend the World Leader's Summit of the 26th Conference of Parties (COP-26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), at the invitation of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson.

COP-26 is being held from October 31 to November 12, 2021 under the Presidency of the UK partnering with Italy. The high-level segment of COP-26, titled the World Leaders' Summit (WLS), will be held on November 1, 2021. The Summit will be attended by Heads of State/Government of more than 120 countries. COP-26 was originally slated to be held in 2020, but it was deferred to 2021 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) manifests the global will and vision to combat climate change.

At COP-26, the Parties will work to achieve the completion of Paris Agreement implementation guidelines; the mobilization of climate finance; actions to strengthen climate adaptation, technology development and transfer; and keeping in reach the Paris Agreement goals of limiting the rise in global temperatures.

PM Modi last attended the COP-21 in Paris in 2015, when the Paris Agreement was concluded, which implementation commences this year.

He will also be holding a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of COP-26, including with Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : No Objection Certificate (NOC), mandatory for sale-purchase of second-hand vehicles, will now be available from over four lakh Common Services Centres (CSC) across India.

CSC, an SPV under the Ministry of Electronics & IT, has partnered with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to make this service available pan-India.

This service will help citizens to access the NOC from the nearest CSC.

The NCRB has requested State governments to integrate CCTNS services with Digital Seva Portal so that these can be delivered and made accessible to citizens through the network of CSC. The CSC will also create awareness about these services in the community they operate.

CSC SPV Managing Director Dr. Dinesh Tyagi said: "There is a growing market for pre-owned vehicles for personal and commercial use. Mobility is an important part of commercial and entrepreneurial activities. Our extensive network of CSCs can capitalise on this demand and provide NOCs to vehicle owners. Citizens, particularly in rural areas, can benefit from this partnership as they don't have to travel long distances to visit NCRB offices and can get NOC from their nearest CSC." "To extend this service to citizens, CSC Digital Seva Portal will relate to Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS). CSC VLEs will use the vehicle matching facility of this service to search vehicle details and generate NOC by providing Registration Number, Chassis Number and Engine Number," he added.

Vehicle NOC allows citizens to ascertain the status of a vehicle before they go for second-hand purchase. The NOC certificate shows whether the vehicle for sale is in the police records for any reason. An NOC is also mandatorily required by the RTO before the transfer of ownership. With this partnership, citizens can visit their nearest CSC and easily generate and download the NOC, required by the RTO.
San Francisco, Oct 24 : Google has teamed up with Facebook to work around Apple's privacy tools in Safari to continue tracking end-users, an update to an antitrust lawsuit claims, with the search engine also doing what it could to slow down other regulatory initiatives surrounding privacy.

A lawsuit was filed against Google in December 2020 by a group of attorneys general, accusing the search engine of "engaging in market collusion to rig auctions," reports AppleInsider.

While the lawsuit largely focuses on a deal between Google and Facebook to cooperate in the online advertising business instead of competing, an update accuses the two tech giants of trying to work against initiatives by Apple to help protect the privacy of its users.

The amended complaint filed on October 22 and first reported by The Register, expands on the original claim in some directions, revealing more ways that Google may have tried to subvert user privacy.

As part of the complaint, it is alleged Google and Facebook "have been working together to improve Facebook's ability to recognise users using browsers with blocked cookies on Apple devices, and on Apple's Safari browser, thereby circumventing one Big Tech company's efforts to compete by offering users better privacy.

This was apparently prompted by the two companies working closely and in integrating their SDKs "so Google can pass Facebook data for user ID cookie matching," the complaint reads.

"They also coordinated with each other to harm publishers through the adoption of Unified Pricing rules," it added.

Apple has implemented many privacy protection measures into its products, including Safari, such as 2018's Intelligent Tracking Protection 2.0.

The system required websites to request tracking privileges from users on an opt-in basis with a culling of cookies 30 days after the user stops visiting relevant sites along with independent tracking of widgets and embeds.

A privacy report in Safari for macOS Big Sur offered users' data on what trackers a website includes, as well as advising on how many trackers were prevented from profiling the user over 30 days.
Mumbai, Oct 24 : Spelling huge embarrassment for the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), an affidavit by one of its "independent witnesses" alleging threats and bribe ignited a political storm in Maharashtra on Sunday and raised questions on the agency's credibility.

Shiv Sena MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut tweeted on Sunday that the claims by NCB witness, Prabhakar Sail, are "shocking".

"It is shocking that the witness in the case was made to sign on blank papers by the NCB. Also, there are allegations of demands for huge money," he said.

Raut urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and state Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil to direct the police to take suo-moto cognisance and initiate investigation in the matter.

Hitting out the Centre for targeting the Maha Vikas Aghadi government through central probe agencies, NCP state President and Minister Jayant Patil said: "It is satisfying to note how the truth of the NCB case is now unfolding before the public.

NCP national spokesperson and Minister Nawab Malik called for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the entire issue including the ship raid in which several youngsters like Aryan Khan were nabbed.

Addressing the media, he said: "I have been saying from day one that the entire raids were a sham to malign the MVA government and demoralise Bollywood. I will personally meet the CM and the HM to demand a probe by an SIT into this matter." Congress state President Nana Patole said that the new evidence like demands of Rs 25 crore bribe to release Aryan Khan, has raised "big questions on the role of NCB" and sought a high-level enquiry into the matter.

State Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe termed Sail's revelations as "a very serious matter and a clear case of misuse of central agencies" to target the MVA government.

"Sail's allegations have substantiated our party's stand that the Centre is abusing the central investigation agencies to target opposition-ruled states, particularly the Congress. I request the Supreme Court to take note of this," he said.

Since the past few weeks, Malik has been conducting a series of exposes on the NCB and Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede and their alleged involvement of outsiders and BJP activists in the raid.

He accused Wankhede of going to Dubai, Maldives and extorting money and "terrorising" the Hindi film industry.

Although Wankhede has denied the allegations including his sojourns abroad, the NCB issued a statement confirming he had gone to Maldives with his family after proper official clearances.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Kishore Tiwari had shot off a petition to Supreme Court Chief Justice N. V. Ramana last week, demanding a probe by a top court judge into the anti-drug agency's affairs and protect the fundamental rights of Aryan Khan.

Similarly, former Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi had slammed the NCB, for making Aryan Khan "pay the price for being a star kid".
New Delhi, Oct 24 : Delhi Police have arrested four members of the gang of Jitender Gogi, who was killed in a shoot-out at Delhi's Rohini Court on September 24 and recovered three sophisticated pistols and 18 live cartridges from them.

The arrested accused include two parole jumpers -- Sumit (25) a.k.a. Sethi, a resident of Rohtak in Haryana and Kunal a.k.a. Rahul from Delhi's Barwala, police said.

Others are Suraj Kumar, a native of Sonipat in Haryana, and Karan a.k.a. Hans from Baprola in Delhi.

According to police, a special team of Begumpur station had launched an operation to tackle street crimes by organised gangs. The team collected details of several criminals with similar modus operandi and activated their secret informers to collect information about the gangsters involved in the robbery/snatching & firearms incident cases.

On Saturday, a team led by ASI Neeraj Rana got specified details that two wanted criminals with weapons are travelling in a stolen Motorcycle at Helipad Road in Rohini to commit a robbery. Acting on the tip-off, the team laid a trap at Karala Road and Helipad Road and apprehended Sumit. During frisking of the accused, one sophisticated pistol and 6 live cartridges were recovered from his possession. On subsequent investigation, his three associates have also been arrested from Sec-34, Rohini, Delhi, and two more sophisticated pistols and 12 live cartridges were further recovered from their possession.

Sumit later revealed that he is on bail in a murder case and due to poor family background, he left his schooling right from 8th standard and got in contact with bad elements. He also admitted that he was involved in another murder in Rohini.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : In his first interview since resigning as the US' chief negotiator with the Taliban, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad strongly defended the deal he negotiated to withdraw US troops from America's longest war, CBS reported.

Khalilzad said he objected to the direction of the Biden administration's current Afghanistan policy.

"One reason I left the government is that the debate wasn't really as it should be based on realities and facts of what happened, what was going on and what our alternatives were," Khalilzad told CBS.

The long-time diplomat refrained from directly criticizing President Biden, whom he considers to be a friend. However, he made clear that the withdrawal that he negotiated, known as the Doha Agreement, was meant to be "conditions-based" rather than driven by a calendar date, the report said.

Khalilzad refuted accusations that he had been misled by the Taliban's political leaders while their fighters made significant advances on the ground.

"I don't allow people to mislead me. I do my homework," he said. "This was not Zal Khalilzad alone doing this. I had the military, the intelligence, everyone with me." He also declined to criticize former President Trump, who had hired him back in 2018 to negotiate the withdrawal, and pointed out that three Administrations in a row - "way above my pay grade" - decided an Afghanistan withdrawal was necessary because the US was "not winning the war." By the time Khalilzad was appointed negotiator, the Taliban had regained control or contested some 60 per cent of the country, the report added.

In the interview, Khalilzad argued that had Ghani not departed Kabul abruptly on August 15, a negotiated transition might have ultimately allowed a more orderly transition and perhaps kept open the possibility for the US to keep some presence in Afghanistan. Ghani fled the presidential palace by helicopter, fleeing to nearby Uzbekistan as Taliban forces entered the capital city.

Khalilzad said he had struck an agreement on August 14, only the night before, with the Taliban and the Afghan government to do a two-week negotiation to create some kind of power-sharing arrangement, but then "President Ghani made the choice that he did, that caused the forces to disintegrate in Kabul." "I believe in retrospect, my judgment is that we could have pressed President Ghani harder," he acknowledged, the report added.

"I'm not saying it was an orderly withdrawal. This was an ugly and final phase. No doubt about it could have been a lot worse," Khalilzad argued.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : Afghan military pilots who fled to Tajikistan when the Taliban seized power in Kabul say the militant group is pressuring them to return to Afghanistan by threatening to kill their relatives, RFE/RL reported.

Trained by the United States, the Afghan pilots say their documents have been completed for traveling and they hope they will soon be able to go to the United States.

But two Afghan pilots who are sheltering at sanatoriums on the outskirts of Dushanbe said the Taliban is now trying to force them to return to Afghanistan, the report said.

One Afghan pilot, speaking on condition of anonymity, told RFE/RL that his son back in Afghanistan was beaten by the Taliban and that the militants threatened to kill the boy if the pilot did not return.

Another pilot said that Taliban militants have gone to the homes of several of his family members to demand that the pilot return to Afghanistan, the report added.

He said that the Taliban has a list of the names of all 143 Afghan pilots now in Tajikistan. He said Taliban authorities are increasing pressure on all of the pilots by threatening their relatives in Afghanistan, the report added.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denied that the Taliban is threatening the relatives of the pilots.

"Nobody cares about them," Mujahid said. "They come up with high-profile stories to obtain refugee status. We have said many times that if they return, no one will touch them here." In August, shortly after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the Taliban issued a call for all of the US-trained Afghan pilots to join them in order to fly aircraft that the group had seized at military bases across Afghanistan.
Kolkata, Oct 24 : With the Covid cases hovering around 1,000 for the last three days and the positivity rate touching nearly 3 per cent, West Bengal seems to be moving in the opposite direction from the rest of India. Thanks to unchecked gathering during the pujas, when the infection rate in other parts of the country is showing signs of slowing down, cases are on the rise in the state.

A small example will help us understand the situation better. Covid beds in most of the premiere private hospitals in the city are either occupied or are nearly full. Belle View Nursing Home - one of the premiere nursing homes in the city has 47 beds of which 23 are already occupied. Before the pujas the number of occupancy was just 10. Similarly, Calcutta Medical Research Institute has all its 38 beds full and Peerless hospital has 40 occupied out of 40 beds. In ILS multi-speciality hospital, 27 Covid beds out of the total 38 are occupied and the administration expects that the rest of the beds will be full soon.

Experts have already warned that West Bengal will see a spike in the coming weeks as Covid-19 norms have been largely flouted during the recent Durga Puja celebrations and the result is on the table. When the daily infection rate in Kolkata before the pujas was hovering around 600, on Saturday it hit 974 - the highest daily infection after July 21 when the statistic was 869.

Not only in Kolkata but the infection rate in the districts is also showing an upward curve. According to an official of the state health department, the positivity rate in Cooch Behar is 8.7 per cent, in East Medinipur it is around 5 per cent, in Nadia it is 4.2 per cent and in Howrah and Hooghly it is hovering around 2 to 2.5 per cent when before the pujas it was just above one per cent.

Considering the rising cases of Covid in the state particularly in areas in and around Kolkata like in districts like Howrah, Hooghly and North and South 24 Parganas the state has already announced micro-containment zones in several areas of Howrah, Hooghly and North 24 Parganas. Chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi held a virtual meeting with all the district magistrates and asked them to keep a strict watch on the Covid cases in districts. They have also been asked to impose 'containment zones' in areas where the rate is high.

"There was all-round laxity during Durga Puja, which is likely to push the situation out of bounds unless we immediately re-impose strict Covid-19 norms within people and increase the rate of testing and vaccination in the state," a senior physician in the state and one of the members of the global advisory committee created by the state government said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, Oct 24 : Ahead of the Diwali festivities, the Centre has called a meeting with state and Union Territories on Monday to review the action taken on the stock limit order on edible prices.

Stating that it is monitoring the prices of edible oils and its availability to the consumers, the Department of Food and Public Distribution said ut will hold the meeting with all states/UTs through video conferencing on the issue, which is especially important to the context of the upcoming festival season during which demand of edible oils will increase.

In a letter to all states, Secretary, Food and Public Distribution, Sudhanshu Pandey said that to ease prices of edible oils for relief of consumer, various steps have already been taken by the government, based on the interaction with all the states and edible oil industry associations and a stock disclosure notification has been issued.

This letter comes two days after a letter on Friday to the states and UTs had dwelt on the issue and said that it is the responsibility of the states to enforce relevant provisions of the Essential Commodities Act and take action on the ground against hoarders.

The Department has created a web portal to monitor the stock of edible oils/oilseeds on a weekly basis in the country, it said in a release.

Demand and consumption of edible oil is different for the different states/UTs as per the preference of the consumers. However, for finalising the stock limit quantity of edible oils and oilseeds, the states/UTs may consider/explore the previous stock limit imposed for edible oils and oilseeds by the state/UTs. It may be considered that any stakeholder (refiners, miller, wholesaler etc.) should not hold the stocks in excess two months of the storage capacity.

For guidance, states may refer to indicative limits, which may have been imposed by the states earlier. "However, for other categories, similar quantities as appropriate for the state may be fixed. For example: for refiners, stocks of maximum of two months of the average scale of last six months could be used. Similarly, quantities may be fixed for extractors/millers may be fixed," the Centre said.
Guwahati, Oct 24 : A lactating elephant died due to electrocution in Golaghat district on Sunday, registering unnatural deaths of two pachyderm in 10 days in Assam, officials said.

An official of Assam Forest and Environment Department said that the 18-year-old female lactating elephant died due to electrocution at Dholagaon Pathar in Golaghat district of eastern Assam in the wee hours of Sunday. Signs of burning on the body of the wild tusker due to electrocution were prominent.

"An electric post of 11 KV line was found tilted near the carcass. Perhaps it got tilted due to the brushing of the body in the post. Electric lines were hanging from 6 ft height," the official said after visiting the incident site.

A post mortem is being carried out to ascertain the exact cause of the jumbo's death.

On October 15, a six-year-old elephant was found dead in a paddy field at Shantipara under Kanyakuchi Reserve Forest in western Assam's Goalpara district.

At least 13 elephants were killed this year in various parts of Assam by illegal electric fences put up by farmers to protect their crops.

According to official records, over 90 elephants were electrocuted in Assam between 2011 and 2019. Electrocution, poisoning and natural calamities also led to elephant deaths, including a whopping 18 jumbo were killed by lightning strike in Nagaon district in May.

With the second largest elephant population, Assam is home to Asian elephants with a population of 5,719, according to the last census conducted in 2017.

Due to the deforestation and destruction of elephant habitats and crisis of fodder, men-elephant conflict is rising in Assam. According to the wildlife officials, 890 humans have died in man-elephant conflicts during the last 10 years in Assam, with Sonitpur district recording the highest deaths at 124, followed by Udalguri district with 118 and Goalpara district with 78 deaths.

This year, over 100 people including women, have died so far due to the elephant attacks in various parts of Assam.
Mumbai, Oct 24 : As Maharashtra has almost been fully "unlocked", the state's Covid-19 death toll crossed the 1.40-lakh mark on Sunday - a day after the total infections shot past the 66 lakh mark, health officials said.

Exactly 20 months after the pandemic lockdown was implemented on March 24/25 2020, the state toll now stands at a whopping 140,016.

On Saturday, the state's total caseload shot past the 66-lakh mark - from 65,99,850 on October 22 to touch 66,01,551 (October 23).

Both the tally and the toll are the highest in the country.

At the global level, Maharashtra with 66,02,961 case till now, ranks just below France which stands at No 7 with 71,20,863 total infections till date.

As far as fatalities go, the state with 140,106 deaths stands just below Indonesia's 143,205 deaths on the Worldometer.
London, Oct 24 : Britain and the European Union held "constructive" technical discussions on the Northern Ireland Protocol, but substantial gaps remain on the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), according to a British government source.

"The talks this week were constructive and we've heard some things from the EU that we can work with - but the reality is that we are still far apart on the big issues, especially governance," the source said on Saturday night.

"There's been plenty of speculation about governance this week but our position remains unchanged: the role of the European Court of Justice in resolving disputes between the UK and EU must end," it said.

British officials said solutions must be found quickly because disruption on the ground in Northern Ireland has not gone away and cannot be endured for much longer, citing reports that because of the protocol, supplies of Christmas crackers are being prevented from reaching Northern Ireland, Xinhua news agency reported.

British officials have made clear this is "yet another practical example" of why the Protocol isn't working and why we need "common sense solutions" that reduce disruption to people's everyday lives.

After their first round of technical talks in Brussels, an EU negotiating team will travel to London on Tuesday for several days of intensive discussions. British Brexit Minister David Frost and European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic are due to meet in person in London for talks at the end of the week to take stock and assess progress so far.

Britain and the EU are getting back around the table to find a long-term solution to their post-Brexit trade dispute with Northern Ireland at the center.

They will aim to smooth trade through technical changes but also tackle the more challenging problem of the oversight role of the ECJ in Northern Ireland, on which both sides are far apart.
Dhaka, Oct 24 : Three youths have been arrested in Bangladesh's Noakhali district in connection with the recent communal attack on Hindu families and temples during Durga Puja, that left at least two dead, police said.

Ripon Ahmed, 19, Arafat Hossain, 24, and Ibrahim Khalil, 25 have confessed to their involvement in the attacks.

On October 15, Jatan Kumar Saha, 42 was killed brutally, being hacked to death by a mob, and the next day, the body of Pranto Das, 20, was found in a pond next to the Iskcon temple in Choumuhani.

Police identified the three accused through CCTV footage before making the arrests on Saturday, Noakhali's Superintendent of Police M. Shahidul Islam said.

Attempts are being made to identify and arrest others involved in the incident through watching video footage, police added.

A senior judicial magistrate recorded statements of the three before sending them to jail late on Saturday, media reports said.

Another accused arrested over the attacks, Abdur Rahim Sujon, 19, gave a confessional statement on Thursday.

Police have so far arrested around 130 people for their alleged involvement in the attacks on the Choumuhani market area in Noakhali's Begumganj upazila.

A total of 10 cases have been filed in connection with the incident, the SP told IANS on Sunday.

Meanwhile, various organisations, including the Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), organised human chains and demonstrations protesting the communal attacks on temples, puja venues, temples, shops and houses in Chaumuhani, and Begumganj.

The programme was held on Sunday morning in front of the District Civil Surgeon's Office and on Abdul Malek Ukil Road at the intersection of City Hall. In addition to the organisers, people of different classes and professions participated.
Mumbai, Oct 24 : Apparently rattled by the revelations of a witness in the raid on a cruise ship rave party, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede on Sunday sought police help to protect him from possible "legal action".

In a letter to the Mumbai Commissioner of Police (Hemant Nagrale), Wankhede claimed that he has learnt of "some precipitate legal action" for framing him falsely, is being planned by some unknown persons concerning the raid on the cruiser on October 2.

Indirectly referring to a statement by Nationalist Congress Party national Spokesperson and Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik last week, the NCB chief wrote: "It is also brought to your notice that threat of jail and dismissal have been issued against the undersigned on public media by highly respectable public functionaries." In what is viewed as a pre-emptive move, the IRS officer also asked the Mumbai Police chief to "ensure that no such precipitate legal action" is carried out to frame and falsely implicate him with ulterior motives.

Wankhede - who had earlier complained to the city and state police alleging threats to life - reminded Nagrale that NCB Deputy Director-General, South West Region, Mutha Ashok Jain, has already referred the latest matter (the witness' sensational revelations) to the NCB headquarters for necessary action.

NCB witness Prabhakar Sail's statements have triggered a major political war with the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress slamming the central agency and Wankhede.

The MVA partners have demanded a suo moto investigation by the Mumbai Police, setting up of a Special Investigation Team to probe the NCB affairs, intervention of the Supreme Court, etc.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : From this year, India would embark on a scientific enumeration of dolphins - to be carried out every three years like the tiger census - across Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra basins together to ascertain the exact number for the national aquatic animal.

The pan-India enumeration, part of the wider "Project Dolphin", will be starting with workshops in November with field work aimed to be completed by March next year and the report expected by June-July 2022. This will start with river dolphins.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on August 15, 2020 initiated the Project, which envisaged bringing both the river dolphins and marine dolphins under its conservation programme.

Just as a tiger is considered an indicator of a good forest, river dolphins are indicator of a healthy river and act as an umbrella species of the river ecosystem. There are currently two species of the river dolphins inhabiting India, Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica) and the Indus River Dolphin (Platanista minor).

Ganges River Dolphin is listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 , and was declared as the national aquatic animal of India and the state aquatic animal of Assam in 2009. They are also accorded the highest protection priority for conservation, by being listed in Appendix I of CITES and Appendix II of CMS COP.

Government records show that the recent most estimation of the Ganges River Dolphins in the Ganga river basin, along with its tributaries, stands at 2,644 and in Brahmaputra, along with its tributaries, stands at 987 (survey in 2017-2018).

The Indus River Dolphin, meanwhile, has a population of 6-8 dolphins in India, distributed only in a small pocket of the Beas River in Punjab, with majority of the population, of 1,816 individuals, residing in Pakistan.

"There is almost 40 per cent range reduction over last 100 years. Earlier, there were dolphins upstream of Bijnor (UP), now they are only downstream of Bijnor. In fact, even Yamuna near Delhi had dolphins a century ago. Barak river in Assam too had earlier, now nothing," said nodal officer for the dolphin enumeration programme at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Vishnupriya Kolipakam.

Generally, traditional methods of census are very hard to follow in case of dolphins. Boats would be needed according to the depth of water in the habitat. Also, it is not necessary that the dolphins would be visible when the enumerators reach the area for counting. Important is also the fact that the enumerator needs to be trained adequately so that he or she does not mistake sun shimmer on water as dolphins.

"Unlike what is common in popular imagination that dolphins leap one after another, Indian dolphins are visible only for a few seconds. That can possibly lead to errors. Last five years, we have spent on standardising the methods to get robust estimates," she said.

Unlike marine habitat, where the depth of the sea/ocean is adequate enough everywhere for boats/ships to reach, the river dolphins' census becomes a tad difficult as the boat cannot reach everywhere.

"And then, there are the non-surfacing dolphins too. The dolphins are blind and largely use sound for movement, foraging and communication. Hydrophones are dragged underwater to catch this dolphins' sonar. Visual observers' data and that generated from acoustic are combined to get proper readings," Kolipakam said.

Stating that dolphin conservation and Ganga conservation is linked, National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) Director General Rajiv Ranjan Mishra said: "We are now awaiting cabinet approval for this enumeration. It is due anytime." The NMCG already has a biodiversity conservation project with the WII and dolphin is part of it, being the national aquatic animal. It has also tied up with several institutions for sensitising the fishermen as sustainable fishing is important for dolphins.

A Field Guide 2021-22 titled "Monitoring Ganges and Indus River Dolphins, Associated Aquatic Fauna and Habitat", was launched on October 2 by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav.

Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change's CAMPA had funded the programme for five years under 'Endangered Species Recovery Programme' and the funds were used for coming up with a management plan for the Gangetic River Dolphin (along with that for Great Indian Bustard, Dugong, and the Manipur Deer). It would again be the Ministry that would fund the dolphin enumeration.

Professor Qamar Qureshi from the WII said: "We have worked out appropriate scientific methods to count dolphins. Earlier methods were not appropriate; the current one is now robust and scientifically accurate." The workshops for training are likely to start in November. "The field exercise will finish by March and by June-July, the report should be expected," he said.
New Delhi, Oct 24 : Rains and hailstorms lashed large parts of Delhi-NCR in the aftermath of thunderstorms late on Sunday.

Several parts of the national capital, especially north, northwest, and northeast area, and Noida witnessed hailstorms even as there were 30 kmph, gusting to 50 kmph, west-north-westerly winds recorded at Palam at 7 p.m.

"Western Disturbances" over north Pakistan and neighbourhood as a cyclonic circulation and the associated trough in the middle tropospheric westerlies are responsible for this rainfall, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast had predicted earlier in the day and also on Saturday.

IMD's Safdarjung observatory recorded merely 0.06 mm rainfall till 5.30 p.m. but by 8.30 p.m., it had accounted for 26.4 mm rainfall. Palam observatory recoded trace rainfall till 5.30 p.m. and between 5.30 and 8.30 p.m., recorded 4.9 mm.

Once in 2013 and another time in 2019 was when Delhi recorded 24-hour highest rainfall of 38.6 mm and 47.3 mm, respectively in the month of October, the IMD data showed. Else, after the monsoon's withdrawal, October receives less than 10 mm rainfall.

The all-time record for October's highest rainfall was on October 1, 1954, when Delhi witnessed 172.7 mm.

About the hailstorm, a senior IMD scientist said: "There must have been hailstorm over north-west Delhi and adjoining parts of Haryana. Radar has also indicated it." However, hailstorms are reported by IMD officially only when it occurs over one of its observatories. "For any other location, it is through media or any public reporting," he said.

The rainfall decreased to drizzle/light rain after 9.30 p.m. at isolated places in the region and thereafter, it was dry weather.

It was not just Delhi-NCR that received rainfall but several areas surrounding it in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh such as Greater Noida, Meerut, Pilkhua, Ghaziabad, Modinagar, Dadri, Shamli, Bulandshahr, Chapraula, Yamuna Nagar, Sonipat, Jind, Rewari, Charkhi Dadri, Jhajjar, Manesar, Karnal, Panipat and Kaithal among others, the IMD said. Many of these places too witnessed hailstorms.
New York, Oct 24 : A Nobel Peace Prize spotlight isn't what Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg is used to. But he's getting it. Big time.

The timing couldn't be harsher. It comes amidst pushback from whistleblower Frances Haugen, Wall Street Journal investigations, and long-time nemesis Tim Cook of Apple splicing at the foundations of Facebook's $84-billion advertising revenue model.

Enter Maria Ressa, a journalist, the first winner in her tribe - alongside Russian Dmitry Muratov - since German Carl von Ossietzky in 1936, spitting fire, calling out Zuckerberg (and his deputy Sheryl Sandberg) by name, even linking Facebook to the atom bomb.

As context, in the press announcement on October 8, the Nobel committee lauded the Filipina's work against her country's President, Rodrigo Duterte, but fell tactfully short of naming Zuckerberg or Facebook.

Ressa, they said, "uses freedom of expression to expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines (and) uses freedom of expression to expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines... has shown herself to be a fearless defender of freedom of expression. Rappler (her platform) has focused critical attention on the Duterte regime's controversial, murderous anti-drug campaign. The number of deaths is so high that the campaign resembles a war waged against the country's own population....(Rappler) also documented how social media is being used to spread fake news, harass opponents and manipulate public discourse." Ressa now is filling in the blanks around Zuckerberg (and Sandberg and Facebook). And the atom bomb part is part of Silicon Valley commentator Kara Swisher's New York Times op-ed headline this weekend.

In their 45-minute Sway podcast on which the NYT indictment rests, Swisher asked Ressa: "Do you think your Nobel Prize will be a wake-up call for people like Mark Zuckerberg to listen to you? I think it should be. Or the Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen's testimony before Senate. Will that be a wake-up call for them? Do you think that's the case?" The Nobel laureate launched thus: "I think it was a bad week, the week of the Nobel Prize because what Frances Haugen did was the tipping point in terms of - well, first politics. The bipartisan - both Democrats and Republicans finally coming together. But I thought it was great that they came together on Facebook's own reports about the impact on teenagers. But I thought it was really bad that they didn't extend that to what that means for the people on the front lines, for the human rights defenders, for journalists, that what this means is that insidious manipulation. It's not because the teenagers are weak mentally. It's that the weaknesses of human beings' biologies are being exploited by these platforms." "So again, do you think it's a wake-up call for them? I don't. I think they've moved into defence mode, very significantly," Swisher, who has 1.4 million Twitter follows, asked.

"I got to remain optimistic. I think you're probably right because of the money involved. And that's something that also took me a few years because I believed - and maybe, I know I wrongly believed - that like news organisations, they would take the responsibility of the public sphere seriously. They certainly hired a lot of journalists at a certain point. I do think they exploded an atom bomb in the information ecosystem. And it cannot happen again. And it keeps happening again, every day. So I hope they listen," Ressa replied.

"Let's talk about Facebook as a weapon. About 70 million Facebook users in the Philippines out of a population just north of 100 million. It's a huge megaphone. What are the main strands of misinformation and disinformation that Facebook helped spread in the region?," Swisher continued.

"All the meta-narratives that you have, right, like Duterte is the best leader in the world. The Pope said Duterte is, and then all the congratulations. I think the first step was to take out the DDS. It used to be the Davao Death Squad. And within a few weeks of him taking office, DDS began to stand for Duterte Diehard Supporters. How you can watch in plain view while words that were negative were turned positive. So it started by spinning the narrative propaganda, but propaganda on steroids. And then after that, they went after potential critics," Ressa replied.

"Like me and Leila de Lima, who's a Senator now, who's serving her fifth year in prison. It's almost like that was the fertiliser before the government took actions. It's always bottom up on social media and then top down. The weaponisation of the law was always preceded by the weaponisation of social media. And Facebook was that. And I think the other part is now that as we walk into our May elections, this is the greatest danger. We will not have integrity of elections if we don't have integrity of facts. And that's why I continue to appeal to these American companies to put guardrails, voluntarily do it, turn up the dial on news, which we now know is possible. They did it, and then they realized, oh, no, there's less engagement, meaning we make less money. So let me turn it back down and let the lies proliferate, right?" At this point of time, Swisher names Zuckerberg. "So you personally warned Mark Zuckerberg about the dangers of Facebook in the Philippines, and you asked him to come see what was happening for himself. Can you talk about that encounter?" "Yeah," Ressa said, "this was in April of 2017 on the sidelines of the F8 Conference that they have. Before then, I had already spoken to at least 50 different officers and people working inside Facebook because by August 2017, we were under full attack. 2016 to 2018 was when we watched our information ecosystem get torn down and our world turned upside down. I came under attack. I mean, come on, Kara, 10 arrest warrants in less than two years. It's like, I don't even know how to react to it." "I see him at F8, and his smarts struck me. He's very smart. He could understand all the different technologies that we were bringing up. But I think what made it different was I wanted him to understand how he was determining what was happening to the Philippines and what was happening to me, right? I explained how powerful Facebook was. And I said 97 per cent of Filipinos on the internet are on Facebook. And then he asked me a question. He was very quizzical. He just said, wait, wait, what are the other 3 per cent doing?" "And we laughed. The table laughed because it was - I guess it wasn't that it was cute, it just didn't dawn on me what it was showing, because the halo of Facebook was still there. I was working very constructively behind the scenes and continue to be a partner, even though I continue to demand better, because I felt that that's the only option. You must publicly demand better because we are at risk. And then I just talked a little bit more about what was happening. And I asked for help. I always ask for help, because this is not within our control. That's the thing." "Oh, I also spoke to (Facebook COO) Sheryl Sandberg ...and she listened - Sheryl asked me to contact her. And then I never heard back. And just trying to stay alive as a digital organisation under attack and as a person." Facebook F8 is a mostly-annual conference for developers and entrepreneurs who build products and services around the website. It was hosted in San Francisco, California until 2016, and moved to Silicon Valley, California in 2017.

(Nikhila Natarajan tweets @byniknat)
Patna, Oct 24 : After the return of RJD chief Lalu Prasad to Bihar on Sunday, his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav attacked leaders of ruling NDA, terming them "jackals".

Uploading a photograph of Lalu Prasad and himself on Twitter, he, in a Hindi post, said: "Inform jackals ('gidarh') to avoid going outside their houses as lion has arrived in Bihar." He claimed that the ruling party has tried every possible method to shut the voice of the people of Bihar, but "truth can be victimised but cannot be defeated".

As Lalu Prasad arrived in Patna after almost after four years, he was received by Tejashwi Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav, Jagadanand Singh, Shivanand Tiwari, Shyam Rajak, Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav, Reet Lal Yadav and many other senior RJD leaders at the airport.

Lalu Prasad was looked in campaign mode. He was wearing green cap on the head and green towel on the shoulder apart from facial mask. As large number of party supporters also assembled at the airport, he did not react with media persons.

Escorted by Tejashwi and Tej Pratap and other senior leaders to a waiting SUV, he headed towards the residence of wife and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi.
Ziegler, the nations leading underwriter of financings for not-for-profit senior living providers, and LeadingAge, the nations largest association of not-for-profit aging service providers in the country, today released the 18th Annual LeadingAge Ziegler 200 (LZ 200) report.

This report is a ranking and analysis of the nations 200 largest not-for-profit senior living organizations across the country as of December 31, 2020. This years report represents more than 300,000 market-rate units and 1,600 market-rate communities across the country. It also outlines relevant business trends in the industry to showcase the variety of older adult services and offerings provided in this sector.

The 2021 LZ 200 listing shows that senior living providers have grown primarily through community expansions from existing campuses as well as affiliation and acquisition activity. Nearly 30 percent of the total number of units for all senior living systems in the LZ 200 are represented by the 10 largest providers.

The 10 largest not-for-profit multi-site senior living organizations include:

1. National Senior Campuses  Wellesley, MA

2. The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society  Sioux Falls, SD

3. Acts Retirement Services, Inc.  Fort Washington, PA

4. Presbyterian Homes and Services  Roseville, MN

5. Ascension Living  St. Louis, MO

6. HumanGood  Pleasanton, CA

7. Trinity Health Senior Communities  Livonia, MI

8. Lifespace Communities, Inc.  West Des Moines, IA

9. Covenant Living Communities & Services  Skokie, IL

10. Benedictine  Duluth, MN

The LZ 200 also showed that in the last 10 years, the average annual growth rate in total units was 2.6 percent, with independent living and assisted living units growing each year but decline in the number of nursing care beds.

Other key areas of senior living industry trends, notable growth and innovation include:



Among the 1,600 market-rate communities, the largest proportion (42%) are Life Plan Communities.

When looking at the states with the highest proportion of LZ 200 headquarters, Pennsylvania ranks first with 27 organizations. This is followed by Ohio (16), New York (15), Minnesota (13), Michigan (12) and California (10) organization headquarters among the LZ 200.

Of all the organizations represented in the LZ 200, roughly one-third provide Affordable Housing for seniors, either through units within a market-rate campus or via freestanding Affordable Housing properties.

Nearly half of all providers within the LZ 200 offer some type of home and community-based service option. Home care is the most common offering, following by home health and hospice care.

Utilization of various technology-enabled solutions was particularly driven by the pandemic throughout 2020. The LZ 200 organizations reported increased adoption of social connectedness/resident engagement solutions and telehealth platforms compared to 2019.

The staffing crisis showed itself among the largest 200 providers throughout 2020. The average number of FTEs dropped to 882, compared to 1,095 in 2019 and 1,103 the year prior.

This LZ 200 report is one of our most important publications in helping inform the senior living & care industry during such a critical year, said Dan Hermann, President & Chief Executive Officer and Head of Investment Banking at Ziegler. As the industry strives to provide the best care during the COVID-19 pandemic, these insights on the largest not for-profit senior living organizations provide an opportunity for providers and industry stakeholders to further adapt to this challenging moment and provide the highest quality of care and amenities for seniors when it is vitally needed today. Our hope is that this LZ 200 can provide value and perspective for the entire industry.

The LZ 200 report is developed annually through a partnership between Ziegler and LeadingAge. It includes more than 200 providers of multi-site systems, more than 150 single-site campuses, and government-subsidized multi-site housing providers. Previously known as the LZ 100 and LZ 150, the report was expanded in 2014 from LZ 100 to the LZ 150 and to the LZ 200 in 2018 in response to the growing industry and increasing interest.

To view the full report, please click here.

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.
Bitwaves Digital Asset Maturity Model is designed to help companies assess their current cryptocurrency adeptness, streamline adoption of these new assets, and unlock business value in a four-step framework for action.

Bitwave, the leading provider of digital asset tax and accounting software for enterprises, introduced today at Money 20/20, the industrys first Digital Asset Maturity Model. This business roadmap will help enterprises minimize risk and maximize opportunities for holding digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs. The first of its kind, the Digital Asset Maturity Model provides a multi-step framework that allows enterprises of all sizes to properly adopt and account for digital assets on their balance sheet and in their business processes. As widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies grows exponentially, the accurate accounting of digital asset holdings is ever more necessary to keep up with todays evolving regulatory landscape.

By simply watching the price of Bitcoin fluctuate in the press, you might not realize that businesses have adopted whole classes of digital assets and are re-wiring their companies to embrace a decentralized future, said Bitwave Co-Founder and CEO Pat White. We want to ensure that any business interested in the opportunities unlocked by digital assets has a clear map to success.

Forward-looking financial professionals navigating the next wave of digital disruption must bring cryptocurrencies and digital assets into the enterprise," said R "Ray" Wang, Founder, Chairman and Principal Analyst of Constellation Research and author of Everybody Wants to Rule the World. "However, existing systems lack the capability to address policy and process revisions, support infrastructure upgrades, and deliver the deftness required to navigate a constantly shifting regulatory landscape. Customers desperately seek a solution and product roadmap that overcomes these challenges and unlocks the digital asset revolution ahead."

Bitwaves Digital Asset Maturity Model is designed to help companies assess their current cryptocurrency adeptness, streamline adoption of these new assets, and unlock business value in a four-step framework for action. Derived from Bitwaves work with over 50 enterprise-level customers and financial leaders, the framework guides decision makers to achieve enterprise digital asset finance success.

Enterprises of all sizes can assess opportunities such as offering their intellectual property as NFTs or implementing streamlined crypto-based payment workflows, all while avoiding potential compliance roadblocks that may occur as new regulations take effect.

For more information on Bitwave and the Digital Asset Maturity Model, visit http://bitwave.io/damm.

About Bitwave

Bitwave is a provider of tax and accounting software that is used to track investments in cryptocurrency. The platform is used by C-Suite financial executives who are eager to invest in cryptocurrency but have lacked the proper accounting protocols to do so in the past. By creating the opportunity to make these investments, Bitwave is playing a key role in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) movement and removing the friction that has traditionally plagued financial services. The firm was founded in 2018 by technology entrepreneurs Pat White and Amy Kalnoki and is based in San Francisco, CA.
64, of Traverse City, passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021, at Munson Medical Center, in Traverse City, with her daughter, Tina, by her side. She is survived by: her daughters, Tina Tuller-Buist, Meagan Eby, and Rachael Eby. Cremation has taken place and there are no services planned at thi
If You Go

Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, in partnership with Nongwa Wellness Center, presents "Emkowaataagozijig III"

"Sharing their knowledge" workshops run:

Oct. 26, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Oct. 27, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Oct. 28 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The free workshop is open to anyone who wants to learn Anishinaabemowin from an array of fluent speakers.

Register at: https://bit.ly/3m4by6A or call 231-534-7252 for more information.
The city has various events in celebration of the Halloween season and The Red & Black has compiled just a few of the most exciting ones.
The shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of the set of the Alec Baldwin movie Rust is a reminder of the dangers that can exist on film and television sets
President Joe Biden returned to his birthplace of Scranton, Pennsylvania Wednesday to push his $2 trillion domestic spending package and $1 trillion infrastructure plan, insisting they are key to the U.S. maintaining its global competitive edge.
AMES, Iowa (AP)  The puppy fire hydrant in Kevin Bucks yard is condemned to return to its original Kelly green, but Buck said his initial goal was achieved.

After a unanimous vote by the Ames City Council last week, the fire hydrant, decorated to look like a Dalmatian, will be repainted by city staff.

The idea to paint the hydrant struck Buck, an Ames native, during the winter months as he looked at the crazy original artwork of people in other cities who used a fire hydrant as their canvas. He saw the venture as a fun art project  though it risked criminal charges  but his main incentive was the sight of a hydrant in need of a paint job.

The hydrant will once again match its fellow emergency water taps, and Buck will be satisfied with a fresh coat of paint.

I think the city is run really well, and so I certainly didnt want to butt heads with anybody, he told the Ames Tribune. I dont agree with everything, but Ive always found them to be more than accommodating.

Buck initially reached out to the city last winter about painting his hydrant and heard back in May. In June, the council directed staff to look into a fire hydrant art initiative. Cities like Dekalb, Illinois; Albemarle County, Virginia; and Douglasville, Georgia, have launched such projects.

By August, Buck grew tired of waiting and got to work on the project.

Though he is the visionary, he cant take credit for the actual paint strokes that took place. For that, he enlisted his crafty sister, Kathy, because otherwise, it would have looked terrible, he said.

He prepped the hydrant by removing rust and painting a white base before his sister brought it to life. He imagined creating a gumball machine concept for his other propertys hydrant but the city soon became aware of his puppy hydrant and the dogs days were numbered.

The decision went to council who needed to consider the fire departments concerns of visibility and operability.

Ames has 2,990 fire hydrants. To ensure their operability, officials say a program would need to be launched where staff could closely monitor each hydrant art project. One of the citys concerns was how Bucks project might inspire others to paint other hydrants without city staffs knowledge, according to a staff report.

Additionally, routine maintenance and streets salts would quickly deteriorate any artistic designs, which wouldnt be as easy to touch up as a uniform color, according to the report, and expectations would need to be determined regarding the maintenance of the art.

The Ames Public Art Commission advised they dont have the bandwidth to take on such a project this year as they facilitate two infrastructure art projects  an electric transformer cabinet wrapping project and a storm sewer intake educational painting initiative, as well as the commissions annual programs.

Following National Fire Protection Association standards, fire hydrants can be painted different colors to indicate water flow rates. But Ames strong water distribution system means such a color system isnt necessary, Fire Chief Richard Higgins said.

Instead, the city adopted a local standard: a uniform green. Hydrants on Iowa States property are a different but still uniform color. Their uniformity, Higgins said, helps firefighters quickly spot hydrants when responding to calls for help.

When we show up on scene, we want to spend a very short amount of time trying to locate a fire hydrant, Higgins said at Tuesdays council meeting. We want to spend more time making sure everyones out of the property and make sure the fire isnt going any farther.

The largely white design of the hydrant pup could cause issues when a blanket of snow covers the city in the winter months, Higgins noted. Buck argued his designs red hat and green base addressed visibility concerns, though.

Before the council took up the issue, Buck called on his neighbors to join him in advocating the city leave his puppy hydrant intact in a post on the community Facebook page Ames People, which garnered hundreds of reactions and comments.

Though some expressed sympathy with Bucks cause, many shared the citys safety concerns, and others argued further that the hydrant wasnt his to alter in the first place.

Still others had a little fun with the situation.

Wont someone think of all the poor confused pets that arent going to know if they are supposed to pee on it or sniff its butt? one commenter wrote.

Another suggested new styles that could fit the original: a cucumber, a leprechaun, broccoli, etc.

Ultimately, the hydrant was destined to match all the others.

After just a few minutes of discussion at Tuesdays meeting, the Dalmatian hydrants fate was sealed, with councilors directing city staff to repaint the hydrant. Councilors also voted against implementing a hydrant painting program.

Bucks act defied two sections of the city code, city officials alleged: one forbidding interference with a hydrant in any manner, and another forbidding the painting of any city property without permission.

It probably rises to the level of criminal mischief, fifth-degree, depending on the cost to repair it, Assistant City Manager Brian Phillips said at Tuesdays meeting.

In his motion to revert the hydrant, Councilmember Tim Gartin argued a citation didnt seem necessary. And some councilors seemed open to revisiting the idea of a hydrant painting program in the future.

I do think its worth revisiting after the public art commission has capacity to do it, Councilmember David Martin said Tuesday. We do have to take the fire departments concerns about it seriously; I just think that we havent plumbed that issue deeply enough yet for me to be convinced this isnt a totally unworkable idea.

While the outcome wasnt what he hoped for, Buck said the experience connected him with neighbors hed never met and reacquainted him with ones hed lost touch with.

Im outside quite a bit, and just the people walking by and how much theyve enjoyed it, Buck said. It was a fun art project.
MASON CITY, Iowa (AP)  School districts statewide are facing issues with hiring substitute teachers, which causes problems when they need a person to cover a classroom.

I was on a conference call last Wednesday with other districts our size and larger and it is a struggle statewide to find substitutes right now, said Tom Drzycimski, Human Resources Director for the Mason City School District.

Drzycimski said the Mason City School District was able to find substitutes last year but this year became a more noticeable issue. He noted that the district has half the number of substitutes that they need.

It was the beginning of August that we open applications again for substitutes and there just werent that many, Drzycimski told the Mason City Globe Gazette.

Clear Lake Superintendent Doug Gee said his district is facing the same issue as Mason City with a shortage of subs. Gee says the substitute teacher shortage has been an issue for a few years but the pandemic escalated the problem.

This year is even worse than last year, said Gee.

Charles City Communications Director Justin Devore said his district saw the growing problem of finding substitutes last year.

We were starting to see it last year when teachers last year who had been subbing for a long time. We really started to see a major effect in the midst of the pandemic, said Devore.

Drzycimski pointed out the issue of finding substitute teachers is very similar to the hiring issues in other industries, like manufacturing and hospitality.

Our difficulty in finding substitutes is not unlike the circumstances that all employers are in right now, said Drzycimski. You look at the hospitality industry, retail, construction, and across the entire economy. Theres a lack of applicants for open positions.

Both Mason City and Clear Lake schools have repeatedly posted their substitute teacher position to try to receive a few applicants.

We continually post for it and we do background checks and get them subbing as soon as possible, said Gee.

Were running an ad again this weekend that we need substitute teachers and paraprofessionals. Were also considering advertising that more during conferences next month to let parents know that these opportunities are available, said Drzycimski.

Gee says teacher shortages and fewer retired teachers returning to sub are contributing to the number of substitute teachers that they have. He added that at one time the teachers who were unable to find a teaching position within a district typically took up substitute teacher positions. Now since there are less teachers in the field, there are less applications coming in.

I just think there are fewer of them and there are less (retired teachers) that want to come back to sub, said Gee.

CAL and Hampton-Dumont Superintendent Todd Lettow, who is also experiencing shortages in his districts, also attributed the substitute teacher shortage to teacher shortages.

When there were a lot of teachers out there, we could advertise for a teaching position and then we would get 100 applicants, said Lettow.

Drzycimski explained one pathway to become a substitute teacher was a license that requires an individual with their Bachelor of Arts and taking a state required class. Along with these requirements, a person has to pass a background check and not be on the abuse registry.

Another way to become a substitute teacher can be through a substitute authorization. This requires an Associates degree or 60 semester hours and the completion through an approve substitute course.

Becoming a substitute paraprofessional is an easier route according to Drzycimski. A person interested in applying for substitute paraprofessional position only requires a high school diploma and passing the same background checks.

(When) someones qualified, we can get them to work fairly quickly, said Drzycimski.

Gee and Drzycimski said their district has had to become creative and be quick when they are unable to find a substitute teacher to cover a position this year.

Gee said his principals have covered classrooms occasionally and paying their full time teachers to sub during their prep periods, a strategy started three years ago. Sometimes classes have been split or brought into study halls in order to have a teacher watch them according to Gee.

We have had to be creative. Sometimes that means pulling in teachers that are on their prep periods to cover. Sometimes it means taking a class, dividing it and sending half of the class to another classroom and the other half to another classroom, said Drzycimski.

Drzycimski and Lettow said had concerns with the number of subs the district has due to flu season and because of COVID-19 cases.

A number of our employees have students that go to this district. So if the kids are sick, someone has to be home with them too, said Drzycimski.

One thing that I would say was nice with wearing masks, even though there werent many, was that there wasnt much of a flu season, said Lettow. Without wearing masks, I will expect more of a flu season.

Gee explained he didnt know of any concerns about flu season building up but knew that illness, other than COVID-19, was going to be on the rise since there is no masking in the district.

Just based on what we have experienced, we dont feel like it will get worse than what it has already been, said Gee.

To try to become more competitive with hiring, Clear Lake school district has increased substitute pay. Along with pay raises, Clear Lake and CAL and Hampton-Dumont has increased pay for retired teachers who come back and sub for them.

We took action on this. We saw this and we examined the benefits we could give our substitutes,

According to Devore, the Charles City school district bumped the pay for substitute teachers $125 a day and $179.72 for a long term sub. Devore added when a sub works 30 days, they receive a $500 incentive.

Because of the benefits we are offering, I am hoping that the benefits of Charles City will attract them, said Devore.

Mason City school district has been working on getting the word out about substituting through advertising opportunities and making the substitute teacher course locally available. Drzycimski says if people knew how flexible the position is, there would be more interest in it.

They can drop off their students and then come and work for us. Theyre home after school with their kids. The hours really work well for those with kids in school, said Drzycimski.

Drzycimski and Gee both say the substitution shortage is an issue that will be around for awhile because of unemployment and the current economy.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  The wife of the Des Moines school district's superintendent is raising eyebrows with her $400 donation to a local school board candidate's campaign.

School board experts and government watchdogs say the donation Jami Bassman Ahart made is legal but it raises ethical questions because the school board will be making decisions about Superintendent Tom Ahart's future employment.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  Attorney General Eric Schmitt's office now says his campaign paid for a trip to Texas last week to announce a lawsuit seeking to force the restart of construction of a southern border wall, and taxpayers paid only for his spokesman to make the trip.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Schmitt's spokesman, Chris Nuelle, said Sunday that he was mistaken Friday when he said that the state had paid for the entire trip.
WESTBROOK  There are four candidates running for Board of Education for Westbrook Public Schools.

Running for the open seats are incumbents Donald Perreault, Republican, and Mary Ella Luft, Democrat, and challengers Andrew Miesse, Republican, and Haifa Jill, Democrat.

Leading up to the Nov. 2 election, Hearst Connecticut Media requested the Democratic and Republican town committees to ask their candidates 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:

Mary Ella Luft

Westbrook Democrats / Contributed photo

Town/City: Westbrook

Party affiliation: Democratic

Age: 64

Current job/employer: Registered Nurse

The top issue you will address if elected: High-quality education, college and career pathway creation.

Other issues you feel are important: Responsible budgets and school community.

Tell us about your family: Married, Husband Lee, Children Sarah, Kaitlyn.

Elected offices held or community groups involved with: Board of Education, Democratic Town Committee

Why are you seeking public office?: I am seeking re-election to the Board of Education to give back to the community Ive called home for 24 years. My last six years as a board member have been a meaningful opportunity to support students, faculty, staff, and administrators.

Haifa Jalil

Westbrook Democrats / Contributed photo

Town/City: Westbrook

Party affiliation: Democrats

Age: 55

Current job/employer: New Haven Board of Education

The top issue you will address if elected: Low enrollment- STEM careers, college readiness.

Other issues you feel are important: Social emotional learning, vaccines and COVID.

Tell us about your family: All my three children attended Westbrook public schools, and they graduated and completed undergrad and grad schools. I am a resident of Westbrook for 23 years. Currently live with my husband Ali Jalil.

Elected offices held or community groups involved with: Currently I am involved with the Democratic Town Committee.

Why are you seeking public office?: I would like to share my experience in education and advocate for all students from all different backgrounds. Also, to ensure that all stakeholders are involved in the decision making process to benefit the students, the parents and the community.

Campaign website: www.westbrookdems.com

Donald Perreault

Contributed photo

Town/City: Westbrook

Party affiliation: Republican

Age: 57

Current job/employer: Teacher Valley Regional High School Deep River

The top issue you will address if elected: Maintaining high performing schools.

Other issues you feel are important: Fiscal responsibility through prudent budgeting.

Tell us about your family: My wife Kristen and I have lived in Westbrook since 1998 where we have raised our two sons, Daniel and Jacob. We moved to Westbrook for all that a small town had to offer. A small town has allowed us to know our neighbors, be involved in our community, and enjoy all that a shoreline town has to offer

Elected offices held or community groups involved with: Board of Education 2015-present; Retirement Board 2014-2015

Why are you seeking public office?: Want to continue to be an active member of the Board of Education serving on the Negotiations, Insurance, Long Range Planning, and Teaching & Learning Committees. It is through my committee work that I can make a difference in our public schools and bring the taxpayers of Westbrook a fiscally responsible budget.

Andrew Miesse

Westbrook Republicans / Contributed photo

Town/City: Westbrook

Party affiliation: Republican

Current job/employer: Engineering manager, Medtronic

The top issue you will address if elected: Promote and support the potential of every student.

Other issues you feel are important: Optimizing school funding for students and staff.

Tell us about your family: My wife, Emily, is a nurse practitioner and we have three children: Samuel, 9, Oliver, 7 and Margot, 4. We enjoy outdoor activities and sports. We have a dog, Levi, that also enjoys our active lifestyle.

Elected offices held or community groups involved with: Westbrook Little League board member.

Why are you seeking public office?: Often those with education backgrounds seek Board of Education positions. My technical and analytical engineering background will diversify the Westbrook BOE and be valuable when making fiscally responsible, data-driven decisions. Also, with three children currently going through the school system, I have a vested interest in making sure we maximize opportunities for our future leaders.

Campaign website: https://www.facebook.com/WestbrookRTC


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Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died Thursday after Alec Baldwin fired a loaded weapon that was handed to him by an assistant director who mistakenly believed it was safe to use on the New Mexico set of Rust. Director Joel Souza was also hit and injured but has since been released from the hospital. While many things still arent known  police are investigating  the AP looks at the use of firearms on film and television productions and the safety protocols in place.

WHAT IS A PROP GUN?

Its a loose definition and could apply to anything from a rubber toy to a real firearm that can fire a projectile. However, if its used for firing (even just blanks) its considered a real gun. Chris Burbank, a former police chief in Salt Lake City who has consulted on several TV productions, said firearms for simulations during police trainings or film productions are often made so that they can only be loaded with blanks.

WHAT ARE BLANKS AND CAN THEY KILL?

A blank is a type of gun cartridge that contains gunpowder but no bullet. Still, it can serious hurt or kill someone who is close by, according to the Actors Equity Association. Film firearms-safety coordinator Dave Brown wrote in a 2019 piece for American Cinematographer that, Blanks expel gunpowder and hot gases out of the front of the barrel in a cone shape. This is harmless at longer ranges, but the explosion can seriously injure someone if its too close.

IN THIS INSTANCE, WERE BLANKS FIRED?

The gun was loaded with live rounds, court records released Friday show. According to the records, the gun was one of three that the films armorer had set on a cart outside the wooden structure where a scene was being acted. Assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in the search warrant application.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WEAPONS ON SET?

Generally, a weapons master or armorer oversees all weapons that are used on a production. This can mean anything from selecting the correct items for a certain period in history, to taking care of the weapons on set and making sure they are being used safely and properly by actors and stuntpeople. Its a fairly new position in the history of film production, going back only to the 1980s. Before that, the prop master handled everything. Recently, its become more common to enlist specialists.

WHAT ARE THE RULES FOR FIREARMS ON SET?

The weapons master is required to be on set whenever a weapon is being used. The Actors Equity Associations guidelines state that, Before each use, make sure the gun has been test-fired off stage and then ask to test fire it yourself. Watch the prop master check the cylinders and barrel to be sure no foreign object or dummy bullet has become lodged inside. Further, All loading of firearms must be done by the property master, armorer or experienced persons working under their direct supervision.

HOW DOES ONE BECOME A WEAPONS MASTER?

According to Backstage magazine, theres no formal path but it is common to have internships and apprenticeships or a background in stunt work, the military, police or security. Weapons masters are required to abide by state and federal laws and hold proper operating permits.

WHY WOULD THE GUN HAVE BEEN POINTING AT THE CINEMATOGRAPHER?

We dont know what happened on the set of Rust, but it is fairly common to have a gun pointed at the camera, and by extension the cinematographer, to get a certain angle.

Weve all seen the very famous shots in films where you get that dramatic effect of a gun being pointed at you, the audience, and of course, its being pointed towards the camera, explained Steven Hall, a veteran second unit director and cinematographer who has worked on films like Fury and Thor: The Dark World. To minimize that, one would put a remote camera in that place, or at least if someone does have to operate the camera, Im normally protected by safety goggles, a safety visor and often a PERSPEX screen that withstands pretty much anything. Obviously, it wouldnt withstand a real shot from a gun, but it would certainly withstand a blank.

GIVEN THE MANY REGULATIONS, HOW COULD SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN?

While the specific circumstances of the Rust shooting are still unknown, professionals in the business say that sometimes the crew and production are encouraged to speed things up for any number of reasons which can sometimes lead to relaxed safety protocols.

DOES IT MAKE IT MORE COMPLICATED WHEN ITS A PERIOD PIECE?

Rust is set in the 1880s and according to Hall, when period weapons are used you have to use actual historic period weapons and to check the safety of those weapons. I have known live rounds to be fired out of revolvers, certainly, to make sure that they do function in a way that when you put a blank in, it isnt going to blow up or explode in the actors hands.

WHY DO PRODUCTIONS EVEN USE REAL GUNFIRE WHEN SPECIAL EFFECTS ARE AVAILABLE?

It is becoming more common to add in gunfire in post-production when working on the visual effects. But visual effects can be expensive and it can be easier, and cheaper, to use props. Also, Dormer says that there can be advantages to using props and blanks, like getting an authentic reaction from an actor.

HOW IS HOLLYWOOD RESPONDING?

There has been an outpouring of dismay and anger from all levels of the industry that something like this could have happened. Director James Gunn tweeted that his greatest fear is that someone will be fatally hurt on one of my sets. Alex Winter tweeted that, Crew should never be unsafe on set and when they are there is always a clearly definable reason why.

Image: AP/ Unsplash
The devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Bengaluru on Saturday held a silent march as a mark of protest against killing the minorities in Bangladesh. According to the news agency, ANI, the peaceful march was started from the Hare Krishna Hill area of Bengaluru in which thousands of followers participated and staged their displeasure against the situation in Dhaka.

Notably, this comes after a mob of at least 500 people attacked the ISKCON temple during the Durga Puja celebrations. Furthermore, attacks were carried out on Puja venues in Hajiganj on October 13 and, two days later, attacks on Hindu temples in Naokhali took the lives of two more people.

Meanwhile, the protest in Karnataka's Bengaluru was a part of a worldwide protest organised by ISKCON at about 700 ISKCON temples across 150 nations on Saturday. The protesters also took placards reading 'Justice for Bangladesh minorities' and 'Protect our temples in Bangladesh'. However, they refrained from chanting any slogans against the Bangladesh violence.

"We express our pain and anguish on the unprovoked attacks on the ISKCON devotees, Hindus, and other minorities in Bangladesh. We unitedly stand in support and solidarity with them and pray for their safety and well-being," said Madhu Pandit Dasa, President, ISKCON Bangalore.

"We urge the Government of Bangladesh to immediately ensure the protection of the affected minorities and take steps to prevent such incidents in the future. We also request the Government of India to work with our neighbouring countries and protect the rights of minorities in the region," he said.

Devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Pune on Saturday held protests to condemn the attack on the minority community in Bangladesh pic.twitter.com/79G9uQlksG  ANI (@ANI) October 23, 2021

ISKCON devotees hold protest in Pune

In a similar protest, ISKCON devotees also staged a silent rally in Pune on Saturday. Many other organisations like Vishwa Hindu Parishad and RSS's Muslim Rashtriya Manch also joined the protest. Earlier on October 23, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) penned a letter to the international bodies including, the UN and UNHRC, and demanded immediate action against those involved in the atrocities against the Hindu community in Bangladesh. In the letters, the head of international affairs of VHP, Swami Vigyananand urged to set up an international enquiry commission and send a fact-finding mission to Bangladesh at the earliest. Also, the organisation demanded the international bodies to pressurise the Bangladesh government to ensure security, justice and compensation to the victims.

US condemns Bangladesh violence

Earlier on Tuesday, VHP demanded a fact-finding team of Indian parliamentarians be sent to Bangladesh for a probe into the recent incidents of violence against Hindu minorities. Amid rising protests in India and Bangladesh, US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price, tweeted, We condemn the recent violent attacks on Hindu temples and businesses in Bangladesh during the Durga Puja celebrations. Our thoughts are with the Hindu community as we urge authorities to investigate fully. Freedom of religion or belief is a human right.

With inputs from ANI

Image: ANI
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath, announced on Saturday that the state government will begin providing tablets and computers to students in the last week of November to help them with their studies. The government will begin distributing tablets and laptops to the youth of Uttar Pradesh in the last week of November in order to equip them with the latest technology so that they can benefit from online studies, said the Chief Minister at the foundation-laying ceremony of a government medical college in Sultanpur on Saturday.

He went on to say that the state administration is working hard to help young people find employment. "In 4.5 years, 4.5 lakh youth were given government jobs," he said. He added that the government medical college in its first phase will be equipped with 500 beds.

"Now the people of the district will not have to go to Lucknow, Delhi, Mumbai and other cities of the country for treatment," he said.

UP govt to distribute tablets, laptops to students from November last week

On October 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will open seven new state-run, autonomous medical institutions across the state, beginning in the Siddharthnagar district. Adityanath stated this to the public last week after seeing the newly established Madhav Prasad Tripathi State Autonomous Medical College and meeting with officials. From the 'Land of Buddha,' Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate seven new medical hospitals (Siddharthnagar). The Madhav Prasad Tripathi State Autonomous Medical College will be inaugurated by him.

PM Modi to inaugurate 7 hospitals in UP tomorrow

The Madhav Prasad Tripathi State Autonomous Medical College will be inaugurated by him. During a news conference, the Chief Minister said that he will virtually open medical colleges in the districts of Deoria, Etah, Hardoi, Ghazipur, Mirzapur, and Pratapgarh. According to the Chief Minister, the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana was used to build the new medical college at Siddharthnagar. He stated that all arrangements for the hospital, hostel, and staff housing in this medical institution are complete, as well as the professors. Overall, this medical college is ready for the start of the MBBS programme. He emphasised that not only the people of Siddharthnagar, but also Balrampur, Maharajganj, and Nepal's neighbouring and friendly nation will benefit from this medical college.

700 new MBBS seats to be formed from the new colleges

Uttar Pradesh, as per Adityanath, would set a new milestone by being the first state to open seven medical institutions at the same time. Apart from the medical college in Siddharthpur named after Madhav Prasad Tripathi, the Medical College of Deoria will be named after saint Maharishi Devraha Baba, the Medical College of Ghazipur will be named after sage Maharishi Vishwamitra, the Medical College of Mirzapur will be named after goddess Vindhyavasini, the Medical College of Pratapgarh will be named after Dr Sonelal Patel, and the Medical The state assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are scheduled for early 2022.

"All these colleges have obtained permission from the National Medical Council for admission to 100 seats each in the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS). The state will get 700 new MBBS seats from these colleges. With this, there will be no shortage of doctors in the state for coming years," he added.

With inputs from ANI

(IMAGE: PTI)
The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) welcomed Congress senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's Saturday statement- 'terror under control in J&K'. Republic Media Network spoke to three BJP leaders- Kavinder Gupta, former J&K Deputy Chief Minister, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia, and Yudhvir Sethi, J&K BJP Vice President and they collectively welcomed Ghulam Nabi Azad's remarks and slammed the Congress party for claiming that terrorism has not stopped in the valley.

J&K BJP VP- Yudhvir Sethi welcomes Ghulam Nabi Azad's statement:

"Ghulam Nabi Azad is a senior leader of Congress and the way he has given statement, we know about forces killing terrorists, tricolour being hoisted in Kashmir, no cases of stone-pelting and so much more positive development. He is only saying what's right and its good that he has changed the way to see things. Rahul Gandhi has no love for India or its culture and he is talking about being Kashmiri I welcome Ghulam Nabi Azad's statements.

Kavinder Gupta, former Dy CM says Ghulam Nabi Azad has seen the real Kashmir:

"After August 5, 2019, the situation here has drastically changed. Previously we use to see stone-pelting, bandhs, hoisting of Pakistan's flag but today everything is under control. Ghulam Nabi Azad has shown the real face of terrorism because he knows the valley region. The situation here is getting better and in the coming time, it will improve. But Rahul Gandhi's politics lead the nation to a wrong direction," added Gupta.

Gaurav Bhatia says Ghulam Nabi's statement a welcome sign
Guwahati, Oct 23 (PTI) Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on Saturday stressed that the country needs to ensure that the consequences of instability in its neighbourhood are addressed.

He also said there is a possibility of threat to Jammu and Kashmir as well as to the North-eastern region due to the situation in Afghanistan which the Taliban has taken over a few months ago but the threat can be negated by working on internal monitoring.

Indias national security landscape is stressed on account of security scenario emerging from subcontinental threats.... We need to address consequences of instability and volatility in our immediate and extended neighbourhood and it remains our immediate priority, Gen Rawat said.

Delivering the first Ravi Kant Singh Memorial Lecture here, he said a close watch should be kept on the situation in Myanmar as well as the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, with the danger of the latter being exploited by fundamentalist elements.

He also said Indias relations with Bhutan and Nepal have always been robust and any issues with these countries have been addressed in a positive manner.

Gen Rawat said internal security challenges of the NE region have serious international dimensions as extremist outfits have connectivity, including hideouts across the border, and their members frequently use porous borders to escape security forces.

He, however, added that in recent years there has been a reduction of violence in the NE region and lauded the combined efforts of security agencies and civil society for achieving it.

Gen Rawat said it was crucial that the land link of the region with the rest of the country is maintained through the Siliguri corridor.

This vulnerable corridor will always remain a cause of concern and any attempt to block it by any element must be nipped in the bud, he added.

"India has to be on alert of the possible impact of the situation in Afghanistan in Jammu and Kashmir. We have to seal our borders. Internal monitoring is essential, he told a press conference.

To a question if the change in regime in Afghanistan could pose danger to Assam and the Northeast, Rawat said a likely threat could be there.

We have to defend ourselves. We need to educate our people on the need to be conscious of their own security, he said.

the North-eastern region, especially Assam, is advantageously positioned to project India's soft power to the world, the chief of defence staff said.

"North East region including Assam is a land of potential. In fact, it has the potential to be the pivot for projection of soft power of India in the regional countries, Gen Rawat said.

He stressed the need for developing multi-model connectivity through development of means of transportations to access ASEAN and other markets.

He also highlighted the potential of developing the manufacturing and services sector in the NE region, which can help it cater to the international market. PTI SSG NN NN

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Kashmiri Pandits residing in the United States have heavily censured the recent targeted killings of civilians in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists. The community there has urged the Government of India to take action assuring the safety of minorities in the region.

During a two-day event on October 22 and 23 held at the popular National Mall to protest the killings, activists of the Kashmiri Pandit community censured the heinous murders, and said that targeted killings have been "especially gruesome".

'Home-grown terrorists dependent on support, inspiration from Pakistan'

Participants in the protest lamented that home-grown terrorist insurgency remains reliant on support and inspiration from neighbouring Pakistan. "The killings of the minorities by the Pakistan-based terrorists in the Kashmir Valley needs to be stopped," said Dr. Shakun Malik, a Kashmiri Pandit activist from the Washington DC area.

The Indian Government must take steps to ensure the safety of local minorities of Kashmir Valley who remain targets for the future," she added.

'11 killed in J&K by terrorists in one month'; Pandits recall 1990 memories

It is pertinent to mention here that 11 civilians, including two teachers, a pharmacy owner, and five non-local labourers have been killed by terrorists in multiple attacks in the Valley in the month of October.

The community in a presser maintained that the murder of Makhan Lal Bindroo has "brought back the tragic memories of the 1990s", when more than half a million indigenous Kashmiris were forced to live in the Kashmir valley.

Terrorists kill Srinagar philanthropist; daughter challenges miscreants for debate

Bindroo, a reputable philanthropist and a chemist who owned Srinagar's most popular pharmacy, was grievously injured by a bullet shot by terrorists at his shop. He was taken to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Bindroo's daughter, Shraddha Bindroo challenged the terrorists openly to meet her face-to-face and debate for the killings of innocents. "Mister, who shot my father dead while he was working, if you have the guts and courage, come and have a face-to-face debate with us. Then we will see what you are. You won't be able to utter a word. All you can do is throw stones and shoot bullets from behind."

The event, organised by the Kashmiri Pandit community on October 22 on the grounds of the National Mall in Washington DC coincided with the day Pakistan invaded Jammu and Kashmir as part of 'Operation Gulmarg' in 1947. The operation led by Pakistan was aimed at conquering Jammu and Kashmir on the basis that the region has a Muslim majority.

The press release stated "Pakistan continues its proxy war with India via border infiltration in Kashmir."

(With Inputs from PTI)

Image: PTI, Representative
G-20 Summit: PM Modi Likely To Pitch For United Approach To Deal With Afghanistan Crisis

At the forthcoming two-day G-20 Summit in Italy, PM Narendra Modi is expected to call for a united global approach in dealing with the Afghanistan situation, climate change challenges and the coronavirus pandemic. While speaking to PTI on Sunday, 24 October, two people familiar with the development said that PM Modi is likely to present Indias perspective to combat the key challenges facing the globe. They also added that the PM is likely to leave for the visit to Italy and Scotland either on Thursday or Friday next week.

Read Full Story Here

Amit Shah Hints At Rs 51,000 Cr Investment In J&K; 'Srinagar, Jammu To Get Metro In 2 Years'

In a key development, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday announced that a metro rail network would come up after two years in Jammu and Srinagar, while airports are being upgraded at the moment. Addressing a public rally in Jammu's Bhagwati Nagar area, Shah said Rs 12,000 crore worth of investment has already come to the union territory and the government aims to invest a total of Rs 51,000 crore by the end of 2022.

Read Full Story Here

PM Modi To Chair Annual DGPs, IGPs Conference In Lucknow Ahead Of UP Polls

Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections next year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair 'All India Conference of Director Generals and Inspector Generals of Police - 2022', in the poll-bound state in November. Preparations are being made in Lucknow for the annual conference which is likely to be held between November 20 to 22. In the three-day conference, various sessions will be held to discuss on modernisation of police, terrorism and internal security.

Read Full Story Here

PM Modi Lauds 100 Cr Vaccine Feat On Mann Ki Baat; Drone Policy, UN Day Finds Mention

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 82nd Mann ki Baat edition started with appreciating and hailing India's health workers for the nation's feat of 100 crore vaccination. The Prime Minister said that he knew India will soon reach this success as he was 'aware of the capabilities of the country, and the people'. Moreover, PM Modi recalled Sardar Patel as his birth anniversary is approaching and also talked about United Nations Day which is marked today, October 24. In his concluding remarks, the Prime Minister echoed 'vocal for local' ahead of the festival of Diwali.

Read Full Story Here

Kozhikode Plane Crash: High-level Panel To Evaluate Corrective Action Based On AAIB Report

In a key development, the high-level panel assessing the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board's recommendations in the Kozhikode plane crash report is considering corrective actions that need to be implemented and will submit the report within the stipulated time frame, the sources privy with the details informed news agency PTI. The committee was formed in September after the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) submitted its report to the civil aviation ministry on the deadly Air India Express plane crash that occurred last year at Kozhikode airport in Kerala. The committee is chaired by Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal.

Read Full Story Here

Indian Army's 2nd Commander's Conference To Begin From Oct 25; Rajnath Singh To Attend

The Indian Army is set to conduct the 2nd Army Commander's Conference of 2021 is scheduled from October 25-28 in New Delhi. Army Commander's Conference is an apex level biannual event that is held in April and October every year. The conference is an institutional platform for conceptual level deliberations, culminating in making important policy decisions for the Indian Army. The conference is also a formal forum for the senior leadership of the Indian Army to interact with the senior officials of the Department of Military Affairs and Department of Defence.

Read Full Story Here

Congress Contradicts Ghulam Nabi Azad's Claims, Says J&K Situation More Serious

Contradicting the recent statement made by Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad regarding terrorism being under control in Jammu and Kashmir, party leader Ashwani Handa on Sunday stated that the situation is degrading day by day under the view of the recent killings and encounters throughout the valley.

Read Full Story Here

Mumbai Cruise Drug Bust: NCB Conducts Raids In Andheri; Search Underway At Multiple Places

In an update to the Mumbai cruise drug bust case, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) conducted raids at Andheri last night on October 23. According to the sources, the raids are still underway in several locations in Mumbai including Andheri. The search is underway to further trap drug suppliers and peddlers in connection with the case. More details are awaited from NCB officials.

Read Full Story Here

J&K: LeT Terrorist Zia Mustafa Neutralised In Poonch Encounter, Body Retrieved

In a major update to the encounter that broke between security forces and terrorists in Poonch on Sunday morning, LeT terrorist Zia Mustafa has been eliminated. The security forces were fired upon when jailed Mustafa was taken to a terrorist hideout area in Bhata Durian for identification. When J&K Police retaliated, heavy firing broke out leading to the death of the LeT terrorist. Republic Media's on-ground information mentioned that the dead body of Zia Mustafa has been recovered from the encounter site.

Read Full Story Here

Amid LAC Standoff, China Announces New Land Border Law To Uphold 'territorial Integrity'

Amid ongoing border tensions with India at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), China on Saturday adopted a new law which stipulates that "sovereignty and territorial integrity of the People's Republic of China are sacred and inviolable." The legislature passed by members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) centres around the 'protection and exploitation' of the land border areas and will come into enforcement from January 1, 2022.

Read Full Story Here

Image: Republic World
In strong opposition to Bangalesh temple attack reports, Suvendu Adhikari, leader of opposition in West Bengal assembly, on Saturday, October 23, took part in a rally organized in his Nandigram constituency in Purba Medinipur district. A Hindu outfit had organized a rally against the communal violence witnessed in neighbouring Bangladesh. Speaking to the reporters, Suvendu stated that he walked over 2 km along with over 100 members of Hindu Jagran Manch as a 'Sanatan' Hindu and not as a political leader.

Suvendu Adhikari said, "I am here to register my protest against the unprovoked attacks on peace loving Sanatan Hindus in Bangladesh, the attacks on ISKCON, Ramakrishna Mission, temples, and Durga Puja pandals".

Sanatani Hindu community of WB must awake from their slumber & realise how fragile is our false sense of security, which may go for a toss when someone conspires to plant their holy book to malign us. Hell would break loose & we would face the savage wrath for no fault of ours. pic.twitter.com/3p6Hk9b4dz  Suvendu Adhikari    (@SuvenduWB) October 23, 2021

While International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) devotees on Saturday held protests in Pune to condemn the attack on the minority community in Bangladesh.

In recent reports, many Hindu temples, Durga Puja pavilions were attacked and vandalized in Bangladesh where several people lost their lives amid the violence that erupted over alleged blasphemy at a marquee in Comilla.

Bangladesh communal attacks

Earlier on October 15, a mob of 500 people attacked an ISKCON temple in Bangladesh's Noakhali district where a member of the temple has succumbed to injuries after the attack. Divisional Secretary of ISKCON temple, Chattagram, Chinmoy Krishna Das had told Republic that many people were injured in the attack and were taken to hospital for treatment. Also, Section 144 was implemented by the Bangladesh Police.

While referring to the incident, ISKCON Vice President Vrajendra Nandan Das had told Republic, " What has happened and what is happening with the Hindu devotees residing in Bangladesh is not right. This is not the first incident that was reported from the country, we have seen many such events and no action has been taken regarding the issues".

Following the attack, Hindu devotees had been protesting in Dhaka against the Bangladesh government amid fears of communal violence. In the recent past, there have been several violent attacks against Hindu temples and devotees across Bangladesh including a clash at a Durga Puja venue in Bangladesh's Habiganj district where more than 20 people were injured. Earlier Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, had assured of taking strict action against perpetrators with regard to incidents of communal violence.

(With PTI input)

(Image: @SUVENDUWB/TWITTER)
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, on Saturday, said that the United Kingdom was keen on increasing financial investments in India. In an online statement, Truss said that her country wanted to increase cooperation on projects with reliable and honest finance. Notably, the British lawmakers remarks came as she interacted with representatives from leading Indian banks, companies and VCs in the financial capital Mumbai.

Truss, who serves as the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the UK, is currently in India as part of her two-day official visit. While bilateral cooperation in the field of tech has always been in focus, on Sunday, Truss said that she discussed increasing tech-related opportunities in the private sector. In addendum, the UKs backing of infrastructure and finance through Build Back Better World was also brought to the table.

 We want to increase investment between UK and India. I spoke to leading  banks, companies and VCs about:



 More private sector opportunities esp in tech



 Backing of infrastructure finance through Build Back Better World



 Projects having reliable & honest finance pic.twitter.com/hsYjZboRoH  Liz Truss (@trussliz) October 24, 2021

Truss meets FM Sitharaman, EAM Jaishankar

A day earlier, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held an in-person meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in New Delhi. According to a press release, both the leaders discussed mutual areas of interest, including green energy, infrastructure, and the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP). It is imperative to note that under NMP, the finance ministry estimates aggregate monetisation potential of Rs 6.0 lakh crores through core assets of the Central Government from FY 2022 to FY 2025.

In a Twitter statement, the Indian Ministry of Finance asserted that the leaders jointly agreed to strengthen mutual ties through the Comprehensive Strategy Partnership adopted by the Prime Ministers of India and the UK in May 2021. The partnership is aimed at increasing collaboration in priority areas like technology and security.

Earlier on Friday, Truss also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi. During the meeting, both the ministers reviewed the Roadmap 2030 launched during the India-UK virtual summit in May. In addendum, they also discussed in detail other issues of mutual interest, including trade, people-to-people relationships, health partnership, climate change, science and innovation, and defence and security.

Image: trussliz/Twitter
Ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, BJP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has stepped up the attack against the opposition parties including Congress and mocked UPs election face for the grand-old party, AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as Twitter Vadra, and refused to see the party as opposition in the state.

UP Deputy CM mocks Congress, claims will struggle to retain present 7 seats

While speaking to news agency PTI, Maurya slammed Congress and mocked them that they will struggle to retain even the 7 seats that they managed to win in the last elections. The Congress does not exist in UP. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, they got two MPs from UP and in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, it was further reduced to one MP. Similarly, in the 2017 UP Assembly elections, the Congress got seven seats and in the 2022 polls, if it manages to repeat the figure of seven, then it will be a big achievement, he said.

Priyanka Vadra is Twitter Vadra, only media considers her opposition: Maurya

On the question of whether Priyanka Vadra will pose a strong opposition to BJP, he said I think only media persons are seeing her more in the role of an opposition. I call Priyanka Gandhi Vadraji as Twitter Vadra. I dont think that barring those interested in getting their photographs clicked, there is anyone in Congress. Yes, they have expertise in getting their photographs clicked, be it Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rahul Gandhi or any other leader of the Congress. In the race of getting their photos clicked they are ahead of the SP and the BSP. But, these three parties have failed to make any place in publics heart, he claimed.

Cornering SP and BSP as well while furthering his attack, Maurya went on to add that they will not perform better than last elections, people of Uttar Pradesh have seen their regime of corruption, crime and casteism and they will never forget that. Almost the same is the condition of the SP and the BSP, whose tenure people have not forgotten, and will never forget as corruption, crime, encouragement to mafia, casteism and appeasement dominated, Maurya said to PTI.

In the previous elections, the SP won 47 seats out of 403, while Mayawati's party only got 19 seats. Even though both parties are concerned about backwards, Dalits, and higher castes, Keshav Prasad Maurya asserted that they are not well-wishers of anyone. "All they care about is gaining power, exploiting people, and filling their pockets with public funds," Maurya claimed.

Central leadership will decide CM face: Keshav Prasad Maurya

Maurya, who played an effective role in mobilising the non-Yadav OBC votes in the 2017 elections, and was in consideration of being the Chief Minister, gave an evasive response when asked about who will be the Chief Minister face in the upcoming elections. He pleasantly dodged the question and said that the party high command will decide the CM face along with MLAs.

Who am I to decide this. We have our central leadership. The central observers come and the leader of the legislative party is elected by newly-elected MLAs in the presence of central observers. At present, respected Yogi Adityanathji is our chief minister, and Yogiji and we are making efforts to ensure victory for the BJP in the UP elections, he added.

With PTI Inputs

Image: ANI/ PTI
New research conducted on a massive archaeological fossil location in Patagonia, Argentina, reveals that some of the primitive dinosaurs used to reside in herds, and this particular behaviour might be one of the important factors in dinosaur survival. At the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the discovery of embryos of the same species within some fossil eggs has led to the findings. The results of the research were issued in the journal Scientific Reports.

Primitive dinosaurs were social

Early dinoswere sociable and lived in herds, as published in @SciReports

Scientists took fossil eggs of a 190myo nesting ground in Patagonia to the ESRF to unveil their contents. They also analysed fossils of babies. https://t.co/nzKplp3kIo@CONICETDialoga @lightsources pic.twitter.com/nRG7D2PPRb  European Synchrotron (@esrfsynchrotron) October 21, 2021

According to previous research, certain dinosaurs used to live in herds during the latter stage of the dinosaur era such as the Cretaceous Period, but, from when and how they had developed this behaviour in their evolutionary past had been a huge unanswered mystery.

A global group of scientists had discovered a 190-million-year-old dinosaur breeding site in Patagonia, during the early 2000s, which included juvenile bones of Mussaurus patagonicus, a primitive herbivorous sauropodomorph dinosaur. Diego Pol, a palaeontologist at CONICET who found the site, said, "Such a preserved site was bound to provide us with a lot of information about how early dinosaurs lived," ANI reported.

The eggs discovered on the location were among one of the items that might give insight on how ancient dinosaurs existed, and Pol wanted to know if they were produced by Mussaurus or not. Pol went on to explain that it is difficult to locate fossil eggs, and getting fossil eggs with embryos within is also the rarest occasion since their fossilisation requires extremely specific circumstances.

Citing Vincent Fernandez, a palaeontologist at the London Natural History Museum and former ESRF scientist, ANI reported, We use high-energy X-rays to penetrate in the sample without destroying it and get a full view inside it, in the ESRF facility.

Finding on research of fossilised Mussaurus embryos

After the fossilised eggs were discovered in Argentina, they were brought to the ESRF, where Pol took 30 of the 100 discovered eggs to examine with strong X-rays. Fernandez described the procedure by saying that it took four days for scanning the eggs all around clock. Further, high-resolution computed tomography discovered fossilised Mussaurus embryos inside some of the eggs, indicating that all of the specimens came from a single dinosaur species' communal mating location.

Simultaneously, the researchers investigated the location. The fossil remains were discovered in different rock layers at the same location, implying that Mussaurus returned to the same location for nesting colonies in subsequent seasons. The researchers were able to deduce from the sediments that the breeding area was on the lake's dry borders.

One of the intriguing aspects was that dinosaur bones were not arbitrarily dispersed across the fossil site, but were instead clustered as per their age. The fossils of dinosaur newborns were discovered near the nesting area. One-year-old infants were discovered in close proximity to one another, such as a group of 11 bones in resting attitude, indicating that Mussaurus established schools of young dinosaurs. Adults and subadults were often seen in couples or alone, all within a one-square-kilometre region.

Scientists used histology tests, which involved cutting a tiny slice of bones and examining the bone tissue underneath a microscope, to calculate the age of the juvenile fossils. All of the results indicate a well-organized herd system, and this is the first time such intricate social behaviour has been observed in an ancient dinosaur.

While concluding, Pol said, "These are not the oldest dinosaurs, but they are the oldest dinosaurs for which a herd behaviour has been proposed. Mussaurus belongs to the first successful family of herbivorous dinosaurs, so we postulate that being social and protecting their young together as a herd may have been part of the reason these long-necked dinosaurs were so common in all continents".

(Image: Pixabay/ Representative Image)
Namibia health ministry on Saturday, October 23, announced that the nation will discontinue the use of Russias Sputnik V COVID vaccine following concerns raised by a neighbouring country, South Africa. According to a press release, Namibias health ministry said that the decision to halt the use of the Russian vaccine was 'out of an abundance of caution' that men who received Sputnik V may be at the highest risk of contracting HIV. It added that the nation is suspending, with immediate effect, the use of the Sputnik V shots until the formula is listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization.

Namibia suspends use of Russia's Sputnik V

As per the press note, Namibia had taken delivery of a Serbian donation of 30,000 Sputnik V doses, out of which less than 120 have been administered so far. The health ministry said that those who have already been administered the Russian vaccine will, however, be offered the second dose as well to complete the vaccination schedule. Meanwhile, the ministry added that it will continue to engage with the World Health Organization, African CDC and other relevant institutions on further scientific developments on the matter.

South African Health Product Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has decided not to approve an emergency use application for Sputnik V for now because it said that some studies have suggested that the Russian vaccine was associated with higher susceptibility to HIV in men. In a statement, SAHPRA referred to past failed HIV vaccines that used a technology similar to that used to produce Sputnik V. However, as per a press note, the review process continues and the regulator said that it is still open to receiving further safety data from the Russian manufacturer.

Sputnik V's manufacturer says concerns about vaccine 'completely unfounded'

The Gamaleya Center, Sputnik V's manufacturer, on other hand, has called the concerns about the vaccine 'completely unfounded'. According to the RFERL media agency, Gamaleya Center said that the 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 behaviour. It clearly stated that there is no evidence of an increased risk of HIV infection among the human population.

(Image: PTI)


Sudan on October 24 announced that it had temporarily barred oil tankers from entering the African nation in view of the civil unrest as protesters blocked the Eastern ports creating hurdles for oil vessels from docking and unloading. This comes as only last month the Sudanese protesters had blocked at least two key oil pipelines in Port Sudan, the main port on the Red Sea, leaving the country with just 10 days of oil supplies. Energy Minister Gadein Ali Obeid told the Middle-Eastern broadcaster, Asharq, on Sunday that the oil tankers that arrived in Sudan earlier could not be discharged.

Sudan decided to suspend the flow of ships carrying oil into the territorial waters to avert fines, the minister said in an official statement accessed by the countrys broadcaster Asharq. It also went on to add that the country was now facing a crisis with respect to the strategic oil supplies as the civil upheaval has disrupted port operation, plunging the country further into debts.

Sudanese citizens demand amendment to Juba Agreement for Peace

The people of Sudan demanded that the government amend The Juba Agreement for Peace signed on October 3 last year by Sudans transitional government and the rebel groups. The treaty covers a vast range of issues including governance, security and transitional justice, as well as entails any future constitutional negotiation process. Sudanese citizens claimed that the civilians interests were not respected by the ruling government at the time when the treaty was brokered.

As they blocked the countrys largest port, Port Sudan, as well as an airport and a railway station, protesters threatened to break away Sudans East if their demand wasnt met. The protests erupted last September after the high council of the Beja tribes blocked the road connecting the capital of Khartoum and Port-Sudan. Angry demonstrators also disrupted the oil pipelines connecting Khartoum and the town of Haiya, prompting the suspension of the operations. Oil Minister Gadein Ali Obeid had earlier warned while addressing the states press that the civil unrest was "an extremely grave situation. "Entrances and exits at the port's export terminal have been completely shuttered, he told agencies as the protesters first hampered the port services.

Image: Twitter/@eliarwilliam, AP, Unsplash
Amid the third COVID-19 wave, the Australian Government on October 24 launched a vaccine communication campaign Spread Freedom to achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus by inoculating the maximum proportion of the population. In a governments release on Sunday, Australias Health Minister Greg Hunt conveyed the message were almost there Australia, reminding the citizens that with increasing vaccinations, the country would be able to return to a more normal, free life. To further encourage First Australians to get fully jabbed against COVID-19, Canberra is also launching a project titled For all of us that will feature high profile Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to push the mob to come forward and get the shot.

The Government's new Spread Freedom campaign will air from tonight across tv and social media. Take a sneak peak here! pic.twitter.com/RHocheCiCn  Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) October 24, 2021

Australian celebrities such as popular model Samantha Harris, musician Baker Boy, chef Nornie Bero, street artist Tori-Jay Mordey and renowned didgeridoo player and vocalist William Barton will all collaborate with the governments campaign to encourage further vaccination uptakes and will advertise to combat vaccine hesitancy nationwide to achieve the herd immunity goals.

Australia, you've done an incredible job coming forward to be vaccinated against COVID-19.



With more than 86.1 per cent of Australians 16-plus having had at least one dose, we need to keep going to support and encourage people to receive their first and second doses.  Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) October 24, 2021

The project conveys the simple message For our past, for our future, for all of us. Get vaccinated for COVID-19, Australias health ministry said in a release on Sunday.

On-the-ground engagement, TV adverts, information kiosks related to COVID-19 vaccines

With 70% of the eligible general population now fully vaccinated, and more than 86.1% administered with at least one dose of the vaccine, Australia had entered the Plan B of the vaccination campaign. It is now ensuring that it pushes 80% of its total population to the fully vaccinated mark. The country will air from tonight the Spread Freedom campaign using encouraging materials related to COVID-19 vaccination that will be shared across all media channels.

The sooner reach the 80% double dosed mark, the better protected we are and the faster we return to our natural freedoms and way of life, like travelling overseas, birthday parties, weddings, and a family Christmas.  Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) October 24, 2021

The advertisements create a sense of encouragement and a feeling of enjoying more freedoms as Australia opens up, as Australians start to return to travelling overseas, birthday parties, weddings, and a family Christmas, Australias minister for health, Greg Hunt, said. It provides a positive, hopeful tone, with a touch of humour, to motivate those who are more hesitant, to get vaccinated to avoid missing out on greater freedoms, he added in the governments release.

Australia is working to eliminate the hesitancy among the specially-abled people and the multicultural communities that are now being consulted regularly by the health department officials to ensure the vaccination messaging is clear, appropriate and disseminated through the best communication channels to reach all Australians, the government stated. The communication campaign will include rigorous on-the-ground engagement with the Australians. The health department will set up the information kiosks at shopping centres and events across several areas and will organise the community in-reach activities with CALD and Indigenous communities.

Image: AP
Amid the surge in COVID cases in China, the government has imposed a ban on all tourism activities in China's Northwest Province, Gansu, reported local media. According to a Global Times report, the Chinese government has asked all tourists in Lanzhou to stay in their respective places and be quarantined as Gansu province has recorded a spike in COVID -19 infection cases. In a week, the province reported a total of 41 fresh COVID cases, among which 30 are from Lanzhou, seven from Zhangye, two from Jiayu Pass, and one from Tianshui, among other regions.

According to a gene sequencing report, it was revealed that a highly contagious Delta variant caused the sudden spike in COVID -19 cases. Meanwhile, other parts of China, including Beijing, Inner Mongolia, and Shaanxi, also recorded an increase in cases caused by the Delta variant. The National Health Commission informed us that on Saturday, October 23, the Chinese mainland recorded 26 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases. A total of 17 new imported cases were reported, of which eight patients were from Zhejiang, 4 in Shanghai, and one each in Beijing, Heilongjiang, Guandong, Guangxi, and Yunnan.

COVID situation in China

The Chinese government is ramping up COVID curb measures like testing and restricting tourism. This sudden spike has prompted health officials in Beijing and other provinces to implement strict COVID measures like quartine, compulsory testing, cancelling hotel bookings, and the use of sanitisers and masks. The country has also tightened interstate air travel as several cities are reporting Delta variant cases. Meanwhile, the country has administered more than 2.243 billion covid vaccines.

COVID situation in rest of the world

The deadly coronavirus is resurging again in several countries. In a week many countries including Russia, the UK, China, and several parts of Eastern Europe have recorded a steep surge in Covid-19 cases. As per the report issued by the World Health Organization, the highest number of cases were reported from the UK, 283,756 new cases, a 14% increase. While Russia reported a 15% rise and the cases stood at 217,322. European region recorded a 7% increase in COVID cases.

Image: Unsplash

With Inputs from ANI
The President of the Tibetan government in exile in India, Penpa Tsering, on Saturday, said that China should re-evaluate its foreign policy and work towards becoming a better global partner. Tsering mentioned that Beijing has taken an aggressive stance against its neighbours. The Tibetan leaders comments come at a time China's People Liberation Army (PLA) increased its exercises in the disputed South China Sea region.

Speaking to PTI, the Tibetan leader also spoke about how trade with China through Sikkim's Nathu La pass had become lopsided.

Trade should be equal but China has always taken the upper hand be it with restricting India's exports to specific goods through the trade route (via Nathu La in Sikkim)," the Tibetan leader said.

Located in Sikkim, the Nathu La pass is one of three open commercial routes between India and China.

In his remarks, Tsering also mentioned increasing Chinese aggression on the Indo-Chinese border. Asserting that Beijing had taken an aggressive stance on the border issue with India, he said that Beijing should now "re-evaluate their foreign policy" and be a better global partner.

China seizes tribal land in Tibet

Tsering's remarks came days after reports of Beijing confiscating tribal land on the Tibetan plateau surfaced. According to a report by RFAs Tibetian services, Chinese authorities in Qinghai province are forcing Tibetian nomads to sign an agreement to transfer the proprietorship of their traditional lands to the government.

Located in the countrys southwest, Qinghai encompasses the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Tibetan nomads. While Beijing had allowed the tribals to reside on the sliver of land for more than 50 years, it is now reclaiming these lands by revoking permits.

It is pertinent to note that Bejing has long been using different methods to end Tibets autonomy. In its latest measure, the communist administration restricted the tribal nomads from accessing their traditional grazing lands. According to a report by Radio Free Asia, Chinese officials have revoked usage permission in the nomadic region of Trindu county in Kyegudo and have confiscated lands from several Tibetian tribesmen.

(Image: AP)
The Peoples Republic of China, on Saturday, called out 43 countries that had slammed it for their treatment of the Uighur refugees at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). In a video message, Chinese Envoy to UN Zhang Jun said that the west was 'politicizing' Xingjian and trying to blot the communist countrys image. ''It is an attempt to smear Chinas human rights,' he added.

Calling the accusations totally unfounded, Jun further accused the US and its allies of using the issue to obstruct Chinas development. ''Chinas progress is unstoppable,'' the Chinese representative said highlighting recent developments in the country. In his brief but clear message to the world, Jun talked at length about a recently held conference that featured Uyghur representatives narrating 'real' stories at Xinjiangs vocational education and training centres.

(1/3) At #UNGA #3C, Amb. Zhang Jun resolutely rejects groundless accusations against China made by the US and a few other countries, and reiterates that China's resolve to defend its sovereignty, security and development interests remains unshakable. pic.twitter.com/0RWOmapzj2  Chinese Mission to UN (@Chinamission2un) October 21, 2021

(2/3) To those who are trying to demonize China:

 Your trite lies are totally unfounded.

 Your attempt to obstruct China's development is doomed to fail.

 Your practice to politicize and manipulate human rights issues will find no support.  Chinese Mission to UN (@Chinamission2un) October 21, 2021

The Chinese envoy also launched a scathing attack on America and other major western powers accusing them of conducting 'genocides' in the Middle-east and Central Asia. Talking historically, he reminded his geopolitical enemies of the mass murders they conducted of the native Indian-Americans. He also warned the US against interfering in Chinese Affairs -political or non-political.

Your politicizing and instrumentalizing of human rights issues will find no support. Your attempt to eliminate whoever holds different viewsin the name of democracywill only end in vain, Jun said.

Is China conducting ethnic cleaning operations?

China has detained more than a million Uyghurs, reasoning that it needs to 'eliminate extremism.' Earlier, the European Parliament had observed that Chinese authorities were deliberately sending Uyghur women of childbearing age into forced abortions, intrauterine injections and sterilisation. However, Beijing has consistently denied allegations of forced labour and other claims of human rights abuses in the area, which is home to about 11 million Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority that speak a language closely related to Turkish and have their own distinct culture. The US State Department estimates that since 2017, up to two million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other ethnic minorities could have passed through the camp system, which China calls vocational training centres designed to fight extremism.

File Image: AP
Three people were injured at a running of the bulls in the Spanish region of Navarra on Saturday.

A bull slipped during the fast paced race causing moments of panic.

Tafalla, a northern town situated just 18 miles away from Pamplona, is this weekend celebrating its traditional October Fair.

The town was scheduled to host another running of the bulls on Sunday morning.

The shows with bulls are traditional in Spain and they have recently generated social and political debate between those who see them as an art and those who claim it is animal abuse.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Ukraine's coronavirus infections and deaths reached all-time highs for a second straight day on Friday, in a growing challenge for the country with one of Europe's lowest shares of vaccinated people.

In Rivne, 300 kilometers (190 miles) east of Kyiv, the city hospital is swamped with COVID-19 patients.

Doctors said the situation was worse than the wave of infections earlier in the pandemic that severely strained the medical system.

"The severity of the course of the disease is certainly higher and it's more aggressive than last year. The patients have become younger," said Valentyn Koroliuk, head of the hospital's intensive-care unit.

"Unfortunately, the patients in our department are not vaccinated."

Patient Lilia Serdiuk, 61, said she regretted not heeding calls to get vaccinated.

"I didn't believe it, I didn't even want to watch the news," she told The Associated Press as she lay flat on her back in a narrow bed.

"I wish all people listened to the news and recommendations of doctors."

The hospital is at near capacity and doctors worry the wave of patients will grow.

"We have an oxygen station in the hospital that produces 400 oxygen tanks per day. At times, that is not enough for us for all of our patients," said chief doctor Igor Dundiuk.

Ukrainian health authorities reported 23,785 new confirmed infections and 614 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Authorities in the capital, Kyiv, shut schools for two weeks starting Friday, and similar measures were ordered in other areas with high contagion levels.

Authorities have blamed surging infections on a sluggish pace of vaccination in the nation of 41 million.

Ukrainians can freely choose between Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines, but only about 15% of the population is fully vaccinated, Europe's lowest level after Armenia.

Overall, the country has registered over 2.7 million infections and about 63,000 deaths.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
The new governor of a northwestern Iranian province found himself slapped in the face by an angry man during his inauguration on Saturday, an unusual breach of security in the Islamic Republic during a ceremony attended by the country's interior minister.

A motive for the attack in Iran's Eastern Azerbaijan province remained unclear, though it targeted a new provincial governor who once served in the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and reportedly had been kidnapped at one point by rebel forces in Syria. One report referred to it as a personal dispute.

The new governor, Brig. Gen. Abedin Khorram, had taken the podium in the provincial capital of Tabriz when the man strode out from offstage and immediately swung at the official. Video aired by state television recorded the gathered crowd gasping in shock, the sound of the slap echoing on the sound system. It took several seconds before plainclothes security forces reached him.

They dragged the man off through a side door, knocking down a curtain. Others rushed up, knocking into each other.

Later footage showed Khorram return to the stage and speak to the unsettled crowd, now all standing up.

"I do not know him of course but you should know that, although I did not want to say it, when I was in Syria I would get whipped by the enemy 10 times a day and would be beaten up," he said. "More than 10 times, they would hold an armed gun to my head. I consider him on a par with those enemies but forgive him."

Another man on stage shouted: "Death to the hypocrites!" That's a common chant used against exiled opposition groups and others who oppose the Islamic Republic. Others cried out that Khorram was a "pro-supreme leader governor."

Though Khorram said he didn't know the man, the state-run IRNA news agency later described the attacker as a member of the Guard's Ashoura Corps, which Khorram had overseen. IRNA described the attack as coming due to "personal reasons," without elaborating.

Later, the semiofficial Fars news agency said the man who slapped the governor had been upset that his wife received a coronavirus vaccination from a male nurse, as opposed to a female nurse.

Khorram had been recently appointed by Iran's hard-line parliament to serve as the provincial governor under the government of President Ebrahim Raisi, a protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khorram had been among 48 Iranians held hostage in 2013 in Syria, later released for some 2,130 rebels, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank that long has been critical of Iran. Iran had referred to those held as Shiite religious pilgrims. A State Department spokesperson at the time called it "just another example of how Iran continues to provide guidance, expertise, personnel (and) technical capabilities to the Syrian regime."

The incident also comes amid anger in Iran over its precarious economic situation despite its support abroad for regional militias and others, including Syrian President Bashar Assad. Iran's economy has been hammered since then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
The Islamic Republic of Iran, on Saturday, officially ordered a probe into an assault that involved newly appointed governor Brig-Gen Abedin Khorram getting slapped in public. According to a report by Iranian State Media, authorities opened a full-fledged probe into the attack that left scores of Tabriz residents in shock. While the motive behind the attack remains unclear, several media reports stated that it stemmed from a personal dispute.

On Saturday, Khorram made headlines after he was slapped by an angry man during his inauguration. The incident took place in the countrys Eastern Azerbaijan province when the newly-minted governor was giving his post-election speech. A video of the incident that surfaced on the internet showed the unidentified man making his way onto the stage and swinging at the lawmaker before being stopped by security forces.

#Irans Provincial Governor Abedin Khoram slapped during inauguration ceremony 23/10/2021 pic.twitter.com/T2znnJ07sl  Nicole Elisei (@EliseiNicole) October 23, 2021

As of now, the motive behind the attack remains unclear. However, the state-run IRNA news agency identified it as a personal dispute. In a report, it said that the unidentified man had once served in the Iranian Revolutionary Gaurds Ashoura Corps. Notably, Khorram had previously served in the IRGC and had once been kidnapped by rebel forces in Syria.

'I forgive him': Abedin Khorram on the attacker

Although the security guards immediately took the attacker off the stage, the rage show left the audience gasping. In the aftermath, Khorram returned to the stage and reckoned that he had been subjected to worse treatments and that he completely forgives the attacker.

I do not know him of course but you should know that, although I did not want to say it, when I was in Syria I would get whipped by the enemy 10 times a day and would be beaten up. More than 10 times, they would hold a loaded gun to my head. I consider him on a par with those enemies but forgive him, the governor was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

(With inputs from AP)

Image: FreeIran/@EliseiNicole/Twitter
In a major security breach, a newly appointed governor in Iran was slapped by an angry man during his inauguration on Saturday. The incident took place in the countrys Eastern Azerbaijan province when Brig-Gen Abedin Khorram was giving his post-election speech. A video of the incident that surfaced on the internet showed the unidentified man making his way onto the stage and swinging at the lawmaker before being stopped by security forces.

#Irans Provincial Governor Abedin Khoram slapped during inauguration ceremony 23/10/2021 pic.twitter.com/T2znnJ07sl  Nicole Elisei (@EliseiNicole) October 23, 2021

As of now, the motive behind the attack remains unclear. However, the state-run IRNA news agency identified it as a personal dispute. In a report, it said that the unidentified man had once served in the Iranian Revolutionary Gaurds Ashoura Corps. Notably, Khorram had previously served in the IRGC and had once been kidnapped by rebel forces in Syria.

Although the security guards immediately took the attacker off the stage, the rage show left the audience gasping. In the aftermath, Khorram returned to the stage and reckoned that he had been subjected to worse and completely forgives the attacker.

I do not know him of course but you should know that, although I did not want to say it, when I was in Syria I would get whipped by the enemy 10 times a day and would be beaten up. More than 10 times, they would hold a loaded gun to my head. I consider him on a par with those enemies but forgive him, the governor was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

Growing dissent

It is worth mentioning that dissent in Iranian residents against the countrys hardline administration has grown manifold in recent times, especially with the COVID pandemic wreaking havoc. The Islamic Republic initially plunged into crisis in 2018, after the US Donald Trump administration withdrew from a nuclear deal and imposed economic sanctions on the country. Despite a gruelling situation in the country, the administration continues to aid rebel forces in Syria and other countries, further irking the public. The administration also spends a considerable amount of funds on its clandestine nuclear programmes, which its arch-enemy Israel believes, is expanding rapidly.

(With inputs from AP, Image: FreeIran/@EliseiNicole/Twitter)
Israeli ministers reacted on Sunday to the country's unprecedented designation of six Palestinian human rights groups as "terrorist organizations."

Justice Minister Gideon Saar backed the decision, saying it was "made on a factual and legal basis."

However, Minister of Regional Cooperation Esawi Frej called the decision "wrong" and "out of place."

The six organizations were: Al-Haq, Addameer, Defense for Children International-Palestine, Bisan Center, Union of Palestinian Women's Committees and Union of Agricultural Work Committees.

The officials made their remarks ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

On Saturday, Palestinian activists called on the international community to help reverse Israel's decision which outlawed them.

They said the move was an attempt to silence groups that have documented Israel's treatment of Palestinians over the years.

The Israeli government claims the groups had ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine a political movement with violent history.

The United States and Europe reported they were caught off-guard by the decision however, Israel insisted that some US officials were notified ahead of time.

Europe, has invested in strengthening Palestinian civil society, an effort challenged by Israel's decision to outlaw well-known rights groups.

The "terrorism" label would allow Israel to raid the groups' offices, seize assets, arrest employees and criminalize funding and expressions of support.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans decision to remove ambassadors of 10 countries that have called on Ankara to release human rights activist Osman Kavala is designed to justify the nations economic crisis, main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said on Sunday, 24 October. While taking to Twitter, Kilicdaroglu accused Erdogan of dragging Turkey into an abyss. He said that the Presidents latest move is not to protect the national interest but to create artificial justification for the economy he has destroyed.

When translated, Kilicdaroglus tweet read, The person, who dragged the country into the abyss, gave the order that 10 ambassadors be declared persona non grata.

I can clearly say that the reason for these actions is not to protect national interests, but to create artificial justifications for the economy he has destroyed. Turn around and look at the table of the people, it added.

Ulkeyi hzla ucuruma surekleyen Sahs, bu sefer de "10 buyukelcinin 'istenmeyen adam' ilan edilmesi emrini vermis. Ackca soyluyorum; bu hareketlerinin sebebi milli ckarlar korumak degil, mahvettigi ekonomiye suni gerekceler yaratma cabasdr. Donup bir bak halkn sofrasna!  Kemal Klcdaroglu (@kilicdarogluk) October 23, 2021

Removal of 10 foreign ambassadors

On Tuesday, the embassies of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the US made a joint appeal to release human rights activist Osman Kavala after four years under arrest. In response, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the ten envoys, and the Turkish President threatened to expel them from the country over the violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Erdogan described the joint statement by the embassies as an imprudence and said that he ordered the ambassadors to be declared undesirable.

"I gave the instruction to our foreign minister and said 'You will immediately handle the persona non grata declaration of these 10 ambassadors," Erdogan said during a rally in the western city of Eskisehir.

He added, "They will recognise, understand and know Turkey. The day they don't know or understand Turkey, they will leave."

It is to mention that a declaration of persona non grata against a diplomat usually means that an individual is banned from remaining in their host country. Meanwhile, Kavala, 64, was acquitted last year of charges linked to nationwide anti-government protests in 2013, but the ruling was overturned and joined to charges relating to a 2016 coup attempt. International observers and human rights groups have repeatedly called for the release of Kavala and Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas, who has been jailed since 2016. They say that their imprisonment is based on political considerations. However, Ankara denies the claims and insists on the independence of Turkish courts.

Image: AP
Quetta, Oct 24 (PTI) Security forces killed 15 militants belonging to banned separatist organisations in two separate operations carried out in the restive Balochistan province on Saturday, officials said.

A spokesperson for the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said that nine militants from different banned organisations were killed in Balochistan's Mastung area and a heavy cache of arms and ammunition were seized from them.

In another search operation in Harnai district of the province, security forces killed six militants, including a commander of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

The CTD spokesperson said the nine slain militants belonged to the BLA, the Baloch Liberation Front and the United Baloch Army and they were hiding out in Mastung's mountainous area of Roshi.

The spokesperson added that nine submachine guns with 350 rounds, 20 kilogram of explosive material, detonators, a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) and two shells were found during the operation.

"These militants were planning to carry out terror hits in Quetta after receiving training in Roshni. The training camp has also been destroyed by the police forces," he said.

The BLA and Baloch Liberation Front have claimed responsibility for many of the terror attacks carried out in recent months on security forces, police and security installations in the province.

The CTD official claimed the militants were killed after they began firing on the raiding police party which was acting on intelligence reports.

In another search operation carried out by security forces in an area near Harnai, six militants, including BLA commander, Tariq alias Nasir, were killed, the military's media affairs wing (ISPR) said on Saturday.

It said the militants were killed at their hideout near in Jamboro in Harnai.

The ISPR said the militants were working with external forces to spread discontent and derail peace in the province.

"As soon as the security forces cordoned off the targeted hideout, the militants resorted to heavy firing while trying to flee from the area but after a heavy exchange of fire six terrorists, including BLA commander Tariq alias Nasir, were killed," the ISPR statement said.

It added that a large cache of arms and ammunition were recovered from the hideout.

Last month in another intel-based search operation, the security forces had killed 10 terrorists in the South Waziristan tribal district. On September 26, security forces had also killed a commander of the militant Islamic State (IS) group in a raid in Mastung district.

Before that, 11 suspected IS militants were killed in a gun-battle with CTD personnel in Mastung on August 30. PTI CORR AAR

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Following the communal riots in Bangladesh, Hajiganj police station filed ten cases over last weeks violence and informed that among the accused are over 3,000 unnamed people. The violent attacks had started in Comilla during Durga Puja after news broke on social media about the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran at a Puja venue on the bank of Nanuar Dighi. Dhaka Tribune had reported that several puja venues were vandalised in the areas of Chandpur, Chittagong, Gazipur, Bandarban, Chapainawabganj, and Moulvibazar.

Amid the communal riots, five people died after police opened fire, while 33 others were injured. As per the local media outlet, the injured included 23 police officials and staff members as well. Separately, according to the local unit of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCOP), 12 puja mandaps and several Hindu homes were vandalised on October 13 and 14.

Locals and activists have reportedly said that the police were underprepared for the communal attack in Hajiganj Upazila of Chandpur on October 13 despite warnings from the local puja management committee after the violence in Comilla. Last week, a mob had attacked 66 houses and set on fire at least 20 homes of Hindus. In another follow-up, a member of ISKCON was killed in a mob attack at the temple in Noakhali. The sculpture of ISCKON founder AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was also burnt down by the goons during the brutal attack.

Police arrests key suspects

Security agencies in Bangladesh on 23 October arrested another man held to be the second key suspect behind the recent string of violence in Bangladesh. Officials of the Elite Anti-Crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) informed that one of the masterminds behind the violence in the Pirganj sub-district of northwestern Rangpur, Shaikat Mandal, along with his aides were nabbed from Gazipur, on the outskirts of Dhaka on Saturday. RAB officials said that Mandal had gone live on Facebook triggering people to launch a massive outrage.

The police had earlier on October 22, Friday, arrested Iqbal Hossain, the prime suspect from the Cox's Bazar area. Hossain had allegedly placed the Quran at a Durga Puja Pandal in Comilla. The accused is presently placed under seven-day police custody, where he is being probed by different security and intelligence agencies. Pertinently, the Bangladesh police have so far nabbed nearly 600 individuals from various parts of the country for inciting violence against the Hindus during the Durga Puja festivities.

(With inputs from ANI)
A roadside bombing targeting a Taliban vehicle in eastern Afghanistan killed at least two civilians Saturday, including a child, Taliban and health officials said.

Two bombs detonated as a Taliban vehicle was passing by, killing one child, according to the police chief of Behsud district.

No Taliban fighters were harmed, chief Ismatullah Mubariz added.

A local hospital official said two bodies and four wounded civilians were transferred to the hospital after the attack.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in eastern Nangarhar province.

However, the Islamic State group has launched frequent attacks there, targeting the Taliban.

Recently, IS has shown signs of expansion in Afghanistan, with attacks in the north, the south and the capital of Kabul.

Last week, it claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque in southern Afghanistan that killed 47 people and wounded scores more.

It was the deadliest since the dramatic US exit from the country, which allowed the Taliban to seize control of the Afghan capital.

The group's ability to launch frequent attacks has cast doubt over the Taliban's ability to maintain security and stability in the embattled country.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Local media suggests that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has claimed responsibility for blowing up a power pylon, which has left Kabul in utter darkness since Thursday. As per the reports of Khaama Press, ISIL said in a statement that soldiers of the caliphate placed a bomb on an energy pylon in Kabul to cause damage to the power grid.

In Kabul's northern Shakardara area, the power pylon was exploded. Kabul's and other provinces' electricity was cut off.

Several occurrences of power pylon detonation have occurred in the country under earlier administrations as well. According to Khaama Press, it caused De Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), the country's energy authority, to suffer millions of Afghani financial damages.

Three people arrested

The Taliban-announced temporary government's Interior Ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti said Saturday that three people have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the dynamiting of a power pylon that darkened Afghanistan's capital Kabul. However, it was not specified that if the suspects were linked to ISIL. According to Xinhua, Khosto said that they have apprehended three people in connection with the targeting and destruction of a power pylon, and an investigation is ongoing. The official also stated that the investigation's findings would be made public.

Unknown men demolished the pylon by detonating an explosive device, according to officials with the Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, and work to repair and restore power to the city is still underway. Afghans rely heavily on electricity supplied from their northern neighbours, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, making cross-country power cables a prime target for rebels. Islamic State has continued to carry out horrific atrocities despite the Taliban's promises to fight it.

The security situation in Afghanistan

Since the Taliban took control of the country in mid-August, the security situation in Afghanistan has remained tense. In recent weeks, IS militants have carried out deadly bomb strikes in a number of provinces. IS claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed 60 people on October 15 in a Shia mosque in Kandahar earlier this week. In eastern Afghanistan, two civilians were killed in a roadside explosion targeting a Taliban vehicle.

(Inputs from ANI)

Image: AP/ Unsplash
In an unexpected move, Israel, on Friday, outlawed six Palestinian human rights groups, linking them to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian (PFLP)-whose armed wing has been accused of attacking Israelis. In a decree signed by the countrys defence minister Benny Ganz, the zionist administration said that the now-banned organisations acted as a front for PFLP which has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the west. However, the rights groups have asserted that it was another zionist ploy to silence their voice against Israeli suppression. Meanwhile, other observers and experts opined that it would give Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and Palestinians Liberation Army (PLA) a chance to increase their raids and arrest Arabs.

The NGOs that constituted the blacklist include Al-Haq, the Addameer rights group, Defence for Children International-Palestine, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Womens Committees and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees. Israel said that the NGOs funnelled money that they received from Europe and western states to PFLP. Additionally, the Naftali Bennett administration also accused the NGOs of being controlled by senior leaders of the Palestinian terror organisation and employing its members including those involved in terror attacks on Israel.

Move sparks outrage

It is imperative to note that the move came at a time when negotiations on Two-State Solution is on a hiatus. Proposed by the United Nations in 1947, the Two-State Solution calls for the creation of an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel. The move swiftly galvanised flak not only from Palestinians but also from international organisations and major powers including the United States. The Palestinian Authority (PA) was swift to label it as an unhinged assault on Palestinian civil society.

This appalling and unjust decision is an attack by the Israeli government on the international human rights movement, the Human Rights Watch said.

I stand with @amnesty and @hrw in condemning the Israeli government for effectively banning legitimate civil society Palestinian organizations. This shocking decision must be reversed. https://t.co/7p22CqT50y  Congressman Chuy Garcia (@RepChuyGarcia) October 22, 2021

On Saturday, several activists called on the international community to pressurise Israel to reverse its decision. We hope that the International community will put enough pressure on Israel so that it will back down, Ubai Aboudi, head of the Bisan Center for Research and Development, one of the targeted groups, told Associated Press. Meanwhile, Sahar Francis, the director of Addameer expressed gratitude for the international support and expressed hope that the pressure would be successful.

(Image: AP)

(With inputs from AP)


As the Taliban re-conquered Afghanistan, the United States and all other countries evacuated their citizens from the war-torn nation. Over 1,22,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul and US President Joe Biden had assured that all the Americans stuck in Afghanistan would be evacuated from the war-ravaged nation, reported Sputnik. Reportedly, Biden has been accused of not fulfilling his commitment to evacuating the people from Afghanistan.

More Americans stuck in Afghanistan

Congressional Republicans have alleged that more than 500 Americans and legal permanent residents were stuck in Afghanistan. The Biden administration had estimated that the number of Americans who wished to leave Afghanistan are in the range of 100 to 200 people. However, the figure presented by Congressional Republicans is higher than the numbers estimated by the White House, reported Sputnik. Congressional sources have revealed that the State Department had informed them about being in contact with nearly 363 US citizens and more than 170 permanent residents who were in the war-ravaged nation. Around 176 Americans have expressed their wish to leave Afghanistan, reported Sputnik citing media outlets CNN and Yahoo News.

California Republican accuses Biden administration of betraying US citizens

Congressman Darrell Issa, a California Republican who has focused on evacuating individual US nationals from the war-torn country in recent weeks has accused the Biden administration of betraying US citizens in a foreign land, Sputnik reported citing Fox News. He added that the Biden administration 'lied about it from the beginning.' GOP Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska highlighted that the US administration's 'official number was about a hundred' and added that the figures did not change.

On October 22, the US State Department spokesman Ned Price in a tweet announced that another Qatar Airways Flight arrived in Doha on October 20, with US nationals and legal permanent residents. Furthermore, he stated that the authorities had facilitated the evacuation of 234 Americans and 144 legal permanent residents out of Kabul since the US ended its evacuation operation on August 31 in Afghanistan. He further stated that the authorities will continue with their efforts and will provide updates to the people. The Biden administration came under criticism for withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan as the Taliban took control of power in Afghanistan, resulting in chaos and deaths. However, the US President defended his withdrawal plan from Afghanistan.

Another Qatar Airways flight arrived in Doha on Oct 20 with U.S. citizens and LPRs on-board. The United States has facilitated the departure of 234 U.S. citizens and 144 LPRs from Kabul since August 31. Our efforts continue and we will provide updates as they are available.  Ned Price (@StateDeptSpox) October 22, 2021

(Image: AP/RepresentativeImage)
Myanmar's military-installed government on Friday sharply challenged a pronouncement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations barring its leader from from attending the regional bloc's summit next week.

Myanmar said the declaration, issued by ASEANs current chair, Brunei, violated the charter of the group, to which it belongs. A statement issued Friday night by Myanmars Foreign Ministry detailed why it believed ASEAN had violated its own rules by taking such action.

The 10-member bloc acted after Myanmar refused to allow its special envoy to meet with ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. She has been detained since Myanmars military seized power from her elected government in February.

ASEAN since April has sought to play a mediating role in Myanmars crisis, as the ruling military's efforts to quash opposition have only triggered increasingly violent and destabilizing resistance.

The row comes ahead of the Oct. 26 start to ASEANs annual summit, which includes high-profile talks with world leaders such as U.S. President Joe Biden, as well as the leaders of China and Russia.

The monthslong crisis in Myanmar, the still-raging coronavirus pandemic and security and economic issues are high on the agenda of the meeting, which will be carried out by video.

Western nations such as the United States have sharply criticized military rule in Myanmar since the takeover and the deadly crackdown on military opponents, which is estimated to have killed about 1,100 civilians.

Some U.N. experts suggest Myanmar is on the verge of civil war, which could destabilize the region.

ASEAN itself, whose members usually refrain from criticizing each other, is also roiled by the crisis in Myanmar.

Such a dispute within ASEAN is virtually unprecedented. Among the bedrock principles breached by the exclusion of Myanmars leader is an edict prohibiting ASEAN member states from interfering in each others domestic affairs. The regional bloc also decides by consensus, meaning just one member state can shoot down any proposal. In dealing with Myanmar this year, the groups chair has used its privilege to act without a formal consensus.

Fridays statement from Myanmars Foreign Ministry said only a summit of the group could consider whether to bar the attendance of a member nations leader.

It declared that Myanmar will endeavor to find a peaceful solution based on ASEAN Spirit and ASEAN Way through consultation and negotiation." But it did not say if another representative from Myanmar would be attending in place of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who heads the government and ruling military council.

Brunei in its capacity as ASEAN chair said the bloc has decided to invite a non-political representative, instead of Myanmars military leader.

ASEAN leaders at a special meeting in April issued a statement expressing a five-point consensus on Myanmars crisis. It called for the immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue among all concerned parties, mediation by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid through ASEAN channels, and a visit to Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all concerned parties.

Myanmar is widely seen as having done very little to abide by the consensus, though it claims to have helped facilitate humanitarian assistance.

Along with Myanmar, the other ASEAN nations are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Amid tensions between Beijing and Manila, the Philippines this year scaled up its number of protests against Chinas action in the South China Sea (SCS). According to Radio Free Asia, in 2021, the Philippines made the highest number of diplomatic protests against Chinas communist regime in comparison to the last five years against the latters actions in SCS. The Philippines' demonstrations against China hints at a tougher stance in Manilas dealing with Beijing, as per Radio Free Asia.

A total of 153 out of the 211 diplomatic notes filed over Chinese actions in the SCS were filed in 2021 alone, the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) informed. The recent disclosure came after the DFA revealed information about its protests against Chinas provocative acts against the Philippine authority patrolling the countrys waters.

In a series of tweets, the department on Wednesday said, DFA protested the unlawful issuance of over 200 radio challenges, sounding of sirens, and blowing of horns by Chinese government vessels against Philippine authorities conducting legitimate, customary, and routine patrols over and around the Philippines' territory and maritime zones.

(2/2) maritime zones. These provocative acts threaten the peace, good order, and security of the South China Sea and run contrary to China's obligations under international law.  DFA Philippines (@DFAPHL) October 20, 2021

Separately, according to RFA, DFA Assistant Secretary, Eduardo Menez, informed that the latest protest was issued on 30 September. However, Menez said that these types of warnings are standard operating procedures (SOP), adding that the nations Coast Guards also issue warnings from time to time. The tweet was issued upon instructions, he said.

Escalating tensions in South China Sea

Notably, as per the news agency, one of the earliest diplomatic protests lodged by the Philippines this year was in March when hundreds of Chinese vessels were sighted mooring at Whitsun Reef in the Spratly Islands. The Philippines has repeatedly said that the reef, which it called Julian Felipe, lies entirely within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

In 2016, the Hague based Permanent Court of Arbitration also rejected China's claims on the South China Sea and areas inside the nine-dash line and ruled in favour of the Philippines, which currently has operational control over the Thitu islands. However, China and Taiwan have both rejected the ruling.

Meanwhile, Beijing, which claims sovereignty, without evidence, over 3.5 million square kilometres of the South China Sea, has ramped up its assertiveness in the region. Threatened with Chinas ambition to alter the status of the Pacific region and increased encounters with Chinese vessels, Manila has substantially increased patrol vehicles in the area, a Washington based think tank claimed. China claims almost all of the South China Sea which is a resource-rich area and has even asserted its stance by building up several small shoals and reefs into military bases with airstrips along with other port facilities.

(With inputs from ANI)
Observing October 24 as the United Nations Day and 76th anniversary since the UN Charter had come into effect in 1945, Russian Ambassador Nikolay Kudashev affirmed the need to adhere to principles stipulated in the fundamental document i.e the UN Charter to resolve international disputes 'by peaceful means, refraining from the threat or use of force, non-interference in domestic affairs, respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity, etc'. Moreover, Kudashev implied that the relevance of such principles and regulations are significant as 'we are seeing increasing attempts to use the 'might is right' approach instead of 'right is might'.

"On this day, October 24, in 1945 the UN Charter came into force. The principles stipulated in this fundamental document such as equality of all nations, resolving international disputes by peaceful means, refraining from the threat or use of force, non-interference in domestic affairs, respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity, etc., are of great relevance for the current vibrant geopolitical developments, as we are seeing increasing attempts to use the "might is right" approach instead of "right is might"," he said.

Further, drawing parallels to Russia's collective efforts to recognise norms of international law, the Russian envoy said, "For Russia, it is obvious that threats and challenges can be countered effectively only through collective efforts and in strict compliance with the universally recognized norms of international law. Based on the goals and principles of the UN Charter, Russia and India promote a special and privileged strategic partnership. Our countries stand for the United Nations to play the central coordinating role in global politics, using all its potential of universal multilateralism and legitimacy. Such a stance brings our global and regional approaches even closer, making them similar or coinciding."

United Nations Day on October 24

Marking the 76th year since the foundation of the international organ, the day marks the anniversary of the date when the UN Charter came into effect. The UN states that celebrating the Day annually provides an opportunity to amplify the "common agenda and reaffirm the purposes and principles of the UN Charter" that has guided the nations for the past 76 years.

While the United Nations was established on October 24, two years later, the UN General Assembly had announced the Charter as the one which 'shall be devoted to making known to people of the world the aims and achievements of the UN and to gaining their support for its work'.
Amid tensions between Moscow and Kyiv, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Sunday, 24 October, said that Russia cannot prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, but it is possible to minimise the consequences of such steps. While speaking to the Russian state broadcaster, Rossiya 1, Peskov said it is impossible to prevent Ukraine from joining the bloc. However, he went on to also say that Moscow can minimise the consequences, adding that it will do everything that is necessary. Peskov stated that Russia has always advocated the development of relations with NATO despite the alliances aggression. But he also said that all of Moscows efforts for cooperation have been in vain, referring to Russias move to suspend the work for its mission to the bloc. The Kremlin spokesman said that because NATO considers Russia to be its adversary, there is nothing wrong with suspending relations with the organisation.

"It is also important to note here that despite the aggressiveness of this bloc, Russia has always stood for the development of relations. Only now, when it became obvious that all our efforts were in vain, we just made official what was real," Peskov told Rossiya 1.

"Nothing terrible will happen if... against the background of aggravation of aggressiveness, against the background of such declarations that the main task is to restrain us, we simply abandon these relations," he added.

Further, Peskov went on to say that there is an understanding that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Joe Biden should meet in the foreseeable future. He told the Russian state broadcaster that after the presidents of the two nations make a decision, the Kremlin will inform the world. It is worth mentioning that previously, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had announced that Moscow would suspend the work of its permanent mission to the alliance from November 1, in response to the reduction in the number of employees of the Permanent Missions of Russia to the bloc.

Ukraine's possible NATO entry would be a 'dangerous step'

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko warned that Ukraine's proposed NATO membership would be a "very dangerous step" which will have its consequences. Reacting to Ukraine's prospect of joining NATO, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin reaffirmed Washington's support for Kyiv's ambitions while emphasising that third nations had no power to veto the membership. However, Rudenko pointed out that representatives from NATO member nations have made similar remarks on numerous occasions, and a similar approach is represented in statutory documents.

Russia's defence chief expressed concern about NATO buildup along the country's borders and advocated for deeper security ties with Belarus. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu emphasised recent steps to strengthen military cooperation between the two partners, such as the renovation of military facilities for common use, reported the Associated Press (AP). Shoigu further said that he and his Belarusian counterpart extended agreements on two Russian military facilities in Belarus  an early warning radar in the Brest region near Poland and a naval communications facility in Vileyka near Minsk.

Image: AP
In a key development, Abdul Salam Hanafi, the Deputy Prime Minister of Taliban's interim government, held a meeting with the UN envoy to Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons on Saturday, 23 October. During the meeting, Hanafi and Lyons discussed the situation in Afghanistan and provisions for humanitarian aid.

Confirming the meeting, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi met the UN envoy to Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons on Saturday, ANI reported citing Tolo News. Zabihullah Mujahid informed that the two sides discussed the situation in Afghanistan, humanitarian aid and the banking system in the country. Ever since the Taliban has taken control of the war-torn nation in August, the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has deteriorated.

"PM deputy Abdul Salam Hanafi met with the UN envoy to Afghanistan Deborah Lyons today (Saturday) and both sides discussed Afghanistan's situation, humanitarian aid and the country's banking system," ANI quoted Zabihullah Mujahid as saying.

UN agencies have raised concerns over the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and have warned that the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged nation is worsening. Furthermore, they have stated that emergency aid is required to help Afghan people. UN agencies have also warned that Afghanistan's health care system is on the brink of collapse.

UN urges global community to inject liquidity into Afghan economy

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a press conference on Monday, 11 October, urged the international community to inject liquidity into the Afghan economy. The UN chief stated that even before the Taliban takeover in August, Afghanistan's fragile economy, which has been kept afloat by foreign aid over the past 20 years, has suffered due to drought and COVID-19.

Speaking to reporters in New York, Guterres said that in addition to humanitarian aid, the international community needs to take action in order to prevent the economic collapse of the war-ravaged country. He said that the world needs to find ways to make the economy breathe again. Furthermore, he noted that with assets frozen and development aid paused, Afghanistan's economy is breaking down. He added that banks are closing, and essential services, such as health care, have been suspended in many places.

The economy of Afghanistan is breaking down.



Banks are closing and essential services, such as healthcare, have been suspended in many places.



I urge the world to take action and inject liquidity into the Afghan economy to avoid collapse.  Antonio Guterres (@antonioguterres) October 12, 2021

(With inputs from ANI, Image: AP/@DeborahLyonsUN/Twitter)
UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, on Saturday, October 23, met Taliban leaders and discussed humanitarian aid, human rights and inclusive government. According to Tolo News, Lyons discussed the deepening economic and humanitarian crisis and human rights concern with Talibans Deputy PM Abdul Salam Hanafi, acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and acting Finance Minister Hidayatullah Badri. The UN envoy said that the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) will continue delivering life-saving aid.

There is a need for inclusive governance and protection of the rights of all Afghans, women and men, Lyons added.

Separately, a spokesperson of the Taliban regime has said that the UN envoy in her meetings discussed humanitarian aid and the problems in Afghansiatans banking system. Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the Talibans foreign ministry spokesperson, reportedly said that during the meeting. Lyons said that they had increased the number of staff to deliver humanitarian aid. He added that the UN special representative also said that she would soon visit the United States where she would raise her voice for the resumption of the banking system of Afghanistan.

It is to mention that the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has deteriorated ever since the Taliban took control of Kabul in August. Since then, the UN agencies have repeatedly warned that the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged nation is worsening. They have even called for urgent funding for emergency aid in a bid to help 20 million people there. According to the UN, nearly half of the population require aid assistance to survive, while conflict and insecurity have displaced more than 3.5 million with nearly 7,00,000 uprooted this year alone.

UN will continue to defend rights of women and girls

Meanwhile, in a Twitter post, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the UN will continue defending the rights of Afghan girls and women until they are back to school and return to their jobs. Earlier this month, he had also urged the international community to inject liquidity into the Afghan economy. The UN chief stated that even before the Taliban's takeover in August, Afghanistan's fragile economy, which has been kept afloat by foreign aid over the past 20 years, has suffered due to drought and COVID.

In Afghanistan, the @UN is staying and delivering, and will continue to promote and defend the rights of women and girls.



We will not stop until girls can go back to school, and women can return to their jobs and participate in public life.  Antonio Guterres (@antonioguterres) October 23, 2021

(Image: ANI/AP)
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is prepared to help Tajikistan manage its Afghan refugee crisis in case of the influx on the borders, a public relations adviser to the UNHCR in Tajikistan said, according to ANI. This would include building temporary makeshift camps for the accommodation, Nodira Akbaralieva stated, adding that the situation in Kabul has been highly unpredictable in terms of refugee infiltration since the US troop withdrawal on Aug. 31.

The UN official stressed that the number of people who may arrive in Tajikistan is predictably large. If there is an influx of refugees, we can quickly respond and engage our inter-agency refugee emergency response plan and assist the government in accepting and accommodating refugees, including through the establishment of refugee camps," Akbaralieva said.

Outlining that the UN recognizes the sovereign prerogative of the states to decide where the refugees shall be accommodated, Akbaralieva further said that in the event of the massive influx of the Afghan refugees, states such as Tajikistan can pitch alternative ways to divert those refugees elsewhere in the world. And the UNHCR, she stated, can be an advocate for that settlement regime.

"In any case, the provision of asylum to refugees is part of the international obligations of the countries participating in the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. In this regard, UNHCR calls on states, including Tajikistan, to provide access to the territory for asylum seekers and not to send back refugees or asylum seekers, including those who have been denied refugee status," Akbaralieva was quoted saying by ANI.

Taliban accuses Tajikistan of 'interfering' in internal matters

Taliban's acting deputy, Abdul Ghani Baradar, earlier last month accused Tajikistan of "interfering" in Kabul's internal affairs, as he warned that the Tajik government will face the possible repercussions for their behaviour. During an interview with the Middle East-based broadcast news channel, Al Jazeera, Baradar threatened Tajikistan to get ready with the Newton third law of motion.

"Tajikistan interferes in our affairs, for every action, there is a reaction," Ghani Baradar said in remarks to the outlet. Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid took to Twitter, stressing that thousands of troops were sent to Takhar province, the border area that both countries share. Mujahid maintained that the move was necessary to counter the security threats raised by the Tajikistan military in his provocative speech against the neighbouring country.
The seven Chilean presidential candidates who will compete in the November 21 elections launched their campaign on open television on Friday.

From Friday to November 18, each candidate will have access to a free tv segment of 2 minutes and 51 seconds to present their programs.

A similar slot will address the parliamentary election in pre-recorded interventions.

Recent local polls suggest that, so far, voters favour former student leader Gabriel Boric, who represents a pact between the leftist Frente Amplio and the Communist Party.

Boric is followed by the centre-right lawyer Jose Antonio Kast, who is supported by two conservative parties and who has the support of groups of the ruling alliance.

Whoever obtains the most votes on November 21 will be president between 2022 and 2026.

If there is no winner, there will be a second round on December 19.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has recently said that the new mutated form of coronavirus which is being dubbed as Delta Plus may spread more easily than the regular Delta variant of COVID. Health experts have said that regular Delta still accounts for most COVID infections in the UK, noting that the latest official data suggests that 6% of coronavirus cases are of this type. However, according to BBC, they have also said that the cases of Delta Plus or AY.4.2 have been increasing in the nation.

UKHSA puts 'Delta Plus' under close watch

The UKHSA has already moved Delta Plus up into the 'variant under investigation' category. The scientists are confident that the existing COVID vaccines should still work to protect people against the new mutation, however, they have also said that there is some early evidence that Delta Plus may have an increased growth rate in the UK compared to Delta. It is to note that there is no evidence yet that the new mutation causes worse illness, experts have said.

The UK health agency further went on to say that this sub-lineage has become 'increasingly common' in the UK in recent months. They added that there is also some early evidence that Delta Plus may have an increased growth rate in the UK compared to regular Delta. However, it is imperative to note, unlike the previous variant, Delta Plus is not yet considered a 'variant of concern', which is the highest category assigned to variants accounting for their level of risk.

Delta Plus in US, Demark and UK

According to health experts, AY.4.2 is an offshoot of regular Delta that includes some new mutations affecting the spike protein, which the virus uses to penetrate our cells. Apart from the UK, a few cases of Delta Plus have also been identified in the US. As per the BBC report, there had been some in Denmark as well, but new infections with AY.4.2 have since gone down there.

Meanwhile, the UK is already offering booster shots of the COVID vaccine to higher risk people ahead of winter in a bid to make sure that have the fullest protection against the deadly virus. It is worth mentioning that the experts have said that there is no suggestion that a new update of the vaccine will be needed to protect against any of the existing variants of the pandemic virus.

(IMAGE: AP/PIXABAY)
The US State of California, which has 129 million damaged and hazardous trees from the frequent wildfires spread across 8.9 million acres of land, on October 23, Saturday initiated their removal in a bid to mitigate the risks. An upward of 10,000 trees weakened by fires, drought, disease, or age were planned to be removed, Associated Press reported, adding that the work kept the nearby highway closed which connects to the Giant Forest, home to the worlds two largest sequoia trees and world's largest by volume General Sherman Tree.

In recent weeks, the state of California witnessed the raging KNP Complex Wildfire that has reportedly ravaged the Sequoia groves located inside the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Last week, at least four firefighting crew battling the blazes were injured after a massive burning tree fell on them after approximately 3:00 pm. The lightning-caused KNP Complex wildfire erupted on Sept. 9 and has charred close to 15 giant sequoia groves.

[Flames burn up a tree in the Trail of 100 Giants grove in Sequoia National Forest. Credit: AP]

The state officials dispatched more than 2,000 firefighters to bring the wildfires under control, but so far, 60% was contained after burning down 138 square miles of forest. As the threat of the scorching blazes burning another precious grove abundant in canopies of the towering trees by sending 100-foot flame looms, authorities ordered cutting down the hazard trees and trimming dead branches.

[The giant sequoia, also known as the General Sherman Tree with its base wrapped in a fire-resistant blanket to protect it from the intense heat of approaching wildfires. Credit: AP]

[ A wildfire raging through Southern California coastal mountains threatened ranches and rural homes and kept a major highway shut down. Credit: AP]

Hazard trees run risks of crashing on commuters, visitors, and the cars

The hazard trees could basically crash onto commuters and visitors, and the cars on the section of State Route 180 named Generals Highway the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks said Friday in a statement cited by AP. Furthermore, they outlined the risks of such damaged trees creating barriers for emergency and fire response.

Meanwhile, the Cooler weather has somewhat helped slow the flames. Christy Brigham, head of resource management and science for Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks reportedly called the incident heartbreaking. It appears that the two groves  including one with 5,000 trees have been seared and destroyed by the flames, and at least two burnt trees fell in Giant Forest this week. In order to preserve some of the unique giant trees, the firefighting crew wrapped fire-resistant material around their bases. The full extent of the damage in the park is yet to be determined.

[County of Santa Barbara Fire Department firefighters extinguish a roadside fire next to train tracks off of the U.S. 101 highway. Credit: AP]

[A helicopter drops water on a wildfire. Credit: AP]

[A firefighter watches on his fire engine as smoke rises from a wildfire. Credit: AP]

[Firefighters battle scorching blazes as it burns in the Trail of 100 Giants grove of Sequoia National Forest, Calif. Credit: AP]
At Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, Indian and US troops participated in a joint yoga session. The troops were taught a total of 17 asanas, including the Surya Namaskar, by Indian yoga instructors. This comes as the 17th India-US joint training exercise as "Ex Yudh Abhyas 21" gets underway. The 14-day exercise includes combined training for operations under UN mandate.

According to the Defence Ministry, the drill will involve 300 US Army soldiers from the 40th Cavalry Regiment's First Squadron and 350 Indian Army personnel from the 7 Madras Infantry Battalion Group. The 14-day training plan includes combined training in a counter-terrorism context.

It started on October 15 with an opening ceremony that included the unfurling of both countries' national flags while the Indian national anthem and the US national anthem were played.

The drill aims to increase the forces' situational awareness

The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a statement that the drill will increase situational awareness of both forces. It further said that this will help them conduct joint operations at the Battalion level in hilly terrain with cold climatic conditions.

Both countries are hosting the 17th iteration of the exercise alternately. Earlier, the exercise was held in February of this year at Mahajan Field Firing Range in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India. Since 2004, Exercise Yudh Abhyas has facilitated cooperation between the two countries through training, cultural exchanges and the development of combined operational skills.

Defence ties between India and the United States have been improving in recent years. The US named India as a major defence partner in June 2016. Over the last few years, the two countries have also signed important defence and security agreements, including the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016, which allows their militaries to use each other's bases for supply repair and replenishment, while also providing room for deeper cooperation.

The two countries also signed COMCASA in 2018

In 2018, the two countries also signed the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), which allows for interoperability between their forces and the transfer of high-end technology from the United States to India. The Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) between India and the US was signed in October last year to strengthen bilateral defence ties. The agreement allows the two countries to exchange high-tech military equipment, logistics and geospatial maps.

(Inputs from ANI/ PTI)

Image: ANI
A letter written by the Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has been set up for Auction. The letter which he wrote at the age of 18 to his childhood friend will be auctioned by British auction house Bonhams on November 3. The letter was penned on Jobs' 19th birthday, on February 23, in the year 1974, and was addressed to his friend Tim Brown, just two years before when Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple.

The single-page letter states Jobs' opinions on Zen Buddhism as well as his aspirations to visit India for the Kumbh Mela, which is a Hindu pilgrimage and festival. The letter is expected to bring in an amount between $200,000 and $300,000 during the auction, as per the Bonhams website. The artefact is described by Bonhams as the very first handwritten personal letter penned by Steve Jobs to be auctioned.

Steve Jobs' letter to his friend

Bonhams even took their official Instagram account to showcase the letter, the post reads, Tim Brown, the recipient of the present letter, was one of Jobs' closest friends. In response to Brown's letter sharing his thoughts on Zen Buddhism, Jobs claims not to understand ("I do not know what to say"), but then expresses great depth beyond his age ("... i have loved and i have cried many times. / somehow, though, beneath it all it doesn't change....").

Furthermore, while talking about the letter, Bonhams Director of History of Science and Technology, Adam Stackhouse stated that Steve Jobs was both a smart and complicated individual, but the true Jobs remained concealed from public plain sight. He went on to say that this letter provides a fascinating glimpse into one of the world's finest innovators and businesses' thought processes.

i will end by saying i do not even know where to begin, was the last line Jobs said at the end of his letter to Brown. Before writing his signature at the bottom of the page, he wrote the phrase "Shanti," which signifies "peace" in Sanskrit.

As per a CNBC report, Brown and Jobs both went to Cupertino, California's Homestead High School, wherein Apple company is now based. As per Brown's LinkedIn page, the two pals remained in contact throughout their lifetimes until Jobs' death in 2011.

Previously, at the beginning of this year, a handwritten job application by Steve Jobs was put up for auction. The 1973 handwritten application is said to have been penned around the time he dropped out of Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Jobs joined Atari in 1974, where he met Steve Wozniak and founded Apple. The one-page questionnaire, according to auction house Charterfields, makes no indication of the position he was applying for or the firm he wished to work for. The questionnaire was put under virtual auction from February 24 till March 24.

(Image: Instagram/ Bonhams1793/ AP)
Ever since the Taliban takeover, the Afghanistan crisis has taken center stage on the international agenda. In the latest development, the United States administration plans to resettle Afghan refugees from the American military bases to permanent houses, reported ANI. US President Joe Biden has decided to launch a program that aims to support the Afghans financially and resettle them. The resettling program would allow people from Afghanistan to start their life afresh in the United States.

The Biden administration plans to resettle around 55,600 Afghan evacuees from the US military bases to permanent houses, ANI cited local media. Resettling such a large number of Afghan refugees from US military bases to permanent houses would bring a massive change to the resettlement program since 1980, ANI reported citing Khaama Press. A large number of Afghan people who have worked for the United States in Afghanistan have been living in refugee camps that have been established by the authorities in American military bases.

In the new plan that will be launched by the Biden administration, a group of five people who are above the age of 18 can apply for being sponsors for the Afghan family, reported ANI. The sponsors will support the Afghan refugees financially for 90 days, complete their training and develop a plan for their families. If their proposal gets approval from the administration, the group would be responsible for their housing, supporting Afghan families in accessing facilities that are available to them through the US administration, like medical services and helping them in their children's admission in school and other responsibilities, ANI reported citing Khaama Press.

Earlier this month, the US military expected new Afghanistan evacuees to arrive in the United States in the coming week, reported AP on 1 October. Thousands of Afghans after staying for three weeks in Europe and the Middle East to get the measles vaccine were scheduled to arrive coming week. General Glen VanHerck, head of US Northern Command, told reporters that there are about 14,000 Afghans overseas that are expected to arrive, reported AP. Furthermore, he revealed that around 53,000 Afghans were scattered across eight US military installations, which was nearing its total capacity of 64,000. VanHerck further added that there are 4,000 evacuees at the US bases who have completed their medical and other screening processes and were given the approval to resettle in the United States.

Biden defends US-Afghan withdrawal

The Biden administration came under criticism for withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan as the Taliban recaptured power, resulting in chaos and deaths. However, the US President defended his withdrawal plan from Afghanistan. Addressing the nation on ending the war in Afghanistan, the US President said that the decision to end US military presence in Afghanistan was a unanimous choice of civilian, military advisors, service chiefs and commanders in the field. Biden said in his first address after the withdrawal that he was not "going to extend this forever war" and "forever exit."

Inputs from AP, ANI

Image: AP
The head of the UNs nuclear watchdog says his monitoring program in Iran has been restricted at a key facility, raising concern that it will not be possible for world powers that are party to a 2015 nuclear deal to reconstruct the picture of Irans nuclear program down the road.



International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi made the comments in an interview with NBC News broadcast on October 23. Grossi is currently visiting Washington as the countries that are party to the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA) urge Iran to return to negotiations to restore the deal.



Earlier this year, after Iran stopped allowing IAEA inspectors conduct snap inspections required under the agreement, Grossi brokered an arrangement in which Iran would allow IAEA cameras inside nuclear facilities to keep running.



Grossi said Iran has allowed the IAEA to access most of its cameras except for those at a facility in the Tehran suburbs that makes centrifuge parts.



The facility was damaged in June in what Iran says was an act of sabotage by Israel and, Grossi said, Iran has cited an ongoing investigation into the attack in refusing IAEA access to the site.



Without that access the IAEAs monitoring and verification program in Iran is no longer intact, Grossi said.



It hasnt paralyzed what we are doing there, but damage...has been done, with a potential of us not being able to reconstruct the picture, the jigsaw puzzle, Grossi told NBC News in the interview.



If and when the JCPOA will be restarted, I know that for the JCPOA partners to go back to an agreement, they will have to know where they are putting their feet, Grossi said.



Iran has called on the IAEA to clarify its position regarding an alleged Israeli attack on the centrifuge-component manufacturing workshop.



Speaking to journalists on October 3, the head of Irans Atomic Energy organization, Mohammad Eslami, deplored that the IAEA and Western powers had not condemned the "terrorist act" in which the TESA Karaj facility was severely destroyed.



The JCPOA imposed significant restrictions on Irans nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions. Then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States unilaterally from the pact in 2018 and started reimposing crippling sanctions on Iran. In response, Tehran has progressively rolled back its own commitments to the deal.



The Biden administration and European partners want to restore the deal, and Iranian officials have repeatedly said they were ready to resume talks, but no date has yet been announced.



Indirect negotiations on both sides returning to compliance with the deal, via intermediaries from other parties to the accord -- Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia -- were launched in Vienna in April, but the talks were suspended following the June election of hard-line Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

With reporting by NBC
The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman who has been detained in Iran for more than five years, has gone on a hunger strike again after a court decided she has to serve an additional year in prison.

Richard Ratcliffe started his fast on October 24 outside the British government's Foreign Office in central London.

He plans to maintain a constant vigil by sleeping in a tent outside the building's main entrance in an effort to pressure Prime Minister Boris Johnson to secure the release of his wife and other detained dual British-Iranian nationals, Amnesty International said.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was first jailed in 2016 after being accused of plotting against the regime -- charges that she, her supporters, and rights groups deny.

She was sentenced to another year's confinement in April on charges of "spreading propaganda against the system while participating in a protest in front of the Iranian Embassy in London in 2009.

She spent the final year of her initial sentence on parole at her parents' home in Tehran in 2020 as Iran temporarily released thousands of inmates in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The initial court ruling against Zaghari-Ratcliffe was five years plus a one-year ban on traveling abroad. The extra year added to her sentence means Zaghari-Ratcliffe cannot leave Iran to join her husband and 7-year-old daughter in London for nearly two more years.

Ratcliffe went on a 15-day hunger strike two years ago outside the Iranian Embassy, a move he credits with getting their daughter released.

"We are now giving the U.K. government the same treatment. In truth, I never expected to have to do a hunger strike twice. It is not a normal act," Ratcliffe said on his Change.org petition.

He said Iran remains the primary abuser in Nazanins case, but that the "U.K. is also letting us down."

"It is increasingly clear that Nazanins case could have been solved many months ago  but for other diplomatic agendas," he said. "The PM needs to take responsibility for that.

Employed by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the Reuters news agency, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was taken into custody at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport in April 2016 when she tried to return to Britain after visiting family in Iran.

Rights groups accuse Iran of holding dual-nationals as bargaining chips for money or influence in negotiations with the West. Tehran denies the accusation.

With reporting by AP
A recent report from RFE/RL's Tajik Service, known locally as Ozodi, showed that a Chinese base in the far eastern corner of Tajikistan, near the area where Tajikistan, China, and Afghanistan meet, has been expanded and new buildings added to the complex.

Questions have arisen as to whether this new construction at the base is a response to the recent changes in the situation in Afghanistan or if it is a sign of creeping Chinese penetration into Central Asia.

On this week's Majlis podcast, RFE/RL's media-relations manager, Muhammad Tahir, moderates a discussion on what has been going on at the base and what the changes there might mean.

This week's guests are: from. Washington DC, Nadege Rolland, senior fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research; from Prague, RFE/RL correspondent Reid Standish, who is the author of the China in Eurasia briefing; also from Prague, Sirojiddin Tolibov, managing editor at Ozodi; and Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.
Many residents of Nur-Sultan have joined climate-change campaigners and activists to protest a development project that will reduce the size of Small Taldykol, a picturesque lake southwest of the Kazakh capital city.

Environmentalists say the lake -- along with the wetlands and a green zone surrounding it -- is home to many species of birds, fish, and other wildlife that would lose their natural habitat if the construction project continues.

City authorities, however, insist Small Taldykol is not a real lake but an extremely dirty reservoir formed by accumulated wastewater and melted snow.

Work is already under way to partially fill up the lake with soil and to remove harmful substances from the area, officials say.

The project also envisages the construction of a residential complex with modern infrastructure, including schools, a hospital, and a park.

The campaign to try to stop the project has been ongoing for more than a year. Activists have staged several protests at the site, where a police vehicle is often parked to discourage people from gathering for unsanctioned rallies.

They have also set up an Instagram page to raise awareness among Nur-Sultan residents about the negative impacts the destruction of the lake would have on the city in which they live.

Some activists raised the alarm when they said the lake is being filled not only with soil, but also with garbage, including plastic waste and old tires.

'Lungs' Of The City

Ornithologist Ruslan Orazaliev is among the Kazakh experts who warn that both ordinary people and city authorities should be environmentally conscious in their actions.

Its not up to us, people, to decide whether this lake should exist or disappear, Orazaliev told RFE/RLs Kazakh Service. This lake and the ecosystem around it existed long before the capital was built here[and long] before we arrived here. Its our duty to protect the ecosystem, not to destroy it.

Orazaliev said disrupting the ecosystem can lead to serious consequences.

We can only see the vegetation on the shores and birds on the lake. But this area is also home to so many insects and other living creatures that make up an ecological chain, he said. By destroying one link we end up disrupting the entire system.

Echoing the sentiment shared by many Nur-Sultan environmental activists, Orazaliev called Small Taldykol and the green areas around it the lungs of the city, where locals often complain about the worsening quality of the air.

The number of people who suffer from allergies is constantly rising in the city because the air is dry, because there are always construction works going on, polluting the air and raising dust, Orazaliev said. The lake humidifies the air: the water evaporates and the dust settles. Its a natural filter that suppresses dust.

Orazaliev said the lake shouldnt be taken for granted just because we got it for free.

Small Taldykol is also an important stopover for more than 160 species of migratory birds, experts say.

This place is on the global flyway, and it is an important stopping point where the birds eat and gain strength. Then they must fly several thousand kilometers over waterless deserts next, said Alyona Koshkina, an expert from the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan.

Local experts say city authorities must know that the Small Taldykol area is a lot more than a place where city dwellers go for walks and admire the scenery filled with swans and ducks.

There are so many studies about the role of green zones for cities survival, Koshkina warned. We will realize the extent of the lakes importance only after its gone -- but it wont be easy to restore it.

Written by Farangis Najibullah with reporting by RFE/RL Kazakh Service correspondents Pyotr Trotsenko and Orgen Zhoyamergen
The surprising speed with which the Taliban took control over most of Afghanistan after foreign forces began withdrawing from the country left Afghanistans neighbors in a difficult predicament.



All of them had considered the possibility the militant group could seize power, but suddenly they needed to publicly state what their policy toward Taliban-ruled Afghanistan was.

Generally, the response was that the Taliban in charge was the reality and the neighboring countries were willing to at least talk with these new leaders of Afghanistan.



Except Tajikistan.



Pakistan -- long a backer of the Taliban -- clearly welcomed the group's success in Afghanistan.



China, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan all conceded there was nothing they could do about Afghan internal politics and held out hope that some form of cooperation with the Taliban might be possible.



But Tajik authorities have taken a different position and that has raised questions about why Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his government continue to make clear their strong opposition to a Taliban government in Afghanistan.



First, it is worth remembering that Rahmon was Tajikistans leader more than 20 years ago when the Taliban had control of most of Afghanistan.



None of the other current leaders in the countries bordering Afghanistan were in power when the Taliban was ousted by a U.S.-led military invasion in 2001.



Rahmon supported a group led by ethnic Tajiks in Afghanistan who were fighting the Taliban in the late 1990s and he has given moral support to the ethnic Tajiks in Afghanistan now -- including the holdout group in the Panjshir Valley that continues to oppose Taliban rule.



There is a large population of ethnic Tajiks in Afghanistan -- where they make up about 25 percent of the population -- and the Tajiks in Tajikistan feel a strong connection to them.



That is not true of any of the other states neighboring Afghanistan.



In fact, Rahmons public concern for the Tajiks in Afghanistan has earned the generally unpopular leader of Tajikistan some rare public support in his country, an important detail as he positions his eldest son, Rustam, to take over as president.

Tajikistan's Civil War



There is another reason it would be difficult for Rahmons government to publicly engage with the Taliban.



During Tajikistans 1992-1997 civil war, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) was the major group in an alliance of forces fighting against the Tajik government. The war ended with a peace agreement that provided for 30 percent of the positions in government to be filled by representatives of the wartime opposition. The IRPT was legalized and was the second largest party in Tajikistan after Rahmons Peoples Democratic Party of Tajikistan.

The IRPT was also potentially the biggest threat to Rahmons increasing grip on power and in September 2015 -- after years of pressuring the IRPT and its leadership and whittling down its places in state bodies -- the government used a bizarre and vague incident involving a high-ranking officer in the Defense Ministry to make dubious claims that the IRPT had tried to stage a coup. The IRPT was quickly declared an extremist group and its activities banned in Tajikistan.



The IRPT is an Islamic-based political party, but it is far more moderate than the Taliban.



It is difficult to see how the Tajik government could establish ties with the Taliban, let alone consider recognizing a Taliban government, while continuing to hunt and repress members of the IRPT.



And Tajikistans chief Islamic cleric, Saidmukarram Abdulkodirzoda, made it clear in a September 11 interview with state news agency Khovar that improving ties with the Taliban is out of the question.



Islam is compassion and brotherhood," Abdulkodirzoda said. "But today the terrorist movement known as the Taliban call themselves an Islamic state and execute women, children, and brothers."

Abdulkodirzoda had more to say and, since all of Tajikistans top clerics are carefully vetted by the government, his views can be taken as the governments views.



The big question is how Rahmon and his government can feel so confident in confronting the Taliban.



The answer to this is more difficult to discern.



Tajikistan is, in terms of territory, the smallest of Afghanistans neighbors and economically it is the poorest.



Though small, Tajikistans military has been receiving help from powerful countries for many years.



Russia is the biggest supplier of arms to Tajikistan, but China has been increasing its aid to the country's armed forces for more than a decade. And the United States, NATO, the European Union, and the OSCE -- while not supplying weapons -- have been helping with money and equipment for border posts, surveillance equipment, winter and summer clothing, off-road vehicles, and other such items.



None of that is likely to cow the Taliban or, more importantly for Tajikistan, some of the extremist groups that have been fighting alongside the Taliban for years, many with roots in Tajikistan.



And Rahmon seems quite aware of this.



Not many countries welcomed the Taliban coming to power in Afghanistan. Official press statements often express a fatalism about the turn of events, but there is not much enthusiasm for what has happened since the U.S.-led military withdrawal began on May 1.

Tajikistans government is no doubt saying what many governments are thinking.



The Carnegie Endowment's Paul Stronski mentioned this during a recent Majlis podcast and suggested Tajikistan is a messenger for the views of other countries.



Tajik political expert Khairullo Mirsaidov agreed, telling RFE/RLs Tajik Service, known locally as Ozodi, Rahmon could not have made such a statement without Russian consent. Now that the United States has left the region, Russia does not want to give full control of Afghanistan to Pakistan.



He added: It also gives momentum for Rahmon to take an opportunity for internal use of the topic, bringing him closer to his own people.



Russia has a military base in Tajikistan and China has a small military post in the eastern part of the country.



Both Moscow and Beijing have expressed confidence that it is possible to deal with the Taliban, but both are concerned by the presence of militants from their own countries who are in groups currently inside Afghanistan that are allied to the Taliban.



And there are many countries with citizens still inside Afghanistan and the governments of those countries need to keep this in consideration when commenting on events in the country.



After Rahmon said during an August 25 meeting with visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi that Tajikistan would not recognize any Afghan government that was seen as exclusive, he specifically mentioned that he expected ethnic Tajiks to be included.



The next day, French President Emmanuel Macron invited Rahmon to visit Paris.



Which proved that there are obviously some dividends to be gained by openly opposing Taliban rule in Afghanistan -- and Rahmon seems to appreciate that.

RFE/RL Tajik Service Director Salimjon Aioubov contributed to this report
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev has been declared the winner of a presidential election at the weekend, an expected result in a vote that featured no genuine opposition and western observers called "not truly competitive."

Central Election Commission Chairman Zainuddin Nizomhojaev said on October 25 that 80.1 percent of those casting ballots supported Mirziyoev. He added that 80.4 percent of the some 20 million eligible voters took part in the election.

Mirziyoev, 64, faced four little-known candidates who are largely pro-government. Three opposition parties were not allowed to register or have candidates in the race.



It was Uzbekistans sixth presidential election since the country of some 35 million people gained its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991.

As Mirziyoev's first term nears its end, he is struggling to counter impressions that his government is sliding back toward the authoritarian habits of his long-reigning predecessor Islam Karimov.

Mirziyoev did open up Central Asia's most-populous nation to foreign investment, improved Uzbekistans relations with its neighbors, and eased the Karimov-era restrictions on religious freedoms while also releasing dozens of political prisoners.

But like his predecessor, Mirziyoev exercises virtually unrestrained political power in Uzbekistan and his relatives have been accused of using his political clout to amass wealth.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have also overshadowed some of his initial economic achievements, leading to higher unemployment and sharp rises in the cost of living.

He has also come under criticism for cracking down on his critics and activists ahead of the vote.

An international monitoring mission led by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on October 25 that despite some movement in the ongoing reforms, the election was "not truly competitive."



"Remaining restrictions on fundamental freedoms and the right to stand continue to run counter to OSCE commitments. While multiple candidates contested the election, there was no meaningful engagement with each other or with voters, and candidates refrained from challenging or criticizing the incumbent," an OSCE's preliminary assessment of the balloting said.



The Vienna-based organization added that counting procedures at polling stations "were often not followed and the figures in the result protocols did not reconcile in many polling stations observed."



Uzbekistan has never held an election that was deemed fair or democratic by Western observers.



Meanwhile, observer missions from the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Turkic Council, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization said the voting was fair, transparent, and without major violations.



Russian President Vladimir Putin and the authoritarian strongman of Belarus Alyaksandr Lukashenka congratulated Mirziyoev by phone hours before the official results were announced.

Mirziyoev received 88.6 percent of the vote in the previous election in 2016.



Three unregistered opposition parties announced their intention to field candidates: the Erk Democratic Party, the Truth and Development Party, and the Peoples Interest Party.



Despite their attempts, none was registered and official pressure eventually forced all of them to end their efforts to have candidates in the race.

The Erk Party's leader, Muhammad Solih, who has been living in exile in Turkey since the 1990s, called the presidential poll in Uzbekistan "fake."



"This election is a fake election. Fake elections are in the genetic code of Uzbekistan's political regime. All elections in Uzbekistan are based on that code, and that genetic code is Islam Karimov's code, which Shavkat Mirziyoev used today," Solih said, adding that the October 24 poll is no different from the 1991 presidential election that was "rigged" to declare Karimov as president of independent Uzbekistan.

Mirziyoev's only challenger to receive significant attention during the campaign was Alisher Kodirov, who proposed that Uzbeks working outside of the country should pay taxes in Uzbekistan.

That position is unpopular among a large portion of Uzbekistan's population that depends upon remittances from family members who work abroad.

Mirziyoev openly disagreed with Kodirov's proposal.

Some observers suggested that Kodirov announced his tax proposal to channel more votes to Mirziyoev -- a view bolstered by the fact that Kodirov's National Revival Party is in a parliamentary coalition with Mirziyoev's Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan.

The three other candidates in the race and their political parties were Bahrom Abduhalimov of the Adolat (Justice) party, Maksuda Borisova of the Peoples Democratic Party, and Narzullo Oblomuradov of the Ecological Party.



Borisova was the second woman to run in an Uzbek presidential election. Oblomuradov is the first presidential candidate fielded by the Ecological Party.

Mirziyoev was prime minister from 2003 to 2016, when Uzbekistans first and only previous president, Islam Karimov, died.



Mirziyoev became acting president and then won a snap presidential election on December 4, 2016, receiving just over 90 percent of the vote.

With reporting by AP, dpa, and AFP
Uzbekistans communications regulator has restricted access to several social media websites for violating personal data laws.



O'zkomnazorat announced the restrictions on July 2 without mentioning which social media sites fall under the order.



However, Internet users in Central Asias most populous country reported disruptions to Twitter, TikTok, VKontakte, and Skype. In particular, the restrictions reportedly involve throttling, or reduced speed when using the networks.



O'zkomnazorat said social media websites had violated a new personal data law in effect since April which requires Internet companies to store the personal data of Uzbek users on servers in the country.



Use of the social networks will be "limited in accordance with the established procedure until the identified deficiencies are eliminated," the regulator said.



In recent weeks, O'zkomnazorat has issued warnings to Twitter, Russias VKontakte, Twitter, Tencents We Chat, TikTok owner ByteDance, and Microsofts Skype over violations of the personal data law.



The latest restrictions on information in Uzbekistan come as the authoritarian state prepares for a presidential election in October, with President Shavkat Mirziyoev almost certain to win another term.



Ahead of the election, authorities have tightened rules on the Internet and increased pressure on journalists and bloggers.

In March, amendments to communications laws criminalized insulting or defaming the president online and making online calls for "mass disturbances."



Mirziyoev has positioned himself as a reformer since taking office following the death of his authoritarian predecessor, Islam Karimov, in 2016, releasing political prisoners and opening his country to its neighbors and the outside world.



Human rights groups say the reforms have not gone far enough.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian and Uzbek services
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Newton commissioners to decide on distribution of ARPA funds

COVINGTON  Newton County has changed course on distribution of its American Rescue Plan Act funds after some commissioners expressed concerns about how long it is taking to get money to their constituents. In particular, District 3 Commissioner Alana Sanders and District 4 Commissioner J.C. Henderson are interested in helping residents with rent, mortgage or utility assistance.

After lengthy discussion Tuesday night, commissioners agreed unanimously for the board to decide how the funds will be distributed and to create its own policies regarding eligibility in order to expedite the process. A subcommittee will be formed to gather information from other jurisdictions and present a recommendation at a special called meeting on Nov. 1.

County Manager Lloyd Kerr had recommended to commissioners in August that they hire a consultant to handle distribution of the $10,852,481 in ARPA funds the county has received and another $10,852,481 it will receive next year. But commissioners said Tuesday hiring a consultant is taking too long.

Kerr said a request for proposals for a consultant had been posted, and it would take 30 days to finalize the responses. He cautioned commissioners that guidelines from the Treasury Department on eligible uses for the funding had not yet been finalized and said any money used improperly would have to be repaid to the federal government. Kerr also said the county currently does not have enough personnel in-house to administer the program.

A third party (administrator) will make sure it is objective and all regulations that are out there would be followed and would not be subject to any type of local or political pressure for any type of favoritism, and the program would be administered objectively and fairly, said Kerr.

Kerr also said 80% of Georgia counties had not yet distributed any of their ARPA funding while awaiting final guidelines from the Treasury Department.

Henderson was especially critical of Kerrs plan to use a consultant, saying that that there are many people in the community who are losing their homes.

When are we going to get the help out to the community? he said.

Henderson suggested Kerr hire an attorney to help set criteria for the program and expedite the process. Henderson made a motion to hire Patrick Jaugstetter, with Jarrard & Davis, who has been acting as county attorney.

Jaugstetter said he is no more qualified than anybody on the face of the earth to administer the program, adding that he didnt think being an attorney was the right qualification for anyone to do the job.

Henderson then made a motion to hire former county attorney Tommy Craig to assist Kerr in expediting distribution of the funds. Craig was fired by the county in 2015 but still represents the Tax Commissioners Office and the Sheriffs Office. This is the second time in a month Henderson has suggested the county rehire Craig in some capacity.

After further discussion, Henderson withdrew his motion in favor of a motion by District 3 Commissioner Sanders for the board to decide how the funds will be distributed and create its own policies regarding eligibility. Henderson seconded her motion, and it was approved unanimously.

Jaugstetter, who has represented Henry County for a number of years, said Henry has used a combination of in-house administration and third-party administration for distribution of ARPA funds, and called it a massive undertaking.

He advised that the county have in place guidelines addressing application procedures and eligibility standards.

I think a little caution is a good thing, he said.

ARPA funding has been approved for the following uses:

COVID-19 vaccination programs; testing, monitoring and contact tracing; supporting isolation and quarantine; paid sick, family and medical leave to public employees related to COVID-19 compliance; emergency medical response expenses; communication efforts related to COVID-19 vaccination programs and public health orders; purchase of PPE and disinfection of public areas and facilities; prevention and mitigation in congregate living facilities; ventilation improvements in congregate settings, public health facilities or other public facilities; capital investments or adaptations to public facilities such as hospitals or health clinics; enhancement of behavioral and mental health services; addressing disparities in public health outcomes; support for public health workers, food assistance; rent, mortgage or utility assistance; counseling and legal aid to prevent eviction or homelessness; internet access or digital literacy assistance; job training related to a workers occupation or level of training impacted by COVID-19; assistance to small businesses and non profits; premium pay to essential workers; aid to impacted industries; rehiring of employees; water pollution control; and stormwater runoff control.

Areas where the ARPA funds cannot be used include legal settlements, tax reductions, matching funds for non-federal dollars, economic or workforce development, general infrastructure, and debt service.
In the first installment of this two-part exclusive interview with Shamiso Mtisi, the coordinator of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition (KPCSC), we focused on illegal diamond mining in the continent and where the contraband ends up to.

This week, Mtisi talks about their call for the expansion of the definition of conflict diamonds.

The current Kimberley Process (KP) definition of conflict diamonds is "a rough diamond mined in an area controlled by insurgent forces whose sale is used to finance anti-government military action".

KPCSC wants the new definition to cover environmental issues, violence, poor labour standards and child labour.

Although some member countries of KP had been resisting the move to expand the definition, the KPCSC coordinator told Rough&Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa that there is nothing to worry about as their intention is not to disenfranchise anyone.

He said Russia, the current KP chairperson, can play a pivotal role by bringing the warring parties to a round table to find each other.

Below are excerpts of the interview:

You have been calling for a new definition of conflict diamonds. What is your proposed definition?

Our proposed definition is basically to capture the widespread and systematic cases of violence that may arise from diamond mining operations, diamond trading or other supply chain operations. So it is not just targeted at mining companies, it is also about trading, cutting and polishing supply chain actors. So that includes cases of violence, environmental damage, poor labour standards and cases related to child labour. So, all those things are very important as elements and we are saying the actors should be expanded to include State-entities, State security, and also private security as part of the perpetrators of conflicts and that also means that we are looking at expanding the definition beyond looking at rebel movements.

Then the other element, which is quite important is that many companies and participants in the KP or governments fear that when we are making these proposals, we are saying there should be a total ban on diamonds from areas where there is maybe an accidental spillage of effluent into rivers or where there is environmental damage or cases related to violence or the killing of people, etcetera.

We are not calling for widespread sanctions on diamonds, no! What we are calling for is a situation where those cases, if they happen, can be investigated and then that country or company where this would have happened can then be rehabilitated maybe through training or information sharing with others or through technical support. So those are the kind of incentives that we are looking at. We are not calling for a total ban on diamond mining.

Are you not doing enough to convince the countries and companies that are skeptical of your intentions?

We say those messages, but they may not be able to comprehend it [our argument] maybe the way we put it across. Maybe we may need to revise our approach in terms of saying those things, but this is the message that we are talking about. So, I think it is important that at some point we should have roundtable conversations with those companies and countries that are opposed to our ideas. That is something that we are prepared to do, whether it is the Chinese, the Indians and the Zimbabwean government, South Africa and others around the table so that we can have a conversation.

I think the Russians as KP chair may play that kind of role. I would be happy if the Russians, for example, can call for a meeting for China, the civil society, India and others around the table and then we talk about it. This is an idea that is just coming to me now because for me the most important thing is to address those kinds of situations and see how best we can move forward. I think that is the best the Russians can do when it comes to looking at this issue.

Perhaps you can go on a diplomatic offensive to try and sell your idea to skeptical governments and companies. Is that possible?

Yes, but sometimes you need an arbiter of sorts or a neutral person to do it because that is how sometimes you can go about some of these things, but what you are saying is a possibility and it can help in a big way.

So hypothetically speaking, if Russia tries to play the arbiter, but China, Zimbabwe and others remain adamant that they do not want to change the definition of conflict diamonds. So basically, the impasse would have continued. What will this mean for the future and credibility of KP?

I think it will damage the credibility of the Kimberley Process. The credibility of KP has been damaged already.

How was it damaged?

It has been damaged by failure to expand the definition and change the definition of conflict diamonds. KP is now lagging because what is happening outside KP is that there are a lot of initiatives and a lot of industry-led processes that are promoting responsible sourcing standards take for example the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) is moving ahead with looking and having discussions on diamonds and promoting responsible sourcing standards.

International Responsible Mineral Assurance (IRMA) is also looking at Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) for example, which is a good standard by all intents and purposes. Then we are also as a coalition, because of the inaction of KP, linking up with customers or consumers of diamonds. We are reaching out to consumers and retailers.

What are you telling them?

We are telling them about the diamond story that the diamond industry and diamond-producing companies and those who are into trading diamonds are not willing to change and make sure that the consumers get goods that are responsibly sourced. So, to address cases related to human rights and via a redefinition and then even the diamond industry itself came up with the Natural Diamond Council for purposes of trying to fight against the lab-grown diamonds sector, which is talking about ethical issues.

So that means that the Kimberley Process is lagging, whilst the civil society and consumers are acting outside KP and are trying to help address the problem. So, you will find that as it fails to capture and be relevant, KP will soon vanish into nothingness because times are changing, consumers tastes and interests are changing. So, I think it is time to move forward for KP if it has to remain relevant.

You said that your proposed new definition of conflict diamonds will, inter-alia, deal with environmental issues. We recently saw reports that alleged that Catoca had discharged heavy metals into a river that later caused the death of 12 people and left thousands sick in the neighbouring Democratic of Congo. Have you done some research to establish if they were responsible for the leakage?

Normally what we do is that we rely on United Nations reports and from reports from other Civil Society groups in different countries because our presence is limited but what we have also done is that we have our contacts and colleagues who are part of the coalition in DRC. We do not have membership in Angola, but we rely on press reports, UN reports and other contacts that we may have. So, it is something that we have closely looked at and so far, the indications are that this indeed happened, and we are gathering more information on the situation.

It is an issue of concern, but we have always encouraged the companies involved and the countries that give a high profile to our call for companies to adopt responsible sourcing measures when it comes to environmental issues. These companies should try as much as possible to predict and assess the potential risks of their operations for example if you know that you are operating a certain tailings dam have you assessed their strength, have you assessed the durability, the potential for any dam collapse or wall collapse?

So, if your systems as a company are not foolproof or are not strong you are likely to have those kinds of problems. So that means that at Catoca their systems were not as strong so if they were problems like that let us accept that it happened, and measures should then be taken to address the impact. So, I think what Catoca should not do is bury their heads in the sand and not take responsibility. They should just take responsibility if there is a need for compensation of certain people or rehabilitation of the environment, the company should just do it.

So, no one is raising hell about it, but what we are doing is to encourage Catoca to do more, including the shareholders, and I know ALROSA is a shareholder. They (ALROSA) should be asking questions and raising issues with the company so that it becomes more responsible and does not damage the name and reputation of the company. So those are the kind of things that we are raising, and we must know that accidents happen, but what measures do you take to address those situations?

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
(diamonds.net) - HRD Antwerp has terminated its collaboration with a local partner in Turkey and Dubai, the Belgian grading organization said. Mehmet Can Ozdemir and his company had managed HRDs laboratory in Turkey since 2014, Ellen Joncheere, HRDs CEO, told Rapaport News Wednesday. HRD owned 50% of the business in Turkey in a joint venture, while the pair also operated a partnership in Dubai in which HRD held a majority stake. Joncheere and Ozdemir both denied a report on a Turkish news website alleging that the Istanbul office had over-graded stones and that this was the reason for closing the office. Instead, the October 11 termination was an effort to divorce from a bad marriage in which the two parties had different visions on how to develop the business, Joncheere said.
San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD) is now considering six maps for its transition to by-trustee areas. The process to draw up map options to change from an at-large election method to trustee districts is being undertaken in response to threats of costly litigation for violations of the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA).

Attorney Jonathan Salt, of Fagen Freidman & Fullfrost, said making the transition is the only safe harbor from potential CVRA litigation and many governmental bodies in California have had to go through the process.

Since the district begun public hearings in October, the map options have grown from three to six, based on feedback received and in an effort to provide alternative concepts, according to SDUHSD Superintendent Eric Dill.

The board will select from one of the map options at its board meeting on Thursday, Dec. 14 at 6:30 p.m.

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The selected map will then go to the San Diego County Committee on School District Organization for approval and if the committee approves the change, the new voting areas would take effect in the 2018 general election.

The maps have no effect on attendance boundaries, Salt stressed, they just create districts where candidates need to live to run for the board and for people to vote for them.

At a community meeting at Torrey Pines High School on Nov. 14, the small crowd of three residents watched a video from demographer Doug Johnson, president of National Demographic Corporation, on his thoughts when putting the maps together.

Johnson said the maps followed certain criteria: each district had to have an equal population and race cannot be a predominant factor. Maps focused on neighborhoods and communities of interest together, such as elementary school feeder districts and boundaries of middle school attendance boundaries and cities.

An effort was made to include at least two middle school attendance zones in each district so trustees are representing multiple schools. Only one, the orange map, has Pacific Trails Middle School represented by just one trustee.

Attendance at community meetings and hearings has been sparse. A meeting at San Dieguito Academy High School on Nov. 13 was attended by just one person, a student reporter for the school paper. The Torrey Pines meeting was attended by two Carmel Valley residents and one Cardiff resident. Only one of two parents at the boards hearing on Nov. 16 provided input. A last public meeting was held on Nov. 28.

Some concerns expressed by residents were that Pacific Highlands Ranch might be under-represented and that one of the maps splits Cardiff  as the resident noted, San Dieguito High School Academy is separated from the Cardiff Elementary School, which has historically been preferred by Cardiff students. Another resident had concerns about equally splitting Rancho Santa Fe between the district lines as he said he believes many residents there send their children to private schools.

If I lived in Solana Beach and planned to go to Earl Warren I would be worried about my trustee being influenced by Rancho Santa Fe voters who dont want their tax dollars spent heavily influencing the election and candidates, the resident said.

One resident reflected that while it is not the districts intent, when lines are drawn on maps, it feels like the goal is to separate. She said that the conversation shes heard in Encinitas is that philosophically, residents are concerned about seated board members perceiving their job as representing specific districts only.

Were hoping that there isnt that danger of people thinking that they only represent a particular area, Dill said. The current board understands that they represent the entire district but that is the concern and the danger moving forward that future candidates or board members might only think that they represent a certain neighborhood.

All of the maps and demographers video presentation are available to view at cvra.sduhsd.net.

Those who cannot attend a hearing but would still like to weigh in on the maps can submit comments and feedback to cvra@sduhsd.net.
Jason Lilienthal y Trujillo, along with his sister, Katy, were born and raised in Santa Fe, children of former Zozobra fire dancer Chip Lilienthal. Katy also was a fire dancer in the tradition of her family. Both grew up being a part of and participating in Santa Fes rich culture, the Burning of Zozobra and the Fiesta de Santa Fe. Jason works in historic preservation with an emphasis on preserving intangible cultural heritage. Other contributors include B. Spencer (Santa Fe native), C. Sanchez (Santa Fe native) and Paul Tapia (Santa Fe native and 2001 Don Diego de Vargas).
MIAMI (AP)  Florida's top health official was asked to leave a meeting after refusing to wear a mask at the office of a state senator who told him she had a serious medical condition, officials have confirmed.

Florida Senate leader Wilton Simpson, a Republican, sent a memo to senators Saturday regarding the incident at the office of Democratic state Sen. Tina Polsky, asking visitors at the building to be respectful with social interactions. Polsky, who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, had not yet made public her breast cancer diagnosis.

Polsky told The Associated Press about the tense exchange with state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo that was first reported by the news site Florida Politics. She said Ladapo and two aides were offered masks and asked to wear them when they arrived for the Wednesday meeting. She did not tell him she had breast cancer, but said she had a serious condition.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cancer patients are at a higher risk to get severely ill from COVID-19 and may not build the same immunity to vaccines.

Ladapo had asked to meet her in Tallahassee as he seeks confirmation in the Senate after being named to the post by Gov. Ron DeSantis last month.

It was so shocking to me that he treated me in this manner, Polsky said. If he is a surgeon general for the next several years, I am really concerned about a future public health emergency and not being able to rely on him for necessary guidance and proper scientific leadership.

Ladapo offered to go outside, but the senator said she did not want to sit on the metal picnic tables on a warm day when her office was nice and spacious. She said she asked whether there was a reason why he couldn't wear a mask, but he wouldn't answer.

Democrats have opposed the appointment of Ladapo, criticizing him for comments and actions related to the pandemic.

A day into his job, Ladapo signed new rules allowing parents to decide whether their children should quarantine or stay in school after being exposed to people who tested positive for COVID-19.

On Thursday at a press conference with DeSantis to oppose vaccine mandates, Ladapo said people were not comfortable with the vaccines because the federal government has not been open about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines, saying there was a concerted effort to hide stories of people with adverse reactions.

Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine has received the full approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, meeting high standards required for the vaccine to be considered safe. It has been administered to millions and proven to be effective against hospitalization and death. However, immunity against infection can wane over time.

Authorities in Sweden, Denmark and Norway earlier this month suspended or discouraged the use of Modernas COVID-19 vaccine in young people because of an increased risk of heart inflammation, a very rare side effect associated with the shot.

Ladapo also wrote an opinion column in the Wall Street Journal saying masks have little or no effect on respiratory virus transmission.

The CDC still recommends people with weakened immune systems, and those in high-transmission areas to wear masks. Studies have supported their use, with some finding that cloth masks are less effective.

In the memo sent by Simpson, the president of the Florida senate, he said that while there's no mask mandate in the Senate, senators can request social distancing and masking within their offices.

It shouldn't take a cancer diagnosis for people to respect each other's level of comfort with social interactions during a pandemic, he said. "What occurred in Senator Polsky's office was unprofessional and will not be tolerated in the Senate."

The Florida Department of Healths spokeswoman Weesam Khoury said the agency was not aware of any specific Senate protocol, but said it would ask members ahead of time and make necessary accommodations such as meeting through Zoom or outdoors.

The Department of Health will be addressing this directly with members of the Senate, rather than letting this play out publicly, Khoury said in an email.
ABERDEEN, Wash. (AP)  A crowd is pouring into a parking lot on Broadway Street in Aberdeen.

People in booths are hawking homemade goods. Theres rainbow flags. Tweens with kitchen-sink dye jobs. Old folks and strollers. Everyone is cheering for the drag performers swaggering between rows of folding canvas chairs.

Compared to big city Pride events, this is small  but so meaningful in places where being queer isnt always easy.

City Councilwoman Tiesa Meskis is beaming in her tie-dye shirt and magenta eyeshadow. She and her wife, Julie Meskis, are setting handmade lotions and essential oils on a table. Its been a side business for six years.

This is our first drag show, she told KNKX Public Radio with a smile.

Tiesa Meskis is easygoing. You wouldnt know it, but she had a wild summer that peaked with an international news story that turned ugly. But thats not why were talking.

When I first heard about Meskis, I didnt know there was a trans woman politician in Washington state. I checked in with the LGBTQ Victory Fund, and it turns out they hadnt heard of another one either. Meskis is Washingtons first openly transgender official that we know of.

I revealed this on her couch. Her eyes shot open.

I thought there had to be at least one or two more, she said. Thats kind of amazing.

Big, crunchy Northwest cities like Seattle and Olympia have a reputation for accessible health care and safety, which appeal to transgender people.

But Aberdeen isnt that at all. Its rural, coastal and conservative by comparison.

Its small, a 10-minute drive end to end, with one-way streets on the main drag. Its got tough roots. Logging and fishing built this place, and Aberdeens never quite recovered from those industries implosion. Some here proudly trace their lineage to pioneer roots. Others would leave  if they had the money.

Meskis isnt from Aberdeen. She grew up in Santa Cruz, California, a confused Catholic kid who found release and community through the campy, bold queerness of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. For decades, fear kept her in the closet, but about two years ago she started inching out and experimenting with her presentation in public using subtle makeup, womens clothes and long hair.

After a while, people began asking if she was transitioning. Shed tell them that she wasnt quite ready to admit it, a wishy-washy sentiment that weighed on her.

By July, she just couldnt wait.

Meskis was more than a year and a half into her term on the city council when she came out. It was a bit of a non-event. The local paper, The Daily World, didnt cover it as a standalone story.

Walking around Aberdeen, people were familiar with Meskis but said her coming out wasnt a big deal around town.

I ran into locals David Jackson and Albert Cummings outside Key Bank. They said people here mind their own business.

Cummings, who is Black, recalled when he moved to Aberdeen more than 25 years ago.

When I first got here, I met a lot of people who were racial, he said. And I mean racial. But now, since Ive been here for so long, we all get along good.

Meskis appearance may have changed, but her politics havent. She was elected on bread-and-butter issues like roads, police staffing and budgeting.

Her number one issue is building a levee to take Aberdeen out of a floodplain, which she says drives out investment. If you spend enough money refurbishing a house or business, the Federal Emergency Management Agency gets involved. Its a nightmare, she said.

She described Aberdeen as a town searching for its next new venture.

Its been dilapidated and not ran so well for a few years, she said. And we have this kind of rival of the old school trying to keep things in the past and revive that old-school logging and fishing nature. The rest of us are going, No! We need to move forward! Were a town a little at odds with itself at times.

Political races with transgender candidates, even small ones, can make national news  but only when theres conflict. The casual, live and let live attitude in Aberdeen could explain why nobody has heard about her.

And why everything was quiet until Meskis heard about a transphobic sign posted at The Sucher & Sons Star Wars shop.

It said, If youve got a d--- youre not a chick, Meskis said.

Shes unsure if the sign was about her, but it hurt all the same. She marched to the store with her wife, who filmed an interaction with owner Don Sucher. It turned personal with Sucher asking, Do you know how many people youve embarrassed in city hall?

In the days after the video went viral, activists planned to protest the store, but canceled when far-right Proud Boys from Oregon announced theyd attend a counterprotest. A few dozen Sucher supporters showed up. The Daily World wrote that hundreds more dropped in to buy up Star Wars memorabilia.

Meskis stayed out of it, but people in Aberdeen and around the world started harassing her online. Some conservatives claimed shed duped people into voting for her.

All of a sudden, her identity mattered. A lot. Meskis felt angry, hurt and that who she was distracted from what she wanted to do.

My objective was never to trick anybody, you know, she said. When I ran for office, I ran on my ideals and those are still my ideals. Your gender identity, your sexuality, I dont think should be a determining factor in whether or not youre suitable to fill a position within government.

Its been two months and the online harassment has died down. At the drag show, queer people said Aberdeen is getting better, although its still behind the times on LGBTQ issues.

Ashton Lanning is a transmasculine person who was bullied mercilessly in middle and high school.

If I were more out, or less passing, and worked regular jobs, I would be screwed. And there are a lot of genuinely good allies here. Im not going to s--- on my community. Theyre half the reason Im still here.

In Meskis, he feels theres someone on his side. Considering what hes experienced, her historic status made him wide-eyed.

Meskis is proud that queer people here see something in her. But her goal was never to make a grand point about gender or social issues. It was economics and infrastructure.

And in the end, its not transphobia, the video or the bullying on social media that may run her out of town, but the very issues she cares about.

The business with her wife Julie? They want a brick-and-mortar store. The floodplain makes insuring a house or business here nearly impossible. Shes not sure if shell have the opportunity to run again.

If were still in the area, I might run again, Meskis said. Theres a lot about Aberdeen that I still really like. Id feel I was abandoning people if I left too soon.
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Tyler Harrington, a tattoo artist at the State of Grace tattoo shop in San Jose, is the busiest hes ever been. Im currently booked til mid-October, he said.

As tattoo shops reopened and artists went back to work, the industry has seen a resurgence, both regionally and nationally. Data from Square, a financial services company that provides point of sale systems, shows tattoo sales compared with expected demands have surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

After we first reopened, there was a huge boom in clientele, Harrington said. A lot of people had time to really think about what they wanted, and people also took that risk of, This really made me think of my own mortality and I want to live the life I want to live without thinking about the repercussions.

The Square data shows that, nationally, the number of tattoos paid for using their system in July was twice as high as would be expected based on pre-pandemic trends. In the Bay Area, tattoos were up 20% in July, after being down 73% as recently as January 2021.

We spoke to seven Bay Area residents who got tattoos during or just before this resurgence. See those tattoos and hear their stories in the photo gallery below.

The change that helped bolster the tattoo boom was in motion before the pandemic, though, as the once-fringe art form gained more respect outside of its traditional spaces.

Karin Breur is a curator at the de Young Museum in San Francisco who has taken an interest in tattoos as an important art form. She began her first foray into the tattoo world during her work curating Ed Hardy: Deeper Than Skin, an exhibit mounted at the de Young after Hardy, a legendary tattoo artist, donated prints of all his designs to the museum.

I just saw the de Young Museum as the perfect venue for a retrospective of Ed Hardy. He never had such a show and, you know, I also wanted to bring out the fact that with a lot of tattoo artists, they are called artists for a reason, said Breur. Tattooing is an art form. And thats something I wanted to introduce to our museum public or visitors that may not have been apparent to them.

Respect for the art of tattooing has grown just as tattoos and other body modifications have become more mainstream. The permanent inkings, once seen as unprofessional or even seedy, have become more common among people from all walks of life.

Its had this national resurgence, Breuer said. Well, its really international at this point, among Millennials to be sure. But I think it even goes back as far as Gen Xers, being the first ones to kind of embrace the tattoo as something to celebrate and something to be creative about on ones body.

COVID-19 and related shutdown measures were devastating to this resurgence.

Petaluma Tattoo was on the cusp of its opening in early spring 2020, after owner Nick Rodin had spent five months working on acquiring the space for his new shop. I believe it was like February 26 when we got the keys, he said.

Just a few weeks later, Rodin had to begin the longest break of his decades-long career, as the coronavirus pandemic completely shut down the tattoo world, delaying his shops opening for almost a year.

In the 22 years since I started tattooing, he said, I've maybe taken three weeks off of tattooing.

As other industries did, tattooing had to reassess and recalibrate, as ink artists were unable to work for months and shops sat dormant while owners struggled to pay for them.

Harrington, of San Jose, a 12-year tattoo veteran whos been at State of Grace for more than three years, said having to be away from the shop and tattooing during its shutdown took a toll on him.

Its kind of hard to explain, but in this tattooing culture, it isnt work or a job, he said. This is a full-time lifestyle. It was emotional too, because we felt worthless. We understood that tattoos arent essential, but it was our way of life and it was rough for us.

Harringtons tattooing style, which was influenced by his love for cartooning, also changed dramatically during the pandemic.

After being alone for about nine months, my artwork started taking a darker turn, he said. My mind wasnt as clear and happy to make the happy stuff. The whole world was in fear.

But the post-pandemic boom has been more than financially rewarding for Harrington. He said he also thinks the pandemic showed the tattoo community at its best.

You had amazing people reach out. One client reached out and asked if I wanted their stimulus check because they didnt need it, he said. You heard all the backlash and people fighting over the news, but you didnt hear too much about the people coming together to help each other, and it was great to experience that first-hand.

That same client would end up changing Harringtons life in a more significant way, too, and changing the pandemic experience for the better for both of them.

That client is now my girlfriend, he explained. She really looked out for me and saved me.

As Petaluma Tattoo waited for it to be safe enough to finally open, Rodin said, the shop also experienced terrific community support, from clients and fellow artists alike. Locals reached out to buy gift certificates. People came by before the business was open to buy T-shirts Rodin sold on the shops front porch.

Thats one of the things we love about Petaluma and the Bay Area so much. Its just the connection to the community and everyones there for each other, said Rodin.

And despite the imposed delay, Rodin now thinks his shop landed in a better position than if they had opened when they originally intended.

The pandemic kind of helped us skip the first awkward years of building a clientele. Its been a nice little surprise, said Rodin.

Morayo Ogunbayo and Yoohyun Jung are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: morayo.ogunbayo@sfchronicle.com, yoohyun.jung@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @morayogunbayo, @yoohyun_jung
The Black Panther Party was less than a year old when it gained national notoriety on May 2, 1967. Two dozen legally gun-toting members marched into the State Capitol to oppose a Republican gun control bill and brazenly expose the hypocrisy of politicians who only invoked the Second Amendment when it applied to white people.

Then-Gov. Ronald Reagan signed the bill, but the Black Panthers had delivered their message. It would just take several decades for most people to glean what that message actually was.

Politicians, police and the media, including The Chronicle, fixated on the shotguns, Afros and attitude while ignoring the Panthers more potent tools: a visceral understanding of this countrys racial injustices and a radical approach to addressing them.

As the Oakland-born political organization celebrates its 55th anniversary this month, some of its former members are reflecting on the partys misrepresented past, its true legacy and the unfinished work ahead.

Provided by Fredrika Newton

The partys story begins in October 1966, when Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded what they then called the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. This was a tumultuous time in America. Civil rights leaders were being assassinated and peaceful Black protesters were being met with astonishing police violence.

A month before the party started operating, a Black teenager named Matthew Johnson Jr. was shot and killed by a white police officer in San Franciscos Hunters Point neighborhood. The incident kicked off days of riots.

The groups slogan, Power to the People, embodied its Ten-Point Platform and programs calling for improved housing, education and job opportunities, along with an end to police brutality. Newton, Seale and other young Black activists hungered for a more aggressive movement capable of digging deeper into the subjugation of Black Americans.

When you say you want to be Panther, they dont give you a gun or any s like that, recalled veteran party member and historian Billy X Jennings. What you got is books about the law, about the history of America. We had to be educated so we could go out and reeducate the community.

The party wanted to change America, but it also wanted to build up the Black community by making it self-reliant. American schools systems let Black students go hungry, so Black Panthers created a free breakfast program. We didnt have equal access to health care so they started free health clinics and pioneered research on sickle cell anemia. The LGBT and womens liberation movements were gaining ground, so the party openly threw its support behind both. In fact, the Black Panther Party was predominantly led by women.

While this work was happening, the FBI was undertaking an obsessive counterintelligence operation known as Cointelpro. According to a 1976 staff report from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities, Cointelpro set out to destroy the party by using undercover agents and informants to sow division within its ranks. Cointelpros efforts facilitated numerous killings, arrests and dubious convictions.

It also peddled a dangerous lie, one that stuck for decades: The Black Panther Party was a Black nationalist movement.

It wasnt a Black nationalist movement. They had white allies. They had Puerto Rican, Latino, AAPI allies, said California Rep. Barbara Lee, who led a virtual event earlier this year with other congressional members to discuss Cointelpros legacy. It was an internationalist organization.

Lee should know. She served as a community volunteer for the party in the 1960s, when she said she was also monitored by the FBI.

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.

Its taken decades for a more accurate picture of the Black Panthers to emerge. It was only in 2014 that the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, as part of a multimillion-dollar expansion, added information to recognize the partys contributions to the civil rights movement, according to Lee. Judas and the Black Messiah, the acclaimed film from earlier this year, introduced a new audience to the partys work and the FBIs efforts to sabotage it. And Oakland just this past week unveiled its first public art installation commemorating the homegrown party  a bronze bust of co-founder Huey Newton in West Oakland.

This would not have happened without the partys former members and those they inspired. But the fact that the mainstream is only catching on to the truth five decades after the fact is its own kind of travesty  and call to action.

Black people still experience disproportionate police violence, still contend with the neglect of government institutions and again face new voter suppression efforts (including through Republican-backed recalls in California). The Black Panther Party didnt solve these problems. But despite a national smear campaign, it helped inspire a generation that more broadly believes in social justice and direct action.

So says Fredrika Newton, the co-founder and president of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, a former Black Panther and the widow of Huey Newton. She points to the people power on display after the murder of George Floyd last year.

The earnestness, the diversity of the crowds, the commitment, the political education they were doing right at ground zero ... Im encouraged by it all, she told me.

The Black Panthers didnt wait for racist institutions to learn their ways. They confronted them. Half a century later, their approach is now mainstream. And whats more radical than that?

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Justin Phillips appears Sundays. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips
Last week, Dr. Bob Wachter  one of the Bay Areas leading experts on COVID-19, who is known to be cautious  did something potentially surprising: He hosted a 300-person medical conference in downtown San Francisco, with people traveling in from different places, despite the ongoing pandemic.

Of course, those who attended the conference all had their vaccine cards checked and wore masks indoors, and there was a virtual option for those not quite ready to attend something in person. But for many, going to the conference was a big step  and one of their first forays back into regular life, said Wachter, the chair of UCSFs Department of Medicine.

That slow shift back, with pandemic calculus still running in the background, is how Bay Area public health and infectious disease experts see the upcoming months and years of the coronavirus crisis, as cases remain relatively low, but risk persists.

Seeing (the pandemic) through the lens of this may be a pretty stable state, creates a different risk-benefit analysis, at least for me, Wachter said.

And with that new approach, Wachter said he has recently decided to loosen up on his own COVID-19 precaution-taking. Hes more open to things like eating inside restaurants, flying for vacations or to visit family  or even holding a 300-person conference in San Francisco.

Im still going to be thoughtful and careful, he said, but if Im not going to do it now, Im probably saying that Im not going to do it for the next couple of years, and I might be saying Im not doing it forever. I hate to say that, but its possible that this is it.

While not every infectious disease expert is willing to loosen up quite yet, with many emphasizing that people must continue to take into account their individual risk and the context of immunity and illness levels where they live, this is it is a consensus that many doctors and disease experts are starting to come to.

It means that COVID-19 will continue to be around for at least the next few years, but were going to coexist with it.

Eradication, meaning complete elimination of this virus from the world, is not going to happen, said Dr. John Swartzberg, a UC Berkeley infectious disease expert. Were going to be living with COVID.

He added that pandemics are defined by humans, so when, exactly, COVID-19 will no longer be considered a pandemic  becoming endemic instead, or always in the background, like influenza  isnt clear-cut. He thinks the time will come when surges in case numbers slow, and the reproduction number, or how many people an infected person passes the virus to, remains consistently below one.

While that might still necessitate changes in our behavior, he added, hes optimistic  Well adapt to it, well live with it, and life is going to be fun again.

Dr. George Rutherford, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, said the endemic phase will probably include a lower everyday risk as well as a much lower mortality rate for the virus. To him, getting there is a race between booster shots and waning immunity, with the next few months being critical, during which he recommends people stay careful.

Experts agree that with booster shots and increasing vaccinations overall, the endemic phase will settle in over the next few years.

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.

Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, said that especially with children between 5 and 11 set to become eligible for vaccines soon  a milestone nearly every expert is looking forward to  she believes the end is in sight as rates of immunity in the community continue to rise.

I think we are getting to control of COVID-19 in this country, she wrote in an email. However, the state of control for communicable diseases (which means that a disease is brought to low circulating levels and impact) takes constant vigilance, and that vigilance is in vaccinating those who are still without immunity (e.g. children) and using treatment for those who decline vaccination.

Gandhi is not alone in her optimism about better treatments for the virus coming. Experts agree its another key piece of the post-pandemic puzzle. Swartzberg said that better vaccines and treatments could be a game changer.

While experts still arent sure about the exact timeline for post-pandemic life  waiting on higher immunity levels and wary of another surprise like the delta variant  one thing is for sure: Risk will never be zero, and decision-making is fuzzy.

Living in the pandemic is like playing multidimensional chess, Wachter said. All of us are having to navigate our lives and make decisions under conditions of substantial uncertainty, and the ground is shifting under us all the time.

Danielle Echeverria is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: danielle.echeverria@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DanielleEchev
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fired a fatal gunshot from a prop gun that he had been told was safe, a camera crew for the movie he was filming walked off the job to protest conditions and production issues that included safety concerns.

Disputes in the production of the Western film Rust" began almost from the start in early October and culminated with seven crew members walking off several hours before 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed.

The crew members had expressed their discontent with matters that ranged from safety procedures to their housing accommodations, according to one of those who left. He requested anonymity for fear that speaking up would hurt his prospects for future jobs. Rust Movie Productions did not answer emails Friday and Saturday seeking comment.

At a rehearsal on the film set Thursday at Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe, the gun Baldwin used was one of three that a firearms specialist, or armorer, had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed, according to the court records.

Court records indicate that an assistant director, Dave Halls, grabbed a prop gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating incorrectly that the weapon didn't carry live rounds by yelling cold gun.

Now Playing: A prop firearm discharged by veteran actor Alec Baldwin, who is producing and starring in a Western movie, killed his director of photography and injured the director Thursday at the movie set outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, authorities said. (Oct. 22) Video: Associated Press

When Baldwin pulled the trigger, he unwittingly killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her inside a wooden, chapel-like building.

Baldwin, 63, who is known for his roles in 30 Rock and The Hunt for Red October and his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, has described the killing as a tragic accident. He was a producer of Rust.

Halls did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment.

A 911 call that alerted authorities to the shooting at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe hints at the panic on the movie set, as detailed in a recording released by the Santa Fe County Regional Emergency Communications Center.

We had two people accidentally shot on a movie set by a prop gun, we need help immediately, script supervisor Mamie Mitchell told an emergency dispatcher. We were rehearsing and it went off, and I ran out, we all ran out.

The dispatcher asked if the gun was loaded with a real bullet.

I cannot tell you. We have two injuries, Mitchell replied. And this (expletive) AD (assistant director) that yelled at me at lunch, asking about revisions....Hes supposed to check the guns. He's responsible for what happens on the set.

The Associated Press was unable to contact Hannah Gutierrez, the film's armorer, and several messages sent to production companies affiliated with Rust did not receive responses Friday.

Court records say that Halls grabbed the firearm from the cart and brought it inside to the actor, also unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in a search warrant application.

It was unclear how many rounds were fired. Gutierrez removed a shell casing from the gun after the shooting, and she turned the weapon over to police when they arrived, the court records say.

Guns used in making movies are sometimes real weapons that can fire either bullets or blanks, which are gunpowder charges intended to produce little more than a flash and a bang.

New Mexico workplace safety investigators are examining if film industry standards for gun safety were followed during production of Rust. The Los Angeles Times, citing two crew members it did not name, reported that five days before the shooting, Baldwins stunt double accidentally fired two live rounds after being told the gun didnt have any ammunition.

A crew member who was alarmed by the misfires told a unit production manager in a text message, Weve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe, according to a copy of the message reviewed by the newspaper. The New York Times also reported that there were at least two earlier accidental gun discharges; it cited three former crew members.

Mitchell, the script supervisor, told The Associated Press she was standing next to Hutchins when the cinematographer was hit.

I ran out and called 911 and said Bring everybody, send everybody, Mitchell said. This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman.

Filmmaker Souza, who was shot in the shoulder, said in a statement to NBC News that he was grateful for the support he was receiving and gutted by the loss of Hutchins. She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch and always pushed me to be better, he said.

Santa Fe-area District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said prosecutors will be reviewing evidence in the shooting and do not know if charges will be filed.

Hutchins husband Matthew Hutchins posted on social media to mourn his wifes loss, ask for privacy for his family, and thank her friends and mentors at the American Film Institute, who he said nurtured the success we had only just begun to see flourish.

The institute's conservatory canceled cinematography classes Friday in response to Hutchins' death.

At a vigil Saturday around 200 film crew workers gathered for a candlelight vigil as the sun set. They shared grief at the loss of one of their own, and fear of accidents on their own film sets.

Several in attendance lit candles, held a moment of silence, read poetry and made brief comments including one testimonial to her artistic spark and generosity.

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.

Her death shouldnt have happened, Union sets should be safe sets, said Liz Pecos, president of IATSE Local 480.

Production on Rust was halted after the shooting. The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website.

The crew member that spoke to the AP said he never witnessed any formal orientation about weapons used on set, which normally would take place before filming begins.

He also said only minimal COVID-19 precautions were taken even though crew and cast members often worked in small enclosed spaces on the ranch.

The crew was initially housed at the Courtyard by Marriot in Santa Fe, according to the crew member. Four days in, however, they were told that going forward they would be housed at the budget Coyote South hotel. Some crew members balked at staying there.

We packed our gear and left that morning, the crew member said of the Thursday walkout.

The Los Angeles Times and Variety also reported on the walkout.

Gutierrez, the films armorer, is the daughter of a longtime Hollywood firearms expert. She gave an interview in September to the Voices of the West podcast in which she said she had learned how to handle guns from her father since she was a teenager.

During the podcast interview, Gutierrez shared that she just finished her first movie in the role of head armorer, a project in Montana starring Nicolas Cage titled The Old Way.

I was really nervous about it at first and I almost didnt take the job because I wasnt sure if I was ready but doing it, like, it went really smoothly," she said.

In another on-set gun death from 1993, Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was killed by a bullet left in a prop gun after a previous scene. Similar shootings have occurred involving stage weapons that were loaded with live rounds during historical re-enactments.

Gun-safety protocol on sets in the United States has improved since then, said Steven Hall, a veteran director of photography in Britain. But he said one of the riskiest positions to be in is behind the camera because that person is in the line of fire in scenes where an actor appears to point a gun at the audience.

___

Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Jake Coyle and Jocelyn Noveck in New York; Lizzie Knight in London; Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine; Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles; Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Walter Berry in Phoenix; and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP)  A struggle between a police officer and a murder suspect led to the officer's gun being discharged in a Virginia Beach hospital stairwell.

The Virginian-Pilot reports it happened Friday at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital.

Virginia Beach police say no one was injured, and there was never an active shooter in the building.

In a statement released Saturday morning, police said an officer arrived at the hospital to take Matthew Christie into custody.

Christie, 38, is charged with first-degree murder and malicious assault of his 74-year-old mother, Linda Christie. She was found dead Oct. 16.

Police had responded to their home after a request to check on the welfare of the residents. At the time, Matthew Christie had serious injuries and was taken to Virginia Beach General.

On Friday, he fled from the arresting officer, who caught up to him in a stairwell. Officials said Christie attempted to disarm the officer, leading to his handgun discharging.

No one else was in the stairwell at the time and Christie was eventually restrained and taken into custody, police said. Hell face additional charges from the incident.
Earlier this month, former Facebook data scientist turned whistle-blower Frances Haugen detailed how the social media company knowingly makes decisions that undermine our democracy in its quest for astronomical profits.

They want you to believe ... in order to share fun photos of your kids with old friends, you must also be inundated with misinformation ... thats not true, Haugen told the a Senate subcommittee in testimony that followed her leak of thousands of pages of internal Facebook research to the Wall Street Journal and a 60 Minutes interview. These problems are solvable ... Facebook chooses profit over safety every day.

Haugens revelations enraged legislators, who called for subpoenas and debated  yet again  possible regulatory fixes. They also prompted another round of doomsday predictions about Facebooks fate (in an obvious bit of damage control, the company is now planning a rebrand) and probably led some, worn down by the endless news of malfeasance, to finally delete their accounts.

The exhaustive focus on Facebook is understandable and justified, given its size and impact. But this outsized scrutiny has allowed another set of key actors in a similarly cacophonous, largely unregulated, for-profit, information ecosystem to go underinvestigated  the cable, satellite and streaming television companies that also host incendiary content.

Fox News, One America News Network and Newsmax (the latter two are far-right channels that began broadcasting in 2013 and 2014, respectively; OAN, with help from AT&T, is owned by Robert Herring Sr. and his sons, and Christopher Ruddy owns Newsmax) form a collective alternative universe that amplified President Donald Trumps false claims of voter fraud and helped prolong this horrible pandemic by playing down the severity of COVID-19, promoting fake cures and turning vaccination and masking into a partisan battle.

After months of spreading the Stop-the-Steal mantra that led to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, One America News Networks Pearson Sharp suggested that traitors he said meddled with the election to bring down Trump should be killed. What are the consequences ... what happens to them? he asked. Well, in the past, America had a very good solution or dealing with such traitors  execution. (Sharp later denied he was calling for executions.)

In February, U.S. Reps. Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney, both California Democrats, citing research that these channels were vectors of spreading misinformation about the election and COVID-19, wrote to 12 cable and satellite companies and streaming services to inquire about their policies.

Their questions included: What moral or ethical principles are applied when deciding if to carry  or when to take adverse action against  a channel? Are there any content guidelines? How many subscribers watched Fox News, Newsmax and One America News Network between Election Day and the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection? What steps were taken to monitor, respond to, and reduce the spread of disinformation, including encouragement or incitement of violence?

In response to Eshoos and McNerneys questions, Republicans cried censorship. Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican who pushed the canard that Biden didnt actually win the election, demanded a hearing on cancel culture. An editorial in Eshoos district newspaper, the Palo Alto Daily Post, suggested Eshoos unforced error would escalate the discussion that, at 78 years old, she should retire.

But Eshoo and McNerney were skewered for asking questions that we should, in fact, all be asking  namely, how these companies see their responsibility when the channels they host are peddling dangerous falsehoods that are eroding our democracy.

Earlier this month, I obtained all 12 yet-to-be-released company replies. Reading their letters the answer became clear to me: They see none.

While most condemned the attack on the Capitol, and decried forces that seek to undermine our democracy, they also shirked any responsibility.

The agreements do not place Altice in a position to exercise editorial discretion over particular content carried on the channels or to drop the channels or networks altogether during their term, wrote Paul Jamieson, vice president for government affairs and policy for Altice USA, the New York-based cable provider that carries Fox News and Newsmax to millions of subscribers in 21 states via Optimum and Suddenlink.

Verizons senior vice president for federal government relations, Robert Fisher, wrote that he was unable to discuss specific terms of agreements because of confidentiality provisions and likewise could not provide viewership data. The programmer decides what content it will or will not carry and whether to remove content from its network, he wrote.

Most of the replies were cordial and at least paid lip service to the notion that they understood the magnitude of the problem we face societally. But Hulu President Kelly Campbell took offense.

While we certainly respect the right of any citizen, including government officials, to express views about our programming decisions, we are deeply troubled by requests by government officials for detailed explanations about editorial decisions, Campbell wrote.

As a journalist, however, I was deeply troubled to see a tech company CEO lecture two veteran members of Congress about freedom of speech and to balk at mere questioning. What job do members of Congress have if not to protect our democracy and seek information that could help inform their decision-making on issues of national import?

This isnt about freedom of the press. It is about what we, as a society, are going to do about a very complex disinformation ecosystem. Some legal experts, free speech advocates and net neutrality proponents, like the companies themselves, might recoil at Verizon or Roku or any other provider discriminating between content, preferring to see them treated as common carriers. But can we at least agree that the role these companies have in our undermining our democracy should be part of the national discussion alongside Facebooks?

It is no doubt a very blunt instrument to drop a channel, the way Apples app store decided to remove (temporarily) the right-wing social networking service, Parler. But its not too blunt to ask these powerful corporations to draft a set of transparent guidelines that take our democracy into account.

Where is it written there that a private television company must host content that is strewn with falsehoods? Severing ties with disinformation brokers wouldnt be censorship or partisan. It would be a bold act of corporate social responsibility.

You dont see the same problems on CBS, NBC or ABC, which the Federal Communications Commission oversees. But there is no similar authority over the cable channels since they dont use the public airwaves.

Perhaps there should be.

Cable and satellite channel providers should consult with companies that also tried  and failed  to remain neutral.

YouTube was a great partner ... in identifying and stopping misinformation from flourishing, Michigans secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, said at an Oct. 6 panel hosted by UC Irvines School of Law on disinformation and elections. Id like to see some of that leadership from some of the other outlets.

Any information company can articulate a clear set of principles that will guide their decisions on who they will host and act on them. They can explain why they continue to sign contracts with purported news outlets that have long been misinformation rumor mills and conspiracy hotbeds that produce content that leads to real harm, as Eshoo and McNerney wrote.

The companies responses, however, indicate that without pressure, most wont do anything. They wont cut ties with a channel that suggested Democrats be executed, or others that pushed lies about the election that contributed to a deadly insurrection that even now continue to spread falsehoods about COVID-19, because a large number of their subscribers would be enraged if they did.

But, given the stakes, we should demand a more thoughtful discussion of why they wont.

Dipped into a few mins of Fox News tonight, PBS NewsHours William Brangham recently tweeted. The lies about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines were coming fast and furious. Hard to see how were gonna solve any of our problems when gaslighting is so profitable.

By now, we can say unequivocally that Facebook cannot be counted on to reform on its own. At the same time, all Americans should ask the CEOs of AT&T, Dish, Roku, Comcast and the rest how they see their responsibility regarding the content they host. Because, as it stands, we are all subsidizing dangerous lies with our monthly subscriptions.

Janine Zacharia, a former Washington Post reporter, is the Carlos Kelly McClatchy lecturer in the department of communication at Stanford University.
UPDATE: See satellite photos of before and after the atmospheric river, and where California reservoir totals stand now.

The Bay Areas third strongest storm since 1950  and strongest in 26 years on the Bay Area Storm Index  slammed the region on Sunday, with drenching rain and powerful wind gusts expected continue pounding through Monday. While the bomb cyclone affecting parts of Northern California and the Pacific Northwest was not directly over the Bay Area, power outages, downed trees and localized flooding were widespread due to the Category 5 atmospheric river. Evacuation orders were issued in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties due to debris flow danger in the CZU burn scar area, with flash flood and debris flow warnings in place for the Dixie and Caldor burn scars.

Latest updates:

Sausalito declares state of emergency: Damaged trees and power lines led to hundreds of power outages in Sausalito on Sunday, prompting officials to declare a state of emergency. Around 160 PG&E customers remained without power Sunday night, with some expected to remain dark into Monday in the Hurricane Gulch area. Shelter and beds were available at MLK Gym at 610 Coloma Street.

Storm to taper Tuesday: The punishing storm was expected to continue Monday with stream of moderate to heavy rain and gusty winds over much of central and northern California, and snow in the Sierra Nevadas. Flood advisories remained in effect overnight for CZU burn scar areas, and additional flooding was anticipated in urban and small-stream areas.The National Weather Service forecast rain turning to showers into early Monday. Large northwest swells with dangerous waves also were expected to arrive along the coastal Bay Area. By Tuesday, a chance of light rain was anticipated in the North Bay with an otherwise warming and drying trend in the region.

Dixie Fire 100% contained: At the end of a day of soaking rain from the atmospheric river over Northern California, the Dixie Fire, the second-largest wildfire in California history, was reported 100% contained Sunday night. Earlier in the day, containment had been listed at 94% by the interagency information management system Inciweb. The fire, which started July 13, has scorched 963,309 acres across Butte, Plumas, Shasta, Lassen and Tehama counties. Fire officials said heavy rain in the fire zone was expected to continue until midday Monday, with cooling temperatures overnight transitioning rain to snow for elevations above 5,500 feet. A flash flood warning and winter storm warning were in effect. Rain and snow were expected to linger into Tuesday, with fair weather returning midweek.

Snow forecast for Lake Tahoe basin: The Lake Tahoe area was expected to get its biggest snowfall yet this season, with temperatures predicted to drop into Monday and rainfall to turn to ice. National Weather Service meteorologist Tony Fuentes said forecast models showed an inch or two of snow could fall Monday around lake basin communities. Elevations above 7,000 feet could receive one or two feet of snow.

Flooding at Embarcadero and Bay affects streetcars: Due to flooding at Embarcadero and Bay, #FMarket streetcars will switch back at the Ferry Building, the San Francisco MTA said Sunday. The S.F. Port tweeted that crews were clearing drains along the Embarcadero, with more rain expected. Photos posted on social media showed water lapping up from the bay and spreading onto the Embarcadero.

Now Playing: Flood waters inundate Tachevah Drive along Matanzas Creek in Santa Rosa. Authorities are preparing to evacuate homes and an apartment complex in the area. Video: Julie Johnson

Debris fire ban lifted amid soggy downpour: In a sign that the worst of wildfire season is over in Northern California, Cal Fire lifted bans on residential-debris pile fires for five North Bay counties Sunday. Residential and agricultural burns can resume in Colusa, Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties on days when those activities are allowed. Cal Fire officials did not mention the atmospheric river dumping rain on the region, but said that cooler temperatures, higher humidity and the chance of winter weather has diminished the threat of wildfire.

North Bay pummeled, Santa Cruz next: The North Bay received the brunt of Sundays rainfall, said National Weather Service meteorologist Brooke Bingaman. Rain gauges recorded 9.04 inches near St. Helena in Napa County, and 9.78 inches at Korbel Winery in Sonoma County. About 8.6 inches fell at Mount Barnabe west of Woodacre in West Marin. By Sunday evening, 3.77 inches of rain had dumped onto downtown San Francisco over 36 hours.

Bay Area takes brunt of PG&E outages: The Bay Area was the most impacted region in Northern California by storm-related blackouts, as the fierce rain and wind storm pummeled the area Sunday, PG&E officials said. Nearly 148,000 Bay Area households and businesses had no power as of about 6:30 p.m. Sunday.The Peninsula area was hit hardest with about 46,500 customers in the dark. Nearly 42,000 had no power in the North Bay. The South Bay had about 29,000 and the East Bay about 21,700. The power was out for 8,644 PG&E customers in San Francisco. More than 3,500 utility personnel throughout the region were working on repairing lines, removing fallen vegetation and dealing with other storm issues, officials said.

Mudslides keep Highway 70 closed in Butte and Plumas counties: About 45 miles of Highway 70 stayed closed to traffic Sunday after a storm deluge triggered more mudslides on the Feather River Canyon thoroughfare that was shut down on Friday. Plumas County Supervisor Kevin Goss said dump trucks hauled 170 loads of debris away from a Friday mud slide. Sundays deluge brought more hillside rock and earth onto the highway throughout the canyon. Goss said he hasnt received a full report yet about what it will take to clear the Feather River Canyon thoroughfare.

Burning truck hangs off Highway 80 in crash near Truckee: A semi-truck crashed on rain-slickened Highway 80 on Sunday, its cab dangling off a bridge near Floriston and creating a diesel-fueled fireball about 10 miles east of Truckee, according to the CHP. The dramatic, fiery crash brought traffic to a crawl on the major mountain thoroughfare. The truck overturned about 3:15 p.m., spilling about 100 gallons of diesel that ignited a dramatic fireball beneath the interstate bridge. The fire was extinguished. The driver was uninjured, CHP officials said.

Evacuation shelters in San Mateo, Santa Cruz counties: Officials in San Mateo County said Sunday afternoon that starting at 5 p.m., the temporary evacuation point for people ordered to leave their homes due to risk of debris flows would move from Half Moon Bay High School to the Ted Adcock Center, also located in Half Moon Bay. In Santa Cruz County, a shelter is open at San Lorenzo Valley High School in Felton. Residents can check https://community.zonehaven.com/ to see if their area is under the evacuation order.

Corte Madera Creek likely to flood, Marin officials warn: The Marin County Sheriffs Office warned Sunday afternoon that heavy rains could cause Corte Madera Creek to top its banks. Homes and businesses in the low-lying areas were strongly encouraged to move personal property and vehicles immediately to prevent damage.

Two trucks flip over on Richmond-San Rafael Bridge: The strong winds knocked over two big trucks on the eastbound lanes of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge on Sunday morning. The first was a travel trailer attached to a truck that flipped over at about 10:20 a.m. and blocked the middle lane. It was unknown how many people were in the travel trailer, but California Highway Patrol officials said there were no reported injuries. As officials reported to the first incident, the winds blew a semi-trailer truck on its side, which landed on top of what appeared to be a Toyota vehicle. The driver was transported to a local hospital for minor injuries. The winds are still so high that we havent been able to recover either of the overturned vehicles, said Andy Barclay, a spokesperson with the CHP. Officials will begin to recover the vehicles once winds calm down, said Barclay. The far-right lane remained open. CHP officials are restricting all semi-trucks from using the bridge until further notice.

Bay Area storm rated third-strongest since 1950: The storm soaking the Bay Area on Sunday was tied as the third-strongest since 1950 on the Bay Area Storm Index, and the strongest in 26 years, according to Jan Null, a meteorologist who runs Golden Gate Weather Services. The index is based on 24-hour rainfall at the official National Weather Service site in downtown San Francisco, the maximum sustained wind at San Francisco International Airport, and the highest wind gust at elevations below 1,500 feet in the nine Bay Area counties. According to Null, the strongest storm since 1950 occurred on Dec. 12, 1995, rating 10 on the index. The second strongest, rating 9.8, was on Dec. 22, 1955. Sundays storm, rated 9.7, was tied for third place with two others, which occurred on Oct. 12, 1962, and Dec. 11, 1995. For more information on the index, go here.

Bay Area outages at about 130,000: Pacific Gas and Electric Co. reported that approximately 130,662 customers were affected by weather-related outages as of 2:15 p.m. Sunday. About 50,576 customers were without power in the North Bay, 43,556 in the Peninsula, 21,773 in the East Bay, 7,523 in the South Bay and 7,234 in San Francisco, PG&E officials said.

Napa River reportedly at 16.1 feet: A flood warning was issued for portions of the Napa River in Napa County until 8 p.m. Monday as the waterway reached 16.1 feet by Sunday afternoon, the National Weather Service said. Officials predicted the rivers water levels will continue to rise to nearly 16.7 feet by 1 a.m. Wednesday. Flood stage for the river is 18 feet.

Bay Area rainfall totals significant and rising quickly: On Sunday, San Francisco had recorded 2.09 inches of rain by early afternoon and was expected to register another 3 inches in the next six hours, said National Weather Service meteorologist Brayden Murdock. Both Oakland and Berkeley, had seen 2.6 inches of rain and could see 1.5-3.5 inches more. The storm Sunday was predicted to bring rainfall totals from 3.5 to 4 inches along the coast and 5 to 6 inches to Mount Hamilton in Santa Clara County and higher elevations within the San Francisco Peninsula. By noon Sunday, Woodacre in West Marin had recorded 8.05 inches of rain, the highest reading in Marin County. Mount Veeder, bordering Napa and Sonoma counties, had 9.3 inches. Mount Tamalpais had received 7.61 inches. Itll probably boost closer to 10 inches by the time it stops raining there Sunday afternoon, said Murdock.

Residents near Santa Rosa creek told to leave as waters rise: Firefighters in water rescue gear went door to door along Tachevah Drive in Santa Rosa urging people to leave as floodwaters rose from nearby Matanzas Creek. An apartment complex also was evacuated. Resident Todd Everett, 61, said the sleepy neighborhood creek had become a roaring river. He said his family had lived there for three years after moving from Chicago. We escaped the blizzards of Chicago only to face the monstrous rains in the middle of the drought, he said.

Flash flood warnings in Napa County: The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for Napa County, including the city of Calistoga. The warnings were scheduled to last until 1:30 p.m.

Golden Gate Ferry service suspended: All service on the Golden Gate Ferry was suspended Sunday due to sustained high winds expected to last all day, the agency tweeted. Golden Gate Transit buses are providing alternate service for passengers traveling from Larkspur to San Francisco.

Downed trees, power lines shut down S.F. intersection: Traffic was blocked in all directions at Lincoln Way and 19th Avenue in San Francisco shortly after noon Sunday due to downed trees and power lines, the Fire Department reported. Department of Emergency Management officials urged people to avoid the area, expect traffic delays and use alternative routes. To report downed lines, call 911; to report downed trees or limbs, call 311, officials said.

Dramatic photo shows huge landslide on Highway 70 in Sierra: The National Weather Service reported that the atmospheric river event was causing major issues in the Sierra Nevada on Sunday morning, sharing a tweet from photographer Brandon Clement with an aerial image of a huge landslide covering Highway 70 near Tobin. Numerous mud, rock and debris flows have been reported, NWS Reno tweeted. This event is just getting underway! Stay alert and stay safe today!

Bay Area weather-related power outages grow to 66,000: The number of Bay Area customers without power more than doubled from 31,053 to 66,028 in a matter of hours due to weather conditions, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said late Sunday morning. The North Bay continued to bear the brunt of the outages, with 43,319 customers impacted in Marin and Sonoma counties. As of 11:30 a.m. Sunday, 16,439 people were affected in the Peninsula, 2,430 in San Francisco, 2,258 in the East Bay and 1,582 in the South Bay.

North Bay roads, neighborhoods flooded: The rains inundated roads and neighborhoods Sunday across the North Bay, with areas of flooding throughout the region. Authorities in Santa Rosa warned residents near Neotomas Avenue and Tachevah Drive to move furniture and important items out of lower levels and onto second floors due to quickly rising waters. Its just getting higher and higher, Santa Rosa Assistant Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal said.

Do NOT drive if you dont have to, north state highway officials urge : The storm system over Northern California was creating dangerous road conditions Sunday, with Department of Transportation officials urging people to stay off the roads. Caltrans District 3, which covers Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties, reported flooding, rock slides, chain controls and overturned vehicles Sunday morning. The California Highway Patrols Oroville branch said several collisions had occurred due to hydroplaning, as well as fallen trees and flooded roads. This atmospheric river storm is expected to intensify with heavy rain and significant snow into tomorrow, Caltrans tweeted. Do NOT drive if you dont have to.

Storm expected to last until Monday morning: The atmospheric river storm in the Bay Area and surrounding region was predicted to last until Monday morning as it slowly continued to drift south from the North Bay, the National Weather Service said. The rain was expected to start to slow down in the North Bay on Sunday afternoon, in the late evening or early night in the Peninsula and the East Bay, and on Monday morning for southern Monterey County, the agency said.

Alcatraz tours canceled: Due to the severe weather, the island is closed and all trips have been canceled. Refund information is available here.

Evacuations in S.F. from threat of falling tree: Mandatory evacuations were under way Sunday morning in San Francisco for the 2176-2178-2184 block of Ninth Avenue as a leaning 100-foot tree worsened, threatening three structures, the Fire Department said on Twitter shortly after 11 a.m.

Berkeley underpass closed due to flooding: The underpass near Ashby Avenue and Seventh Street was closed Sunday morning due to flooding, the Berkeley Police Department said. The department said it will notify the public when the underpass reopens.

S.F. Zoo closed: The San Francisco Zoo closed its gates to visitors Sunday as the atmospheric river storm continued to drench the Bay Area region, said Nancy Chan, a spokesperson with the zoo. Some tree limbs have fallen around the zoo, but no injuries have been reported, said Chan

Stern Grove, S.F. golf courses shut: San Francisco parks officials tweeted Sunday morning that Stern Grove, including Pine Lake Park, and all golf courses were closed due to high winds.

Fallen trees close some roads in S.F: Lower Great Highway in San Francisco was temporarily closed in both directions Sunday morning between Moraga and Lawton as crews removed a tree that fell during the rainstorm. Traffic was being rerouted, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department tweeted at 10:25 a.m. Stow Lake Drive was also temporarily closed due to a fallen tree, the agency said.

Flight cancellations at Oakland airport: The rainy weather caused 10 flight cancellations at Oakland International Airport on Sunday, all of which involved Southwest Airlines, said airport spokesperson Kaley Skantz. As of midmorning Sunday, We do not have any delays attributed to weather at this time, said Skantz.

Areal flood warning in parts of North Bay: An areal flood warning is in effect until 11a.m. for urban areas and small streams affecting southwest Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Forestville and Graton. According to the National Weather Service, an areal flood warning is issued for flooding that develops from prolonged and persistent moderate to heavy rainfall, usually occurring more than six hours after rainfall begins. It differs from a flash flood warning, which develops within six hours of heavy or intense rainfall, resulting significant, potentially life-threatening danger as small creeks and streams rise quickly out of their banks. However, officials say areal flooding can cover a large area and also can be a threat to life and property.

Some in San Mateo County ordered to evacuate immediately: Cal Fire issued evacuation orders Sunday morning for parts of San Mateo County, with debris flows, downed trees and power outages possible in the CZU Lightning Complex burn area. Affected areas included Ano Nuevo State Park; Whitehouse Canyon Road and areas south of Gazos Creek Road east of Highway 1; Butano State Park; the community of Barranca Knolls, west of Cloverdale Road; the communities of Loma Mar and Dearborn Park; and the community of Butano Canyon. Check https://community.zonehaven.com/ to see if your area is under the evacuation order. Half Moon Bay High School at 1 Lewis Foster Drive is open as a temporary evacuation point, officials said.

Bomb cyclone affecting Northern California, Oregon, Washington: A swirling bomb cyclone, combined with an atmospheric river storm, was pummeling parts of Northern California as well as Oregon and Washington on Sunday morning. The bomb cyclone, which meteorologists define as a rapidly strengthening storm with central pressure that decline by 24 millibars or more within 24 hours, was not directly over the Bay Area, officials with the National Weather Service said Sunday. But a Category 5 atmospheric storm was spreading downpours, strong winds and heavy snow across the West Coast, according to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Like tornadoes and hurricanes, atmospheric rivers are categorized and ranked by intensity. Category 5 is the strongest, defined as mostly hazardous, given the potential for flooding, gusty winds and debris flows, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

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.

Delays, cancellations at SFO: Storms were affecting air traffic Sunday morning, with 82 delays and 51 flight cancellations at San Francisco International Airport so far, said Anthony Nguyen, an airport duty manager.

Golden Gate bridge sidewalks closed: Sidewalks on the Golden Gate Bridge were closed Sunday morning until high winds and heavy rains ease.

About 31,000 Bay Area customers without power: Approximately 31,053 customers in the Bay Area were without power as of Sunday morning, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said. The most heavily impacted customers were in the North Bay where about 23,120 residents lost power in Marin and Sonoma counties; 3,110 in the South Bay; 2,137 in the Peninsula; 2,080 East Bay; and 606 in San Francisco.

100-person shelter at Moscone Center: A temporary shelter will be open from 9 a.m. Sunday through 9 a.m. Tuesday at Moscone Convention Center West in San Francisco for unhoused people. San Franciscos Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing is also providing shuttle transportation at several locations throughout the city. The shelter is open on a first-come, first served basis.

Alameda County Fair closed Sunday: With high winds and heavy rain expected, Alameda County Fair officials closed their gates for the day Sunday. The fair, which kicked off Friday at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, was expected to reopen Monday. Those who had planned to attend Sunday can use their tickets for any other day for the fair and carnival, which run through Sunday, Oct. 31. Officials advised checking the fairs website for updates.

Heavy rain reported in North Bay, moving south: The atmospheric river dumped heavy rain in the North Bay on Sunday morning and was expected to slowly make its way down to San Jose throughout the day. As of 7:30 a.m. Sunday, Mount Tamalpais in Marin County had received 6.8 inches of rain, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Brayden Murdock. This band of rain is going to be fairly slow-moving, he said.

Flash flood/debris flow warning in Caldor Fire burn scar area: As heavy rain began falling in the Caldor Fire burn scar to the south and west of Lake Tahoe, officials on Sunday morning issued a flash flood/debris flow warning, in effect until 3 a.m. Monday. According to the National Weather Service, locations affected included Grizzly Flats, Kyburz, Echo Summit, Omo Ranch, Twin Bridges and Highway 50. With debris flows consisting of rock, mud, vegetation and loose materials possible, officials said people in those areas should be prepared to evacuate if told by local officials.

Oakland Zoo closed for the day: Because of heavy rain, the Oakland Zoo said it would be closed on Sunday. Those who had already purchased tickets will receive automatic refunds, the zoo tweeted. To make a new reservation, visit http://oaklandzoo.org.

Flash flood/debris flow warning in Dixie Fire zone: With heavy rain starting to move into the Dixie Fire burn scar across five counties in northeastern California, a flash flood/debris warning was issued early Sunday, in effect through 3 a.m. Monday. Residents should be prepared to evacuate if told by local officials, the National Weather Service said. Affected locations include Chester, Almanor, Lake Almanor West, Prattville, Belden, Caribou, Twain, Highway 89, Highway 36 and Highway 70. The Dixie Fire, which started July 13, is the second largest wildfire in California history. It has burned 963,276 acres with 94% containment as of Sunday.

Over 6 inches of rain on Mt. Tamalpais: Shortly after 5 a.m., the National Weather Service tweeted that the mountain had already received over 6 inches of rain in 12 hours  the highest accumulation in Marin County so far.

Significant wind gusts on mountains: Shortly after 6 a.m., wind gusts reached 62 miles per hour on Mt. St. Helena; earlier in the morning, they reached 54 miles per hour on Mt. Diablo.

San Francisco records about three and a half inches of rain: The National Weather Service Bay Area tweeted early Sunday morning that, as of 5 a.m., San Francisco now has recorded 3.47 inches of rain for the month of October. That makes this month the 5th wettest October on record and the wettest October since 1972.

Where the most rain will fall as the atmospheric river hits: Some of the most significant rainfall will accumulate in the North Bay mountains, like Mount Tamalpais, where between 8 and 10 inches of rain are forecast to fall. Mount St. Helena could also see up to 10 inches of rain. Higher elevations are going to see the bulk of the rain, but thats not to say that the lower elevations wont get their fair share either, said Eleanor Dhuyvetter, a meteorologist with the National Weather Services Bay Area office. San Francisco is forecast to see anywhere between 2.5 to 3.5 inches. Oakland is expected to see 2.5 to 3 inches, with potentially more rain in the Oakland and East Bay hills, where upward of 6 inches could douse the region, Dhuyvetter said.

Sundays atmospheric river is a Category 5. Heres what that means: Much like tornadoes and hurricanes, atmospheric rivers  like the one poised to crash into Northern California Sunday  are categorized and ranked by their intensity, according to a tweet by the states Department of Water Resources. Sundays atmospheric river is expected to be a Category 5, defined as mostly hazardous, given the potential for flooding, gusty winds and debris flow.

Track power outages down to the address with The Chronicles outage map: Lashing rain and powerful winds are approaching the Bay Area. That could mean widespread power outages. The Chronicles PG&E outage map shows outages in Northern California, and searchable by address. See the map here.

With a bomb cyclone approaching, heres how to get ready for potential outages: The stormy weather approaching Northern California brings the potential for widespread power outages. The National Weather Service recommends keeping cellphones and flashlights charged ahead of any potential power disruptions. Keeping warm blankets and clothing handy is also helpful when the lights go out, the agency said.

Debris flow evacuation order issued in CZU Fire burn scar area: An evacuation order, due to the possibility of debris flows and flooding has been issued  starting at 8 a.m. Sunday  in parts of San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties ravaged by the 2020 CZU wildfires. In San Mateo County, the order includes Ano Nuevo State Park, Whitehouse Canyon Road and areas south of Gazos Creek Road east of Highway 1, Butano State Park and the community of Barranca Knolls, west of Cloverdale Road, the communities of Loma Mar and Dearborn Park, and the community of Butano Canyon.

In Santa Cruz County, the evacuation orders are listed for areas south and east of the county line along highways 9 and 236. A live interactive evacuation map is available at: www.community.zonehaven.com. An evacuation center has been established at Half Moon Bay High School, 1 Lewis Foster Drive, Half Moon Bay.

North and East Bay could see 50 mph winds this weekend: Much of the Bay Area was bracing for wind gusts that could reach up to 50 mph in parts of the North and East Bay, according to the National Weather Service. Places like Livermore, Concord, Napa and Santa Rosa were all expected to see the stiffest winds between Saturday night and Sunday night.

Wildfire scars near Tahoe could see landslides as storms approach: After a period of historic drought in California, the wet weather is certainly a boon  but with that may also bring the risk of flash flooding, and dangerous debris flows, particularly in areas of Northern California that have been recently charred by wildfires. Read the full story here.
If you clicked on this story, you probably remember your hometown Sizzler. I remember mine. It was the fanciest restaurant Id ever been to, and I have a distinct memory of sitting on its lushly carpeted floor, tracking the adults legs to and from the buffet. I wasnt normally a floor sitter, but the worst brain freeze my tiny, 6-year-old self had yet experienced was trying to cleave my skull in two. When I think of Sizzler, I still think of the ice cream sundae that double-crossed me.

Perhaps you remember the weekly coupons that came in the mail. Or the cheese toast and Malibu chicken. For a while, it seemed no California suburb was without a local Sizzler, the steakhouse that promised affordable luxury for the whole family.

The first Sizzler opened in 1958 in Culver City. Del and Helen Johnsons new restaurant advertised a steak you cant afford to miss: A New York strip served with a baked potato or fries, plus a roll and butter, was $1.39. Thats about $12 today, still quite the deal. If you wanted the healthier lunch special  a quarter-pound ground round with cottage cheese, jello and a rye crisp  that was just 59 cents. To cut consumer costs even further, Sizzler nixed tips. When you dine with us, you never have to worry about the tipping! Sizzler bragged in its ads.

Mark James Miller via Wikimedia Commons

The concept was a massive hit. By 1961, the Johnsons opened 12 more locations. Four years later, they were up to 100, almost all in California. Depending on when your Sizzler was renovated, you may have memories of this first concept, which they billed as snug and cozy. Some even had fireplaces.

As the years chugged along, Sizzler weathered an American health food kick by adding a salad bar. But by the 1980s, red meat was coming back into fashion. Unfortunately for the by-then ubiquitous California steakhouse, they faced a new problem: major competition in the casual, family-oriented, sit-down space. Suburbs were getting Outback Steakhouses, Fresh Choices and Red Lobsters. Sizzler, by comparison, felt stale.

In 1991, the glorious rebrand came:

The promotional video is pure 90s. There is a song, featuring lyrics like, Sizzler is the one that brings us choices! Sizzler is the choice of America! (Sidenote: The YouTube video features an all-time great comment: "Play this at my funeral, it'll cheer my family up as they remember my love of Sizzler.") There are women at the salad bar who look like theyve just left the set of a Whitesnake video, and two different sailors, one of the military variety and another who is maybe the Long John Silvers mascot.

The video smashes you over the head with the virtues of its new buffet court concept. Instead of single servings of steak and seafood dinners, Sizzler customers could now use all-you-can-eat options to fill up. It was a restaurant within a restaurant, built on the idea that dissatisfied American diners craved more variety.

Richard Hartog/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag

And variety there was. The buffet court had it all: fruit salad with marshmallows, carrot salad with raisins, fried zucchini, French onion soup, a taco bar and something called tomato amazement, just to name a few dishes. For dessert, there was the aforementioned opulent sundae bar that froze my young brain.

Reviews were mixed. Some customers were confused by the new model, not sure if the restaurant was table service or serve yourself (it was both). Others missed the old, cheaper salad bar that was enough for many to fill up on a full meal. One restaurant critic in the Roseville Press-Tribune called the offerings heavy on the deep fried indigestibles and reluctantly said the miniature chicken things were OK. The Los Angeles Times indelicately referred to it as a "trough-brau, a place heavy eaters go to load up on $6.95 tri-tip and all-you-can-eat tapioca."

Unfortunately for Sizzler, the pivot was disastrous. Five years later, they announced they were closing 136 restaurants and laying off over 4,600 workers. Industry experts pointed to the curious predicament theyd put themselves in. As middle-class dining preferences shifted, Sizzler plopped itself right in no mans land: fast food was cheaper and less fussy, but competing sit-down restaurants were of increasingly better quality. Sizzler got too old, got banged up, didnt respond until it was too late, one restaurant writer told the New York Times in 1996. And when they did, it was the wrong strategy.

Richard Hartog/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag

The buffet also flopped. Buffet chains are mini factories, an industry expert told the Times. Designed from the ground up to be buffets, and theyre 10,000-square-foot stores, about twice the size of many Sizzlers.

They closed all the Midwest Sizzlers, and overseas locations in Australia shuttered one by one. Today, there are about 100 Sizzlers left across the United States and about a dozen in Puerto Rico. Californias Sizzlers are primarily clustered around the original Culver City restaurant, although the Bay Area still has a handful along highway corridors like Colma's Serra Boulevard location. If this stroll down chain restaurant memory lane has put you in the mood for Sizzler, know that the menu has changed. Its pared down significantly since its glory days, with a more manageable selection of cheaper-cut steaks, chicken and shrimp dishes. The most expensive steak, a rib eye, is $22.49.

Like many chains during the pandemic, Sizzler filed for Chapter 11 over the past year. Although its survived bankruptcy before, the consumer desires of suburban America have likely changed in inalterable ways. The salad days are gone forever, accidentally foretold by their 1991 promotional video.

Sizzler for the '90s, the narrator excitedly says. Exactly what America wants.
MIAMI (AP)  Two teenage girls and a teenage boy have been arrested on suspicion they murdered an 18-year-old high school student in South Florida.

Police in Miramar, Florida said in a news release the young man had been missing for two days when his body was found last Tuesday near his apartment complex. Officers searching the area first saw blood stains and later saw the body in the bushes.
LAS VEGAS (AP)  Thousands of dollars worth of equipment has been stolen from Mountain Ridge Little League team in Las Vegas, according to authorities.

League president Jimmy Belanger told TV station Fox 5 that vandals broke into the concessions building between last Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP)  In a pair of Cape Town warehouses converted into a maze of airlocked sterile rooms, young scientists are assembling and calibrating the equipment needed to reverse engineer a coronavirus vaccine that has yet to reach South Africa and most of the world's poorest people.

The energy in the gleaming labs matches the urgency of their mission to narrow vaccine disparities. By working to replicate Moderna's COVID-19 shot, the scientists are effectively making an end run around an industry that has vastly prioritized rich countries over poor in both sales and manufacturing.

And they are doing it with unusual backing from the World Health Organization, which is coordinating a vaccine research, training and production hub in South Africa along with a related supply chain for critical raw materials. It's a last-resort effort to make doses for people going without, and the intellectual property implications are still murky.

We are doing this for Africa at this moment, and that drives us, said Emile Hendricks, a 22-year-old biotechnologist for Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, the company trying to reproduce the Moderna shot. "We can no longer rely on these big superpowers to come in and save us.

Some experts see reverse engineering  recreating vaccines from fragments of publicly available information  as one of the few remaining ways to redress the power imbalances of the pandemic. Only 0.7% of vaccines have gone to low-income countries so far, while nearly half have gone to wealthy countries, according to an analysis by the People's Vaccine Alliance.

That WHO, which relies upon the goodwill of wealthy countries and the pharmaceutical industry for its continued existence, is leading the attempt to reproduce a proprietary vaccine demonstrates the depths of the supply disparities.

The U.N.-backed effort to even out global vaccine distribution, known as COVAX, has failed to alleviate dire shortages in poor countries. Donated doses are coming in at a fraction of what is needed to fill the gap. Meanwhile, pressure for drug companies to share, including Biden administration demands on Moderna, has led nowhere.

Until now, WHO has never directly taken part in replicating a novel vaccine for current global use over the objections of the original developers. The Cape Town hub is intended to expand access to the novel messenger RNA technology that Moderna, as well as Pfizer and German partner BioNTech, used in their vaccines.

This is the first time were doing it to this level, because of the urgency and also because of the novelty of this technology, said Martin Friede, a WHO vaccine research coordinator who is helping direct the hub.

Dr. Tom Frieden, the former head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has described the world as being held hostage by Moderna and Pfizer, whose vaccines are considered the most effective against COVID-19. The novel mRNA process uses the genetic code for the spike protein of the coronavirus and is thought to trigger a better immune response than traditional vaccines.

Arguing that American taxpayers largely funded Moderna's vaccine development, the Biden administration has insisted the company must expand production to help supply developing nations. The global shortfall through 2022 is estimated at 500 million and 4 billion doses, depending on how many other vaccines come on the market.

The United States government has played a very substantial role in making Moderna the company it is, said David Kessler, the head of Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. program to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development.

Kessler would not say how far the administration would go in pressing the company. They understand what we expect to happen, he said.

Moderna has pledged to build a vaccine factory in Africa at some point in the future. But after pleading with drugmakers to share their recipes, raw materials and technological know-how, some poorer countries are done waiting.

Afrigen Managing Director Petro Terblanche said the Cape Town company is aiming to have a version of the Moderna vaccine ready for testing in people within a year and scaled up for commercial production not long after.

We have a lot of competition coming from Big Pharma. They dont want to see us succeed," Terblanche said. "They are already starting to say that we dont have the capability to do this. We are going to show them.

If the team in South Africa succeeds in making a version of Modernas vaccine, the information will be publicly released for use by others, Terblanche said. Such sharing is closer to an approach U.S. President Joe Biden championed in the spring and the pharmaceutical industry strongly opposes.

Commercial production is the point at which intellectual property could become an issue. Moderna has said it would not pursue legal action against a company for infringing on its vaccine rights, but neither has it offered to help companies that have volunteered to make its mRNA shot.

Chairman Noubar Afeyan said Moderna determined it would be better to expand production itself than to share technology and plans to deliver billions of additional doses next year.

Within the next six to nine months, the most reliable way to make high-quality vaccines and in an efficient way is going to be if we make them, Afeyan said.

Zoltan Kis, an expert in messenger RNA vaccines at Britains University of Sheffield, said reproducing Modernas vaccine is doable but the task would be far easier if the company shared its expertise. Kis estimated the process involves fewer than a dozen major steps. But certain procedures are tricky, such as sealing the fragile messenger RNA in lipid nanoparticles, he said.

Its like a very complicated cooking recipe, he said. Having the recipe would be very, very helpful, and it would also help if someone could show you how to do it.

A U.N.-backed public health organization still hopes to persuade Moderna that its approach to providing vaccines for poorer countries misses the mark. Formed in 2010, the Medicines Patent Pool initially focused on convincing pharmaceutical companies to share patents for AIDS drugs.

Its not about outsiders helping Africa, Executive Director Charles Gore said of the South Africa vaccine hub. Africa wants to be empowered, and thats what this is about.

It will eventually fall to Gore to try to resolve the intellectual property question. Work to recreate Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is protected as research, so a potential dispute would surround steps to sell a replicated version commercially, he said.

Its about persuading Moderna to work with us rather than using other methods, Gore said.

He said the Medicines Patent Pool repeatedly tried but failed to convince Pfizer and BioNTech to even discuss sharing their formulas.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who is among the members of Congress backing a bill that calls on the United States to invest more in making and distributing COVID-19 vaccines in low- and middle-income countries, said reverse engineering isnt going to happen fast enough to keep the virus from mutating and spreading further.

We need to show some hustle. We have to show a sense of urgency, and Im not seeing that urgency, he said. Either we end this pandemic or we muddle our way through.

Campaigners argue the meager amount of vaccines available to poorer countries through donations, COVAX and purchases suggests the Western-dominated pharmaceutical industry is broken.

The enemy to these corporations is losing their potential profit down the line, Joia Mukherjee, chief medical officer of the global health nonprofit Partners in Health, said. The enemy isnt the virus, the enemy isnt suffering.

Back in Cape Town, the promise of using mRNA technology against other diseases motivates the young scientists.

The excitement is around learning how we harness mRNA technology to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, Caryn Fenner, Afrigen's technical director, said. But more important, Fenner said, is not only using the mRNA platform for COVID, but for beyond COVID.

___

Cheng reported from London; Hinnant reported from Paris.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  A high schools stolen truck that was filled with about $200,000 worth of band equipment has been recovered, according to Albuquerque police.

On the day of a major competition just a few hours before they were supposed to perform, the Las Cruces High School marching band discovered that all their equipment and instruments were gone.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  Rather than crush state finances, the coronavirus pandemic is sending a glut of money to Louisiana's treasury, with Gov. John Bel Edwards and lawmakers facing another year of decisions about how to spend piles of cash available to them.

The state has a $670 million surplus from the last budget year, is expected to see an improved income forecast in the current financial year and has about $1.3 billion in unallocated federal pandemic relief aid to spend.

That money will be available for spending in the next regular legislative session that begins in March.

The situation is a far cry from the last term in state government, when Louisiana was struggling with a cash crunch and the Democratic governor and majority-Republican Legislature enacted taxes to avoid deep cuts to health care and higher education programs.

Still, those who remember the post-Hurricane Katrina boost to state coffers  when recovery dollars poured in, construction surged in damaged areas and people replaced their storm-wrecked belongings  are cautioning against getting used to the budget largesse.

They remember the large tax cuts that Republican then-Gov. Bobby Jindal and lawmakers approved based on a false economic surge, which led to budget problems that plagued Jindal's tenure in office and large financial gaps that Edwards and new lawmakers inherited.

Senate President Page Cortez, a Lafayette Republican in office through the financial highs and lows, told the joint House and Senate budget committee that he didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the post-Katrina surge. He said he wants to stay focused on what not to do after a good boom so that you don't have the bust following it down the road.

Louisiana took in $1 billion more than expected in the budget year that ended June 30, primarily because of better-than-forecasted personal income, corporate and sales tax collections as recovery from pandemic disruptions continued and people spent temporary federal aid.

The state took in enough business taxes to trigger the first deposit into a five-year-old trust fund created to try to lessen the volatility of budgeting cycles.

After sending the $205 million to the trust fund and slicing off other dedications, the state is projected to have a hefty $670 million surplus when the accounting work is complete.

Under the Louisiana Constitution, nearly $168 million of that surplus will have to go to the states rainy day fund, while $67 million must be used to pay down retirement debt. The remaining $435 million will be left for lawmakers to spend on one-time items, such as debt payments, coastal protection projects and construction work.

Meanwhile, Louisiana's income forecasting panel will meet within the next few months to determine if this year's projections were too conservative  and if the state's economic rebound, rising oil prices and hurricane recovery spending will help bring more money into the treasury.

Already in the current budget year, lawmakers had enough cash to pass a $38 billion state operating budget laden with salary hikes, education spending increases and millions of dollars in legislative pet projects. Pay raises went to college faculty, prison guards, public school teachers and state workers. Spending grew on legislative and judicial operations.

Louisiana received so much federal pandemic aid this year, pushed by President Joe Biden and passed by Democrats in Congress, that lawmakers didn't spend it all. Instead, they allocated about $1.7 billion of the $3 billion in direct federal coronavirus aid and reserved the remaining amount to divvy up in the 2022 regular legislative session.

Lawmakers gave money to ports, water systems, tourism marketing efforts, broadband projects, road and bridge work, hurricane recovery, technology upgrades at the Capitol and the unemployment trust fund. Many of the programs created to distribute that assistance are just getting off the ground.

But much of the largesse is short-term. Financial cliffs are on the horizon.

This year's budget is balanced with at least $720 million in short-term cash that isnt expected to be available in later years, including $600 million in enhanced federal Medicaid money available because of the pandemic.

In addition to the one-time federal aid, Louisiana's temporary 0.45% state sales tax enacted in 2018 to balance the budget is set to fall off the books in mid-2025, which will siphon away dollars that lawmakers are currently using to pay for ongoing state operations.

___

EDITORS NOTE: Melinda Deslatte has covered Louisiana politics for The Associated Press since 2000. Follow her at http://twitter.com/melindadeslatte.
RABAT, Morocco (AP)  Followers of a Sufi religious order convened on a Moroccan village near the city of Nador for the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad in the first such gathering since the pandemic.

A few hundred faithful, known as Fuqaras, from France, Tunisia, Ivory Coast and other countries, met for the weeklong Islamic holiday celebration.

The order, the Karkariya, follows a mystical form of Islam recognizable by its unique dress code: A modest yet colorful patchwork robe.

In the rituals, they surrounded their orders leader and founder, Sheikh Mohamed Fawzi al Karkari, kissing his hand and pledging religious allegiance to him as they prayed and chanted. Later in the night, the faithful formed circles and danced in fervent movements that symbolize verses from the Quran according to believers.

From March 2020 until July 2021, large religious gatherings in Morocco were banned because of the pandemic. Mosques and thousands of Sufi shrines were also closed for sporadic periods.

The Karkariya Sufi order was founded relatively recently, in the are where they are now meeting.

The term Sufi is broad and includes hundreds of movements spread all over the world. Each Sufi order is defined by its leader or its books. Morocco has hundreds of Sufi orders and the kingdom encourages and supports their presence as a moderate form of religious devotion, as well as maintaining soft power with Sufi orders across West and North Africa.

As the order spread beyond Morocco, it ruffled feathers. In 2017, Algerian media and some religious figures criticized the Karkariya order for the perception that the Morocco-founded order was infringing on Algeria in a religious invasion.

Yet Algerian members were still able to travel to Morocco, up until this year when relations took a nose dive and Algeria severed diplomatic ties with its neighbor.

Khaled El Jidoui, a Tunisian member who studies computer science at Stanford University and became a member alongside his brother and father, says joining the order was the best decision of my life, pointing to the impact it had on the social and practical aspects of his life.

Asked about the colorful outfit, he describes the mosaic as his identity, where every patch represents different facets of his life aiming to merge together into one white.

Imad Ali Saeed, a Yemeni researcher and scholar described the pride he felt at being one of Sheikh Al Karkaris students, noting that he learned about the order during his time researching Sufi sects in Morocco it was the superiority of knowledge of the leader that convinced him to join.

Mohammed Shaibani, a businessman from Mauritania, described a 30-year search across West and North Africa for a mentor and his happiness to have gathered again after the pandemic with his fellow members.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  A Waterloo volunteer firefighter has been charged with sexual assault after authorities say he drugged a woman and attacked her while she was incapacitated.

The Douglas County Attorney has charged 27-year-old Brandon Hanusek with first-degree sexual assault of a mentally or physically incompetent person. Neither Hanusek nor his lawyer responded to messages from the Omaha World-Herald about the case, but he has filed documents seeking to plead not guilty in the case.
CHICAGO (AP)  A Chicago metal scrapper is being sued by the state of Illinois for allegedly violating state pollution codes with its emissions in the city's Pilsen neighborhood.

The lawsuit announced Friday by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul contends that Sims Metal Management failed an emissions capture test in May by allegedly capturing less than 50% of its emissions. That's well below its mandated emissions control requirements of at least 81%, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)  Colombian security forces have captured the countrys most wanted drug trafficker, a rural warlord who stayed on the run for more than a decade by corrupting state officials and aligning himself with combatants on the left and right.

President Ivan Duque likened the arrest Saturday of Dairo Antonio Usuga to the capture three decades ago of Pablo Escobar.

Colombia's military presented Usuga to the media in handcuffs and wearing rubber boots preferred by rural farmers.

Usuga, better known by his alias Otoniel, is the alleged head of the much-feared Gulf Clan, whose army of assassins has terrorized much of northern Colombia to gain control of major cocaine smuggling routes through thick jungles north to Central America and onto the U.S.

He's long been a fixture on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administrations most-wanted fugitives list, for whose capture it had been offering a $5 million reward. He was first indicted in 2009, in Manhattan federal court, on narcotics charges and for allegedly providing assistance to a far-right paramilitary group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. Later indictments in Brooklyn and Miami federal courts accused him of importing into the U.S. at least 73 metric tons of cocaine between 2003 and 2014 through countries including Venezuela, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Honduras.

But like many of his gunmen, he's also cycled through the ranks of several guerrilla groups, most recently claiming to lead the Gaitanist Self Defense Forces of Colombia, after a mid-20th century Colombian leftist firebrand.

Authorities said intelligence provided by the U.S. and U.K. led more than 500 soldiers and members of Colombia's special forces to Usuga's jungle hideout, which was protected by an eight rings of security.

Usuga for years flew under the radar of authorities by eschewing the high profile of Colombia's better known narcos.

He and his brother, who was killed in a raid in 2012, got their start as gunmen for the now-defunct leftist guerrilla group known as the Popular Liberation Army and then later switched sides and joined the rebels battlefield enemies, a right-wing paramilitary group.

He refused to disarm when that militia signed a peace treaty with the government in 2006, instead delving deeper into Colombias criminal underworld and setting up operations in the strategic Gulf of Uraba region in northern Colombia, a major drug corridor surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean sea on either side.

Leaks and a network of rural safe houses he supposedly moved among every night allowed him for years to resist a scorched-earth campaign by the military against the Gulf Clan. As he defied authorities, his legend as a bandit grew alongside the horror stories told by Colombian authorities of the many underage women he and his cohorts allegedly abused sexually.

But the war was taking its toll on the 50-year-old fugitive, who even while on the run insisted on sleeping on orthopedic mattresses to ease a back injury. In 2017, he showed his face for the first time on occasion of Pope Francis' visit to the country, publishing a video in which he asked for his group be allowed to lay down its weapons and demobilize as part of the countrys peace process with the much-larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

His arrest is something of a boost for the conservative Duque, who law and order rhetoric has been no match for soaring production of cocaine.

Land dedicated to the production of coca  the raw ingredient of cocaine  jumped 16% last year to a record 245,000 hectares, a level unseen in two decades of U.S. eradication efforts, according to a White House report.



Goodman reported from Miami
HANOVER, N.H. (AP)  Dartmouth College is requiring employees working remotely to be vaccinated.

The Valley News reports that the college expanded its vaccine mandate. It already required that employees who access Dartmouth facilities be fully vaccinated or have a medical or religious exemption.

All Dartmouth employees, including those who have been approved for fully remote work, must submit proof of vaccination or be approved for a medical or religious exemption by Dec. 8, Scot Bemis, Dartmouths chief human resources officer, said in an email to employees.

Students are also already required to be fully vaccinated unless they obtained an exemption.

Nearly 3,900 faculty and staff members have already submitted documentation of their full vaccination status, for a vaccination rate of 92%, Dartmouth spokesperson Diana Lawrence said last week.
WARWICK, R.I. (AP)  The Diocese of Providence announced plans Sunday to close a church in Warwick and consolidate parishes.

The diocese said the parish leadership at St. Benedict requested to merge with the St. Kevin parish and close the St. Benedict church building due to a steady decline in the number of parishioners and sacramental activity resulting in a lack of parish community life.

Rhode Island is one of the most heavily Catholic states. But the St. Benedict parish experienced declining attendance even before the pandemic and has shared one assigned priest with the St. Kevin parish since 2017. The parishes combined their religious education programs in 2020.

Bishop Thomas Tobin approved the parish merger, effective Nov. 17. Parishioners were informed of the decision at Masses this weekend.
KERRVILLE, Texas (AP)  A driver lost control during a Texas drag racing event on an airport runway and slammed into a crowd of spectators, killing two children and injuring eight other people Saturday, authorities said.

A 6-year-old boy and an 8-year-old boy were killed in the crash Saturday afternoon at an event called Airport Race Wars 2 at the Kerrville-Kerr County Airport, police said in a news release. The organized event was attended by thousands and involved drivers speeding down a runway as they competed for cash.

The driver lost control and left the runway, crashing into parked vehicles and striking spectators who were observing the races, Kerville police said.

The injured victims were taken to various hospitals, including a 46-year-old woman who was listed in critical condition. The majority of the other injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, although the condition of a 26-year-old man was unknown, authorities said. A 4-year-old boy and a 3-month-old girl were taken to a hospital for precautionary evaluations.

Authorities did not immediately release the identities of the two children who were killed at the event about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of San Antonio..

The Kerrville Convention and Visitors Bureau's website promoted the event as an action packed, family-friendly day in which fans could watch the fastest drag cars compete for over $8000 in total prizes.

Upwards of 3,500 people were in attendance, according to Louis Amestoy, a freelance journalist who was at the event.

The race was an eighth of a mile (0.2 kilometers) long, and water-filled plastic barriers lined the course. But Amestoy said they didnt extend past the finish line, leaving no protection between spectators and cars as they were slowing down at the end of the race.

Spectators could get within about 15 feet (4.6 meters) of the track, and many watched the race from lawn chairs in the absence of stands. Organizers reminded people to stay in the grass and off the asphalt, Amestoy told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

The driver was nearing the end of the strip when the car veered off course, Amestoy said.

___

Associated Press writer Bryan Gallion contributed to this report from Roseland, New Jersey.
HELSINKI (AP)  Finland's leader said Sunday that the Turkish presidents decision to order that 10 foreign ambassadors, including the Nordic country's envoy, be declared persona non grata after calling for the release of a jailed philanthropist and human rights activist was a regrettable situation.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin told public broadcaster YLE that this is a tough reaction from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who announced the move on Saturday.

A declaration of persona non grata against a diplomat usually means that the individual is banned from remaining in their host country. The diplomats were summoned to Turkey's foreign ministry on Tuesday.

The envoys from the U.S., France, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and New Zealand had issued a statement calling for a resolution to the case of Osman Kavala, a businessman and philanthropist held in prison since 2017 despite not having been convicted of a crime.

This is a very regrettable situation. Weve considered it important that the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights are respected and complied with, and therefore have called for the release of this human rights activist, Marin said.

Kavala was acquitted last year of charges linked to nationwide anti-government protests in 2013, but the ruling was overturned and joined to charges relating to a 2016 coup attempt.

International observers and human rights groups have repeatedly called for the release of Kavala. The European Court of Human Rights called for Kavalas release in 2019, saying his incarceration acted to silence him and wasnt supported by evidence of an offense.

Rights groups say Kavalas imprisonment is based on political considerations. Ankara denies the claims and insists on the independence of Turkish courts.

Marin said Sunday that Finland was engaged in a dialogue with Turkish officials and was waiting for further information from Ankara before drawing any conclusions.

By Sunday afternoon, none of the four Nordic countries had received an official notification from Turkey's foreign ministry on their ambassadors being labeled with a persona non grata status.

However, I can state that were in close contact with our friends and allies about the case, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod told broadcaster TV2 late Saturday.

After Erdogans order was reported, the U.S. State Department said it was aware of the measure and was seeking clarity from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Researcher Toni Alaranta at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs said the likely aim of Erdogans action was to divert attention away from Turkeys internal issue and to direct the presidents supporters and his AKP party to blame the problems on coming from abroad.

I think its largely a question of Erdogans domestic support being at the bottom, the economy being in a severe downturn and the exchange rate of the (Turkish) lira being in a downward spiral, Alaranta told the Finnish news agency STT on Sunday.
ATLANTA (AP)  Federal officials are reporting a spike in firearm seizures at Atlanta's international airport  part of a record year for the number of guns detected at airport security checkpoints.

The Transportation Security Administration says it seized 391 firearms at Hartsfield-Jackson airport in the first nine months of 2021. Thats up from 220 last year when passenger counts were down significantly because of the pandemic. But it's also a big jump from 2019, when 323 firearms were seized in Atlanta.
FRANCONIA, N.H. (AP)  A fish ladder for trout breeding is being planned at the lake on the site where New Hampshires Old Man of the Mountain once stood.

The project is organized by the fund that's dedicated to help preserve a memorial to the Old Man of the Mountain. The massive, naturally formed granite profile attracted tourists to Franconia Notch for about 200 years before it crumbled in 2003. The memorial project was completed last year.
NEW TOWN, N.D. (AP)  A college on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is offering an incentive for students to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College in New Town announced that students who can verify they are fully vaccinated will receive $500. The shots must be completed by Nov. 4.
PARIS (AP)  One rape victim was asked by Paris police what she wore that day, and why she didnt struggle more. Another woman was forced to fondle herself to demonstrate a sexual assault to a skeptical police officer.

They are among thousands of French women who have denounced in a new online campaign the shocking response of police officers victim-blaming them or mishandling their complaints as they reported sexual abuse.

The hashtag #DoublePeine (#DoubleSentencing) was launched last month by Anna Toumazoff after she learned that a 19-year-old woman who filed a rape complaint in the southern city of Montpellier was asked by police in graphic terms whether she experienced pleasure during the assault.

The hashtag quickly went viral, with women describing similar experiences in Montpellier and other police stations across France. French womens rights group NousToutes counted at least 30,000 accounts of mistreatment in tweets and other messages sent on social media and on a specific website.

Despite recent training programs for French police and growing awareness around violence against women, activists say authorities must do more to face up to the gravity of sex crimes, and to eradicate discrimination against victims.

Addressing the national issue last week, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said there are questions that cannot be asked to women when they come to file a complaint.

Its not up to the police officer to say whether there was domestic violence or not, thats up to the judge to do it," he added.

He also announced an internal investigation at the Montpellier police station.

The prefect of the region of Montpellier had previously condemned in a statement what he called defamatory comments against officers. He denounced false information and lies aiming at discrediting police action.

Toumazoff denied launching an anti-police campaign, saying the hashtag aims at urging the government to take action.

By letting incompetent and dangerous officers working in police stations, (authorities) expose the whole profession to shame, she told The Associated Press. She said the victim mentioned in her initial tweet does not wish to speak publicly while her rape complaint is under investigation.

The Montpellier regional branch of powerful police union Alliance argued that officers are just doing their jobs. While police officers understand the victims distress, the establishment of the truth requires us to ask embarrassing questions, it said.

A 37-year-old Parisian woman told the AP about her experience at a police station after she was assaulted this year by a man living near her home, who had previously harassed her in the street.

Once, he blocked her path and pressed her against a wall, touching her belly and her breast and threatening to kill her, she recalled.

The woman described arriving scared and crying at the police station, where officers welcomed her very kindly.

But then, she said, the officer in charge of filing the complaint did not write down her description of the assault, so she refused to sign the document.

I had to tell it all again, she said. The officer asked if she was certain that the abuser wanted to touch her breast.

I had to make the gesture so that he sees that it was not another part of the body, she said. Making me repeat and ... mime the gesture in front of a wall, thats humiliating. I found it very degrading. I felt I was like a puppet.

The case is still ongoing. Police suggested a change of apartment to move away from her abuser, she said.

Another Parisian woman, aged 25, said she was left traumatized by the police treatment after she had been raped by her ex-boyfriend in 2016.

When she filed her initial complaint, the police officer, who had received special training, explained to me why he was asking all these questions, he was in a spirit of kindness, she remembers. I felt rather safe and that he believed me.

Months later she was summoned to another police station, located in the same street where her attacker was living. Feeling very anxious at the idea of potentially seeing him, she said she was talked to as if she was stupid and a liar.

Police asked what she was wearing that day, why it was different from when she was having consensual sex with him, how she could argue she was surprised if he was wearing a condom, she recalled. An officer told her, I dont understand why you did not struggle more.

The complaint was closed without follow-up due to lack of evidence. The young woman described the police response as very difficult to live through, with a huge impact on her private life and almost leading her to giving up her studies.

The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they are victims of sexual assault.

Speaking to lawmakers at the National Assembly, the interior minister acknowledged things can still be improved on the matter across France.

The government has set the goal to have at least one specially trained officer in each police station for dealing with domestic violence and sexual abuse. An annual survey led by national statistics institute INSEE shows that currently only 10% of victims in these cases file a formal complaint.

The #doublepeine movement comes after the shocking killing earlier this year of a woman who was shot and set on fire in the street by her estranged husband. One of the officers who had taken her domestic abuse complaint a few months earlier had recently been convicted for domestic violence himself.

Darmanin promised that officers definitively convicted for such acts wont be allowed to be in contact with the public anymore.

Women have been raising the alarm for years, Toumazoff said, denouncing announcements by politicians not followed by action.

When there are urgent situations, like terror attacks, they can do things because its urgent, she said. Its the same here. Womens lives are at stake. It's urgent every day.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)  Alabamas seven-member congressional delegation for decades has consisted of a single African-American member, elected from the only district with a majority Black population.

But with Black and mixed-race residents now making up more than 25% of the states population, some legal groups, as well as a lawsuit, argue the law requires two districts that, afford African Americans an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.

Alabama lawmakers return to Montgomery this week to draw new legislative, congressional and school board districts, a process undertaken every 10 years after new U.S. Census numbers are released.

Republicans are unlikely to support changes to the congressional map that would reduce GOP dominance in the state. However, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. and the American Civil Liberties Union said lawmakers must consider if the Voting Rights Act requires a map with two opportunity districts each comprised of a majority of Black voters.

The groups said that nearly 28% of the states population is Black or mixed-race. The current congressional delegation is 14% Black.

It is critical that the state legislature uses this opportunity to remedy longstanding dilution of Black voting strength in Alabamas congressional map. Nearly 28% of Alabama residents identify as Black people, yet since Reconstruction, Alabama has never had more than one Black member of Congress in its delegation, the groups wrote in a letter to members of the Joint Reapportionment Committee.

A separate lawsuit filed by two state senators and four voters argues the current map is racially gerrymandered by forcing most Black voters into District 7 which stretches from Birmingham through the Black Belt to Montgomery, and limits their influence in other districts.

The Reapportionment Committee meets Tuesday and will release and debate proposed maps for the first time, said Sen. Jim McClendon, the co-chairman of the reapportionment committee.

McClendon said the maps approved by the committee will be introduced as legislation ahead of the special session that starts Thursday.

McClendon declined to say much about the push for a second congressional district but said the state must comply with the Voting Rights Act.

This will be the first full redistricting process without a pre-clearance requirement for more than a dozen, mostly Southern states to receive federal approval from the Department of Justice before making changes to the voting process. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 effectively ended the requirement when it ruled the federal government was using an outdated method to decide which states were subject to it.

McClendon said the state maps will likely get court scrutiny, noting the already pending lawsuit.

What we do doesnt automatically go before the DOJ...but we are likely to end up before the courts for review, he said.

District lines must shift to accommodate large population growth in, and around, areas of Baldwin County, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa and Auburn while other areas of the state saw stagnant or declining population growth.

Alabama showed an increase in racial and ethnic diversity in the new Census numbers. The percentage of people who identify as white dropped while the state saw an increase in the Hispanic population and a doubling of the percentage of people who identify as multiracial.

Whites continue to be the largest racial group in Alabama, but the percentage of people in Alabama who identify as white shrunk from 68.5% in 2010 to 64.1% in 2020.
GUATEMALA CITY (AP)  The Guatemalan government declared a month-long, dawn-to-dusk curfew Sunday and banned pubic gatherings in the northern coastal province of Izabal, following two days of protests against a mining project.

Thousands of police confronted demonstrators angered by a nickel mine run by the Swiss-based Solway Investment Group.
MARTINDALE, Texas (AP)  A Central Texas man has been charged with murder in the driveway shooting of a motorist who had pulled into his driveway.

Terry Duane Turner, 65, of Martindale, Texas, turned himself in Friday after an arrest warrant accused him of murdering Adil Dghoughi in the early morning of Oct. 11.

Investigators said Turner shot the 31-year-old Moroccan immigrant as the man was backing out of Turners driveway about 3:40 a.m. After the shooting, Turner told a 911 operator that the motorist had pulled a gun on him. Investigators said they found no firearm in the car.

Turner turned himself in the day after a warrant was issued for his arrest and was released on a $150,000 bond. No listed telephone number could be found for Turner, and a Caldwell County jail official said the name of Turner's attorney was unavailable Sunday.

Martindale is a town of about 1,200 residents about 30 miles (48.28 kilometers) south of Austin. The almost two-week delay in Turner's arrest by Martindale and Caldwell County authorities drew criticism from Dghoughi's family and supporters, including the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Supporters of Dghoughi and his family held a vigil at the Texas Capitol on Saturday, and another was scheduled for Sunday evening in Martindale.

Mehdi Cherkaoui, an attorney representing Dghoughis family, said Dghoughis windows were closed when he was shot. The bullet entered his hand before it entered his head. And the bullet exited the victims head, and actually there was enough force for it to travel through the passenger-side window, Cherkaoui told KTBC-TV of Austin.

Sarah Todd, Dghoughi's girlfriend, told the station that she and Dghoughi were staying at her cousins home in the San Antonio suburb of Converse on the night of Oct. 10 after a barbecue but decided to leave just after midnight.

Turners Martindale home is seven minutes from Todds. His habits were to drive around and decompress and listen to music, she explained.

Something like this should not have even been questioned. If someone is murdered, whether its on someones property or out in the street, they should automatically be arrested," she said.
Before Alec Baldwin pulled the trigger on a prop gun, fatally shooting cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the weapon passed through the hands of two other people on set: the firearms specialist and an assistant director.

An affidavit filed by a Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office detective states that armorer Hannah Gutierrez had set up three prop guns in a gray cart that, because of pandemic restrictions, was kept outside a church-like building where filming of the western "Rust" was taking place in New Mexico. Assistant director Dave Halls grabbed one and took it to Baldwin.

"Cold gun," Halls yelled, according to the court record, indicating it did not contain a live round.

Unbeknown to him, the affidavit states, it did.

How what should have been a safe prop gun ended up firing a shot that killed Hutchins, 42, and injured the film's director, Joel Souza, 48, is now at the center of the investigation into a shooting that has sparked debate about safety on sets. In the days since, some directors have begun calling on the industry to stop using firearms on set - including prop guns filled with blanks.

"We've been using the blanks less and less, and now it just felt like given what happened, any risk is too much risk at this point," Alexi Hawley, a showrunner for the popular ABC police drama "The Rookie," told The Washington Post on Saturday. Hawley announced Friday that no live firearms would be used while filming going forward. "There is no reason to use them anymore," he said.

Deputies with the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department were dispatched to the Bonanza Creek Ranch on Thursday after crew members called 911, describing a chaotic scene in which two people were hit by a prop gun firing during a rehearsal.

"We need immediate help," said a woman who identified herself as a script supervisor in a recording of the call obtained by the Associated Press.

When Deputy Nicholas LeFleur arrived, he discovered Hutchins had been shot in the chest and Souza in the shoulder. Hutchins was airlifted to a hospital, where she died; Souza was transported by ground and later released. Meanwhile, police secured the scene, with Gutierrez handing deputies the gun that had fired.

Baldwin, who was wearing Western-style clothing during his scene, changed attire and handed over his costume to investigators.

"These clothes appear to have blood stains," the affidavit says.

Neither Gutierrez nor Halls immediately responded to requests for comment Saturday. A spokesperson for Baldwin told The Post on Saturday that he was not doing interviews.

Santa Fe-area District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said the investigation is still in a preliminary stage and it is unknown whether charges will be filed.

"We will look into all facts and evidence of the case with great discretion," she said.

In the days leading up to the fatal incident, there were troubling signs regarding safety on the set. Two crew members told the Los Angeles Times that Baldwin's stunt double had fired two rounds Oct. 16 from a gun he had been told was "cold." Hours before Thursday's shooting, several crew members walked off the production in protest over what they saw as subpar conditions and unpaid work, the Times reported.

Some of those tensions were apparent in the 911 call. The script supervisor said the "AD," or assistant director, had yelled at her during lunch, asking about revisions.

"He's supposed to check the guns," she said. "He's responsible for what happens on the set."

Rust Movie Productions, the company overseeing filming, said in a statement they had not been alerted of the concerns and that "safety of our cast and crew is the top priority."

"Though we were not made aware of any official complaints concerning weapon or prop safety on set, we will be conducting an internal review of our procedures while production is shut down," the company told media outlets.

Despite the apparent danger, some filmmakers insist on using live prop guns, saying they more closely capture the sound and look of a weapon firing than computer-generated imaging.

Bill Davis, a veteran film-set armorer, said Saturday that it was almost certain that Hutchins had been killed by a bullet. Blanks fire wax plugs, he said, which dissolve from the heat of firing and would not be able to penetrate a bone or inner organ - though at a distance of under 20 feet, particles from a blank can cause skin and eye damage.

Rule No. 1 for armorers, he said, is never to allow live ammunition on a set.

"It's basic stuff," he said. "How did that live round get on set? You shall not have live ammunition on a movie set, ever. It's not a may - it's a shall."

In a recent podcast interview, Gutierrez, going by the name Hannah Reed, described working as head armorer for the first time in a film featuring Nicolas Cage. The 24-year-old said that as the daughter of Thell Reed, a well-known Hollywood armorer, she had grown up around guns, though admitted she felt anxious about her first time as head armorer.

"I was really nervous about it at first, and I almost didn't take the job because I wasn't sure I was ready," she said. "But doing it, it went very smoothly."

Armorers handle all weapons on film, TV, and stage productions, providing safety instruction to other members of the crew and cast. There are no degree programs to train them, with most serving apprenticeships for a year or so.

Certification regulations for armorers vary widely from state to state, ranging from strict to nonexistent. Even in states with well-defined regulations, however, such as California, there's often little enforcement, Davis said.

In New Mexico, according to a post on the website of Local 480 IATSE, the film technicians' union, a licensed armorer must be on set when weapons are used.

Jeffrey Harris, a lawyer in Savannah, Ga., who has represented victims of film-set injuries, said every film set has posted safety bulletins, and proper handling of weapons is always right at the top. It's not that new laws are needed, he said, but that existing rules have to be obeyed.

If crews follow basic safety precautions - no ammunition allowed, no guns directed at people, redundant checks to be sure chambers and barrels are clear - "everybody should be fine," he said.

"It just seems this is a pretty clear violation of basic firearm safety," he said.

Mike Lubke, a fight choreographer for films and theater based in St. Paul, Minn., said that staging gunplay in a cramped indoor setting - such as the set building where Hutchins was killed - requires extra care.

He said it is essential to have as few crew members in the room as possible. The crew should make sure no one is in the firing lane. And they should carefully choreograph the movement of the gun before and after it is fired, because sometimes actors' trigger fingers slip prematurely, and sometimes, especially with blanks, the discharge can be delayed.

If the camera does not have to move, even the camera operator can be elsewhere.

"I'll admit, you can't always optimize the situation," he said. "There's always some give and take."

Lubke also pointed out that guns can be modified by a gunsmith so that they will accept blanks but not bullets, but productions don't always go to that trouble and expense.

Hutchins was considered a rising star in the cinematographer world and leaves behind a young son and husband, who shared a tribute to his wife on Twitter.

"Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words," Matt Hutchins wrote. "Our loss is enormous."

Baldwin, meanwhile, has said that his "heart is broken" for her family.

"There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours," he wrote on Twitter.

In his first remarks since the shooting, Souza told Deadline he was "gutted" by Hutchins's death.

"She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch, and always pushed me to be better," he said. "My thoughts are with her family at this most difficult time."

- - -

The Washington Post's Meryl Kornfield contributed to this report.
TUPELO, Miss. (AP)  Mieko Kikuchi remembers what it was like coming to the United States from Japan.

Kikuchi, Renasants Japanese liaison and member of Japan-America Society of Mississippis board of directors, said she was an active member of her community when she lived in Japan, but she needed help from her friends when she moved to the U.S.

Without their kindness, I couldnt have survived, not knowing the language, not knowing the culture, she said.

Renasant hired Kikuchi, a University of Mississippi graduate and aspiring southern belle, as their Japanese liaison following the 2007 announcement of Toyotas plans to construct a plant in Blue Springs. Much more than banking, her role is to help Japanese families adjust to their new southern lives, professionally and socially.

She acts as a bridge  one of increasing importance in the past decade  between the cultures of Northeast Mississippi and its growing Japanese community.

BUILDING CULTURE

Census data show Lee Countys Asian population having increased by nearly 80% since 2010. In Union County, that growth is over 150%, and in Lafayette, its just under 70%. Much of that can be attributed to a surge in the Japanese community over the past decade.

In 2008, the University of Mississippi, alongside Japanese companies, established the North Mississippi Japanese Supplementary School. That same year, the Japan-America Society of Mississippi (JASMIS) created its North Mississippi chapter.

Kumi Richardson serves as the Japanese liaison for BancorpSouth and, like Kikuchi, was hired in the wake of Toyotas arrival in the area. She said the arrival of a prominent Japanese company in Northeast Mississippi opened the doors to a community that likely wouldnt have come to the area otherwise.

Because we are in the South, until now, we didnt have as many Japanese people as other states, Richardson said. Like in California, there is a Japanese community, for example. But now we have a Japanese community here. Thats a good thing.

For over a decade, Toyota Mississippi has tried to integrate Japanese culture into the local community, said Emily Lauder, vice president of administration for Toyota Mississippi. That started with supporting the local chapter of JASMIS and the Japanese Supplementary School. In 2013, they partnered with the Gumtree Museum of Art to host Cultural Connections, which presented Japanese creators, art lectures and workshops, and an exhibit of Japanese art.

Since then, Toyotas contributions to Northeast Mississippis Japanese community have been numerous: calligraphy classes, Japanese art programs, music, and partnering with organizations to offer cultural activities. Theyve donated $55,000 to Japanese cultural programs so far, including the North Mississippi Cherry Blossom Festival, and Tupelo Public School District (TPSD) cultural awareness classes, and work to expose younger kids, especially under-resourced kids, to Japanese art and culture.

Tupelos becoming somewhat of a melting pot because of Toyota and because of the suppliers and other businesses and industries that are located here, said Emily Wilemon-Holland, corporate communications analyst at Toyota North America. Its kind of just continued, and built, and its growing.

MAKING THE TRANSITION

A crescendo of cultural touchstones followed Toyotas arrival in Northeast Mississippi, including a strengthened Japanese involvement in the annual Celebration of Cultures; growth in cultural awareness in local schools; greater inclusion of Japanese art, music and food in the region; the development of multicultural groups such as Cooking as a First Language; and increased presence as students at First Baptist Church of Tupelos English as a Second Language (ESL) program.

For Toyotas Japanese staff, these events and programs are an important part of feeling accepted by the local community as well as connected to their cultural heritage. Many of the Japanese workers come to Blue Springs temporarily, typically two to three years, before returning to Japan.

Shoji Asai, whose position is group manager, paint, has been with Toyota Mississippi since February 2020. Originally from Nagoya, he joined Toyota 20 years ago and is enjoying life in Mississippi with his wife and three kids.

However, the initial transition was a struggle. Asais family had just arrived in Northeast Mississippi when the growing pandemic forced schools to shut down. They didnt yet have a relationship with his childrens school, and because his children couldnt speak English well, Asai found himself playing the role of language teacher while also helping them with their lessons.

Our English sessions are kind of fighting, honestly, Asai said with a laugh. That was not so easy, but at that time, Im using cartoons to teach English to the kids, through TV programs.

Asai got creative, using his third grade daughters homework to help teach his sixth-grade son; using the science book, and Google translate, to help work on math, which was easy for his son, while focusing on sentences, which was harder for him.

I tried to explain the mess. What is the sentence meaning, what is add, Asai joked. But now they have good memory though, other than being challenging.

Shintaro Watanabe, manager for Toyota Tsusho, experienced a similar struggle when he moved to the U.S. as a teenager. As with Asais family, Watanabe moved to the United States when his parents got jobs here.

Although Watanabes parents eventually returned to Japan, he decided to stay. He attended college and eventually landed a career that led him to Mississippi in 2013. He met his wife, Ryoko Watanabe, Toyota Mississippis HR business analyst, and now the couple are part of Toyotas permanent staff.

Like her husband, Ryoko Watanabe, who leads Toyotas efforts to increase awareness of Japanese culture within the Tupelo Public School District, has also lived in the U.S. for more than two decades. Before being hired by Toyota in 2015, she was a TPSD translator.

She sees her current role as helping teachers understand their Japanese students adjustment to the U.S. During presentations, she shares the cultural differences between America and Japan, challenges during relocation adjustment, and how TPSD is creating opportunities for children.

I am very thankful I got this opportunity because this is my passionate area, based on my own graduate and undergraduate research about how immigrants or temporary residents are impacted by the cultural adjustment and how their mental health is impacted, Watanabe said.

REMAINING CONNECTED

Shino Sullivan was surprised that North Mississippi already had a Japanese Supplementary School when she moved to Oxford in 2011. Before that, Sullivan thought the usual destinations for coming to the United States were the big places: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago. Mississippi was unexpected.

I didnt even know there was a Japanese community in Mississippi when I moved here, she said.

Now, Sullivan is director of UMs US-Japan Partnership Program, under which the supplementary school is offered. Since she started as an instructor in 2011, shes seen the program grow from a few to over 26 participants and move from a classroom on UMs main campus to their own designated space.

Sullivan is a passionate proponent in her role. To ensure students maintain their cultural and educational connections, the supplementary school teaches three subjects according to Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology guidelines.

For students, this is a very short time in their life, living in North Mississippi, Sullivan said. I want them to feel theyre not isolated  to have confidence as a Japanese (person).

The school follows the Japanese school system calendar, hosting classes on Saturday at 9 a.m. to around 3 p.m. from April to March. Students are taught in Japanese, follow punctual scheduling, and practice Japanese customs.

With 16 families, the program is close-knit. Instead of separate classrooms, each grade is taught in the same building. Because they cover first to ninth grades, each of the programs four tutors teaches at least two grades. The parents are hands-on, often helping as needed.

I think they need community, Sullivan said. We dont have a wide Japanese society, but they definitely want to connect with other Japanese people in the area.

THE CULTURES BLEND

Richardson, BancorpSouths Japanese liaison, has been saying goodbye for 13 years. Shes watched numerous families return to Japan. Over the years, the faces change, but the pattern remains the same.

Japanese people are here to learn. Its not just that they are here visiting, they are actually living here, Richardson said. They know how to appreciate their experiences.

They bring with them their food, language, clothing, and culture. Sometimes, they bring Japanese costumes for special occasions. With limited oriental grocery options, they learn how to make Japanese food with American ingredients.

Southern and Japanese cultures blend out of necessity.

They adjust, and instead of this ingredient, how about I use whats available here, and then they just experiment, Richardson said. Food is (a) core culture of Japan, but by coming here, they learn how to make what they like using whats available.

For Kikuchi, her role as a Japanese liaison is all about easing the transition from Japan to Mississippi. Shes helped create the North Mississippi Cherry Blossom Festival in Tupelo and promotes Japanese culture as a board member for the Gumtree Museum of Art and North Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and involvement with the Tupelo Suzuki Association.

She was honored by the Government of Japan for her efforts in helping bridge southern and Japanese cultures.

Even after years of living in the U.S., Kikuchi remembers what it was like to be a newcomer in this country, far from her home and culture, and how much comfort and help she needed to make that transition.

Now, she wants to repay that kindness by helping others with their own journeys from Japan to Mississippi.

Hopefully I can share my part back to the community, not only for Japanese families but also for (the) American community, Kikuchi said. Its scary if you dont speak the language, and I think if we can overcome the difference between the culture and the language, we can make a great friendship.
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP)  When Sydney Ambrose was a freshman at Lafayette High School she went to see a dermatologist about issues she was having with her skin. That visit would have a big impact on the rest of her life  not only because it improved her skin, but also because of her experience with the doctor.

Her dermatologist did a great job in a caring and compassionate way that left Ambrose feeling valued and more confident in her own skin. She also appreciated that the doctor was a woman, something the teen hadnt seen nearly as often when getting medical attention.

The teen realized then that she wanted to  and could  help other young girls grow in their confidence and find healing like she had.

Today, Ambrose is a 20-year-year-old junior in the pre-med program at Xavier University of Louisiana with plans to become a dermatologist herself.

Thankfully, shes receiving support to get there, including a new scholarship from Tampax, the well-known tampon brand from Procter & Gamble.

The inaugural Flow It Forward Scholarship from Tampax aims to close the representation gap of Black women in healthcare, providing annual financial aid to future Black female physicians studying at historically Black colleges and universities like Ambrose.

The 2019 LHS graduate chose the New Orleans HBCU for its location as well as its reputation of success in helping Black students pursue medical school.

Theres such a gap between Black female physicians and the community we serve, Ambrose said. A lot of people in the Black community, through their history, have a lot of mistrust of physicians. Sometimes they want doctors who look like them, and there are not enough of us to serve the communities we need to serve.

Black women make up about 2.6% (24,143) of U.S. doctors, even though Black people comprise 13% of the U.S. population, according to workforce data from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Equal representation in healthcare has measurable benefits for both healthcare professionals and the communities they serve, including increased comfort levels, communication and trust, according to Tampax representatives. When these elements exist, it leads to safer, healthier and stronger communities.

Scholarships and investments like this can make a difference Ambrose said.

Disparities in healthcare definitely take time to address, she said. Its not an overnight fix. But this scholarship is investing in Black women pursuing their goals. Theyre investing in me financially and helping me be the best physician I can be.

Ambrose anticipates graduating from Xavier in 2023 and then entering a Louisiana medical school. All of that is going to require resources  financial, academic and family support, she said.

The college junior said she feels that support from her university, her family and now, Tampax. She learned about this new scholarship opportunity through Xaviers pre-med office.

Xavier has so many people willing to help us pursue our goals and so many opportunities, she said. Of course, Im a female, so Ive always supported the Tampax brand. Its great to get support from a brand Ive always supported.

The four-year scholarship supports recipients by filling in the remaining financial need after federal financial aid, merit-based aid and other scholarships, according to Tampax.

Ambrose encourages more women to apply for this new scholarship and to continually look for other opportunities like it.

Its important for young students to seek out those people willing to help them, she said. Theyre out there.
TROY, Mich. (AP)  Jef Smiths philosophy with beer comes straight from his years in San Francisco, during the late-90s dot-com bubble when he worked for a startup company as a web developer and designer.

In the community, there is always this sense of sharing codes, sharing ideas, sharing designs, sharing patterns, said Smith, who opened Loaded Dice Brewery in September 2020. When we opened up this brewery, I wanted to kind of present that into the brewery.

That is plainly evident when you walk into Loaded Dice, sandwiched between storefronts in a tucked-away plaza along Rochester Road in southern Troy. Smiths two-barrel brewing system is visible from the bar area. Every upcoming beer  whether its still brewing, fermenting or carbonating  is listed on the television when you walk in, adjacent to the current tap list. The full recipes of Smiths beers are written next to his fermenter tanks, and he is more than happy to share them.

There are no secrets here. In fact, you can find Smiths recipes on a website, parsed down to the exact malts and other ingredients he uses and the exact temperatures he sets to mash and ferment each beer. Im more than happy to give (other brewers) any information, Smith told the Detroit Free Pres s.

The other thing I do is I really try to promote the beer as its being processed, he continued. So if I just brew a beer and have kind of a busy night and theres a couple people here, Im like, Hey, do you want to try this New England IPA I just brewed here two days ago? But when you come in two weeks from now, its going to be completely different. I think its kind of cool to present them with a raw product, and then they come back in and think, Wow, this changed dramatically. 

During my visit to Loaded Dice, Smith presented me with a taste of a cookies-and-cream imperial stout he was still carbonating called Lays Down A Monster, a reference to a Teddy KGB line in the film Rounders. It comes in at a whopping 15% alcohol by volume and maintains heavy chocolate and cookie notes with some creaminess and booziness. It was not a completed product without the carbonation, but it was a palatable preview of whats to come when he taps it for the public.

I just like giving people this behind-the-scenes look, Smith said.

So how did Smith end up here, going from working down the road from Silicon Valley to opening an open-source brewery in metro Detroit?

Hes born and raised in St. Clair Shores, and grew up in a family that loved to play games and dabble in some gambling, whether it be horse racing, poker or even bowling. And when he moved to California, he continued that love for games  and really got started with beer.

The guys I worked with were about three things: playing poker, brewing beer and making BBQ, he said. All things I was really interested in.

Smith and his coworkers purchased an elaborate brewing structure and started brewing 10-gallon batches of beer, which they would serve at tastings and parties. His wife, Jennifer, a Sterling Heights native, joined him in California. They eventually had three children and moved back to Michigan.

Thats when the idea of opening his own brewery really took hold. In gambling terms, it meant going all in.

It was either this or competitive BBQ, Smith said, with a laugh.

Smith began raising capital through the help of a Kickstarter, sharing his vision of an open-source brewery for anyone who would listen, with interested investors promising to match. He worked with Jennifer, a marketer, on branding the brewery concept, paying tribute to his familys gambling roots. And though the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the opening of Loaded Dice by several months, Smith eventually opened in September 2020, starting with selling cans and later opening the taproom with eight beers on tap, and an outdoor seating area with limited capacity.

The first night, we went through 11 kegs, when we expected to go through five to seven, Smith recalled.

And Smith did all this while maintaining a 9-to-5 job which he still currently has working for Tyler Technologies as a user experience designer, creating public safety software for local municipalities, police officers, fire crews, dispatchers and more  I feel like Im actually saving lives, he said.

Because of the pandemic, Smith is working remotely for Tyler inside the brewery space, which allows him to simultaneously get his work done for Tyler while also brewing beer several days a week.

If it wasnt for me able to do the job and the brewery at the same time, I wouldnt be able to spin this up, he said.

For subscribers: Top 5 underrated beer destinations in Michigan

The thing about Loaded Dice is this: The tap list turns over regularly. You dont know what to expect each time you walk in. Smith has a goal of brewing 100 unique beers in his first year, and hes very close to reaching that.

I dont want to be the place you go where you have the same IPA every time, Smith said.

That doesnt mean the beers arent dependable. One of the most unique concoctions during my visit was The Birth Of The Fat King, 6.7% ABV, a Weizenbock with notes of peanut butter, banana and bacon smokiness, meant to mimic Elvis Presleys favorite sandwich. All three flavors balanced each other well and it wasnt too sweet for a full glass.

Smith also routinely brews for his customers. In June, he collaborated with a lesbian couple, who started as regulars at Loaded Dice but now work as servers, to brew a Pride Month milkshake IPA called Rainbow Jackpot, 7.4% ABV, brewed with Fruity Pebbles, mixed berries and Strata hops. And though hes not a fan of hard seltzers, he will brew them, specifically for folks with gluten allergies and those who have helped him open the brewery and supported him over the years.

Its all part of a community vibe that keeps beer enthusiasts across the region coming back despite the plethora of brewery options across metro Detroit.

Jef brings this type of positive energy that will make you have FOMO (fear of missing out), said Kristen Thomas, a 38-year-old Sterling Heights native who, along with her husband, has become a weekly visitor at Loaded Dice. The events, the new beers being released -- its an overall fantastic positive vibe.

Thomas said she loves that no two beers are the same at Loaded Dice, and that weekly events, including a cornhole tournament every Thursday, keep customers coming back. There are rotating food trucks each night for those who get hungry.

Its not about competing with other area breweries  the community of brewers in metro Detroit is pretty tight, Smith pointed out, and he knows that if the brewery down the street is doing great, his brewery will, too. As evidenced by Smiths love for sharing beer recipes and inviting customers into the brewing process, Loaded Dice is all about community.

We wanted to have that dive-bar, neighborhood, community feel, Smith said, and I think we are accomplishing that.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  Maine's U.S. senators have joined a push to try to prevent suicide among members of the military.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King said they're helping introduce the Save Our Servicemembers Act, which is also called the SOS Act. The senators said military suicides increased by 15% last year.
LAJAS BLANCAS, Panama (AP)  A growing number of women migrants crossing the forbidding jungle of the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama on their route north are reporting sexual assaults, grabbing the attention of Panamanian lawmakers.

On Saturday, a 25-year-old Haitian woman told members of a Panamanian congressional committee visiting Darien province that she had been assaulted just days before as she navigated the lawless area with her husband and 8-month-old son.

The family stepped from a boat that had carried them along a roiling river to Lajas Blancas from Bajo Chiquito, the first small population center many migrants encounter after crossing the mountainous border. Hundreds of other migrants arrived Saturday alongside them.

Panamanian lawmaker Zulay Rodriguez said her committee had collected around 1,000 allegations of sexual abuse since they began investigating the issue two months ago.

It is the daily life for women (migrants) when they are young, when they are 20 or 30 or so years old," Rodriguez said. Assailants don't care if they rape them in front of their husband or family ... this displays the indifference.

This has simply happened for a long time and for many years, said Rodriguez, head of the Womens, Childhood, Youth and Family Affairs Committee and a member of the Democratic Revolutionary Party.

The Haitian woman who talked to the committee said that she and her husband had lived in Brazil for two years after leaving Haiti, then decided to head north. She said she was assaulted one afternoon last week by a man who had his face covered and held a gun to her head.

She showed a document from the aid organization Doctors Without Borders certifying that a medican examination had confirmed the assault.

Her husband said they did not think of making a formal complaint to authorities because they couldnt identify her aggressor.

The couple were penniless because the attacker also took all their money and their cellphones. Police arranged for them to be transported by boat to Lajas Blancas because they couldnt pay the fare.

Liseydis Martinez, a Cuban migrant, said that she saw two Cuban female friends emerge from the jungle bleeding and crying, who said they were sexually assaulted. They had been travelling in a group behind hers.

Thank God nothing happened to me, but in the group behind were four Cubans and two of them who arrived (Friday), they raped them and a Haitian 13-year-old girl, she said. My God, its horrible!

They were bad, she said of the victims. Their husbands were beaten up.

Martinez was waiting in Lajas Blancas with her husband and their children ages 3 and 6. She said they had been swindled out of $1,500 in Necocli, the main departure point in Colombia, by a man who passed himself off as a soldier who could transport their family to Panama.

Rodriguez, the lawmaker, said she would make sure the reports made it to the Attorney Generals Office and international aid groups.

Her committee has produced short documentaries about assaults, robberies and deaths among migrants their way into Panama through the Darien Gap. She wants to call authorities attention to the problems rampant in the Darien jungle.

At the migrant reception center in Lajas Blancas, migrants receive food and medical attention while they wait for buses to cross to the other side of Panama near the border with Costa Rica.

The flow of migrants through the Darien Gap this year has been the highest in more than a decade. So far, more than 107,000 migrants  mostly Haitians  have made the trek. Authorities expect 50,000 more in the coming months.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Jen Ellis sat on a broken office chair surrounded by debris and tents in a space mostly hidden by trees and overgrown foliage.

The 39-year-old woman was among dozens of homeless people who have taken shelter in an encampment north of downtown Omaha in recent months. And she is now one of the dozens wondering what to do next.

The encampment has in recent weeks become a source of contention as Omaha police cleared people out of the area after receiving complaints from nearby businesses and homeowners. Omaha Police Capt. Keith Williamson wants the propertys owner, Union Pacific, to take steps to deter its use by homeless people by clearing out overgrown brush and installing lights.

But some advocates say the clearing of the camp wont solve the underlying issues leading to homelessness, nor will it help the individuals from being displaced to other locations in the city.

Over the years, Omaha police have seen encampments pop up on the property, which spans multiple blocks beyond a thicket of brush and trees east of 16th Street and south of Locust Street.

I think its been a good three or four years since weve had a big problem there, Williamson told the Omaha World-Herald. (The number of people) ebbs and flows. If the property gets overgrown, which happens on railroad property, people go in there and think, I can set up, I can hide in here.

Ellis, whose first stay at the encampment was in 2016, said people decide to go there for numerous reasons. For her, it was a last resort after she said she was banned from the Siena Francis House in early spring after being accused of having a weapon, which she disputes.

My ultimate goal was to move on, because the ultimate goal should be to find us housing, Ellis said on a sunny afternoon in late September. Thats what the emphasis should be on, not about taking some stand over property that no one should really be on anyway.

Located just blocks from the encampment, Siena Francis is one of four shelters in Omaha. It provides emergency shelter, food and clothing to individuals experiencing homelessness and allows in people under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. The agency rarely bars or bans individuals from its facilities, a spokesperson said, and when it does, it is typically for a short period of time.

It is not uncommon for our staff to encounter  or to hear about  individuals who report that they are banned and barred when, in fact, that is not the case, the spokesperson said.

Its not unusual for encampments to pop up close to places where services such as food, bathrooms and laundry facilities are available, said Randy McCoy, executive director of the Metro Area Continuum of Care for the Homeless (MACCH). They can also attract people who feel unsafe in a shelter or other programs.

Sometimes theres past trauma in their lives where staying outside might be a better arrangement for them than staying in a shelter or being around that many people, McCoy said. Being able to sleep alone as compared to a dormitory.

At its peak between March and October, the encampment on the Union Pacific property had a population of more than 30 people staying there full time, according to Nick OConnell and David Carney, members of a community outreach group known as Omaha Autonomous.

The group has regularly provided aid to the people in the encampment since March. They have seen a majority of the camp clear out in recent weeks.

Most people left out of safety concerns after the police sweeps, OConnell said. For most of the summer, there was little police interaction.

Law enforcement started taking a more active role at the site in response to complaints from neighboring businesses and homeowners, according to Williamson.

Omaha police made four or five official checks of the property between late September and mid-October, and officers drive by daily to see if foot traffic is going in and out of the area, Williamson said.

Six people have been arrested in that time frame, which included four felony warrants. Three of those felony warrants were because a convicted sex offender failed to register their address, Williamson said.

The area is registered as closed property under a city ordinance, which allows police to respond to trespassers on the property.

After police received multiple complaints about the encampment, Williamson said he contacted Union Pacific, which has its own police department with certified state law enforcement officers. He asked that the railroad company take steps such as installing lights, clearing trees or even bulldozing some of the land to make it less appealing to homeless people.

Union Pacific spokeswoman Robynn Tysver said in an emailed statement that the company is concerned about the people who are illegally setting up encampments on our property, which is marked as private property.

We work closely with the Omaha Police Department to help those individuals find safer alternatives and remove trash left behind, Tysver said. However, its a challenging situation. People often return and some treat the area as a dump site, making it difficult for Union Pacific to mitigate the issue.

Williamson said he has seen complaints about the encampment ebb following the arrests and clearing of the camp.

Advocates contend that clearing the camp is not a solution to homelessness in the community.

All the sweep did was push people away from a place they had made their home, Carney said on behalf of Omaha Autonomous. The only thing that has changed is now folks are heading into winter without any sense of security further from the resources they need access to.

Omaha Autonomous has kept in contact with several of the people displaced from the camp. The group said that in the weeks following the clear-out, it hasnt seen any effort by Union Pacific, the city or police to clean up the property.

OConnell and Carney said they would like to see more avenues to attainable housing, noting a man they often ran into at the encampment who has been on a housing wait list for three years.

We seem to lack the ability to put people into housing quickly and effectively, OConnell said.

Shortening the list is something McCoy would like to see, as well.

McCoy estimates that about 900 people are on the list on any given day, waiting for housing in Douglas, Sarpy and Pottawattamie Counties, and of those 300 to 400 are chronically homeless.

Theres also the cold reality of winter months quickly approaching, said Naomi Hattaway, a recent Omaha City Council candidate with years of experience in homelessness prevention.

As the deadly cold blew into the metro area last winter, Hattaway led an effort to provide noncongregate shelter to people seeking a safe space during the onslaught of the pandemic.

With CARES Act funds allocated by the City of Omaha, separate rooms were found at area hotels for those especially vulnerable to COVID-19.

That program has since ended, but as winter comes around again, were gearing up for Round 2 of what that might look like for this coming winter, Hattaway said.

In its annual count, the Metro Area Continuum of Care found that 1,405 people in Omaha and Council Bluffs were homeless on Jan. 22. Included in that number is Ellis, who, like many who had set up camp on the U.P. property, has moved to another location in Omaha.
TANNERSVILLE, Pa. (AP)  An armed woman shot and killed during a standoff in eastern Pennsylvania following a vehicle pursuit last week had a history of mental illness and believed police were trying to kidnap, sexually assault and murder her, authorities allege in court documents.

Betty Jane Tibaldi, 54, fled from Pocono Township police with her husband after encountering officers in Bartonsville late Tuesday night, state police said. An hours-long standoff on Route 611 ensued until police allege that she aimed a handgun at troopers and fired once before being struck and killed by return fire early Wednesday.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  Portland police say two people were killed at an Old Town apartment building on Sunday, and a man was detained as an investigation continues.

The Oregonian reports that Sundays killings would bring the citys homicide toll to 71 this year, breaking a record of 70 set in 1987.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Rhode Island's legislature has created a website to post the proposals it's receiving for spending federal funds to help the state recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Rhode Island was allocated $1.1 billion in American Rescue Plan funds. Democratic Gov. Dan McKee is urging the legislature to start spending. He has said that Rhode Island is the only state in the Northeast that has not spent any of its federal pandemic relief funding yet.
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP)  The University of Southern Mississippi is now displaying flags to recognize students enrolled there from six Native American nations.

The flags were dedicated during a ceremony Oct. 15 in the student union building. They are for the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the United Houma Nation, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the White Earth Nation of the Ojibwe Tribe.

At most institutions, the campus union is considered a non-academic heart of campus, or the campus living room, if you will, Denny Bubrig, vice president of student affairs, said in a university news release. One of our goals is recognizing the backgrounds, experiences and lives of our students, and in doing this, we want to make sure our community sees the union services, resources, and capabilities as accessible to all.

Three years ago, the university placed flags in the union to recognize international students.

Earlier this summer, as we were considering other ways to recognize our students and what they bring to the table, we realized we could do a similar project calling attention to the Native American students in our campus community, Bubrig said.

Tammy Greer is a psychology professor, adviser to the Golden Eagles Intertribal Society and co-director for the Center for American Indian Research and Studies. She said she and Native American students at USM are grateful for the effort to recognize their nations.

I appreciate Dr. Bubrigs work to have our flags displayed in the union and celebrate our Native students, Greer said. It takes extra effort to look around and notice what is missing, which groups have been left out, and then step up to make sure they are included. And, as we just celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day, this event is right on time."
BALTIMORE (AP)  A Morgan State University student who was injured in a shooting on campus is expected to make a full recovery, Morgan State University President David K. Wilson said in a statement Sunday.

The Baltimore Sun reports that officers responded to reports of gunfire at about 6:40 p.m. on Saturday. They found an 18-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest.
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP)  A Michigan State University study has concluded that community solar expansion in Michigan would contribute nearly $1.5 billion to the states economy over 30 years.

Researchers say the installation and ongoing maintenance of community solar projects would create 18,500 well-paying jobs, according to the East Lansing school.
400tmax/Getty Images/iStockphoto

SEATTLE (AP)  A strong Pacific storm system that triggered mud flows in wildfire-scarred areas of California also slammed the Washington state and Oregon Sunday, threatening coastal flooding and causing power outages affecting tens of thousands of people in the Pacific Northwest.

Two people were killed when a tree fell on a vehicle in the Seattle area. Eastside Fire & Rescue responded to the scene of the fatalaties near Preston, Washington, which is about 25 miles east of Seattle.
QUINCY, Mass. (AP)  The trial of a Massachusetts man charged with fatally punching another man during a fight outside a Quincy American Legion post nearly three years ago is heading to trial.

Matthew Potter, who faces manslaughter and other charges in connection with the January 2019 death of Chris McCallum, goes on trial starting Monday, The Patriot Ledger reported.
WICKLIFFE, Ky. (AP)  No fowl play was involved in the Kentucky Veteran and Patriot Museums Turkey Shoot on Saturday, although sharpshooters with the best aim could win frozen turkeys and turkey trophies.

The Kentucky Veteran and Patriot Museum hosted its ninth annual Turkey Shoot fundraiser Saturday on land behind the museum. Participants donated money to the museum and in return, they would try their luck at shooting 4.5-inch by 5.5-inch paper targets with a shotgun.

For each round, the top three participants whose shots landed closest to the center of their target would earn a prize. Some of the prizes included small and large frozen turkeys and gift cards to department stores and local restaurants. The top overall shooter of the day won a golden turkey trophy.

Even participants who completely missed the target were rewarded with gift cards to Range America in Paducah so they could work on their aim for next years Turkey Shoot.

Most shotgun shells are designed to throw a group of pellets, or shot, at a target once the shot is fired. Kern Bruner, who assisted in setting up the event, said as long as shooters were aimed correctly at the target, one of the pellets in the shell had a chance at hitting the center.

Thats what makes the Turkey Shoot fun. Its half hitting the target, and half luck, Bruner said.

Money raised from the event supported the Kentucky Veteran and Patriot Museum, which curator Sandy Hart said is funded fully by donations. Hart said the Turkey Shoot is one of three events the museum hosts every year to help raise funds for the museum and help share the stories of the veterans featured inside of the facility.

Hart is currently planning events to honor the Veteran and Patriot Museums upcoming 10th anniversary in March. She wants to schedule events for every month in 2022 to both honor the museums anniversary and honor a trip she helped plan nearly 20 years ago where she took more than 400 WWII veterans to Washington, D.C. to see the new WWII Monument in 2004. The planning and fundraising for that trip began in 2002, and Hart also wants to honor those who helped to raise more than $200,000 to send those veterans to the nations capital.

One of the projects she is currently working on is gathering newspaper clippings and articles about local veterans. She is making copies of the stories that she finds and plans on distributing those materials to local schools and libraries to help educate students about the men and women who fought for the U.S.

Hart plans to schedule events in Wickliffe, where the museum is located, and some events in Paducah, where more people could come out and honor the museums support of Kentucky veterans. She is also looking to include the opinions of local veteran groups in figuring out what kind of events to put on and how best to honor the veterans who hail from Kentucky.
BAMAKO, Mali (AP)  A U.N. Security Council mission that is visiting Mali this weekend to assess the security situation is urging the country's authorities to set elections for February to meet agreements reached with a West African regional bloc after a coup last year.

The mission led by Kenyas ambassador to the U.N., Martin Kimani, met with civil society organizations, groups that have signed a peace agreement, Malis prime minister and transitional president Col. Assimi Goita during their weekend visit.

I was struck by the thirst for reform (both political and institutional) that is desired by most of the Malian population, Kimani Sunday said at a news conference. We are now waiting for the end of the transition period which should lead to the organization of elections.

However, Malian authorities have said after the meetings with the U.N. Security Council mission, they want to organize days of consultations in December amongst Malian groups to determine a path toward elections.

The Malian authorities have spoken to us about these meetings as a prerequisite for the elections. These meetings will take place in December, said Abdou Abarry, Niger's ambassador to the U.N. who was a part of the delegation. We are not opposed to it, but only insist it does not delay the end of the transition and give Malians the opportunity to choose their leaders.

Abarry said that Goita assured the delegation that the transitional authorities are not here to stay in power and any commitments the transitional authorities will make will be in the interest of Malians.

Goita seized power in August 2020 by overthrowing Malis democratically elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who had only served two years of his five-year term after being reelected in 2018. Goita eventually agreed to a transitional government led by a civilian president, but ousted those leaders in May after they announced a Cabinet reshuffle that sidelined two junta supporters without consulting him.

Goita was then sworn in as president of the transitional government in June. He has pledged to keep the country on track to return to civilian rule with an election in February 2022.

The U.N. diplomats also raised the issue of security in Mali. The peacekeeping mission in Mali remains the deadliest of all the U.N. missions since 2013.

The Malian authorities have insisted that they are putting much emphasis on security challenges, and MINUSMA (the U.N. mission in Mali) is ready to help them, especially in Central Mali where there is the highest threat of terrorism, said Nicolas de Riviere, Frances ambassador to the U.N.

Mali has been fighting growing insecurity since 2012, when al-Qaida-linked groups took over parts of the north. Despite a French-led military operation that forced many rebels from their northern strongholds in 2013, insurgents quickly regrouped and have been advancing year after year toward the south of the country, where the Malian capital is located. They also launch frequent attacks on the Malian army and its allies.

___

Carley Petesch contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP)  A Delaware woman has been arrested for allegedly driving under the influence after crashing into a Delaware State Police vehicle early Sunday, police said.

Troopers were responding to a report of a disabled vehicle that was involved in a deer collision in the area of Interstate 95 just south of Route 202. Police say two troopers positioned both of their patrol vehicles directly behind the disabled car in the left lane with their emergency lights illuminated.
BELT, Mont. (AP)  The town of Belt was built on coal.

For 50 years men worked the mines ringing the small town east of Great Falls. The coal they harvested was first used to power the paddle-wheelers that once plied the Missouri River. Later it fired the smelters of the Anaconda Copper Company, churning out the copper so desperately needed to electrify America.

But when Belts coal mines played out in the 1920s, they left behind a legacy of acid mine drainage that has fouled the waters of Belt Creek for nearly a century.

From late fall through early spring, when the flow of Belt Creek is at its lowest, the water running through Belt and north to the Missouri River turns dark orange, a telltale sign of the high concentration of sulfuric acid draining into it.

A long awaited project to capture and treat the polluted mine runoff before it reaches the creek got underway in early October. Given a little time to heal itself, the lower reaches of Belt Creek are expected to run clean once again, likely before the end of the decade.

Ive been working on this thing for 15 years, Cascade County Commissioner Jim Larson told the Great Falls Tribune. This is a big deal, not just for the people of Belt, but for all of Cascade County.

The push to clean up coal mine waste  not just in Belt Creek but at thousands of abandoned mine sites across the country  began in 1977 when Congress passed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). The Act established a new tax upon coal production in the United States, with money set aside to bear the cost of environmental mitigation at coal mines abandoned prior to 1977.

It applies a tax for surface mined coal of 28.5 cents a ton, explained Bill Snoddy, program manager of the Montana Department of Environmental Qualitys Abandoned Mine Lands Program. The federal government keeps half of that tax to administer the law, and the other half goes to the state where the coal was produced. We take that money and put it into projects like this.

While Montanas Abandoned Mine Land Program (AML) has successfully taken on close to 300 projects across the state since its establishment in 1980, the project at Belt Creek counts as one of the largest and most expensive it has ever attempted.

This is a really big project, Snoddy said. This is a big deal for my program. Were excited about it. Its going to make a big difference for the town of Belt when its all finished.

When completed, the Belt Creek Water Treatment Plant will have the capacity to treat the more than 80 million gallons of acid mine drainage that contaminates Belt Creek each year. The cost to complete the plant alone is estimated at between $7 million and $9 million.

Perhaps even more impressive are the measures AML is taking to ensure operations and maintenance at the Belt Creek Plant will continue far into the foreseeable future. An endowment of approximately $17 million will be established to cover the plants $500,000 annual operating costs with little or no additional expense to the people of Belt or Cascade County.

We dont charge individuals or a town like Belt for services we can provide, Snoddy explained. Its all funded by active coal mines in the state, and were very cognizant of their contribution and use the money well. Its taken since 2013 to save up enough money to have that operations and management cushion before we could go forward.

The problem at abandoned coal mines like those in Belt stems from the presence of naturally occurring pyrite nodules within the exposed coal seam. As groundwater flows into the open mine workings it comes into contact with these pyrite nodules, which can be up to four inches in diameter.

The pyrite breaks down, forming iron hydroxide and sulfuric acid. Water discharged from the mine becomes acidic, with a pH factor roughly equivalent to Coca-Cola. The drainage also contains extremely high levels of dissolved metals such as aluminum, cadmium, nickel and zinc that turn orange when exposed to oxygen.

Contaminated water now flowing from the abandoned mine openings (called adits) will be pumped to the treatment plant where it will be blended with hydrated lime. The lime neutralizes the sulfuric acid, allowing the suspended metals to settle out.

What remains is the treated water that will be pumped back into Belt Creek, and a thick sludge that remains at the bottom of settling ponds. The sludge is then pressed and dried to remove any remaining water.

The final destination for the tons of sludge that will be generated by the treatment plant has yet to be determined. Most likely it will either be disposed of at a licensed landfill or deposited at a DEQ repository established near Belt. One other alternative would be to re-inject the sludge back into the underground mine workings.

Theres nothing particularly hazardous about the sludge, said Drew Herrera, project manager for Spectrum Engineering and Environmental, the Billings-based firm that has been awarded the contract to build the Belt Creek Water Treatment Plant. Its just iron and water. It does have other metals in it, but theres nothing inherently dangerous about it. Theres no sulfuric acid once the sludge is generated.

Technical aspects aside, the real benefits of the acid mine waste project at Belt will be realized when the creek returns to being the clear mountain stream it once was, more than a century ago.

For people to be able to be out in their backyard and have a good view of clean water, kids being able to play in it, people being able to fish in it. Thats my goal, Snoddy said of the streams future. Thats what I would like to see, and its absolutely doable.
By Tran Nguyen

San Jose Spotlight

As COVID-19 infections engulfed Vietnam and killed 10,000 people in September, two local Vietnamese-American brothers and a nonprofit sprung into action.

David Duong, CEO of California Waste Solutions and a community leader in San Jose, has split his time doing business between the South Bay and the Southeast Asian country. A refugee who fled Vietnam as a kid, Duong said his heart will be forever rooted in the motherland.

Watching COVID ravage Vietnam, Duong and his family felt compelled to help.

"As business people, we work with the community, but we also want to build up the community," Duong told San Jose Spotlight. "We need to give back, especially during this difficult time."

Duong spent months trying to buy COVID-19 vaccines for Vietnam to no avail--the country still can't produce its own vaccines and relies on other countries for supplies. Giving up was not an option.

Finding a solution

He turned to the next best thing. In August, California Waste Solutions donated 250 oxygenators to hospitals in Vietnam to aid pandemic relief. The machines are designed to boost the blood-oxygen concentration of patients who can't breathe because of COVID, but are not the same as ventilators. Last month, the Duongs upped the efforts and donated another 1,000 machines. Duong and his brother hand-delivered the donation to Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc during the president's trip to New York in late September.

"We have the means to contribute in this way," said Victor Duong, David's brother and vice president of California Waste Solutions. "(Vietnam) needs all the help it could get."

When the Vietnamese community in San Jose struggled to keep their businesses open and was hit hard by the virus last year, Vietnam was the only country that sold the Duongs the much-needed cloth masks and hand sanitizers to bring back to the U.S., they said.

When many countries across the globe failed to grapple with how quickly the virus spread, Vietnam implemented strict quarantine and isolation protocols. The country of 96 million people reported fewer than 300 deaths in May last year.

Yet the country has been slow in getting its population vaccinated. As of October, only about 18 percent of the population in Vietnam is fully vaccinated. Roughly 29 percent of the population has received one dose.

Ho Chi Minh City, the most populous city in Vietnam, quickly became the country's COVID-19 epicenter when the Delta variant hit earlier this year, prompting officials to shut down the city from June through the end of September.

Compatriots

Dr. Nguyen Hoang Tuan, a board member of local nonprofit International Children Assistance Network (ICAN), said he followed the news from Vietnam closely. In early summer, the doctor said he knew the Delta variant would devastate Vietnam and its people--who he called "dong bao" (compatriots).

"ICAN started calling for help and contribution in July," Nguyen told San Jose Spotlight in Vietnamese. "We asked for cash and masks, especially medical masks."

Donations poured in from different parts of California and Texas. ICAN collectively raised $138,000, he said. The group also delivered 70,000 N-95 masks, 7,000 KN-95 masks and roughly $30,000 worth of medical equipment for hospitals and health care workers in Vietnam.

"At the time, we thought if we could get 20,000 to 25,000 masks, that would be great," Nguyen said. "I'm so moved by the generosity by many to help our people."

Masks are critical to health care workers and Vietnam doesn't have the technologies to produce N-95 and KN-95 masks, he said.

All the donations have been sent for distribution to Master Thich Chon Tinh, who heads the Thuong Quan Buddhist Temple in Ho Chi Minh City. While machines are sent to overcrowded hospitals in the city, cash and care packages are delivered by hand to those impacted by COVID in the Mekong Delta and Central Highlands, Nguyen said.

The efforts have reached at least 1,000 people across the country, he said. The group prioritized aiding those with disabilities and children who have lost one or both parents due to COVID.

"When our people are hurting like this, this is the least we could do," Nguyen said, sobbing as he recalled a story of a young child losing both their parents to COVID. "We're lucky to be (in the U.S.), so we want to do whatever we can to help them."

Copyright  2021 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

Copyright  2021 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
PHOENIX (AP)  A new organization calling itself a nonpartisan school board association is headed by Republican activists, including the first vice chair and treasurer of the Republican Party of Arizona, and the daughter of the chairwoman.

The Arizona Coalition of School Board Members was launched Oct. 12 as an alternative to the Arizona School Boards Association, with the goal of fostering a public education environment in Arizona that prioritizes freedom in education, parental rights and educational excellence," the Arizona Capitol Times reported.

For too long, school board members in Arizona have been left without a choice, the coalitions announcement video said. While each school board is all but required to join a school board association, theyve been forced to rely on the monopoly of one association for all of their policy guidance and training. It is time for that to change.

Currently, every school district in Arizona is a member of the Arizona School Boards Association, or ASBA, which dates back more than 70 years and provides advocacy, legal resources and training for member districts.

But some parents and conservative groups have voiced opposition to ASBA in recent years due to the organizations position on issues like Empowerment Scholarship Accounts and, more recently, critical race theory and the handling of COVID-19.

For instance, ASBA is currently a plaintiff in a case before the Arizona Supreme Court challenging Arizonas mask mandate ban and other Republican policies tucked into this years budget reconciliation bills.

Coalition Board President Pam Kirby, who is also first vice chair of the AZGOP, served two terms on the Scottsdale Unified School District school board from 2010 to 2018. She said her desire for an alternative association dates back to her time on the school board.

During the past 18 months, we have seen that need play out right in front of us as schools struggled and continue to struggle with governance, Kirby said in an email.

For $25, inaugural members  who can be school board members, parents, community members, school board candidates, teachers or administrators  can join the coalition, which says it offers training and leadership development, policy services and advocacy.

Kirby, who declined a phone interview, said in an email that the coalition board consists of taxpayers, mothers, small business owners, teachers, current and former policy leaders, who believe students should always be at the forefront of education policy decisions.

On its website, the coalition describes itself as a non-partisan advocacy group, but the make-up of the organizations board suggests its mission is political.

The coalitions executive director is Katie Ward, AZ GOP Chairwoman Kelli Wards daughter, and AZ GOP treasurer Sheila Muehling is also the treasurer of the new school board organization. Former Republican Rep. Jill Norgaard is on the board, as is Shelli Boggs, who ran for Maricopa County Community College District in 2018 and lost. Kristie Kennedy, a Republican precinct committeeman in Legislative District 15 is also on the team.

Matthew Nielsen, who lost the 2020 Gilbert mayoral race, is on the board, too. Nielsen founded the Education Freedom Institute, which advocates for school choice. He is also the chair of its board of directors.

The creation of a conservative alternative to ASBA is not surprising to some Republicans.

Trey Terry is a member of the Agua Fria Union High School District school board and a Republican state committeeman in Legislative District 13.

He wasnt familiar with the coalition, but he said he understood why Republicans would launch the group. He said he has sat through trainings about removing school resource officers from schools and what he said were ways to get around critical race theory blocks.

Still, he questioned whether having an overtly partisan board would hinder it from gaining traction.

Then again, ASBA is pretty overtly liberal, Terry said.

He said he gets frequent emails from ASBA about implementing mask mandates.

Theyre pushing policy, Terry said. I think that regardless of which side it is, when youre pushing policy from an organization thats really meant to be there as a support and training, thats where you get a little sideways. I start to tune you out, and most conservatives will.

ASBA joined other education groups in challenging, among other things, a ban on mask mandates in K-12 schools that was tucked into a budget reconciliation bill. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge found the law was illegally enacted, but the state has appealed.

Critical race theory is an academic framework that examines history, society and law through the lens of racism. The term has also been used as a catch-all for topics discussing the intricacies of racial discrimination in the United States, including the history of slavery and segregation.

When the lawsuit was filed, ASBA Executive Director Sheila Harrison-Williams sent a note to members.

ASBA stands for local control; we do not want to mandate masks for all Arizona school districts; we simply want those districts and their locally elected school board to be able to decide whats best for their students and staff, Harrison-Williams wrote.

Many of the criticisms about ASBA and school boards simply arent true, said Chris Kotterman, ASBAs director of government relations.

He said some people see ASBA as some sort of oversight organization that tells local governing boards how to behave, but that couldnt be further from the truth. ASBA gives boards compliance and regulatory advice, but they dont have to take it, he said.

Theyre free to do whatever they want, whenever they want, Kotterman said.

Advocacy activities, Kotterman said, are a separate issue, determined by ASBAs membership.

We dont just go off and make stuff up, Kotterman said. We ground everything we do in the agenda thats adopted by our delegate assembly, which is composed of members.

The association isnt shy about being pro public education and pro district schools. ASBA is also opposed to public funding of private education.

We always have been, and we regularly get called liberals because of that, Kotterman said.

The coalition said in its launch video that it would always be pro-school choice.

Being a member of ASBA is not just agreeing or disagreeing with the associations policy decisions, Kotterman said. The association provides training and resources and offers guidance on how to stay in compliance following changes in law or new legal decisions.

If people assume that being a member of ASBA is a political statement rather than a fundamental, pragmatic way to get access to things that are important to operate a school district, theyre missing the bigger picture of what the association is all about, Kotterman said.

Kotterman said the coalition is trying to present itself as an equivalent of ASBA, but its not.

You cant operate the same level of compliance policies services, things like that, that we do on $25 per member, he said. Its just a fundamentally different organization, and thats fine, but I dont think its a replacement
Coming from the north, there were warning signs: Next Gas, 90 miles.

Id been fascinated by the northeasternmost corner of California, where my home state meets Oregon and Nevada, since realizing  a bit unexpectedly  that there was a there there at all.

The highway that reaches into this remote region, the two-lane Highway 395, leads to no city of size or significance, no major destination. That out-of-the-way-ness meant that in four decades of traveling the West, this may be the only part of California where Id never stepped foot. To the extent Id imagined it at all, Id pictured it as an expansive swath of tumbleweed-strewn high desert.

Id been planning a trip to the Wallowas, a magnificent mountain range in Eastern Oregon and debating whether to drive through Bend or Boise. But I kept being drawn to the most direct, and the most seemingly desolate, route: through Californias Modoc County. Initially, the most notable place nearby was the Malheur National Forest, somewhere Id only heard of because it had been the site of a deadly anti-government standoff in 2015.

Freda Moon

But in looking closer at the map, I began to wonder whether Id stumbled upon a secret. There, smack dab on the border, was not only a town, New Pine Creek, but an entire, massive  as in, 147-square-miles  lake. A quick web search for Goose Lake later, I learned, to my astonishment, that huge body of water Id never heard of is the third largest lake in the state after the Salton Sea and Lake Tahoe.

Further exploration revealed that just up the road, on the Oregon side of the border, was a historic hot springs hotel, built in the 1920s as a sort of European-style health resort. The 40-acre property is also home to Oregons only geyser, Old Perpetual, which was said to erupt 60 feet into the air every 90 seconds. All of this seemed awfully promising, as if Id somehow uncovered a miniature Montana stashed away in this unknown-to-me tri-state region.

Freda Moon

Lake Aberts Disappearing Act

A lifelong lover of hot springs, Im willing to overlook a lot in order to soak in some stinky geothermal mineral water. So when multiple attempts to reserve a room at Hunters Hot Springs Hotel, 10 minutes north of the California border in Lakeview, Ore., proved surprisingly challenging  emails and phone calls were not returned  and online reviews suggested the hotel was in shambles, I optimistically, if not delusionally, dismissed some obvious tip-offs.

Hunters website has the stylized look of those mid-century motels that have been so thoroughly rehabbed that their retro 1970s-era decor is unmistakably ironic. The kind where bicycles are included in the room rate and the mini fridge offers craft beer and locally made snacks. The kind I find both pretentious and, to my shame, irresistible. So, having done just enough online research to see both the old (very bad) reviews and to know Hunters had new owners and was being renovated, I focused on the latter.

Freda Moon

But even before we reached Lakeview, I had a creeping sense that I may have let my fondness for hot springs and eagerness to discover somewhere new cloud my judgment.

While, in fact, tumbleweed-strewn and desolate, the drive south through the high desert on Highway 395 was starkly beautiful. We passed sprawling ranches, strange salt flats and little else. Finally, the sameness of the landscape was broken. On one side of the road were towering cliffs, which jutted into the sky like an ancient  and precarious  rock wall. On the other, there was Lake Abert, the largest salt lake in the Northwest and one of the regions great environmental mysteries.

As we snaked along the cliffs, car-sized boulders littered either side of the road, a reminder of our relative smallness. The lakeshore was ringed in yellow blooms, sage brush, marsh grass and a scattering of scraggly pines. Beyond it, Lake Abert was an optical illusion.

Freda Moon

Over the past decade, the lakes water has been disappearing so quickly that the 15-mile-long, seven-mile-wide lake has lost more than 90 percent of its volume in less than two decades. Much of the lake bed is now dry, but because the salt flats and the waters surface reflect sunlight in similar ways, its almost impossible to tell where the water ends and the salty dry lake bottom begins.

Its a surreal place with an odd ecological story: as Lake Aberts water has disappeared, its salinity has risen  growing saltier and saltier each year. The lakes water was between 2.5% and 10% salt when the lake was healthy (ocean water is about 3.5 percent), according to a recently updated 2014 story in the Oregonian. It is now about 25% or, as the Oregonian illustrates vividly, the equivalent of dumping 34 tablespoons of salt into a two-liter soda bottle.

This transformation has meant that even brine shrimp, one of the few aquatic species to live in the alkali lake, cant survive. The shrimp had been a major food source for what is estimated to be as many as 83,000 birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting, but the situation is now so dire that theres a bipartisan bill in Congress to investigate the causes of the shrinking lakes across the Great Basin.

Freda Moon

While drought might seem an obvious answer, Lake Abert began drying up years before the most recent drought, when the snowpack that feeds the lake remained largely intact. Theories about whats causing the lakes disappearance range from some combination of agriculture interests diverting water that would otherwise feed the lake and climate change. Whatever the cause, the reality that Lake Abert is in serious trouble didnt detract from its ethereal beauty.

The Tallest, Oddest Town in Oregon

By the time my husband and I and our two small kids arrived at Hunters Hot Springs Hotel we had been driving for seven hours with only a couple of short stops. Id finally managed to get through to the front desk over the previous weekend and made a last-minute reservation. But as we pulled up, the place looked deserted. Had I not spoken to someone just days before, I would have assumed the hotel was shuttered.

Freda Moon

Inside, there was not a soul in sight. The lobby restaurant, an old school steakhouse and bar with a small stage at one end, neon beer signs on the walls of knotty pine, and wrinkled white table clothes on small tables cluttered with condiments. Brown vinyl bar stools were turned over on the bar, which was closed for the day  our misfortune, Id later learn.

I rang the bell and an older gentleman came. It took him a bit to find us a room, which was baffling both because we had a reservation and because the place seemed entirely empty. But finally he handed me a key and a stack of towels. Our room, he said, was around the back and side of the main lodge in a separate, newly renovated building. The room, clean and serviceable, was about what Id expect from a reasonably well-maintained Motel 6. And, if the water was right, that was just fine by me.

Freda Moon

Within moments, the four of us were in our swimsuits, racing down the gravel drive toward the hot spring-fed swimming pool in the rear courtyard of the main hotel building. Though it didnt look like much, the water was the perfect temperature for a crisp fall late afternoon and smelled only ever so slightly of sulphur. At the far end, a pipe delivered a steaming flow of hot water beneath a sign warning of the scalding temperatures.

We played beneath the wispy fall clouds until we realized that our dinner options were likely few in this small border town. It was a good thing too, because we made it to the drive through of Burger Queen, a local burger shack, just as they were closing early for the night  having run out of burgers. We ended up eating our chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, fries and onion rings picnic style  towels spread over our two queen-sized beds  back in our room at Hunters.

Freda Moon

My only regret is that our one night in town, a Tuesday, was the night Hunters lobby restaurant, the Neon Cowboy Steakhouse and Saloon, is closed. It is, I was told the next morning, while picking up take-out breakfast at a diner on the south end of town, by far the best restaurant in Lakeview. Unfortunately, we couldnt stick around to find out.

I did, however, spend the morning tracking down traces of the regions history at a small exhibit in the center of town dedicated to the regions ranching industry, chuckwagons, rodeo kings and the elaborate levee system that made cattle farming here so productive.

Then I stomped around in the tall grass behind Hunters for a bit, hoping to see some sign of Old Perpetual, the geyser that by now I knew was as dried up as Lake Abert. The geyser, it turned out, hadnt regularly erupted in years, though the tourism officials werent eager to advertise its demise.

Freda Moon

The geyser was man-made in the first place, the product of Hunters original owner drilling wells to harvest more thermal water to feed his health resort. It erupted more or less consistently for over half a century after, but Old Perpetual is no more.

Neither, it turns out, is Goose Lake  the third largest lake in California, and the second reason for my visit to this faraway corner of the state. As we drove out of Lakeview, toward the state line, we looked out over the valley without realizing we were traveling parallel to what appeared, on Google maps, to be a lakeshore. Unlike Lake Abert, which sparkled, Goose Lake was a seemingly endless pasture, complete with cows grazing in the distance in what would once have been several feet of water.

Freda Moon

When we reached the big blue Welcome to California sign, we realized we had almost missed New Pine Creek as well. The town, once many times the size of Lakeview, had shared a fate with the regions lakes. Its population was down to about 100. The only people we saw there were a family  a man and two young kids, including a girl about the age of my first grade daughter  riding ATVs down the middle of the street that is the border dividing the town in two, the border separating California from Oregon.

The road was lined with wagon wheel fences and front yards cluttered with farm equipment. As wed left Lakeview, Id noticed a hand-scrawled sign outside a house, Biden is a traitor and a murderer, it read. Here, just on the California side of the border, were peace signs painted on windows and walls. But nothing about this borderland was straightforward. It was as mysterious up close as it was from afar.
LATEST, Oct. 24, 4:40 p.m. Amid extreme weather conditions throughout the Bay Area, as well as hundreds of flight delays and cancellations resulting from technical-related issues at SkyWest Airlines, SFO has climbed to the No. 1 spot on FlightAware's "Misery Map," ranking it as the worst airport in the country for such disruptions as of Sunday afternoon.

30 percent of outgoing flights and one-third of incoming flights have been delayed, according to the tracker. SFO saw at least 175 delays and 16 cancellations on Saturday, with an additional 331 delays and 58 cancellations on Sunday.

SFO reminded travelers to "stay safe and pack your patience" and "allow extra time to travel to the airport and check with your airline for flight status" on Sunday afternoon, responding to a tweet from meteorologist Drew Tuma which stated that winds near the airport had reached speeds of up to 60 mph as a storm rages across the Bay Area.

---

A troublesome mix of heavy rain and airline cancellations is causing headaches for travelers in and out of SFO this weekend.

According to FlightAware's live tracker, 26 flights have been canceled at SFO Sunday and an additional 79 delayed. So far, about 17% of the flights out of the airport have been delayed. SFO has the third-most flight issues in the nation today, after Chicago's O'Hare and Denver.

SFO alerted travelers Sunday morning to keep an eye on their itineraries. "Heavy rain in the Bay Area may affect travel on Sunday," the airport's official account tweeted. "Allow plenty of time to get to the airport. Check with your airline for information on flight status."

The heaviest rain along the San Francisco Peninsula is expected late Sunday morning through the evening, with up to six inches of precipitation in the higher elevations.

Some of the issues aren't atmospheric river-related. SkyWest, a regional carrier that partners with Delta, United, American and Alaska, has been experiencing delays and cancellations since Thursday. The problem was a technical one that has since been resolved, SkyWest said.

"While our servers were restored Thursday evening, we are still experiencing operational disruption as we work to get crew and aircraft into position, with approximately 500 flights cancelled Friday," SkyWest said in a statement. "We apologize to customers for the inconvenience and remain focused on efforts to return to normal operations as quickly as possible."

FlightAware shows over 50 SkyWest flights around the nation have been canceled Sunday, with an additional 220 delayed.
Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

An atmospheric river aimed for Northern California is forecast to bring monster swell to San Francisco Bay Area beaches late Sunday into early Tuesday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue the familiar warning, "Never turn your back on the ocean."

Large breaking waves up to 30 feet are in the forecast for west- to northwest-facing beaches from Sonoma County to Monterey County, including SF's Ocean Beach, Montara State Beach and Marina State Beach.
"I think I had a dream launch. I have had an amazing career. It's the same as an amazing life. You have to have high highs and low lows. You have to have successes and failures. Joys and pain. You have to make a life and it is the same thing in your career," Parineeti said in a conversation with IANS.

New Delhi, Oct 24 (IANS) Parineeti Chopra made her debut in Bollywood in 2011 with 'Ladies vs Ricky Bahl'. The actress has completed a decade in the Hindi film industry and says she did not want it to be any other way.

"To have a full career, you should see all aspects of it. In front of the camera, behind the camera, you should see hit films, flop films, you should see failure...all sorts of experiences should be there," added the actress.

Parineeti, who had three back-to-back hit releases such as 'The Girl On The Train', 'Saina' and 'Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar', ]agrees that she has had her shares of hits and misses but that has what has made her the actress she is today.

She said: "From that point of view, I have had so many different experiences from the times I have started. It has been amazing. I wouldn't have been the actor that I am today if it wasn't like that."

Now, Parineeti is looking forward to 'Animal', which stars Ranbir Kapoor and is busy shooting in Nepal for Sooraj Barjatya's 'Uunchaai', which also features Amitabh Bachchan and Anupam Kher.

--IANS

dc/kr
On October 15, Jatan Kumar Saha, 42 was killed brutally, being hacked to death by a mob, and the next day, the body of Pranto Das, 20, was found in a pond next to the Iskcon temple in Choumuhani.

Ripon Ahmed, 19, Arafat Hossain, 24, and Ibrahim Khalil, 25 have confessed to their involvement in the attacks.

Police identified the three accused through CCTV footage before making the arrests on Saturday, Noakhali's Superintendent of Police M. Shahidul Islam said.

Attempts are being made to identify and arrest others involved in the incident through watching video footage, police added.

A senior judicial magistrate recorded statements of the three before sending them to jail late on Saturday, media reports said.

Another accused arrested over the attacks, Abdur Rahim Sujon, 19, gave a confessional statement on Thursday.

Police have so far arrested around 130 people for their alleged involvement in the attacks on the Choumuhani market area in Noakhali's Begumganj upazila.

A total of 10 cases have been filed in connection with the incident, the SP told IANS on Sunday.

Meanwhile, various organisations, including the Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), organised human chains and demonstrations protesting the communal attacks on temples, puja venues, temples, shops and houses in Chaumuhani, and Begumganj.

The programme was held on Sunday morning in front of the District Civil Surgeon's Office and on Abdul Malek Ukil Road at the intersection of City Hall. In addition to the organisers, people of different classes and professions participated.

--IANS

sumi/vd
The decision to lift the ban was made by Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday and it took effect immediately, Xinhua news agency quoted Bunheng as saying.

Phnom Penh, Oct 24 (IANS) Cambodia has lifted a ban on all flights from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines after most of the kingdom's population have been vaccinated against the Covid-19, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said.

"It's part of the country's move to reopen social and economic activities gradually in all areas by adapting to the new normal and to reactivate air transport services," the Health Minister added.

Cambodia banned all flights from the three ASEAN member states in August last year in an effort to curb Covid-19 transmission.

The ban's removal came after Cambodia had administered at least one dose of a Covid vaccine to 13.65 million people, or 85.33 per cent of its 16-million population, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said.

Of them, 12.94 million, or 80.8 per cent, have been fully vaccinated, and 1.62 million, or 10.1 per cent, have received a booster dose, it added.

The kingdom reported 144 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the national infection tally to 117,644, the MoH said, adding that 10 more fatalities have been recorded, bringing the overall death toll to 2,725.

--IANS

ksk/
A deep and long pit was dug with the help of cranes while the roads were also blocked in advance by placing containers.

New Delhi, Oct 24 (IANS) The Pakistan government has dug up a trench on GT Road near Gujranwala in response to an announcement by the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) that they will set out on a long march towards Islamabad, Geo News reported.

Thus, all paths via road leading to and from Gujranwala were blocked.

Meanwhile, a procession by the banned outfit, the participants of which began marching from Lahore, have reached Sadoke, Geo News reported.

On Saturday, the government held talks with four members of the banned outfit.

At Lahore's Batti Chowk, clashes between protesters and police took place for a second day, injuring six law enforcement personnel.

Meanwhile, internet services are being restored gradually, the roads in the city are being reopened, however, Orange Line Metro Train is still closed  for four days now, the report said.

In Rawalpindi, the stretch from 6th Road to Faizabad remains blocked. Containers have been placed on Murree Road, causing difficulties for commuters.

To keep Islamabad safe from the protests, the Ministry of Interior has summoned an additional force of 30,000 police personnel from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who will be equipped with anti-riot gear, the report said.

Two policemen were killed after cars collided yesterday during the protest, a police spokesperson said.

According to the spokesperson, the policemen were injured after the cars collided near District Court in Lahore. Following the accident, they were rushed to a hospital, but they succumbed to their wounds.

--IANS

san/ksk/
Miss Verstak two weeks ago was chosen as Miss NSW 1961.

The new Miss Australia, Tania Verstak, returns to Sydney on October 29, 1961. Credit:R. L. Stewart

Melbourne, Wednesday - A panel of judges tonight chose 20-year-old Tania Verstak, as winner of the Miss Australia quest.

First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on October 26, 1961

Born in China of White Russian parents, she is the first New Australian to win the quest.

Lady Brooks, wife of the Victorian Governor, Sir Dallas Brooks, crowned Miss Verstak as Miss Australia 1961 at a ball at the Palais de Danse, St Kilda.

Miss Verstaks parents, Mr and Mrs V. Verstak, and her sister, helen, 13, were in the audience.

The previous Miss Australia, Miss Rosemary Fenton, and the other six finalists were among the first to congratulate Miss Verstak.

Miss Verstak, a brunette, arrived in Australia from China nine years ago.
More wizarding news from Rod Hibberd of Murwillumbah, who reminds us that Ian Channel, the Christchurch Wizard (C8), is a classic eccentric from rural England via Canada, Iran, Yorkshire, WA, and Sydney. I came across him at Leeds University where he had arrived after several years in Iran to take up one of the then-newfangled double degrees, which he took with double honours. He left a lasting impression among his fellow students, then we heard he went off to raise the cultural tone of Perth.

As a student at UNSW at the time, David Gordon of Cranebrook remembers that in an effort to counter any replication of the student unrest sweeping other international universities at the time, appointing the Wizard (C8), who offered the students other things to think about instead of destroying the uni and society, seemed to work because I dont recall anything happening that was remotely like what was happening overseas.

A wizarding memory was stirred for Robert Hosking of Paddington, who recalls the Sydney University Medieval Ball at the old Showground where, as the unofficial Wizard of Sydney University, with then-long locks flowing in the wind and wearing poet Terry Larsens wonderful cape made from a Victorian green lame tablecloth, I crossed staffs with the said Wizard of UNSW (Kensington Tech) (C8) on the highwire above the adoring crowds.

Prompted by Greg Rutters suggestion of quatorzetine (C8), David Shillito of Asquith relates that the French actually do have a word for 14-day quarantine which is quatorzaine, defined as mise a lisolement de 14 jours. That rolls off the tongue a bit better than quatorzetine.

Before we conclude our discussion of street names (C8), mention must be made of one that is streets ahead in the minds of many readers, who are clearly also Superman fans  Lois Lane in Pennant Hills. This particular Lois Lane is such a favourite that it was its own topic of conversation in Column 8 in 2018. Honourable mentions also go to the Lois Lane that also exists in Dandenong, South Kempsey and Wollongong.
Queensland recorded no new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, but the exposure site list was expanded after two people who had been in the state later tested positive in New South Wales.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the pair tested positive after Queensland police escorted them over the border. Exposure sites were also added after a truck driver left the state and tested positive in Victoria.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said pop-up vaccination clinics would be set up at surf life-saving clubs and theme parks. Credit:Getty

Mr Miles said those cases would be recorded by NSW and Victoria.

I think it really just underlines how close this virus is to our border, he said.
What could unite us more than a discussion about social media? There is an unmistakable irony that endless polarising exchanges on social media are matched by a countervailing unanimity that emerges when discussing whether social media platforms can be improved.

There is little question that reforms to social media platforms, particularly with respect to elections, are necessary and that change can be achieved without in any way unduly trammelling free speech.

Reforms to social media platforms, particularly with respect to elections, are necessary. Credit:Istock

Indeed, its one of the popular misconceptions that social media is any more or less acrimonious than the notional public square weve long conceived. We should remember that the digital public square, like its legacy equivalent, is supposed to be robust and spirited.

But there are a number of issues that not even free speech can excuse, as much as I am a keen exponent of the principle that the freedom to express ourselves is pre-eminent and subject to only reasonable limitations.
Australia will look to new markets for offshore investors, including partnering with European and Japanese firms on mRNA vaccines and clean hydrogen projects, to compensate for a rapid decline in foreign investment from China.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age can reveal the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has begun work on a plan to diversify foreign investment, partly based on the strategy Canberra has already adopted to shift its export markets as relations with Beijing have fallen to their worst levels in decades.

Mining is Australias largest destination for foreign direct investment. The federal government wants to diversify the nations sources of investment.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Australia was down 48 per cent in 2020, largely off the back of the pandemic. But Chinese investment was down 61 per cent, and has been falling for the past five years.

Trade Minister Dan Tehan said Australia needed to diversify its FDI in the same way that weve been seeking to do so with our trade, goods and services.
An Australian man is calling on the federal government to save his five-year-old granddaughter who is in a northern Syrian camp and critically unwell with shrapnel in her head.

It is more than 10 years since Islamic States caliphate in Iraq and Syria started to suck in tens of thousands of foreign fighters and their families, including hundreds from Australia.

Doctors say the shrapnel in the head of Hodan Abbys five-year-old daughter needs to be removed.

Among those were Hodan Abby, who escaped from her home in western Sydney with a friend when she was 18, entering Syria with the hopes of becoming a jihadi bride in 2015.

Hodan has been trapped in Kurdish-run camps for years with her daughter, who turned five in August. They are in al-Roj camp in northern Syria, in a section away from other Australians. There are believed to be more than 60 Australians in al-Roj, including about 40 children.
Several members of the tribunal that reviews government decisions were paid in years they did not work, documents reveal as the tribunal comes under renewed scrutiny from federal Parliament.

Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) records show there were 15 part-time members who did no official business in at least one year between July 2018 and June 2021.

AAT registrar Sian Leathem fought the publication of details about the workloads of the tribunals members. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Five members received payment in at least one of those years when they did not work, documents given to a Senate estimates committee reveal. These were former Liberal senator Sue Boyce, Perth criminal lawyer Seamus Rafferty, occupational physician Michael Couch, Sydney lawyer Teresa Nicoletti, and former ACT Liberals leader Bill Stefaniak.

However, this includes a period when some part-time members were paid a retainer for their availability.
Palermo: Italys right-wing former interior minister, Matteo Salvini, has called into question the trial in which he is charged with kidnapping for refusing to allow a Spanish migrant rescue ship to dock in Sicily, after Hollywood actor Richard Gere was called as a witness.

It is the first trial to go ahead against Salvini for his actions preventing migrant landings while he served as interior minister from 2018-2019 in an uneasy coalition between the populist 5-Star Movement and his right-wing League.

Actor Richard Gere, right, talks with migrants aboard the Open Arms Spanish humanitarian boat. Credit:AP

Salvini was present for the opening day of the trial in Palermo, Sicily, at which prosecutors revealed that among those being summoned is Gere, who visited the migrants aboard the Open Arms after seeing their plight while on a family vacation in Italy.

It is surreal undergoing a trial because I did my job. I feel sorry because, I mean, tell me how serious can be a trial where Richard Gere will come from Hollywood to testify about my career, said Salvini at the opening day of the trial in Palermo, Sicily.
Istanbul: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan says he has told his foreign ministry to expel the ambassadors of the United States and nine other Western countries for demanding the release of philanthropist Osman Kavala.

Seven of the ambassadors represent Turkeys NATO allies and the expulsions, if carried out, would open the deepest rift with the West in Erdogans 19 years in power.

Pictured in 2015, Turkish philanthropist businessman and human rights defender Osman Kavala has been imprisoned for four years. Credit:AP

Kavala, a contributor to numerous civil society groups, has been in prison for four years, charged with financing nationwide protests in 2013 and with involvement in a failed coup in 2016. He has remained in detention while his latest trial continues, and denies the charges.

In a joint statement on October 18, the ambassadors of New Zealand, France, Germany, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the United States called for a just and speedy resolution to Kavalas case, and for his urgent release. They were summoned by the foreign ministry, which called the statement irresponsible.
Miami: Floridas top health official was asked to leave a meeting after refusing to wear a mask at the office of a state senator who told him she had a serious medical condition.

Florida Senate leader Wilton Simpson, a Republican, sent a memo to senators on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) regarding the incident at the office of Democrat state Senator Tina Polsky, asking visitors at the building to be respectful with social interactions. Polsky had not yet made public her breast cancer diagnosis.

Polsky told The Associated Press about the tense exchange with state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo that was first reported by the news site Florida Politics. She said Ladapo and two aides were offered masks and asked to wear them when they arrived for the Wednesday meeting. She did not tell him she had breast cancer but said she had a serious condition.

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has written at least 12 columns for the Wall Street Journal probing the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and the need for masks.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says cancer patients are at a higher risk to get severely ill from COVID-19 and may not build the same immunity to vaccines.
Epic historical drama The Last Kingdom is to return for a two-hour movie, to follow on from next years fifth and final season of the hit series.Produced by Nigel Marchant, Gareth Neame and NBCUniversal International Studios Carnival Films, and based on the novels of Bernard Cornwell, filming on the movie Seven Kings Must Die will begin in Budapest early next year, with Alexander Dreymon reprising his lead role as Uhtred. Many of the series much-loved characters will be returning, along with the introduction of several new faces. Nigel Marchant, Producer, Carnival Films said: We couldnt be more thrilled to continue The Last Kingdom with a feature-length movie. Although season five fully concludes the series, there was always one more story that we wanted to tell. With the brilliant support of Netflix and continued appetite from the fans to see more, we simply couldnt resist one last journey with Uhtred.Alexander Dreymon said: Its been such a privilege to tell Uhtreds story for five seasons. Im so grateful to our fans. They have been immensely loyal to The Last Kingdom and thanks to their support, the TLK team is getting together for another round. Its going to be an epic end to a wonderful journey. Seven Kings Must Die, which will stream on Netflix, will be written by Martha Hillier, produced by Nigel Marchant, Gareth Neame and Mat Chaplin, and directed by Ed Bazalgette. Alexander Dreymon and Martha Hillier will serve as Executive Producers. It will be produced by Carnival Films, which is part of NBCUniversal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group. It will be distributed by NBCUniversal Global Distribution.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  The Mississippi attorney general can take over a case when a local prosecutor steps away, but the takeover must be voluntary and a judge cannot set deadlines for the work.

In a unanimous ruling Tuesday, Mississippi Supreme Court justices said a circuit court acted outside its authority this year when it ordered Attorney General Lynn Fitch's office to investigate a death after a district attorney recused herself.

Kassie Coleman became Lauderdale County district attorney in November 2018. According to the Meridian Star, Coleman released a statement in August 2019 saying her office was ready to receive and review any new evidence" about the 2014 shooting death of a 21-year-old man, Christian Andreacchio.

Police said Andreacchios death was a suicide, but his parents have said they believe he was killed.

Coleman later recused herself from the case and asked a judge to appoint another prosecutor, according to court documents. Coleman cited several reasons, including an election complaint the Andreacchio family filed against her, Justice Robert Chamberlin wrote for the Supreme Court.

Coleman insisted her self-disqualification was necessary to avoid any appearance of impropriety,'" Chamberlin wrote.

Bilbo Mitchell, the Lauderdale County district attorney before Coleman, recused himself from the case in 2017 and handed it to then-Attorney General Jim Hood. A grand jury declined to indict two people that year in Andreacchios death.

Andreacchio's family wants a new grand jury to examine some police reports they say were not shown to the previous one.

On March 31, Lauderdale County Circuit Judge Charles Wright ordered Fitch to undertake an investigation and report on the status of the work by Sept. 1. Fitch appealed, arguing the judge had overstepped the separation of power between branches of government. She also said the attorney general's office had conflicts of interest in the case.

Chamberlin wrote that Wright acted properly in allowing the district attorney to recuse herself, but the judge improperly usurped the executive power of the Attorney General by directing her to conduct a criminal investigation and by requiring the Attorney General report to the trial court the status of her criminal investigation by a date certain.

Chamberlin wrote that the attorney general has the power to appoint and employ outside attorneys and special investigators to work on prosecutions, if she chooses.

Finally, any decision to investigate a case and present said case to a grand jury as well as a decision to decline prosecution as unwarranted is within the sole and sound discretion of the Attorney General or her designee, Chamberlin wrote.

Fitch, a Republican, was inaugurated in January 2020. She has made decisions about two high-profile cases transferred from district attorneys to the attorney general's office  one involving a man tried multiple times and the other involving a white police officer charged with shooting a Black man.

Soon after taking office, Fitch was handed the case of Curtis Flowers after Montgomery County District Attorney Doug Evans recused himself.

Evans tried Flowers six times in the July 1996 killings of four people at a Winona furniture store. Flowers was convicted four times: twice for individual slayings and twice for all four killings. Two trials on all four deaths ended in mistrials.

Each of Flowers convictions was overturned. In June 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court tossed the conviction and death sentence from Flowers sixth trial, which was in 2010. Flowers is Black, and justices said prosecutors unconstitutionally excluded African American jurors.

The Supreme Court ruling came after American Public Medias In the Dark investigated the case and interviewed a key witness who said he lied about Flowers. In December 2019, Flowers was released from prison but remained under indictment. In September 2020, Fitch announced she would not pursue a seventh trial of Flowers because there were no longer any credible witnesses.

In May 2020, Fitch announced she was dropping a manslaughter charge against Canyon Boykin, a white former police officer in Columbus who pleaded not guilty in 2016 after being indicted in the shooting death of a Black man, Ricky Ball. Lowndes County District Attorney Scott Colom transferred the case to the attorney general in 2016. It was still pending when Hood, a Democrat, ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2019.

_____

Emily Wagster Pettus has covered Mississippi government and politics since 1994. Follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said spending bills currently being considered in Congress contain more than $260 million for 106 Maine projects.

The Maine Republican said the funding is included in the fiscal 2022 bills approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, which she serves on. The bills still must be voted upon by the full Senate and House.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said she has introduced a bill to address a so-called pink tax in the military, a reference to the higher prices women service members often pay for their uniforms.

Hassan, a Democrat, and Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, of Iowa, recently introduced the bill together.
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP)  Uzbeks voted Sunday in a presidential election that the incumbent is expected to win in a landslide against weak competition.

Although President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has relaxed many of the policies of his dictatorial predecessor, he has made little effort at political reform.

Mirziyoyev, who took office in 2016 upon the death of Islam Karimov, faces four relatively low-visibility candidates who didn't even show up for televised debates, instead sending proxies who failed to engage in substantial discussions. Independent candidates weren't allowed.

The other candidates talk about abstract things like strengthening social security, but they don't provide any details. They don't have a real program and they don't have to because they know who will win, political analyst Akhmed Rahmonov said.

Despite the absence of significant competition, voter turnout was strong. The elections commission said that by 5 p.m. (1200 GMT), three hours before the polls closed, more than 70% of the electorate had cast ballots.

Preliminary results are to be announced on Monday.

The only Mirziyoyev challenger who got significant notice in the campaign was Alisher Qodirov, with his proposal that Uzbeks working outside the country should pay taxes in Uzbekistan, a widely unpopular idea for the large share of the population that depends on remittances from family members abroad.

Mirziyoyev openly disagreed with the proposal and some observers suggested that Qodirov, whose party is in coalition with Mirziyoyev's in the parliament, made it in order to channel votes to the incumbent.

Under Mirziyoyev, freedom of speech has expanded compared with the suppression of the Karimov era, and some independent news media and bloggers have appeared. He also relaxed the tight controls on Islam in the predominantly Muslim country that Karimov imposed to counter dissident views.

He also lifted controls on hard currency, encouraging investment from abroad, and he moved to patch up foreign relations that soured under Karimov.

Mirziyoyev improved relations with world players such as Russia, China and the West, while also resolving conflicts with neighbors including establishing peaceful interaction with Afghanistan, said Andrey Kazantsev of the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations.

Uzbekistan and Afghanistan share a 144-kilometer (89-mile) border, and Uzbekistan has consistently worried that conflict could spill over. The ex-Soviet republic's foreign minister became the first foreign official to visit Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the country in August.

___

Uliana Pavlova and Jim Heintz contributed to this story from Moscow.
Milton, PA (17847)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun in the morning followed by cloudy skies during the afternoon. High 47F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies. Low 31F. Winds light and variable.
The number of registrations of individuals and legal companies increased, in the first nine months of this year, by 44.17 pct compared to the similar period of 2020, to 116,731, of which 79,424 are companies with limited liability (SRL), according to the data centralized by the National Trade Register Office (ONRC), consulted by AGERPRES.

Most registrations were done in Bucharest, respectively 17,892 (+31.94 pct, compared to January - September 2020), and in the counties of Cluj (6,592, +56.92 pct), Timis (5,421, +49.63 pct) and Ilfov (5,345, +36.46 pct).

At the opposite end, the lowest number of registrations was recorded in the counties of Ialomita (852, +41.29 pct), compared to the first nine months of the previous year, Covasna (862, +32.21 pct) and Calarasi (994, +26.14 pct).

According to the ONRC, the areas in which most registrations were made are: wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (23,330, +17.55 pct year-on-year), agriculture, forestry and fishing (13,969, +337.35 pct) and construction (13,045, +25.59 pct), Agerpres.ro informs.

In September 2021, 12,865 individuals and legal companies were registered, most of them in Bucharest (1,984) and in the counties of Cluj (718), Timis (608), Ilfov (576) and Iasi (525).
His Grace Bishop Ignatie of Husi expressed concern over the exponential growth in coronavirus cases in Vaslui County and Romania.

The Bishop of Husi has sent a message urging people to be aware of the real dangers of the pandemic, asking to intensify prayer, an essential support in this challenging context, marked by the suffering of illness and premature separation from our loved ones.

The hierarch instructed the priests to officiate more often the Divine Liturgy and the Sacrament of the Holy Unction for the sick and the medical staff.

We hope that the Physician of our souls and bodies, the Saviour Jesus Christ, is truly a source of courage, support, comfort, and peace both to those suffering from the disease and to physicians and all medical staff.

Prayer for our neighbours along with caring for those who are vulnerable to disease, for which health is a priority, show the measure of loving and responsible Christian conduct, giving us the state of balance essential in this time marked by the temptation of polarization, Bishop Ignatie noted.
Following the death of Bishop Gurie of Deva and Hunedoara on Thursday, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel expressed his to His Grace Assistant Bishop Nestor of Hunedoara and the members of the Diocesan Council and Assembly.

The Patriarch of Romania expressed his grief over the repose of His Grace Bishop Gurie of Deva and Hunedoara, highlighting his vocation for dialogue and communion and the paternal kindness and generosity that the hierarch manifested in his life.

Patriarch Daniels telegram: full text

With deep heartfelt sorrow, we learned of the unexpected passing from this life of His Grace Gurie, the first Bishop of the newly established Diocese of Deva and Hunedoara (2009), a missionary and hardworking archpastor, who distinguished himself by his vocation for dialogue and communion, by paternal kindness and generosity, often expressed towards both clergy and the believers he pastored.

Together with the hierarchs of the Holy Synod, with the priests, monastics and believers of the grieving Diocese of Deva and Hunedoara, these days, we offer prayers for the rest of his soul in the light, peace and love of the Most Holy Trinity.

May his memory be eternal from generation to generation!

With fatherly condolences to the grieving diocese,

 DANIEL

Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church
The holy remains of one of the great Athonite elders of the 20th and 21st centuries were exhumed on Wednesday October 20 at Vatopedi Monastery on the Holy Mountain.

Elder Joseph of Vatopedi spent 13 years as a disciple of the great St. Joseph the Hesychast. He remained at New Skete after the repose of his elder in 1959, laboring there for another 28 years. In 1987, he moved to Vatopedi Monastery, where he remained until his repose on July 1, 2009.

The Fathers cleared the dirt away from his grave in the monastery courtyard, and after Vespers his holy relics were unearthed, reports Romfea.

The exhumation is being overseen by His Eminence Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol, a spiritual child of Elder Joseph, together with several other hierarchs and visiting Athonite abbots.
The medical support provided by France, consisting of medicines needed to treat COVID-19 patients in the ICU wards, arrived on Sunday at the National Centre for Coordination and Intervention Management - Ciolpani (CNCCI), showing the European solidarity, said Raed Arafat, head of the Emergency Situations Department (DSU).

Arafat added that these actions are operated under the European Civil Protection coordination.

"I want to thank our colleagues in France for their support," Arafat said, on Sunday, at Ciolpani, where he was present together with the ambassador of France to Romania, Laurence Auer, when the medical aid arrived.

Laurence Auer voiced her joy that France is sending this emergency support in order to help Romania in this medical crisis, Agerpres.ro informs.

"These are resuscitation drugs (ICU), exactly those that are needed today in hospitals. I have worked with Mr. Arafat and the Minister of Health and the Romanian authorities, because the European Civil Protection Mechanism is one that works very well and these medicines will be delivered immediately. On Wednesday, other aid, equipment will arrive," Auer said.

Raed Arafat also said that talks are ongoing with Poland and Hungary for the transfer of other patients sick with COVID-19.

"We continue with the transfers, but at the same time, the medical teams that will work with us in the hospitals will start to arrive. And that's going to be announced again when we see the first teams arriving. We already have a team that has the first forerunners, who analyze everything, where they will work, how they will do it and during the week we will have the first team that comes, besides the Moldovan team, which is already in Iasi," Arafat added.
The witness said that the car did not appear to be fleeing, but drove at a normal speed from the shopping center, at the intersection of Manchester Road and Interstate 270.

"We're relatively certain that there was no forced entry," said Slaten. But he would not speculate on how the killers gained entry. He said police assume more than one person was involved.

At the back of the cafeteria is a heavy fire door. Employees told police they customarily enter in the morning by pushing a button beside the door. When the bell rings inside, they said, the manager pushes another button in his office that unlocks the door. The manager cannot see the door from his desk, they said.

Slaten said killers might have entered this way. "There were no indications that anyone was in the cafeteria all night," said Slaten.

Police said this afternoon that the three women were supposed to be at work at 8 a.m. but evidently had all arrived early. Staten said a safe In the office was open.

He said there were no bills in the cash drawers, although coins were scattered on the floor.

The victims apparently were shot as they stood and they fell on one another. Their hands were not tied, police said. The three women were wearing their cafeteria uniforms.
At the board meeting, there were comments critical of critical race theory, which isnt taught in Rockwood schools. There were comments seeking some books to be banned from the library and, of course, breathless criticism of the mask mandate that was in place at the board meeting and continues in all the public schools. (Note to St. Louis County Council Chairman Rita Heard Days: The school board president announced at the onset of the meeting that masks were required. Most people appeared to comply with her request.)

Much of what was said at the meeting was disinformation, such as the criticism of Garlands letter, which clearly only asks the Justice Department to coordinate with local law enforcement departments to develop strategies to combat harassment and threats of violence against school board members.

Seriously, the FBI, really? one parent sarcastically asked. You have poked the wrong bears.

One of the bears asked the school board members who pays them.

Who are you accountable to? she asked. FDA, CDC, NEA, Chinese Communist Party, the globalists ... ?
Its a no-brainer, she said. We are going to be relentless on this. We have to do something.

Unfortunately, she said, it often takes mass shootings such as Parkland to jumpstart debate for these policies. But she doesnt want to just wait for another tragedy.

In some communities, especially urban areas, gun violence has never left the spotlight, said Wisconsin state Rep. Lena Taylor, a Milwaukee Democrat sponsoring an extreme risk protection order bill. As in other states, the Wisconsin bill has not received a hearing by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

We just hit a brick wall of just not being willing to even try to figure this out, Taylor said. For people who have lost loved ones, thats what hurts. I feel like we owe them. Theres only so many prayers and condolences to give.

Both Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul have thrown their political weight behind the measure, saying it will make communities safer after a year that was the deadliest for gun violence in the past two decades. The more the public knows about these laws, Kaul said, the more pressure there will be on the Legislature to hold a hearing for the bill.
JEFFERSON CITY  A spokesman for Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who said Friday that taxpayers paid for Schmitts recent trip to the Texas border, on Sunday said he was mistaken: Schmitts expenses will be paid by his campaign while the state will cover the spokesmans travel expenses.

Schmitt traveled to Texas on Thursday where the attorney general, a candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, announced the filing of a lawsuit seeking to restart construction of a southern border wall. He joined Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton along the banks of the Rio Grande, just west of downtown El Paso, to announce the lawsuit.

On Friday, Chris Nuelle, press secretary for the attorney generals office, declined to release a tally of the costs to the Post-Dispatch, directing the newspaper to file a public records request for the information. But Nuelle defended the trip.
Weber said he watched from land when the companies called off the attempt to get the boat, while onlookers took drone footage of the vessel and wondered about who could have gotten the boat stuck like that.

I didnt tell them it was my boat, Weber said laughing. I wanted to stay incognito.

Now though, Weber is worried that the longer the boat remains stuck, the more damage the $130,000 vessel might take.

I know at least we have a lovely pot of au gratin potatoes thats now splattered on the floor, so Im sure its not smelling great, he said. Besides that, I dont see any major damage from the exterior.

Weber, who is back home in Michigan, said most of his possessions, including nearly all his clothes and his guitars, remain in the boat.

I could really use a guitar right now with all this going on, he said. Im not a millionaire. This was where I am planning to live for the next year, and basically everything I have is in there.

Weber is hoping a third attempt to free the White Widow will happen in the next week, and he is optimistic it might still run.
As soon as the election was over, they turned them back off or they changed the settings back to what they were before, to prioritize growth over safety, Haugen said in an interview with 60 Minutes.

An internal Facebook report following Jan. 6, previously reported by BuzzFeed, faulted the company for having a piecemeal approach to the rapid growth of Stop the Steal pages, related misinformation sources, and violent and inciteful comments.

Facebook says the situation is more nuanced and that it carefully calibrates its controls to react quickly to spikes in hateful and violent content, as it did on Jan 6. The company said its not responsible for the actions of the rioters and that having stricter controls in place prior to that day wouldnt have helped.

Facebooks decisions to phase certain safety measures in or out took into account signals from the Facebook platform as well as information from law enforcement, said spokeswoman Dani Lever. When those signals changed, so did the measures.

Lever said some of the measures stayed in place well into February and others remain active today.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  Attorney General Eric Schmitt's office now says his campaign paid for a trip to Texas last week to announce a lawsuit seeking to force the restart of construction of a southern border wall, and taxpayers paid only for his spokesman to make the trip.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Schmitt's spokesman, Chris Nuelle, said Sunday that he was mistaken Friday when he said that the state had paid for the entire trip.

Nuells said Sunday that the trip cost about $820, and he defended the reason for it.

The trip was paid for by the State, because it was a lawsuit filed by the State of Missouri on behalf of the people of Missouri, Nuelle said in an email. Further, I booked the cheapest possible accommodations (I stayed at the La Quinta Airport) for this trip to reduce the money spent. Securing the border has far reaching national security implications, including in Missouri, and the focus should be on Joe Bidens failure to secure the border.
The terrorism label would allow Israel to raid the groups offices, seize assets, arrest employees and criminalize funding and expressions of support.

Rights groups in Israel and abroad have expressed outrage over the terror label.

Palestinian activists said they are counting on international pressure to get the decision reversed.

We hope that the International community will put enough pressure on Israel so that it will back down, Ubai Aboudi, head of the Bisan Center for Research and Development, one of the targeted groups, said Saturday. Aboudi said he was previously charged by Israel with being a PFLP member, but denied ever belonging to the group.

Sahar Francis, the director of the prisoners rights group Addameer, told a news conference that she was grateful for the international statements of support, and that "we expect this campaign and pressure to continue in order for it to be fruitful. Addameer is also one of the targeted groups.

Shawan Jabarin, who heads the veteran rights group Al-Haq, said Israel's designation came as a surprise and that the groups had not been given a heads-up. Two of the six groups said they would not be forced underground despite the uncertainty of their new status,
Last year, the pandemic canceled trips for many of us. Such was the case for Sue Roy, 58, of Brentwood. She and her husband had a spring 2020 trip to Germany canceled by the coronavirus just two weeks before they were supposed to leave. But they still desperately wanted to get away. So they planned a road trip, driving 19 hours to the Outer Banks of North Carolina in July. There, Roy managed to capture the photo that won our 2020 Post-Dispatch Travel Photo Contest.

Three wild horses, all different colors, emerged amid the dunes of Corolla beach, and Roy captured their magnificence in a photo that wowed our judges.

As vaccines became available in 2021 and the world opened up more, we bet many of you began to travel more, and we sure hope you took your cameras.

So its time to enter your travel photos, from wherever you went, as long as it meets our criteria (see Page B6). This year, the winner of the Post-Dispatchs annual travel photo contest could be your photo. We are accepting entries through Nov. 28.

A panel of Post-Dispatch journalists will choose first-, second- and third-place winners, plus honorable mentions. The winners will be announced and published Dec. 26 in the STL Life section.

The rules
In September Russia released videos of the two prototypes of their new IFV (infantry fighting vehicle) design, the T-15. This is the first evidence that this Armata variant exists. The T-15s shown look like a T-14 tank without the turret and this may be the case because the T-15s in the video are described as 48-ton vehicles powered by a 1,500 HP diesel. Max road speed is 70 kilometers an hour (43 miles per hour) and range of 550 kilometers on internal fuel. This T-15 is described as having the same armor protection as the T-14 tank.

Israel introduced a similar IFV back in 2009. This was the Namer (or Nemer) IFV, which uses the chassis of older Merkava tanks. Israel originally planned to build 600 but budget cuts and reduced military threats reduced that to less than 200 so far. Production can be resumed if needed but so far only about 120 are in service. Several infantry battalions are already equipped with Namers, mostly in the Golani Brigade up north near the Lebanese border. In early 2010 Israel used several Namer IFVs in Gaza. This was the first combat experience for the Namer, and it performed as expected. One was used for a forward command post, enabling officers to get close to the fighting and, using several radios and sensors in the Namer, to quickly shift forces and call for air support on specific targets.

The Namer is based on the chassis of older Merkava I and II series tanks. These vehicles are being retired, so they can either be scrapped, or recycled. Namer has the thick armor of the Merkava. With the turret removed, a remotely controlled (from inside the vehicle) heavy machine-gun has been added on top. The Merkava lends itself to this kind of modification, because the engine is mounted in the front and there is already a door in the back of the vehicle.

Namer is a 60-ton vehicle with a crew of three and room for nine troops. There is a RWS (remote weapons station) that can use a 12.7mm machine-gun or 40mm automatic grenade launcher. There is also a 7.62mm machine-gun that is operated by a passenger from an open hatch. Namer is powered by a 1,200 HP diesel and has a top road speed of 60 kilometers an hour and range of 500 kilometers.

For fighting in urban areas, against Palestinian terrorists, Namer has an edge because of its thicker armor. Israel had added armor to their existing supply of M113 APCs because of this threat. Based on tests, and the first experience in Gaza, troops prefer the Namer, mainly because it is more resistant to anti-vehicle mines and roadside bombs and generally safer for the infantry inside.

The Namer passenger compartment is also equipped with a stretcher that enables one casualty to be carried along with a full load of passengers and crew. Namer has the Merkava battle management system, as well as four cameras providing 360 degree vision around the vehicle. The remotely controlled machine-gun has a night vision sight. The vehicle also has a toilet, an addition based on troop feedback and many missions where they had to stay on board for up to 24 hours at a time in combat zones. Cost of the Namer is about $3 million. The T-15 must cost more because it uses a new chassis built for the task.

Israel has over 500 Merkava IIs eligible for retirement. Removing the turret, and adding more armor to the bottom, leaves you with a 60-ton Namer, the heaviest IFV ever built. While successful in combat, Israel realized that it was a specialty vehicle and existing IFVs, based on the American M113 APC, were adequate, especially when equipped with the Trophy ADS (active defense systems) that also equip Israeli tanks to protect against RPGs (rocket propelled armored piercing grenades) and ATGMs (Anti-tank guided missiles). Russian tanks, including the Armata vehicles, also use ADS, which Russia pioneered but the Israelis perfected.

Israeli combat engineers also got some Namers for use as CEVs (Combat Engineering Vehicles). These have been around since World War II and are usually based on a tank with the turret removed.

Cost is preventing the Russian army from getting more than a token number of Armata vehicles. In 2019 the army received twelve T-14 tanks and four BREM tank recovery vehicles for the T-14. These were the first production models. There were doubts that these vehicles would appear, given the dire financial condition of the manufacturer and reports of unresolved technical problems with this revolutionary tank design. The most serious problems are with the electronics, which are more extensive than in any previous Russian tank. The crew size has been increased to three and there is now a toilet in the crew capsule. Because the crew is confined to the armored capsule they have limited visibility even if someone sticks their heads out of one of the two crew entry hatches. Visibility is normally dependent on the cameras installed outside the tank and the reliability of the power supply and electronics that keep those cameras operational. Despite all this, the manufacturer was supposed to deliver about 40 T-14s by 2021. This slow production schedule allowed time for developers to solve many of the remaining technical and design problems. That apparently enabled prototype T-15 IFVs, which videos showed acting as well as the T-14.

Russia is supplying production contracts like this, as well as more loans, to keep the manufacturer from going out of business. Kurganmashzavod, the firm that developed the new T-14 tank and T-15 IFV, has been effectively bankrupt since 2016. Kurganmashzavod stays in business because it is part of a much larger firm, CTP (Concern Tractor Plants) which, as the name implies, is the largest manufacturer of agricultural equipment in Russia. Kurganmashzavod started out as a state-owned industrial crane manufacturer in 1950 and later began producing military (for hauling artillery and such) and commercial tractors. During the 1960s Kurganmashzavod became the primary manufacturer of the BMP IFV. Kurganmashzavod developed several successful BMP variants into the 1980s. The government continues to purchase BMP and amphibious BMD vehicles mainly to keep key production workers employed. Russia has learned the hard way that once a lot of these skilled workers are out of work, they use their skills to find new careers or even emigrate, and are virtually impossible to get back later. Orders for unneeded or unready vehicles are an effort to maintain the workforce that, once lost, is extremely difficult and time-consuming to rebuild.

Kurganmashzavod, like many defense manufacturers of high-tech equipment (vehicles, aircraft, ships, missiles and electronics), had a difficult time staying in business and retaining its skilled workforce since the 1990s. When the Cold War ended in 1991. so did orders for BMPs. Kurganmashzavod got by with contracts to refurbish BMPs and manufacture new components (like turrets) as well as some commercial vehicles. In 2014 the Russian economy, and the defense budget took a major hit from lower oil prices and Western sanctions resulting from the Ukraine invasion. The situation got desperate for Kurganmashzavod as it was surviving on loans because the BMP refurbishment income was largely gone and so were military orders in general. The company gambled on developing and marketing the revolutionary T-14 and T-15 vehicles. Russian leaders were impressed but there was no money to place large orders and there were no export customers either. The government encouraged work on the T-14 because it was a prestige item that proved Russia was still a major defense developer and manufacturer. That was not true but the government was willing to scrape up the cash to make it appear so.

That attitude is being exploited by Russia because of much reduced post-Cold War procurement budgets. For example, in early 2021 Russia announced that the army would receive over 400 upgraded tanks and IFVs in the coming year but none will be the new T-14 Armata tank and T-15 Armata IFV. Upgraded tanks like the T-80BVM are filling the gap for the missing T-14s. The Armata is a radical new design for tanks and IFVs but is too expensive given the defense budgets available. This is due to a 2013 plunge in oil prices that did not recover while the 2014 Ukraine invasion resulted in many economic and trade sanctions. Since then, the Russian replacement program for elderly Cold War era gear has had to settle for more rebuilt than brand new stuff. Russia does plan to start building more T-14s in 2022 or maybe late 2021, unless the procurement budgets suffer more cuts because of the poor state of the economy.

Most of the new tanks the Russian army has received since 2000 have been refurbished and much upgraded T-72B3s. Currently the Russian Army has about 3,000 tanks in service and most (65 percent) are T-72B3s, which you hear little about. Russian troops prefer the T-72B3M over the T-80 and T-90 and few have any personal experience with the T-14.

Since 2013 the army has been receiving an updated version of the old BTR-80 wheeled armored personnel carrier, the 8x8 BTR-82A. While the United States abandoned wheeled armored vehicles after World War II, Russia kept theirs and constantly improved their BTR series. The BTR-80 appeared at the end of the Cold War (in 1986). While not as heavy or as high tech as the American Stryker, the BTR vehicles are popular with many nations, especially for use by police and paramilitary forces. The current export model of the BTR-80 is the BTR-90.

The 15-ton BTR-82A is armed with a 30mm autocannon in a turret. This weapon is stabilized, enabling it to fire accurately while the vehicle is moving. There is also a 7.62mm machine-gun. The BTR-82A has a fire suppression system and a floor built to better protect the three crew and seven passengers from mines and roadside bombs. The hull incorporates a Kevlar layer to provide better protection against shell and bomb fragments. The BTR-82A has an improved engine, electronics, and is amphibious.

Then there are the older tracked IFVs. In mid-2017 Russia ordered 540 upgraded BMP-2 and BMD-2 IFVs as part of its 2018-2025 military modernization program. Upgrading the current fleet of BMPs and BMDs will take time as 540 vehicles are a small portion of 4,000 BMP-2 and BMD-2 IFVs in service and part of the modernization. The BMP upgrades are mainly about improving firepower and fire control capabilities while other areas like armor and mobility remain relatively unchanged. The 14.6-ton BMP-2 and 11.5-ton BMD-2 were designed in the 1980s as upgrades or successors of the original BMP-1 from the 1960s. The BMP-2 needs major mechanical and engine upgrades to support other weight increases. Thats why the BMP-2M weighs about 15 tons and basically has a new turret and fire-control system. The lighter BMD-2 is for airborne forces but is otherwise similar to the BMPs. BMD deliveries were soon completed but the upgraded BMP-2M will take much longer. The BMP-3M IFV features the new Berezhok turret, fitted with four ready-to-launch Kornet ATGMs (laser guided anti-tank missiles) in two twin launchers on each side of the turret. Kornet's range is 5,500 meters and is much easier to use than older Fagot or Konkurs single tube ATGMs previously used on IFVs.
CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hyperion Metals (ASX: HYM):

Overview

One year option to acquire Blacksand Technology, LLC (Blacksand), a leading advanced metals R&D company which has developed breakthrough patented technologies that can produce low carbon, low cost titanium metal and powders

The combination of Hyperion and Blacksand is transformational  bringing together two highly complementary organizations to establish a world-class advanced materials and critical minerals market leader

Blacksand was spun-out of the University of Utah in 2013 and, led by founder Dr. Zak Fang, along with Dr. Kesh Keshavan and Dr. Pei Sun, has achieved major milestones including; Development of the HAMR process and other advanced metals technologies based on the scientific breakthrough by Dr. Fang linked to the hydrogen destabilization of metal oxides; Development of 5 core patent families (over 40 patents worldwide) covering the supply chain from primary titanium metal production to downstream titanium manufacturing, focused on these technologies that can produce low cost and low carbon titanium and other critical metals; Total investment of US$12m into the development of these patented technologies, including funding of over US$7 million from government agencies including ARPA-E/DOE, EERE/DOE, NSF, and NAVAIR/DOD; The development and commissioning of a titanium metal powder production facility in Salt Lake City, Utah currently producing titanium powder for commercial qualification with prospective customers; and The establishment of strong relationships within industry, including with major aerospace and defense companies and U.S. government agencies



Strategic Rationale

If Hyperion exercises its option to purchase Blacksand, Hyperion will have:

Established a world class advanced materials market leader with the potential to offer low cost, low carbon and sustainable all-American metal and critical mineral supply chain solutions

Best-in-class innovation capabilities with a leading U.S. based advanced materials R&D team supported by the world class University of Utah metallurgical engineering department

The potential to extend the research and development activities of the HAMR technology to rare earth metals, zirconium metals and other strategic metal powders

Ownership of an operational pilot titanium production facility in Utah, USA, that can upgrade titanium minerals, produce titanium metal and produce titanium spherical powders

Security and control over the patented Blacksand technologies, being the exclusive commercial licensing rights for more than 40 global patents focused on advanced metal production technologies

The benefit of over 8 years of research and development, with approximately US$12m of funding invested to date, including over US$7m from U.S. government agencies including ARPA-E/DOE, EERE/DOE, NSF, and NAVAIR/DOD

Life of technology cost benefits through a significantly reduced royalty rate on titanium sales

Anastasios (Taso) Arima, CEO and Managing Director said:

"The potential market size for a low carbon, lightweight, strong, heat resistant, corrosion free metal that can be 100% recycled is more than $270bn pa. That metal should be titanium.

Titanium is a superior metal and has only been held back from widespread adoption by high cost.

The patented technologies developed by Dr Fang and the Blacksand team can produce aerospace grade titanium metal and powders at significantly lower costs with minimal carbon emissions.

The combination of Hyperion and Blacksand Technology is transformational, bringing together two highly complementary organizations, supported by the world class metallurgical engineering department at the University of Utah, to create a leader in sustainable low carbon titanium metal and powders. Hyperions Titan Project in Tennessee will supply low carbon titanium mineral feedstock to produce low carbon, low-cost titanium metal and powders using the HAMR and GSD technologies.

We aim to build on Blacksands strengths in material science and innovation to scale and commercialize these breakthrough American technologies and make the US, once again, the leader in titanium metal.

Dr. Z. Zak Fang, Professor of the University of Utah and founder of Blacksand Technology LLC, said:

"Blacksand is excited about the prospects of commercializing its suite of titanium technologies through Hyperion Metals. Hyperion recognizes the potential of the breakthrough HAMR process based on a simple and elegant scientific principle to lead the titanium production industry away from the old, energy intensive, and environmentally challenging Kroll process. This is a historical opportunity to change how Titanium is made with an energy-efficient, potentially zero-emission, and low-cost technology."

Dr. Michael Simpson, Chair of Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Utah said:

The Department of Materials Science & Engineering of the University of Utah is excited and honored to partner with Hyperion Metals on education of undergraduate and graduate students majoring in both metallurgical engineering and materials science and engineering to progress research and development of Hyperions metal technologies.

Hyperions support in the form of scholarships, internships and an ESG legacy endowment will be of significant benefit to our current students as well as supporting future research. The research funding will enable the application of our world class metallurgical engineering resources to performing exciting research on high end metals production related to Hyperions patented technologies.

We are very appreciative of Hyperion Metals generosity and trust in our department and are excited about the long-term partnership.

Full details of the option agreement can be found here.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211021005373/en/

Anastasios (Taso) Arima, CEO and Managing Director

Dominic Allen, Corporate Development

info@hyperionmetals.us

+1 704 461 8000

Source: Hyperion Metals
TYNGSBORO, Mass., Oct. 22, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Advanced Radiation Therapy, LLC (ART) and Apollo Healthcare have today announced a strategic partnership aimed at easing the challenge radiation oncology clinics have in pre-authorizing patients for insurance coverage for innovative radiation cancer therapies. Under this agreement Apollo Healthcare will provide its Prior-Authorization package, amongst other services to ARTs existing customer base, as well as any healthcare facilities considering use of their products such as PreciseRTTM and AccuBoost for adoption within their clinical patient treatment armamentariums.



We are very excited to be teaming with Apollo Healthcare to ensure oncology patients that can benefit from PreciseRT and AccuBoost are able to receive our novel Non-Invasive Breast Brachytherapy (NIBB) treatments with no delay or interruption to care based on insurance coverage, remarked Bill Dowd, Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Radiation Therapy, LLC.

By leveraging the human resources, financial modeling and intimate knowledge of commercial and Medicare insurance coding and payment coverage provided by Apollo Healthcare a U.S. based healthcare facility can be sure that physicians will be able to treat patients with the technology of their choice and that the health care facility will be paid the appropriate payment for the lifesaving care the center provides each cancer patient.

Apollo Healthcare is ready to serve as an additional resource to clinics utilizing ARTs products and technology. We are a team of experienced oncology administrative and clinical veterans who relish the opportunity to wade through the details to get to the core problem of preauthorization delays and payment denials ensuring that physicians can utilize the best technology for their patients needs and the health care facilities in which they practice will equitably be paid for the care they deliver, Christopher Gonzalez, Co-founder of Apollo commented.

ART will be showcasing this new partnership at the upcoming American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncologists (ASTRO) annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois from October 24-27, 2021.

About Advanced Radiation Therapy (ART)

Advanced Radiation Therapy, headquartered outside of Boston, MA, is an innovator in precision radiation therapy for breast cancer.

About Apollo Healthcare

Apollo Healthcare, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, provides insurance authorization, patient access, cancer center management and referral management services to physicians and hospitals to advance their practices and improve overall patient satisfaction.

For more information visit www.PreciseRT.com. For more information on Apollo Healthcare visit https://apollohealthcare.com/.

Bill Dowd, bill.dowd@artcorporation.net


Megan Slattery and her father, Leighton Slattery, are navigating coronavirus restrictions in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Courtesy of the Slattery family)

U.S. Army veteran Leighton Slattery, 83, who lives with his daughter outside of Jakarta, Indonesia, says the two have spent much of the year housebound as they implored officials to share coronavirus vaccines donated by the U.S. government.

In Bangalore, India, Asray Gopa, 17, still waits to get vaccinated because  unlike his friends in the United States  he is not old enough to obtain the shots under that countrys rules.

And in Bangkok, businessman Charlie Blocker, 59, spent weeks scouring that city for a vaccine as the coronavirus exploded. But he got nowhere even as the U.S. government shipped doses to its embassy. He and he and his family would later be hospitalized with COVID-19.

Slattery, Gopa and Blocker are all U.S. citizens, attempting to navigate the pandemic without easy access to the high-quality vaccines that are the linchpin of the U.S. strategy. They are among 14 Americans abroad who spoke with The Washington Post about their struggles to get the shots, saying they received little guidance from the Biden administration and watched enviously as hundreds of thousands of doses in the United States expired this summer and fall without any takers.

The disparity has grown as millions of people in the United States are receiving their third dose of high-quality vaccines, while some citizens abroad have yet to get their first. And months of pleading from the expats and their advocates, who represent as many as 9 million Americans overseas, has produced no change in policy.

You have Americans who are filing and paying taxes, and a promise by the administration that all Americans will get vaccinated, and yet that whole community has been left out of the equation, said Marylouise Serrato, executive director of American Citizens Abroad, which advocates for expatriates.

The White House has insisted that it has no special responsibility to vaccinate Americans abroad, citing precedent that the U.S. government doesnt provide private health care to citizens living overseas. State Department officials also dont want to spark international disputes over vaccine priorities, particularly with many countries struggling to secure enough doses to immunize their own citizens.

Its a thorny issue, said Jennifer Kates, director of global health at the Kaiser Family Foundation. Were in a pandemic, so maybe there should be some bending of the normal way of doing things ... but on the other hand, what does it look like if the U.S. government is all of a sudden swooping in and providing preferential treatment in a country where no one else is getting vaccinated?

The U.S. government has urged expatriates to return home for vaccinations, saying its for their safety and citing the ample supply of shots in this country. But Americans abroad said its not that simple, citing pandemic travel restrictions, often considerable costs and health risks.

Where I live ... COVID-19 is rampant, said Gopa, who originally grew up outside of Chicago, before his family moved to India to help his ailing grandparents. You dont want me to travel home and bring a dangerous COVID-19 variant.

Americans overseas say they had reason to expect easy access to high-quality vaccines, like the three shots authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, citing the vows by the administration that it would provide shots to all U.S. citizens while becoming an arsenal of vaccines for the world.

Every American 12 and older, no matter where they live, has vaccines readily available to them, White House coronavirus coordinator Jeffrey Zients said at a July briefing, a clip that a coalition of international Americans cut into a video they circulated last month, criticizing the administration.

White House officials say that Zients was referring to Americans who live in the United States. Asked about the continued struggles of Americans to secure shots overseas, a spokesperson touted a three-pronged approach that many expats criticize as insufficient.

Where countries have a robust vaccination program, the Administration will pursue diplomatic options to ensure American citizens can receive vaccines in their country of residence, White House spokesperson Kevin Munoz wrote in a statement.

He added that the administration will ensure that U.S. citizens overseas who travel back to the U.S. to get vaccinated can be vaccinated easily and effectively and will provide clear information to U.S. citizens overseas regarding their eligibility to receive a vaccination in the country in which they reside.

Officials at the State Department, which is helping oversee the U.S. global vaccination rollout, also predicted that shortages abroad would be alleviated over time but offered no specific timetables. The administration this week touted that it had delivered 200 million doses of vaccines to more than 100 countries.

We expect increasing availability of vaccines for U.S. citizens overseas as the United States efforts to increase global access to vaccines continue, a State Department spokesperson wrote in an email. We encourage all countries to ensure all persons within their borders, regardless of status and including U.S. citizens, can receive vaccines through national vaccination programs.

President Joe Biden vowed this summer that U.S. vaccine donations abroad would be no strings attached, empowering countries that receive them to use the doses as they saw fit. The move was seen as a diplomatic rebuke of rivals like China and Russia, which have attached preconditions to their vaccine donations. But it left the White House with little influence over who receives the doses it gives away.

Some Americans abroad have argued that the administration should attach strings, at least to ensure that U.S. citizens dont get left at the back of the line. For instance, Indonesia has received donated doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines from the United States but generally excluded foreign residents from getting those shots, said Slattery and his 19-year-old daughter, Megan.

Were on the daily lookout for vaccination sites, said Megan Slattery, who last week received her first shot after finding a hospital willing to administer Moderna vaccines to any unvaccinated person, regardless of citizenship. Meanwhile, her father settled for a Chinese-made vaccine, Sinovac, which has been found to have limited effectiveness, and said he remains eager to get an FDA-authorized vaccine. Both of them say they are immunocompromised because of health problems.

Other U.S. citizens said that encouraging Americans to travel home isnt practical during a pandemic, and noted that peer nations like France have taken steps to inoculate their citizens abroad.

People ask me why I dont just fly back to the U.S. to get my shots, but I simply cannot afford it, said Kim Walsh, 31, who grew up in California and worked as an accountant there but now lives in Bali, Indonesia with her partner. The two work for a small health supplement company and live paycheck to paycheck, Walsh said, struggling to navigate the pandemic even as the islands tourism-based economy all but shut down last year.

Walsh faulted the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia for its aloof response to Americans requests for help. She finally secured a Moderna shot this month after spending much of the year searching for an FDA-authorized vaccine. I feel like I shouldnt have had to go through so much stress and anxiety to get a vaccine that is widely available in the U.S., Walsh said.

Charlie Blocker and his family receive care in Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok. (Courtesy of the Blocker family)

Blocker, a Kentucky-born businessman who lives in Bangkok with his family, describes another harrowing struggle to obtain a vaccine. As infections surged by more than 4,000 percent across Thailand in April, he said he desperately hunted for an effective vaccine for himself and his family. Did we search? Yes. But it was all in vain, Blocker said.

Thailands vaccine supply at the time was limited to a small pool of Chinese-made vaccines, and an even smaller cache of AstraZeneca doses and shots available on the black market. The United States did ship FDA-authorized vaccines to Thailand as part of a plan to immunize U.S. government workers, including staff at a local Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hub. But Americans in private business like Blocker, who works in the hospitality industry, got no access.

On May 29, Blocker was admitted to Bangkoks Bumrungrad International Hospital with coronavirus-associated pneumonia, where he stayed for nearly two weeks, reliant on oxygen. His wife and teenage son soon joined him, battling their own infections. Despite their continued efforts, the family would not be fully vaccinated until August, after they traveled back to the United States to get the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech regimen, a trip that kept Blocker away from his office for more than a month.

Blocker estimates that he spent about $30,000 to cover his familys travel, medical and associated costs that could have been avoided had he and his wife been vaccinated last spring, at the same time as their peers in Kentucky and U.S. government workers in Bangkok.

Now hes weighing the need for a booster dose, having read reports about waning immunity and is worried about the prospect of another international trip. The question on everyones mind: Are we going through this all over again? said Blocker.

The issue has caught the attention of members of Congress, with Democrats like Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., pressing the administration to take action.

Murphy has suggested sending additional vaccine doses to embassies overseas that would be targeted to American expats and advanced legislation that would mandate the U.S. government to craft a strategy to help citizens abroad. Other lawmakers have pushed plans to empower the Defense Department, which has immunized tens of thousands of service members overseas, to play a larger role in delivering shots to citizens abroad.

But Democrats say theyve heard little from the White House, and theyre growing frustrated by the inaction. This is a pretty extraordinary moment, and that creates a higher level obligation for the U.S. government, said a senior Democratic congressional aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail conversations with the White House. I dont think, for a lot of people, it will resolve itself ... it will be a hanging issue in a lot of countries.

Gopa, the teenage expat in India, says hes braced for continued uncertainty. That countrys vaccine rollout for children has stalled, which means that only those 18 and over can get shots, and his 17th birthday was just last month. Unless something changes, itd take 11 more months to get one vaccine, he said.
Moody Air Force Base was on a 1991 list of bases set to close. But it is still going strong. (U.S. Air Force)

VALDOSTA, Ga. (Tribune News Service)  With the government preparing to close a series of U.S. military bases in 1991, observers could have assumed Moody Air Force Base would be safe.

Moody pilots and airmen had successfully fought to liberate Kuwait from Iraq in the Persian Gulf War. Many were still stationed overseas.

In the early spring of 1991, Moody was named the best Air Force base in the world. On April 3, 1991, Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense for the first President Bush and the future vice president for the second President Bush, tapped Moody as the recipient of the prestigious Commander in Chiefs Installation Excellence Award.

Yet, as one columnist lamented, Cheney didnt say so, but the citation was to be Moodys epitaph.

Less than two weeks later, on April 12, 1991, Cheney announced a proposed list to close 43 military bases. The list included Moody Air Force Base.

Thirty years later, with military planes in the sky and men and women in uniform in the community, Moody Air Force Base obviously did not close.

But the threat to Moody Air Force Base in 1991 was real.

The people who scrambled to save it from closure did not know their efforts would be successful. They could not predict Moody would be open within the 24 months of that April 12, 1991, announcement, let alone 30 years later.

They knew what closing Moody would mean for South Georgia. Depending on the calculations, it would have meant the loss of approximately 3,500 to 6,000 to 9,000 military and civilian jobs in 1991. It would have meant the loss of their dependents from the South Georgia economy.

News reports predicted economic disaster. The loss of Moody could have meant the loss of $150 million or more annually in 1991 dollars to South Georgias economy.

It could have meant a change of business not only for Valdosta, but every community neighboring the base in South Georgia.

Those who saved Moody didnt have to prove the bases value to South Georgia. The Department of Defense and the BRAC commission understood that the majority of communities on their list would be negatively impacted by the loss of a military installation.

What Valdosta had to do was prove that Moody was not only an integral part of South Georgia, that the community would do whatever it could to facilitate Moodys missions, but that Moody AFB was an asset to the nations security.

As a Valdosta Daily Times article noted, they had to prove the bases value to the U.S. military machine.

Dark hours

Valdosta-Lowndes County 1991 did not know if Moody could be saved, but the region did not assume closure would be automatic either. Political differences were put aside. The community unified behind the goal to save Moody Air Force Base. As often happens in history, what could have been one of Valdostas darkest hours became one of its brightest moments.

For years, South Georgia has had the benefit of retaining many members of the Moody military community. From base commanders to airmen, numerous Moody retirees either stay or return to Valdosta. They discover second careers in a community they have come to call home while the region benefits from their military experiences, credentials and work ethic.

The ability to attract retired Air Force personnel proved paramount in the efforts to save Moody. The relationships provided inside information that gave Valdosta- Lowndes County a head start in removing Moody from the BRAC list.

In his biography, From Dirt to Duty, W. Troy Tolbert of Valdosta, a retired Air Force general and former Moody commander who passed away recently, recalled receiving word of Moodys inclusion on the BRAC list two weeks prior to Cheneys announcement.

Members of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds fly over the skies of Moody Air Force Base, Ga., Oct. 27, 2017. (Eugene Oliver/U.S. Air Force)

Tolbert received the call as he recuperated from a fall 1990 prostate cancer diagnosis. He didnt feel he could make the information public but Tolbert felt he must act. He informed then-Mayor James H. Rainwater. Tolbert insisted the information could not go public but that Valdosta must start prior to the DOD announcement to save Moody.

Together, we drew up an organization chart that would rally the community together and combat the charges the Department of Defense committee used as to why Moody should be closed, Tolbert wrote in his book.

Valdosta needed a plan.

The retired general and the Valdosta mayor began mapping a plan immediately to challenge these and other BRAC claims against Moody.

(Jimmy Rainwater) and I actually drew the chart on a brown paper bag, Tolbert wrote.

The Moody team

From this early meeting came the plans for the Moody Support Committee, a powerful alliance of the regions retired military and active civilian leadership.

First elected mayor in 1988, Rainwater was only a few years into what would become a historic term of 15 years as Valdostas mayor. He had the ironic distinction of having grown up a Tifton native who had resented Valdostas size and prestige in his youth to become Valdostas most steadfast advocates and arguably one of its greatest mayors.

As mayor, a Times editorial noted, Rainwater would become Valdostas voice, the citys representative, its administrator, ambassador, negotiator, cheerleader and leader. Rainwater died in office in 2003.

Saving Moody would be one of his proudest accomplishments and would secure his political power for the next dozen years in office.

In Rainwaters earliest discussions with Tolbert, it was decided the then-57-year-old, retired general would be instrumental in the Moody Support Committee, according to From Dirt to Duty.

As the book title suggests, Tolbert rose from the cotton fields of rural Mississippi to become an Air Force fighter pilot and Vietnam veteran. During his 27 years in the Air Force, Tolbert commanded three Tactical Fighter Wings: the 347th TFW at Moody; the 388th TFW at Hill AFB in Utah, distinguished as being the Air Forces first operational F-16 wing; 1st TFW at Langley AFB in Virginia.

Retiring, Tolbert and his family returned to Valdosta. He served as the Moody Support Committees executive director.

Five other men were considered key players within the Moody Support Committee.

Walter Gill Autrey Jr., then-44, served as the committees chairman. A Vietnam veteran and Marine helicopter pilot, Autrey had been Valdostas mayor from 1986-88. At the time, he owned large tracts of South Georgia and North Florida land and farmed fresh vegetables. He also worked as a securities broker.

He lives in the Apalachicola, Fla., area where he has operated a tour company, according to a travel blog that referred to him as Captain Gill, the former mayor of Valdosta.

Col. G.J. Joe Prater was then a 48-year-old, retired Air Force fighter pilot and Vietnam veteran. With 26 years in the Air Force, Prater served tours at Tactical Air Command Headquarters and in the Pentagons Air Force headquarters. He flew with the Thunderbirds, the Air Forces elite demonstration squadron.

During his two tours at Moody Air Force Base, Prater served as deputy commander for operations, vice commander for operations, and commander of Moodys 347th Tactical Fighter Wing.

Following his 1990 retirement from Moody, Prater and family stayed in Valdosta for several years before leaving South Georgia. He worked as a vice president with First State Bank & Trust, with Valdosta Technical College and served on the Valdosta-Lowndes County Airport Authority and with the Lowndes County Board of Health. He served as the Save Moody campaign coordinator.

Parker Greenes name became synonymous with involvement at Moody Air Force Base. By 1991, he had already gained a reputation as being an avid supporter and friend of Moody for 25 years. From 1972-85, Greene served as chairman of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerces military affairs committee.

At the time, he served on the chambers board of directors. He was also the commander of the White Knuckle Squadron, a Moody group founded to increase community participation in the base through incentive jet flights. Greenes contacts in the Pentagon were legendary.

In 2007, Moody named its Consolidated Base Support Center in Greenes honor. Greene served as the Moody Support Committees deputy director. Greene died in 2018.

Col. Bob Ator, then-51, also served on the committee. A retired fighter pilot and Vietnam veteran, he served 26 years in the Air Force. His time included two four-year tours in Europe; as well as base commander at Moody and at Langley AFB. Retiring with his family in Valdosta, Ator served many years as the director of Valdostas airport and as vice president of Delta Petroleum Services.

He was involved with the Boy Scouts, Val Tech board of trustees and other area organizations. He worked daily with the Moody Support Committee. He passed away in 2017.

Major Dan McIsaac retired from the Air Force after 30 years. At Moody, he served as the comptroller squadron commander and retired with his family in Valdosta. At the time, McIsaac was employed with U.S. Press and was an active member of Park Avenue United Methodist Church.

Additional staff members of the Moody Support Committee included Chandler Carter, Dean Failor, Dick Clark, Leigh Dominey, Norman Huggins, and Bill Amos.

Other Moody Support Committee members included Southern Circuit Judge H. Arthur McLane, Lowndes County Commission Chairman Fred DeLoach; Jewel Ivey, Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce president; Curtis Crosby of Atkinson County; Bill Perry of Berrien County; C.J. Keel of Brooks County; Wallace Jernigan of Clinch County; Max Lockwood of Coffee County; J. Hinton Reeves of Colquitt County; Jim Paulk of Cook County; Jack Carter of Echols County; Orton Bryan of Hamilton County, Fla.; Emory Walters of Irwin County; Larry Lee of Lanier County; Cary A. Hardee of Madison County, Fla; Jerry Rainey of Thomas County; Jimmy Allen of Tift County.

Airmen with the 23rd Wing await the arrival of the new HH-60W Jolly Green IIs Nov. 5, 2020, at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. (Andrea Jenkins/U.S. Air Force) HH-60W Jolly Green IIs assigned to the 41st Rescue Squadron fly to Moody Air Force Base Nov. 6, 2020. (Jasmine Barnes/U.S. Air Force)

Ready for action

By the time of Cheneys announcement and shortly after the public notification of Moodys inclusion on the base-closing list, South Georgia was ready. The region also had several big hitters from the state and nation in its corner.

Sen. Sam Nunn, D- Ga., was chairman of the U.S. Senate committee on Armed Services. He was joined by fellow Georgia Sen. Wyche Fowler Jr., and congressmen Reps. Charles Hatcher and J. Roy Rowland in opposing the closure of Georgias bases, especially Moody. Georgia Gov. Zell Miller also joined the battle.

Raising tens of thousands in a short period of time, the Moody Support Committee hired the powerful Georgia and Washington lobbying firm of Ginn, Eddington, Moore & Wade.

These figures worked behind the scenes and testified at BRAC hearings of Moodys importance.

Georgia columnist Bill Shipp speculated on the importance of these heavyweights saving Moody by writing, Its hard to say which phone call, briefing, letter or private contact saved Moody Air Force Base from closing. It reminded Shipp of an older tale of Moody nearly being closed.

In 1955, when Moody and Fort Gordon at Augusta were slated to close, President Dwight Eisenhower phoned Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Russell, D- Winder, to inquire about some unrelated administration funding item, Shipp wrote in a 1991 column.

I just cant think about that now, the powerful Georgia senator told the President. I am so worried about those people losing their jobs in Valdosta and Augusta. Thats all I can think about.

The President got the message, Shipp wrote. Moody and Fort Gordon were removed from the hit list. Ikes appropriations were approved without debate.

As for the 1991 save, Shipp believed it could be attributed to a combination of Sam Nunns political muscle, former Congressman Bo Ginns lobbying firm and a persistent grassroots protest.

While political clout and Valdostas grit worked wonders, Moodys save may also owe much to the well-reasoned and compelling arguments made for saving the base.

Making the case

In 1991, Moody housed 72 F-16 fighter jets. The BRAC Commission claimed Moody had limited air space for its F-16s, and poor weather hampered training operations.

By closing Moody and bases in Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina, the Air Force reportedly wanted to consolidate its tactical fighter operations in the West, far from Army and Marine units, so it can concentrate on the long-range interception of enemy planes, not on ground support, according to a 1991 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article.

The Moody Support Committee refuted the claims with several points.

 Weather: Reports stating that South Georgia had less than perfect weather for flight training would suggest that fighter pilots would face only good weather in combat. This criteria implies that pilots trained in good weather are better. The weather that Moody pilots flew in recently in the Middle East conflict certainly was other than good weather. 

 Base infrastructure: Moodys infrastructure and growth potential did not receive adequate consideration in the initial BRAC review. As a result, Moodys real military value is grossly understated. Two studies revealed that Moodys utilities, water, sewage, roads, taxiways, runways, etc., had more areas rated as completely adequate to perform the tactical mission than any other base in the command.

 Growth potential: Moody had 500 prime acres for development with close proximity to bombing ranges, and Army and Navy combat units for composite force training. Moody offers the potential for expansion.  Recommendations: The Moody Support Committee recommended assigning another mission to the base.

 Airspace encroachment: The base had adequate airspace in conjunction with other bases and operations.

 Cost of closure: The committee believed the cost of closing Moody had been substantially understated.

 Economic impact: Income loss in South Georgia would have exceeded $230 million, a 16% loss of income and a loss of over 6,000 jobs. Lowndes County will bear the brunt of the impact with a 23.3% loss of income and a 16.3% loss of jobs.

These arguments were made publicly, on phones, in meetings, in press reports, behind the scenes, during the May 21, 1991, BRAC inspection of Moody, and during the May 23, 1991, BRAC hearings in Jacksonville, Fla.

During the hearing, Nunn argued that Moody was vital in providing close air support for ground troops.

If Moody and other southeastern Air Force bases closed, Nunn argued before the BRAC commission, the main losers in the proposition will be the Army and Marine ground forces, which will see less close air support training, particularly night close air support, which was identified as a major shortfall in Operation Desert Storm.

Whether it helped or not, Moody officially received the Commander in Chiefs Installation Award of Excellence the day after the hearing.

During the hearing, Gill Autrey said, It does appear a little bit ironic ... that were discussing closing the best base in the Air Force.

Nunn told the BRAC commission, I urge you to take a two-track approach. Accept that Secretary Cheney is correct in that Moody is the best in the Air Force; reject that it be closed.

A little more than a month later, BRAC did just that. Moody was removed from the closure list.

A new era

On June 30, 1991, in a 5-2 vote, the BRAC commissioners voted to keep Moody AFB open. The panel openly questioned the Pentagons reasons for wanting to close the base.

I believe the Air Force has underestimated the overall military value of Moody, said BRAC Commissioner William L. Ball III, who was the commission member who personally toured the base. It is a highly efficient base. ... It affords really ideal training.

A July 1, 1991, Valdosta Daily Times article noted that Ball argued military planners unfairly downgraded Moody because of poor weather and air space congestion.

A dissenting vote came from BRAC Commissioner Howard Bo Callaway, a former Georgia Republican congressman. He agreed that Moody had been treated unfairly but he opposed keeping Moody open.

While the commissioners argued the fate of Moody, a Times article reflected that South Georgia held its breath awaiting the decision. Upon hearing word that Moody had been saved, the town breathed a sigh of relief in celebration.

It was a hell of an afternoon, but we can all holler Hallelujah now, said Fred DeLoach, then- Lowndes County Commission chairman. The Moody Support Committee and the whole community is to be congratulated.

With officials and residents watching the hearing on television, Mayor Jimmy Rainwater reflected that day, It was the most gut-wrenching thing Ive ever sat through. ... It is such a tremendous victory, my heart almost stopped.

Gen. Troy Tolbert said, Im so happy for the community, I dont know what to do.

Moody Air Force Base had been saved, but the Moody Support Committees work continued, hoping to ensure that South Georgia will not have to face another such gut-wrenching day in the future.

Dean Poling was a reporter with The Valdosta Daily Times in 1991.

(c)2021 The Valdosta Daily Times (Valdosta, Ga.)

Visit at www.valdostadailytimes.com
Buy Photo Re-enactors dressed as American and French World War I soldiers join the U.S. European Command Honor Guard during a ceremonial vigil on the 100th anniversary of the selection for the U.S. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Oct. 23, 2021 in Chalons-en-Champagne, France. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)

CHALONS-EN-CHAMPAGNE, France  One hundred years ago, an Army sergeant looked over four caskets draped in American flags inside the city hall here and chose the U.S. soldier who would embody the sacrifice of everything, even his name, to a cause greater than himself.

French and American soldiers stood guard that night, never leaving the Unknown Soldiers side.

On Saturday and Sunday, hundreds gathered for a vigil, a military parade and other ceremonies dedicated to that soldier and the many others he represents.

Buy Photo The U.S. European Command Honor Guard and the French Honor Guard march as members of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command salute in Chalons-en-Champagne, France, Oct. 24, 2021. The soldiers were participating in ceremonies to remember the selection of the U.S. Unknown Soldier in this city 100 years ago. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)

The attendees included current and former guards of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Gold Star mothers, veterans, military spouses and onlookers who, simply by remembering, shared in keeping the legacy of the Unknown Soldiers selection alive.

Its a part of our history, said Benoist Apparu, mayor of this city of about 45,000 people. We need to celebrate this for the younger generation, so that they do not forget what happened here.

France and Great Britain each dedicated tombs to their unknown World War I dead on Nov. 11, 1920. The U.S. Congress approved a memorial to be placed in Arlington National Cemetery the following year.

Buy Photo French World War I re-enactors stand outside the Cathedral Saint Etienne in Chalons-de-Champagne, France, Oct. 24, 2021. The city held events honoring the selection 100 years ago of the U.S. Unknown Soldier. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)

On Oct. 23, 1921, caskets carrying the remains of unidentified U.S. soldiers from four different war cemeteries in France arrived in the city, which was then known as Chalons-sur-Marne.

The selection was set to be made at 11 a.m. the next morning by an American officer, until Maj. Gen. Harry Rogers went off-script, according to an account from the Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Rogers decided that a soldier who possibly served in the same trenches should make the choice.

French soldiers unload a casket containing a candidate for the U.S. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at city hall in Chalons-sur-Marne, France, in October 1921. On Sunday, hundreds gathered at the same site in what is now Chalons-en-Champagne for the 100th anniversary of the selection. (Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier)

Sgt. Edward F. Younger of the Army of Occupation on the Rhine had shown up for duty as a pallbearer that day.

It fell to him to choose. Younger was nonchalant about it in interviews shortly afterward. But in a 1936 syndicated newspaper column, he described feeling overwhelmed.

Perhaps one of them had fought with me, had befriended me, had possibly shielded me from a bullet that might have put me in his place, he wrote. Who would even know?

Buy Photo Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier members Lonny LeGrand, Dave Hathaway, George March and James Livingston fold the American flag on Oct. 24, 2021, following the end of ceremonies remembering the selection of the U.S. Unknown Soldier 100 years ago in Chalons-en-Champagne, France. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)

Unknown soldiers would later be chosen to rest at Arlington National Cemetery to symbolize those who died in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

The tomb at Arlington also represents every mother whose son has not come back and is unknown, said Pam Stemple, second vice president of American Gold Star Mothers.

Scientific advances have meant that more unknown service members from past wars have been subsequently identified.

Buy Photo A horse-drawn carriage moves a casket draped in an American flag through the city of Chalons-en-Champagne, France, on Oct. 24, 2021. The ceremony recreated the journey of the U.S. Unknown Soldier from the city exactly 100 years ago. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)

Modern logistics have also contributed to preventing those killed in recent wars from being unknown.

Stemples son, Army Ranger Sgt. 1st Class Tomas Avey, died in Afghanistan in 2015. She reflected on what mothers who never got their children back endured.

We want to honor that, and thats why its so important for us to go and see this, Stemple said.

Buy Photo Wreaths and flowers left by French and American guests are placed at a monument to World War I service members who died for France at the Cathedral Saint Etienne in Chalons-de-Champagne, France, Oct. 24, 2021. The ceremony followed events honoring the selection 100 years ago of the U.S. Unknown Soldier in the city. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)

For Stemple and about 40 others, the stop in Chalons-en-Champagne is part of a pilgrimage that has included cemeteries and monuments throughout France.

There have been hard moments, and tears flowed for some during taps on Sunday. But the pilgrimage participants say this has also been a celebration. And for some, its added new color and depth to a mission of perpetuating the memory of the Unknown Soldier.

Gavin McIlvenna, the societys president, was first relief commander as a tomb guard at Arlington in 1997 and 1998.

Buy Photo World World War I re-enactors stand at attention as a horse-drawn carriage moves a casket draped in an American flag in Chalons-en-Champagne, France, on Oct. 24, 2021. The ceremony recreated the journey of the U.S. Unknown Soldier from the city exactly 100 years ago. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)

He spent some nights on duty thinking about where the Unknown Soldier might have come from, and what it would have been like for him to travel on trains and a ship over the ocean to France.

For McIlvenna, the opportunity to follow the path of the man he guarded is nearly beyond description.

Thats the room Sgt. Younger made his selection, McIlvenna said while standing on the steps of city hall, as scores of people paid their respects at the vigil. I dont know how many times I can say this is overwhelming. But it is.

Buy Photo Jo Ann Maitland, national president of American Gold Star Mothers, pays her respects at a monument to World War I service members who died for France at the Cathedral Saint Etienne in Chalons-de-Champagne, France, Oct. 24, 2021. Maitland and a pilgrimage of about 40 others from America attended ceremonies honoring the selection 100 years ago of the U.S. Unknown Soldier. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
Buy Photo A policeman watches over Roppongi Crossing in central Tokyo, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

TOKYO  Japanese police have arrested a U.S. service member on suspicion of LSD possession in an area of the city known for its nightlife, the Mainichi newspaper reported Thursday.

Police discovered three stamp-like pieces of blotter paper soaked with LSD on the unidentified service member when they took him into custody after an Oct. 9 assault in Roppongi, according to the report. His urine sample also tested positive for LSD.

The service member, who is in his 20s, was rearrested Tuesday on suspicion of violating Japans Narcotics Control Law, according to the newspaper. His name, service branch and home installation were not identified in the report.

A Tokyo Metropolitan Police spokesman on Thursday told Stars and Stripes by phone the case is not one the police would publicize. He declined to comment further.

The service member told police he bought the psychedelic drug at a bar in Shinjuku on Oct. 8, according to the Mainichi report. He then visited Roppongi, where he argued with and punched a Japanese man in the face while heavily intoxicated.

The Japanese man suffered minor injuries, the Mainichi report said.

Crime and courts
Buy Photo The doors of Ramstein Middle School remain closed Oct. 25, 2021, in the wake of new coronavirus cases among the school population. Faculty and students are transitioning to remote learning while school administrators evaluate the situation. (Alexander W. Riedel/Stars and Stripes)

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany  Students at Ramstein Middle School wont attend in-person classes this week due to confirmed coronavirus cases among the school population, school and base officials announced Sunday.

As a result of a cluster of recent positive COVID 19 cases, in coordination with local military command and public health officials, the decision has been made to transition our school to remote learning, said a letter to parents from the RMS administration shared with Stars and Stripes.

School officials did not say in the letter how many positive cases there were or whether students, teachers or both were affected. A post on Ramstein Air Bases official Facebook page Sunday night said the cases were confirmed earlier that day.

Citing policy, the Air Force also declined to provide case numbers.

A spokeswoman for the 86th Airlift Wing on Ramstein said contact tracing was expected to last for the next several days.

Confirmed cases at RMS included both teachers and students, a DODEA-Europe spokesman said Monday.

RMS students wont have school on Monday and Tuesday. Teachers will use those two days to prepare for remote instruction starting Wednesday, the letter stated. The school will let families know by the end of the day Friday whether remote learning will continue.

Remote instruction will enable the school and installation to assess the situation, provide proper cleaning, and complete necessary contact tracing and public health procedures to ensure the safety of the students and staff, Ramstein base officials said on Facebook.

Some students and family members may be quarantined as a result of contact tracing, school officials said. Students in quarantine would receive remote instruction for the duration of that period, they said.

Base officials advised affected personnel to contact their supervisors to discuss child care or telework options, if needed.

If you are not contacted by public health officials, you have not been deemed to have been in close contact, RMS said in its letter.

The middle schools closure and shift to remote learning does not affect other base schools on Ramstein or students enrolled in DODEAs virtual school, officials said.

The coronavirus cases at Ramstein come amid a sharp increase in cases in Germany, leading some health experts to declare the start of a fourth wave of infections.

As of Friday, the seven-day average of new infections in Germany per 100,000 people was 95.1, compared to 68.7 a week ago, according to figures from the Robert Koch Institute. A total of 19,572 new infections were reported Friday, more than double the number reported seven days ago.

About 66% of the German population is fully vaccinated, according to RKI.

Jennifer H. Svan
Afghan people sit as they wait to leave the Kabul airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 16, 2021, as thousands of people mobbed the citys airport trying to flee the Talibans feared hard-line brand of Islamist rule. Colorado is among the many states and nations receiving refugees, including orphans. (Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images/TNS)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Tribune News Service)  Thirty Afghan orphans who somehow survived the chaotic exit from Kabul airport, in addition to months of uncertainty traveling alone, are headed to Colorado.

Denver Human Services says it's the biggest influx of parentless kids the organization has seen in recent memory.

"We aren't sure of the details as to how they became unaccompanied," said DHS Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program Manager Tamara Smith. "Some parents sent their kids to the U.S. and stayed. Some of the children's parents are dead. A lot of them come with significant trauma."

Smith said that the best-case scenario for the young refugees would be for them to be cared for by people in the Afghan community. If DHS can't find enough Afghans to take the children in, she advises any non-Afghan potential foster parent to be aware of cultural differences like religion, food and language.

She acknowledges that DHS is entering the situation blindly, as the organization doesn't know if the children speak English and is unaware of the male-to-female ratio and how badly the youth have been traumatized by the war.

"Most of them are teenagers," she told The Denver Gazette. "There aren't many 2-year-olds."

The most recent numbers show that 360 unaccompanied and separated Afghan children have been registered in Doha and Ramstein, Germany air bases, UNICEF's Nina Marie Costa told The Gazette. Of those, 150 children have left for other countries, including the 30 headed for Colorado. UNICEF reports that it is currently working to reunite any children with their parents if they are still alive.

The orphaned child evacuees will have refugee status, and DHS has been told they may be coming sooner rather than later, Smith said.

Though many of the up to 2,000 Afghan evacuees expected to resettle in Colorado are intact families with a mom and dad, there are also heartbreaking cases, The Gazette has learned, including displaced pregnant women and elderly. In addition, the city and county of Denver is working with state and federal partners, as well as local resettlement agencies, to fill the gaps, including locating permanent housing, job placement and medical care.

After months of living on borrowed time, one Afghan familys first taste of freedom was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in a 15-passenger van, courtesy of his American sponsor and former battle buddy.

Matiulah, his wife, Aziza, their seven children, ages 2 to 11, and his brother are headed to Lafayette in Boulder County after a five-week vetting period at Holloman Air Force Base near White Sands Missile Range in Southern New Mexico. (The Gazette has agreed to not to use the family's last name for security reasons.)

Matt, as soldiers called the interpreter during wartime, hid in a water tower as the Taliban looked for him, intent on punishing him and those he loved for his work with the U.S. He began working on his special immigrant visa last year with a former Army lieutenant when COVID forced him to close a cellphone store he owned on an Army base in the Eastern Province. That lieutenant now Maj. Chris Liggett  personally drove the family via a 15-passenger van from Southern New Mexico to El Paso, where they caught a flight to Denver Thursday.

The special visa that enabled Matt, his wife and children to enter the U.S. was created for hundreds of thousands of Afghans who assisted the U.S. military effort in the 20 year Afghan War.

His brother has a different type of visa based on humanitarian parole, created as part of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Humanitarian parole allows immigrants to temporarily enter the U.S. either because of an urgency or because their being here offers a special benefit to society.

Refugees hoping for humanitarian parole must have an American sponsor in order to be eligible. Recently, The Gazette highlighted the generosity of a Colorado Springs veteran who opened his home to a stranded Afghan woman, offering to be her sponsor.

Recently, however, Paul Studdard told the newspaper that he has changed his mind about sponsoring 30-year-old Fahemeh Amini.

"As much as I would like to help, I will not sign that form," wrote Studdard in an email. "This is what happens when good intentions collide with bureaucracy."

The bureaucracy Studdard referred to is a requirement to deposit a bond if the immigrant becomes a public charge. Further, signing the form gives the government the right to sue the sponsor if the immigrant applies for and receives government benefits like food stamps.

Several immigration experts who spoke with The Gazette said Studdards hesitance is not uncommon; however, a law just three weeks old may warm more sponsors to the notion of coming forward.

On Sept. 30, when President Joe Biden signed a continuing resolution that extends fiscal year 2021 government funding levels through Dec. 3., he included a provision that gives humanitarian parolees refugee status, which no longer makes it illegal for them apply for government benefits.

Denver immigration attorney James Land says that this development nearly guarantees that there is no chance the government will make sponsors subject to lawsuits or bond deposits.

The concern that people like Paul might have has been greatly reduced by this new eligibility for refugee benefits. Its huge," Land said. Theres legal liability, but is there a hook for that to become a reality? Probably not.

Land has been working pro bono untangling legal problems for Afghan refugees since the fall of Afghanistan because many of them dont have money.

My perception is, whether or not we needed to get out of Afghanistan, we pulled the rug out from under people and thats on us," he said. "I felt like we have a duty to help in some small way.

Wahid Omar, an Afghan American volunteer, said sponsorship is a commitment some people are not prepared for.

Sponsorship should come from the heart, and people must be willing to do whatever it takes. If you dont have commitment, then dont come forward, he said.

Maj. Chris Liggett, who met Matt in 2014 when he was a 24-year-old lieutenant, has been the catalyst for his former interpreters evacuation, arranging for special immigrant visas and organizing an escape route that involved an Alabama Marine he didnt know, mysterious WhatsApp messages and secret airport gates. He has no reservations about sponsoring a war buddy who got him through the many dangerous scrapes that came with his job guarding gates at an American base in Afghanistan's Eastern Province.

"I'm so deep down the rabbit hole, I'm not hesitant at all," said Liggett. When we saw Afghanistan falling to the Taliban, veterans felt helpless because wed been invested for so long and we were watching it crumble."

This weekend, Matt and his family will rearrange the pieces of an abandoned life to begin a new one. One Boulder resident donated a $600,000 home, and the kids will enroll in school with notebooks, new backpacks and winter clothes, all courtesy of the generosity of hundreds of people who watch a Facebook page called Boulder For Afghanistan.

In response to the need, Liggett formed the OEF Resettlement Project, an all-volunteer, mostly veteran team committed to help Afghan refugees.

The way this story ends is we did the best we could when the government fell," Liggett told The Gazette as he assessed the peanut butter shelves at a New Mexico Walmart ahead of the reunion with Matt. But in true American fashion, we figured out things we could do and we did it.



#YR Colorado Springs Gazette.

Visit at gazette.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Sue Simmons, left, vice president of Blue Star Mothers and a volunteer with Quilts of Valor, presents WWII veteran Denver Conard with a quilt on Oct. 22, 2021. Conard recently recently turned 100. Holding the quilt in the background are Thea Dryden and Shannon Kuhn. (Scott Heckel, The (Canton, Ohio) Repository/TNS)

NORTH CANTON, Ohio (Tribune News Service)  Denver Conard, who served in the U.S. Army in World War II, turned 100 Friday and in an emotional ceremony received enthusiastic and heartfelt recognition of his service from more than 75 years ago.

About 40 people, many of them veterans or family members of veterans, stood as the retired plumber sat on a chair outside his mobile home at Tower Terrace.

An officer for the group Blue Star Mothers, Ohio Chapter 2, presented him with a quilt made by the group Quilts of Valor and a red, white and blue challenge coin thanking veterans for their service. He also got a Quilt of Valor recognizing his service in the Army from 1942 to 1946 and a card from the volunteers of the Akron-based chapter who made the quilt.

A representative of U.S. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, R- Rocky River, presented Conard with a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition and another challenge coin. The office of Gov. Mike DeWine also sent him a certificate recognizing Conards 100th birthday.

Members of groups such as the American Legion Riders, Patriot Guard and the Warthogs, many of them wearing black leather jackets, stood with American flags.

Conards living room table was covered with birthday cards.

Remembering Denver Conards service

My name is Sue (Simmons) and Im with Quilts of Valor, said Simmons as she shook the new centenarians hand. Were going to wish you a happy birthday and give you a quilt. A quilt of valor.

Two women draped the quilt over Conards shoulders amid the chilly air as Conard thanked them. The quilt had a pattern with white, red and light blue squares with a red, white and blue border.

Simmons then read a statement to Conard. She talked about how a woman in Delaware, Catherine Roberts, whose son was deployed to Iraq, started Quilts of Valor in 2003 and how the group had distributed 284,000 quilts to members and former members of the Armed Forces.

She said each quilt has three layers. The top layer with its many colors, shapes and fabrics recognizes the many communities the recipient is part of. The filler is the center of the quilt that the givers hope will provide warmth and comfort. The backing represents the strength of the recipient and the support of their family, communities and nation. The stitches represent love, gratitude and tears of the maker.

Please use this quilt on your bed. Snuggle up with it with your loved ones on your couch or wrap your loved ones in it. We would like you to use it to keep you warm and feel comforted by it, Simmons said.

First, we honor you for your service. We honor you for leaving all you hold dear to stand in harms way in times of crisis, protecting us from the effects of war. Next, we know that freedom is not free. The cost of freedom is the dedication of the lives of men and women like you. And this quilt is meant to say, Thank you for your sacrifice.

Conard, clearly emotional, thanked the crowd with a salute as they applauded.

Brenda Russell, president of Blue Star Mothers, wishes a happy birthday to WWII veteran Denver Conard. Conard became emotional when he wished his wife could have been there for the presentation of his Quilt of Valor. She died nearly two years ago. (Scott Heckel, The (Canton, Ohio) Repository/TNS) Susan OConnor, a member of Blue Star Mothers, Rolling Thunder Chapter 2 and the Patriot Guard WWII, displays a challenge coin presented by the office of U.S. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez to WWII veteran Denver Conard of North Canton, Ohio. (Scott Heckel, The (Canton, Ohio) Repository/TNS) Susan OConnor, a member of Blue Star Mothers, Rolling Thunder Chapter 2 and the Patriot Guard WWII, displays a challenge coin presented by Blue Star Mothers to WWII veteran Denver Conard in North Canton on Oct. 22, 2021. Conard is 100 years old. (Scott Heckel, The (Canton, Ohio) Repository/TNS)

Certificate from congressman

Christina Trompower, a Canal Fulton-based constituent service coordinator for Gonzalez, then presented him with the certificate and a challenge coin with the seal of the U.S. House of Representatives. The other side of the coin had the state of Ohio in gold with a red background with a star in the 16th Congressional District. The coin has the words Empowering Northeast Ohio. Constituents First.

I wish my wife was here, said Conard, who spoke of his wife of nearly 70 years, Velma Lee Conard, who died nearly two years ago at the age of 89. They did not have children.

Shes watching you right now, said Trompower, who thanked him for his service and sacrifice for the United States. Celebrating this milestone birthday with you is amazing. I have a certificate for you from the congressman. And I think you know what these are.

Trompower handed him the challenge coin.

Thats nice, he said as he looked at the coin. I appreciate that.

Trompower said, Of course, well, we appreciate you.

With his permission, she gave him a hug.

I got so much stuff people give me, Conard said. I didnt know I had so many friends.

The group then sang Happy birthday, to Conard and applauded. Several people hugged him, thanking him for his service as he thanked them for their gesture.

Sue Fedor, his neighbor said, Im so happy that you had this honor presented to you. ...

Youre part of the greatest generation, said Jerry Fuelling, a Marine veteran and Canton police officer, a flag bearer who shook Conards hand.

Jim Fedor, the son of Conards neighbor Sue Fedor and an Army veteran, bent on his knee to shake Conards hand.

Fedor, a resident of Massillon, said, You need anything, you ask because you and I are brothers.

Members of the Patriot Guard arrive with the North Canton home of WWII veteran Denver Conard. (Scott Heckel, The (Canton, Ohio) Repository/TNS)

From West Virginia

Conard said hes a native of Reedy, West Virginia, who relocated to Ohio after he graduated from high school and enlisted in the Army in 1942 as he likely would have been drafted. He said he served as an Army clerk and typist at Fort Sam Houston and from 1945 to 1946 in Belgium after it had been liberated from German occupation by the Allies. He was not directly involved in combat operations.

After the war, he spent some time in West Virginia before returning to Ohio, settling in Canton and working for the Pennsylvania Railroad for about six years. He was a plumber during much of his career.

A few weeks ago Sue Fedor, a member of the Blue Star Mothers group, heard Conard, who was her neighbor in Plain Township decades ago, was turning 100. She contacted Simmons to see what could be arranged to recognize his service.

Simmons contacted Congressman Gonzalezs office and the Patriot Guard to see what more could be done.

Brenda Russell, the president of Blue Star Mothers Ohio Chapter 2, which is based in North Canton, said it is amazing to still have a 100-year-old World War II veteran.

There arent many of them (World War II veterans) left. And were losing multiples of them everyday, she said. So its a real honor to be able to come out and honor him tonight.

Blue Star Mothers on its website says its a group made up of mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, foster mothers and female legal guardians who have children serving in the military, guard or reserves, or children who are veterans.

Sue Fedor says Conard, despite his age, still maintains his home, and continues to drive.

He was interviewed in a Repository article in December where he drove to a drive-thru Christmas celebration in Canton organized by his longtime union Local 94, Plumbers, Pipefitters and Service Techs.

Fedor recounted at age 16 being a neighbor of Conard and his wife in Plain Township on 34th Street NE near Middlebranch Avenue NE.

She was a good woman, Conard said about his spouse.

Fedor said, Yes she was and shes very proud of you. Even though shes not here today. But shes with you in spirit.

Conard said, Ill be with her before long.

robert.wang@cantonrep.com

2021 The (Canton Ohio) Repository.

Visit cantonrep.com .
Changes to the SunCommercial's back end processing means the e-edition is getting a facelift. The biggest change is the e-edition, by default, is now presented in Text view.
Auckland and Capital & Coast DHBs are leading the charge in the race to get to 90 per cent vaccinated.

Auckland DHB has reached 80 per cent fully vaccinated and 93 per cent first doses, so will exceed the 90 per cent target if those people get their second dose.

Capital and Coast and Waitemata are close behind at 75 per cent vaccinated, and 91 per cent and 90 per cent first doses administered respectively.

Northland and Tairawhiti sit at the bottom of the table with 61 per cent and 60 per cent fully vaccinated. Northland has 77 per cent first doses administered and Tairawhiti 76 per cent.

See how the DHBs stack up:

Percentage of DHB eligible population fully vaccinated

Source: Ministry of Health

Second vaccine doses needed to reach 90% of the DHB eligible population fully vaccinated

Source: Ministry of Health  First/second doses percentage are the number of first/second doses administered divided by the eligible population. First/second doses to 90 per cent are the number of doses required to reach 90 per cent of the eligible population. For these two measures, the national total may not be the sum of DHB measures.

Auckland and Capital and Coast DHBs also lead in Maori vaccination rates with 60 per cent fully vaccinated in Auckland and 58 per cent in Capital and Coast.

Vaccination rates for Maori by DHB:

Percentage of DHB eligible Maori population fully vaccinated

Source: Ministry of Health

Second vaccine doses needed to reach 90 per cent of the DHB eligible Maori population fully vaccinated.

Source: Ministry of Health  First/second doses percentage are the number of first/second doses administered divided by the eligible population. First/second doses to 90 per cent are the number of doses required to reach 90 per cent of the eligible population. For these two measures, the national total may not be the sum of DHB measures.

The government announced on Friday it will move the country to a traffic light system once each DHB hits the target of 90 per cent vaccination.

A vaccine certificate will be central to the new framework.

The system will involve three settings - green, orange and red.

If cases start to climb in areas with lower vaccination rates in lower-income communities, much more highly targeted and localised lockdowns can be used if needed, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Friday.

The red setting will allow hospitality to open with vaccine certificates, but gathering limits and physical distancing, masks and other public health measures will be used.

Auckland will move into red as soon as the Auckland DHBs hit the 90 per cent vaccination target, rather than wait for the rest of the country.

The rest of the country will move all at the same time to "orange" when all DHBs around the country reach the 90 per cent target.

At orange, gathering limits can lift. Places that choose not to use vaccination certificates will either be closed or have public health measures in place.

Green is when there are some Covid-19 cases in the community but at low levels. Fully vaccinated people can enjoy all events and hospitality and gatherings by showing a vaccine certificate.

Premises choosing not to use certificates will face restrictions similar to the current alert level framework.

Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare also announced a further $120 million fund would support Maori communities to fast-track vaccination efforts and prepare for the new framework. A total of $60m would be spent on boosting Maori vaccination rates, and $60m would support Maori and iwi-led initiatives to protect communities against the virus.

Henare says the ongoing support was what was required to boost Maori vaccination rates.

"While we say 90 per cent for Maori and indeed the rest of the population, we will continue to make the vaccine available to continue to lift those numbers," says Henare.

RNZ
The Ministry of Health say there are 80 new community cases of COVID-19 to report today. Auckland has 77 new community cases, Waikato has two, and Northland has one.

There are also five new border cases. More than 42,000 vaccines were administered on Saturday.



As at 10am, 34 of the new community cases are linked - including 16 household contacts - and 46 remain unlinked, with investigations continuing to help determine their connection to the outbreak.

From yesterdays cases, 42 have exposure events.

There are 50 people in hospital, with 12 in North Shore, one in Waitakere, 16 in Middlemore, 20 in Auckland and one in Waikato Hospital. Four of the cases are in ICU or HDU.

The average age of current hospitalisations is 44 years old.

Cases Number of new community cases 80 Number of new cases identified at the border Five (including one historical) Location of new community cases Auckland (77), Waikato (2), Northland (1) Location of community cases (total) Auckland 2,466 (1,415 of whom have recovered); Waikato 83 (16 of whom have recovered); Wellington 17 (all of whom have recovered); Northland 5, Nelson-Marlborough 1 Number of community cases (total) 2,572 (in current community outbreak) Cases infectious in the community 42 of yesterdays cases have exposure events Cases in isolation throughout the period they were infectious ** 61 of yesterdays cases Cases epidemiologically linked 34 of todays 80 cases Cases to be epidemiologically linked 46 of todays 80 cases Cases epidemiologically linked (total) 2,230 (in the current cluster) (287 unlinked from the past 14 days) Cases in hospital 50 (total): North Shore (12); Waitakere (1) Middlemore (16); Auckland (20); Waikato (1)

Average age of current hospitalisations: 44 years old Cases in ICU or HDU Four Confirmed cases (total) 5,278 since pandemic began Historical cases 174 out of 3,464 since 1 Jan 2021 Contacts Number of active contacts being managed (total): 2,519 Percentage who have received an outbound call from contact tracers (to confirm testing and isolation requirements) 80% Percentage with at least one test result 76% Locations of interest Locations of interest (total) 372 (as at 10am 24 October) Tests Number of tests (total) 3,923,269 Number of tests total (last 24 hours) 28,362 Tests processed in Auckland (last 24 hours) 10,273 Tests rolling average (last 7 days) 24,429 Testing centres in Auckland 16 Wastewater Wastewater detections No unexpected detections COVID-19 vaccine update Vaccines administered to date (total) 6,604,411; 1st doses: 3,637,937 (86%); 2nd doses: 2,966,474 (70%) Vaccines administered yesterday (total) 42,482; 1st doses: 11,777; 2nd doses: 30,705 Maori 392,440 (69%); 2nd doses: 275,344 (48%) Pacific Peoples 1st doses: 237,212 (83%); 2nd doses: 183,311 (64%) Vaccines administered to Auckland residents to date (total) 2,383,174; 1st doses: 1,290679 (90%); 2nd doses: 1,092,495 (76%) Vaccines administered to Auckland residents yesterday (total) 18,496: 1st doses: 4,391, 2nd doses: 14,105 NZ COVID Tracer Registered users (total) 3,317,504 Poster scans (total) 452,223,838 Manual diary entries (total) 18,849,327 Poster scans in 24 hours to midday yesterday 2,524,588



New cases identified at the border

Arrival date From Via Positive test day/reason Managed isolation/quarantine location 21 October United States of America Direct Day 0 / routine Christchurch 16 October Singapore Direct Day 6 / routine Christchurch 21 October United States of America Direct Day 0 / routine Christchurch 21 October United States of America Direct Day 0 / routine Christchurch



Historical cases identified at the border

Arrival date From Via Positive test day/reason Managed isolation/quarantine location 16 October United Kingdom Singapore Day 3 / routine Christchurch



Todays cases

One previously reported border case has been reclassified as not a case and has been removed from our total case number.



Blenheim update

Interviews are continuing today with the individual who is a positive COVID-19 case and who is currently in isolation in Blenheim. The individual is unvaccinated.



Two Blenheim-based household contacts have returned negative tests and are also in isolation.



Initial case interviews suggest the case is linked to the Te Awamutu cluster and has a small number of close contacts in Waikato.



These people have been contacted and are currently isolating with tests arranged.



People living in Nelson-Marlborough, in particular, are asked to monitor the Ministry of Healths locations of interest page, which is regularly updated.



We are also asking residents in Marlborough, Nelson and Tasman with symptoms  no matter how mild  to please get tested, even if they are vaccinated.



Today testing is available at:



- Blenheim CBAC: Horton Park, off Redwood St - Open 9am to 5.30pm

- Nelson CBAC: Saxton Field parking area, Suffolk Rd, Stoke - Open 10am to 6pm



Yesterday, there were 144 tests processed in Marlborough.



Additional testing capacity in the area will be stood up, if needed, and details will be available on the Healthpoint website.



Northland update

Today the Ministry of Health is reporting one new case in Northland, who is linked to the four Northland cases announced yesterday.



This individual was tested as a close contact of the previous cases confirmed yesterday.



People living in Northland are asked to monitor the Ministry of Healths locations of interest page which will be regularly updated.



Anyone who visited these locations of interest at the specified times is asked to monitor their symptoms for 14 days and if any develop, get tested and stay at home until a negative test result is received and they have been symptom-free for 24 hours.



Yesterday there were 1,082 tests processed in the region. There were 1,134 vaccinations in Northland yesterday  of these vaccinations, 508 were first doses, and a further 626 were second doses.



Additional testing in the area has been arranged and is available here:



- Kaitaia  Kaitaia Hospital  open 9am to 4pm

- Hokianga - Rawene Hospital  open 9am to 2pm

- Mangamuka  8 Mangamuka Road  open 11am to 2pm

- Kaikohe  Main Street, Kaikohe - opposite Mobil  open 9am to 2pm

- Kerikeri  1 Sammaree Place  open 9am to 4pm

- Dargaville  Dargaville Hospital  open 10am to 3pm

- Whangarei  20 Winger Crescent  open 9am-4pm



Update on Waikato case who travelled to Hawkes Bay

As we reported yesterday, public health officials have concluded their investigations into a Waikato case who travelled to Hawkes Bay and returned a positive COVID-19 result following their arrival back in the Waikato, however we are asking people in Hawkes Bay to continue to check the Ministry of Healths Locations of Interest page for the next few days, says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.



One location of interest, Kmart Napier, has been identified and anyone there between 3:53pm  5:13pm on Friday 15 October is asked to monitor their symptoms for 14 days and if any develop, get tested and stay at home until a negative test result is received and they have been symptom-free for 24 hours.



Waikato update

Were reporting two additional cases of COVID-19 in Waikato today - one in Te Awamutu and one in Hamilton, says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.



There are seven cases in Waikato which remain unlinked, including the two newest cases. Investigations and interviews are continuing today to determine and establish any links.



Waikato DHB is continuing to carry out testing throughout the region, to help determine any undetected community spread of COVID-19.



We are urging anyone in Waikato - in particular, people in Te Awamutu - to get tested if they have any symptoms that could be COVID-19.



Testing locations in and around Waikato are available on the Healthpoint website and the Waikato DHB website, with testing available throughout Labour Weekend.



Yesterday there were 4,195 tests processed in the region. There were 2,542 vaccinations in Waikato yesterday  of these vaccinations, 970 were first doses, and a further 1572 were second doses. The DHB is encouraging everyone to take the opportunity to be vaccinated as soon as possible to help reach 90%. Vaccination rates across the region are 84% first dose and 67% fully vaccinated.



Auckland update

As the outbreak is now more dispersed we are concentrating our testing approach in areas with higher positivity rates where the risk of unidentified cases is higher, says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.



One suburb of interest with a high positivity rate of more than 6 per cent is Redvale, on the North Shore.



We are asking people with symptoms, even if they are mild symptoms, and if they are vaccinated, in Redvale to get tested as soon as possible. The other suburb where we are encouraging this testing is the North Shore suburb of Rosedale where the positivity rate is 3.8 per cent.



This testing will help to provide assurance that there is not undetected spread of COVID-19 in these communities. And that if there is any undetected transmission, this is identified as quickly as possible.



Thanks to the strong response to the call for testing in New Lynn and Bayswater, these suburbs are no longer specific areas of concern however we still encourage people in these areas to be vigilant for symptoms and get tested no matter how mild.



There is good testing capacity available this long weekend at community testing sites, GPs and urgent care clinics.



Testing is available at Community Testing Centres in:



- Eventfinda Stadium, 17 Silverfield, Wairau Valley  open 8.30am to 4.30pm

- North Harbour Stadium, Oteha Valley Road in Carpark B  open 8.30am to 4.30pm

- Northcote Community Testing Centre, Corner of College Road and Kilham Avenue  open 6.30am to 6.30pm

- Whanau House, Waipareira Trust Henderson, Corner of Edsel and Catherine Street  open 8am to 2pm

- Massey Pop-up Community Testing Centre, Carpark of Community Hub, Triangle Park, 385 Don Buck Road  open 8.30am to 3.30pm



Testing is also available at GP and Urgent Care clinics, the locations of these can be found on https://www.healthpoint.co.nz/covid-19/



Testing and Vaccination reminder

Yesterday saw strong demand for vaccination and testing around the country  especially pleasing for the start of a long holiday weekend.



We are continuing to urge anyone, and particularly those in areas with confirmed cases to get a test if you have any symptoms  even those who are full vaccinated or with very mild symptoms should get tested and isolate at home while waiting for test results, says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.



We want to reiterate our thanks to all those who staff the testing sites around the country, offering PCR tests to those who need them. Testing site staff are on the frontline of our COVID-19 response and doing the best they can to ensure people are tested in a timely and professional manner. If you do experience delays, please be patient and be kind to staff members.



Vaccination numbers also remained high yesterday. It remains our number one protection against COVID-19. The Pfizer vaccine is safe, will help stop you getting seriously ill, and could save your life.



Next update

Over the long weekend, the Ministrys COVID-19 updates are planned to be via the 1pm media releases. At this stage, the next press conference is expected to be on Tuesday, October 26.
APEC finance ministers will continue to work together to respond to the effects of Covid-19 and ensure a sustainable and inclusive recovery while capitalising on the opportunity to build a more resilient future.

The New Zealand Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson chaired the virtual APEC Finance Ministers Meeting from Wellington.

While economic activity in the region has rebounded and vaccination rates are rising, the recovery from Covid-19 has been uneven. Some sectors, such as tourism, small and medium-sized businesses, and some groups, such as women and indigenous peoples, continue to be disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, says Robertson.

Finance ministers have had constructive discussions on the actions and policies APEC economies have implemented to combat the pandemic and the need for a balanced approach to preserve long term fiscal sustainability while supporting wellbeing, targeting support to where it is needed most and tackling long-standing issues of climate change and biodiversity loss."

Attendees included finance ministers from all 21 APEC economies, APEC Business Advisory Council Chair Rachel Taulelei, representatives from the OECD, IMF, WBG, and ADB, and incoming APEC Finance Ministers Process Chair Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith of Thailand.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the APEC finance ministers agreed to use all available policy tools to address Covid and support a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive recovery; maintain macroeconomic and financial stability; refrain from competitive exchange rate devaluations; step-up efforts to expand vaccine manufacture and supply and support global vaccine sharing efforts; reiterate the importance of a free and fair trade and investment environment with the WTO at its centre; and accelerate the digital transformation.

Ministers also agreed on the refreshed Cebu Action Plan strategy, which encourages economies to pay due regard to APECs new guiding document, the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040, and APECs new structural reform agenda, the Enhanced APEC Agenda for Structural Reform.

The Cebu Action Plan was agreed by Finance Ministers during the Philippines 2015 host year and sets out the 10-year high-level work programme of the Finance Ministers Process. 2021 marks the year of a mandated mid-point review. The review gives an opportunity for economies to consider the impact of COVID-19 and the recently agreed Putrajaya Vision 2040. As part of the strategy refresh New Zealand has recommended the adoption of a Champion Economies model which would allow individual economies to volunteer to run multi-year work programmes on specific policy issues.

It was a privilege to join with fellow APEC finance ministers to strengthen our bonds and to reflect on our collective progress to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. This meeting has reinforced that we have strategies and tools available to us that can continue to drive recovery while also tackling climate change and improving the wellbeing of people across all APEC economies, says Robertson.
Works to repair an unstable section of embankment at Houpoto on State Highway 35 will continue next week.

These works are part of the Waka Kotahi spring/summer road maintenance programme, which will see repairs and resurfacing carried out on state highways across the Bay of Plenty.

Road reconstruction works on SH5, Reporoa

Work to repair a section of SH5 in Reporoa, between Reporoa Road and Wharepapa Road will commence on Tuesday October 26.

These works will take place between 6.30am  6.30pm and are required to strengthen and rebuild this section of road to ensure safety and resilience.

The road will operate under Stop/Go traffic management with a 30 km per hour temporary speed limit in place during the day, and traffic signals overnight when appropriate. Motorists are advised to expect minor delays and allow additional time for their journeys or consider an alternate route.

SH35, Houpoto

Works to repair an unstable section of embankment at Houpoto, approximately three kilometres west of Maraenui Pa Road on SH35 are underway and are expected to be completed in mid-December 2021.

Temporary traffic management is in place including a 30km/h temporary speed limit. Stop/Go traffic management will be in place from 7am  5pm and traffic lights in place overnight from 5pm  7am, Monday to Friday.

Due to site constraints, Waka Kotahi encourages operators of over-width vehicles to get in touch to ensure their vehicles can pass through the site safely. They can contact bopcorrespondence@nzta.govt.nz for more information.

In the event of bad weather or other unforeseen circumstances, work may be postponed. Visit the interactive Waka Kotahi Journey Planner website (journeys.nzta.govt.nz) for the latest information on roadworks, traffic, road closures and detours to help plan your trip.

Waka Kotahi thanks motorists for their patience.

Plan ahead for a safe, enjoyable journey. Keep up to date with:

 COVID-19 services update: nzta.govt.nz/COVID19

 Traffic updates: journeys.nzta.govt.nz/traffic
Breast Cancer Foundation NZ is asking the people of Bay of Plenty to generously support local pink ribbon fundraisers happening next weekend.

Volunteer collectors will be stationed around the region for the Pink Ribbon Street Appeal on Friday October 29 and Saturday October 30.

Following this, on Sunday October 31, Breast Cancer Awareness Month culminates with New Zealands first ever neighbourhood Pink Ribbon Walk.

Extended Covid-19 restrictions around the country have forced the cancellation of two major fundraisers this year  the iconic Pink Ribbon Walks in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and the Pink Ribbon Street Appeal in Auckland.

The charity expects to lose more than $500,000 in income as a result, and its now appealing to the people of Bay of Plenty to help make its remaining events a success.

As a charitable trust that receives no government funding, we rely entirely on the goodwill of New Zealanders to keep our life-saving work going, says Breast Cancer Foundation NZ CEO Ah-Leen Rayner. But the ongoing Covid restrictions are severely impacting our ability to fundraise. Every dollar weve lost to Covid is money we cant spend on supporting patients in their time of need, cutting-edge research, and education programmes to stop deaths from breast cancer.

We know this is devastating for our supporters, who volunteer or walk to honour the women theyve lost, or to mark their own journey with breast cancer. However, were still committed to making the rest of our events a huge success and we hope the Bay of Plenty community will get behind our efforts to fight against breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death for New Zealand women under 65 and every year around 190 women are diagnosed with it in the Bay of Plenty District Health Board area.

The neighbourhood Pink Ribbon Walks encourage people to fundraise by getting dressed up in pink and walk in their own communities.

Participants will get the chance to warm up virtually with Celebrity Treasure Island star Joe Naufahu, and win prizes via social media throughout the day from event sponsors Estee Lauder Companies, The Hits, SBS Bank and Pink Lady Apples.

Sign up for a neighbourhood Pink Ribbon Walk at pinkribbonwalk.co.nz/virtual and follow @pinkribbonNZ on social media for all of the virtual action on the day.

Donations can be made to the Pink Ribbon Street Appeal through volunteer collectors who will be out in force shaking pink buckets across Bay of Plenty on October 29 and 30, or online at pinkribbonappeal.co.nz.

Money raised from the Pink Ribbon Street Appeal and neighbourhood Pink Ribbon Walks will go towards Breast Cancer Foundations work to support patients, fund ground-breaking scientific projects and educate New Zealanders about the importance of early detection.
While our investigators work to understand how these crashes occurred, preliminary information tells us alcohol, speed, no seat belts, distractions and poor decisions are likely to feature, and the consequences have proved to be devastating, says Superintendent Steve Greally, Director of the National Road Policing Centre.

Its already been a horrific holiday weekend on the countrys roads and a number of families have been changed forever.

The official holiday period ends at 6am on Tuesday morning.

Any number of deaths is too many, but we dont want the number of deaths or injuries this weekend to get any higher."

Police are expecting the roads to be very busy with a significant amount of traffic and delays across the country tomorrow as people head home from their long weekends.

Please keep calm and be patient on the road, and accept that some delays are likely on your journey home, says Superintendent Greally.

Police cant be everywhere all of the time.

Drivers need to take responsibility for their actions when operating a vehicle and focus on getting everybody in their vehicle to their destination safely.

Plan ahead, watch your speed and following distances, pay attention to the conditions, stop and take a break if youre feeling fatigued, and allow plenty of time for a safe trip home
The message that local businesswoman Paz Hurtado had been hoping for for two months finally arrived in the early hours of the morning.

"Sister, we're in Malaga."

The words came from Ferozuddin Hussaini, the Afghani trader whose life she had just saved. And not just his: 35-year-old Hussaini arrived with his wife Shogofa, 34, his sister Sonia, 19, and his two children, Atina, 4, and Ali Arshad, 2. All five are now safe and free after two frenetic months of phone calls and negotiations with which Paz Hurtado, CEO of Hutesa Agroalimentaria SA, kept the promise she made to the Kabul importer of her olives in August, when he sent her a message, imploring her to get them out of there.

Sixty days later Paz stands at the door of the family's new home. Little Ali Ashad wraps himself around her leg, toy car in hand; Atina smiles for the first time, clutching two bread buns in her hands; Shogofa wraps her in the pashmina she was able to buy her in Kabul, probably with the little they had left when the taliban seized their accounts; and Sonia holds her tight, because she is 19, a pretty young woman, a fatal combination in the Afghanistan of today.

"At last we're home," Hussaini whispers to Paz as they embrace. They have met only twice in the ten years they have known each other, but these five lives explain the connection, the pure instinct that makes them feel like long lost siblings.

Paz Hurtado and Ferozuddin Hussaini had had a business relationship since 2012 when he became the distributor in Afghanistan of the olives that Hutesa exports around the world.

"I'll never be able to thank her enough. That first message and its positive response was the start of our journey here," said Hussaini, now free of the stress of worrying whether they would make it.

Now he has left behind the fear of seeing how the Taliban started to go from door to door looking for people who worked with foreign firms: "We had to move house five or six times," he explains. With his telephone acting as an umbilical cord between him and Hurtado, Hussaini recalls the lead-up to his new life in Malaga. From the moment his sister Sonia had to give up her studies of Economics at Kabul University to the day they closed his children's nursery school. Or when his wife and sister couldn't leave the house as "they didn't have a burka". The tears and terrified cries of his children when they saw a Taliban in the street "because they were armed and very frightening". Their desperate flight to the Torkham border, the only open crossing point between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the ten checkpoints at which they were asked "whether we collaborated with foreign firms". And the doubts about whether Sonia would get through or not.

Now the family are looking forward to a new life in Spain. Sonia would like to continue her studies here, learn the language and adapt to the customs.

"This has been the best thing I've ever done," says Hurtado, who is also taking care of providing the family with a home and a car, finding a school for the children and jobs for Hussaini, his wife and sister in the Hutesa plant in Fuente de Piedra, somewhere he already feels attached to.

They also have to be grateful to many others, both agree: "To the Spanish government, the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs, Cruz Roja, UNHCR, the CEOE, consulates... all of them," says the businesswoman, not wanting to leave anyone out.

Before she gets back in her car Paz turns to Shogofa and says: "Calm, calm, you're home now. See you on Monday."
Dreambeach Festival is back in time for Halloween Dance, Techno and Drum n Bass are covered in this year's line up at Granada's Cortijo del Conde venue at the end of the month

The Dreambeach Festival returns to Granada for the first time since 2019, in time for the spookiest night of the year.

Billed as Dreambeach Halloween, the event will be held at the Cortijo del Conde on Saturday, 30 October from 6pm through to 6am on Sunday 31st.

Dance, Techno and Drum n Bass are the order of the day and among the highlights at this year's festival is Dutch DJ Armin van Buuren. He will be returning to the festival after his last appearance in 2019.

Also from Holland, dance duo Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano will be doing a set as will Brian Cross, who is a firm favourie on the Spanish dance music scene.

For fans of techno, I Hate Models, the French DJ with his fusion of Techno, Acid and Industrial, and from the UK, Rebekah, a former model turned hard Techno DJ who made a name for herself in the underground scene in Berlin.

Anyone into Drum n Bass will get the chance to see Belgian DJ and producer Netsky, and Austrian duo Camo & Krooked.

Shuttle buses will run every 20 minutes in both directions from Triunfo on Avenida Constitucion and stop at Villarejo on Avenida Andalucia.

Tickets are on sale for 60 euros and can be purchased at www.dreambeach.es/granada.
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View My Garage





My Toyota Fortuner 4x4 MT Review What I Liked Power Delivery across gears, less need for changing gears

Gear Shifts are accurate and smooth

Flat torque curve, no stalling at lower gears

Smooth service experience

Access to 3rd row, the one touch technology in Toyota is much better compared to competition.

Music system is decent, especially not annoying with distortions.

Steering is accurate and just right. not too hard not too light.

Good breaking, Gives good confidence

3rd row space, average person can sit comfortably.

Keyless Entry and Power boot

Highway cruising at 100 km in 6th gear. Engine is < 2000 RPM!

What I don't like Head room - could have been a bit more especially in 3rd row.

Tyres - HT in 4x4 not AT (They provide AT in 4x2!)

Reverse gear - Slotting is a bit tricky and needs some effort.

No Service reminder in console, you need to remember the next service.

Many basic features missing at this price point TPMS, Auto Wiper, Front Parking sensors, Memory Seats and Lumbar adjustment (list below)

Features that I miss

TPMS

I believe TPMS should be included in the basic safety kit. The tyres should be monitored for optimal pressure and temperature for safety of passengers. I cannot understand why this feature is missed in this 40 lakhs SUV. Even the lower segment vehicles have this feature now.

Auto Wiper

Such an obvious miss in the D2 segment car. Tell me one in this segment with out it! Such a shame. My polo has it and XUV had it.

No auto folding mirror

No default option, where as I guess it should be included by default. I activated by paying extra as accessory.

Apple Car play

I would expect a wireless apple CarPlay at this price point. Gone are the days you use the inbuilt maps which gets outdated in 3 months with the pace Indian roads are changing. I always use google maps which gets updated and gets traffic info automatically. My XUV had the 'MapmyIndia' maps and I used it only few times (when mobile range was not there). This feature is a big miss for me.

Rear Differential Lock

Even though the electronics handles everything, this could have improved the capability. They provide differential lock in other countries but not here in India. In the recent version they have included it.

Stop&Start

Only available in AT. It was there in my manual XUV500, don't know the reason why it got missed in MT. This is useful in city traffic where you will be spending a lot of time in signals.



Nice to Have features

360 degree camera

A very useful feature for such a big SUV. I think it should get included by default. Current accessory version need to activate manually by a switch, I did not like the usability. I am waiting for the updated one to retrofit with HU.

Sunroof

Not too keen on this feature as the usage in India is only minimal. With such a tall SUV the usage is also not practical for kids. I guess we will never get this feature in this generation of Fortuner because of the current design (AC).

Ambient Lighting

Would have liked to have this feature as nice to have.

Approach angle / elevation indicator

Ford Endeavour has this feature. As this is a 4X4 variant, this could be useful in offroad situations to better judge.



The Battle

I was not planning any upgrades in 2019 until I saw a news that Toyota is offering discounts of up to 2+ lakhs in a newspaper. When enquired they said the amount is including the insurance benefit, excluding which will come to around 1 Lakhs if taken immediately. My situation was bit different, I was happily using my XUV500 (



The Ford Endeavour was always better in terms of features and drivability. I was not able to decide between Fortuner and Endeavour. I Had already multiple times taken test drives of both cars and there was a battle between heart and brain until I saw the gear box failures of Endeavour from team-bhp and decided to value reliability more to features.

My requirement was a reliable 7-seater (preferably a solid body on frame) which I would like to keep it for long term. Budget was ~40 Lakhs on road. I also wanted decent off-roading capabilities so that I can manage some tough terrains. I always liked to travel to remote places without worrying about road conditions and this added capability will give me confidence. I had AWD in XUV500 but that was not enough in some places, even though in 80-90% of the time you dont need it. So, the battle was between Fortuner <-> Endeavour <-> Pajero <-> Alturas. Of course, I did test drive X1, Q3, GLA/CLA too during the process.



Endeavour

A clear leader in terms of features and drivability. The 3.2 AT is a no brainer. It was tough to decide between this and Fortuner until I read the AT failures (few of them) in team-bhp. Few reported failures around 70k Odo meter reading was not acceptable. I want to have the reliability for long term and did not want to put my money in to this risk. So, I decided to keep away.



Pajero

The old Pajero 4x4 super select was a dream machine. The new one in the international market is also very good. The one in India is missing a lot in terms of capability. No manual transmission, AT comes in 5 speed and no 4x4 model! I think they are now concentrating on outlander which has now 4x4 capability. But that too is not available in diesel.



Alturas

I used Mahindra for almost 10 years now. I was a happy customer but what I did not like is the service. The service team is incompetent, and I was always standing beside the vehicle for each service. I never saw it improving and the only way out was to have some contacts in ASC and manage it.

The Alturas has loads of features and capabilities and it looks decent. The 2.2-liter engine is a gem. It is refined and silent. The refinement also gives a bit of issues in terms of torque delivery. I also heard another member complaining about the stalling at lower gears. I had this behavior in XUV too but dont see it in Fortuner and now I realize the importance of the flat torque curve. The sunroof is also very small, its not panoramic and not that appealing.



Fortuner

If you value reliability, then there is only one name that comes to mind, its Toyota. With Endeavour out of game there is no real options left for me.

I had test drove the AT model 2 years back and I really liked the improvement in comfort and looks. Some features got added in couple of years but no major upgrades. I asked for a 4x4 MT model for TD and they were not able to arrange one (Nandi Toyota). Instead I did test drive on 4X4 AT and 4x2 MT. MT was mostly to get understanding on gear shift and clutch. The sales person from Toyota just explained features in a neutral way; Only point answers to questions. No real push from him at all. I have seen other brand's sales people going that extra mile to sell but experience with Toyota was really different. The sales negotiations are also straight forward. They tell you what is possible from dealer and company. By this time I had made good relationship with the sales manager and he was a very nice person who helped me through out the process. He provided me with discounts as much as he could manage.



I did an evaluation of the missing features in Fortuner and decided to get them retrofitted what ever is possible in phased manner. The real missing features are



TPMS  Will install SenAiry. Options from Toyota are not that great. I don't want to put another device inside the car for just monitoring the tyre pressure. Either it should come in HU or in mobile. Toyota accessory needs a device which displays the tyre pressure which needs to be fit in dashboard.

Apple Carplay  I was hoping that the new HU with Apple Carplay can be retrofitted, but looks like it is really expensive (2 - 3 Lakhs) now. Currently no plans to spend that much. Better will be to just change the HU to a Pioneer / Alpine with the Apple Carplay support at 1/4th of the cost.

Auto folding mirror  Added as accessory from Toyota

Auto Wiper  No options, will miss it.

360 View Camera - I find this very useful for such a big SUV. The fender mirror in this generation is not practical. But I am holding on this because it has a direct dependency to HU. If I get an option of upgrade, 360 view camera might be incompatible. Toyota charges approximately 25-30k for this.

Wireless Charging - New models has this, but no good feedback yet, heard that the charging is slow. Currently decided against it.



Booking

By the time I made up my mind and Toyota finalized the price and exchange bonus for XUV it was already next month and offers were less. My discounts came down to less than 1 lakh. With BS6 in plan, I was informed that Fortuner production of BS4 is already stopped / reduced. From Jan 2020 new booking for BS6 will start and there might be a price increase. So, went ahead and booked it early November. What I will be getting is from the stock and I had not so many options in terms of color. They offered me 2 variants of white (Super White and White Pearl) with 2 different interior options (Brown and Chamois). I really wanted the phantom brown, but it was not possible. So I agreed for super white with brown interior. I told him this option and asked for email confirmation. Next day since there was no update, I called him again. He said he does not have super white am I ok with pearl white? I rejected this offer. Next option was super white with chamois interiors. I refused that too and told him I need super white and brown interiors combination. If this is not available I will cancel the booking. Luckily, I had not handed over the XUV to them and I told him I will handover XUV only if I get email conformation from dealer about booking confirmation. I was about to handover XUV the next day and I told him I am cancelling that appointment.



I waited for couple of days and sales manager confirmed that he can arrange super white with brown interior from different Nandi Toyota branch (Kanakpura), and I agreed for that. Exchanged the XUV next day (11-Nov-2019) and finished the booking formalities.



Parting Shot of XUV





XUV served me well, I took it to many places and have loads of memory. No hick-ups or major repairs during the period. Only regular maintenance was done. It was running on stock clutch and had no signs of wear. I had clocked 80K Kms in 6 years. 5th and 6th year the usage was bit less because I had a Polo GT TSI which was used for local commute. On average I was getting 12-13 KM mileage. Consumed around 7000 Liters of fuel in 6 years. I always track each fueling and I always do empty to full tank refill. I have the fuel logs for all my vehicles.



PDI

After a couple of weeks the stock arrived at Nandi Toyota Kanakpura branch and I requested a PDI. Some photos from the PDI on 7-Dec-2019. I followed the checklist from Team-BHP for doing PDI. Verified VIN, Tyre Manufacturing, KM reading, Paint etc. Some images captured during the PDI.













Delivery (19-Dec-2019)

The delivery process was really smooth. I reached the showroom on the agreed time (After Lunch). An executive was assigned to me and he did handover the documents, explained the features with demo and clicked some pictures for me. Overall well planned process. I had a special request related to FastTag which was goofed up. Much before the delivery I had enquired about the FastTag details. I was using the ICICI FastTag and it had an option of adding multiple tags to one account. The advantage is that I can transfer balances and can manage all tags with just one login. I told the executive in advance and gave all my account details. But he issued an independent one during the delivery which I did not accept. What I learned is that Toyota follows a process and they are very rigid. They cannot adapt to small change requests like this. It took another week to get the new tag after many follow-ups.



Another issue I faced was on RC card. Ideally it should have reached my address in 1 - 2 months after delivery. I did not get it even at the end of February 2020 (after 3 months). I had to call up the sales person from Nandi Toyota multiple times and finally he collected the RC card and shipped it to my address via courier(March 1st Week 2020). After multiple follow-ups he shared the tracking details and by then the lock-down had started. This was sent to my office address and later the courier person my office collected it. I could not collect it from him till June 2020 because of lockdown. I finally collected the RC card end of June 2020 (after 6 months). I had the picture of RC card till then and of course the mParivahan application for online verification.

















Accessories fitted

1) Dash Camera from XUV

2) Auto Folding Mirror as additional accessory

3) Sun film - Mild

4) Font underrun

5) Rear under run

6) Side cladding

7) Rear Bumper skid plate

8) Number plate frame

9) Ceramic coating - from



Initially I decided to take minimal accessories from Toyota and fit it from aftermarket. This did not work out for me unfortunately. I went to Car Shringar, JC Road as this had 4+ rating in google. They told me they have stock for front and rear under run at half the cost. But the quality of the material was not good, it was not fitting well and they started using glue which I rejected. By then they had already damaged the bumper in few places and I had to get it repaired. I then went back to Toyota and got the original accessory fixed. Even though the price is a bit on higher side, the quality is very different and fitting perfectly aligns to the bumper shape. Lost some money and peace of mind. Lesson learned too.



Detailing

In my XUV, I did SmartWax from Pete's and every 3 - 6 months it had to be redone. I took AMC for initial 3 years. My experience was not smooth there. I faced some real challenges and once I had to tow the vehicle because water entered ECU during wash and the car refused to start. After that I was maintaining the car myself with waxing done by me every 3 months.



I heard good feedbacks with ceramic coating and this time I wanted to try ceramic coating. I did some research and found Esperto Car Care providing good service. Mr. Ojus guided me and answered all queries. He preferred to do this just after delivery and I agreed. I dropped the car after delivery directly at his showroom. He needed 2 days to finish the work and shared some pictures with me during the process. The vehicle was delivered on 21-Dec-2019. Few images after the process.



















I wash the car myself and I only do it on demand. I dust the car with Jopasu duster and only if it is too dirty I wash the car. I noticed even after 1.5 years, the hydrophobic effect on the car was very good. I have taken additional 4 year AMC also and did my first AMC visit in September 2021 (1fter 1.5 years). Next service will be due at December 2022. The service needs one full day, I had to drop the car and then pick it up next day. Overall good experience so far.



Hydrophobic effect after one year





Tail End

2 years are passed with multiple lockdowns. The Fortuner just crossed 12k KMs with 4 services. I am now really happy to have selected Fortuner over Ford Endeavor. Ford's exit from India will heavily affect the service and resale. Additionally with many BS6 DPF issues getting reported, I feel the decision to get BS4 was the right choice. Really glad that I made that decision with the help of this community. I believe TPMS should be included in the basic safety kit. The tyres should be monitored for optimal pressure and temperature for safety of passengers. I cannot understand why this feature is missed in this 40 lakhs SUV. Even the lower segment vehicles have this feature now.Such an obvious miss in the D2 segment car. Tell me one in this segment with out it! Such a shame. My polo has it and XUV had it.No default option, where as I guess it should be included by default. I activated by paying extra as accessory.I would expect a wireless apple CarPlay at this price point. Gone are the days you use the inbuilt maps which gets outdated in 3 months with the pace Indian roads are changing. I always use google maps which gets updated and gets traffic info automatically. My XUV had the 'MapmyIndia' maps and I used it only few times (when mobile range was not there). This feature is a big miss for me.Even though the electronics handles everything, this could have improved the capability. They provide differential lock in other countries but not here in India. In the recent version they have included it.Only available in AT. It was there in my manual XUV500, don't know the reason why it got missed in MT. This is useful in city traffic where you will be spending a lot of time in signals.A very useful feature for such a big SUV. I think it should get included by default. Current accessory version need to activate manually by a switch, I did not like the usability. I am waiting for the updated one to retrofit with HU.Not too keen on this feature as the usage in India is only minimal. With such a tall SUV the usage is also not practical for kids. I guess we will never get this feature in this generation of Fortuner because of the current design (AC).Would have liked to have this feature as nice to have.Ford Endeavour has this feature. As this is a 4X4 variant, this could be useful in offroad situations to better judge.I was not planning any upgrades in 2019 until I saw a news that Toyota is offering discounts of up to 2+ lakhs in a newspaper. When enquired they said the amount is including the insurance benefit, excluding which will come to around 1 Lakhs if taken immediately. My situation was bit different, I was happily using my XUV500 ( ownership report ) and needed to dispose it before going with upgrades. Toyota Trust evaluated and offered decent price plus an exchange bonus which I felt was ok compared to the price you might get in open market. Thats is when I started looking at options available. If I am not taking car from Toyota I will have to give up the exchange bonus which was ok for me.The Ford Endeavour was always better in terms of features and drivability. I was not able to decide between Fortuner and Endeavour. I Had already multiple times taken test drives of both cars and there was a battle between heart and brain until I saw the gear box failures of Endeavour from team-bhp and decided to value reliability more to features.My requirement was a reliable 7-seater (preferably a solid body on frame) which I would like to keep it for long term. Budget was ~40 Lakhs on road. I also wanted decent off-roading capabilities so that I can manage some tough terrains. I always liked to travel to remote places without worrying about road conditions and this added capability will give me confidence. I had AWD in XUV500 but that was not enough in some places, even though in 80-90% of the time you dont need it. So, the battle was between Fortuner Endeavour Pajero Alturas. Of course, I did test drive X1, Q3, GLA/CLA too during the process.A clear leader in terms of features and drivability. The 3.2 AT is a no brainer. It was tough to decide between this and Fortuner until I read the AT failures (few of them) in team-bhp. Few reported failures around 70k Odo meter reading was not acceptable. I want to have the reliability for long term and did not want to put my money in to this risk. So, I decided to keep away.The old Pajero 4x4 super select was a dream machine. The new one in the international market is also very good. The one in India is missing a lot in terms of capability. No manual transmission, AT comes in 5 speed and no 4x4 model! I think they are now concentrating on outlander which has now 4x4 capability. But that too is not available in diesel.I used Mahindra for almost 10 years now. I was a happy customer but what I did not like is the service. The service team is incompetent, and I was always standing beside the vehicle for each service. I never saw it improving and the only way out was to have some contacts in ASC and manage it.The Alturas has loads of features and capabilities and it looks decent. The 2.2-liter engine is a gem. It is refined and silent. The refinement also gives a bit of issues in terms of torque delivery. I also heard another member complaining about the stalling at lower gears. I had this behavior in XUV too but dont see it in Fortuner and now I realize the importance of the flat torque curve. The sunroof is also very small, its not panoramic and not that appealing.If you value reliability, then there is only one name that comes to mind, its Toyota. With Endeavour out of game there is no real options left for me.I had test drove the AT model 2 years back and I really liked the improvement in comfort and looks. Some features got added in couple of years but no major upgrades. I asked for a 4x4 MT model for TD and they were not able to arrange one (Nandi Toyota). Instead I did test drive on 4X4 AT and 4x2 MT. MT was mostly to get understanding on gear shift and clutch. The sales person from Toyota just explained features in a neutral way; Only point answers to questions. No real push from him at all. I have seen other brand's sales people going that extra mile to sell but experience with Toyota was really different. The sales negotiations are also straight forward. They tell you what is possible from dealer and company. By this time I had made good relationship with the sales manager and he was a very nice person who helped me through out the process. He provided me with discounts as much as he could manage.I did an evaluation of the missing features in Fortuner and decided to get them retrofitted what ever is possible in phased manner. The real missing features are Will install SenAiry. Options from Toyota are not that great. I don't want to put another device inside the car for just monitoring the tyre pressure. Either it should come in HU or in mobile. Toyota accessory needs a device which displays the tyre pressure which needs to be fit in dashboard. I was hoping that the new HU with Apple Carplay can be retrofitted, but looks like it is really expensive (2 - 3 Lakhs) now. Currently no plans to spend that much. Better will be to just change the HU to a Pioneer / Alpine with the Apple Carplay support at 1/4th of the cost. Added as accessory from Toyota No options, will miss it.- I find this very useful for such a big SUV. The fender mirror in this generation is not practical. But I am holding on this because it has a direct dependency to HU. If I get an option of upgrade, 360 view camera might be incompatible. Toyota charges approximately 25-30k for this.- New models has this, but no good feedback yet, heard that the charging is slow. Currently decided against it.By the time I made up my mind and Toyota finalized the price and exchange bonus for XUV it was already next month and offers were less. My discounts came down to less than 1 lakh. With BS6 in plan, I was informed that Fortuner production of BS4 is already stopped / reduced. From Jan 2020 new booking for BS6 will start and there might be a price increase. So, went ahead and booked it early November. What I will be getting is from the stock and I had not so many options in terms of color. They offered me 2 variants of white (Super White and White Pearl) with 2 different interior options (Brown and Chamois). I really wanted the phantom brown, but it was not possible. So I agreed for super white with brown interior. I told him this option and asked for email confirmation. Next day since there was no update, I called him again. He said he does not have super white am I ok with pearl white? I rejected this offer. Next option was super white with chamois interiors. I refused that too and told him I need super white and brown interiors combination. If this is not available I will cancel the booking. Luckily, I had not handed over the XUV to them and I told him I will handover XUV only if I get email conformation from dealer about booking confirmation. I was about to handover XUV the next day and I told him I am cancelling that appointment.I waited for couple of days and sales manager confirmed that he can arrange super white with brown interior from different Nandi Toyota branch (Kanakpura), and I agreed for that. Exchanged the XUV next day (11-Nov-2019) and finished the booking formalities.XUV served me well, I took it to many places and have loads of memory. No hick-ups or major repairs during the period. Only regular maintenance was done. It was running on stock clutch and had no signs of wear. I had clocked 80K Kms in 6 years. 5th and 6th year the usage was bit less because I had a Polo GT TSI which was used for local commute. On average I was getting 12-13 KM mileage. Consumed around 7000 Liters of fuel in 6 years. I always track each fueling and I always do empty to full tank refill. I have the fuel logs for all my vehicles.After a couple of weeks the stock arrived at Nandi Toyota Kanakpura branch and I requested a PDI. Some photos from the PDI on 7-Dec-2019. I followed the checklist from Team-BHP for doing PDI. Verified VIN, Tyre Manufacturing, KM reading, Paint etc. Some images captured during the PDI.The delivery process was really smooth. I reached the showroom on the agreed time (After Lunch). An executive was assigned to me and he did handover the documents, explained the features with demo and clicked some pictures for me. Overall well planned process. I had a special request related to FastTag which was goofed up. Much before the delivery I had enquired about the FastTag details. I was using the ICICI FastTag and it had an option of adding multiple tags to one account. The advantage is that I can transfer balances and can manage all tags with just one login. I told the executive in advance and gave all my account details. But he issued an independent one during the delivery which I did not accept. What I learned is that Toyota follows a process and they are very rigid. They cannot adapt to small change requests like this. It took another week to get the new tag after many follow-ups.Another issue I faced was on RC card. Ideally it should have reached my address in 1 - 2 months after delivery. I did not get it even at the end of February 2020 (after 3 months). I had to call up the sales person from Nandi Toyota multiple times and finally he collected the RC card and shipped it to my address via courier(March 1st Week 2020). After multiple follow-ups he shared the tracking details and by then the lock-down had started. This was sent to my office address and later the courier person my office collected it. I could not collect it from him till June 2020 because of lockdown. I finally collected the RC card end of June 2020 (after 6 months). I had the picture of RC card till then and of course the mParivahan application for online verification.1) Dash Camera from XUV2) Auto Folding Mirror as additional accessory3) Sun film - Mild4) Font underrun5) Rear under run6) Side cladding7) Rear Bumper skid plate8) Number plate frame9) Ceramic coating - from Esperto (Car detailing, ceramic coating, PPF & wraps - Esperto Car Care (Bilekahalli, Bangalore)) Initially I decided to take minimal accessories from Toyota and fit it from aftermarket. This did not work out for me unfortunately. I went to Car Shringar, JC Road as this had 4+ rating in google. They told me they have stock for front and rear under run at half the cost. But the quality of the material was not good, it was not fitting well and they started using glue which I rejected. By then they had already damaged the bumper in few places and I had to get it repaired. I then went back to Toyota and got the original accessory fixed. Even though the price is a bit on higher side, the quality is very different and fitting perfectly aligns to the bumper shape. Lost some money and peace of mind. Lesson learned too.In my XUV, I did SmartWax from Pete's and every 3 - 6 months it had to be redone. I took AMC for initial 3 years. My experience was not smooth there. I faced some real challenges and once I had to tow the vehicle because water entered ECU during wash and the car refused to start. After that I was maintaining the car myself with waxing done by me every 3 months.I heard good feedbacks with ceramic coating and this time I wanted to try ceramic coating. I did some research and found Esperto Car Care providing good service. Mr. Ojus guided me and answered all queries. He preferred to do this just after delivery and I agreed. I dropped the car after delivery directly at his showroom. He needed 2 days to finish the work and shared some pictures with me during the process. The vehicle was delivered on 21-Dec-2019. Few images after the process.I wash the car myself and I only do it on demand. I dust the car with Jopasu duster and only if it is too dirty I wash the car. I noticed even after 1.5 years, the hydrophobic effect on the car was very good. I have taken additional 4 year AMC also and did my first AMC visit in September 2021 (1fter 1.5 years). Next service will be due at December 2022. The service needs one full day, I had to drop the car and then pick it up next day. Overall good experience so far.2 years are passed with multiple lockdowns. The Fortuner just crossed 12k KMs with 4 services. I am now really happy to have selected Fortuner over Ford Endeavor. Ford's exit from India will heavily affect the service and resale. Additionally with many BS6 DPF issues getting reported, I feel the decision to get BS4 was the right choice. Really glad that I made that decision with the help of this community. Last edited by Aditya : 26th October 2021 at 05:12 . Reason: Typos
In context: On top of the component shortage contributing to rising prices of graphics cards, crypto miners have further influenced the global shortage of GPUs by buying up all possible stock. Naturally, gamers have been affected, with Nvidia "addressing" the situation by announcing its dedicated CMP GPUs for cryptomining. One such variant has now become available for an eye-watering price.

The Nvidia CMP 170HX is the flagship GPU in the company's "Cryptocurrency Mining Processor" series. As spotted in Tom's Hardware, the card has gone up for sale at Vipera, a retailer in Dubai. The store claims to have 238 units in stock for a price of $4,300. It was also found on a Yahoo auction in Japan where the seller is asking for $5,285.

Futile for gamers due to the lack of display outputs, Nvidia's CMP 170HX receives power via a single 8-pin pci-e connector, joined by a 250W TDP. It also features a GA100 die with 4480 CUDA cores, along with 8 GB of HBM2e VRAM.

In terms of hash rate, the CMP 170HX can reportedly deliver up to 164 MHps for mining Ethereum. That's a big figure compared to the listed CMP models on Nvidia's official website, with the maximum ETH hash rate performance reaching 86 MH/s for the 90HX.

The card combines a dual-slot design with a silver metallic shroud, as well as boasting a passive-cooling solution. Built on the 7 nm process, the CMP 170HX offers 4480 shading units, 280 texture mapping units, and 128 ROPs. In addition to being powered by 280 tensor cores, the GPU operates at a frequency of 1140 MHz, which can be boosted up to 1410 MHz, while memory runs at 1458 MHz.

Also read: GPU Availability and Pricing Update: October 2021

Looking ahead, the popularity of cryptocurrency mining may continue increase due to Bitcoin prices recently reaching an all-time high. Ethereum has also been on a tear lately, exceeding previous peaks and surpassing the $4,000 mark.

Back in February, Nvidia announced that all GeForce RTX 3060 graphics cards would be shipped with a reduced Ethereum hash rate. Then in May, the company unveiled additional measures by applying a reduced ETH hash rate to new units of its RTX 30 series including the GeForce RTX 3080, RTX 3070, and RTX 3060 Ti graphics cards. However, those cards' limiter have been partially bypassed, resulting in mining performance being boosted to 70 percent.

Meanwhile, AMD has denied that the firm is prioritizing selling cards to crypto miners over those wishing to purchase a GPU for gaming purposes, though that hasn't helped availability in any significant way.
Out of this world: The Perseverance rover has been mapping the Martian landscape and analyzing the planet's makeup since landing in February 2021. After a pause in communications that lasted several weeks, the rover is once again transmitting data back to NASA scientists and engineers. This information continues to give researchers never before seen (or heard) access to the sights and sounds of our next door neighbor.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) celebrated this week as connectivity with the Mars-based Perseverance rover was restored. The planned period of radio silence was the result of a natural phenomenon known as a solar conjunction. The re-established link provided the Perseverance team with ongoing access to images of the Martian landscape as well as more audio recordings of the distant planet's environment.

A solar conjunction occurs when Mars' and Earth's orbits align on opposite sides of the sun. During this alignment, ionized gases ejected from the Sun's corona can interfere with radio communications. Once a conjunction begins the JPL engineers refrain from issuing any commands, as the gases can result in the rover receiving corrupted transmissions. With the red planet being anywhere from 34-million to 250-million miles away at any given time, it's definitely better to be safe than sorry.

Solar conjunction is over and Im ready to get rolling again. Nothing like the feel of Mars under your wheels.  NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) - October 19, 2021

Planning for potential communication issues is only one of many risks the JPL team has to plan for. The use of known technologies instead of those on the cutting edge plays a critical role in ensuring long term operability and ensuring NASA's ability to learn more about our galactic neighbor.

In a recently released video, JPL engineers described the rover's commercial-grade microphones used to provide never-before heard audio and acoustic data from the red planet. The rover itself, which is capable of tasks ranging from negotiating obstacles to data collection and analysis, is outfitted with a modified PowerPC 750, the same CPU that powered the Apple iMac G3 in the late 1990s.

Designing, building, transporting, and controlling a radio-operated rover millions of miles away is no easy feat. The program, which launched in July 2020, carries a $2.7 billion price tag and requires a team comprised of the world's brightest engineers, scientists, and research organizations.

The Perseverance rover will continue to traverse the planet's surface to analyze rock, soil, and air samples. Data will also be captured by the rover's sidekick, Ingenuity, a small helicopter that hitched a ride on the rover's underbelly and has since conducted several tests in the Martian atmosphere.
The Hanging Flume 50K, which is a new ultra running race in the West End, is Saturday. (Courtesy photo)
Advocate readers may submit stories of about 500 words to The Human Condition at features@theadvocate.com. There is no payment, and stories will be edited. Authors should include their city of residence, and, if writing about yourself, a photo.
During a recent murder investigation, detectives in Tangipahoa Parish faced a challenge they probably wouldnt have pictured 20 years ago: A victim's family member turned to social media for answers.

Grieving and looking for justice, the relative posted a home address on Facebook belonging to someone they thought had killed their loved one. It was an act of desperation  and of facility, given social medias accessibility, detectives investigating the case explained.

It was also factually wrong.

The people who lived at the address were not connected to the case, detectives quickly determined. Fearing an act of vigilante violence, they checked in with the people who lived in the home whose information had drawn attention online.

The residents were safe, and told authorities they didn't feel like they needed further protection from the sheriffs office.

Meanwhile, investigators managed to de-escalate the situation by speaking with the victims family, people involved in the ongoing case said.

While no one was hurt, the incident reflects a challenge law enforcement confronts more frequently with Facebook serving as a gathering place, gossip hub and key news source for people in rural parishes east of Baton Rouge.

+2 JayDaYoungan arrest: How an escalating gang beef among rappers in rural Louisiana left 2 people dead What began as a birthday bash on a remote clearing in the pinewoods of Tangipahoa Parish last summer took a terrifying turn when a flurry of g

Online rumors, real-world consequences

Residents often turn to Facebook to glean clues and share information about crimes ranging from petty theft to murder. That leads to the local sheriffs office shelling out money for gas, overtime pay and equipment costs following up on false leads spread on the website  and, sometimes, to protect people wrongly accused of serious crimes.

We see social media as a valuable tool, said Lt. Jacob Schwebel, who works in the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriffs Office criminal investigations division. We also see it as a tool that works against us and against the community.

Facebook lets law enforcement release information to a large audience much faster than ever before, allowing investigators to, for example, push out information about a child who has gone missing.

But unfounded allegations spun by Facebook users can gain traction through the site's algorithms more quickly than law enforcement can intervene to protect innocent people on the receiving end of those claims. Steady streams of speculation and accusation can also be exhausting for victims' families, authorities say.

Louisiana's opioid settlement money will go to local governments for addiction treatment Louisiana intends to divvy up the $325 million it expects to receive from a national settlement of opioid epidemic lawsuits to parish sheriffs

Not only does it hurt our investigation, said Maj. Kenny Corkern, commanding officer in the offices investigations unit, the family has to read that stuff every day.

Sometimes, the rumors put lives at risk.

In another active case, a dispute between feuding Tangipahoa Parish gangs escalated to a point where members of one gang fired weapons at anothers house, hurting someone, detectives said. Companions of the injured gang member wrote on Facebook that a resident of a certain house was to blame.

A drive-by shooter later sprayed bullets into a house belonging to an elderly grandmother who had no connection to the crime, detectives said.

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No one was injured, but a completely innocent subjects residence was shot, said Schwebel.

The social media trends is hardly isolated to South Louisiana.

'A whole lot of negativity'

In Chicago several years ago, social workers and police sought answers to a pattern of violence they linked to taunting and posturing among gang members on social media.

The task of sifting through and correcting misinformation that influences real-world violence falls beyond the reach of many local law enforcement agencies. But Dr. Henry Lieberman, a computer scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies human-computer interaction, isnt convinced that shutting down or censoring social media is the answer.

Social media reflects the entire society, he said, and when problems occur where social media is the venue, I think we need to understand what the root is and figure out what to do about it.

Supreme Court won't review Louisiana 'Sex Offender' ID defacement case The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a Louisiana case that involved a man who defaced his state-issued identification badge by removi

Facebook activity can spill over into real-world violence when people go to the site because they feel alone, or when their communities havent taught them skills to resolve conflict, Lieberman said.

Facebook's algorithms prioritize high-traffic posts like those where people leave lots of comments out of a desire to get information after a loved one has been the victim of a crime, according to Lieberman.

Facebook is a way for people to connect and get resources, said Dr. Desmond Upton Patton, a professor at Columbia University who studies on-and-offline pathways to violence. But what we also know is that Facebook is controlling what a user sees, and prioritizing the most threatening and egregious acts. There also needs to be room to hold these companies accountable for the types of posts they're prioritizing.

Also key for addressing why social media interactions can inflame real-world violence, Lieberman said, are grassroots efforts to build better conflict resolution and coping skills in communities.

One local organization working to reach residents with resources to build those skills is the Florida Parishes Human Services Authority. Founded in 2003, the network of behavioral health clinics offers care to people across St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Livingston, Washington and St. Tammany parishes.

Rapper JayDaYoungan posts Instagram photo from Amite City jail cell; employee who took it fired After a prominent rapper was arrested and accused of aiding a gang-related murder in Tangipahoa Parish last year, he posted a picture for his 

Like the sheriffs investigators, the network's executive director sees social media as playing a positive and negative role in the community. It offers people in rural and poor areas greater connectivity, but it can also be a cesspool for people struggling, FPHSA Director Dr. Richard Kramer said.

If youre in a negative place and you go on social media trying to scratch that itch, you can get sucked into a whole lot of negativity around that same subject, he said.

Some of the obligation lies on law enforcement agencies to devise better ways of communicating with the public, including dispelling bad information quickly, in the digital age, Lieberman said.

But that can be a challenge for small departments working against a website with the reach and influence of Facebook.
Louisiana's teacher shortage is getting worse with retirements on the rise, the number of new teachers plunging and superintendents finding it increasingly difficult to fill classroom jobs.

The ranks of students in the LSU School of Education plunged 57% in the past decade and 39% in the past five years, according to figures provided by the school. Teachers and other school personnel retirements shot up 25% from 2020 to 2021, data compiled by the Teacher Retirement System of Louisiana shows.

Doris Voitier, superintendent of the St. Bernard Parish School District and a veteran of 50 years in the profession, said today's education landscape is unlike anything she has seen. "I have never had as much of a struggle to adequately staff our programs as I have the past year," said Voitier, who is also a member of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Louisiana's biggest teacher shortage? Black men are a rarity in public schools While African-Americans make up about half of the students in Louisiana's public schools, only 5% of teachers are black men.

Officials of other school districts tell similar stories.

The Livingston Parish school system, which reports shortages for all positions, said officials recently attended a job fair at Southeastern Louisiana University that typically attracts 40 or so education students. This time less than 10 showed up.

The Ascension Parish School District has 37 open instructional jobs at 18 of the district's 31 schools, said Jackie Tisdell, spokesperson for the highly-ranked system.

The number of retirees is 88, up from 73 last year.

Wes Watts, superintendent of the West Baton Rouge Parish School District, said his system is struggling to find special education teachers  a common refrain both in Louisiana and nationwide that also applies to math and science teachers.

"We are seeing fewer teacher candidates than ever at all grade levels," Watts said.

New plan being pushed to attract more Louisiana professionals to teaching: 'We have to do something' State education leaders are behind a push in the Legislature to make it easier for midcareer professionals to become teachers, with the goal o

The issue is hardly a new one.

Education leaders have said for years that the number of teachers is shrinking for a variety of reasons: pay, classroom conditions and sort of a negative aura around the profession.

"Everyone knows no one wants to be a teacher anymore," Cynthia Posey, director of legislative and political affairs for the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, told BESE earlier this month.

In 2010, a total of 610 undergraduates were enrolled in the LSU School of Education.

Only 260 are signed up this year.

Retirements in K-12 shot up from 2,144 for the financial year that ended June 30, 2020 to 2,686 one year later.

Nationally, the number of education degrees awarded fell 22% from 2006-19 despite an overall increase in the number of graduates, according to legislative figures.

Public school teachers in Louisiana are paid an average of $50,923. That is $4,007 below the regional average.

As teacher pay gap widens between Louisiana and other states, educators say raises should be 'priority' The gap between average pay for teachers in Louisiana and the Southern regional average shot up by 74% in the past year, according to the late

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State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said 50% of teachers leave the profession after five years and over 60% after a decade. "Retention is certainly a hurdle that has to be explored," Brumley said.

The shortage has a direct impact on day-to-day learning.

A total of 23% of teachers are either uncertified or teaching outside their field of expertise, according to figures provided by the state Department of Education.

Education leaders have taken a number of steps to address the problem.

The state has made it easier for mid-career professionals to enter the classroom, and the list of teachers who earned their credentials through non-traditional means is growing.

Aspiring teachers are required as college seniors to spend one year in a classroom working with a mentor, a rule aimed at answering complaints from novice educators that they were not ready for the job.

Why pay for new teachers in Louisiana stacks up better than for veteran teachers While public school teachers may get their first substantive pay hike in six years, low salaries are not a glaring issue for new teachers.

The Ascension Parish School District is launching an eight-week recruitment marketing campaign in the Baton Rouge and Hammond markets, including a teacher job fair on Nov. 17.

Officials plan to use TV, streaming media, social media and digital ads to find teacher candidates.

A panel called the Teacher Recruitment, Recovery and Retention Task Force is studying the issue and has met three times this year.

Susannah Craig, deputy commissioner of higher education who is involved in the study, said fewer teachers are entering the profession and many of those who do drop out.

"We have a talent pipeline that is leaky," Craig said.

Number of Louisiana students in classrooms with uncertified teachers disputed throughout state While 1 out of 5 public school teachers in Louisiana is either uncertified or teaching outside their field of expertise, how many students are

Low-performing public schools typically face the biggest shortages.

"I am really interested in how do we move the talent pipeline, especially in schools where ours students have the greatest need," said BESE member Holly Boffy, who lives in Lafayette and is a former state teacher of the year.

The task force is set to unveil its first report when BESE and the Board of Regents holds a joint meeting Dec. 15, and to state lawmakers by Jan. 14.

BESE member Ronnie Morris, who lives in Baton Rouge, said officials need to spell out the urgency of the teacher shortage when they present their annual funding request to the Legislature.

Morris said the goal is 'to see what kind of legislation we could bring forward that would incentivize folks to pursue this career path," a reference to the teaching profession.

'We all know the problem is there," he said. "We need to address it."








Heqet, pronounced Hey-ket is an Egyptian goddess associated with labor and childbirth in Ancient Egypt. She is depicted as a frog, or a woman with the head of a frog. Heqet servants were priestesses who were trained as midwives; a priestess is a woman who to performs the sacred rites of a religion, in this case childbirth delivery, and care after the birth of the mother and child.





Heqet, knelling, is the Egyptian goddess of childbirth





Frogs signify transformation, change, cleansing through water, fertility, and prosperity. The ancient Egyptians saw thousands of frogs appear all along the Nile at certain times of the year. This appearance of frogs came to symbolize fruitfulness and coming life.



Ancient Egypts climate was cooler and wetter. The appearance of frogs along the fertile banks of the Nile River, seasonally flooded agricultural land and canals and ditches were probably toads, the Damietta toad to be exact which s a small species of greenish grey Nile Delta toads.





Traditional midwives have been an integral part of African medicine for centuries. First-born sons are particularly desired in the Egyptian culture and Heqet assisted in bringing the three sons of the Sun-god Ra into the world, Khafra, Menkaura, and Userkaf. Ancient Egyptian midwives were trained professionals to help ensure the survival of mother and child during labor, delivery, and after the birth.





Midwifery skills of Heqet played an instrumental role to line of Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom assisting with the birth of Ra, the sun god's three sons;. Khafra Egyptian pharaoh king of the 4th Dynasty 2,500 BCE, Menkaura, the son of Khafra also an Egyptian pharaoh king of the 4th Dynasty and Userkaf Egyptian pharaoh king of the 5th Dynasty of ancient Egypt 2,325 years BCE.















Heqet the Egyptian goddess of childbirth is usually seen holding the ankh or key of life, an ancient Egyptian symbol. The ankh looks like a cross with a teardrop-shaped loop at the top. According to ancient Egyptians goddess beliefs Heqet literally helped to give birth to gods as she held the key of life in her hands. The use of religious beliefs and rituals was a powerful context to enrich the spirituality of ancient Egyptian culture. The pharaoh was considered a god on earth, kings and religious leaders of ancient Egypt. Ra, portrayed as a falcon and known as the sun god is one of the most important gods in ancient Egyptian religion responsible for the existence of all creation

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A pharaoh was considered the divine intermediary between the gods and the Egyptian people, the role of Heqet, the Egyptian goddess of childbirth was an integral part of Egyptian childbirth rituals. Being responsible for assisting giving birth to the sons of Ra, Heqet, with child mortality rates high in Ancient Egypt, needed to minimize the feeling of distress caused before and by childbirth, have keen physical, mental and spiritual child and maternal knowledge, a specialized medicinal knowledge of plants and herbs as well as surgical techniques, and a personal connection to the spirit world.
For our free coronavirus pandemic coverage, learn more here.

Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Just hours after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on October 1 that he would soon reopen Australias international border, Madhu Tamilarasan was online booking a flight to London. The law still doesnt allow me to actually leave but Ive taken a punt to book a ridiculously expensive flight, she says. Securing a ticket out of Sydney on November 21 is worth the gamble for the 42-year-old GP who lives and works in Lithgow, in the NSW Central Tablelands. She hasnt seen her parents for 3 years. Its been very challenging to be concerned about their welfare and being far away where you cant do anything about it, she says. Australia closed its border in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic started its race around the globe. Just 1.1 million passengers flew in or out of the country in the 2021 financial year, compared to 42 million in 2019, government data shows. Now, the prospect of reuniting with family and friends abroad  even taking an overseas holiday  is finally on the horizon. But a patchwork of different vaccination, testing and quarantine rules has changed the international travel landscape. When Tamilarasan booked her flight it wasnt clear what hoops she would have to jump through to get back to Australia  a stint isolating at home, perhaps, or a fortnight locked in a hotel. I would not be travelling for fun right now, she says, but the urgency for that reconnection with my family is so urgent that Im prepared to suck up whatever the rules will be. Whats it going to be like to travel overseas again? Where can we go? And what should you take? Madhu Tamilarasan (with her dog Dusty) booked a flight to visit her parents in London the same day Scott Morrison said he would soon reopen Australias international border.

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What are the new rules for Australia? Throughout the pandemic, Australians have been able to leave and return only if they have received an exemption (for essential business travel, for instance). But a limited number of spaces in the hotel quarantine system has meant many travellers have struggled to get on flights home, with about 44,000 Australians still registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as wanting to return. The big announcement by the Prime Minister on October 1 was a lifting of the ban on Australians leaving the country without an exemption, which will kick in when states have vaccinated 80 per cent of the adult population, and a removal of the cap on how many vaccinated Australian citizens, residents and their families can return home each week. NSW and Victoria will be the first to open for international travel from the start of November. Vaccinated passengers flying into Sydney or Melbourne will not have to quarantine at all. Tasmania will welcome vaccinated visitors from interstate and overseas from December 15. So far, its unclear when other states and territories will reopen. The exception to our tough border rules has been New Zealand. Australia had a quarantine-free travel bubble across the Tasman from April to July this year before it was popped by the Delta wave. Australia has been open to vaccinated travellers from New Zealands South Island since October 19. Travellers will be considered fully vaccinated if they have received a full course of a vaccine that the Therapeutic Goods Administration has either approved (Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson) or recognised (expected to be Chinas Sinovac and Indias Covishield). The unvaccinated, or those without somewhere to do home quarantine, will still have to spend 14 days in supervised quarantine. Other countries have different rules on vaccination and testing while some airlines, including Qantas and Air Zealand, have made it compulsory for passengers on international flights (along with masks, for the foreseeable future). Its going to be very complicated  particularly in the first three or four months, says Graham Turner, the boss of Australias biggest travel agency, Flight Centre.

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James Thornton, the CEO of the Melbourne-based global tour operator Intrepid Travel, says gone are the days of hopping on and off a plane without too much thought. Its going to be a lot of forms, a lot of box-ticking and a lot of checking, he says. Thornton travelled to Europe earlier this year for business, carrying a wad of paper to get through border checks. The experience was not as hard as he expected, but it was time-consuming. He had to arrive for his Eurostar train ride from London to Lille, for example, two hours before departure rather than 45 minutes in pre-COVID times. Theres just a lot more rigour in terms of checking at passport control and immigration, Thornton says. People queue up to check in for flights to the UK at Hong Kong airport in June. Having to prove youve been vaccinated and tested means it might take longer to get to where youre going. Credit:AP How much testing will we have to do? Testing is the other cornerstone of COVID-era international travel. Australia already requires inbound travellers to return a negative COVID-19 PCR test (polymerase chain reaction, the most reliable) within 72 hours of departure, and to take more tests during their 14-day stay in quarantine. If you are travelling from Australia to England, different rules apply depending on your vaccination status and your travel plans. If youre fully vaccinated, you need to book and pay for a PCR or lateral flow test before you depart and then take the test within two days of arrival.

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If youre unvaccinated, you need to take a COVID test in the three days before travelling, and book and pay for day 3 and day 8 tests to take after arrival. You also need to self-quarantine for your first 10 days in England, though there is an option to shorten this if you pay for more expensive private testing. However, if youre arriving in England having been to a high-risk red list country in the last 10 days  that list currently includes Colombia, Haiti and Peru  you will need to take a test before you leave, as well as book compulsory hotel quarantine, which applies to both vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers arriving via the red list. Note that there are different rules in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Official information is posted here. The US requires a negative COVID-19 test three days before you travel by air into the country; or proof that you have caught and recovered from COVID-19 in the past three months, which the authorities take to mean that you should be immune even without a vaccination. A booster shot could eventually become necessary to travel to some parts of the world too, given Israel in early October said it would make citizens take a third vaccine shot to access its green pass allowing entry to restaurants, gyms and other public venues. Some countries have taken other approaches to restarting tourism. Thailand had its Phuket sandbox, allowing vaccinated, negative-testing visitors to stay at the holiday island (and at nearby Koh Phi Phi) without going into quarantine for 14 days and then venture into other parts of the country. Thailand will lift all quarantine restrictions on visitors from Australia and 45 other countries from Monday, however.

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Bali has opened to vaccinated visitors from South Korea, China, Japan, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and New Zealand who are willing to spend five days in hotel quarantine. A decision is expected this week on whether to open to Australia, too. Meanwhile, other parts of the world remain firmly closed to foreigners and some have even more stringent restrictions on returning citizens than Australians have endured. Those flying into Vietnam or some parts of China, for example, must endure a month of quarantine (14 days in a government-run facility followed by 14 days in home quarantine). Singapores Vaccinated Travel Lanes program allows vaccinated travellers to fly in from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Britain, Canada, the United States and, from November 15, South Korea. The Asian financial hubs testing requirements are extensive, however. Visitors need a PCR test within 48 hours of departure, and then another when they arrive, and must isolate until the result comes back (usually within 12 hours). Visitors then need another test on day three of their stay and another on day seven. PCR tests at a private clinic cost around $150 in Australia and Singapore, while getting a last-minute rapid (75-minute) PCR test at Munich Airport costs 139 ($AU220). Loading Anyone planning an overseas jaunt will have to budget for the potentially significant cost of taking all these tests. For instance, an Australian visiting Singapore for a two-week round trip would need at least seven PCR tests under the current rules: one pre-departure, three in Singapore, another pre-departure for their return journey, and then at least two more on home soil. That would cost at least $1000  almost as much as a return Sydney-Singapore Qantas fare currently on sale for January. At the moment, testing is prohibitively expensive  and it may put off some people, says Thornton. The big worry is that travel becomes the privilege of the more well-off again.

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A high-profile cosmetic surgeon has denied wrongdoing after taking urgent Federal Court action to stop a story about his business, which has now been accused of serious safety and hygiene breaches and botched surgeries that have left patients in extreme pain.

Dr Daniel Lanzer, who owns day hospitals in Melbourne and Brisbane and facilities in Sydney and Perth, is a dermatologist who has made a fortune practising cosmetic procedures including tummy tucks, liposuction, Brazilian butt lifts, mini face lifts and breast implants.

Cosmetic surgeon Daniel Lanzer.

A joint Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Four Corners investigation has uncovered a litany of troubling practices across Dr Lanzers clinic network, including botched procedures and allegations by a patient of nurses filling in blank scripts.

Dr Lanzer has his own TV show, is a regular guest on other TV shows and is one of the most followed cosmetic surgeons in the world with more than 5 million TikTok followers.
More than 120 doctors and health workers are calling on a prominent philanthropic charity to halt its plans for a large quarry in bushland on the Mornington Peninsula, citing concerns over the health effects of silica dust on nearby primary school students and communities.

Hillview Quarries, which is owned by the philanthropic Ross Trust, has applied to expand a disused quarry adjacent to the Arthurs Seat State Park and remove about 38 hectares of native bushland, an area the size of Melbournes Royal Botanic Gardens.

In an open letter in todays Age, 122 signatories  including respiratory and allergy specialists, eight paediatricians and 29 local general practitioners  write: Our children and grandchildren and the wider community deserve certainty that the air they breathe is safe.
The Queen and Prince Philip on the royal train at Central Station, Sydney. Credit:State Records NSW

The Queens visit to Australia ended a few seconds after 5.20 p.m. today, when the Royal yacht Gothic steamed slowly out of Fremantle Harbor to the accompaniment of cheers from 40,000 people and the sound of the sirens of every ship in port.

It was a brilliant and stirring finale to one of the greatest events in Australias history.

Four minutes earlier the Queen had left Australian soil, and walked up Gothics gangway looking as happy, refreshed and composed as on the bright morning of February 3 when this stately ship had brought her to Sydney.

Behind Her Majesty were 57 days packed with more than 250 formal engagements in a tour of Australia that had been a brilliant success.

As Gothic was slowly making its way out of the Swan River into the Indian Ocean the Queen left the top deck to make her farewell broadcast to Australia and its people.

With the sounds of departure still ringing in our ears I want to say to you, my Australian people, how sad we are to be leaving the shores of your wonderful land, she said.
Severe thunderstorms are set to strike south-east Queensland once again as an unstable weather system and humidity lingers.

The forecast follows records being broken in Queensland for the hottest October day in more than 15 years, including at Sunshine Coast Airport, where temperatures reached 36.3 degrees on Sunday.

Thunderstorms will continue to hit south-east Queensland this week. Credit:Lydia Lynch

The Bureau of Meteorologys Helen Kirkup said south-east Queensland could expect severe thunderstorms on Monday afternoon.

Were already seeing storms inland around Roma but it will take a little while for things to build up in the south-east, the meteorologist said Monday morning.
With 20 confirmed COVID cases among the 46 refugees at the hotel, and more expected, the Park Hotel outbreak is a reflection of the deliberate indifference that is official government policy regarding people seeking asylum. Twelve people have lost their lives in offshore detention; now more lives are at risk on Australian soil.

When the refugees were first sent to Manus Island and Nauru in 2013, the refugee movement demanded the government, Bring them here. Six years later, when refugees were evacuated to Australia in 2019 under the medevac transfer system, refugee advocates demanded they be released into the community. When COVID struck Australia last year, calls were again made for their release.

Inside the Park Hotel, where 46 asylum seekers and refugees are detained.

In March 2020, the Australian Human Rights Commissioner wrote to the government requesting they implement the advice from medical experts to release people who do not pose a significant security or health risk from immigration detention.

By February 2021, around 80 medevac refugees had been released from closed detention, although not for health reasons. Then Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said detention cost too much  but not enough to free the remaining 80 still being held.
When Arthur Calwell was immigration minister in the 1940s, he would tell a story he heard from his mother about his grandfather, Michael McLoughlin.

He said that McLoughlin was an Irishman who jumped ship to settle in Victoria in 1847.

Convict descendant Garry McLoughlin with a photo of his second cousin, former federal Labor leader Arthur Calwell. Credit:Penny Stephens

Calwell, who later became federal opposition leader, admitted he had found no records to prove this.

In fact, McLoughlin was a convict. Michaels great-grandson Garry McLoughlin discovered that in 1843, Michael was sentenced to 10 years in Van Diemens Land - which changed its name to Tasmania in 1856  for stealing a gun in rural Ireland.
We see absolutely nothing to indicate that is on the cards at all, he said on Friday. Loading In Austria, unvaccinated people could face new lockdown restrictions if coronavirus case numbers continue to rise, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Friday evening, after meeting with state-level leaders to discuss their response to rapidly increasing case numbers. The pandemic is not yet in the rearview mirror, Schallenberg said. We are about to stumble into a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Schallenberg announced that if the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units reaches 500, or 25 per cent of the countrys total ICU capacity, entry into businesses such as restaurants and hotels will be limited to those who are vaccinated or recovered from the virus.

If the number reaches 600, or one-third of total ICU capacity, the government plans to impose restrictions on unvaccinated people. In this case, they would only be allowed to leave their homes for specific reasons. Currently, the number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs stands at 220. In the past week, Austria has reported 20,408 new cases of the virus, according to health authorities, bringing the seven-day average to 228.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. A week earlier, that figure was at 152.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. Although Austrias government has encouraged citizens to get vaccinated, the effort has slowed in recent months. About 65.4 per cent of the total population has received one dose of the vaccine, and 62.2 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Russia has reported a record high number of coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths as the country approaches a week of nonworking days aimed at stemming the sharp surge in cases. The national coronavirus task force said on Saturday that 1075 people had died from the virus in the past day and that 37,678 new infections were tallied  the largest single-day numbers of the pandemic. The daily death toll is about 33 per cent higher than that recorded in late September and infection cases have risen by about 70 per cent in the past month. Only about one-third of Russias 146 million people have been vaccinated, frustrating officials and placing a strain on the countrys health-care system.

Loading Serbia is set to launch partial COVID-19 passes while Croatia and Slovenia reported high daily rates of infections, as virus continues to surge in the Balkan nations with low vaccination rates. Serbia has seen thousands of news cases daily for weeks now and recorded more than 50 deaths each day, in the country of 7 million where about half of adults have been fully jabbed and tens of thousands have received booster doses. On Saturday, authorities reported an additional 6748 new infections in the past 24 hours and 60 fatalities from COVID-19. Serbia has confirmed more than 1 million infections since the start of the pandemic and nearly 10,000 deaths. Experts have harshly criticised the government decision to introduce COVID-19 passes for indoor spaces only from 10pm. They said the move was too little too late and that stricter measures are needed to curb the raging virus.

Its scandalous and far too late, retired epidemiologist Zoran Radovanovic told N1 television. Serbias government initially was reluctant to impose any measures, urging people to get vaccinated instead. Face masks have been obligatory indoors in the Balkan country but there have been no limits for gatherings or work at nightclubs, bars or restaurants. Starting Saturday evening, visitors will have to provide COVID-19 passes showing evidence of vaccination, a negative test or that they have recovered from the disease in the past seven months. Officials said more than 2,000 inspections will control whether the new rules are being implemented. The virus situation has been alarming also in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe where vaccination rates are lower than the European Union average. Romania has approved the tightening of rules from Monday as hospitals filled up and infections soared to record numbers. Slovenia on Saturday said the number of confirmed daily cases has reached a nine-month high and a positivity rate of about 30 per cent in the country of about 2 million people. Slovenia has fully vaccinated 53 per cent of the population of 2 million. Just over 5000 people have died of COVID-19.
The Queen Mother similarly resisted surrendering to the frailties of old age. She relished the bracing fresh air at her remote Castle of Mey in Caithness on the north coast of Scotland. Coughs and colds, she believed, could be blown away by a brisk walk to see her cattle and other livestock.

Look at Sir David Attenborough, still broadcasting, still campaigning and just a fortnight younger than her majesty. Perhaps there is something indomitable about this wartime generation. Or maybe its the steely Scottish blood from her mothers side of the family.

And the Queen is remarkably good at her job, as even republicans might concede. She seems to have the time to engage even more with people these days than in the past, genuinely listening to their stories and being interested in their lives. And when youre good at your job and you still enjoy it, there seems no earthly reason to give it up.

But he would, surely, have been the first to declare that his wife still has a spring in her step. After a short period of mourning following her husbands death, she has been on dazzling form, criss-crossing the country on an astonishing number of engagements for someone who is 95-and-a-half.

In the end, she conceded that a walking stick would be wise  as the Queen now has  and eventually she used two. I remember being astounded when it was announced that, at the age of 101, the Queen Mother was going to visit HMS Ark Royal in Portsmouth. It was a windy November day and we royal reporters were all feeling chilled as we waited for her to arrive. An aircraft carrier is not an easy place to get around, but the Queen Mother was the very embodiment of the spirit being willing even if the flesh is a little weak. She stumbled once but, dressed in royal blue, with diamonds and pearls, raised a laugh as she commanded the captain to splice the main brace.

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Like her mother, the Queen is a firm believer in exercise and loves to go out riding whenever possible  certainly until quite recently. That in itself is an incredible feat for someone in their 90s. And she has taken on a workload that would tax many a younger person. In June, she was dining with world leaders at the G7 summit in Cornwall one evening, and by 11am the next morning was back on duty at Windsor taking the salute at Trooping the Colour. Already this month she has opened both the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments, alongside more than a dozen other engagements.

She holds fast to the concept that a monarch must be seen to be believed. During the long weeks of lockdown, she got a taste of what life would be like in retirement  even though she still had her red boxes of cabinet papers to go through  and it would seem that she was unimpressed. She believes that personal contact is important not only for the monarchy, but that its also interesting and stimulating for her.

There have, of course, been some concessions to age. The Queen no longer carries out royal tours abroad and she has delegated many routine duties to Princes Charles and William. The palace announced on Saturday that the Queen will be accompanied by one of her children or grandchildren when she appears in public in the future, to avoid letting the public down at the last minute in the event of health scares.
A distraught Baldwin was photographed outside a hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Saturday embracing and talking with Matt Hutchins, Halynas husband, and their nine-year-old son. Baldwin, 63, on Friday said he was shocked and heartbroken at the death of Hutchins. In a statement read to a candlelight vigil on Saturday, Hutchins called his wifes death an enormous loss. A photo of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins at a memorial service in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday. Credit:AP While the investigation into the tragedy is ongoing, Hutchins death has led some in Hollywood  along with incredulous observers  to ask: why are real guns ever used on set when computers can create gunshots in post-production? Isnt even the smallest risk unacceptable?

For Alexi Hawley, it is. Any risk is too much risk, the executive producer of ABCs police drama The Rookie announced in a staff memo on Friday, saying the events in New Mexico had shaken us all. There will be no more live weapons on the show, he wrote in a note, first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Instead, he said, the policy would be to use replica guns, which use pellets and not bullets, with muzzle flashes added in post-production. Flowers outside the Bonanza Creek ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where the tragedy happened. Credit:AP The director of the popular Kate Winslet drama Mare of Easttown, Craig Zobel, called for the entire industry to follow suit and said gunshots on that show were added after filming, even though on previous productions he has used live rounds.

Theres no reason to have guns loaded with blanks or anything on set anymore, Zobel wrote on Twitter. Should just be fully outlawed. Theres computers now. The gunshots on Mare of Easttown are all digital. You can probably tell, but who cares? Its an unnecessary risk. Bill Dill  a cinematographer who taught Hutchins, a rising star in her field, at the American Film Institute  expressed disgust in an interview over the archaic practice of using real guns with blanks in them, when we have readily available and inexpensive computer graphics. Alec Baldwin was distraught after the shooting. Credit:AP Dill, whose credits include The Five Heartbeats and Dancing in September, said there was added danger from real guns because people working in film were often exhausted after long hours on set. Theres no excuse for using live weapons, he said.

A petition was launched over the weekend on change.org for real guns to be banned from production sets. There is no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century, it said of the tragedy. This isnt the early 90s, when Brandon Lee was killed in the same manner. Change needs to happen before additional talented lives are lost. Lee, the actor son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was killed in 1993 by a makeshift bullet left in a prop gun after a previous scene. The petition appealed to Baldwin directly to use his power and influence in the industry and promote Halynas Law, which would ban the use of real firearms on set. As it stands, the US federal workplace safety agency is silent on the issue and most of the preferred states for productions take a largely hands-off approach. Souza was later released from hospital.

The tragedy came after some workers had walked off the job to protest safety conditions and other production issues on the film, of which Baldwin is the star and a producer. In an interview, British cinematographer Steven Hall noted that he worked on a production this year in Madrid that involved lots of firearms. Loading We were encouraged not to use blanks, but to rely on visual effects in post [production] to create whatever effect we wanted from a particular firearm, with the actor miming the recoil from the gun, and it works very well, he said. He noted, though, that special effects add costs to a productions budget. So its easier and perhaps more economic to actually discharge your weapon on set using a blank, said Hall, a veteran cinematographer who has worked on films like Fury and Thor: The Dark World. But, he said, the problem with blanks is, of course  something is emitted from the gun.

Besides financial concerns, why else would real guns be seen as preferable? There are advantages to using blanks on set that some people want to get, said Sam Dormer, a British armourer, or firearms specialist. For instance, you get a [better] reaction from the actor. Still, Dormer said, the movie industry was likely moving away from real guns, albeit slowly. The term prop gun can apply to anything from a rubber toy to a real firearm that can fire a projectile. If its used for firing, even blanks, its considered a real gun. A blank is a cartridge that contains gunpowder but no bullet. Still, it can hurt or even kill someone who is close by, according to the Actors Equity Association. A woman, who did not want to give her name, places a flower bouquet at the entrance of the Bonanza Creek Film Ranch in Santa Fe where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot. Credit:AP Thats why many are calling to ban blanks as well and use disabled or replica guns.
2021 Hyundai Elantra & Elantra Hybrid - Reviews by Larry Nutson

A car with an attitude

By Larry Nutson

Executive Editor and Bureau Chief

Chicago Bureau

The Auto Channel

Hyundai took the wraps off the completely new 2021 Elantra for all the world to see in a web-based presentation last March. Now, in spite of the pandemic challenges we all face today, I have recently driven both the Elantra and Elantra Hybrid in a Covid-safe environment in a well-executed drive program.

The all-new seventh-generation Elantra compact sedan is based on a new vehicle platform with longer wheelbase, wider stance, and a lower roofline. The four-door coupe-like look follows what Hyundai calls Parametric Dynamics design theme.

While some manufacturers no longer see the value in the car side of the business, were doubling down by offering an all-new model with both gas and hybrid powertrains, said Jose Munoz, president and CEO, Hyundai Motor America. Weve sold more than 3.4 million Elantras here in the U.S. and more than 13.8 million worldwide.

The Elantras long hood and flowing coupe-like roofline are balanced with three side sculpture intersecting lines that develop tension in the overall design. The Elantra is a car with an attitude.

Headlight elements are integrated into the grille and a full width taillight H-design punctuates the sharp trunk lid edge.

Hyundai refers to the immersive cocoon interior layout that envelops the driver like an airplane cockpit. Low, wide structures go from the door all the way to the center console. Theres ample interior room. A large interface consists of two connected 10.25-inch displays. Customizable 64-color mood lighting lets you change your Elantra as you change.

(DSC_0759) The 5-passenger front-wheel drive Elantra is offered in SE, SEL and Limited trims. Under the hood is a 147-hp 2.0-L four-cylinder mated to an IVT (I for intelligent) transmission. Its Hyundais version of CVT that provides improved efficiency and simulates gear shifts like those in an automatic transmission. The SE trim is EPA-rated at 33 city mpg and 43 highway mpg. SEL and Limited trims are EPA-rated 31 city mpg and 41 highway mpg.

The Elantra Hybrid is offered in SEL and Limited trims. Under its hood is a 1.6-L Atkinson cycle 4-cylinder rated at 104-hp. This is combined with a 32kW electric motor/generator for a total system output of 139-hp and 195 lb.-ft. of torque. The Elantra Hybrid uses a 6-speed Dual Clutch Transmission. EPA ratings are 53 city mpg and 56 highway mpg for the SEL trim and 49 city mpg and 53 highway mpg for the Limited trim.

The small differences in EPA fuel economy ratings between trims is usually due to the different tires that are equipped on each.

The new Elantras wheelbase is 0.8 inches longer and is similar to other sedans is this segment. Overall length is up by 2.2 inches but the Elantra is the shortest among competitors making it the better choice for crowded urban and big city streets. Its an inch wider and 0.8 inches lower overall with its coupe-like look.

The cabin is quite roomy with key dimensions being increased a bit. My medium size body was very comfortable in the low seating position for the nearly 150 miles I spent driving the two new models. Hyundai says the new Elantra has best in class rear seat legroom. The overall interior design is well executed with material quality and finishes that you would expect in a higher class car.

I drove both models over a mixed route of local urban streets, highways and some more remote mountain roads. Handling is refined and comfortable with a balance providing both good ride and confident handling. Theres minimal body roll and mountain road twists and turns are managed with ease. Overall, the chassis has been nicely optimized for both good handling as well as comfort.

All Elantra models have 4-wheel disc brakes.

The Elantra provides a good bit of the fun-to-drive element. Both engines deliver decent acceleration as well as highway merging and passing. Theres plenty of power for climbing a mountain. Normal, Smart and Sport drive modes can be selected.

In my drive of the Elantra Hybrid I got 55 mpg over a 73 mile drive on mixed local, highway and mountain roads. With its 11-gallon tank thats 600 miles of cruising. (12.4 gallons on the Elantra with gasoline engine)

The new Elantra offers a full array of the latest Advanced Driver Assist Safety (ADAS) features including forward collision avoidance with pedestrian detection, lane keep assist, lane follow assist, high beam assist, smart cruise control, blind spot collision avoidance assist, highway driving assist, safe exit warning, and reverse parking collision avoidance.

Voice recognition activates and adjusts features and settings. Optional digital key lets you use your smart phone to unlock the car and make remote engine start. Wireless charging eliminates cords, plus theres Bluetooth connectivity.

More details on the 2021 Hyundai Elantra can be found at www.hyundaiusa.com.

Theres also an Elantra N Line model with 201-hp and the choice of a 6-speed manual or a 7-speed DCT. Look for my separate story with all the performance detail on the N Line.

The 2021 Elantra has a starting price of $19,650 for the SE model. The SEL model starts at $20,900 and the top-of-the-line Limited is available for $25,450. The Elantra Hybrid starts at $23,550 and goes up to $28,100 and the fun-to-drive Elantra N Line is priced at $24,100. These prices exclude the destination charge of $995.

The new 2021 Elantra models will be built at Hyundais Montgomery Alabama production plant and go on sale this fall.

This report comes from an invitation-only Hyundai launch event that allowed special access to the vehicle and executives. Hyundai provided my overnight accommodations, meals, and transportation.

 2020 Larry Nutson, the Chicago Car Guy
Alt-right members preparing to enter Emancipation Park holding Nazi, Confederate Battle, Gadsden "Don't Tread on Me," League of the South, and Thor's Hammer flags. Photo by Anthony Crider via Creative Commons
Up for debate:

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Q&A: Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccines are 91% effective in kids 5-11. Heres what else you need to know
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Today

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Pat Nevada, whose opinions are her own, lives near Gettysburg.

(Note: This is my final column for this year. I plan to return in the middle of January. Okay, I confess. I am being lazy.

Also, in case your mail-in ballot for the November 2nd election is still lingering on your to-do pile, please grab it, vote and mail it immediately!

Deadline for mail-in ballots to arrive at the County Board of Elections is Nov. 2, 8 p.m.

Be sure to put postage on your ballot. Since the ballot feels weighty, two stamps should ensure delivery.)
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Bill Carey is a former Tennessean, Nashville Scene, WPLN and NashvillePost.com reporter who now works as executive director of a nonprofit known as Tennessee History for Kids. He also writes a monthly history column for Tennessee Magazine.
Buildings in the main technical area TA-3 at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M., in 2016. (John Benner/CC by 2.0 via Flickr)

185 Employees Leave Los Alamos Nuclear Weapons Lab Due to Vaccine Mandate

The New Mexico lab that produced the worlds first nuclear bomb has lost 185 employees because of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate that took effect on Oct. 22, according to a lawsuit (pdf) filed against the operator of the facility the same day.

An additional 153 employees at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) were placed on leave without pay or are using vacation pay because they obtained a religious exemption, the lawsuit says. Twenty-six employees were granted medical exemptions.

The lawsuit cited an article by Los Alamos Reporter, which says that the numbers were disclosed during an all-hands meeting at the lab on Oct. 21.

The lab employs nearly 14,000 workers. Two-thirds of all the work at the facility is focused on weapons programs. Nearly one in five of the employees at the lab hold Ph.D. degrees. Triad National Security LLC operates the complex as a contractor for the federal government.

Approximately 85 percent of the LANL workforce had been vaccinated against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus as of Aug. 23, when management announced a vaccine mandate, according to an internal email (pdf). The Food and Drug Administration granted full approval for the PfizerBioNTech vaccine on the same day.

A month later, on Sept. 20, LANL President Thomas Mason said an additional 1,000 employees had been vaccinated.

LANL officials didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit filed on Oct. 22 listed eight of the 153 employees who were placed on leave due to having received a religious exemption from the vaccine mandate.

Defendants have approved religious exemptions for some employees, including plaintiffs and others not before the Court, but have given with one hand and then taken back with the other by imposing a blanket, one-size-fits-all accommodation that places those employees for whom a religious exemption has been granted on indefinite leave without pay and stripping them of their benefits, the lawsuit states. Defendants actions amount to a constructive termination.

LANL didnt grant exemptions to employees who have acquired natural immunity to COVID-19 through prior infection. A number of studies show that natural immunity grants similar or better protection against the virus. While the effectiveness of vaccines wanes over time, requiring booster shots, natural immunity lasts at least a year, according to a recent peer-reviewed study.

Employees with religious exemptions were told on Sept. 9 that they would be placed on unpaid leave or may use vacation leave until an accommodation that will not unduly burden the laboratory or other employees has been identified, according to a directive cited in the lawsuit.

On Sept. 20, LANL extended the vaccine mandate to employees working from home.

The lab operated throughout the pandemic with employees wearing masks and social distancing.

A judge in a separate lawsuit on Oct. 15 rejected a request by 114 employees of the lab to block the vaccine mandate.
Illegal immigrants from Central America and Haiti clash with National Guard members as they walk in a caravan headed to the Mexican capital to apply for asylum and refugee status, in Tapachula, in Chiapas state, Mexico, on Oct. 23, 2021. (Jose Torres/Reuters)

2,000-Person Caravan Surges Past Mexican Riot Police Near Guatemala Border

Thousands of illegal immigrants in a caravan broke through a barricade of Mexican police dressed in anti-riot gear on Oct. 23, driven to action by what they say are impossible conditions in the overcrowded southern Mexican border city of Tapachula.

Around 400 Mexican interior police attempted to form a blockade to stop a flood of more than 2,000 illegal immigrants as they attempted to leave the city, which lies on Mexicos border with Guatemala.

The protesters easily broke through police lines and made their way north along a highway that leads to the nations capital.

The city, which is in Mexicos poorest state of Chiapas, is swollen with tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti, and other countries, mostly in Central America.

Read More The Migrant Crisis: A View From the Other Side of the Border

Illegal immigrants have been pouring into Mexico since U.S. President Joe Biden took office following promises of a more humane approach to immigration.

Mexico allows those applying for humanitarian visas or asylum to stay in Chiapas while their case is processed, but those wishing to travel further north into Mexico and beyond must have a visa, or risk being deported to Guatemala.

But many in this caravan are willing to take that risk, said organizer Irineo Mujica. Mujica is an immigration reform activist with the organization Pueblos Sin Fronteras (People Without Borders).

He told Fox News that people in the caravan are calling on the Mexican government to do their share with the immigration crisis, adding that many would be content with Mexican papers and the opportunity to work here.

A lot of them dont want to go to the U.S., he said. But the Biden administration, this administration, its like hauling them like cattle. Were asking the Mexican government to give them papers to have a choice here, because Mexico, its a good place to live, to work.

He said that most in the caravan were, for now, headed for the Mexican capital, although others may continue on to try their luck at the southern U.S. border.

Jose Antonio, a construction worker from Honduras, said he was planning to travel with the caravan to the northeastern Mexican city of Monterrey, where he was hoping to find work, which was hard to come by in Tapachula.

They told me I had to wait because the appointments were full, he said of the visa application process in the overwhelmed city. There is no work there [in Tapachula], so out of necessity I joined this group.

Well go on, day by day, to get as far as we can, he said, adding that he was worried his joining the caravan would negatively impact his visa application.

Illegal immigrants from Central America and Haiti in a caravan headed to the Mexican capital to apply for asylum status, in Tapachula, in Chiapas state, Mexico, on Oct. 23, 2021. (Jose Torres/Reuters)

Mexican authorities have broken up smaller attempts at similar breakouts earlier this year.

One such caravan reached the U.S. border near Del Rio, Texas, in September. In January, a larger caravan was stopped further south in Honduras after it was blocked from entering Guatemala.

Recent caravans havent been as large as those that crossed into Mexico in 2018 and 2019. However, a record-breaking number of illegal immigrants are still reaching the southern U.S. border, with an all-time high of 1.67 million border apprehensions reported for fiscal 2021 by U.S. authorities.

The Biden administration has blamed factors such as poverty, corruption, and violence as the root causes of the crisis, and proposed spending significant taxpayer money in an attempt to combat these issues.

But Mujica said he believes the systemic problems plaguing Central America will be harder to solve. Moneys not going to solve the problem, throwing it to governments like Mexico where theyre throwing people from the southern border to the northern border, he said of Mexicos reaction to the crisis.

Meanwhile, critics of Bidens immigration policies have pointed to the rollback of Trump-era border policies as the problemparticularly the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which kept asylum seekers in Mexico as their cases were processed.

The Biden administration is currently in the process of restarting MPP due to a Supreme Court order. However, it stressed via a September memo that its still trying to end the program.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a Senate hearing in Washington, on June 30, 2020. (Al Drago/Pool/Getty Images)

24 Lawmakers Ask Fauci About Cruel Dog Experiments Under NIAID

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is demanding answers from top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci about reports that an institute under his leadership funded cruel drug toxicity experiments in dogs.

Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Documents show that NIAID spent $1.68 million in taxpayer funds for animal experimentation. The tests were conducted between October 2018 and February 2019 at SRI International, a research group headquartered in Menlo Park, California.

The experiment involved injecting and force-feeding 44 beagle puppies between six and eight months old with an experimental drug for several weeks, before killing and dissecting them. There also was experimentation on mice.

The documents (pdf) were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by the White Coat Waste Project, a nonprofit government watchdog. The watchdog said that this marks the fourth experiment on beagles funded by NIAID that it has been able to uncover.

The House members, led by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), called the experiment unnecessary in their letter to Fauci (pdf) on Oct. 21.

While documents state that the ostensible purpose of this study was to provide data of suitable quality and integrity to support the application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory agencies, the FDA itself has recently stated that it does not mandate that human drugs be studied in dogs,' they told Fauci.

Procedure Stops Dogs From Barking

The lawmakers also expressed horror at a procedure used in the experiment. They noted that an invoice to NIAID involved an item called a cordectomy, also known as devocalization or de-barking. The procedure involves slitting a dogs vocal cords to remove its ability to bark, howl, or cry.

This cruel procedure  seems to have been performed so that experimenters would not have to listen to the pained cries of the beagle puppies, the 24 legislators said. This is a reprehensible misuse of taxpayer funds.

They asked Fauci, Why has NIAID contracted for cordectomies when they appear to be scientifically and medically unnecessary? What is the average cost for each cordectomy performed?

Lawmakers are also asking how many drug experiments involving dogs have been funded by NIAID since January 2018 and how much taxpayer funding has been used.

They are also asking why the NIAID continued to fund testing involving dogs when the FDA has said such tests arent required. What has NIAID done to explore the use of non-canine and non-animal alternatives to meet FDA requirements? they said.

Lawmakers are also seeking information surrounding whether NIAID ever made the dogs available for adoption after the experiments. They demand the answers by Nov. 9.

A previous investigation by the White Coat Waste Project found that NIAID directed $424,455 to an experiment at the University of Georgia in September 2020 that involved infecting beagles with parasites to test an experimental drug on them, before killing them.

NIAID Responds

In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, NIAID acknowledged concerns raised over the latest experiment uncovered by the White Coat Waste Project.

There  are concerns raised about work involving beagles under an NIAID contract for preclinical pharmacology and toxicology services, NIAID said. Under this contract, the contractor conducts testing as required in animal models by the FDA, in compliance with Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) guidelines and in a facility accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) or its equivalent.

Vocal cordectomies, conducted humanely under anesthesia, may be used in research facilities where numerous dogs are present. This is to reduce noise, which is not only stressful to the animals but can also reach decibel levels that exceed OSHA allowable limits for people and can lead to hearing loss.

In response to the White Coat Waste Projects allegations at the University of Georgia, NIAID said that the research focuses on lymphatic filariasis (LF), a mosquito-transmitted parasitic disease that affects millions of people in many countries around the world.

NIAID said that no licensed prophylactic vaccine is available to prevent LF and defended its experiment at the University of Georgia, saying the vaccine candidate under investigation could potentially could be used to prevent LF in humans as well as filarial infections, including heartworm, in dogs.

Dogs are a natural host for the B. pahangi parasite and exhibit clinical and pathologic changes like those seen in human filarial infection. As such, they represent an appropriate model for testing this investigational vaccine prior to evaluation in humans.

In its statement, NIAID said that animals used in NIH-funded research are protected by laws, regulations, and policies to ensure the smallest possible number of subjects and the greatest commitment to their welfare.

It adds that institutions receiving funds must conduct research that involves animals in accordance with the Public Health Service Policy on the Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

The proposed use of animals in research is evaluated during peer review for both contract and grant proposals, and animals used in research are to be provided with appropriate anesthesia and veterinary care. The principles for what isand is notallowed are governed both by regulations administered by the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare and the grantee institutions animal care and use committee (IACUC).

Editors note: This article has been updated with statements issued by NIAID.
A U.S. Marine with the Golf Company, 1st Marines presents Jim McCollum with a folded American flag during memorial services for his son, Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum at the Gill Ranch in Jackson, Wyo., on Oct. 23, 2021. (Bradly J. Boner/Jackson Hole News & Guide via AP)

A Wyoming Farewell for Marine Killed in Afghanistan Bombing

JACKSON, Wyo.Dozens of U.S. fellow Marines joined hundreds of Wyoming residents to bid a final farewell at a memorial for Rylee McCollum, one of 13 U.S. servicemen killed in a suicide bombing as they guarded a gate at a chaotic Kabul, Afghanistan airport during the final U.S. evacuation from that country.

Many of the Marines were members of the 20-year-old McCollums unit serving in Afghanistan when he was killed on Aug. 26. McCollum, a Marine lance corporal, grew up, went to school, and enlisted for the Corps in the mountain valley area known as Jackson Hole, home to the town of Jackson. He was honored during Saturdays Jackson service attended by more than 400 people.

We knew his potential. I knew he had the mindset, said Staff Sgt. Luis Diaz, who recruited McCollum into the Corps. I knew he had the spirit to accomplish anything he wanted.

McCollum was a dedicated Marine, enthusiastic and funny, said Cpl. Wyatt Wilson. When something had to be done, Wilson told the Jackson gathering, I always grabbed Rylee because I knew it would be done right the first time, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported.

Ten other Marines, a U.S. Army soldier, and a Navy corpsman also died in the explosion as they guarded a gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport. Twenty other service members were wounded, and dozens of civilians were killed.

Mourners remembered McCollum as a roly-poly boy who became a dominant high school wrestler, a young man who always told people he wanted to become a U.S. Marine.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, who attended with U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, said Americans should rejoice that heroes like Rylee are born. Gordon ordered U.S. flags in the state to be flown at half-staff to honor McCollum, who died in his first deployment.

On Sept. 13, Jiennah Crayton, McCollums widow, gave birth to a girl, Levi Rylee Rose McCollum. Online fundraising efforts have raised over $1 million for the babys education and mother.

McCollums widow, his father, Jim, and sisters Cheyenne, Roice, and Stephenie attended Saturdays service.

McCollum died almost 20 years after the death of another Wyoming soldier drew national attention. Army Ranger Spc. Jonn Edmunds, 20, of Cheyenne, was one of the wars first two casualties when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed Oct. 19, 2001, during a search-and-rescue mission.
A helicopter drops water on the Windy Fire burning in the Trail of 100 Giants grove of Sequoia National Forest, Calif., on Sept. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

About 10,000 Trees to Be Removed After California Wildfire

THREE RIVERS, Calif.In the wake of California wildfires, upwards of 10,000 trees weakened by fires, drought, disease or age must be removed, work that will keep a nearby highway closed to visitors who seek the worlds two largest sequoia trees.

The hazard trees could potentially fall onto people and cars on the section of State Route 180 known as Generals Highway, or they could create barriers for emergency and fire response, the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks said Friday.

The highway is closed due to the KNP Complex blaze, which was 60 percent contained after burning 138 square miles (357 square kilometers) of forest, and will remain blocked off to visitors after the fire is out while saw crews cut down trees and trim branches. Cooler weather has helped slow the flames and the area was expected to see rain starting Sunday.

A giant sequoia, right, shows blackened scarring from the forest fire, seen during a media tour of Redwood Canyon in Kings Canyon National Park, Calif., on Oct. 15, 2021. (Eric Paul Zamora/The Fresno Bee via AP)

The highway connects Giant Forest, home to the General Sherman Tree, which is considered the worlds largest by volume, and Grant Grove, home to the General Grant Tree, the second-largest tree in the world. The trees along the highway include sequoias, pine and conifer trees, said fire spokeswoman Kimberly Caschalk.

The KNP Complex has been burning since Sept. 9, when lightning ignited two fires that later merged.

Forest officials said earlier this month the fires may have killed hundreds of giant sequoias, but the full extent of the damage has not been determined.

The fires impact on giant sequoia groves was mixed. Most saw low- to medium-intensity fire behavior that the sequoias have evolved to survive, and the most notable trees survived.

Firefighters took extraordinary measures to protect the sequoias by wrapping fire-resistant material around the bases of some giants, raking and clearing vegetation around them, installing sprinklers and dousing some with water or fire retardant gel.

On Friday, forest staff unwrapped the base of the General Sherman tree after danger from the fire had passed.

Were confident that tree is relatively safe, Caschalk said.

Firefighters battle the Windy Fire as it burns in the Trail of 100 Giants grove of Sequoia National Forest, Calif. on Sept. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Drought in the West tied to climate change is making wildfires harder to fight. Scientists say climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years  meaning the rain and snow that does fall is likely to evaporate or absorb into the soil  and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

Recent storms have helped contain some of the nations largest wildfires this year, including one that threatened the popular Lake Tahoe resort region this summer and is now 100 percent contained after snow blanketed the western side of the blaze and rain dropped on the eastern side. But this weeks storms wont end drought thats plaguing California and the western United States.
In the coming months, Zoox plans to test-drive as many as four Toyota Highlander SUVs retrofitted with the company's autonomous-driving technology and sensors in Seattle's Belltown, South Lake Union and downtown neighborhoods. (Zoox/TNS)

Amazons Self-Driving Cars Are Coming to Downtown Seattle. Safety Advocates Are Not Pleased

By Katherine Anne Long

From The Seattle Times

Tech-industry experts, city planners and even Gov. Jay Inslee have touted self-driving cars as a panacea, cutting congestion and vehicle emissions while reducing collisions.

But an announcement last Monday from Amazons self-driving car unit Zoox that it will soon start testing its autonomous vehicles in downtown Seattle drew criticism from transportation-safety advocates. The early promise of the technology, they said, has been overshadowed by a string of crashes and near-misses, due in part to lax oversight of the rapidly growing sector.

A lot of people have bought into the hype of self-driving cars, that theyll cure the tradeoff between safety and speed, said former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, now the director of pedestrian advocacy group America Walks. But safety requires moving slowly and stopping at signs of danger.

Thats been a challenge for self-driving vehicles to do in urban setting with pedestrians and bikes, McGinn continued.

In the coming months, Zoox plans to test-drive as many as four Toyota Highlander SUVs retrofitted with the companys autonomous-driving technology and sensors in Seattles Belltown, South Lake Union and downtown neighborhoods, city Department of Transportation spokesperson Ethan Bergerson said.

Human drivers will be in the cars to take over in the event of a possible collision, Zoox said in a news release Monday.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Zoox co-founder Jesse Levinson said the company had obtained all relevant regulatory approvals to test its cars in Seattle.

That required paperwork, though, amounts to a one-page self-certification filed with Washington states Department of Licensing, in which Zoox lists its insurance information, checks a box noting that a human driver will be present and agrees that the driver will monitor the vehicle and take over if assistance is required.

Zoox did not respond to requests for comment.

Amazon acquired Zoox in 2020. The autonomous vehicle company, headquartered in Californias Bay Area, has said it aims to create a fleet of driverless taxis.

Self-driving cars have been hailed as a way to remove human drivers  by nature somewhat unpredictable, and occasionally impaired  from behind the steering wheel, reducing a major risk factor for traffic collisions.

Autonomous vehicle companies, including Tesla and Google sister company Waymo, and until recently Uber and Lyft, anticipated a future of driverless robotaxis by as early as 2020.

Technological challenges and legal headaches have complicated those grand plans. So far, an entirely driverless car remains out of reach. Autonomous vehicle companies, though, continue to test-drive their latest designs on public roads.

The risks of such tests were violently demonstrated in 2018 when a self-driving Uber vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona during a test drive. Documents later released by the National Transportation Safety Board showed Uber had not programmed the car to anticipate jaywalkers. Last month, a video circulated widely on social media that showed a Tesla operating in still-under-development autopilot mode careening towards pedestrians blocks away from Amazons Seattle headquarters.

Amid gathering skepticism over the feasibility of self-driving technologies, Uber and Lyft sold their autonomous vehicle divisions within the past year at what some analysts said were fire-sale prices.

A lack of independent review of crashes in which self-driving cars were involved also makes it difficult to judge the companies safety claims, said Angie Schmitt, the author of Right of Way, a book about pedestrian deaths.

Theyre using pedestrians as guinea pigs in an experiment that can be deadly, Schmitt said. We would never allow experimental drugs to be tested this way on people who have not explicitly consented, but for some reason, we just havent applied the same sort of ethical parameters to cars.

Self-driving cars arent just risky from a safety standpoint, said Anna Zivarts, who serves on the executive committee of the Washington State Autonomous Vehicle Work Group, which was created in 2018 by the Legislature to prepare the state for self-driving cars. Continuing to pour attention and money into these cars distracts from proven solutions to issues like pedestrian safety and traffic congestion, she said.

We should be investing in things we know work, Zivarts said, like transit and sidewalks.

2021 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Stephen Carollo (R) and his family attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the California Center for the Arts, in Escondido, Calif., on Oct. 23, 2021. (Sophia Fang/The Epoch Times)

ESCONDIDO, Calif.Shen Yun Performing Arts once again opened successfully at the California Centre for the Arts, Escondido, on Oct. 23, with many audience members pleased to narrate their joyful experiences.

I thought, aside from the artistic beauty, it was amazing, said program manager Preeti Carollo, who attended New York-based Shen Yun with her family. It was educational  teaching all of us in this country about traditions that are now lost in China. I just feel like its a great multi-cultural experience  the beautiful expression, everything from the music to the song, to the dance to the costumes.

Shen Yuns mission is to revive Chinas five millennia traditional culture, which has largely been lost over the last 70 years since the Chinese Communist Party came to power.

While traditional stories are told through classical Chinese dance and music, the audience also enjoys dances from Chinas many colorful ethnic groups.

I really enjoyed the brilliant colors and the flow of the skirts and the different patterns. The clothing, the costumes were really wonderful, business consultant Stephen Carollo said.

Prior to attending Shen Yun, Preeti said she knew nothing about Chinas regional cultures. But to actually learn about it, the diversity within the continent and the traditions is really beautiful, she said.

Stephen added, I was surprised and somewhat delighted to see [the] expression of modern times intermixed with the ancient times. I thought that was really interesting, especially with the interplay with the three-dimensional backdrops.

Shen Yuns range of dances includes the portrayal of the modern-day persecution of the spiritual group Falun Dafa, whose teachings are based on the eternal values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

The California Center for the Arts, in Escondido, Calif., on Oct. 23, 2021. (The Epoch Times)

Sherri Engler, a health department project manager, was mesmerized by the synchronization of Shen Yuns performers.

I am fascinated to see how they [Shen Yun] use the costuming to flow with all the movement and the artistry. The colors are vibrant and captivating. I think its just interesting to look  through the lens of the Chinese and think that they cant even see thisthey cant even see this kind of performance that we can here in the United States. Thats very eye-opening and keeps you very conscious of what  blessings  we have here, Engler said.

Engler was very enthusiastic about Shen Yuns aim of reviving Chinas ancient traditions. I love that fact that theyre showing [this] because I am against communism and the oppression of freedom, and I love that they are expressing what they believe and [they] have that right!

I am a person who believes in God and Christ in Heaven, and I love the tie, how [Shen Yun portrays] a spiritual being who came to earth to bring salvation, she said.

Robert Morley at Shen Yun Performing Arts at the California Center for the Arts, in Escondido, Calif. on Oct. 23, 2021. (Sophia Fang/The Epoch Times)

The performance was spectacular, said Robert Morley, a retired Methodist minister, who said he was particularly impressed by Shen Yuns perfect synchronization. He also felt that the impact of Shen Yun was huge. I think there is now a very strong renewal of interest in spirituality, he said.

Chinese traditional culture is based on spirituality and the teaching of moral values. Ancient Chinese believed that there was a divine connection between the heavenly gods and sentient beings. For Morley, Shen Yun explores many spiritual questions.

Now, were starting to see  my goodness, What if theres power and mystery and spiritual realities out there that we havent even begun to tap in? And what if some of those are within us? he asked.

And so these kinds of performances, that bring to light the ancient traditions, which are basically spirituality expressed through movement, dance, I think is wonderful. And besides that, we just all need some beauty in our lives, he said.

So I am very moved. Ive had a transcendent experience.

Reporting by Sophia Fang and Diane Cordemans.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Andy Dobo (second from right) in Hungary on a recent trip there. Dobo, now 85, worked for the Communist-run telephone company in Budapest during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution when he was 20 years old. He was among the workers who unplugged the phone lines to disrupt the communications of the Russians calling in at that time. Dobo is pictured with his son, Ken (far right), and two grandsons. (Photo courtesy Andy Dobo)

At Anniversary of Hungarian Revolution, Some Refugees See Communism Creeping Into US

When the 65th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution against Russian communists was commemorated on Oct. 23, Andras Pongratz of Scottsdale, Arizona, was among those speaking to thousands in Budapest about the importance of that time and the reasons for their uprising.

Youd never know it by looking at the short and stocky, bespectacled silver-haired man, but he was among those to throw the first brick, per se, that would help crack the foundation of communism when he was 17 years old.

For the last three weeks, the 82-year-old Pongratz has been in Budapest. He was invited to his homeland by the Hungarian government for commemoration ceremonies. They will remember the bright autumn day when thousands of the younger generation protested in the streets, bombed Russian tanks with Molotov Cocktails, shot at soldiers, and briefly became victorious in their quest for freedom over rigid communist rules.

Pongratz helped a large crowd of people knock down the statue of Joseph Stalin, viewed as a symbol of hatred in Hungarys Heroes Square in Budapest on Oct. 23. After an attempt to pull it down with large cables failed when the cables snapped, a student at a nearby welding school brought his welder. Pongratz used it to cut the Stalin statue off at the knee, and much to the sheer joy of the protesters, it toppled with a resounding thud.

Out of frustration and fury, Pongratz, some of his siblings, and a younger generation led a protest that boiled over into slightly more than two weeks of fierce battles. The 56 Revolution that the Russians quashed by Nov. 10, resulted in 2,500 deaths of Hungarians and 700 Red Army soldiers. In the wake of the revolution, 200,000 Hungarians fled their country, and about 30,000 Hungarian refugees emigrated to the United States with the help of relatives and sponsorship.

Andras Pongratz of Scottsdale, Arizona, was 17 years old when he and his siblings led the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in Budapest against Russian Communists. (Mike Sakal for The Epoch Times)

They came to the United States for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and individual freedom. They simply wanted a better life and to escape the horrors of Communism, something some of the freedom fighters and refugees believe is creeping into America.

Pongratz could not be reached for comment for a 65th-anniversary interview as he was following an itinerary in Budapest, but in past interviews, he always has beamed with pride for what he and his fellow Hungarians accomplished, albeit for a fleeting moment.

It all started with Hungarian college students and young adults marching in the streets. As the crowds grew and ripped out sickles from Hungarian flags, sentiment grew in front of the radio station and Parliament building and they shouted their demands for freedom. Then, soldiers on the roof of the Parliament building began shooting down into the crowd. Fierce fighting followed for nearly the next two weeks with the Hungarians initially gaining the upper hand.

The Russians thundered back into Budapest with a vengeance on Nov. 3, and took back the country. The communists targeted those who participated in the revolution for arrest and many with execution, so thousands of Hungarians didnt waste any time in making a run for the borders to escape their homeland.

Pongratzs son, Eddie Pongratz, 51, of Tucson, said that remembering October 23 is very important to his father, and to his family.

The pictures that were taken during that time dont show everything, Eddie Pongratz added. The effects of communism were much worse than that. Its obvious that with everything going on here in the United States, the administration and outside forces are trying to push us into communism.

Andras and all eight of his siblings came to the United States in the wake of the revolution with their mother. Their father died in Hungary from illness in 1956.

Andras older brother, Gergely Pongratz, who helped re-assemble the canon in Budapests Corvin Square that destroyed 15 Russian tanks, died of a heart attack in Budapest in 2005 on the grounds of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution Museum he started.

In the wake of the 56 Revolution, Andras Pongratz made it to the Austrian border in a three-day trek before coming to Boston. After a harsh blizzard in 1978, Pongratz moved to Arizona for its much warmer climate.

In a past interview, Pongratz said, When we gained the advantage over the Soviets, the fighters celebrated as if they had finished the revolution.

Eva Mitterman, 81, of Greenville, Ohio, remembers the actions of her husband, Georges actions as a teenager during the 56 Revolution in Budapest. George Mittermann, who died about two years ago at age 89, fought in the streets of Budapest against the Russians.

Armed with only a Molotov cocktail, Mittermann was approaching a Russian tank in the street. The turret opened with an arm coming out of it, waving a Hungarian flag. After Mittermann let his guard down, a Russian soldier emerged from the turret, firing many shots at Mittermann. A bullet went through Mittermanns leg. Bleeding profusely, Mitterman was so charged with adrenaline, he continued running at the soldier in the tank and threw the Molotov cocktail down the turret. He assumed the soldier was burned inside.

Mittermann carried the scar from the gunshot wound the rest of his life, but never regret.

We hated communism, Eva Mittermann said. We wanted to live in freedom. Living under communism is no good. Our sons, Frank and George Jr., know the importance of what their father did to fight for our freedom.

It seems like the government here is trying to control us more, Eva Mittermann added. They are telling us, you must do this, you cant do that. They have started controlling us through the pandemic.

But as far as the 56 Revolution, it wasnt necessarily just the fighting and shooting in the streets that were critical to Hungary pulling off its short-lived victory.

It also was roles people played behind the scenes that proved critical to Hungarys efforts for the greater good. The Hungarians were in it together.

Andras Dobo of Beavercreek, Ohio, a suburb southeast of Dayton, was 19 years old and working in an amplifier station for the telephone company in Budapest.

Like any other day, Dobo went to work on Oct. 23. As his workday continued, the protests developed into the revolution and major battles for the next several days. The uprising drew immediate international attention, and the world stood by and watched.

As much as we could sabotage the military lines, we did, Dobo, 85, said. To interrupt the communication of the communists trying to call in to see what was happening, we would unplug the phone lines, Dobo, 85, said. When we did that, theyd call in on another line and wonder what was happening. We would just tell them it likely was because of something happening outside.

When our review board would come back and examine the wires and the u-plugs, they would just say something mustve been wrong with the lines, Dobo added, They didnt know any different. We had food and water, and were able to stay and work at the phone company while everything was going on.

After the Russians regrouped and returned to Hungary with more tanks, weapons, and soldiers in strategic points, Dobo saw how hopeless Hungarys situation was. After consulting with his parents, Dobo decided it was best to leave the country.

It was just a hopeless situation, Dobo said. My father disagreed with me and said I should stay, Dobo said. My mother said maybe theres better opportunities elsewhere. I looked toward the West and the Uited States because it was a place known for freedom.

Dobo left Hungary in late November, 1956. He was walking with a group of people who were stopped by a guard by the Austrian border. The guard wondered if they had anything they could give him, and Dobo gave him a wrist watch he had inherited from his aunt.

Dobo first came to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for an engineering job, but in the early 1970s, Dobo and his wife, Janet, moved to Dayton, Ohio, after he accepted a job offer to become an engineer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton.

I was lucky to come to Dayton, Dobo said. At a time when various ethnic groups were fading, Dayton still had a fairly active Hungarian community.

In retrospect, looking back on 1956, I think what was most important was that we crushed all the political views of the communists, their ideology, Dobo said. But it wasnt permanent.

Despite the disruptions currently happening in the United States with the uncertainty surrounding the recovery from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, workforce shortages, gas prices skyrocketing and supply chain issues, Dobo doesnt believe the U.S. is slipping toward a socialist or communist government.

I dont see any similarities whatsoever, Dobo said. I still believe Capitalism is solid.

Tommy Patay, an industrial chemist who left Hungary to get away from communism and settled in Cleveland in 1967 , believes that the current administration is pushing the United States toward communism. Very fast, he said.

Patays uncle, Karoly Balla, fought for Hungary in World War II. He later was executed by the communists because he wasnt conforming to their ideology and rules after they took over the country, Patay said.

Tommy Patay, owner of Tommys Pastry Shop in Lakewood, Ohio, left Hungary in 1967 to escape Communism. His uncle, who fought for the Hungarian Army during g World War II, was executed by the Communists. Patay, 77, believes with all the chaos going on in the United States, communism is creeping into Americas way of life. (Mike Sakal for The Epoch Times)

For the last 38 years, Patay has been a baker and has owned Tommys Pastry Shop in the west Cleveland suburb of Lakewood. He believes the best way to hold Communism at bay in the United States is to beat it at the ballot box at election time.

If we dont, he said, the United States will only have the remnants of Democracy.

Emory Bogardy, a retired mechanical engineer who also is a prolific watercolor artist in Cleveland, also left his home and family in Esztergom, Hungary, near Budapest following the uprising. He and a group of others armed with guns, crossed the Danube River in a boat and made it into Austria.

Emory Bogardy, a retired mechanical engineer and prolific watercolor artist of Cleveland, Ohio, left his home of Esztergom, Hungary in the wake of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Bogardy, 89, is pictured with one of his paintings depicting a famous scene from the 56 uprising. (Mike Sakal for The Epoch Times)

The Hungarian Catholic church owned millions of acres of land in Hungary, and his father was the second-highest in command in overseeing it.

However, the Communists took over all of the land during their regime.

The Catholics were the big enemy to the communists, Bogardy said. If anything, communists hated freedom of religion.

As far as the United States moving toward a Communist government, Bogardy believes that the people who oppose communism outnumber those who support it and ultimately would stop it from happening in the U.S.

The best thing to do is vote certain people out of office, Bogardy said.
A cargo ship moves toward the Bayonne Bridge as it heads into port in Bayonne, New Jersey, on Oct. 13, 2021. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Biden Admin Not Pursuing Using National Guard to Help With Supply Chain Issues: White House

The White House has walked back on President Joe Bidens latest remark about supply chain challenges, saying that the Biden administration is not planning to mobilize the National Guard to help unload container ships or drive trucks to deliver goods.

During an Oct. 21 town hall meeting hosted by CNN, Biden was asked whether the federal government would send the National Guard to help ease the supply chain backlog. He replied that he was absolutely willing to take that option.

Yes, absolutely, positively, I would do that, Biden said. The answer is yes, if we cant move to increase the number of truckers, which were in the process of doing.

The White House then clarified that if the National Guard does step in to help mitigate supply chain issues, it will be a decision made by individual states.

Requesting the use of the National Guard at the state level is under the purview of governors, and we are not actively pursuing the use of the National Guard on a federal level, the White House said in a statement.

Governors in some states are considering or have called in the National Guard to ease labor shortages. In September, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker sent some 250 Guard members to take driving duties in school districts that were reporting severe shortages of school bus drivers, in part due to the states COVID-19 vaccine mandate for public employees.

Once it became pretty clear that there were going to be some communities shorthandedit wasnt going to be a vehicle issue, it was going to be people with [commercial drivers licenses]we started talking to the Guard, Baker said.

While many Guard members do have commercial drivers licenses, governors who wish to deploy the troops to help with supply chain issue would have to avoid pulling the troops away from roles they already have in the supply chain, since they might already be using the transportation skill for their civilian jobs.

If the deployment did happen, it would likely be in states with some of the nations busiest ports. In California, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are dealing with unprecedented supply chain bottlenecks, with more than 100 container ships waiting to get in.

Shop early because these delays and bottlenecks are going to continue to the end of the year, Mario Cordero, the executive director for Port of Long Beach, told Bloomberg News. Hopefully, well have some strong mitigating factors.

Meanwhile, at Georgias Port of Savannah, some 27 ships are waiting at anchor as of Oct. 24, according to the port authoritys website. In fiscal year 2020, the Port of Savannah handled over 9 percent of total U.S. containerized cargo volume and nearly 11 percent of all U.S. containerized exports.
A building under construction is seen in Shanghai on Sept. 24, 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

China to Roll Out Property Tax Trials in Bid to Tame Surging Prices

Beijing is levying a long-resisted property tax in some Chinese regions in order to guide house-buying as the regime seeks to tame real estate speculation.

The Standing Committee of Chinas rubber-stamp legislature authorized the State Council on Oct. 23 to start taxing property owners. The scheme will last for five years, and the State Council will determine pilot areas, according to Chinese state media.

The new tax will apply to both residential and non-residential properties, as well as land and property owners, although rural landowners will be exempt.

Property prices in China have soared more than 20 fold since private homeownership began in 1998, creating an affordability crisis that has only been aggravated in recent years.

But the push for a property tax has hit a sensitive time when the countrys economy is already showing signs of stress.

Chinas housing prices in dozens of cities fell for the first time in six years in September, as fallout from its leading developer, Evergrande, continues to send shockwaves through the financial and property sectors.

In Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, which borders Hong Kong, cash-strapped developers have given steep discounts in Octobersome as much as 40 percentin some prime locations, according to Chinese media reports.

The downturn in the housing market, which contributes roughly 29 percent of Chinas gross domestic product, is hammering the worlds second-largest economy, which analysts say is on the path to a dramatic slowdown.

People walk past a housing complex of Chinese property developer Evergrande in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, on Oct. 23, 2021. (Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images)

Authorities had been considering levying a tax on homeowners since as early as 2003, but they hadnt acted on it, fearing that waning property demands could trigger a fiscal crisis for local governments dependent on land sales for income.

In 2011, the megacities of Shanghai and Chongqing began tax trials on second homes and higher-end housing.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has given the property tax plan new momentum by personally backing the push.

In an Oct. 15 article on Qiushi, the official theoretical journal for the Chinese Communist Party, Xi made a reference to the speculative housing prices and called for officials to steadily advance property tax legislation and reform.

Houses are for living, not for speculation, he wrote in the article, linking the plan to his broader campaign to achieve common prosperity in China.

Locations and other details for the property tax program remain unclear for the moment.

Jia Kang, previously the head of the Institute of Fiscal Science at Chinas Ministry of Finance, recently suggested running the trial in Shenzhen city, a major technology hub, and the provinces of Hainan and Zhejiang. The central authorities have placed high hopes in the three regions, and they possess good conditions for such a program, which would provide lessons for a comprehensive property tax law, he wrote in an article published on Oct. 19 in the state-owned newspaper Global Times.
The HNA Group logo is seen on the building of HNA Plaza in Beijing on Feb. 9, 2018. (Jason Lee/Reuters)

Chinas HNA Restructuring Plan Approved by Creditors

SHANGHAICreditors of Chinas HNA Group have voted to approve the companys restructuring plan, according to a court comment posted on HNAs official WeChat page on Saturday.

The court in Chinas southern island of Hainan, where the group is based, said the vote had been conducted in accordance with the countrys bankruptcy laws.

HNA was placed in bankruptcy administration in February and a working group was created by the Hainan authorities to address the companys liquidity problems.

HNA will receive strategic investment of 38 billion yuan ($5.88 billion) after its restructuring, which will go to 11 of its entities including its flagship carrier Hainan Airlines.

In the 2010s, HNA used a $50 billion global acquisition spree, mainly fuelled by debt, to build an empire with stakes in businesses from Deutsche Bank to Hilton Worldwide.

But its spending drew scrutiny from the Chinese regime and overseas regulators. As concerns grew over its mounting debts, it sold assets such as airport services company Swissport and electronics distributors Ingram Micro to focus on its airline and tourism businesses.

By Stella Qiu and Engen Tham
Congress Needs to Provide Guardrails for the Cryptocurrency Revolution

Commentary

The Chinese Communist Party poses the most comprehensive 21st-century threat to the American nation, the American people, and the American way of life. The first half of this century will be defined by how the United States meets the Chinese challenge across the full spectrum of economic, national security, geopolitical, and cultural issues.

And an easily neglected aspect of our new great-power competition with our Far East archfoe now cries out for diligent and prompt attention: safeguarding the fruits of the nascent, but ascendant, cryptocurrency revolution.

Last month, China effectively banned all cryptocurrency trading and mining, which the Communist Party increasingly views as a threat to its planned digital yuan sovereign digital currency, which may be released as early as 2022. The Peoples Bank of China, the Chinese central bank and equivalent of the Federal Reserve, barred international exchanges from providing cryptocurrency services to Chinese investors and speculators. It also banned financial institutions and digital exchanges from facilitating domestic crypto transactions.

Chinas moves have further exacerbated already high volatility in the crypto markets, leading to intensified calls for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to provide regulatory clarity. For instance, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), an orthodox free marketeer, noted last month that in some recent crypto-related enforcement actions, the SEC did not identify the securities involved or the rationale for their status as securities, which would have provided much-needed public regulatory clarity.

The issue with extant SEC enforcement in the crypto space, as Toomey indicated, is its wildly inconsistentand oftentimes outright punitivenature to date. Crypto proponents contend that the only clear guidance from the SEC has been found through various one-off lawsuits. They point to the SECs ongoing case against Ripple Labs, a blockchain software company that uses the XRP cryptocurrency in cross-border payment settlements for banks. Ripple sought SEC guidance for years while billions of XRP tokens circulated, but never received any. Then in December 2020, the SEC filed a $1.3 billion enforcement action alleging that every XRP sale since 2013 constituted an unregistered securities trade. Thats not how the due process of law is supposed to work in a well-functioning republic.

As the United States locks horns in a generation-defining struggle with China, and as the recent Chinese crackdown on cryptocurrencies opens the door for the U.S. to regain the global mantle on crypto innovation, it would be a mistake to simply double down on more of the SECs peculiar brand of regulatory clarity.

The United States should support emerging technologies with the potential to add value to the economy, so long as those technologies arent detrimental to the national interest and the common good. The way to do that isnt via inconsistent and incoherent regulatory enforcement based on whether a specific type of cryptocurrency is found to constitute an investment contract (i.e., security) under the Securities Act of 1933, according to the Supreme Courts Howey Test from over 70 years ago.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has thus far unhelpfully stated that most cryptocurrencies are likely securities. That is insufficient guidance. President Joe Biden is said to be weighing an executive order to direct agencies to craft clearer crypto regulations, but its impossible to have any faith in doddering Uncle Joes ability to unilaterally help matters in such a novel area of the economy. An entirely new approach is needed.

One need not think very hard about where that new set of coherent legal guardrails ought to come from.

In republican government, James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 51, the legislative authority necessarily predominates. And so it ought to be for crypto regulation in the year 2021 as well.

Congress urgently needs to step in and either force the SEC to provide actual, meaningful regulatory clarity for the entirety of the cryptocurrency industry, or to draft legislation. Such legislation would be a modern-day Securities Act update and would provide extremely clear guidance as to which forms of cryptocurrencyBitcoin, Ether, and so forthconstitute securities/investment contracts under the Securities Act of 1933 and which do not. The former category of securities would require SEC registration, while the latter category of commodities would fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commissions regulatory ambit.

Massive economic paradigm-shifting industries require the most rudimentary of guidelines and categorical sorting to best channel their comprehensive societal value-add. This is not simply a partisan issue, either. Just as the Securities Act of 1933 was needed in its day, so is a Securities Act of 2021 needed now. Its time for Congress to get moving.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Director Joel Souza at an interview session in Manhattan, New York, on April 26, 2019. (Erik Meers/uInterview.com/Handout via Reuters)

Director Gutted by Death of Cinematographer in Accidental Shooting

SANTA FE, N.M.The movie director who was shot and injured in an on-set accident involving actor Alec Baldwin said on Saturday he was gutted by the death of the cinematographer.

Joel Souza, who was hit in the shoulder when Baldwin discharged a prop gun containing live rounds, broke his silence as the investigation entered its third day, with multiple questions remaining over how the mistake happened.

I am gutted by the loss of my friend and colleague, Halyna. She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch and always pushed me to be better, Souza said in a statement.

The shot hit cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in the chest, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office. She died of her wounds and Souza, who was behind her, was injured but later released from the hospital.

Halyna Hutchins at the 70th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, on May 20, 2017. (Anthony Harvey/Getty Images)

Souza did not give details of the accident or his injuries but said he was humbled and grateful by the outpouring of affection we have received from our filmmaking community, the people of Santa Fe, and the hundreds of strangers who have reached out.

On Friday a Santa Fe judge approved a warrant for the sheriffs office to seize firearms, clothing, cameras, video tapes and ammunition from the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe, where Baldwin was filming the low budget Western Rust

Security guards were posted at the road leading to the ranch on Saturday.

According to an affidavit filed by a sheriffs office detective, Baldwin was handed what he believed was a safe or cold prop gun during a rehearsal on Thursday, but it contained live rounds when it was fired.

No charges have been filed in the case.

The crew member, or armorer, who handled weapons on the set was identified by U.S. media as a 24-year-old woman, who spoke on a podcast earlier this year about learning the job from her veteran father but who only recently worked on her first film as head armorer. The woman could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

The International Cinematographers Guild planned to hold a candlelight vigil for Hutchins, 42, on Saturday evening in Albuquerque, about 40 miles (64 km) from the ranch. A second vigil was scheduled for Sunday in the Los Angeles area.

Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words. Our loss is enormous, her husband Matt Hutchins wrote on Twitter.

The American Film Institute set up a scholarship fund for female cinematographers in Hutchins honor.

Baldwin, 63, best known for his roles in TV comedy 30 Rock and his Saturday Night Live impersonations of former U.S. President Donald Trump, said on Friday he was shocked and heartbroken at Hutchins death and was fully cooperating with authorities.

Hamptons International Film Festival Chairman Alec Baldwin attends the World Premiere of National Geographic Documentary Films The First Wave at Hamptons International Film Festival in East Hampton, N.Y., on Oct. 7 , 2021. (Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images for National Geographic)

According to multiple media reports and accounts on social media, some of the crew on Rust had walked off the job citing concerns about safety prior to Thursdays shooting.

We cited everything from lack of payment for three weeks, taking our hotels away despite asking for them in our deals, lack of Covid safety, and on top of that, poor gun safety! Poor on-set safety period! one camera crew member wrote on a private Facebook page, according to Hollywood publication Deadline.com

Rust Movie Productions said in a statement on Friday it was investigating the incident.

Though we were not made aware of any official complaints concerning weapon or prop safety on set, we will be conducting an internal review of our procedures while production is shut down, the company said.

By Lisa Richwine
The Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington on Nov. 8, 2017. Established by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, it is a replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue erected during China's Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Educating Students About the Victims of Communism

Commentary

Many Americans today assume that the threat of Communism subsided with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But We continue to see Communist and socialist regimes pop up and spread not only in Latin Americafor example, in Venezuela and Nicaraguabut around the world, says Ambassador Andrew Bremberg, president and CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC). These regimes regularly kill their own citizens and have a devastating effect on human rights and their national economies. In fact, over 1.5 billion peopleincluding those living in Laos, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, and, of course, Chinacurrently live under oppressive Communist and socialist governments.

Founded in 1993 by a bipartisan, unanimous Act of Congress, VOC is devoted to commemorating the more than 100 million victims of communism around the world and to pursuing the freedom of those still living under totalitarian regimes.

Before coming to VOC, Bremberg served as the Trump administrations Representative of the United States to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva. During his time there, which he describes as a profound and life changing experience, he became aware of the challenge of China, which was far worse than he had realized. He notes that the U.N. International Human Rights Council made investigating the United States record on racism during the summer of 2020 its highest priorityputting it above Chinas appalling human rights violations against Uyghurs, among other ethnic groups within its borders.

Communist countries by far have the worst record on human rights, past and present, Bremberg argues. Their brutality is only outdone by their lies and obfuscations. Seeing this moral imbalance up close convinced him of the need to educate Americans about the dangers of Communism today.

American civic education, Bremberg states, entails not only understanding the structure of our form of government but also the world around us. Pointing to the competing claims of the 1619 Project and the 1776 Commission, he notes that while we should be willing to be self-critical and examine our past, we also need to view our nation in comparison to others, especially ones existing under Communisms iron fist.

While Bremberg says that the United States has done an excellent job highlighting the horrors of the Holocaust in K-12 educationhe recalls the effect that reading Anne Franks personal diary has had on generations of studentsstudents understanding of Communism is weak by comparison. VOC spotlights Communisms devastating record and the continuing threat it poses to free government by telling powerful stories and highlighting examples of Communisms victims. These stories, he argues, capture our imaginations, creating deeper connections that will help students learn core truths that will stick with them.

VOC offers a number of resources to do just that. Its Witness Project is an award-winning video series featuring victims of Communism telling powerful, heart-wrenching stories. One video highlights the harrowing journey of Ji Seong-ho, who escaped North Korea by walking ten thousand kilometers on crutches. President Trump recognized his bravery and courage during an unforgettable moment during the 2018 State of the Union Address.

Other programs and content include VOCs annual National Education Seminar for middle and high school teachers (it will be live-streamed starting next year), a complete curriculum with fact sheets highlighting what Communism has wrought on the world stage, and Communism in the World webinars featuring thoughtful presentations from experts. VOCs three fellowship programs on China, Latin America, and Poland feature articles, reports, and books by affiliated scholars that cover all aspects of Communism. The Baltic Fellowship program should begin next year with an Estonian scholar working with VOC in D.C.

Students can visit the Victims of Communism Memorial statue in Washington, D.C., which commemorates those killed by Communist regimes. Dedicated by President George W. Bush on the 20th anniversary of Ronald Reagans famous Tear Down this Wall speech, the statue depicts the Goddess of Democracy holding a torchthe same statue Chinese students erected during the famous protests in Tiananmen Square.

Upcoming events include the China Foruma conference featuring scholars and speakers on the issues and challenges related to the Peoples Republic of Chinaand an event in St. Louis to commemorate VOCs Memorial Day, which occurs annually on Nov. 7. Audiences will hear gripping accounts from those who experienced Communisms tyranny firsthand.

In 2022, VOC will proudly open a world-class, digitally integrated museum in Washington, D.C. that will provide a captivating visitor experience, a goal more than 25 years in the making. Located at McPherson Square, the museum will be an international hub of scholarship and citizen engagement for the 21st century anticommunist movement.

Through Western capitalism and democracy, Bremberg argues, we can better protect human rights and improve our system over time through self-correction by civic participationan approach that makes a stark contrast with the horrors that Communism has inflicted upon hundreds of millions of people in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
EpochTV Film Review: David and Goliath

Director Timothy Cheys Entertaining, Soul-Quenching Tale About the Original Underdog

PG | 1 hour 32 minutes | Action, Adventure, Drama | 2015

Ive watched many a Biblical film over the yearssome good, but many bad. I must say that most of the more recent big-budget, so-called Biblical epics, such as Exodus: Gods and Kings, and Noah, both 2014 offerings, have been utterly disappointing. Although these films are technically sound, they also feel soulless and ultimatelyforgettable (not to mention, inaccurate).

However, Ive been learning more and more about faith-based film director Timothy A. Cheys penchant for delivering Biblical tales in a much more entertaining fashion. Having reviewed 2021s Interview With the Antichrist, and 2016s Slamma Jamma recently, Ive been looking forward to seeing what Chey, along with his excellent cast and crew, could do with the greatest underdog tale ever told, in 2015s David and Goliath.

King Saul (Paul Hughes, R) tries to dissuade David (Miles Sloman) from fighting Goliath in David and Goliath. (RiverRain Productions)

The movie kicks off with a narrator giving some backstory to the proceedings as we see the mighty Philistines, a people who had arrived in Canaan at the beginning of the 12th century B.C., steamrolling over the city-states of Gaza, Asheklon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath, which they absorbed into their burgeoning empire.

We learn that one of the reasons the Philistines were such a dangerous threat was that theyd advanced to the Iron Age before the various tribes around them, and possessed highly advanced weaponry. We also discover another, as we behold the Philistines greatest warrior, the giant Goliath (Jerald Sokolowski), dispatching multiple enemy soldiers with relative ease.

In an almost dreamlike cinematic sequence, Goliaths voice booms throughout the fertile Valley of Elah (now in present-day Israel and the West Bank). Near the end of it, we find our main protagonist, David, played ably by Miles Sloman, reaffirming his faith: Lord, you are my fortressand my salvation. Of who shall I be afraid? We also hear the baying of sheep and see a number of the fluffy animals surrounding him. David begins his life as a sheepherder, a humble profession by any time periods standards.

David (Miles Sloman) prays to God before facing Goliath in David and Goliath. (RiverRain Productions)

King Saul (Paul Hughes) receives word from one of his Israelite soldiers that the Philistines, led by Jaggar (Jared Morgan), are on the move. Indeed, theyre on the move alrightthey want to move right in and take over the entire Kingdom of Judahafter crushing the Israelites like they have so many other people, of course. King Saul intends to head off Jaggar and his battle-hardened army at the Valley of Elah. Thus, the stage is set for an epic clash.

Jaggar, along with Goliath and the rest of his menacing, dark-clad army, decides on camping out around King Saul and his peopleblocking the roads off in an attempt to starve them out of their fortified positions. And then we will move in! Kill every one of them! Jaggar boasts as he and his minions eye their foes from a distance. However, he does acknowledge his enemys fierceness and worries that they may have magic on their side. He also tells one of his subordinates: Remember, the tales of Gideon and Joshua. We cannot take them so lightly.

As the Philistines quickly move into the Valley of Elah, many of the Israelite commoners begin to panic and flee the area. As they do, Davids faith in God remains stalwart, believing that the Lord Almighty will protect them. Saul orders the evacuation of Judah and prepares to make his final stand against the Philistines.

As Goliath repeatedly taunts the Israelites from afar, Davids military brothers, Eliab and Abinadab, wimp out at the prospect of meeting the giant warrior in close combat. David, sensing an inevitable showdown with Goliath, hands his flock of sheep off to a couple of localshes got some business to take care of and the rest, you might say, is firmly enshrined in the Good Book.

David (Miles Sloman, L) and Goliath (Jerald Sokolowski) in David and Goliath. (RiverRain Productions)

Although most people probably already know what happens when David and Goliath finally collide, this film is a very entertaining retelling of the events leading up to the famous duel (as well as the final fight between the two mortal foes).

Cheys David and Goliath is a very soul-quenching, inspirational film that gets better with each viewing (Ive watched it three times already, thus far). Its an uplifting cinematic experience, especially suited for these turbulent times.

David And Goliath is available to watch on Epoch TVvisit the link here.

David and Goliath

Director: Timothy A. Chey

Starring: Miles Sloman, Jerald Sokolowski, Paul Hughes

Running Time: 1 hour, 32 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG

Release Date: March 2015

Rated: 5 stars out of 5

Follow EpochTV on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpochTVus

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EpochTVus

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Smoke rises from the container ship Zim Kingston, burning from a fire on board, off the coast of Victoria, British Columbia on Saturday. (Canadian Coast Guard / Reuters)

Fire Breaks Out on Container Ship Off West Coast, Expelling Toxic Materials: Officials

A fire broke out in containers on a cargo ship carrying chemicals off British Columbia on Oct. 23, according to officials with the Canadian Coast Guard, which said its working with the U.S. Coast Guard to deal with the incident.

Sixteen crew members have been evacuated from the Zim Kingston, while five remained onboard to battle the fire, the Canadian Coast Guard said in a statement on Oct. 23. At one point, Coast Guard officials said that as many as 10 containers on the shipcarrying mining chemicalswere on fire.

The ship is on fire and expelling toxic gas. Two fallen containers are floating in the vicinity of the vessel, the Canadian Coast Guard said. The ship is currently located in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which separates Canadas Vancouver Island and Washington states Olympic Peninsula.

Meanwhile, an emergency zone was set up for one nautical mile around the ship amid firefighting efforts, the Coast Guard told Canadas GlobalNews.

#BreakingNews Coast Guard crews are monitoring several adrift shipping containers 43 miles west of the Straits of Juan de Fuca entrance. An inbound vessel lost approx. 40 containers when the ship listed to its side due to rough seas. Check back for updates. pic.twitter.com/GInKf8M0sB  USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) October 22, 2021

Any fire onboard a ship is a serious event and will garner a lot of attention and a lot of resources very quickly, said Chamber of Shipping President Robert Lewis-Manning.

Their first action is to figure out what is happening on the vessel. Its a big vessel. Its 260 meters long or thereabouts, and its got thousands of containers on board, so [first is] trying to isolate where the problem is, he said, adding that its usually the crews responsibility to deal with container ship fires.

No injuries were reported, Danaos Shipping Co., the company that manages the ship, said in a statement to Reuters on Oct. 24, before adding that the fire appears to have been contained.

#UPDATE: Imagery captured of located containers from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles helicopter. pic.twitter.com/jOr1bbdnW3  USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) October 23, 2021

But the ship fire could pose more significant problems in the near future.

This is extremely concerning. The ship and containers are very close to Victoria, BC, and a big storm is forecast to hit tonight. We  are worried this may be yet another environmental disaster, said David Boudinot, president of Surfrider Foundation Canada, an environmental organization.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Orange County firemen use a hose to fill protective barriers with water in front of the booking and release center at the Orange County Jail July 15, 2011 in Orlando, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Firefighters Say Florida Countys Vaccine Mandate Causing Rifts Among First Responders That Compromise Public Safety

ORLANDO, Fla.Firefighter, paramedic, dispatcher, and EMT morale in Floridas fifth most-populous county is so low due to a vaccine mandate that public safety is being compromised, first responders say.

About 500 of the men and women who fight fires and rush to medical 911 calls are receiving written reprimands in their employment files for refusing to take the vaccine for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

Many say they fear the vaccine because theyve responded to daily calls to the homes of people whove been seriously harmed or died shortly after the injection, says a spokesman for the group, firefighter Jason Wheat. Others object because they feel they should have a right to choose what to put in their bodies or have religious objections.

The resulting infighting over whos been vaccinated and who hasnt is causing so much strife within the department that many first responders are distracted, stressed, and unable to work well as a team, Wheat said. The Epoch Times spoke with another firefighter, a lieutenant, and a firefighter who is married to another firefighter. All described intense pressure at work that has brought about exhaustion, depression, family troubles, harassment, and a frightening lack of cooperation and teamwork. Two expressed dismay about three recent suicides among department workers. They blamed the stress that has plagued the department since the pandemic began.

Orange County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Lisa McDonald declined to comment.

Wheat and 42 colleagues are suing Orange County. An attorney for the group filed a motion on Oct. 1 asking for an emergency injunction to block the county from requiring employees to submit to unwanted vaccinations. Employees say they were at first told that theyd be fired if they didnt take the vaccines. Later, the county changed the plan to issuing written reprimands, employees said. The department would not have been able to provide services properly if there was a sudden loss of 500 employees, about 38 percent of the department, the firefighter said.

The lawsuit filed by employees challenges an executive order by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings. The order required employees, including those in the Fire and Rescue Department, to receive at least one shot by the end of last month. Attorneys for the county have declined to comment on the matter because litigation is pending.

The conflict between Orange County and first responders further escalated on Oct. 19, when a fire battalion chief, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, was fired for refusing to discipline department employees listed as unvaccinated.

Stephen Davis was terminated on the grounds of failure to follow a direct order, confirmed Orange County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Lisa McDonald. The insubordination was the result of his refusal to issue disciplinary action on Oct. 5.

Davis was hired in April of 2007 and promoted to Battalion Chief in 2018, she said, declining to comment further.

Davis has said he refused to issue written reprimands to people under his command because the vaccine requirement is unlawful. Some employees on the list for disciplinary action had already submitted religious exemptions that were approved, he said. Supervisors told him the employee records would be rectified later.

His firing caused department morale to sink even lower, said Wheat, a 17-year veteran and Floridas 2019 Firefighter of the Year.

Its the lowest Ive ever seen it, he says. Others in the department echoed his assessment.

Unvaccinated workers officially are required to be tested for COVID-19 once a week, he said. But sometimes, theyre forced to test a second time. And the tests often are past their expiration date, he and others told The Epoch Times.

Vaccinated workers make slurs about the dirty unvaccinated, Wheat said.

The tension between the vaccinated and unvaccinated grows daily, fire and rescue employees said. As a result, the number of firefighters calling in sick is up, which forces colleagues to work extra-long shifts that leave them exhausted. Some are quitting and taking jobs elsewhere.

The people of Orange County are being hurt, Wheat said. Fire and rescue workers are fighting with each other, not concentrating on their jobs. Safety is a problem.

We love this job so much because we want to help people. But when youre distracted, its not good for the public.

Fear of disciplinary action or job loss is causing extreme anxiety among the first responders, several department employees said. Some colleagues have called Wheat in tears, expressing anger, alarm, sadness, and frustration.

Were with the people on our shift more than our families, said Wheat, 43. Its a shame. This has destroyed our department.

Some have told him the strain has destroyed their marriages.

Ive been getting a lot of hate mail from citizens saying, Go get the vaccine  stop being a punk! and lots of worse words than that.

But I dont need it, he said.

He discovered he had the virus 16 months ago when he went in for pre-surgery testing. Tests show he has antibodies now.

But were not for or against the vaccine. Its about freedom of choice. If were of sound mind, we should be able to decide what we put in our bodies.

Firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs do have good reasons to fear the vaccine, he said.

After President Joe Biden encouraged employers to mandate vaccines, first responders raced daily to 911 calls from people who had just had the shot and believed it had hurt them. Strokes, seizures, fainting, serious illness, heart palpitations, blood clots, and enlarged hearts were only some of the problems that seemed, to him and his colleagues, to be the result of a vaccination. A first responder provided The Epoch Times transcripts of notes describing the deaths of two patients who had just had the vaccine and had no other known health conditions.

In September, Wheat created the nonprofit Operation Freedom of Choice. Now, representatives of 15 fire departments and unions in Florida meet weekly to discuss the latest on vaccine mandates and how their colleagues are holding up under the pressure.

Taking up their fight is Rachel Rodriguez, a West Palm Beach attorney representing Wheat and the 42 others against Orange County.

She says the lawsuit shouldnt be seen as partisan.

The issue here is lawlessness, force, and tyranny, she said. I feel really privileged to work on this case because, my goodness, our republic is in trouble. Im honored to be working with people who are standing up for what they believe is right.

Rodriguez is upset that her clients worked through the pandemic, responding to calls in person when many other county workers carried out their duties working remotely from the safety of their homes. Those same first responders, who had been lauded as heroes, now have to worry about how written reprimands will affect their employment.

Orange County Fire Rescue serves more than one million residents and responded to 124,000 calls in the past fiscal year when many seeking help were experiencing serious symptoms of COVID-19.

Rodriguez questions why Orange County is still under a state of emergency, a condition Florida law allows for up to 42 days. The state of emergency that allowed Mayor Demings to issue the vaccine mandate should have expired Sept. 7, she says.

The mayor has said publicly that employees wont be fired for not taking the vaccine.

But my clients dont have assurance of that, she says. This is lawlessness versus rule of law and order.

One Orange County commissioner asked during a public meeting if liability for wrongful death could be imposed on unvaccinated workers of Orange County Fire Rescue for exposing an innocent personto something deadly.

Rodriguez is working with a loosely affiliated group of allied attorneys around the country who are sharing files and strategies. The group was organized by fellow Florida attorney Jeff Childers, of Gainesville, who turned over his corporate law practice to other lawyers so he could focus solely on what he calls freedom cases. Hes been taking on and assisting in those cases without requiring a promise to pay. And he and other attorneys in the group have been helping with cases like Rodriguezs and others around the country

Also jumping into the fray is Floridas Attorney General Ashley Moody, who asked the Circuit Court in Orange County Wednesday for permission to file an amicus brief in the case. An amicus brief is filed to show support for one side in a case and to present additional information, such as how others will be affected by the issues addressed in the case.

These local politicians are abusing their authority and trying to ruin the careers of so many of our courageous firefighters, Moody said in a news release.

In a further show of support from the state, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials held a news conference with the chief fired for insubordination and others from Orange County.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis receives a signed helmet from Brandon Webb, Battalion Chief, Special Operations Division Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue during an event to give out bonuses to first responders held at the Grand Beach Hotel Surfside on August 10, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. DeSantis gave out some of the $1,000 checks that the Florida state budget passed for both first responders and teachers across the state. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Your right to earn a living should not be contingent upon COVID shots, DeSantis said. When the vaccines first came out, we worked very hard to provide it, particularly to our elderly, but we said from Day One: we will make it available for all, but we will mandate it on none, because ultimately we want individuals to make the determinations about what is right for them.

I want a state in which people are able to maintain their livelihoods, earn a living, and provide for their families. And if the federal government or big corporations are hurting people, then we have a responsibility to step up and lead.

Later that day at a press briefing, Orange County Mayor Demings struck back, accusing the Governor of using firefighters to create political theater. The mayors wife is U.S. Rep. Val Demings (D), a former Orlando police chief, who is challenging Floridas Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican. The mayors son, Antonio Demings, works for Orange County Fire Rescue, as the chief of safety and wellness.

If you ask me what is my response to the Governor or anyone else, Mayor Demings said, I say these simple words: bring it on.
Smoke is seen on board the container ship Zim Kingston anchored near Victoria in this Oct. 23, 2021, handout photo. (The Canadian Press/HO, Canadian Coast Guard)

Hazardous Materials Burning Aboard Container Ship Anchored Off Southern B.C.

VICTORIAThe Canadian Coast Guard said there was significant risk to mariners but not to people on shore as a fire burned in containers aboard a cargo ship about eight kilometres off the coast of Victoria on Sunday.

The Coast Guard said it received word late Saturday morning about a fire in 10 damaged containers aboard the MV Zim Kingston, which was anchored in Constance Bank, B.C.

Two of the burning containers on the ships deck held hazardous material identified as potassium amylxanthate, the agency said in a news release.

It noted the ship itself was not on fire, but said an emergency zone had been set up for one nautical mile around the Zim Kingston.

The Joint Rescue and Coordination Centre in Victoria said 16 crewmembers were safely taken off the ship, while five others, including the captain, remained on board at their own behest.

Canadian Coast Guard spokeswoman Michelle Imbeau said an Incident Command Post led by the Coast Guard on behalf of the federal and B.C. governments, as well as First Nations representatives, was coordinating a multiagency response to the incident.

She said the Command Post was also working with the U.S. Coast Guard to monitor 40 containers that fell overboard from the Zim Kingston in choppy waters on Friday and were floating about 12 nautical miles off the west coast of Vancouver Island, near Bamfield, B.C.

The Coast Guard said the containers, some of which contain hazardous material, posed a significant risk to mariners, and that with stormy weather in Sundays forecast, recovering them may be a challenge.

It said a Hazmat crew from Vancouver was mobilizing and the owner of the Zim Kingston had contracted the U.S.based Resolve Marine Group for salvage operations, including firefighting and recovery of the containers.

Resolve Marine had mobilized two vessels that were expected to be on site Sunday.

The Canadian Coast Guard, meanwhile, said it was working through the Emergency Management BC network to broadcast public safety information as required.
The entrance to the General Electric Aviation in Lynn, Massachusetts, on March 31, 2020. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese Agent Accused of Recruiting Spies to Steal US Aircraft Tech Stands Trial

The federal espionage trial of Chinese intelligence agent Yanjun Xu, who has been charged with recruiting spies to steal technology from U.S. aviation and aerospace firms, got underway in Cincinnati on Oct. 18.

Xu is a deputy division director of Chinas Ministry of State Security (MSS), the intelligence, security, and secret police agency of the communist regime. Hes the first MSS operative extradited to the United States, which makes his trial the first of its kind, the Department of Justice has said.

According to prosecutors, the Chinese regime was attempting to steal know-how from U.S. aircraft companies, particularly from Evendale, Ohio-based GE Aviation, with the intent of replicating turbine engines, local news channel WCPO reported.

If convicted, Xu could face up to 15 years in prison.

The Chinese Communist Party has a goal of developing the aircraft and aircraft components industryalong with nine other industrieswithin its Made in China 2025 plan, a 10-year economic plan that aims to turn the country into a high-tech manufacturing powerhouse.

Since December 2013, Xu had been contacting experts from aviation companies in the United States and other countries, including GE Aviation, according to the indictment. He started recruiting people to travel to China, all expenses paid, usually masquerading as academic trips. This went on until his arrest in Brussels on April 1, 2018, by the Belgian federal police. He was then extradited to the United States.

FBI agent Todd Vokas testified on Oct. 20 about content found on devices seized during the investigation.

I put a USB drive in the eyeglass box in the middle of the bookcase, and it contains some encrypted documents, Xu wrote, according to Vokas. If something happens, someone will come to you and tell you the password.

When Xu was arrested, his colleague, Heng Xu, had a backpack that contained four cellphones, memory cards, hard drives, magnetic keys, card readers, SIM cardholders, and other devices, a Belgian federal police agent said. They also found $7,000 and 7,700 euros ($8,960), as well as plane and train tickets, passports, and credit cards.

Vokas conducted a forensic analysis on the four cellphones and determined that one of them had been erased remotely the day after Xus arrest.

One of the other cellphones had a note stating the materials and size of a fan blade, which prosecutors believe is linked to GE Aviation tech that China was aiming to replicate, Vokas said. The phone also contained family pictures from a GE engineer that Xu targeted for recruitment, according to prosecutors.

James Mulvenon, an expert on Chinese cyber and espionage issues and a Chinese military specialist, testified on Oct. 19 that aircraft development has given the regime difficulty.

Aviation has actively been a key priority for decades, and a key source of frustration, Mulvenon said.

He noted that China has been buying Boeing and Airbus planes, as they dont have the capacity to build them.

We have a real situation where somebody in the intelligence community of the Chinese government is recruiting spies and got extradited for doing it, said David DeVillers, who supervised the case as a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. This is espionage. This is real espionage.

This particular trial will have the biggest impact on our relationship with China of any  criminal case thats gone to trial of any individual. Theres no doubt about that.

Jim Lewis, a former member of the U.S. Foreign Service and Senior Executive Service, emphasized the historic nature of the case.

Weve never been able to extradite  a Ministry of State Security intelligence agent from another country to the United States, Lewis said. Getting them on trial is really an important step toward making the Chinese rethink the cost of espionage.

Theres already several hundred Chinese intelligence officers operating in the U.S. We arent going to be able to deter them, so were just going to have to catch more of them.
A police officer stands amid smoke and debris as buildings continue to burn in the aftermath of a night of protests and violence following the death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis on May 29, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

How 1984 Has Become a How-To Manual

Commentary

In The Principles of Newspeak, the appendix to 1984, George Orwell reported that it was expected that Newspeak would have finally superseded Oldspeak (or Standard English, as we should call it) by about the year 2050.

Its 2021 now. How are we doing?

Remember, the purpose of Newspeak was to alter reality in order to bring it into conformity with a particular political ideology. It also made all other modes of thought impossible, according to Orwell.

How did it do this? Partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever.

Consider the word free.

The word was still present in the vocabulary of Newspeak, but only in its privative sense, such as this dog is free from lice or this field is free from weeds.

Expunged was free or freedom in any positive sense.

It could not be used in its old sense of politically free or intellectually free since political and intellectual freedom no longer existed even as concepts, and were therefore of necessity nameless, Orwell wrote.

The dissemination of Newspeak was central to the political metabolism of the world that Orwell documented, because the control of language was such an important tool in the larger project to control history.

Central to that project was the insight that he who controls the past controls the future, and whats the past except for the construct we impose upon those plastic entities we call facts?

When we look around our own culture and contemplate the fate of words such as man and woman, to say nothing of words such as liberal, fascist, justice, or democracy, I suspect that the custodians of Newspeak would nod approvingly at our progress.

Congratulations: The year 2050 is less than 30 years away, and were already more than halfway to our goal.

However, its important to recognize that there are many ways to skin a cat (not that I want to give Dr. Anthony Fauci any ideas).

The construction of Newspeak creates a powerful weapon for the enforcement of political conformity, but obviously, it takes time.

Orwell limned its essentials back decades ago and we havent yet achieved its full flowering, despite noticeable progress, especially in institutions of higher indoctrination (also called universities).

We can applaud progress on other fronts. The formulation of The 1619 Project by The New York Times, through which the history of the United States is reformulated as a racialist passion play, stands out.

The whole phenomenon of Black Lives Matter worked in perfect synergy with the architects of the 1619 Project.

The Timess initiative brought the rewriting of history to the curriculum, while Black Lives Matter staged a nationwide series of workshops to bring the concepts down to earth, so to speak, burning buildings to the ground and toppling statues of dead white guys who, if not actually racist, might have been and therefore deserve to be shoved into the oubliette of progress.

The United States really is making progress on all of these fronts, as the widespread dissemination of the teachings of critical race theory in schools, as well as the corporate world and through government, shows.

Still, the Chinese, here as in so many walks of modern life, are the real pioneers.

While were bumbling along with intermittent censorship by Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and Google, the Chinese have instituted a full-fledged social credit system that explicitly reduces political and social rights to the status of state-controlled privileges that are extended or withheld by an enfranchised elite.

No half measures there. Like the Earl of Stafford, the motto of the Chinese is Thorough.

Want to ride a bus, board an airplane, hold a job, use the internet, or open a bank account? Then you had better wise up and get with the program. Jen Psaki could learn a thing or two from the Chinese.

Even as I write this piece, the Chinese are working to bring the past into conformity with the future, which theyre busy preparing for themselves and the rest of the world.

Top Chinese Communist Party officials are set to consider a key resolution that would leave President Xi Jinpings mark on the partys 100 years of history, according to Nikkei Asia.

Xis resolution on history will be the third such in the 100-year history of Communist China, after similar directives issued by Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

Put in abstract terms, the purpose of the resolution is to formulate an official historical narrative and set out a direction for future policy. In practical terms, its purpose is to consolidate power and eliminate rival narratives, as well as rival personages.

The new resolution will establish Xis core position and authority, placing him alongside Mao as a charismatic revolutionary leader.

What about the millions of people murdered by Mao? Silly question. That isnt part of the narrative, therefore it doesnt exist.

The news reports outlining this new resolution on history note that past resolutions on history have not only reshaped power structures within China, but have had extensive effects on the world beyond as well.

Its too early to say what the effect of Xis new initiative will be. But it seems clear that, whether or not he has read Orwell, Xi is an able student of the teaching Orwell described.

Of course, the irony is that Orwell regarded 1984 as a warning. Xi, like our own masters, seems to regard it as a how-to manual.

Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were deeply impressed by another acolyte at the renegade Church of Orwell: the community organizer Saul Alinsky.

He who controls the language controls the masses, Alinsky wrote in his book, Rules for Radicals.

Orwell couldnt have put it any more clearly.

Its a thought that has the Xi Jinping mark of approval. What more can you ask for?

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of imprisoned BritishIranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, speaks to the media after joining the family of Anoosheh Ashoori, a British man who has been jailed in Iran, to stage an 'empty chair' protest opposite Downing Street, in London on Aug. 13, 2021. (Kirsty O'Connor/PA)

Husband of Detained IranianBritish Woman on Hunger Strike

LONDONThe husband of UK charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been detained for more than five years in Iran, has gone on a hunger strike again after a court decided she has to spend another year in prison.

Richard Ratcliffe started his fast on Sunday outside the British governments Foreign Office in central London.

He plans to maintain a constant vigil by sleeping in a tent outside the buildings main entrance in an effort to pressure Prime Minister Boris Johnson to secure the release of his wife and other detained dual BritishIranian nationals, Amnesty International said.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe served five years in prison after being taken into custody at Tehrans airport in April 2016 and convicted of plotting the overthrow of Irans government, a charge that she, her supporters, and rights groups deny.

In May, she was sentenced to an additional year in prison on charges of spreading propaganda against the system for having participated in a protest outside the Iranian Embassy in London in 2009a decision upheld this month by an appeals court. The verdict includes a one-year travel ban, meaning she wouldnt be able to leave Iran until 2023.

Richard Ratcliffe, husband of imprisoned charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, outside the Iranian Embassy in London on Jan. 16, 2017. (Alastair Grant/AP Photo)

Ratcliffe went on a 15-day hunger strike two years ago outside the Iranian Embassy, a move he credits with getting their 7-year-old daughter Gabriella released.

We are now giving the UK government the same treatment. In truth, I never expected to have to do a hunger strike twice. It is not a normal act, Ratcliffe said on his change.org petition.

He said Iran remains the primary abuser in Nazanins case, but the UK is also letting us down.

It is increasingly clear that Nazanins case could have been solved many months agobut for other diplomatic agendas. The PM needs to take responsibility for that.

Richard Ratcliffe and his daughter Gabriella hold signs to mark the 2,000th day Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained in Iran, in Parliament Square, London, on Sept. 23, 2021. (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was employed by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency, and was arrested as she was returning home to Britain after visiting family. Rights groups accuse Iran of holding dual-nationals as bargaining chips for money or influence in negotiations with the West, something Tehran denies.

Iran doesnt recognize dual nationalities, so detainees like Zaghari-Ratcliffe cant receive consular assistance.
Japan's Ground Self-Defense Forces (JGSDF) soldiers ride a Type 99 155mm self-propelled howitzer during a live fire exercise at JGSDF's training grounds in the East Fuji Maneuver Area in Gotemba city, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, on May 22, 2021. (Akio Kon/Pool/Getty Images)

Japan Gets Serious About China

Commentary

China is a growing military challenge to its neighbors, one that is expanding in terms of size, capabilities, and quality. Nowhere has this growing insecurity regarding China been more self-evident than in Japan.

Beijing is increasingly hardline and assertive in pushing its regional great-power objectives, largely because its improving military permits such an aggressive approach. It is, quite simply, the foremost military threat to the West and to the political-military status quo in the Asia-Pacific region.

A decade ago, Tokyo was much more tolerant of the Chinese regimes bad behavior. Japans 2010 defense white paper noted merely that Chinas regional military activities were a concern for the region, and that we need to carefully analyze it.

Today, the mood in Tokyo is much darker. In its 2021 defense white paper, Japan bluntly accused China of continuing its unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas.

The white paper builds on previous assertions that Beijing is militarizing the Spratly and Paracel islands, expanding naval and paramilitary operations in the South China Sea, and working to increase the operational reach of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) into the Pacific and Indian oceans. Closer to home, China is increasingly projecting sea and air power near Japan, particularly around the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands.

Overall, Tokyo argues that China is attempting to routinize its air and naval operations in waters close to Japan.

The 2021 white paper is even more explicit when it comes to the worsening security situation around Taiwan. Previous white papers had sought to be more circumspect when it came to Taiwan, preferring to simply state that the overall military balance between China and Taiwan is tilting to Chinas favor.

Today, Tokyo is much more unambiguous. The 2021 defense white paper bluntly asserts that stabilizing the situation surrounding Taiwan is important for Japans security and the stability of the international community, and stresses that the situation must be closely watched with a sense of crisis.

This point about the central importance of Taiwans security was reaffirmed at a July 2021 political fundraiser, when Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso stated that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would constitute an existential threat that could prompt Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense.

Despite this recognition of a growing military threat from China, it has taken a while for Japan to react. Japans countervailing military buildup has been slow, and it has by no means matched China in terms of size or pace. At the same time, it has become increasingly purposeful.

Several recent developments demonstrate this steady progress in modernizing Japans defense posture. In 2014, the Japanese government overturned its near-total ban on arms exports. That same year, Tokyo also abandoned its traditional exclusively defense-oriented posture, in favor of the right of collective self-defense.

Both of these actions are intended to normalize Japans defense policies. This has meant, for example, the acquisition of new offensive capacities on the part of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) such as precision-guided air-to-ground weapons, like the GPS-guided joint direct attack munition (JDAM).

The new policies also permit Japan to cooperate more closely with allies and other partners, especially when it comes to common security and defense.

An F-35 fighter jet pilot and crew prepare for a mission at Al-Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, on Aug. 5, 2019. (Staff Sgt. Chris Thornbury/U.S. Air Force via AP)

More recently, too, Tokyo has begun to bulk up the SDF. It is in the middle of buying 157 F-35 joint strike fighters (JSF), including 42 B versions of the F-35, the short-takeoff and vertical-landing (STOVL) variant of the JSF. At the same time, Japan is going full steam ahead on an indigenous fifth-generation fighter jetthe X-2/F-3and even a sixth-generation combat aircraft.

Japans Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) will likely replace all of its older combat aircraft (F-15s, F-4s, and F-2s) with up to 350 fifth- and sixth-generation fighters. Such an ASDF would make for a formidable counter to Chinas own, modernizing air force.

As previously noted, Japan will also soon acquire its first aircraft carriers in more than 75 years. In 2018, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) announced that it would convert its two 27,000-ton Izumo-class helicopter destroyersbasically open-deck amphibious assault vesselsinto ships capable of operating fixed-wing aircraft.

Those 42 F-35Bs that Japan is buying will most likely be deployed on these ships. In early October, the MSDF conducted its first-ever take-offs and landings of an F-35B from the deck of the Izumo, inaugurating the vessels status as a fixed-wing aircraft carrier. Each of these ships will likely carry between 12 and 24 F-35Bs.

If this occurs, then Japan will have its first aircraft carriers since the end of World War II. According to John Venable, a defense expert at the Heritage Foundation, SDF forces operating the F-35B will create a more diverse set of complications for the PLA by providing the ASDF with fighter aircraft that would not be dependent on runways and by giving the MSDF sea-based airpower.

The SDF is also adding to its arsenal in other ways, with new maritime patrol aircraft, a next-generation destroyer, an expanded missile-defense capability, and a new medium-range air-to-air missile (being codeveloped with the United Kingdom, a first for Japan).

To pay for all this, Japans governing Liberal Democratic Party has raised the idea of doubling the defense budget, from 1 percent of GDP to 2 percent. Of course, such an increase would have to be introduced incrementally over several years. If, indeed, it happens at all, the 1 percent of GDP figure has been more or less baked into Japans national defense policy since the 1960s, and public support for a massive increase in military spending may be lacking.

Nevertheless, Japan, driven by growing threats from China (and North Korea), is making slow but inexorable progress in transforming the SDF into a military capable of projecting force and of engaging in collective defense with allies and other partners. Tokyo is to be credited for taking bold steps toward becoming a more effective counter to growing Chinese military power in the region.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Good Food, Art, and Culture

When my husband and I moved to Central Pennsylvania nearly six years ago, I was nervous about leaving behind the academic and artistic world of downtown Pittsburgh, where we had been living. For the duration of our time there, we filled our weekends with readings, art shows, museum exhibits, and lectures. We were never short of something to discuss, discover, or explore.

Central Market and the Griest Building in Lancaster. (James Kirkikis/Shutterstock)

As beautiful as Central Pennsylvania is, marked by rolling hills, fields of corn, and an abundance of farmers markets, I worried we would miss the intellectual, artistic world of Pittsburgh.

A horse and buggy ride down a country back road. (Brian Evans/DiscoverLancaster.com)

A few weeks after we moved, a neighbor told us about First Fridays in Lancaster City. The first Friday evening of every month, Lancaster celebrates their vibrant art culture by keeping its art galleries open late and filling its streets with pop-up musicians, food trucks, and more.

Pumpkins at Cherry Crest Adventure Farm. (DiscoverLancaster.com)

My husband and I made the 30-minute drive to Lancaster City to explore it on a First Friday. Walking the tree-lined streets, strolling in and out of galleries, eating outside next to the bustling street while listening to live music, I realized this side of Pennsylvania had far more to offer than I thought it did.

Lancaster Countys intricate quilts take weeks, even years, to complete. (DiscoverLancaster.com)

In the years that we have lived here, I have continued to enjoy exploring Lancaster City and its surrounding area. There is truly something for everyone here: nature, culture, history, markets, and of course, plenty of good food.

Cherry Crest Adventure Farm pedal karts for kids. (Brian Evans/DiscoverLancaster.com)

What to See

Lancaster is often associated with the Amish community, and for good reason. The Pennsylvania Amish are part of Americas oldest Amish settlement. Over the years, the Amish community has made itself an essential part of Lancasters identity and culture.

Wilbur Buds from Wilbur Chocolate Factory and Americana Museum. (DiscoverLancaster.com)

Lancaster is full of activities for non-Amish people that offer a taste of what it is like to be Amish. Tours are available of the Lancaster countryside from an Amish horse and buggy. Its easy to spend an entire afternoon driving around the countryside, shopping for Amish-made quilts and crafts. Old Windmill Farm is a working Amish farm that offers guided tours. Children can learn to milk a cow, gather eggs, and explore the petting farm.

Bulls Head Tavern in Lititz. (Simone Associates Inc/Discover Lancaster.com)

Lancaster City is a place of rich history, full of stories and old buildings. The best way to explore the downtown area is on foot, and walking tours are available multiple times a week. One of the most popular attractions of downtown Lancaster is Central Market. The market, which originated in 1730, is open to the public on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Central Market offers some of Lancasters best cuisine, including soft pretzels, bakeries, whoopie pies, and coffee shops.

The Fulton Theatre. (DiscoverLancaster.com)

To enjoy the area another way, the Strasburg Railroad offers tours of the scenic rural area surrounding Lancaster. Strasburg Railroad is the oldest continually operating railroad in the western hemisphere. Offering 45-minute train rides, this attraction is especially magical at Christmastime. My girls love listening to the Christmas band play carols aboard the train.

Visitors and tourists snap photos of a steam locomotive as it chugs to the station in rural Lancaster County. (George Sheldon/Shutterstock)

Other attractions include Dutch Wonderland, an amusement park that is fun for the whole family, Cherry Crest Adventure Farm, which features a wonderful corn maze in the fall, and the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, the first commercial pretzel bakery in America.

Lancaster also has a vibrant hiking and nature scene. We like the Turkey Hill Overlook Trail, a six-mile loop that offers lovely scenery.

Jacksaw Sawmill covered bridge. (DiscoverLancaster.com)

Where to Eat

It would be nearly impossible to list all of Lancasters good restaurants, bakeries, and coffee shops. The city and surrounding areas are packed with delicious food.

Its not uncommon to spend a Saturday in Lancaster eating through the day. Bird in Hand Bakery & Cafe makes whoopie pies, apple fritters, and wet-bottom shoefly pies. On Orange is a perfect spot for a weekend breakfast. Lancaster Brewing Company is a great stop for an afternoon drink, and Lucas Wood-Burning Italian Kitchen makes delicious pizzas over a wood-burning hearth and Neapolitan oven.

Amish youths play volleyball as part of a tournament at the Intercourse Heritage Days, an annual community festival in Lancaster County. (George Sheldon/Shutterstock)

No trip to Lancaster is ever complete for our family without a stop at Fox Meadows Creamery, a restaurant and ice cream shop which features hand-crafted ice cream made with milk from the cows on their own dairy farm. They feature seasonal flavors, but I almost always end up with the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bliss.

The Pet Parade includes dogs and other pets at the annual community street fair in a small community in Lancaster County. (George Sheldon/Shutterstock)

Lancaster City and the surrounding area are full of beauty, art, and cuisine. It boasts a full event schedule, so there is almost always something happening, be it the annual Balloon Festival, the Spring Artwalk, the Taste of Lititz (an adorable town just a few minutes away from Lancaster City), or the Whoopie Pie Festival. Whether for art, culture, or food, Lancaster is a place we return to again and again.
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - APRIL 19: A McDonalds' restaurant sign is seen as the restaurant is closed due to the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on April 19, 2020 in Southampton, England. In a press conference on Thursday, First Secretary of State Dominic Raab announced that the lockdown will remain in place for at least 3 more weeks. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has spread to many countries across the world, claiming over 140,000 lives and infecting more than 2 million people. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

McDonalds in the United States Is Willing to Pay $ 21 an Hour for Staff Shortages

At least that is what an image that has gone viral on social networks shows.

In April this year, a McDonalds branch apologized for the lack of workers at its establishment. A sign posted via a TikTok video read Were short staffed. Please be patient with the staff who did show up. Nobody wants to work anymore .

However, now an image has come to light where another branch of the fast food restaurant offers to pay 21 dollars (425 Mexican pesos (MXN) approximately) per hour to those who apply for the job and are hired. Everything seems to indicate that this is the consequence of a crisis due to lack of labor that various industries in the United States (EU) are facing.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4116365645129728&set=a.205138486252483&type=3

The fast food chain had previously announced a salary increase for its employees in the US, with the aim of increasing hiring and retaining workers. McDonalds has pledged to raise the salary of more than 36,500 employees by an average of 10 percent.

Until then, salaries for the general team were 12 dollars (243 MXN), and between 16 and 18 dollars (324 and 364 MXN) for supervisors, according to information from The Wall Street Journal .

Whats going on?

According to CNN reports, some of the Republican legislators blame the lack of workforce on the increase in unemployment benefits in the North American country, while their opponents propose a wage increase.

According to the BBC , workers are not willing to return for some other reasons, including fear of contagion from COVID-19, a desire for greater work flexibility and others.

Among the businesses that have been affected by this shortage of workers are restaurants, retail chains, supermarkets, hotels, and the leisure industry.
Parents Group Sues Mass. School District Over Racial Segregation, Abuse of Students

A national parents group filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against a public school district in Massachusetts for allegedly violating the U.S. Constitution by racially segregating students into affinity groups and imposing a student speech code.

The lawsuit comes as parents and the education establishment across the United States are battling over critical race theory and the systemic racism that leftists argue plagues the nation.

Almost 70 years ago, Supreme Court precedent established that public schools cannot segregate students by race, and students do not abandon their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate, states the legal complaint in Parents Defending Education v. Wellesley Public Schools (WPS), which was filed Oct. 19 in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

But the school district in this case is flouting both of these principles, the complaint continues.

The lead defendant is WPS, the public school district for Wellesley, Massachusetts. It provides K-12 public education services for more than 4,700 students, operating one preschool, seven elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school.

Under the guise of racial equity, WPS sponsors and organizes racial affinity group meetings that welcome some students but exclude others, based solely on the races and ethnicities of the students involved. This racial segregation policy runs afoul of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the complaint states.

WPS released a five-year equity strategic plan in 2020 that committed the school district to pursue justice for  historically marginalized communities, continuously examine systems of privilege and bias, work collectively to disrupt and dismantle inequity in all its forms, and achieve racial equity.

To accomplish this, the district announced it would create affinity spaces for students with shared identity in order to nurture and affirm positive racial identity development. Under what the district called its new Racial Affinity Group Policy, racial affinity groups and affinity spaces were formed.

The policy is inherently exclusionary, the complaint states. According to WPS, a racial affinity group is an opportunity for people within an identity group to openly share their experiences without the risk of feeling like they will offend someone from another group, and without another groups voices.

WPS also punishes student speech it deems biased, which includes any student speech it considers offensive, has an impact on others, treats another person differently, or demonstrates conscious or unconscious bias. The speech code, according to the legal complaint, violates the First and 14th Amendments, as well as the Massachusetts Students Freedom of Expression Law.

Wellesley Public Schools maintains multiple policies that demonstrate the districts deep contempt for the constitutional rights of its students, Parents Defending Education (PDE) President Nicole Neily said in a statement. Racial and viewpoint discrimination have no place in an American public school, and we are proud to fight on behalf of our members to put a stop to these unconstitutional policies.

It is appalling that an American public school has consciously implemented a policy to segregate students based on race and ethnicity. Excluding children from activities based on immutable characteristics is not only immoral, but unconstitutionaland must be ended immediatelyboth in Wellesley and everywhere else this practice exists.

PDE describes itself on its website as a national grassroots organization working to reclaim our schools from activists promoting harmful agendas  we are fighting indoctrination in the classroom and for the restoration of a healthy, non-political education for our kids.

The complaint provides examples of harsh treatment of students thought to hold conservative opinions.

The children of a person identified as Parent C are afraid to speak freely in class. One of those children is said to have been held by a teacher after class because the child mentioned the parent was conservative. The teacher lectured the student about why the parents views should change. One of the same parents children was reported to have been physically assaulted in a school hallway by classmates after the assailants discovered that Parent C had voted for Donald Trump in the presidential election. A guidance counselor is said to have dismissed the childs concerns because the perpetrators were minority students.

Other students routinely yell at and berate a fellow student whenever the student expresses conservative beliefs or speaks in support of Republican politicians. The students teacher is present while this occurs but does not intervene and appears to agree with the aggressor students, the complaint states.

Wellesley Public Schools officials couldnt be reached for comment over the weekend.
Then-Conservative Party leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis makes her opening statement at the start of the French Leadership Debate in Toronto on June 17, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Frank Gunn)

Current, Former Tory MPs Defend Leslyn Lewis After Her Criticism of COVID Vaccination Plan for Kids

Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis is getting support from some Conservative Party insiders as she challenged the federal governments announcement of a roadmap for providing a COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 children.

Currently, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are only available for children 12 and older. Earlier this month, Pfizer asked Health Canada to approve its vaccine for children between the ages of 5 and 11.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Oct. 21 that the vaccine will only be made available to children once Health Canada has gone through all approval processes and the vaccine is proved to be safe. He added that Ottawa has worked with Pfizer to make millions of doses available for children shortly after its been approved, enough to get all kids  between 5 and 11 vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Never have Canadian children been used as shields for adults, Lewis said in reaction to Trudeaus comments.

Parents question vaccinating kids 5-12 without long-term data, a low risk of fatality, & cautions echoed around the world, when the treatment neither prevents transmitting or getting the virus, she wrote on Twitter.

Never have Canadian children been used as shields for adults. Parents question vaccinating kids 5-12 without long-term data, a low risk of fatality, & cautions echoed around the world, when the treatment neither prevents transmitting or getting the virus. https://t.co/GwQWy7NRd1  Dr. Leslyn Lewis (@LeslynLewis) October 22, 2021

Lewiss comment drew criticism from members of the Liberal Party and others.

Vaccines are safe and effective. Theyre how we end this pandemic. And yet Erin Otooles [sic] Conservatives continue to spread misinformation while many of their own caucus members refuse to get vaccinated, Liberal MP Jennifer OConnell wrote on Twitter.

It turns out that we dont need to elect PPC [Peoples Party of Canada] candidates for this dangerous nonsense to be represented in the House of Commons, Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith tweeted.

Former Conservative MP and cabinet minister Stockwell Day came to Lewiss defence.

Hope? History repeating? A black woman letting a majority white male power structure know that she wont be told where to sit on Covid issues. As she will now begin to face a relentless, media generated hell of scorn will there be a man (or woman) who stands with her? Day wrote on Twitter.

Conservative MP Dean Allison also spoke out in Lewiss defence.

I will not stay silent either, Leslyn. I stand with you, he tweeted.

I will not stay silent either, Leslyn. I stand with you. https://t.co/rU0XJeunJb  Dean Allison (@DeanAllisonMP) October 23, 2021

Conservatives and Vaccine Mandates

Among the latest development in the Conservatives position on COVID-19 vaccine mandates is their stance on mandatory vaccination policy for MPs.

On Oct. 20, Tory whip Blake Richards protested a decision by the House of Commons governing body that all MPs need to be vaccinated to access the parliamentary precinct, with exemptions only offered to those with valid medical reasons. The decision was announced on Oct. 19 by the Board of Internal Economy (BOIE), the governing body of the House of Commons.

While we encourage everyone who can be vaccinated to get vaccinated, we cannot agree to seven MPs, meeting in secret, deciding which of the 338 MPs, just elected by Canadians, can enter the House of Commons to represent their constituents, Richards said in a statement.

Conservative Leader Erin OToole appeared to contradict that position in an interview with TVOs Steve Paikin that was aired on Oct. 20, saying his party will respect the decision made by the BOIE, while expressing concern about division in society and those losing their jobs if they dont get vaccinated.

OToole later seemed to backtrack his stance on the policy, saying it infringes on parliamentarians rights.

While we respect that the [BOIE] has the jurisdiction to manage the parliamentary precinct, we do not accept that the BOIE has the jurisdiction to infringe on a Members right to take their seat in the House of Commons, OTooles spokesperson said in a statement on Oct. 22, according to the National Post.

Conservative MP Michael Chong told CTV on Oct. 9 that the party is evaluating the governments mandatory vaccine policy before taking a position on the issue.

The government announced on Oct. 6 that it will make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for employees of core public services, along with air and rail workers and travellers, by Oct. 29.

Conservative MP Mark Strahl said on Oct. 8 that the vaccine mandate is discriminatory, coercive and must be opposed.

We must continue to demand reasonable exemptions and accommodations, like rapid testing, for those unable or unwilling to be vaccinated, he said on Twitter.
Pelosi: Congress Is Nearing Deal on Bidens Social Spending Plan

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has suggested that Democrats are poised to reach an agreement on President Joe Bidens social spending package, although the price tag isnt yet clear.

We have 90 percent of the bill agreed to and written. We just have some of the last decisions to be made, Pelosi told CNNs State of the Union on Oct. 24, before she was pressed on whether an agreement would be made before Oct. 29. I think we are pretty much there now.

Democrats have struggled to agree on a framework of $2 trillion or less that will allow the House of Representatives to move forward on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and set the stage for the passage of Bidens climate change and social welfare agenda.

All Republicans have opposed the social spending package, but in August, approximately 20 Republican senators voted in favor of the infrastructure bill. Since then, House leadership has held off on approving the legislation as the leftist House Progressive Caucus has frequently signaled that the infrastructure measure cant be passed without the larger package.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a moderate Democrat who has objected to portions of, as well as the price of, the mammoth spending package, were scheduled to meet on Oct. 24.

Manchin, as well as Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), voiced opposition to the initial, $3.5 trillion social spending package before the measure was cut down to $2 trillion in recent days. Both Manchin, who has denied reports that he was planning to leave the Democratic Party, and Sinema have opposed the size and scope of the legislation.

During the interview, Pelosi confirmed the development.

Schumer and Manchin are having the meeting on some of the particulars that need to be finalized, she said. Im optimistic that we can do that.

Unconfirmed reports citing White House officials asserted that the two Democrats would also meet with Biden on Oct. 24.

Votes on the infrastructure and social spending plan would be held in the coming days, Pelosi said, noting that paid leave could be included in the final package.

Thats our hope, thats what were fighting for, she said in response to whether paid leave can be included.

Pelosi also suggested that an expansion of Medicare is also part of the negotiation but cautioned that dental is very expensive.

Dental will take a little longer to implement, she said. Weve been told by people who know about these things that itll take five or six years in order to implement the dental. So how do we, shall we say, fill in the blank there?

Reuters contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 25: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) holds her weekly press conference at the U.S. Capitol on August 25, 2021 in Washington, DC. Pelosi spoke on the budget resolution, infrastructure and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Pelosi Responds to Speculation She Might Retire in 2022

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did not issue a definitive answer about whether she will run for reelection in 2022 while she was being questioned during a Sunday morning interview.

Pelosi, who was first elected to the House in 1986, was asked on CNNs State of the Union if she is planning on running for her congressional seat, which encompasses most of San Francisco.

Oh, you think Im going to make an announcement right here and now? the House speaker said in response.

When pressed again during the CNN interview, Pelosi stated: Why would I tell you that now? and added: Probably, I would have that conversation with my family first, if you dont mind.

Previously, Pelosi said that she would not try to make a bid to become the speaker of the House after she was elected to her position again for the fourth time earlier this year. In 2018, she told House Democrats that she would only serve two terms as House speaker, reaffirming that commitment in November of last year.

However, during an interview with MSNBC in June, Pelosi attempted to downplay speculation that she would retire.

Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) and Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), listen as Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during her weekly press conference in the Capitol building in Washington on July 20, 2017. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

People make their own decisions about timing and dont have to comply with somebody elses view, she said, without elaborating.

In recent years, some members of the House Democratic caucus have publicly suggested that Pelosi, 81, hand over the reins to a younger, fresher face. That includes socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who told news outlets last year that new leadership is needed.

There have been fears among Democrats in the House that they wont be able to keep their majority in 2022, as the party of the president generally loses during the midterm elections. Republicans can take over by accumulating just five seats.

Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.)the head of the powerful Budget Committeeas well as Reps. Mike Doyle (R-Pa.) and David Price (D-N.C.), announced this month that they will retire. Both Doyle and Price were elected to Congress in the mid-1990s.

Their retirements mean that seven House Democrats will not run again during the midterms, compared to three Republicans. Retirements may signal pessimism about a partys ability to keep its majority, but they can also make districts that dont have incumbents harder to retain.

However, Doyle, Yarmuth, and Price represent districts that have trended Democrat. Pennsylvanias 18th District, which Doyle represents, was won by President Joe Biden by about 30 points last year, while Prices district was also carried by Biden by a similar amount, according to election data.
Popcorn and Inspiration: Rio Grande: The Fantastic Finale to John Fords Cavalry Trilogy

Passed | 1h 45min | Romance, Western | 1950

After Id watched 1949s She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, I learned that it was part of director John Fords Cavalry Trilogy. I recently watched and reviewed the first film in the series, 1948s Fort Apache, and now Ive seen 1950s Rio Grande. Im actually glad that I viewed the first and third films back-to-back, as Rio Grande is nearly a sequel to Fort Apache.

In Rio Grande, John Wayne reprises the character of Kirby Yorke, a lieutenant colonel and commander of a cavalry regiment on the fringes of Texas, not far from the Mexican border. Local Apaches intermittently harass Texans and largely avoid capture by conveniently skipping across the border whenever the cavalry pursues them. Due to a U.S. agreement with Mexico, the cavalry is forbidden from crossing the Rio Grande into Mexico.

Poster for Rio Grande. (PD-US)

An added ripple of complication shows up in the form of Kirby Yorkes son, Jefferson Jeff Yorke (Claude Jarman Jr.), who was randomly assigned to his unit. Having failed the mathematics requirements to secure a spot at the prestigious U.S. Military Academy West Point, the youngster chose to sign up as an enlisted man and serve his country.

Both the younger and older Yorkes agree to not let their relationship interfere with their sworn duties as military men, even though they havent seen each other in 15 years. Soon, the younger Yorke gets involved in a soldiers fight with another enlisted man and earns respect among the soldiers, specifically two other recruits, Travis Tyree (Ben Johnson) and Sandy Boone (Harry Carey Jr.).

If that werent enough of a strain for Lt. Col. Yorke, his long-separated wife, Kathleen (Maureen OHara), shows up at the post. Shes determined to take their son back home to Virginia with her. She dislikes the military way of life and considers it not only unnecessarily dangerous but an extremely lonely existence. Indeed, Lt. Col. Yorke is quite the silent, suffering type.

Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke (John Wayne, L) and his son, enlisted recruit Jefferson (Claude Jarman Jr., far right), in Rio Grande. (Republic Pictures)

The smoldering passion between Kathleen and the elder Yorke is almost palpable, but he tries his best (at least initially) to resist her. Meanwhile, she tries to convince her son that military service isnt for him. But the youngsters commitment to his duty and service to his country is resolute, and he shrugs off her suggestions.

As Jeff adroitly points outboth of his parents are extremely stubborn in their own ways. Later, Lt. Col. Yorke explains to Kathleen that if their son was to return to Virginia, hed rightly be viewed as a quitterhe also has an obligation to protect his honor and own up to his word as a man.

Another subplot begins to develop as a couple of Texas lawmen show up looking for a man accused of manslaughter. That man happens to be Tyree, who is eventually placed in the posts stockade. But the recruit escapes his imprisonment after stealing Lt. Col. Yorkes horse.

Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke (John Wayne, L) attempts to explain the military way of life to Kathleen Yorke (Maureen OHara), in Rio Grande. (Republic Pictures)

Lt. Col. Yorke and Kathleen begin to heal their fractured relationship, while simultaneously trying to outdo each other with regard to knowing whats best for their son.

As their complicated relationship gradually mends, Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan (J. Carrol Naish) drops some heavy orders on Lt. Col. Yorke: Hes to take a cavalry detachment with him and pursue the Apache into Mexico, run them down, and put an end to them once and for all. Its a risky maneuver since its essentially invading Mexico.

A Fine Finale

This final piece of the Cavalry Trilogy is probably the most nuanced of the three films. Its essentially a romance and a heartfelt one at thatwith intermittent bits of drama, comedy, and action thrown in to liven things up.

While theyre all excellent in their own ways, Ford, Wayne, OHara, and the scene-stealing Victor McLaglen (as the hilarious Sgt. Maj. Timothy Quincannon) seem to be at the top of their form here, having made a multitude of films together by the time this one was produced in 1950.

Rio Grande is a tremendous cinematic achievement and one of the most convincing, non-corny romantic films Ive ever seen. It reveals how lonely military life and ones commitment to the service of their country can sometimes be. It also carries the message of how its never too late for a fractured family to heal.

Not to take anything away from the other two films in the Cavalry Trilogy, but this is probably my favorite.

Soldiers serenade Lt. Col. Kirby (John Wayne) and his wife Kathleen Yorke (Maureen OHara), in Rio Grande. (Republic Pictures)

Rio Grande

Director: John Ford

Starring: John Wayne, Maureen OHara, Ben Johnson

Running Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Not Rated

Release Date: Nov. 15, 1950

Rated: 5 stars out of 5



Ian Kane is a filmmaker and author based out of Los Angeles. To learn more, visit DreamFlightEnt.com or contact him at Twitter.com/ImIanKane.
Research Finds Working From Home Can Be Less Productive for Some Employees

Australian research has begun drilling down into the question of productivity during lockdown, with the initial results perhaps not quite what all workers want to hear.

It seems some white-collar employees contribute more in the office than they do at home.

The productivity of new staff, in particular, drops steadily over a period of nine months when theyre onboarded remotely, compared to those who physically start in the workplace.

The exception, according to the findings of a new study conducted by Sydneys Macquarie University, appears to come from working parents and other employees generally classified as more experienced.

However this cohort, especially when they self-select to work from home, were found to be logging an average 1.8 extra hours a day outside the traditional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. compared to office-based colleagues.

The findings have been compiled by Bangkok-based international recruitment agency manager Ashley Alcock as part of his Macquarie Business School MBA research.

The work involved carrying out a blind field experiment involving sales professionals, with an initial pilot of 69 candidates in February this year.

Further data was then collected from offices in non-related fields, including manufacturing, IT, and logistics and trade in Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

More than 250 participants in all were divided into six categories: those who self-selected to work either from home or the office, those forced to work either at home or the office, and new employees onboarded either at home or the office.

To reduce psychological factors affecting outcomes, the project focused on specific key indicators to analyse productivity rather than by conducting individual surveys.

It found employees who worked from home, whether forced or self-selected, showed decreased productivity over three to nine months, while those who self-selected to work from the office maintained productivity.

Both self-selected office and WFH groups were more productive than those groups that did not get to choose.

Of those who chose to work from home, working parents and experienced employees were the most productive.

Employees with less than 18 months experience who worked from home were generally significantly less productive than peers with the same level of experience who remained at the office.

Alcocks supervisor, economics professor Maros Servatka, says companies perhaps should be wary of basing work-from-home policies on productivity measured by analysis during the early stages of the pandemic.

At first the productivity was relatively stable because there was some novelty to working from home and potentially a bit of fear because of so much uncertainty, he said.

Companies were under a lot of stress, so people rightly were afraid of losing their jobs.

Since the early productivity could be driven by the shock, we measured productivity over a longer period of time, and what Ashleys data shows is that after three months or so, there is a decrease in productivity.
Timothy and Kathy Meyer attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Oct. 23, 2021. (Mary Mann/Epoch Times)

CEDAR RAPIDS, IowaTimothy and Kathy Meyers impression of Shen Yun Performing Arts was one of beauty. The couple had come to the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids to enjoy Shen Yuns revival of traditional Chinese culture on Oct. 23.

Absolutely beautiful, lovely evening, Timothy, the owner of an interior design company, said of the performance. The talent is amazing. Its so well put together.

Kathy, a grade teacher, said, Such tremendous dancing and movements, and the beauty was just wonderful, and the calmness is so nice. I think anyone who is interested in dance would love [Shen Yun]children would love to see it.

New York-based Shen Yun brings together an array of classical Chinese dances that share stories from Chinas 5,000-year civilization. It includes colorful regional dances from Chinas many distinct ethnic groups.

The interior designer in Timothy was impressed with Shen Yuns vibrant tones. Very peacock, very cherry blossom. Well done!

Besides depicting stories from Chinas many dynasties and legends, the dances also portray the values from the divine origins of Chinas traditional culture, including that of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.

I think the story is so impressive when its about our values, Timothy said. It talks about what atheism does to the soul  Theres so much beauty and we just have to hang on to what we know is true and right, honoring our God, whoever our God is, at the top.

And its like the world is just heading in the wrong direction  trying to destroy the values that have made this world what it is. And now were trying to take it someplace else, so to hang on to our true values is beautiful, he added.

Shen Yun Made Me Feel I was part of the story

Doug and Jill Beardsley were also amazed. Doug, a retired public health worker, explained that he and his wife had met during competitive ballroom dancing. They had both also been part of community and musical theatre.

It was wonderful. Its just a lovely show for anybody. I have never seen anything like this on stage, Doug said. They are athletes, but they are performers. I couldnt take my eyes off them. I was part of the story.

Jill, who has also done ballet and other dance forms, described the performance as top quality and extremely well done.

Everyone is an extremely talented performer. Everyones performing skills, shining joy. The energy that they were exuding was very powerful, she said.

The intensity of movement, the stability, the precision of the dancers lines all impressed Jill.

Reporting by Mary Mann and Diane Cordemans.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
The U.S. State Department is shown in Washington on Jan. 26, 2017. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

State Department Posts $10 Million Reward for Colombian National Over Alleged Bribery Scheme

The State Department announced a $10 million reward on Oct. 22 for information leading to the arrest or conviction of a Colombian national that the United States accused of partaking in a bribery scheme.

Colombian national Alvaro Pulido Vargas and four others were charged on Oct. 21 by the Department of Justice. They were accused of bringing Venezuelan government officials to obtain inflated contracts to import and distribute food and medicine through a state-run program called CLAP. The individuals also allegedly laundered the proceeds of the contracts.

The State Department on Friday recounted the details of their alleged crimes.

Beginning in 2015, Pulido and others began working to obtain or retain contracts to provide food to the Venezuelan people. Pulido and his co-conspirators allegedly marked-up the cost of producing the boxes of food in order to make a personal profit from their production, the statement reads.

From this cost mark-up, the conspirators were able to pay bribes and kickbacks to those Venezuelan government officials who assisted them in obtaining the contract to produce the boxes, and make millions of dollars in profit for themselves.

The $10 million reward is offered under the Department of States Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP).

According to the indictment (pdf), the five men received $1.6 billion from Venezuela and transferred $180 million through or to bank accounts in the United States. The three Colombians and two Venezuelans face one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and four counts of money laundering.

Pulido has allegedly worked with Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman and envoy of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Last week, Saab was extradited to the United States, charged with money laundering.

The Maduro regime has condemned the extradition, calling it kidnapping. Meanwhile, Colombian President Ivan Duque praised the extradition, writing on Twitter, The extradition of Alex Saab is a triumph in the fight against the drug trafficking, asset laundering, and corruption that the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro has fostered.
2 Nations, One Natural Wonder: Victoria Falls

The night has turned black, and the cascades are loud. The tumble, rumble, and crash drown out all the other nocturnal sounds of the usually lively African forest. Navigating down a winding path illuminated only by the flashlight in my hand, the cacophony intensifies as I approach the edge. Part of a small tour group, were all here to see the same phenomenon. Everyone speaks in hushed tones, voices low but rising with anticipation as we approach.

And then, its there. The forest falls away at our backs and the land opens up to a great chasm, somehow even more dramatic in the inky dark. My imagination fills in the picture when it comes to the unseenthe bottom feels infinitely below. Above, the main attraction: a lunar rainbow, often called a moonbow.

A view of Victoria Falls from a helicopter. (Pierpaolo Romano/Shutterstock)

While regular rainbows can form pretty much anywhere, moonbows are special, possible only when theres enough lunar light coming down from the heavens with sufficient spray in the air to reflect it. Aristotle wrote about this marvel more than 2,300 years ago. And now, in the night sky, with bands of gray and whitethe light is too faint to make an impression on the color receptors of the naked eyethe lunar rainbow rises above the majesty of the worlds largest waterfall: Victoria Falls.

Stretching more than a mile in length, the legendary Zambezi River plunges more than 30 stories at Victoria Falls. Surrounded by vast, flat stretches of African plains, its a geological surprise, pouring through a fracture in the basalt. Its spray rises as high as 2,600 feet in the air, making it visible from 30 miles away. The falls, known in all local languages as the smoke that thunders, form the border between two nationsZimbabwe and Zambia (both of which are open to U.S. visitors). Between them, they present a number of ways to enjoy this natural wondermoonbows being just one of the more remarkable examples.

For the daring, a micro flight over Victoria Falls is an option. (GUDKOV ANDREY/Shutterstock)

For Thrill Seekers

For the more adventurous travelers, you can dangle part of your body over the edge of the falls. Its a favorite of thrill-seekers. You approach the Devils Pool from Livingstone Island on the Zambian side. While it would be unimaginable to wade into the Niagara River above those fallsa healthy fear of being swept over the precipice keeps most people on shorethats exactly how you approach this pool. As we swim across, guides keep a watchful eye on our small group, but the rivers flow is actually quite gentle, tamed by a relative lack of water in the heart of the dry season.

As we make our way across, the lip is visible just downstream. The land just ends and opens up to a vast gap, the green trees visible on the opposite side. Soon, we approach the edge, our adrenaline-pumping swim finishing with a paddle around a rock pool, deep and calm, but literally right on the verge of the furor of the falls. Little fish nip at our feet. The guides encourage us to get up on the flat span of rock that forms the far side of the pool. One guide holds our ankles, just in case, while another grabs our cameras, as we walk a tightrope along the edge for a once-in-a-lifetime photo.

The Devils Pool. (Courtesy of Zambia tourism)

Its a strange sensation, the cool water of the river unceasing, rushing by, then falling away to a bottom far below and obscured by mist. Visitors on the Zimbabwe side wave to us, and we wave back. Each of us hangs there, in turn, hauled up there on the rock with arms dropping into the cascade. The whole experience feels somewhat unbelievable, even in the moment, surrounded by the full force of the falls and immersed in the middle of their might.

Morning light falls on Victoria Falls. (Kanuman/Shutterstock)

The national border is artificial, of course. Now designated a World Heritage Site, the missionary and explorer David Livingstone was the first European to see Victoria Falls, naming them in honor of the reigning British queen. But local populations have lived there for millennia, with archaeological digs revealing Stone Age tools and Iron Age pottery.

Crossing the line can be a bit tricky. For Americans to enter, both Zambia and Zimbabwe require a negative PCR COVID-19 test. In addition, both countries mandate a tourist visa, sometimes available for purchase at the port of entry. Both sides have an international airport (the town on the Zambian side is called Livingstone, while Zimbabwes town is called Victoria Falls), and the countries share a road border, linked by a soaring, 650-foot bridge that spans the canyon.

And each side offers multiple ways to get a new perspective on this natural attraction. You can fly over it in a helicopter or even a hot air balloon, as the full, incredible length of the falls is revealed from above, and the dark water tumbles white into a crack in the endless forest all around. From the bridge, take a bungee jump, leaping more than 300 feet into the abyss. Glide on a zipline, reaching speeds of close to 60 miles per hour, flying high over the gorge. Or you could just take a leisurely strollboth sides offer pleasant walking paths to view the falls.

An elephant herd in Hwange National Park. Zimbabwe is known for its safaris. (Paula French/Shutterstock)

Safaris

In this part of Southern Africa, safari is never far away. On the Zimbabwean side, Hwange National Park is only a couple of hours drive away. Roughly the size of Belgium, this massive park offers up-close experiences with Big Five animals, as well as packs of painted dogs. But you neednt actually go that far. Close to the main town and inside Victoria Falls National Park on the Zimbabwe side, The Elephant Camp allows you to feed a semi-wild herd of injured and orphaned elephants. The animals are free to come and go as they please, and their sheer size and strength are truly awesome when you experience them up close.

Rafting is also an option. At a nearby camp, I enjoy the opportunity to get out onto the river, climbing into an inflatable kayak. The Zambezi is one of the continents most storied rivers, flowing more than 1,500 miles from Zambia to its final outlet through Mozambique and into the Indian Ocean. The falls arent visible from here, but my guide assures me that theyre there, although we dont plan on going quite that far.

Unless you packed a parachute, of course, he says.

Despite some initial nerves, we roll down the river, navigating rapids and seeing no sign of the beasts that inhabit these waters, such as crocodiles and hippos. The latter, despite their bumbling, cartoonish image, are some of the most dangerous animals in Africa. Were literally boating along the border, Zambia on one shore, Zimbabwe on the other. Making our way about seven miles, we arrive safely at our take-out spot, happy and uneatenand no parachute required.
Passengers in the international arrivals hall at Terminal 2 of London Heathrow Airport, in London on July 29, 2021. (Steve Parsons/PA)

UK Government Accused of Poor Oversight as Travellers Face New Test Difficulties

The relaxation of coronavirus rules for returning holidaymakers risks being marred by difficulties obtaining affordable lateral flow tests.

From Sunday, fully vaccinated people arriving in England from a non-red list country can use a lateral flow test rather than the PCR version.

When Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced the new policy last week, he said it would make international travel easier and cheaper.

But problems were identified shortly after the government website listing firms providing lateral flow tests for travellers went live on Friday.

Analysis by the PA news agency found many of the companies with the lowest advertised prices either do not allow customers to book the tests, or the actual prices are much higher.

C-19 Direct is listed as offering the tests for 14.94 ($20.56), but the cheapest available option on its website is 59.95 ($82.49).

Frustrated travellers on Twitter described the listings as fake advertising and clickbait.

Lateral flow tests for non-travellers are available free of charge on the NHS, and in most other major European tourist destinations they cost no more than 25 ($35).

Problems obtaining affordable tests are a headache for thousands of holidaymakers preparing to embark on half-term trips.

Problems with PCR testingincluding booking tests, receiving kits, and getting resultswas a major issue over the summer.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) was asked to review the PCR test process by Javid, who said travellers should not suffer from unnecessary costs or low-quality provision.

It recommended that the Department of Health and Social Care set up a comprehensive monitoring and enforcement programme for test providers.

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said the government failed to learn from its mistake.

Yet again it is quoting prices for day-two tests which are not reflected by the actual test providers on their own websites, he said.

Its poor oversight and lack of regulation of this multi-billion-pound industry continues [sic] to beggar belief.

Charles said the test shouldnt cost more than 25, and that its vital to shop around and choose a low-cost but bona fide provider.

Rory Boland, editor of magazine Which? Travel, said it is completely unacceptable that the government has released a list of testing providers which yet again misleads travellers.

The government has had months to make sure this list was accurate, but instead it features providers advertising prices lower than the true cost, several firms that dont even sell the correct test, and is allowing providers to self-certify they meet requirements, he said.

Problems that consumers have faced with the PCR testing market have been well-documented so its inexcusable these issues have been repeated for the lateral flow testing system.

Boland urged the government to implement the CMAs recommendations for both the PCR and lateral flow testing markets and take swift action against any rogue test providers.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson denied the accusations.

These reports are inaccurate and misleadingthe average price is between 20 [$27.5] and 30 [$41] for lateral flow tests and there is no provider listed on GOV UK offering lateral flow tests at 150 [$206].

The UK Health Security Agency has put in place extensive checks to ensure pricing is fair and affordable for travellers. It is unacceptable for any private testing company to take advantage of holidaymakers and any private providers showing misleading pricing on gov.uk are being removed.

Meanwhile, the Welsh government has announced it will mirror Englands lateral flow test policy, but the change will be implemented a week later.
Sung Kim, U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea, speaks during trilateral meeting between Japan, the United States, and South Korea, to discuss North Korea, in Tokyo, Japan, on Sept. 14, 2021. (David Mareuil/Pool via Reuters/File Photo)

US Nuclear Envoy Visits South Korea Amid North Korea Missile Tension, Stalled Talks

SEOULThe U.S. envoy for North Korea arrived in South Korea on Saturday amid stalled denuclearization talks and tension over Pyongyangs recent missile tests.

Special Representative Sung Kims visit came days after North Korea fired a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), which prompted criticism from Washington and calls for a return to talks aimed at denuclearizing the North in return for U.S. sanctions relief.

Kim, after talks in Washington with South Korean and Japanese counterparts on Tuesday, urged North Korea to refrain from further provocations and engage in sustained and substantive dialogue.

Pyongyang so far has rejected U.S. overtures, accusing the United States and South Korea of talking diplomacy while ratcheting up tensions with their own military activities.

Arriving in South Korea, Kim said he looks forward to having productive follow up discussions with his counterpart, without elaborating.
The flags of Taiwan and the United States are placed for a meeting between U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce speaks and with Su Chia-chyuan, president of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 27, 2018. (Tyrone Siu/REUTERS)

US Seeks to Help Taiwan Participate in UN System, as Beijing Set to Mark Key Anniversary

The United States and Taiwan held a high-level meeting on Oct. 22 about expanding the islands participation at the United Nations and other international organizations, days before Beijing is due to mark the 50th anniversary of its representing China at the global body.

The U.S. State Department said in an Oct. 23 statement that the Oct. 22 virtual meeting with Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs focused on supporting Taiwans ability to participate meaningfully at the U.N.

U.S. participants reiterated the U.S. commitment to Taiwans meaningful participation at the World Health Organization and U.N. framework convention on climate change and discussed ways to highlight Taiwans ability to contribute to efforts on a wide range of issues, the statement reads.

Taiwan, using the official name of the Republic of China, withdrew from the U.N. on Oct. 25, 1971, when it was voted out as the representative of China in favor of the communist regime.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started its one-party rule on the mainland in 1949, when it won the Chinese Civil War, forcing the nationalist government to retreat to Taiwan.

The CCP has since claimed the self-ruled island as its own territory, to be taken by force if necessary. It also claims that it has the sole right to represent Taiwan internationallya position denounced by Taipei.

As a result, the Chinese regime has aggressively sought to exclude Taiwans participation from international bodies. Since 2017, Beijing has barred Taiwan from participating as an observer in the World Health Organizations decision-making body, the World Health Assembly.

Taiwan expressed gratitude for the U.S. administrations long-time, rock-solid support and commitment in another statement released on Oct. 24.

While the United States doesnt have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, its among the islands staunchest allies and its largest supplier of arms. Washington also has a longstanding policy toward the island known as strategic ambiguity, meaning that U.S. administrations have been deliberately vague on whether it would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

This policy was thrown into question when President Joe Biden told a CNN town hall event on Oct. 21 that the United States would come to Taiwans defense if the Chinese regime were to attack.

The White House clarified on Oct. 22 that Biden was not intending to convey a change in policy, nor has he made a decision to change our policy.

Concern about a potential CCP invasion increased this month, after the regime sent nearly 150 planes into Taiwans air defense zone over the course of four days

On the eve of Taiwans national day on Oct. 10, Chinese leader Xi Jinping renewed a vow that Taiwan must and will definitely be reunified with the mainland.

Xi is due to give another speech on Oct. 25 to mark the CCPs 50 years of representation at the U.N., Beijings foreign ministry said on Oct. 22.
NORWALK  Ida Richards, a 19th-century Norwalker, was so consumed by the untimely death of her fiance that she laid upon his grave in Pine Island Cemetery and died of a broken heart, the New York Times reported in 1879.

Some believe, she still haunts the 300-year-old cemetery, Norwalk Historical Society program events coordinator Samantha Kulish-Fargione said. This story is just one of several tales that show the citys spooky past.

Its one of those star-crossed lovers. She used what she had to give him a headstone at Pine Island Cemetery, Kulish-Fargione said. We havent been able to find that stone. Thats not to say it was never there, because they dont last very long. They end up falling over or the inscription wearing away, but it was a captivating story. It mentioned how this might be the ghost of the women people have claimed to see in that cemetery.

Richards betrothed, Henry Workman, moved to a distant town to earn a living until Richards heard Workman was mangled in an accident involving the machinery with which he worked, according to the New York Times. Ultimately, Workman died.

Workman, whose family disowned him after he began seeing Richards, was left for Richards to mourn at Pine Island, according to the article.

It is not a fashionable burial-ground now, and has been allowed to fall into decay, the New York Times article read. In this ghostly spot the girl threw herself upon the grave. The sun was low down in the west when they left her there, and after nightfall, when her friend went to remove her, they found her dead.

There have been rumors and reports of Richards still haunting the cemetery behind Lockwood-Mathews Mansion.

Richards brokenhearted demise is the sole ghost story in Norwalk with any verifiable history of which Kulish-Fargione is aware. However, each Halloween since 2011, the historical society hosts the Haunting at Mill Hill, one of Norwalks four historic cemeteries and the third oldest cemetery in the city, to highlight other unusual happenings.

The premise is to learn about unusual deaths that have occurred in Norwalk over the years, Kulish-Fargione said. We dive into old Norwalk Hours. We go onto the Library of Congress site and dive into old newspapers there and search for unusual deaths that have occurred in Norwalk. Murders, suicides, natural disasters, mechanical disasters, what we do then is take those specific deaths and those people and bring them back to life in the graveyard.

Kulish-Fargione researches the incidents and selects one of the victims, writing a monologue which actors then perform in the graveyard recounting the death from the deceaseds point of view.

The historical society tries to keep the stories new and fresh, sometimes recounting one story from the view of the murderer instead of the victim, or another person lost during an accident. Previously recounted stories include the railway accident on May 6, 1853 where a New Haven-bound train rode off the drawbridge into Norwalk River.

The drawbridge was accidentally left open. At that time, it was up to the engineer to spot the drawbridge attendants signal, Kulish-Fargione said. Well, there was some issue and discrepancy, and the engineer couldnt stop the train fast enough, so it went into the river, killing 46 people and injuring many more.

Among the victims was a newlywed couple who married the night before and were headed to Boston for their honeymoon, Kulish-Fargione said.

Another tragedy included was the steam ship Adelphi, which exploded in 1878 causing at least 10 deaths and more than 20 injuries, according to the New York Times.

While at least one resident of Lockwood-Mathews Mansion died while in the home, the mansion has no real history of haunting, mansion education program director Iliana Begetis said.

We do not have any ghosts in the mansion except during our Halloween tours, Begetis said. We get it all the time.

abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  A decade ago, North Carolina Republicans redrew their legislative districts to help their party in a way that a federal court ruled illegally deprived Black voters of their right to political representation. A state court later struck down Republican-drawn maps as based on pure partisanship.

So, as the GOP-controlled legislature embarks this year on its latest round of redistricting, it has pledged not to use race or partisan data to draw the political lines. Still, the maps Republicans are proposing would tilt heavily toward their party. Several publicly released congressional maps dilute Democratic votes by splitting the state's biggest city, Charlotte  also its largest African American population center  into three or four U.S. House districts and giving the GOP at least a 10-4 advantage in a state that Donald Trump narrowly won last year.

As the once-a-decade redistricting process kicks into high gear, North Carolina is one of at least three states where Republicans say they are drawing maps without looking at racial and party data. But those maps still happen to strongly favor the GOP.

Democrats and civil rights groups are incredulous, noting that veteran lawmakers don't need a spreadsheet to know where voters of various races and different parties live in their state. Plus, under certain scenarios, the Voting Rights Act requires the drawing of districts where the majority of voters are racial or ethnic minorities.

This is the first redistricting round I've ever heard of this," said Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is suing Texas Republicans over maps that the GOP said it drew without looking at racial data. I suspect they're trying to set up a defense for litigation. Because they know the race data  they know where the Black community lives. They know where the Latino community lives.

Jason Torchinsky, general counsel to the National Republican Redistricting Trust, said ignoring racial data is proper in certain circumstances, as in the cases of North Carolina and Texas.

It depends on where you are, Torchinsky said.

The drawing of legislative lines is often a raw partisan fight because whichever party controls the process can craft districts to maximize its voters' clout  and scatter opposing voters so widely they cannot win majorities.

In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Cour t ruled that federal courts cannot overturn unfair maps on the basis of partisanship. But state courts still can void maps for being too partisan and race remains a legal tripwire in redistricting.

If mapmakers explicitly try to weaken voters' power based on race, they may violate the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. But the Voting Rights Act requires them to consider race if the state has racially polarized voting, in which white people consistently vote against candidates backed by a minority racial or ethnic group. The mapmakers must then create a district in which that minority comprises a plurality or majority of voters so they can elect their preferred candidates.

Republicans complain they cannot win.

Its truly a conundrum and has been for the last decade for the GOP, because when we look at race, we were told we shouldnt have, and those maps were struck down, said North Carolina state Sen. Paul Newton, who co-chairs that state's redistricting committee. "Now that were not looking at race, the Democrat Party is telling us, Oh, you should be looking at race.

North Carolina's redistricting legal fight is part of why the new race-blind approach caught on.

The Republican-controlled legislature has complete control of redistricting; its maps cannot be vetoed by its Democratic governor. A federal court in 2016 found North Carolina Republicans improperly crammed Black voters into two congressional districts to dilute African American votes elsewhere. It ordered the map redrawn, and in a separate case another panel of judges found that dozens of state legislative districts were illegal racial gerrymanders as well. The updated congressional map was the basis of the 2019 Supreme Court case.

But, barely two months later, a North Carolina state court found the GOP advantage in some of the redrawn state legislative maps still violated the state constitution. Based on this and other rulings, Republicans redrew the maps once again in late 2019, this time saying they weren't looking at racial or partisan data, and they passed legal muster.

Then, in August, the legislature formally adopted a rule that it wouldn't consider race or partisanship in its latest line-drawing that would begin after the U.S. Census Bureau released data on population changes over the past decade. Lawmakers noted that, during the epic litigation of the prior decade, a federal court had found the state didn't have racially polarized voting and didn't require special attention to racial data.

Democrats and civil rights groups strenuously objected. The Southern Coalition for Social Justice wrote Republicans a letter warning they would be disenfranchising Black and Latino voters. Theyre not listening, said Allison Riggs, head of the group's voting rights program.

Other GOP-controlled states have followed North Carolina's example. For the past five decades, Texas has been found to have violated federal law or the U.S. Constitution in redistricting, including by shortchanging Black and Latino voters. This time, Republicans who control the state Legislature said they wouldn't consider racial data and their lawyers said that was OK.

Ive stated it, and Ill state it again  we drew these maps race blind, Texas state Sen. Joan Huffman, a Republican who drew that state's maps, said in one Senate hearing.

Although almost all of Texas' population growth has come from Latinos, African Americans and Asian Americans, the maps do not create any new majority Black or Latino districts. That latter omission is at the heart of suits by Latino civil rights groups last week as Texas approved its maps.

The only time that communities of color can get justice is going to the courthouse, said Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchia, chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.

Ohio Republicans are also enmeshed in litigation over their state legislative plan, which they said was drawn with no racial or partisan data. Its illegal to use race in drawing districts. Thats a violation of federal law, Republican state Senate President Matt Huffman told reporters last month.

Ohio Republicans said that even though they didn't use partisan data, they were targeted in a suit by several community and anti-gerrymandering groups for drawing a partisan map anyway.

The way the map performs is to really skew partisan outcomes in Ohio, said Freda Levenson, legal director of the ACLU of Ohio, one of the plaintiffs. It's very likely they did use partisan data.

___

Riccardi reported from Denver. Associated Press writers Acacia Coronado in Austin, Texas, and Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

___

Anderson is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Emirati prosecutors said Sunday they launched a major investigation into Dubai-based real estate developer Union Properties, saying they would probe allegations the long-troubled firm committed fraud and other offenses while trying to claw its way out of debt.

Union Properties, known for building Dubai Motor City, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The announcement by prosecutors renewed questions about the wider stability of Dubai's boom-and-bust real estate market, which saw Union Properties pile on some $2 billion of debt during the city-state's financial crisis over a decade ago. The company had nearly $500 million in debt at the end of last year, according to their financial filings.

A statement carried by the state-run WAM news agency said the investigation involved allegations of the firm selling property at less than its real value and hiding the name of the beneficiary of the sale, as well as forging documents and other violations.

The investigation involves complaints lodged by the Securities and Commodities Authority on allegations of financial violations committed by Khalifa Hassan al-Hammadi, chairman of the board of directors of Union Properties, along with some of its officials, the WAM statement said.

A stock market filing by Union Properties identified a March 2020 transaction in which Amna al-Hammadi purchased a property for 30 million dirhams ($8.1 million) that had been earlier valued at 49.5 million dirhams ($13.4 million). Previous filings on the London Stock Exchange identified Amna as Khalifa al-Hammadi's sister.

Neither Amna nor Khalifa al-Hammadi could be reach for comment. Union Properties filing sought to explain the sale by noting it came amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying negative effects  and in light of the companys commitment to settle its debt towards its lenders.

Other filings on Sunday to the Dubai Financial Market showed shareholders wanted a vote later this week to possibly remove its board of directors. Separately, the company said one of its subsidiaries was involved in a lawsuit seeking nearly $1 billion, without elaborating.

Shares in Union Properties fell as much as over 9% in trading Sunday on the Dubai Financial Market before closing down 4.83% to 26 fils a share, or 7 cents.

The firms current shareholder structure wasnt immediately clear, though a profile from the data firm Refinitiv showed its major investor as the Bluestone Fund.

Union Properties, like other firms, has struggled to come out of the shadow of Dubais 2009 financial crisis, when its property market collapsed. The city ultimately receive $20 billion in bailouts from Abu Dhabi, the Emirates oil-rich capital.

Union Properties abandoned the construction of a $460 million Formula One theme park in Motor City during the crisis, with its CEO at the time saying banks were no longer willing to lend money. Creditors, including the state-linked bank Emirates NBD, pursued the firm over loans of $2 billion. Even today, Emirates NBD advertises dusty buildings in Motor City as being available for sale or rent.

Today's news was shocking, but we need to be clear that this is a good thing that there is a system, a system that adheres to punishing people who are responsible, said Waleed al-Khatib, a managing partner at the Abu Dhabi-based trading firm Global For Shares and Bonds.

However, Dubai still faces looming debt payments that stem from its 2009 financial crisis. Dubai and its government-linked firms face a massive $30.6 billion bill coming by 2023, according to London-based Capital Economics. Dubai itself insists it is able to cover its debts and that state-linked firms should be considered separate from the sheikhdom's affairs.

___

Follow Jon Gambrell and Lujain Jo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP and www.twitter.com/lujainjo.
Phuket marks Chulalongkorn Day

PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Government officers held a wreath-laying ceremony yesterday (Oct 23) in remembrance of the death of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) to show loyalty to the King who is deeply honoured and revered by many of the Thai people.

culture

By The Phuket News

Sunday 24 October 2021, 11:05AM

Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew presided over the ceremony, held at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial in front of Phuket Provincial Hall. Present to pay their respects were many other senior provincial officials.

King Chulalongkorn the Great, or Rama V, reigned as King of Thailand from 1868 to 1910. He died on the evening of October 23, 1910.

He is recognised for the abolition of slavery in Thailand, the implementation of European-style currency, reforming the banking system and introducing the modern form of government administration throughout the country.

He was given the royal title Somdej Phra Piyamaharaj, which means, The King who is dearly loved by the people.
Push for Russia, India to be added to quarantine-free list

BANGKOK: Tourism operators in major travel areas are urging the government to include more countries in the quarantine-free list, particularly Russia and India, to drive demand in the upcoming high season.

tourismCOVID-19economicshealth

By Bangkok Post

Sunday 24 October 2021, 09:45AM

The atmosphere at the passenger terminal of Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok as officials prepare for the reopening of the country on Nov 1. Photo: Bangkok Post

Thanet Supornsahasrungsi, acting president of the Chon Buri Tourism Council, said that as Russia was excluded from the list of 46 eligible countries due to a recent surge in COVID-19 cases there, charter flights may not continue as planned as travellers wanted seamless trips with fewer regulations, reports the Bangkok Post.

From Nov 1, inoculated tourists from 46 countries can travel without quarantine and area restrictions.

Besides that group, tourists can enter only via a sandbox programme to 17 destinations and must stay for seven days before going anywhere else.

A 10-day quarantine at alternative quarantine facilities remains for those who are not inoculated, or were vaccinated with a type of vaccine not included on the World Health Organisations (WHO) list.

Mr Thanet said India uses Covaxin, which is not recognised by the WHO, so tourists from that country must undergo quarantine.

He said quarantine is an obstacle for this market as it has an average stay of four to five nights.

It is difficult for Pattaya to attract demand this high season due to the limitations on our major markets like Russia and India, while some low-risk countries still have to attend quarantine back home, Mr Thanet said.

Further details like the Thailand Pass have to be clarified to avoid confusion among state agencies, operators and tourists, said Ratchaporn Poolsawadee, president of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui.

He said the Russian market can visit Koh Samui under the Sandbox programme, but they must have two RT-PCR tests, which remain troublesome for travellers.

Charter flights from Russia to Koh Samui are scheduled to start on Dec 21, but operators have to wait for updated travel rules.

From July 15 to Oct 21, the island received 1,518 international travellers, with the largest contingents from Germany (256), France (212) and the UK (148).

Forward bookings for the Samui Plus sandbox from Oct 1-20, the period when it started to lift quarantine, were 12,933 room nights from 1,800 travellers.

The programme is expected to see 10,000 tourists in the last quarter, but that scenario still depends on the governments policy in each destination and the virus situation.

Mr Ratchaporn said Australias ambassador to Thailand will visit Koh Samui on Nov 9 to discuss a plan to draw Australian tourists, which was a top five market pre-COVID-19, once restrictions on leaving Australia are relaxed.
Solving Phukets plastic problem: 7 reasons to stop drinking bottled water

With the global pandemic and the lack of tourists, you would think that our beaches would be pristine and clean, but youd be wrong. Despite our lack of visitors, the beaches are still inundated with plastic water bottles, bags and cigarettes, which means some of it is coming from us.

EnvironmentSustainably-YoursPalmer-Owyoung

By Palmer Owyoung

Sunday 24 October 2021, 02:00PM

When given an option, most smokers will use an ashtray if one is provided. Photo: Palmer Owyoung

Bottled water is expensive, killing the planet and possibly harming us through microplastics in the water. Photo: Pixabay

According to the non-profit EcoWatch, cigarette butts are the number one form of litter, followed by food wrappers, plastic drink bottles, and bottle caps, and grocery bags.

A recent study led by the Institute for Global Health in Barcelona concluded that bottled water uses 3,500 times more resources and causes 1,400 more times damage to the ecosystem when compared to drinking tap water. If that doesnt convince you to stop drinking bottled water, here are seven more reasons.

1. Pollution  The world uses over 100 million plastic drink bottles every day, of which we recycle only 1 out of 5. The rest end up in landfills, on our beaches and in our waterways.

2. Its expensive  Bottled water is 240 to 10,000 times higher than what you pay for tap water. You are paying for the branding, processing and transportation of the water. According to one estimate, you can save about B12,500 per year by drinking filtered tap water.

3. Your health  Most people drink bottled water because they think its healthier, but its not. A study from the World Health Organization found that 93% of the most popular water bottle brands had microplastics in them. Because there havent been long-term studies on the effects on human health, were not sure what they are doing to us. But some preliminary studies suggest they may be linked to both cancer and infertility in humans and animals.

An investigation by the non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) revealed that many major water brands carried toxic chemicals, including fertiliser residue and disinfecting products, above state safety limits. Many of the brands tested were also nothing more than tap water, despite costing up to 1,900 times more.

4. Taste  In multiple taste tests, drinkers could not discern between bottled and tap water.

5. Corporate profiteering  Clean drinking water is a basic human right. However, the public has been complicit in allowing corporations like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestle to exploit us by continuing to purchase their products. The bottled water industry remains one of the fastest-growing on the planet and made US$200 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at 11.1% per year through 2028. Boycotting bottled water means that you recognise that public access to clean, safe drinking water is a right.

6. Its depleting clean water  It takes three bottles of water to make a single bottle of water when you account for the drilling for the petroleum to make the bottle and the processing and transportation of the water. As the population grows and droughts and other climate-related events hit us, clean water will become more and more scarce.

7. Climate change  We use 100 million plastic bottles every day around the world. This requires lots of oil to produce them, and all of that water is heavy and needs to be transported across the country. From the most commonly cited study, the CO2 footprint for 1.5 litres is about 200 grammes per bottle. The average water bottle drinking household will consume about 800 bottles per year, which translates to 160kg CO2 or the equivalent of driving 368 miles (592 km) with a car.

What You Can Do

The easiest thing to do is to buy a Brita water filter for your tap. These cost under B3,000. You also buy a water filter jug or water filter bottle both cost less than B2,000 and can save you thousands over a year. You can purchase these online at Lazada.

Some people dont like the taste of plain water or the flatness of still water. The answer is to buy a soda machine that allows you to make carbonated water at home. If you dont enjoy plain water, you can buy flavoured syrup like Teisseire from Villa Market and add it to either sparkling or flat water. This will not only reduce your carbon footprint, but will also reduce the number of plastic bottles that you use.

Beach clean-ups are one of the best ways to keep plastic waste from entering the ocean, killing wildlife, and entering the food chain. A newly formed Facebook Group called Phuket Beach Cleanup started by Brad Barichievy, a recent transplant from South Africa, makes it easy to help keep your local beach clean.

You should also boycott the major bottled water producers and their subsidiaries. These include Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestle.

Potential Solutions

Several major cities around the world, including Los Angeles, Paris, London and Amsterdam, have installed drinking fountains and water bottle refilling stations around their cities to provide free, clean drinking water to their citizens. You can find them by using the Mymizu app that lists 200,000 water refill stations around the world.

In 2019, Patong took the Plastic Smart City pledge to eliminate its plastic waste by 2030. Installing and maintaining clean water refill stations along the beach would help to achieve this goal.

Other Solutions

One simple solution for keeping cigarette butts off the beach that weve been using in Kamala is to tie a used metal oatmeal can (plastic bottles will burn) to a nearby tree or bench. Smokers often congregate in the same areas and when presented with the option of using an ashtray, they usually will. This has kept thousands of cigarette butts off the beach and from entering the oceans.

If Phuket wants to continue being a world-class destination, it needs a clean ocean with clean beaches, which means it needs to step up its game by solving its plastic waste problem.

Palmer Owyoung is an environmental activist working with the Kamala Green Club and the Global Sustainability Hub.
The legacy of the British Legion

One hundred years ago last May, a small group of ex-servicemen laid a wreath at the newly-dedicated national Cenotaph war memorial in London. The men represented four armed forces organisations set up to care for veterans who had suffered as a result of service in the First World War. This occasion marked these organisations amalgamation to form the British Legion, the UKs largest armed services charity. Within months of its formation, the Legion launched its first Poppy Appeal to raise money to support war veterans and their dependents. The Legion has been working tirelessly ever since to support our armed forces veterans emotionally, socially and financially in Britain. But not only in Britain

Community

By Andy Tong Dee

Sunday 24 October 2021, 11:00AM

Readers may not be aware about Royal British Legion Thailand, whose headquarters is in Chonburi, but which has members scattered throughout Thailand, including me. For I too was a British soldier serving for 20 years until I retired to live here 10 years ago.

Yes, I served in conflicts, but 90% of my time on active service was spent trying to prevent one lot of people from attacking another lot, such as the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. I was also involved with the UN humanitarian relief operation to Rwanda after its 1995 genocide. I was there primarily in a welfare role dealing with soldiers psychological issues, but I also found myself liaising directly with the local Rwandan community as I speak some French. Strangely, I then found yet another role winning hearts and minds by entertaining the kids in refugee camps with my ukulele!

Today, with any remaining Second World War and Korean War veterans now in their 90s, the Legions focus has shifted to supporting those who served during later conflicts such as Northern Ireland, the Gulf wars and the Afghanistan Campaign. This includes everything from helping homeless veterans to get off living on the streets to supporting those who have suffered mental or physical injuries from recent conflicts. Because of privacy issues, readers will naturally be unaware of any welfare work quietly done with veterans within Thailand; it is not something that can be publicised easily.

More visibly, Phuket saw its first poppies distributed to places around the island in 2009 when B100,000 was raised to support veterans here in Phuket. It was a terrific start, although fundraising has inevitably declined since then because of COVID-19. However, the Legion in Thailand still managed to raise B745,000 last year, an incredible achievement in the circumstances.

But the Legion is not just about raising money and the direct support of veterans  it is also about organising Remembrance Day commemorations every 11th of November, remembering those service men and women of all nations who died in conflict. While these always take place in war cemeteries in Kanchanaburi and at the British Club in Bangkok, it may be possible to hold a local remembrance service in Phuket if there is enough support.

Talking of which, membership of the British Legion is open to anyone of any nationality, civilian or veteran, living in Thailand who wishes to support its invaluable work. It is easy to join via its website, just select the Overseas and then Thailand options.

To end, I hope you will join me in supporting those veterans who bravely served their nations in trying to create a freer and more peaceful world. Oh, and you dont need to play ukulele!

If you want to find out more about the Royal British Legion in Thailand visit www.britishlegion.org.uk/branches/chonburi-thailand

Donations to the RBLT Poppy Appeal 2021 can be made here: https://www.weeboon.com/en/campaign/rblt-poppy-appeal-2021

Andy Tong Dee can be contacted at andytongdee@gmail.com
Column: Faith in Loves Perfection, No Matter the Time It Took
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Mostly sunny skies during the morning hours will become overcast in the afternoon. High 6C. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional showers late at night. Low around 2C. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
DOW  Theyre silent, deadly, and to gauge from visitors reactions this weekend, utterly awesome and charming as well.

The annual Owl Fest on Saturday at the TreeHouse Wildlife Center, near Dow, showcased the amazing night raptors whose HOO can send shivers up the spine, especially at Halloween time. But fearless youngsters were mesmerized as they got up close to learn about the birds amazing adaptations. Owl Fest also occurs Sunday at TreeHouse Wildlife Center, 23956 Green Acres Road, in Dow.

Wilder Hancock, 6, of Kirkwood, Missouri, gave owls a two-thumbs-up.

Ive never seen an owl before, he said, and then said, as he tried to imitate the animals, Look, Im an owl!

Elli Wilson, 5, of East Alton, said she liked owls eyes and they can turn their heads around.

I love animals, and have a kitty cat and a stuffed owl at home, she said.

The adults in attendance were equally impressed with the birds.

They are spectacular creatures, said Denise Kruger, of Granite City. I grew up on a farm and have loved owls all of my life. This place takes great care of them.

The Owl Fest is a free family affair that is a combination of a fall festival and open house at the Wildlife Center, and the events namesake birds could be seen and heard everywhere.

Owl Fest is TreeHouses largest fundraising event and is the only time the public can visit the wildlife centers hospital and flight enclosure to look behind the scenes and see how numerous species of birds and animals are rehabilitated and for how they are cared. The event also featured educational speakers, crafts, food, live music, vendors and the centers Teddy Bear Clinic.

TreeHouse Wildlife Center founder Adele Moore was the chaperone for Chili the Barred Owl for Saturday.

They are unlike just about any other bird, they are kind of cat-like, Moore said. They have silent flight. The edges of their feathers are fringed like the edge of a towel and that muffles the sound.

They cannot move their eyes within their heads so their eyes face forward like a human, and thats where the wise old owl term came from, Moore explained. Some Native Americans think when you die your soul goes into the body of an owl, while other people think they are evil because they fly at night and are associated with witches.

TreeHouse is caring for five owl species right now, including great horned, barn, screech, short-eared and barred owls.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)  Tens of thousands of supporters of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his right-wing government marched in Budapest on Saturday in a demonstration of unity behind the populist leader's contentious policies that have led to challenges to his power both in Hungary and the European Union.

The rally was dubbed a Peace March and participants gathered along the western bank of the Danube River and departed across Liberty Bridge, winding through downtown Budapest toward the site of a rare public speech that Orban delivered to his supporters.

Orban painted a dark picture of what Hungarians could expect if he is defeated in a national election scheduled for next spring, expected to be the most serious challenge to his power since he took office in 2010.

Orban enumerated his government's economic achievements, and blasted Hungary's previous socialist government which he accused of leading the country to financial ruin.

It took us years to rectify the destruction of the left wing, Orban said. The socialists and their leader have remained hanging around our necks.

The march was organized by nongovernmental organization Civil Unity Forum, an active promoter of the policies of Orban's Fidesz party, which has dominated Hungary's parliament with a two-thirds majority since 2010.

The group's chairman, Laszlo Csizmadia, told The Associated Press before the march departed that the event was meant to demonstrate Hungary's sovereignty to the EU, which he said had undeservedly attacked Hungary in recent attempts to reign in what the bloc sees as democratic backsliding.

We think that we have a right to state our opinions in the long term in the European Union," Csizmadia said.

Orban also took aim at the EU, saying that Brussels had conducted a sustained attack on Hungary over its economic and immigration policies that have put his government at odds with the bloc's leaders.

Dozens of prime ministers have attacked Hungary. We are still here, but who can remember even their names? he said.

Laszlo Csendes came to the march from Veszprem, a city 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Budapest. He said Orban's performance since 2010 had led to Hungarians prospering and an improvement in economic conditions.

There are new jobs, youve just got to look around, Csendes said. Theres money for everything, and for everyone.

Orban's staunchly anti-immigration government faces increasing pressure both in Hungary and internationally. The EU, of which Hungary is a member, is considering imposing financial penalties on the country over concerns that Orban has eroded democratic institutions and the rule of law in pursuit of what he calls an illiberal democracy.

At home, Hungary's six largest opposition parties have vowed to put aside ideological differences and form a coalition to challenge Orban's party in upcoming elections.

The parties argue the unity strategy is the only way to overcome a media environment dominated by government-aligned outlets and an electoral system unilaterally authored and passed by Fidesz which they say gives the ruling party an unfair advantage.

The six-party opposition coalition concluded a primary race last week where voters elected independent candidate Peter Marki-Zay to be Orban's challenger for prime minister on the unity ticket. A self-described conservative Christian, Marki-Zay has argued he can appeal both to Hungary's liberal voters and disaffected Fidesz supporters.

At a joint demonstration of the opposition parties which drew several thousand supporters on Saturday, Marki-Zay told the AP that he would lead the coalition in doing away with corruption, crackdowns on the media and abuse of government institutions he says has occurred under Orban's rule.

Our basic goals for all of us, left and right, is for Hungary to be a democracy, to be governed by the rule of law in a market economy and as part of the European Union, Marki-Zay said.

But some participants in the pro-government Peace March, many holding signs critical of the opposition movement, expressed anger at the coalition's ambitions to defeat Orban's government.

I don't think they are able to govern, they dont have any concepts, said Judit Nemeth, a marcher from Budapest. They only have one goal, to oust Orban, who I think is Europes best politician.
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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People are struggling to have their names and home addresses removed from bogus firms registered at Companies House by fraudsters. Experts warn that fake information posted on the official register of UK companies is leading to small firms being scammed out of thousands of pounds.

Last month, The Mail on Sunday reported that tens of thousands of people are unknowingly having firms set up in their name by fraudsters who shockingly use the details to take out loans or swindle consumers.

Despite promises by the Government to beef up its powers, Companies House is powerless to check the veracity of information supplied by those forming a new firm. As a result, its register is littered with false data. Since our report, we have been deluged with correspondence from victims and experts worried at the inability of Companies House to tackle this mountain of fraudulent information.

Scam: Tens of thousands of people are unknowingly having firms set up in their name by fraudsters who shockingly use the details to take out loans or swindle consumers

Retired chartered librarian William Clarke, 77, pleaded with Companies House to remove his home as the registered address of a firm he had never heard of. He says: 'I was worried that if the firm got into debt, the lenders could send the heavies round to our home.' William, who lives in the Midlands with his disabled wife, grew more fearful when he received a letter from Nationwide Building Society asking if he would like a start-up loan. He says he was told by Companies House it would take 35 days for his address to be removed.

'Before that I had to prove I lived at my own address,' he says. 'But the people who fraudulently registered the firm at our address didn't need to provide any evidence.' Another reader, from Northern Ireland, finally managed to get Companies House to dissolve a firm four months after he reported it had fraudulently used his name and address. But the company still appears on the register, and he is still listed as a person with significant control. He cannot remove his name without a court order.

'Why should I pay to do this?' he asks. 'Companies House accepted this false information, not me, so it should be going to court to fix it.' Diane Vaughan, 66, from Woking, Surrey, only found out she had two Chinese mail order firms registered at her home address when she received VAT letters from Revenue & Customs. She says: 'I've been going through hoops since August trying to get my address removed. I'm worried it will affect my credit score.'

Small businesses are also victims of the menace of fraudulent information on Companies House.

James Campbell of the European Freight Trades Association warns that fraudsters can file bogus accounts to make it look like they are established, profitable and creditworthy. Since this information goes unchecked, unsuspecting small businesses then extend them credit, only for the fraudsters to disappear with the debt unpaid.

'Bogus accounts are the weapon of choice of the fraudster,' he says. 'Credit reference agencies use Companies House to create reports that firms rely on to decide whether to extend credit to a new business. If that is fake, the credit reports are inaccurate as well. These reports should carry a disclaimer.'

Campbell says some businesses have lost thousands of pounds, though telling members what to look out for has stemmed losses.
As we prepare for a winter of sky-high energy prices, the question of how to heat our homes is understandably on many of our minds. It is a major issue for the Government, too.

The country's housing stock is old and poorly insulated, and in order to hit the decarbonisation targets it has already signed up to, the Government must persuade us to swap our gas boilers for heat pumps, and further insulate our draughty homes.

Last week, ahead of the COP26 summit starting in Glasgow next Sunday, Boris Johnson laid out plans to turn Britain green and 'lead the charge' against global climate change.

They are measures he believes will enable Britain to become carbon neutral by 2050, although they will cost upwards of 1trillion to implement.

Rolling the dice: Boris Johnson is persuading us to swap our gas boilers for heat pumps, and further insulate our draughty homes

As part of the new heating and building strategy, homeowners will be offered grants of 5,000 to encourage them to install heat pumps, as gas boilers are phased out from 2035.

Separately, more money will be earmarked to encourage greater take-up of electric vehicles, while a new generation of nuclear power stations will help produce clean electricity.

Despite the immense costs, some critics say it won't be enough.

'The Government's new heating and building strategy must be more ambitious in its goals,' says Dave Sheridan, executive chairman of sustainable housebuilder Ilke Homes. 'There's no time for dither or delay. Climate change is here and now.'

Opportunity knocks for the brave investor

Energy inefficient buildings are a problem for the Government and an expensive (and chilly) one for homeowners. But the need to modernise Britain's housing stock presents an opportunity for investors.

Randeep Somel, manager of investment fund M&G Climate Solutions, says that the UK Government is alone in writing the requirement to get to net zero (by 2050) into national law. This means there is little choice but to spend money getting the country's housing stock up to scratch.

He says: 'If you look out over the next 30 years and ask yourself the question 'what are the areas of the economy that will have a guaranteed requirement for investment?' then one of the answers is making homes more eco-friendly. This is a long-term investment trend that is here to stay.'

Industrial premises, too, will need energy efficiency measures. Alex Betts, senior investment manager at asset manager Aquila Capital, says that businesses will have to replace old lighting with energy efficient LED systems as well as insulate their buildings better.

'Zero carbon is something they have to get their heads around,' he says.

Stocks to warm your home  and portfolio

To take advantage of the green revolution in housing, it is possible to invest in some of the companies specialising in this sector.

Danni Hewson, financial analyst at wealth platform AJ Bell, likes insulation provider Kingspan. She says: 'From the anticipated push to retrofit insulation, to new 'district heating' systems and the burgeoning needs of industry, this building materials specialist has been steadily gaining investor support over the last few months.'

Shares in Kingspan are up 20 per cent this year.

But not every investor will be comfortable about investing in Kingspan. Its insulation products were used in Grenfell Tower, which caught fire in June 2017 with the loss of 72 lives. Some big investors such as Baillie Gifford have sold their holdings in the company as a result.

Kingspan has admitted 'unacceptable conduct and historical process shortcomings, involving a small number of employees' relating to selling its insulation for taller buildings despite the fact it failed fire tests. The firm says that the conduct of the employees involved 'does not reflect the high standards of integrity and safety that are core Kingspan values'.

Those wanting to buy into an insulation boom but to avoid this controversial company could look at Danish alternative Rockwool International. Its product is made out of volcanic rock. Rockwool shares are traded in euros but can be bought by UK shareholders on most wealth platforms. Somel, at M&G, rates the stock, which he holds in his fund, and says Rockwool is widely used.

'I live in a new flat development in London,' he says. 'Phase two of the development is being built next door and I look out of my window and see the Rockwool vans turning up to install the insulation.' Rock wool's shares are up 26 per cent this year. An alternative is Kingfisher. Keith Bowman, investment analyst at wealth platform Interactive Investor, says the company, which also owns DIY chain B&Q, is increasingly focused on the 'green homes' space.

He says: 'Kingfisher sells a growing array of products which could help homeowners 'green' their homes. Everything from insulation through to solar panels.'

Kingfisher shares are up nearly 4 per cent this year.

To invest in heat pump technology, Somel suggests Spirax Sarco. The firm makes heat pumps, currently concentrating on commercial buildings. However, he says that larger residential complexes are coming within its remit  and that the company is constantly innovating. Its shares are up 32 per cent in the last year.

Somel also suggests that green investors look at the potential of hydrogen, touted as the new green alternative to gas to heat our homes.

Two UK companies that you can buy that are working on this technology are Sheffield-based ITM Power, which makes the proton exchange membrane electrolysers necessary to turn renewable energy into hydrogen. Also Ceres Power which works on fuel cells.

ITM shares are up 76 per cent in the past 12 months and the company has just raised 250million to fund its business expansion.

Shares in Ceres are up 44 per cent over 12 months. Ceres has just appointed William Tudor Brown, co-founder of the British semiconductor success story Arm Holdings, to the board, which Somel says is 'excellent news.'

Green funds for home efficiency

Many investors who want to buy into green investment themes prefer to do so through diversified funds. For access to greening our built environment, there are specific funds for energy efficiency, but most funds tend to invest in numerous sustainable themes, such as renewable energy and electric vehicles.

For pure energy efficiency, Jason Hollands, managing director of investment platform Bestinvest, likes SDCL Energy Efficiency Income.

The investment trust has exposure to 41 projects, embracing energy storage, green energy distribution networks (for example, Stockholm's gas grid which is 70 per cent biogas), solar farms such as Onyx in the US, and UK electric vehicle charging infrastructure firm EV Networks.

However, the trust's shares trade at a hefty nine per cent premium to their asset value.

Hollands also rates fund WHEB Sustainability, which features resource efficiency as one of its key investment themes. Just under a quarter of the portfolio is focused on resource efficiency, with another 7 per cent in water management. The fund's price is up 50 per cent over three years.

James Carthew at investment trust analyst QuotedData, likes Triple Point Energy Efficiency, an energy saving fund that also owns some Scottish hydro power plants.

There is also the new Aquila Energy Efficiency Trust, which is targeting a yield of 5 per cent.

Aquila's strategy is to enter into contracts with big companies that want to green their buildings, paying for the upgrades upfront and then receiving a guaranteed proportion of the savings over time. This is still a new fund, so no relevant performance data is yet available.

Outside the pure energy efficiency space, Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell, says 'green' funds are very expensive because there is so much demand.

He says: 'The clamour for renewable energy infrastructure is so great at the moment that you will often have to pay over the odds as a retail investor. This is also a specialist investment area and that comes with risks attached.'

Khalaf suggests that more diversified sustainable funds may be a safer bet. A favourite is Liontrust Sustainable Future Global Growth.

He adds: 'The manager, Peter Michaelis, has been investing in sustainable stocks since before environmentalist Greta Thunberg was born.

'The fund invests in companies which are making the world cleaner, healthier or safer.'

The fund has generated a three-year return of 87 per cent, though its top holdings  the likes of scientific instrument maker Thermo Fisher and Google owner Alphabet  may not necessarily scream 'renewable energy' at you.
Once, the UK was self sufficient when it came to food. Today, more than half comes from abroad, with just 23 per cent of fruit and vegetables grown here, according to research based on Government data.

As recent weeks have shown, that reliance on imports can create serious shortages, with supermarkets routinely running out of goods that most consumers consider staple fare.

But there are other factors to consider too. Fruit and vegetables taste best when they are freshly picked. When produce comes from abroad, it is invariably at least a week old and can sometimes be in storage for months, peppered with preservatives and tasting of little or nothing.

A good buy: Fruit and vegetables taste best when they are freshly picked

There are energy considerations as well. The further food has to travel, the greater its environmental impact. The entire food industry is responsible for about 20 per cent of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions, according to scientists, with fruit and vegetable production accounting for a sizeable proportion of that total.

Light Science Technologies Holdings was founded expressly to increase the amount of fruit and vegetables the UK can grow locally, using advanced technology to improve yields, make food taste fresher and increase its nutritional value.

The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange's junior AIM market this month. The shares are 12.45p and should increase substantially in value as this country and others focus on producing more food closer to home.

Chief executive Simon Deacon started his own lighting business at the tender age of 19. Initially based in a portable cabin, the firm amassed clients including Marks & Spencer and Next, and left Deacon, 48, with a lifelong interest in lighting and electrical equipment.

In 2016, he acquired Manchester-based manufacturing firm, UK Circuits and Electronics Solutions. The business makes circuit boards, delivered 7million of turnover last year and has a strong order book, with customers including Rentokil Initial, top car makers and supermarkets.

In 2019, the business was tasked with creating lights for an indoor farm. The project was so successful that it spawned a new firm, Light Science Technologies.

Today, Light Science Technologies Holdings encompasses both the established circuit board business and the recently formed farming technology division.

Deacon, who lives on a working farm, is passionate about increasing the amount of food that the UK can grow locally. Recognising that plants react differently to every environment, he and his team have created more than 40 variations of lighting kit, individually tailored to growers' needs and used in glasshouses and polytunnels, as well as indoor (or vertical) farms.

Successful harvests from these structures do not just depend on lighting, however, so Light Science has developed sensors to monitor pretty much everything that plants need to thrive, from oxygen, carbon dioxide and humidity to the gentle breezes that foster growth at certain stages.

These sensors relay data in real time back to the Light Science laboratory. Technicians can then advise clients to increase or reduce nutrients and other products throughout the day  and even at night.

The technology has a dramatic effect on yields, allowing farmers to grow fruit and vegetables under cover all year round, rather than just in the summer.

This translates into more locally grown produce and much better income for farmers, many of whom are forced to import fruit and veg at a loss in winter, so they can fulfil supermarket contracts.

Energy and water consumption is reduced too while, crucially, the food tastes better when it is fresher. The equipment even allows growers to reduce or dispense with artificial pesticides and fertilisers, so enthusiasts believe that produce grown under cover can be considered as 'natural' and organic as top, field-based fare.

Deacon is working on contracts that should deliver turnover of more than 40million in the next few years and interested parties include Ocado-backed Jones Food Company, which recently started building Europe's largest vertical farm, just outside Bristol.

Huge glasshouses and polytunnels are far less appealing to the eye than rolling fields but, with Light Science's innovative kit, they can have a dramatic effect on how much fresh produce we can grow throughout the year, from salad leaves and strawberries to cucumbers and unusual varieties of carrot.

Vertical farms add to the mix and they can be erected on industrial estates, retail parks and even in city centres.

Midas verdict: Light Science Technology Holdings combines a robust, revenue-generating circuits business with an exciting new division, that operates in a fast-growing market and can help to solve some of the UK's knottiest food production issues. As a relatively young firm, the outlook is not risk-free but, for investors keen to support entrepreneurial UK businesses, the shares, at 12.45p, are a buy.

Ticker: LST Traded on: AIM Contact: lightsciencetechnologiesholdings.com or01332410601
Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein is exploiting a series of tax perks to undercut some of Britain's most successful online retailers, according to a major report seen by The Mail on Sunday.

The mysterious Chinese firm uses its tax advantages to sell products at significantly less than its British competitors and it has become a thorn in the side of Boohoo and Asos  despite operating in Europe for just seven years.

Global sales at Shein are forecast to approach $20billion (14.6billion) next year, which could eclipse some of the world's largest retailers including Zara-owner Inditex and H&M. In the UK, market sources estimate Shein's sales are now worth at least 250 million a year and are rising rapidly.

On the up: Made in Chelsea star Georgia Toffolo modelling Shein fashions

A 99-page report by investment bank Morgan Stanley states that tax exemptions alone mean Shein's costs are up to 20 per cent lower than its rivals. It says that allows it to undercut Manchester's low-priced fast fashion retailer Boohoo by 15 per cent and London-based Asos by 35 per cent. Shein's prices are now about half those of discount clothing retailer H&M, it added.

Boohoo's group sales in the UK will top 1billion this year  doubling market share on two years ago. But Morgan Stanley has cut profit guidance on Boohoo by 10 per cent for next year and reduced its recommendation for the stock to 'underweight'  meaning investors should cut their holdings. The bank also reduced its profit forecast for Asos in subsequent years, but it is not urging investors to sell.

Shein uses its efficient supply chain and customer behaviour data  collecting troves of information from social media and apps while adding thousands of new products to its website daily  to stoke demand. Its web traffic in Britain has doubled this year alone.

But its growing global dominance and secrecy have caught the eye of governments across the world including the UK  where its 'sinister' approach has been criticised by Tom Tugendhat MP, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee  and India where it was among dozens of Chinese apps banned over security concerns last year. In 2018, China waived export taxes for companies shipping direct to shoppers as a result of a trade war with former President Donald Trump. This appears to have added rocket fuel to Shein's already rapid growth ever since.

Shein is free from Chinese VAT and consumer taxes and is subject to lower corporation taxes. These incentives are awarded to it for manufacturing in China and then only selling its goods outside the country. Arriving in the UK by post, the parcels are of such low value that they are not subject to import duties as they would be if the goods were delivered to British distribution centres in shipping containers  the method used by other big retailers.

The bank's analysts said the company's 12-15 per cent 'order handling fee', which Shein applies to bigger deliveries to the UK, almost exactly mirrors the excise duty. It said that 'shipping to the end user exclusively from China' reaps a 'tax advantage' that has helped to reinforce the momentum driven by its well-honed product development strategy. Shein uses a 'test and reorder' model to fast-track popular outfits, has massive ranges and cheap sources of supply. It said suggesting its success relates to tax advantages alone would be a 'misunderstanding' of its model.

Morgan Stanley said Shein's current price advantage 'might not be sustainable should tax policies change' in China, Europe or the US.

French bank Credit Suisse said in a recent report that a reaction by Western governments 'to level up the playing field' with restrictions on direct imports of cheap Chinese goods could impede the company's progress.

It said: 'There are practical difficulties in monitoring or halting thousands of small-value packages, but we would not exclude governments eventually following the example of India.'

Morgan Stanley said the ease with which Shein has been able to get a foothold in the global fast-fashion market is 'the most extraordinary aspect' of the company's rise.

The bank added: 'Other similar or even more disruptive players could well emerge over the next ten years  further increasing pressure in this market.'
The powerful woman at the heart of a Westminster lobbying offensive by the 'buy now, pay later' giant Klarna can be revealed today. The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the Swedish financial technology firm has hired the wife of Pensions Minister Guy Opperman ahead of a Government crackdown on the online shopping phenomenon.

Flora Coleman joined the loans firm after a successful stint lobbying for payments firm Wise in the lead-up to its 9billion flotation on the London Stock Exchange. Klarna has landed a number of significant meetings with Ministers since Coleman became its global director of public affairs in July.

Billionaire founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski was granted a private audience with Treasury Minister John Glen. Klarna is understood to have pushed for the meeting since before Coleman joined the company.

Links: Klarna boss Sebastian Siemiatkowski, left, and Flora Coleman, right with her husband, Pensions Minister Guy Opperman

Siemiatkowski was also invited to deliver a speech at last week's Global Investment Summit for the world's most powerful investors, where the focus was green investment. He later attended a reception hosted by the Queen at Windsor Castle.

When Coleman was at Wise, she reportedly held a 'spouse pass' for the House of Commons, granting her access to Parliament's meeting rooms and bars as Opperman's wife. The MoS understands Coleman has not held a spouse pass at any time while at Klarna. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Klarna in its lobbying attempts, which have broken no rules.

Klarna has become one of the most talked-about 'fintechs' in the City after it attracted an eye-watering valuation of 33.1billion following investment from Japan's Softbank. London is up against New York in the race to win Klarna's blockbuster listing.

Glen is spearheading a Government push to rein in 'buy now, pay later' firms such as Klarna and its big Australian rival Clearpay, which allow customers to pay for their shopping in monthly instalments interest-free.

Thousands of online shops offer Klarna or Clearpay as payment options. But the products are unregulated. Klarna has faced criticism for offering loans without credit checks or ensuring customers can afford repayments.

The Financial Conduct Authority earlier this year called for 'very urgent' action after finding 'significant potential for consumer harm.'

The Treasury last week launched a consultation on new rules to protect customers, most of whom are younger shoppers. The sector has become a key target for regulators after 'buy now, pay later' spending boomed in the pandemic, tripling to 2.7billion in 2020 as Instagram influencers promoted the service.

Klarna's meeting with Glen is seen in the industry as a big coup. Sources said Clearpay, founded by 31-year-old billionaire Nick Molnar, tried to speak to Glen at the Conservative Party conference this month but was turned down. One source said: 'The Klarna meeting was completely independent of the other players. It wanted to warm relations, and Sebastian got some airtime with Glen  definitely more than any other provider. It seemed quite exclusive for Klarna.'

Siemiatkowski then earned a coveted invitation to last week's 'green' investment summit with the world's most affluent investors. The 40-year-old rubbed shoulders with BlackRock chairman Larry Fink, JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon, and Ana Botin, chief executive of Santander. The investor jamboree was also packed with top politicians. Boris Johnson, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss all gave speeches. Royals such as Princes Charles and William also attended the evening reception at Windsor Castle.

Though Klarna is not a big investor or UK corporation like most other summit attendees, it said it took climate change 'seriously' and last week announced a 750,000 investment into 'climate transformation' projects. It also announced an overhaul of operations last week  days before the Treasury launched plans to create new rules for the sector. Klarna said it would bring in stronger credit checks and penalise customers for missed payments. The sector expects the rules to be in place by the end of 2022 with stringent affordability checks and guarantees that customers will be treated fairly  especially those who struggle to repay.

The Government is encouraging fast-growing technology firms such as Klarna to list in London. Klarna has said it is considering London, but has previously suggested it is leaning towards New York.

Klarna said: 'We are one of the largest fintechs, operating globally in 17 markets. In the UK, we work with 17,000 retailers and serve 15million customers, so of course we engage with Government. We follow the highest standards to get the best for UK consumers.'
Flying taxis are set to shuttle passengers from Heathrow to cities in the south of England for the price of an Uber in just four years' time, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Under the plans, passengers arriving at the airport could take an electric air 'taxi' to London's Canary Wharf in just 13 minutes for around 50 per passenger. A similar journey in an Uber costs 46.

An air taxi from Heathrow to Cambridge would take 28 minutes and cost 58 per person, compared to 102 for an hour-and-a-half hour taxi or 52 for a two-hour train journey.

Up in the air: The ambitious project is being masterminded by British firm Vertical Aerospace in partnership with airline Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow

The ambitious project is being masterminded by British firm Vertical Aerospace in partnership with airline Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow.

Vertical Aerospace boss Stephen Fitzpatrick, who previously founded energy supplier Ovo, said he plans to revolutionise Britain's transport network by launching a fleet of electric air taxis to fly passengers around the UK more quickly and cheaply than by road and rail routes.

Bristol-based Vertical Aerospace estimates that air taxis produce lower carbon emissions per mile than electric vehicles or petrol cars, making them greener than taking an Uber.

In what Mr Fitzpatrick described as a 'major milestone' for electric flights, Vertical Aerospace has agreed a partnership with Heathrow to help launch the first air taxi flights from the airport by 2025.

Heathrow is exploring how Vertical's electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft could fit into its airlines' existing flight schedules and help ease congestion on surrounding roads.

Vertical's four-seater VA-X4 aircraft will shuttle passengers arriving at Heathrow to London and satellite cities including Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Southampton and Portsmouth.

The electric air taxis will be operated by Virgin Atlantic, which has ordered up to 150 battery-powered VA-X4 planes and is in talks to launch a Virgin-branded network of electric aircraft from Heathrow, Manchester and Gatwick. Other airlines are expected to follow suit as they look to cut carbon emissions.

As well as airport shuttles, Vertical plans to launch regional air routes opening up new connections across the UK including Belfast to Glasgow, Liverpool to Hull and Aberdeen to Edinburgh.

Its planes can travel more than 100 miles before recharging their lithium-ion batteries and have top speeds of 200 miles per hour, making air taxi flights around three times quicker than car journeys and five times faster than the train.

Company documents show the expected fare for a 50-minute trip from Liverpool to Hull could cost 112 and a 41-minute flight from Cardiff to Plymouth would cost 89.

The electric planes will produce around 5kg of carbon per passenger on a 90-mile flight, compared to 11kg for an electric vehicle and 38kg for petrol cars.

The air taxis will take off and land at 'vertiports' housing runways, passenger terminals and charging points, which could be based at airports, rural airfields, motorway service stations or on the rooftops of train stations and office buildings. Inner-city sites could be used for short-distance, on-demand 'air taxi' services, hailed by an app.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: 'This new generation aircraft bridges the gap between communities separated by inconvenient public transport or impassable terrain, facilitating new regional networks. Because, unlike helicopters, they are safe, clean and quiet, they will deliver huge benefits for densely populated cities too  more convenience and less congestion.'

Vertical Aerospace has taken $5.4billion of orders globally for up to 1,350 planes from customers including aircraft leasing giant Avolon, American Airlines and helicopter manufacturer Bristow. Spain's Iberojet, part of the Avoris tourism group, has ordered up to 100 aircraft that will island-hop between the Balearic and Canary islands.

It expects to be fully certified by 2024 under the stringent EASA safety standards  similar to large commercial airlines and 100 times safer than helicopters.

Futuristic: The air taxis will take off and land at 'vertiports' housing runways, passenger terminals and charging points

Its investors include engine-maker Rolls-Royce, industrial giant Honeywell and Microsoft, who are among those who will back Vertical's $398million fundraise by the end of the year through a $2.2billion listing on the New York stock-market. The firm aims to manufacture 10,000 aircraft by 2031, generating 30billion of revenue.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley estimates the air taxi market will be worth $3.7trillion globally by 2050, when there could be 58,795 flights each year.

Other pioneering firms are California-based Joby Aviation and German aerospace company Lilium.

British entrepreneur Martin Warner is raising $25million to develop the prototype for his Y6S Plus electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft into a fully certified six-seater plane. Once in production, he hopes to launch shuttles on nine routes across Greater London, with three aircraft on each route, before branching out to Paris and the US.

Mr Warner said: 'Flying cars will no longer be the preserve of sci-fi movies, they will be in the skies above us, using electric power to hover, take off and land vertically. And this will start to happen within the next three to five years.'

Mr Fitzpatrick added: 'Aviation is on the verge of a new revolution, one set to transform the industry just as Whittle's jet engines did ninety years ago.'

Heathrow's chief strategy officer Chris Annetts said: 'This emerging technology has the potential to reduce congestion and pollution on local roads, while providing passengers with a best-in-class experience on the cutting edge of modern technology.'
Rolls-Royce is being urged to carry out nuclear testing in the UK after it emerged that the company was considering using a site in northern Italy.

The engineering giant has shortlisted the SIET institute in Piacenza for testing work as part of its plan to build small nuclear reactors.

Domestic options for the tests include a proposed site on Anglesey, north Wales.

Plan: The engineering giant has shortlisted the SIET institute in Piacenza for testing work as part of its plan to build small nuclear reactors

MPs and unions have spoken out since The Mail on Sunday revealed last week that some of the work could take place in Piacenza. Mike Clancy, general secretary of the Prospect trade union, said: 'To justify taking these jobs offshore there should be a high bar and proof that there is not sufficient capacity or time to do the work indigenously.

'You would hope that it is not just about cost. In the current climate any major UK corporate should be asking questions about what would look like offshoring.'

The Conservative MP for Anglesey, Virginia Crosbie  a nuclear advocate known as the 'Atomic Kitten'  hopes to persuade the Government to fund a thermal hydraulic testing facility on the island.

She said: 'We should absolutely see this work done here. It is clearly in our national interest.'

A Rolls-Royce spokesman said: 'We have committed to source 80 per cent of this project by value in the UK and the priority for this business is to maximise UK content.'

Rolls estimates the project could create 34,000 jobs by the mid-2030s.


remaining of

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Carolyn Sue Bryant Ellis, 78, of Fort Walton Beach, FL, passed away on Sunday, October 24, 2021 at Somerby of Santa Rosa Beach, FL. Born March 15, 1943, at Dr. Daniel's Hospital in Pavo, Georgia, Carolyn was the youngest of nine children born to Franklin and Marie (Dailey) Bryant, of Route 2
Lori Borgman is a columnist, author and speaker. Her new book What Happens at Grandmas Stays at Grandmas is now available. Email her at lori@loriborgman.com.
Rocket the Pomeranian relaxes on the bed of The Ben hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 4. Not only are dogs allowed at The Ben (for a $125 fee), they are on-theme.
COLONIE  We hate each other. We've agreed to be disagreeable. We view the opposite side of the political aisle with distrust, if not disgust.

Thats the view of America you get on social media and cable news, a nation of two warring parties  red against blue, conservative versus liberal  with increasingly little in common except a willingness to demonize the other side.

That portrait isn't completely inaccurate, of course. Theres evidence of that divided America in a remarkable new poll from the Siena College Research Institute in Loudonville.

A full 31 percent of voters, for example, continue to believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former president Donald Trump  a belief held by 81 percent of voters who are politically right of center. Only 3 percent of left-of-center voters believe the same.

Jeff Boyer graphic / Times Union

Those sorts of findings suggest that the American experiment might be in trouble, that the distrust and animosity of us-versus-them are so deep that some sort of severance is inevitable, no matter how painful.

We can't have an honorable debate because we believe only one side has honor. We cant agree even on basic facts, and we may just disagree too much to ever get along.

But whats unique about the Siena poll, a massive survey of nearly 6,100 voters, is that it went beyond the usual political questions to ask about values. There, the findings became more encouraging, because they showed Americans largely agree on core values of liberty, equality and progress.

Nearly everyone surveyed  Trump voters and Biden voters, conservatives and liberals, New Englanders and Texans  said they strongly subscribed to and lived by the following statements:

 Protecting every Americans right to vote is important.

 All people are equal, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, physical appearance or any other physical characteristic.

 The religious beliefs and practices of all people should be both protected and respected.

 Each of us is free to follow our own unique path in life.

OK, those might seem obvious. Who wouldnt say all people should be equal or protecting the vote is important  and would someone ever admit believing otherwise?

And sure, it's fair to wonder whether respondents really live (and vote) by those values, or whether they're blowing a little smoke.

"I think people responded aspirationally," said Don Levy, who heads the nationally recognized Siena polling center. "It's the person you want to be, rather than perhaps the person you really are."

But hey, let's take agreement where we can find it, especially since some the of statements on which Americans mostly agreed were a touch more controversial. Such as:

No one, not even the government, should be able to restrict another's pursuit of happiness.

Or: No one should tell me how to live, how to love or what to think.

Jeff Boyer graphic / Times Union

Taken together, those and many other shared principles in what Siena calls its "American Values Study"  released this weekend  paint a portrait of all that we have in common, a sort of national creed that belies our ongoing culture wars.

Could it be were not so divided after all? But if thats true, why is it so ugly out there?

"We've got to recognize that were headed for a divorce," said Siena College President Chris Gibson, a former Republican congressman from Kinderhook. "We need an intervention ... This is a very serious moment."

That isn't Gibson's opinion alone. The same theme was hit repeatedly in one-on-one interviews Siena conducted as part of the survey, with respondents often expressing fear that the country they love is coming apart.

"It seems like what fundamentally held our country together is being shaken and I don't think that it's going to stand," said a 22-year-old woman from Colorado.

She added: "You politically can't really speak what you believe without at least one person in the room deciding that they hate you just because you agree with this political candidate versus this one."

Gibson blamed polarizing forces, including the gerrymandering of congressional districts, an increasingly partisan media landscape, and the willingness of Congress and other lawmakers to cede power to executives. Those and other factors reward extremes, instead of moderation, while making presidential elections feel like winner-take-all conquests.

But that isnt how our constitutional system is supposed to work.

"Weve walked away from a framework that made us work together," Gibson said. "We still have this language of shared values, but were not using it."

Meanwhile, political parties, special interest groups and cable news channels benefit from fueling division. Moderation and compromise don't fuel donations or ratings, while outrage, fear and hatred certainly do.

The suggestion isnt that Americans should agree on everything. That has never been the case, of course, and never will be. Certainly, our political divisions result from genuine policy disagreements.

Take abortion, for example. The Siena survey found that 36 percent of voters nationally believe abortion should almost always be illegal, while 43 percent said it should almost always be legal. No consensus, in other words.

But there used to be pro-choice Republicans and pro-life Democrats, before our increasingly rancorous partisanship led to a sorting on most every issue. Increasingly, if feels that each side just sees the world differently.

To the point: When asked by Siena if much of the mainstream news media is "fake news," zero percent of left-of-center voters said yes, while a whopping 85 percent of right-of-center voters, along with 67 percent of independents, felt differently.

But let's leave that distressing topic aside and return to the values section of the Siena survey. Consider whether you agree with these statements, which were among the least popular in the survey but were still generally agreed upon:

 No person is complete if they do not give of themselves in service to others.

 Everyone can speak their mind in public regardless of the viewpoint without fear of punishment.

 Not everyone starts off with the same set of tools or skills, sometimes we need to level the playing field by giving some people a head start.

Liberals generally agreed with that last declaration, which is essentially an endorsement of affirmative action, while conservatives did not.

"Thats the only statement, out of 34, where theres a dramatic difference between left and right," Levy said.

Levy and Gibson are hoping that the survey, one of the largest the Siena has undertaken, will launch a national conversation about what we share and how we might bind our divisions. Despite our very real and seemingly growing divisions, there might be seeds of hope within the big areas on which we agree.

"I am working hard to be optimistic based on this," Levy said. "Im pretty optimistic based on what people are saying, but Im not optimistic based on what our politics are generating."

Americans could probably agree about that, too.

cchurchill@timesunion.com  518-454-5442  @chris_churchill
Schenectady

If a human's legacy lasts as long as one person can remember his impact, the Rev. Phil Grigsby may be immortal. The beloved leader of Schenectady Community Ministries (SICM) for 33 years, he fought racism, organized a pantry that fed hundreds of thousands and forged interfaith alliances with rabbis, imams, priests and pastors to help lift people out of poverty. This month, one of his longtime dreams was realized when SICM opened its community hub, a 2-story tan and brown building where locals can attend cooking classes and learn nutritional information to combat diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and other ailments that often afflict the impoverished.

Last week, SICM named its enormous pantry after him.

Grigsby, who retired in December 2019, was prepared for his unique role heading what is now an interfaith alliance of 52 different congregations and groups founded in 1967. He was a graduate of Yale's divinity school and had an economics degree from Oberlin College. The day he arrived in Schenectady, General Electric had laid off 4,000 workers. The pantry was swamped. Grigsby not only made sure families in need were fed, he helped establish SAFE House, a haven for teenage runaways and "throwaways" who had no family to care for them. He also helped launch a State Street shelter for people with mental health issues and disabilities who were released from state-run facilities but had no social support system or relatives to help them adapt to life on their own. He helped raise funds for a community playground and enlisted volunteers to build it.

And he plans to continue doing what he can for SICM even in retirement. He's been given the honorary title "urban agent emeritus" for the nonprofit.

The Rev. Amaury Tanon-Santos became SICM's new executive director on March 15. He welcomed Grigsby's wife. Janet, there to represent her husband, who was unable to attend. SICM had an additional reason to celebrate; it had just gotten a $100,000 grant from the Schenectady Foundation's Food Access for All program. The Foundation said in a press release that it gifted $450,000 in grants this month to local pantries including SICM, the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, Rotterdams Messiah Lutheran Church, The Food Pantries for the Capital District, Capital Roots and The Schenectady Greenmarket,

And yes, the global supply chain disruption is having an impact on community pantries, not just grocery stores and farms.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

Camila Grande, SICM's outreach associate, said the most urgent need is "for cleaning supplies recently. We've also been getting a lot of calls from contact tracers (personnel who notify anyone who had close contact with someone who has COVID-19) requesting cleaning supplies so it is a real need."

If you can donate, here's a list of what Grande says are the pantry's current top needs:

 Sponges

 Lysol/Clorox spray and wipes

 Rubber gloves

 All-purpose cleaner

 Dish detergent

 Laundry detergent (not pods)

 Bathroom cleaner




TROY  A fire late Saturday displaced two households living in a downtown Troy rowhouse.

Six adults and three children were displaced following a fire at 344 Congress St., which is just south of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus. There were no injuries, said Assistant Chief Rich Cellucci.

The first and second floors incurred water and smoke damage, Cellucci said. The fire originated on the third floor, which was most heavily damaged. The cause remained under investigation on Sunday morning. One cat perished in the blaze.

The building will unlikely be required to be demolished, Cellucci said.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

"It can be rehabbed," he said.

The American Red Cross provided immediate emergency aid to seven people, including three children ranging in age from 11 to 17.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Republicans have succeeded this year in passing a range of voting restrictions in states they control politically, from Georgia to Iowa to Texas. They're not stopping there.

Republicans in at least four states where Democrats control the governor's office, the legislature or both  California, Massachusetts, Michigan and Pennsylvania  are pursuing statewide ballot initiatives or veto-proof proposals to enact voter ID restrictions and other changes to election law.

In another state, Nebraska, Republicans control the governor's office and have a majority in the single-house legislature, but are pushing a voter ID ballot measure because they have been unable to get enough lawmakers on board.

Republicans say they are pursuing the changes in the name of election integrity," and repeat similar slogans  easier to vote, harder to cheat. Democrats dismiss it as the GOP following former President Donald Trump's false claims that widespread fraud cost him the election. They say Republicans have tried to whip up distrust in elections for political gain and are passing restrictions designed to keep Democratic-leaning voters from registering or casting a ballot.

Its depressing that this is the way that (the Trump) wing of the Republican Party thinks they have to win, instead of trying to win on issues or beliefs, said Gus Bickford, the Democratic Party chairman in Massachusetts. They just want to suppress the vote.

A common thread among the Republican proposals is toughening voter identification requirements, both for in-person and mail voting.

In Michigan and Pennsylvania, Republicans are trying to get around Democratic governors who wield the veto pen. Wisconsin Republicans say they also are considering such a strategy.

In California and Massachusetts, Republicans are a minority in both houses of the legislature. In Republican-controlled Nebraska, the hang-up is an officially nonpartisan legislature where more liberal lawmakers can derail legislation that enjoys broad conservative support.

The road to gain voter approval is uphill in California and Massachusetts, but there's a clearer path to success in the other states.

The leader of the California effort, Carl DeMaio of Reform California, said his organization is pursuing a ballot initiative because Democratic lawmakers will never take up his group's proposals.

That would mean theyre validating Donald Trump, and they have so much hatred for Donald Trump that they dont even want to acknowledge that theres even a problem here," DeMaio said.

Trump's baseless election fraud claims aside, DeMaio said Trump's message is resonating with people who have had doubts about the election system based on their own experience, such as getting duplicate ballots mailed to them at home.

Voter fraud is exceedingly rare, and when it's attempted is typically caught by local election offices.

In any case, Democrats say voter ID laws will do nothing to prevent the little fraud that exists. Rather, it will serve only to force the elderly, poor and disabled to go to unnecessary lengths to get proper government-issued identification cards they may not have, they say.

Despite Trump's false claims of a stolen election, his own Justice Department and scores of recounts have debunked them, and courts up to the U.S. Supreme Court have swept aside such assertions. The government's own cybersecurity agency declared the 2020 presidential election the most secure in U.S. history.

No state legislature has produced evidence of widespread election fraud. Even so, at least 10 Republican-controlled states have enacted laws so far this year that toughen voter ID or signature requirements or pare back opportunities to register to vote or cast a ballot.

Putting voter-related matters to a statewide vote is nothing new.

In recent years, for example, voters in California and Florida restored felons' right to vote. In 2018, Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing people to register on Election Day and request absentee ballots without having to give a reason.

The difference this year is Republicans using the process in an attempt to enact restrictions they couldn't pass otherwise.

In California, Massachusetts and Nebraska, Republicans are trying to gather enough signatures to get their proposals on ballots in next years general election.

In Michigan, Republicans are using an unusual provision in the state constitution to gather enough petition signatures so the GOP-controlled Legislature can pass a veto-proof voter ID bill.

Among other things, the Michigan initiative would prohibit sending mail-in ballot applications to people who did not request them, with backers saying it sowed confusion and mistrust in 2020.

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Democratic leadership is out of step with their voters, said Jamie Roe, a Republican campaign consultant and strategist with the Secure MI Vote initiative.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, is preparing to veto similar legislation on her desk, telling reporters this month that there was not one scintilla of evidence of widespread voting fraud in last year's election and that Republicans are simply unhappy over Trump's loss.

Our elections work. You dont like the outcome? Well, then you run in the next election and try to win and earn peoples votes  not cut out a segment of people that cast their ballot as Americans and have a right to do that, Whitmer said.

In Pennsylvania, which allows no direct access to the ballot for citizen initiatives, the earliest the Republican-controlled Legislature could put its election changes on the ballot  through a proposed constitutional amendment  is 2023.

The Pennsylvania proposal is among several that would go beyond changes to voter ID.

As Trump allies go state to state, pushing partisan reviews of last years presidential election, the measure in Pennsylvania would require election results to be audited by the states auditor general. It would require paper ballots to bear a watermark and be open to public inspection after an election is certified.

The measure is awaiting a vote in the state House, perhaps as early as next week, before it can go to the Senate. Its sponsor, Republican Rep. Jeff Wheeland, said it will give back to the voters surety that their elections are safe and secure. Another Republican, Rep. Eric Nelson, said it would let voters address what many feel is a frenzy of mistrust in our current election system.

Democratic Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, referring to Trump's loss in the battleground state, said the only reason the measure is coming up is because some are disappointed in the result of the election."

Under the proposed initiative in California, counties would be required to do more to clean up voter registration rolls, evaluate wait times for in-person voting in every election and show how they will fix unreasonably long waits.

In Nebraska, groups including Black Votes Matter and the League of Women Voters have joined forces to oppose the Republican-backed ballot initiative.

John Cartier, director of voting rights for Civic Nebraska, said the initiative would violate Nebraska's constitutional protections for voting access. He said there has never been a single conviction for voter impersonation fraud in the state's history.

Besides, he said, states such as Arizona and Georgia already have tough voter ID laws and people dont really trust the system there, Cartier said. So passage of a voter ID law doesnt do anything for trust. If anything, it hurts it.

___

Associated Press writer David Eggert in Lansing, Mich., contributed to this report. Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/timelywriter.
Will Waldron/Times Union

COLONIE  The Siena College community is mourning the unexpected death of a junior who was discovered at his residence Sunday morning.

The student was a marketing major from Madison County and lived in the Cushing Village townhouses. The Times Union is not releasing the student's name as the college said his death is not considered suspicious, and was not related to COVID-19.
BELT, Mont. (AP)  The town of Belt was built on coal.

For 50 years men worked the mines ringing the small town east of Great Falls. The coal they harvested was first used to power the paddle-wheelers that once plied the Missouri River. Later it fired the smelters of the Anaconda Copper Company, churning out the copper so desperately needed to electrify America.

But when Belts coal mines played out in the 1920s, they left behind a legacy of acid mine drainage that has fouled the waters of Belt Creek for nearly a century.

From late fall through early spring, when the flow of Belt Creek is at its lowest, the water running through Belt and north to the Missouri River turns dark orange, a telltale sign of the high concentration of sulfuric acid draining into it.

A long awaited project to capture and treat the polluted mine runoff before it reaches the creek got underway in early October. Given a little time to heal itself, the lower reaches of Belt Creek are expected to run clean once again, likely before the end of the decade.

Ive been working on this thing for 15 years, Cascade County Commissioner Jim Larson told the Great Falls Tribune. This is a big deal, not just for the people of Belt, but for all of Cascade County.

The push to clean up coal mine waste  not just in Belt Creek but at thousands of abandoned mine sites across the country  began in 1977 when Congress passed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). The Act established a new tax upon coal production in the United States, with money set aside to bear the cost of environmental mitigation at coal mines abandoned prior to 1977.

It applies a tax for surface mined coal of 28.5 cents a ton, explained Bill Snoddy, program manager of the Montana Department of Environmental Qualitys Abandoned Mine Lands Program. The federal government keeps half of that tax to administer the law, and the other half goes to the state where the coal was produced. We take that money and put it into projects like this.

While Montanas Abandoned Mine Land Program (AML) has successfully taken on close to 300 projects across the state since its establishment in 1980, the project at Belt Creek counts as one of the largest and most expensive it has ever attempted.

This is a really big project, Snoddy said. This is a big deal for my program. Were excited about it. Its going to make a big difference for the town of Belt when its all finished.

When completed, the Belt Creek Water Treatment Plant will have the capacity to treat the more than 80 million gallons of acid mine drainage that contaminates Belt Creek each year. The cost to complete the plant alone is estimated at between $7 million and $9 million.

Perhaps even more impressive are the measures AML is taking to ensure operations and maintenance at the Belt Creek Plant will continue far into the foreseeable future. An endowment of approximately $17 million will be established to cover the plants $500,000 annual operating costs with little or no additional expense to the people of Belt or Cascade County.

We dont charge individuals or a town like Belt for services we can provide, Snoddy explained. Its all funded by active coal mines in the state, and were very cognizant of their contribution and use the money well. Its taken since 2013 to save up enough money to have that operations and management cushion before we could go forward.

The problem at abandoned coal mines like those in Belt stems from the presence of naturally occurring pyrite nodules within the exposed coal seam. As groundwater flows into the open mine workings it comes into contact with these pyrite nodules, which can be up to four inches in diameter.

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The pyrite breaks down, forming iron hydroxide and sulfuric acid. Water discharged from the mine becomes acidic, with a pH factor roughly equivalent to Coca-Cola. The drainage also contains extremely high levels of dissolved metals such as aluminum, cadmium, nickel and zinc that turn orange when exposed to oxygen.

Contaminated water now flowing from the abandoned mine openings (called adits) will be pumped to the treatment plant where it will be blended with hydrated lime. The lime neutralizes the sulfuric acid, allowing the suspended metals to settle out.

What remains is the treated water that will be pumped back into Belt Creek, and a thick sludge that remains at the bottom of settling ponds. The sludge is then pressed and dried to remove any remaining water.

The final destination for the tons of sludge that will be generated by the treatment plant has yet to be determined. Most likely it will either be disposed of at a licensed landfill or deposited at a DEQ repository established near Belt. One other alternative would be to re-inject the sludge back into the underground mine workings.

Theres nothing particularly hazardous about the sludge, said Drew Herrera, project manager for Spectrum Engineering and Environmental, the Billings-based firm that has been awarded the contract to build the Belt Creek Water Treatment Plant. Its just iron and water. It does have other metals in it, but theres nothing inherently dangerous about it. Theres no sulfuric acid once the sludge is generated.

Technical aspects aside, the real benefits of the acid mine waste project at Belt will be realized when the creek returns to being the clear mountain stream it once was, more than a century ago.

For people to be able to be out in their backyard and have a good view of clean water, kids being able to play in it, people being able to fish in it. Thats my goal, Snoddy said of the streams future. Thats what I would like to see, and its absolutely doable.
When I was growing up, my father served as president of our local school board. He had a demanding job with a long commute, he coached youth sports and volunteered at our church. But he found time to preside over school board meetings that went late into the night because he believed in education.

Way too often for his family, my dad listened as parents and others in the audience made it known that they thought he was wrongheaded, to put it politely, on some issue.

Luckily for him, the worst thing that happened was that someone would write a nasty letter to our local paper about the board and its decisions.

The good old days. As we know, we live in a different world now.

Across New York and America, in hundreds of school districts, angry mobs attend school board meetings, and board members are screamed at, sworn at and attacked online.

News outlets and social media conflict entrepreneurs publish videos from these meetings, inciting followers to pile on. With no proof, the worst motives are ascribed to board members. Some have even received death threats.

On Sept. 30, the National School Boards Association, in a letter to President Joe Biden, asked the federal government to help stop school board threats, calling them a kind of domestic terrorism. That same week, a Nevada school board member resigned after having suicidal thoughts over the threats he received about school board policies.

Most New York residents are not actively attacking their boards of education. But those of us who support the hard work and commitment of those involved in education in America must ask ourselves if we fully understand what these attacks are doing to us, and what can be done to counter them.

The first thing we must consider is our children. They are watching this behavior, trying to process what it means. Whats going through their young minds cannot be good. How can anyone  even if they fervently believe they are on the right side of an issue  wish death or violence on those who disagree with them?

Most school board members are unpaid volunteers and are honest, hardworking people who want to help their communities. They didnt sign up to be praised or admired. They simply wanted to help with the necessary tasks of running a school district bureaucracy. They certainly didnt join these boards to be harassed or worse, terrorized.

Far from being agents of radicalization, todays school board members check and recheck spreadsheets, find money for team uniforms and search for ways to save taxpayers money. They stay current on issues that are impacting their communities  issues you dont see on cable news, but that can make the lives of children just a little better.

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Those of us who appreciate the work of our school boards need to find ways of publicly expressing our support. We cannot let the handful of extreme voices be the only thing that our boards  and our children  hear.

I dont want to live in a community, state or country where volunteers doing good are attacked and terrorized by those who fall for misinformation that has been carefully designed to outrage and incite. My neighbors feel the same way, but we seem to be no match for these information pollution machines.

But we cannot despair. Instead, we can begin by cleaning up our own backyards, keeping phones away from our children, monitoring our own intakes of information, remembering what the world was like before we were constantly bombarded by biased news.

We can think together about how we should teach responsible digital citizenship in schools, and we can aspire to be good digital citizens ourselves. We dont have to directly confront hateful protesters, but our lives can be an example of decency our children can model and that can give others heart.

While were at it, we should take the time to thank school board members for their service.

My father often used to tell me: It is nice to be important, but it is important to be nice. As a child, I often rolled my eyes. Now I see his point. The talk radio hosts and cable news stars get rich off our anger, while the thankless, and now also dangerous, work of running schools goes on. We must do better than this.

Jeff Frank is associate professor and department chair in the education department at St. Lawrence University in Canton.
Catholic Funeral Liturgy for Mary Casuccio will be at St. Peter the Fisherman Catholic Church on November 23, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. Interment follows at Mt. Carmel Cemetery. Arrangements are under the care of Domico Funeral Home.
[October 24, 2021] From grassroots to lawmaker: A glimpse of China's 'whole-process democracy'

BEIJING, Oct. 24, 2021 /CNW/ -- The notion of Chinese democracy is not the same as that in the West. The political system in China is more about consensus building within a greater voice rather than the protracted bargaining to arrive at decisions common in the West. The country's application of democratic principles follows an approach Chinese President Xi Jinping has termed "whole-process people's democracy." The concept was put forward about two years ago, during Xi's visit to a civic center in Shanghai. Based on people's congress system, the "whole-process people's democracy" enables the Chinese people to broadly and continuously participate in the day-to-day political activities at all levels, including democratic elections, political consultation, decision-making and oversight. The story of Chinese lawmaker Liu Li gives a glimpse into how China's whole-process democracy operates. A foot masseuse's way up to China's top legislature Liu, a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) China's top legislature, has fought her way to the influential position from the grassroots. She was born in a poor rural family in Yingshang, a small county in east China's Anhui Province. She quit school at the age of 14 and worked to support the education of her four siblings. After leaving home penniless, she went to Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province to work as a waitress and nanny before finding a job as an apprentice in a foot massage center in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province. Her humble background didn't stop her charitable giving. Liu dropped out of school, but she didn't want others to be like her. From 2006 to 2010, she sponsored over 100 students. Liu's goodwill made her a national celebrity. She was called "the most beautiful foot masseuse in China" nd later became a representative for migrant workers and the rural population in China's top legislative body.



In 2012, Liu was elected as a deputy to the local legislature in Xiamen and became an NPC deputy in 2013. A year later, she moved back to Anhui, where she runs a foot massage parlor and a community center for seniors. She was elected as a deputy for the 13th NPC. 'Democracy is not for decoration'

Unlike legislators in the West who make a career of politics, China's NPC deputies, like Liu, work part-time, and many of them are ordinary citizens from all walks of life, including farmers, factory workers, craftsmen, and even street cleaners. At the annual full session, NPC deputies review and vote on important legal documents and personnel changes, including electing China's president and vice president every five years and submitting motions and proposals. Liu's proposals have focused on disadvantaged groups, such as the elderly, children and migrant workers. In 2018, Liu proposed establishing local "one-stop" help centers to investigate child sexual abuse cases to the NPC. Her proposal was addressed by the NPC and measures were adopted. Prosecution authorities in Anhui's Dingyuan County took the lead and set up a juvenile legal education center to handle such cases and minimize the negative impact on children during investigations. Now, there are 15 such centers in the province. Liu's suggestions originated from close contact with local communities. When the NPC is not in session, she visits fellow migrant workers' homes and collects their opinions online. She also listens to comments on society from her clients who come from all walks of life. Liu's story is only one example of how grassroots deputies respond to people's needs and how people's congresses contribute to China's "whole-process democracy." As Xi observed, "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." There are five levels of people's congresses. The deputies are elected by their respective constituencies, either directly or indirectly. NPC deputies are elected by the people's congresses of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. At the lower levels of township and county, deputies to people's congresses are elected directly by voters, accounting for a majority of deputies at all levels. They elect deputies to people's congresses of cities, who in turn elect deputies at the provincial level. In 2019, there were a total of 2.67 million deputies of people's congresses of all levels, including 590,000 at the county-level, and 1.94 million at the township level. Deputies at the two levels accounted for 95 percent of the total number. "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," Xi has said. https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-10-24/A-glimpse-of-China-s-whole-process-democracy--14BX3wxFJCg/index.html View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/from-grassroots-to-lawmaker-a-glimpse-of-chinas-whole-process-democracy-301407115.html SOURCE CGTN

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[October 24, 2021] SES-17 Successfully Launched on Ariane 5

SES announced today that the SES-17 satellite was successfully launched into space onboard an Ariane 5 launcher operated by Arianespace (News - Alert) from the Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 11:10 pm local time (02:10 am UTC). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211023005019/en/ SES (News - Alert)-17 Successfully Launched on Ariane 5 (Photo: Business Wire) The multi-mission Ka-band satellite will provide comprehensive coverage across the Americas, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean. From its orbital slot of 67.1 degrees West orbital slot, the very high throughput geostationary (GEO) satellite incorporating cutting-edge technologies is set to deliver the best connectivity experience for SES customers operating in the aeronautical, maritime, enterprise, and government markets. Built by Thales (News - Alert) Alenia Space, SES-17 marks an important milestone in satellite technology as the first Ka-band geostationary satellite to embark a fully digital payload powered the most powerful digital transparent processor (DTP) ever placed in orbit. It will have nearly 200 user beams that can be connected to any other beam at any time. This, combined with the ability to dynamically change the power and frequency allocation of any beam, means that SES-17 can adapt to changing customer needs in real-time. It is also the first GEO satellite to use Adaptive Resource Control (ARC), an industry-first software system that leverages the full flexibility of totally digital payloads to autonomously adapt space and ground resources on the fly to meet customer needs. Equipped with an all-electric propulsion system, the satellite will reach orbit as of mid-2022. When operational, anchor customer Thales InFlyt Experience will use SES-17's connectivity to power its next-generation aviation connectivity solution, FlytLIVE. Thales InFlyt Experience will ensure both crew and passengers will have an always-on high-speed Wi-Fi connection at peak times and in high-traffic routes while optimising bandwidth. "Today's launch of SES-17 is an exciting milestone for our FlytLIVE Connectivity Solution currently flying within the United States," said Craig Olson (News - Alert), Vice President at Thales InFlyt Experience. "The network and satellite architecture was specifically developed for the unique connectivity requirements of our commercial aviation customers and their passengers. With SES-17, FlytLIVE will provide full coverage for the entire Americas and North Atlantic Corridor delivering an unmatched connectivity experience in the air." "We are immensely excited to have SES-17 join our GEO fleet and medium earth orbit (MEO) constellation. SES-17 is the fruit of a successful collaboration between the Thales Group, Thales Alenia Space and SES, and will enable us to address the exponential connectivity demands in aviation and maritime, and to accelerate digital inclusion initiatives across the Americas," said Steve Collar, CEO of SES. "Thanks to rianespace, SES-17 is now on its way to orbit. We are looking forward to SES customers being able to leverage the high throughput, global reach and low-latency of SES's multi-orbit, interoperable Ka-band satellite network comprising SES-17 and our upcoming O3b mPOWER constellation."



"What a launch - SES-17 has mobilised all Thales Alenia Space experts - from the innovative design of the satellite itself to the last combined operations - and is now on its way to orbit. Fully-digital and highly-innovative, SES-17 will benefit from all the state-of-art technologies we have developed to fulfil the market's connectivity needs," said Herve Derrey CEO of Thales Alenia Space. Follow us on:

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About SES SES has a bold vision to deliver amazing experiences everywhere on earth by distributing the highest quality video content and providing seamless connectivity around the world. As the leader in global content connectivity solutions, SES operates the world's only multi-orbit constellation of satellites with the unique combination of global coverage and high performance, including the commercially-proven, low-latency Medium Earth Orbit O3b system. By leveraging a vast and intelligent, cloud-enabled network, SES is able to deliver high-quality connectivity solutions anywhere on land, at sea or in the air, and is a trusted partner to the world's leading telecommunications companies, mobile network operators, governments, connectivity and cloud service providers, broadcasters, video platform operators and content owners. SES's video network carries over 8,650 channels and has an unparalleled reach of 361 million households, delivering managed media services for both linear and non-linear content. The company is listed on Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges (Ticker: SESG). Further information is available at: www.ses.com. About Thales Alenia Space Drawing on over 40 years of experience and a unique combination of skills, expertise and cultures, Thales Alenia Space delivers cost-effective solutions for telecommunications, navigation, Earth observation, environmental management, exploration, science and orbital infrastructures. Governments and private industry alike count on Thales Alenia Space to design satellite-based systems that provide anytime, anywhere connections and positioning, monitor our planet, enhance management of its resources, and explore our Solar System and beyond. Thales Alenia Space sees space as a new horizon, helping to build a better, more sustainable life on Earth. A joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), Thales Alenia Space also teams up with Telespazio (News - Alert) to form the parent companies' Space Alliance, which offers a complete range of services. Thales Alenia Space posted consolidated revenues of approximately 1.85 billion euros in 2020 and has around 7,700 employees in 10 countries with 17 sites in Europe and a plant in the US. www.thalesaleniaspace.com About Thales Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global leader in advanced technologies, investing in digital and "deep tech" innovations - connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and quantum computing - to build a confident future crucial for the development of our societies. The Group provides its customers - businesses, organisations and governments - in the defense, aeronautics, space, transport, and digital identity and security domains with solutions, services and products that help them fulfil their critical role, consideration for the individual being the driving force behind all decisions. Thales has 81,000 employees in 68 countries. In 2020 the Group generated sales of 17 billion. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211023005019/en/

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[October 24, 2021] Onbe Becomes One of First Corporate Disbursement Platforms to Join U.S. Faster Payments Council

Onbe, a market-leading corporate disbursements platform, announced today that it has accepted the invitation to join the U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC), an industry-led membership organization dedicated to advancing faster payments in the United States. Onbe is one of the first corporate disbursement platforms to join the FPC, connecting with banks, software companies and corporations seeking to realize and promote the advantages of faster payments for businesses, financial institutions and consumers-including cost savings, efficiency, risk reduction, choice and immediate gratification. The FPC was established in 2018 to use a collaborative, problem-solving approach to promoting the adoption of real-time payments in the U.S. Driving creation of key infrastructure for real-time payments is key to ensuring U.S. businesses stay competitive globally. Onbe joins Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase and Microsoft (News - Alert) in the FPC's growing member base as they discuss and work to overcome barriers to real-time payments adoption, including the need for smoother integration with legacy corporate disbursement systems. "At Onbe, we focus on our clients and their customers-designing products, delivering diverse payment types and leveraging the payment experience to engage their end users," said David Josephs, President and Chief Opeating Officer of Onbe. "Onbe provides comprehensive solutions that help corporations deliver payments however they need. Real-time payments represent the next generation of options for corporate disbursements. The opportunity to collaborate with other companies working to make real-time payments a reality-and actively shape the future of faster payments and advocate for our clients' best interests in this space-made joining the FPC an easy decision."



Real-time payments enable advanced security features, transparency and consumer choice, equipping organizations to more securely deliver and track payments, as well as offer an improved experience for recipients. Companies that are still using expensive paper-based payments have the opportunity to operate more sustainably with digital solutions, while significantly lowering costs, paper waste and processing time. Research from Deloitte found that a typical high-income economy could save $87 million USD after using real-time payments for five years. When working with a disbursements company such as Onbe, organizations can not only achieve faster, more cost-efficient payments, but reduce the burden of administrative tasks including escheatment management and customer service, as well as unlock new ways to engage payment recipients through personalized experiences and promotions. "Onbe specializes in corporate disbursement use cases that can benefit from real-time payments-such as paying freelance workforces and offering instant disbursement solutions to recipients," said Reed Luhtanen, Executive Director of the FPC. "They have a nuanced grasp of why faster payments matter in every area of work and life, but particularly when it comes to building and managing impactful corporate payments programs. We are thrilled that they are adding their voice to the conversation about the advantages and opportunities that come with real-time payments."

Onbe has a 25-year track record of delivering innovative payments solutions on behalf of corporations. Onbe's products feature digital payment options including instant virtual prepaid cards, physical prepaid cards, push-to-card, Same Day ACH and faster global transfers. About Onbe Onbe, with offices in Chicago, Philadelphia and London, creates engaging corporate disbursement experiences on behalf of modern brands for consumers, workforces and marketplaces, delivering value beyond currency. Backed by top-tier investors and with over 25 years of industry experience, Onbe's team of experts and purpose-built payment issuing platform seamlessly connect brands to their constituents around the world. www.onbe.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211024005017/en/

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[October 24, 2021] EIG Signs Agreement to Acquire 10% Interest in APLNG for US$1.592 Billion

EIG, a leading institutional investor to the global energy and infrastructure sectors, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement under which it will acquire a 10% interest in Australia Pacific LNG Pty Limited ("APLNG" or the "Project") from Origin Energy Limited ("Origin") for an equity purchase price of $1.592 billion. This innovative agreement represents the first ever acquisition of an interest in an operational integrated LNG project by a private equity sponsor. Asset Highlights and Strategic Rationale A tier-one, integrated LNG project with an established liquefaction facility, APLNG is the largest LNG project by liquefaction capacity on Australia's eastern seaboard and a major supplier of LNG to Asia and gas to Australia's domestic market. The Project, which is located in Gladstone, Queensland, has a track record of consistently achieving its nameplate capacity of 9.0 Mtpa and holds a leading acreage position spanning the prolific Surat and Bowen basins, providing long-life reserves. The Project operates at globally competitive breakeven costs and is well positioned to meet growing LNG demand in the Asia-Pacific region. The Project is operated by ConocoPhillips (downstream operator) and Origin Energy (upstream operator) and maintains long-dated LNG contracts with two investment grade counterparties, Sinopec and Kansai Electric. Over th last fifteen years, EIG has invested in nine separate LNG projects located in six countries, and this acquisition represents a continuation of its strategy to gain exposure to high-quality LNG assets. The acquisition also builds on EIG's investment presence in Australia and provides EIG with a platform for future growth in global LNG.



R. Blair Thomas, Chairman and CEO of EIG, said, "This is a groundbreaking transaction that reflects our strong confidence in the asset, our partners, and the importance of LNG as a critical enabler of the energy transition. The transaction leverages EIG's extensive experience in global LNG to deliver an attractive, steady stream of cash flows for our investors." Key Transaction Details

As part of the transaction, EIG will have the right to nominate one member to APLNG's Board of Directors and will maintain customary shareholder rights and protections. The transaction has received approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board and is subject to the waiving of pre-emptive rights by ConocoPhillips and Sinopec, as well as other customary completion conditions. Morgan Stanley acted as EIG's financial advisor in connection with this transaction and Allens Linklaters and Latham & Watkins acted as legal advisors. About EIG EIG is a leading institutional investor to the global energy and infrastructure sectors with $22.5 billion under management as of June 30, 2021. EIG specializes in private investments in energy and energy-related infrastructure on a global basis. During its 39-year history, EIG has committed over $38.0 billion to the energy sector through more than 373 projects or companies in 38 countries on six continents. EIG's clients include many of the leading pension plans, insurance companies, endowments, foundations and sovereign wealth funds in the U.S., Asia and Europe. EIG is headquartered in Washington, D.C. with offices in Houston, London, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong and Seoul. For additional information, please visit EIG's website at www.eigpartners.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211024005041/en/

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Dialpad is making moves down under yet again after recently announcing a new strategic partnership with technology service provider, CNS. As part of this new relationship, the two companies plan to work together to empower Australian organizations by offering DialPads cloud-native communications solutions.

CNS holds a reputation as one of Australias leading sources for cloud communication resources, and has grown its staff dramatically over the last year to meet the increasing demands of customers across the region. While CNS decided to partner with Dialpad to offer customers a wider range of communications solutions, CNS also revealed that it sought a relationship with DialPad to improve its own internal communications.

We firmly believe in a practice what you preach approach to our business. We chose Dialpad for our own team communication because it had all the features we needed and more - including global availability, a reliable Microsoft (News - Alert) Teams direct routing integration and instant transcriptions, said Alex Huntington, Managing Director, CNS. We need to have confidence in the technology we recommend to customers, and we wouldnt give them a solution we wouldnt use ourselves. Now, we know firsthand that Dialpad delivers an intuitive, secure platform and phenomenal post-sales support, so we are excited to bring the platform to our own customers.

As a result of this new deal, CNS and participating Australian customers can now take advantage of call capabilities, messaging, and customer support solutions in a completely unified platform. Organizations will also have the ability to easily integrate with Microsoft Teams, one of the most popular video conferencing solutions in the country.

As Microsoft Teams continues to be the predominant meeting solution in Australia, especially during lockdowns, we are thrilled to be partnering with CNS who holds Gold partnership status with Microsoft on Cloud Productivity so more companies can take advantage of our Dialpad for Microsoft Teams direct routing integration, said Gerard DOnofrio, Australia Country Manager, Dialpad. When using this integration, Microsoft Team users benefit from Dialpads enterprise-grade telephony features and award-winning Vi capabilities within the Microsoft Teams native environment. Together, Dialpad and CNS will help businesses transform the way they connect, communicate and collaborate.

Edited by Maurice Nagle
Kansas City homeless advocates & neighborhood leaders prepare to debate another season of 12th & Oak subsidy for the less fortunate as the weather turns cold.



The homeless crisis continues but round II offers a new spin . . .



- Neighborhood leaders argue that the Mayor's "generosity" has inspired more homeless residents to flock toward KCMO and earn desperately needed benefits, food and a shot at free housing.



- Violence among the homeless is rising. Despite warnings from neighborhood leaders a recent fatal stabbing at an urban core camp was ignored by both the Mayor & City Manager's office.

- Finally, Cares Act cash & Prez Biden Stimmy is running out. Rampant spending to keep the "house-less" comfy this Winter might be a tougher sell this time around.

Accordingly . . .



CLEVER KANSAS CITY URBAN CORE DENIZENS HAVE NOW STARTED CALLING HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS: QUINTON LUCAS ESTATES!!!



The moniker is already catching on . . . Recently, a few signs have been removed from local camps in order to spare any embarrassment. Meanwhile, neighborhood snark seems to undermine Mayor Q's largess via Kansas City taxpayer cash.

Developing . . .


Sadly, the newspaper mostly just blogs social media nowadays.



A recent missive seemed to hyperventilate over the prospect of Christians training for hand-to-hand combat amid the American culture war.

However . . .

The event isn't happening because nobody cared.



Aftermath . . . The newspaper looks silly for believing a social media troll post and readers might question the value of a so-called "institution" using their rapidly dwindling resources to cover trolling posts from reactionaries.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . .
Here's the background on a historic meetup already underway . . .



"Less than three weeks after Bidens visit to the Vatican on Friday, the American bishops will convene in Baltimore, with one of the agenda items inspired in part by conservatives who contend that Bidens support for abortion rights should disqualify him from receiving Communion. Though any document that emerges is not expected to mention Biden by name, its possible there could be a clear message of rebuke."

The local angle . . .

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas has been a loud critic of the Prez. He said he fears for the soul of the White House leader and has expressed some questions about the Commander-In-Chief taking holy communion.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . .
VinFast has officially become the first Vietnamese automaker to unveil a vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show. This week, the new global brand revealed two electric SUVsthe VF e35 and VF e36as part of a planned expansion to the United States, Canada, and Europe before the end of 2022.
A United Airlines 737-800 is filled with standard jet fuel at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport last week. Global airlines aim to replace most of this type of petroleum-based fossil fuel over the coming decades with Sustainable Aviation Fuel derived from plants or waste materials.
Mrs. Evelyn Holland Reddick Dixon, 81, passed away on Nov. 14, 2021. A funeral service will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021, at 11 a.m. in the Williams Funeral Home Chapel in Milledgeville. A burial service will be held at 2 p.m. in the Alligood Cemetery in Laurens County. The family wil
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Addis Ababa, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Oct, 2021 ) :Ethiopia's military launched an air strike on a rebel-held facility in Tigray's west on Sunday, a government official said, the seventh aerial bombardment in the war-hit region in a week.

"Today the western front of (Mai Tsebri) which was serving as a training and military command post for the terrorist group TPLF has been the target of an air strike," government spokeswoman Selamawit Kassa said, referring to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government has been locked in a war against the TPLF since last November, though Tigray itself had seen little combat since late June, when the rebels seized control of much of Ethiopia's northernmost region and the military largely withdrew.

But on Monday Ethiopia's air force launched two strikes on Tigray's capital Mekele that the UN said killed three children and wounded several other people.

Since then there have been three more strikes on Mekele and another targeting what the government described as a weapons cache in the town of Agbe, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) to the west.

The strikes coincide with ramped-up fighting in Amhara region, south of Tigray.

They have drawn rebukes from Western powers, with the US last week condemning "the continuing escalation of violence, putting civilians in harm's way".

A strike Friday on Mekele forced a UN flight carrying 11 humanitarian personnel to turn back to Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, and the UN subsequently announced it was suspending its twice-weekly flights to the region.

The conflict has spurred fears of widespread starvation, as the UN estimates it has pushed 400,000 people in Tigray into famine-like conditions.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Kampala, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Oct, 2021 ) :Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said Sunday an explosion in the capital Kampala that killed one person and injured five was "a terrorist act", vowing to hunt down those responsible.

Police said a "serious blast" occurred at around 9 pm (1800 GMT) on Saturday at a grilled pork joint in Komamboga, a northern Kampala suburb popular with roadside diners.

Museveni said he had been briefed that three people left a plastic shopping bag at the scene that later exploded, killing one person and injuring five others.

"It seems to be a terrorist act but we shall get the perpetrators," Museveni said on Twitter.

He said investigators were still combing the bomb site and more details would be released later, including advice for the public about "dealing with these possible terrorists".

"The public should not fear, we shall defeat this criminality like we have defeated all the other criminality committed by the pigs who don't respect life," Museveni said.

Masked anti-terrorism police dressed in black fatigues held journalists and members of the public several hundred meters (yards) back from the blast site on Sunday.

Police forensic officers in white overalls could be seen examining areas close to the scene.

The explosion occurred about two hours after the start of a nationwide dusk-to-dawn coronavirus curfew.

Security forces rushed to the scene in Komamboga, a fast-growing suburb about eight kilometers (five miles) north of Kampala city center.

Roadside eateries with plastic furniture cater to local residents there, particularly young professionals moving into newly-constructed apartment buildings in the once-rural area.

Local mayor Emmanuel Sserunjogi said the bombing took place in an area popular with revellers looking for roasted meat and drinks on a night out.

"The community are frightened. It was such a terrible act. People were woken up by the sound of the bomb," he told AFP.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Oct, 2021 ) :Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan stepped down from his post on Sunday.

Chief Minister Jam Kamal has tendered his resignation to the Balochistan governor after talks at a meeting held at the Governor House.

His resignation came following weeks of political tussle in the province after disgruntled members of the ruling Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) tabled a no-confidence motion against the CM.

The Governor Balochistan has accepted the resignation tendered by Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan.
MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2021) Belarusian military pilots will send more than 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Tajikistan, the Belarusian Ministry of Defense said on Sunday.

"Military pilots to deliver humanitarian aid to Tajikistan.

Belarusian rescuers have already loaded more than 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid into the Il-76MD military transport aircraft at the airport in (the town of) Machulishchy," the ministry said in a statement.

The cargo includes power generators, tents, food and medical products, the statement read, adding that the Belarusian military aircraft is heading for the Tajik city of Hisor.

The emergencies ministry, in turn, said that the list of goods offered as humanitarian aid was worked out with the Tajik side. The aid is valued at over $410,000.
Luxembourg is considering allowing the cultivation of cannabis at home for personal non-medical use, local media reported Friday

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd October, 2021) Luxembourg is considering allowing the cultivation of cannabis at home for personal non-medical use, local media reported Friday.

The decision, if made, could set a precedent in the European Union.

Under the proposal put forward by the government, adult residents of Luxembourg would be allowed to grow up to four cannabis plants per household, the Luxembourg Times said, citing ministers.

The fine for carrying small amounts of the drug will also be reduced from the current range of 250 Euros to 2,500 euros ($290 to $2,900) for less than three grams, to between 25 euros and 500 euros, the newspaper said.

However, smoking cannabis in public will still be prohibited and consumption will be allowed at home only.

The relevant bill, which is part of the government's broader effort to legalize cannabis use in the county, is expected to be submitted to the parliament in early 2022.
(@FahadShabbir)

DUSHANBE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2021) The Russian 201st Military Base in Tajikistan will replace its old combat vehicles with 30 upgraded T-72B3M tanks before the end of this year, the head of the unit's staff, Col. Evgeny Okhrimenko, said on Sunday.

"Currently, the military base is rearming the units with modern military and special equipment. Before the end of the year, 30 modern T-72B3M tanks with advanced combat specifications are planned to arrive to replace combat vehicles of earlier modifications," Okhrimenko told reporters.

The commander added that the motor rifle divisions of the base have recently received a batch of advanced BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, cutting-edge Verba man-portable infrared homing surface-to-air missiles, rocket-propelled infantry flamethrowers of longer range and higher power, Kornet anti-tank guided missiles, 12.

7mm ASVK-M Kord sniper rifles, AK-12 rifles, Linza sanitary armored cars, and the equipment of rear and technical services.

Okhrimenko noted that the unit personnel master the new equipment during exercises and learn effective military operations using the experience of the latest conflicts.

On Saturday, Col. Gen. Alexander Lapin, the commander of Russia's Central Military District, said that the large-scale CSTO strategic military exercise Boyevoe Bratstvo-2021 (Combat Brotherhood) in Tajikistan, is a response to the deteriorated security situation in Afghanistan governed by the Taliban (banned in Russia as a terrorist organization).
TASHKENT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2021) Polling stations have opened in Uzbekistan, where people are electing the new president on Sunday.

Voting started at 8 a.m. local time (03:00 GMT) and will end at 8 p.m. on Sunday.

All five political parties registered in Uzbekistan were able to nominate their candidates for the presidential election and the registration of the candidates was completed in mid-September.

Incumbent Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, 64, from the Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party (UzLiDeP), is expected to win the vote. Mirziyoyev, who took office in 2016, has spoken in favor of expanding cooperation with Russia, China and the US, as well as for Eurasian Economic Union integration.
(UroToday.com) The ANZUP 2021 virtual annual scientific meeting included a presentation by Dr. Eli Van Allen discussing the convergence of machine learning and genomics for precision cancer medicine in genitourinary cancers and beyond. As both a medical oncologist and a clinician he utilizes computational biology to assess canceromic biology for the improvement of cancer outcomes. Dr. Van Allen notes that for the last 15-20 years, there has been expanding data at the point of care, including the cost of sequencing genomes substantially decreasing and the data points available per patient increasing. This includes: whole exomes, genomes, transcriptomes, epigenomics, histopathology and unstructured electronic health record data, as summarized in the following figure:

Based on this premise, Dr. Van Allen emphasizes that this has led to the primary question that his lab is attempting to answer: Can expanded molecular profiling at the point-of-care guide individualized treatment in oncology? Dr. Van Allen notes that in 2013 the clinical interpretation of cancer genomics included Precision Heuristics for Interpreting the Alteration Landscape (PHIAL), defined as a heuristic-based clinical interpretation algorithm that sorted somatic variants from whole exomes by clinical and biological relevance. Their group subsequently built a database based on the PHIAL algorithm called the Tumor Alterations Relevant for Genomics-Driven Therapy (TARGET), which is a database of genes that may have therapeutic, prognostic, and diagnostic implications for patients with cancer.

Dr. Van Allen notes that there are several challenges to clinical interpretation of genomic data in 2021. First, technology in the clinic is evolving, moving from DNA only to expanded DNA (bulk RNA) to expanded DNA including bulk RNA, single cell, immune assays, and multiplex immunohistochemistry. Second, our knowledge keeps evolving, whereby the data based on the TARGET database (built in the 2010s) including only 50% relevant information in 2021. The third challenge is that clinicians need help, given that computation cancer biologists were providing reports for clinicians with esoteric jargon that was creating confusion and frustration when applying this information to patient-centered care.

There are several ways that computational oncologists can help clinicians. First, interpreting algorithms for evolving technology at the point of care, and annotating and evaluating second-order genomic relationships:

Each of the above boxes can apply a deep learning germline variant model for cancer patients, proving that it outperforms the current standard of care for finding these actionable variants in the first place. Second, additional preclinical value can be added to clinical interpretation. By creating a match-making program, computational oncologists are able to take a patients molecular profile and find which cell lines are most similar to that patient, link the drugs that make these cell lines disappear, and bring them into the patients actionability report. Third, Dr. Van Allen and his team have been able to take a standard report and develop an enhanced, web-based report that allows easier actionability for patient care.

What Dr. Van Allen and his team have been able to do over the last several years is take all of the information theyve generated and redo the entire concept of clinical interpretation of cancer genomics, resulting in the Molecular Oncology Almanac (www.moalmanac.org). This includes taking a patients molecular data (DNA and RNA), matches their first and second order events, does further match-making between patients and cell lines for similarity, and subsequently generates a report.

Dr. Van Allen notes that despite the progress being made, there is still a long way to go, for example, in advanced prostate cancer and developing a molecular signature, predicting which patients will have advanced disease. In early work from his group, Dr. Van Allen notes that they used 1,053 prostate cancer samples to attempt to develop a molecular signature (based on TP53, PTEN, and AR) for predicting primary versus castration-resistant prostate cancer classification; however, they noted that ultimately the model was not very good. Based on these poor results, they realized that new methodologies must be developed for biological discovery, therapeutic target identification, and clinical patient risk stratification. As such, over the last several years, they have attempted to integrate biology and machine learning for molecular discovery, resulting in P-NET (a biological informed neural network) [1]:

This study demonstrated that P-NET can predict cancer state using molecular data with a performance that is superior to other modelling approaches. Moreover, the biological interpretability within P-NET revealed established and novel molecularly altered candidates, such as MDM4 and FGFR1, which were implicated in predicting advanced disease and validated in vitro.

There are two ways for generating more data to feed into these networks. First, capturing tumors and delineating immune and stromal programs, including data from pre-treatment biopsy + blood (bulk whole exome sequencing/whole transcriptome sequencing, scRNASeq, models, and liquid whole exome sequencing), on-therapy biopsies + blood (bulk whole exome sequencing, scRNASeq, and liquid whole exome sequencing), and resistance biopsy + blood (bulk whole exome sequencing/whole transcriptome sequencing, scRNASeq, models, and liquid whole exome sequencing). Second, The Metastatic Prostate Cancer Project is integrating data sets for discovery by taking research to the patients doorstep. Once patients opt into this collaborative, several kits (saliva, etc) are then sent to the patient (which may be over treatment time to assess the possibilities of resistance) in order to generate data. So far, over 1,000 men with metastatic prostate cancer have joined The Metastatic Prostate Cancer Project since the launch in January 2018.



Presented by: Eliezer (Eli) Van Allen, MD, Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA

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.



References:
In this episode of the Checkerboard Chat, Josh Lane, Ethan Stone, Riley Thomas and Andrew Peters talk Georgia, South Alabama and a potential bowl game, men's and women's basketball, Tennessee soccer and more!
ELIZABETH URBAN is News Editor for The Vidette. Urban can be contacted at emurba1@ilstu.edu. Follow Urban on Twitter at @eliizabethurban.

IF YOU SUPPORT THE VIDETTE MISSION of providing a training laboratory for Illinois State University student journalists to learn and sharpen viable, valuable and marketable skills in all phases of digital media, please contribute to this most important cause. Thank you.
It has now been 257 days since the military declared a one-year-long state of emergency, seizing power in Burma, also known as Myanmar. Burmas UN envoy says the nation is now threatened with a failed state status. Meanwhile, Aung San Suu Kyis UN ambassador has been vying to keep his UN General Assembly seat despite a February diplomatic ousting by the junta.

The junta has been pressuring the UN to install an ambassador who will represent the military dictatorship, meanwhile, the ambassador affiliated with the ousted party has not left his post. This is occurring while a second multi-national coalition, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has denied recognition of Gen. Min Aung Hlaings military rule.

The United Nations nine-member credentials committee will vote this November to see if the military junta can gain UN Representation, taking over the UN assembly seat that had been given to Aung San Suu Kyis government under the National League of Democracy (NLD) party. The seat is still held in the UN by the fired ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, who has been accused of high treason by the military government of Burma. Kyaw Moe Tun has called for sanctions and international cooperation against the junta while remaining a member of the General Assembly.

358 civil organizations located in both Burma as well as globally, sided with the career diplomat in an open letter in early September. The letter described him as having provided a crucial voice at the UN for Myanmars democratically-elected government and people. Others consider him a mouthpiece. Either way, he refuses to leave his post at the UN, and the UN continues to recognize him, declining to call a meeting despite pleas from the military leaders of Burma throughout the lifecycle of the coup and ensuing military government.

THEN: General Mutu Say Poe (R), chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU), shakes hands with Christine Schraner Burgener, UN special envoy on Myanmar, during a photo session for the third session of the Union Peace Conference in Naypyidaw on July 11, 2018.  Myanmar military officials on July 11 said stalled peace talks were drowning the country, blaming ethnic armed groups for a lack of control as fighting continues to rage in the countrys northern borderlands. (Image: THET AUNG/AFP via Getty Images).

NOW: United Nations Secretary Generals Special Envoy to Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener (L) and Japans Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi (R) speak after posing for photographers during a courtesy call at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo on May 28, 2021. (Image: EUGENE HOSHIKO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Speaking of the present situation as the upcoming vote draws near, the UN Secretary Generals Special Envoy to Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, said that it was very important not to send any signals recognizing an illegitimate regime and that we want to respect the will of the people. She is referring to what she believes is the veracity of an 82% vote for Suu Kyis party at the last election. The military junta, led by Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, proposed that election fraud had occurred and began a coup after appeals were denied.

The international community  with the exception of Russia and only a few closer partners in the Asia Pacific who remained on the fence, such as China  has largely refused to recognize the junta. Economic sanctions and brand withdrawals have also taken place, as the international business has sought to align with the overall international tone. China had been especially interested in the Southeast Asian nation, with aims of developing a deepwater port on the Bay of Bengal, from which a railroad or high-speed train could be developed, connecting China with the Indian Ocean. This was a key element in Chinas ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as foreseen within Burma, and Aung San Suu Kyis government had signed contracts to that end.

At the United Nations, the 193-member General Assembly is tasked with accrediting diplomats. The nine-member credentials committee is the first stop on the path towards accreditation in the larger assembly. The credentials committee this year comprises Cameroon, China, Iceland, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, Tanzania, United States, and Uruguay.

The credential committee does typically meet in October or November, so the November convocation is a usual occurrence and not a capitulation by the committee to entertain the months-long pleas of the junta for a hearing. The committee did not call a special assembly as requested by the military junta in July. As for the Suu Kyi governments UN ambassador, according to the Malaysian news source, The Star, until a decision is made by the credentials committee, it has been decided that Kyaw can remain in the seats, as long as he doesnt speak at the General Assembly rules.

Schraner Burgener warned that the overall situation in Myanmar continues to deteriorate sharply, and that if the democratic government of Suu Kyi was not restored, returning the power to the people, then Burma will go in the direction of a failed state.

Schraner Burgener said, The army uses a range of tactics against civilian populations, including burning villages, looting properties, mass arrests, torture and execution of prisoners, gender-based violence and random artillery fire into residential areas.

Schraner Burgener said the health and banking systems had collapsed and the number of people requiring humanitarian assistance has increased by 2 million since the coup.

According to a USDA report from April 2021, which cites the unrest as hampering trade, the February 1, 2021 coup detat and country-wide largely peaceful protests in opposition to the militarys actions, and the militarys increasingly lethal response, have continued to hamper the logistics sector.  However, at this juncture largely peaceful protests are no longer the norm.

This photo taken on October 9, 2021, shows members of the Peoples Defence Force, the armed wing of the civilian National Unity Government opposed to Myanmars ruling military regime, resting at a camp in Kayin State, near the Myanmar-Thai border. (Image: STR/AFP via Getty Images)

According to The Star of Malaysia, Burma is now seeing a full-scale revolt by the Peoples Defense Forces or local militias endorsed by the elected National Unity Government and that the revolt is claimed to be the last resort in the face of continued attacks and alleged massacres by the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military). The Star quoted activist Khin Omar as saying that this last bastion of resistance is occurring even in places where people have never seen armed conflict apart from airstrikes in areas run by ethnic resistance armies.

Schraner Burgener of the UN is now comparing the military juntas present occupation to actions the military carried out against the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, beginning in 1997. In the past, invocation of Rohingya meant, to some, using a watchword for bringing UN intervention into the country of Burma, although the reality on the ground is complicated and the group has indeed experienced great suffering. It may be that Schraner Burgeners comparison as well as her use of the word failed state have invoked the rhetoric, if not the eventuality, of UN actions regarding Burma.

The upcoming ASEAN gathering, composed of 10 Indopacific nations, has not invited military junta leader General Hlaing to the table. According to Schraner Burgener, this has sent a clear signal that they also agreed together that the current situation is unacceptable.

Gen. Hlaing, for his part, accuses ASEAN nations of failing to suppress opposition violence in groups that are against his rule. According to one Malaysian news source, while the Indopacific does observe that the military leaders of Burma retain a fairly respectful place on the world stage, whether they should or not is a matter of heated opinion; and an overwhelming representation of news sources online has painted the junta as a detested military dictatorship. Hlaing, in a speech broadcast on Burmese state television, said that groups, which had been organized to oppose the military takeover, had been responsible for the ongoing and deadly unrest. He suggested that ASEAN had failed to admit that these opposition groups had caused the violence and said his government was seeking to restore stability and peace. For those who observed the coup unfolding in the early days, there was indeed a lull during which curfews and rules were adhered to before resistance began to coalesce. One student interviewed at the time at a university where protests were in their nascent stages proudly named her student leader who was organizing the protest. Violent protests were photographed occurring in other Asia Pacific countries much sooner than they occurred within Myanmar.

At this point, the violence in Burma has escalated. Schraner Burgener says that civil war is not international legal terminology, so she wont use it, but that the widespread, polarized unrest is now an internal armed conflict.

Schraner Burgener commented on the violence from the protestors, stating, Clearly, in the absence of international action, violence has been justified as the last resort. By contrast, Gen. Hlaing has said, in not so few words, that the violence within his country has international support.
Music Time in Africa is VOAs longest running English language program. Since 1965, this award-winning program has featured pan African music that spans all genres and generations. Ethnomusicologist and Host Heather Maxwell keeps you up to date on whats happening in African music with exclusive interviews, cultural information, and of course, great music -- including rare recordings from the Leo Sarkisian Library of African Music.
In a pair of Cape Town warehouses converted into a maze of airlocked sterile rooms, young scientists are assembling and calibrating the equipment needed to reverse engineer a coronavirus vaccine that has yet to reach South Africa and most of the world's poorest people.

The energy in the gleaming labs matches the urgency of their mission to narrow vaccine disparities. By working to replicate Moderna's COVID-19 shot, the scientists are effectively making an end run around an industry that has vastly prioritized rich countries over poor in both sales and manufacturing.

And they are doing it with unusual backing from the World Health Organization, which is coordinating a vaccine research, training and production hub in South Africa along with a related supply chain for critical raw materials. It's a last resort effort to make doses for people going without, and the intellectual property implications are still murky.

"We are doing this for Africa at this moment, and that drives us," said Emile Hendricks, a 22-year-old biotechnologist for Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, the company trying to reproduce the Moderna jab. "We can no longer rely on these big superpowers to come in and save us."

Some experts see reverse engineering  recreating vaccines from fragments of publicly available information  as one of the few remaining ways to redress the power imbalances of the pandemic. Only 0.7% of vaccines have gone to low-income countries so far, while nearly half have gone to wealthy countries, according to an analysis by the People's Vaccine Alliance.

That WHO, which relies upon the goodwill of wealthy countries and the pharmaceutical industry for its continued existence, is leading the attempt to reproduce a proprietary vaccine demonstrates the depths of the supply disparities.

The U.N.-backed effort to even out global vaccine distribution, known as COVAX, has failed to alleviate dire shortages in poor countries. Donated doses are coming in at a fraction of what is needed to fill the gap. Meanwhile, pressure for drug companies to share, including Biden administration demands on Moderna, has led nowhere.

Until now, WHO has never directly taken part in replicating a novel vaccine for current global use over the objections of the original developers. The Cape Town hub is intended to expand access to the novel messenger RNA technology that Moderna, as well as Pfizer and German partner BioNTech, used in their vaccines.

"This is the first time we're doing it to this level, because of the urgency and also because of the novelty of this technology," said Martin Friede, a WHO vaccine research coordinator who is helping direct the hub.

Dr. Tom Frieden, the former head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has described the world as "being held hostage" by Moderna and Pfizer, whose vaccines are considered the most effective against COVID-19. The novel mRNA process uses the genetic code for the spike protein of the coronavirus and is thought to trigger a better immune response than traditional vaccines.

Arguing that American taxpayers largely funded Moderna's vaccine development, the Biden administration has insisted the company must expand production to help supply developing nations. The global shortfall through 2022 is estimated at 500 million and 4 billion doses, depending on how many other vaccines come on the market.

"The United States government has played a very substantial role in making Moderna the company it is," said David Kessler, the head of Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. program to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development.

Kessler would not say how far the administration would go in pressing the company. "They understand what we expect to happen," he said.

Moderna has pledged to build a vaccine factory in Africa at some point in the future. But after pleading with drugmakers to share their recipes, raw materials and technological know-how, some poorer countries are done waiting.

Afrigen Managing Director Petro Terblanche said the Cape Town company is aiming to have a version of the Moderna vaccine ready for testing in people within a year and scaled up for commercial production not long after.

"We have a lot of competition coming from Big Pharma. They don't want to see us succeed," Terblanche said. "They are already starting to say that we don't have the capability to do this. We are going to show them."

If the team in South Africa succeeds in making a version of Moderna's vaccine, the information will be publicly released for use by others, Terblanche said. Such sharing is closer to an approach U.S. President Joe Biden championed in the spring and the pharmaceutical industry strongly opposes.

Commercial production is the point at which intellectual property could become an issue. Moderna has said it would not pursue legal action against a company for infringing on its vaccine rights, but neither has it offered to help companies that have volunteered to make its mRNA shot.

Chairman Noubar Afeyan said Moderna determined it would be better to expand production itself than to share technology and plans to deliver billions of additional doses next year.

"Within the next six to nine months, the most reliable way to make high-quality vaccines and in an efficient way is going to be if we make them," Afeyan said.

Zoltan Kis, an expert in messenger RNA vaccines at Britain's University of Sheffield, said reproducing Moderna's vaccine is "doable," but the task would be far easier if the company shared its expertise. Kis estimated the process involves fewer than a dozen major steps. But certain procedures are tricky, such as sealing the fragile messenger RNA in lipid nanoparticles, he said.

"It's like a very complicated cooking recipe," he said. "Having the recipe would be very, very helpful, and it would also help if someone could show you how to do it."

A U.N.-backed public health organization still hopes to persuade Moderna that its approach to providing vaccines for poorer countries misses the mark. Formed in 2010, the Medicines Patent Pool initially focused on convincing pharmaceutical companies to share patents for AIDS drugs.

"It's not about outsiders helping Africa," Executive Director Charles Gore said of the South Africa vaccine hub. "Africa wants to be empowered, and that's what this is about."

It will eventually fall to Gore to try to resolve the intellectual property question. Work to recreate Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is protected as research, so a potential dispute would surround steps to sell a replicated version commercially, he said.

"It's about persuading Moderna to work with us rather than using other methods," Gore said.

He said the Medicines Patent Pool repeatedly tried but failed to convince Pfizer and BioNTech - the first companies out with an effective vaccine - to even discuss sharing their formulas.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who is among the members of Congress backing a bill that calls on the United States to invest more in making and distributing COVID-19 vaccines in low-and middle-income countries, said reverse engineering isn't going to happen fast enough to keep the virus from mutating and spreading further.

"We need to show some hustle. We have to show a sense of urgency, and I'm not seeing that urgency," he said. "Either we end this pandemic or we muddle our way through."

Campaigners argue the meager amount of vaccines available to poorer countries through donations, COVAX and purchases suggests the Western-dominated pharmaceutical industry is broken.

"The enemy to these corporations is losing their potential profit down the line," Joia Mukherjee, chief medical officer of the global health nonprofit Partners in Health, said.

"The enemy isn't the virus, the enemy isn't suffering."

Back in Cape Town, the promise of using mRNA technology against other diseases motivates the young scientists.

"The excitement is around learning how we harness mRNA technology to develop a COVID-19 vaccine," Caryn Fenner, Afrigen's technical director, said. But more important, Fenner said, "is not only using the mRNA platform for COVID, but for beyond COVID."
A Cuban man who took part in unprecedented nationwide street protests in July has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, the stiffest punishment yet of anyone who defied the communist government in those rallies, his family and a human rights group said Saturday.

The sentence against Roberto Perez Fonseca, 38, was handed down by a court in San Jose de las Lajas, a town 35 kilometers (20 miles) from Havana.

On July 11 and 12, thousands of Cubans shouting "freedom" and "we are hungry" took to the streets in about 50 cities and towns to protest harsh living conditions and government repression.

The rallies, which had no precedent since the Cuban revolution of 1959, left at least one person dead and dozens injured as security forces cracked down.

Around 1,130 people were arrested, and more than half of them remain in jail, according to the Miami-based human rights group Cubalex.

No defense witnesses

The court said Perez Fonseca was guilty of contempt, public disorder and instigation to commit a crime.

The sentence, dated October 6, was seen by AFP after Perez Fonseca's family was notified this week.

Three judges at the court heard from a sole witness, Jorge Luis Garcia Montero, a policeman in San Jose de las Lajas. Two people who wanted to testify for the defense, a relative and a friend of Fonseca's, were barred as being partial.

The police officer stated that Perez Fonseca incited other people to throw rocks and bottles on the day of the protests. He said the defendant threw a rock that hit him in the wrist and another that struck a police car, according to the sentencing document.

Perez Fonseca, a father of two, was arrested at his mother's home on July 16.

The sentence "is excessive and violates all guarantees of due process," said Laritza Diversent, head of Cubalex.

She said the jail term, the longest handed out against anyone for taking part in the July protests, seemed intended to scare people into refraining from future demonstrations.



November rally

Another protest rally has been called for November 15. The government has banned it and warned people of criminal consequences if they take part.

Cuba's government says the July protests were part of a U.S.-backed strategy to topple the regime.

And, with the new protest date looming, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Twitter that the United States wants impunity for the "operators" who tried to destabilize the communist state.

"When the US government speaks, we are hearing from the very government that funds and organizes the destabilizing scheme," Diaz-Canel said on Twitter. "Enough threats."

Perez Fonseca's mother, Liset Fonseca, said she thinks the real reason for her son's long prison term is that at the protest he tore up a picture of communist icon Fidel Castro and challenged Garcia Montero, the police officer, as he arrested another man.

"They had to do something to make an example of him," she said.
A former al-Shabab commander who is under house arrest in Somalia says he is being held to prevent him from seeking elected office.

Mukhtar Robow Ali, popularly known as Abu Mansour, was the deputy leader of al-Shabab and had been sought by the United States, which once had a $5 million bounty on his head. He defected from the terror group after violently clashing with them in August 2017. The Somali government initially hailed his defection but later arrested him to stop him from running for president of the Southwest region back in 2018, when it held its last leadership election.

Speaking from Mogadishu, where he has been under house arrest since 2018, Abu Mansour told VOA Somali that his detention was politically motivated.

I was detained to stop me from running, he said. I was detained in order to hijack the Southwest election, he added.

His comments, made last Thursday, come as Somalia is in the middle of elections to choose lawmakers for parliament's lower and upper chambers.

The 275 lawmakers from the Lower House and 54 senators from the Upper House will choose a national president at the end of the current election process. Southwest is one of five regions that plays a major role in the election of lawmakers who choose the head of state.

President Farmaajo is running for reelection and competing against more than a dozen people who have declared their candidacy, including two former presidents.

Abu Mansour says he does not want Farmaajo elected to a second term.

To all Somalis everywhere, dont give Farmaajo a single vote, he said.

Abu Mansour says he is not giving up on running for political office despite being in detention for almost three years.

I will always be ready to work for the development of our people and our country, he said. I will not be demoralized; if I dont die, I will continue that journey.

Abu Mansour said he decided to contact VOA, alleging he has been abducted and that he has been denied his basic rights.

Abu Mansour said he feels unsafe under house arrest.

I cant say my safety is secured.

VOA reached out to the presidential palace and the leaders of Southwest State, but they have not responded to requests for comment. The government defended its decision to block his political aspirations. The internal security ministry said Abu Mansour did not meet all the preconditions for running for office. The Somali government said Abu Mansour was still under sanctions by members of the international community for his prior membership with al-Shabab.

Abu Mansour says despite being in detention for almost three years, government officials never spoke to him in person about the reasons behind his arrest. Abu Mansour said he received a message through his traditional elder who told him the government would send him to an unnamed country if he were willing to take the opportunity. Abu Mansour said he rejected the proposition.

I will not go into exile; this is where I was born, and I will die here.

Qatar is the only country that has agreed to accept high-profile al-Shabab defectors so far. In February 2016, Qatar agreed to give asylum to Mohamed Said Atom, a former commander of Al-Shabab in the Galgala Mountains of Puntland, following his defection.

In his interview with VOA, Abu Mansour condemned the militant group for targeting civilians and carrying out unlawful killings, including religious scholars.

I left al-Shabab because of differences over credence, he said.

Asked if he regrets becoming a member of al-Shabab, Abu Mansour said he did not become involved in "plots" while in the militant group.

Whatever the mistakes I made I repent to Allah; no one is forcing me to say that; but I dont regret whatever the good things I have done.

In June 2017, the United States withdrew its $5 million reward offer for the capture of Abu Mansour.
A fire broke out on Saturday on containers on a cargo ship carrying mining chemicals off British Columbia, and the Canadian Coast Guard said it is working with the U.S. Coast Guard to assess the situation, including environmental hazards.

Sixteen crew members have been evacuated from the MV Zim Kingston, while five remained onboard to fight the fire, the Canadian Coast Guard said in a statement late on Saturday.

Ten containers were currently burning, it said, adding the fire continued to spread but the ship itself was not on fire.

The agency said it was working with its U.S. counterpart to track 40 containers that had fallen overboard, saying they pose a significant risk to mariners.

"Mariners are advised to stay clear of the area. Currently there is no safety risk to people on shore, however the situation will continue to be monitored."

Video obtained by Reuters showed fire cascading down from the deck of the ship into the water.

The Zim Kingston reported on Friday that it had encountered rough weather west of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

"This is extremely concerning. The ship and containers are very close to Victoria, BC, and a big storm is forecast to hit tonight. We... are worried this may be yet another environmental disaster," said David Boudinot, president of Surfrider Foundation Canada, an environmental organization.

Eikon Refinitiv data shows the Maltese-flagged Zim Kingston is managed by Cyprus-based Danaos Shipping Co Ltd.
One rape victim was asked by Paris police what she wore that day, and why she didnt struggle more. Another woman was forced to fondle herself to demonstrate a sexual assault to a skeptical police officer.



They are among thousands of French women who have denounced in a new online campaign the shocking response of police officers victim-blaming them or mishandling their complaints as they reported sexual abuse.



The hashtag #DoublePeine (#DoubleSentencing) was launched last month by Anna Toumazoff after she learned that a 19-year-old woman who filed a rape complaint in the southern city of Montpellier was asked by police in graphic terms whether she experienced pleasure during the assault.



The hashtag quickly went viral, with women describing similar experiences in Montpellier and other police stations across France. French womens rights group NousToutes counted at least 30,000 accounts of mistreatment in tweets and other messages sent on social media and on a specific website.



Despite recent training programs for French police and growing awareness around violence against women, activists say authorities must do more to face up to the gravity of sex crimes, and to eradicate discrimination against victims.



Addressing the national issue last week, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said, there are questions that cannot be asked to women when they come to file a complaint.



Its not up to the police officer to say whether there was domestic violence or not, thats up to the judge to do it, he added.



He also announced an internal investigation at the Montpellier police station.



The prefect of the region of Montpellier had previously condemned in a statement what he called defamatory comments against officers. He denounced false information and lies aiming at discrediting police action.



Toumazoff denied launching an anti-police campaign, saying the hashtag aims at urging the government to act.



By letting incompetent and dangerous officers working in police stations, (authorities) expose the whole profession to shame, she told The Associated Press. She said the victim mentioned in her initial tweet does not wish to speak publicly while her rape complaint is under investigation.



The Montpellier regional branch of powerful police union Alliance argued that officers are just doing their jobs. While police officers understand the victims distress, the establishment of the truth requires us to ask embarrassing questions, it said.



A 37-year-old Parisian woman told the AP about her experience at a police station after she was assaulted this year by a man living near her home, who had previously harassed her in the street.



Once, he blocked her path and pressed her against a wall, touching her belly and her breast and threatening to kill her, she recalled.



The woman described arriving scared and crying at the police station, where officers welcomed her very kindly.



But then, she said, the officer in charge of filing the complaint did not write down her description of the assault, so she refused to sign the document.

I had to tell it all again, she said. The officer asked if she was certain that the abuser wanted to touch her breast.



I had to make the gesture so that he sees that it was not another part of the body, she said. Making me repeat and ... mime the gesture in front of a wall, thats humiliating. I found it very degrading. I felt I was like a puppet.



The case is still ongoing. Police suggested a change of apartment to move away from her abuser, she said.



Another Parisian woman, aged 25, said she was left traumatized by the police treatment after she had been raped by her ex-boyfriend in 2016.



When she filed her initial complaint, the police officer, who had received special training, explained to me why he was asking all these questions, he was in a spirit of kindness, she remembers. I felt rather safe and that he believed me.



Months later she was summoned to another police station, located in the same street where her attacker was living. Feeling very anxious at the idea of potentially seeing him, she said she was talked to as if she was stupid and a liar.



Police asked what she was wearing that day, why it was different from when she was having consensual sex with him, how she could argue she was surprised if he was wearing a condom, she recalled. An officer told her, I dont understand why you did not struggle more.



The complaint was closed without follow-up due to lack of evidence. The young woman described the police response as very difficult to live through, with a huge impact on her private life and almost leading her to giving up her studies.



The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they are victims of sexual assault.



Speaking to lawmakers at the National Assembly, the interior minister acknowledged things can still be improved on the matter across France.



The government has set the goal of having at least one specially trained officer in each police station for dealing with domestic violence and sexual abuse. An annual survey led by national statistics institute INSEE shows that currently only 10% of victims in these cases file a formal complaint.



The #doublepeine movement comes after the shocking killing earlier this year of a woman who was shot and set on fire in the street by her estranged husband. One of the officers who had taken her domestic abuse complaint a few months earlier had recently been convicted of domestic violence himself.

Darmanin promised that officers definitively convicted for such acts wont be allowed to be in contact with the public anymore.



Women have been raising the alarm for years, Toumazoff said, denouncing announcements by politicians not followed by action.

When there are urgent situations, like terror attacks, they can do things because its urgent, she said. Its the same here. Womens lives are at stake. Its urgent every day.
Germany's interior minister said Sunday it was "legitimate" to protect borders, after several EU states asked Brussels to pay for barriers to prevent illegal migrants from entering the bloc.

The call came earlier this month, as Poland proposed building a 350 million-euro ($410 million-) wall on its border with Belarus to keep migrants out.

The EU accuses the Belarusian authorities of flying migrants from the Middle East and Africa to Minsk and then sending them into the bloc on foot in retaliation for sanctions imposed over a crackdown on the opposition.

Asked whether Poland's border wall was necessary, Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said protecting frontiers was justifiable.

"It is legitimate for us to protect the external border in such a way that undetected border crossings are prevented," he told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper Sunday.

The surge in people crossing illegally over the EU's eastern frontier with Belarus has placed major strains on member states unaccustomed to dealing with large-scale arrivals.

Seehofer also said Germany would increase controls on the German-Polish border and that eight hundreds-strong teams of police had already been deployed.

"If necessary, I am ready to reinforce this even more," he said.

According to figures from the German interior ministry, around 5,700 people have travelled over the border between Germany and Poland without an entry permit since the start of the year.

Seehofer wrote to his Polish counterpart Mariusz Kaminski last week to propose increasing joint patrols along the border with Poland in response to rising numbers of migrants.

Kaminski responded that Poland would offer its "full support" for such measures.

However, Seehofer also said last week Germany had no plans to close the border with Poland, adding that such a move would also be "legally questionable".

Earlier this month, officials from countries including Poland, Lithuania and Greece argued for barriers along EU borders to counter efforts to weaponize migration.

Brussels has so far shied away from funding border walls for members states, insisting that the current legal framework only allows it to use EU budget funds for "border management systems."
A Financial Times report says COVAX, the global collaboration established to ensure that poor countries have access to the COVID-19 vaccine, has largely failed.

Wealthy countries have received over 16 times more COVID-19 vaccines per person than poorer nations that rely on the COVAX program backed by the World Health Organization, the newspaper reported.



Millions of people in the worlds poorest countries have not yet received their first shots of the vaccine, while people in the wealthiest countries have access to booster shots, following their initial inoculations.

The disparity, The Financial Times warned, could lead to a rise in cases and the emergence of more virulent strains, and hold back the global economic recovery.



The World Health Organizations director-general said Friday 82 countries are at risk of not meeting WHOs goal of having 40% of every countrys population vaccinated against COVID by the end of the year. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, For most of those countries, its simply a problem of insufficient and unpredictable supply.

Earlier this month, Britain reported its highest daily number of COVID-19 related deaths since March 9. A government advisor told a BBC television show Saturday that people should not wait for government mandates to begin initiating measures to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus.



Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, told BBC Breakfast, I think hospitals in many parts of the country are barely coping actually under the weight of COVID cases.



The sooner we all act, Openshaw said, the sooner we can get this transmission rate down and the greater the prospect of having a Christmas with our families.



British Prime Minister Boris continues to dismiss calls for renewed COVID-19 restrictions, saying there is nothing to indicate those moves will be necessary in the coming months, despite the fact Britain is experiencing a dramatic surge in COVID-19 infections.



Russia is preparing for or a weeklong workplace shutdown and the reimposition of a partial lockdown because of a surge in COVID-19 infections and deaths.

Daily coronavirus deaths in Russia have been rising for weeks because of sluggish vaccination rates, casual attitudes toward precautionary measures and the governments hesitance toward tightening restrictions. The countrys national task force on COVID-19 said only about one-third of Russia's 146 million people have been vaccinated, straining the country's health system.



Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that employees would observe non-working days from October 30 to November 7, during which they would still receive salaries. He said the period, in which four of the seven days are state holidays, could start earlier or be extended in certain regions.



The rollout of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine in Namibia was postponed Saturday by the countrys health ministry after the vaccines regulator in neighboring South Africa raised concerns about its safety for people at risk of HIV.



The regulator said it would not approve an emergency-use application for the vaccine at this time because some studies suggest that the delivery system, known as a vector, used to inoculate people with the Sputnik V vaccine can cause men to be more susceptible to HIV.



The vaccines manufacturer, Gamaleya Research Institute, said Namibia's postponement was not based on scientific evidence.

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday a global count of 243.3 million COVID cases and almost 5 million COVID deaths. The center said 6.7 billion vaccines have been administered.
U.S. and U.N. envoys to Uzbekistan have praised the country's repatriation of Islamic State wives and children in the Middle East, saying other nations should follow suit as a part of a global effort to reduce the risk of IS reemergence in Syria and Iraq.

"They have done a very credible, excellent job," Daniel Rosenblum, U.S. ambassador to Uzbekistan, told VOA.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's government began Operation Mehr, or Compassion, in 2019 to return noncombatant citizens from camps in northeast Syria held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Five operations since May 2019 have repatriated 435 women and children, mostly from Syria but also from Iraq and Afghanistan, including 343 minors ages 1 to 15.

The Uzbek government does not provide data on how many people have joined extremist militants overseas. Government studies estimate thousands, however.

Following recapture of the last IS pocket in Syria, Mirziyoyev announced a national priority in May 2019 of returning IS Uzbek families.

"That set the tone and was the right thing to do," Rosenblum said, adding that Washington supported the effort from the beginning.

VOA confirmed that the U.S. assisted the latest repatriation of 93 women and children from Syria in late April.

Officials told VOA that discussions to repatriate former IS fighters were underway, but that no decision had been made.

Helena Fraser, U.N. resident coordinator in Uzbekistan, said the country's "commendable experience and collaboration" could be a model for 56 other countries to repatriate nearly 10,000 citizens associated with IS in Syria.

"Mehr coincided with the release of U.N. key principles for protection, repatriation, prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration of women and children with links to U.N.-listed terrorist groups," Fraser said.

Returnees undertake a monthlong rehabilitation, established jointly with UNICEF, outside Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.

Fraser said UNICEF's technical and financial support ensured that returnees were protected and offered employment and education.

Choosing to return

VOA spoke to repatriated women who said the programs helped their transition.

Rano, a doctor, moved with her husband to the IS capital, Raqqa, in 2015. The couple moved to Russia from Uzbekistan in 2012 before crossing into Syria via Turkey.

"I accepted that the government had every right to prosecute us," Rano said. "I was ready to be tried. It would still be much better than living in Syria. But none of that happened.  My kids go to school. I'm a doctor."

Rano's husband died in a 2019 air bombing in Syria. Her family deeply regretted going to the region, especially with three children, but IS did not allow them to leave.

"My husband was not a fighter," she said. "He repaired cars and was a butcher."

Another mother of three, 40, who requested anonymity, told VOA she was convinced by acquaintances in Turkey that Muslim single mothers would be better off in the IS caliphate. Instead, she found "agony and misery."

"I'm hopeful people will accept and understand what took us to those parts of the world," she said. "We seek forgiveness."

Not their decision

Maqsuda Varisova, a doctor and parliamentarian, said many women were misled and deserve a second chance.

"We are bringing people home from the most dangerous parts of the world," Varisova said. "Women and children ended up there against their will."

None of the female returnees have been formally investigated for possible crimes. Varisova and other lawmakers told VOA the government would not take legal action against them.

"The state should care for its citizens here or anywhere," said Mohira Khodjayeva, a lawmaker.

"Uzbekistan has international obligations under conventions, protocols and treaties that call for humanitarian policies and acts," added Khodjayeva.

Some view Uzbekistan's approach as different from reintegration programs in neighboring countries such as Kazakhstan.

"Kazakhstan's focus is on deradicalization and ideological conversion," said Gavin Helf at the U.S. Institute of Peace. "Uzbekistan emphasizes reintegration into the community."

During initial rehabilitation, each returnee undergoes medical and psychological examinations and gets a new ID. The government monitors returnees through neighborhood councils and district administrations.

Nearly 100 personnel, including nurses, doctors and psychologists, work with each group.

'People make mistakes'

Not everyone agrees with the current approach. Some, including in the political establishment, are concerned that returnees could become a threat once reintegrated into society. Others say Uzbeks who left to join extremist groups were disloyal to Uzbekistan's secular system.

None of the women admitted to leaving for political or religious reasons.

"We lost our way, but people make mistakes," said Yulduz, 31, a mother of eight repatriated from Syria in 2020.

Yulduz followed her husband to Russia in 2011 "to have a happy life." But within a month, he sent his family to Waziristan, Pakistan. In 2014, she and her children ended up in IS territory with other Uzbeks.

"We experienced hell away from our homeland," said Farida, 34, a mother of three.

She left Uzbekistan in 2014 with her newborn to join her husband in Russia. Within a month, the couple moved to Turkey and then into Syria, "constantly under fire" between Aleppo and Idlib.

Farida lost contact with her husband in early 2019 before arriving at al-Hol camp. She is not sure if her husband is still alive.

"It's hard to imagine what I and my children went through for years," she said. "I don't wish that on anybody."

Steve Swerdlow, a human rights expert at the University of Southern California, said Uzbekistan should assure justice for those implicated in crimes, particularly men who fought with IS.

"Uzbekistan should repatriate men and, if warranted, investigate and prosecute those suspected of serious crimes to avoid indefinite detention that could amount to torture," Swerdlow told VOA.

Probes, prosecutions

U.N. Security Council Resolution 2396 binds Uzbekistan, encouraging member states to investigate and prosecute suspects for involvement with foreign terrorist groups.

Uzbek officials and lawmakers confirmed to VOA that agencies were discussing these issues.

"Given the absence of any fair trial proceedings for foreigners detained in northeast Syria, investigations by Uzbekistan and other home countries remain the only viable option to provide redress to victims for serious crimes the fighters may have committed," Swerdlow said.


Dreams of connecting landlocked Central Asia more closely to South Asia and the international trading system are coming into focus after a two-day conference last week in Tashkent, hosted by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Nearly 50 countries and more than 30 international organizations attended, including China, Russia, the United States, and the European Union. The gathering was perhaps the largest yet to promote economic integration. Still, experts caution that high-level engagements must translate into tangible investments in order to deliver economic benefits.

Mirziyoyev said that strengthening ties with neighbors is a top priority for Uzbekistan, a reliable, stable, and predictable partner, interested in and committed to constructive cooperation based on mutual interests.

Evoking common history and values, Mirziyoyev urged closer partnerships. Without tighter relationships and economic connectivity, we cannot turn this part of the world, and the Eurasian continent, into a stable and prosperous space.

Edward Lemon of Texas A&M University says Mirziyoyevs activist foreign policy can help to expand trade by reopening borders and addressing regional problems, most notably the challenging situation in Afghanistan.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations will support these efforts, since connectivity is essential to trade, growth, and sustainable development.

But connectivity is not just about economics. It drives regional cooperation and encourages friendly relations among neighbors, Guterres told the conference during a video appearance.

This places an even higher premium on the importance of active and collective engagement in support of Afghanistans peace and security.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is in an increasingly precarious spot in the face of a Taliban march toward Kabul. But he flew to Tashkent to stress that a political settlement to the conflict has been our national priority. A sovereign, united, democratic, peaceful and connected Afghanistan has been endorsed internationally and regionally.

Ghani called for urgent steps to forge a regional consensus. Please approach Afghanistan from the perspective of our potential as an Asian roundabout, where for millennia we have functioned as a hub for flows of civilizations, cultures, goods, ideas and people.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan signed deals with Uzbekistan worth $500 million, covering trade, transit, visas, security and cultural cooperation. With large populations and rich natural resources, Central and South Asia can create a giant market of products and services, he said.

Lemon pointed to the potential benefits of new transport corridors offering landlocked Central Asia access to seaports and the South Asian consumer market of more than 1.5 billion people, while facilitating exports of energy.

Trade with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan is still minuscule in comparison to Central Asia's trade with China, Russia and the EU, he said.

Tashkent and Islamabad have high hopes for a proposed rail line running from Termez in southern Uzbekistan through the Afghan cities of Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul to Pakistans Peshawar and on to its Arabian Sea port cities of Karachi, Gwadar, and Bin Qasim.

Josep Borrell, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, also spoke, stressing Central Asias strategic position between Europe and South Asia.

Connectivity, stability and security are prerequisites for each other. The EU strongly supports the new spirit of cooperation in Central Asia, which contributes to shaping its own connectivity agenda, Borrell tweeted from Tashkent.

The Washington-led C5+1 forum with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan also convened in Tashkent on July 15, affirming its commitment to strengthen trade, transport, and energy links. The group also stressed the need for security and stability through Afghan peace negotiations.

Evan Feigenbaum of the Carnegie Endowment oversaw American policy toward Central Asia during the George W. Bush administration, a period when Washington actively promoted connectivity between the two regions. He praised Tashkents efforts but noted that prior initiatives over the past 30 years often fell short. One reason, he said, was Uzbek opposition, so Tashkents change of heart is a meaningful shift.

But Feigenbaum sees other obstacles: Private capital flows fell sharply between 2015 and 2018, and few of those flows ever reached Central Asia. Foreign direct investment to developing countries has also slackened in recent years.

Washington wants to mobilize mainly private capital but much of this cross-border finance is flowing to other regions instead. That is one reason, he said, that China, which has pumped billions into the region, mostly on a bilateral basis, is a bigger player.

Conference participant Frederick Starr, chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute in Washington, argued in a July 12 Wall Street Journal op-ed that preventing any country from dominating the heart of Eurasia should be a goal of American grand strategy.

He and co-author Mike Doran of the Hudson Institute write that China, Russia and Iran are exploiting the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to convince Central Asian leaders that America and the West are a spent force.

Central Asia is  a geostrategic unit whose orientation will have a profound impact on the global balance of power. Washingtons goal should be to enable all the regions states, including Afghanistan, to maintain balanced relations among the major powers.

In a July 9 piece in The National Interest, Starr and Uzbek co-author Eldor Aripov, head of the leading state think tank, called for a C6+1, adding Afghanistan.

Jennifer Murtazashvili of the University of Pittsburgh noted that hopeful momentum for regional integration now comes mainly from regional countries, not outside powers.

For Murtazashvili, a true new Silk Road must be spurred from inside, not outside, the region. Yet it is outside powers that have the capital to invest.

For that reason, she said, a credible commitment by Tashkent to deepen reforms is crucial.

A commitment from Kabul is also essential, said Lemon, because while connectivity is being touted as a means to stabilize Afghanistan, roads, rails, and pipelines wont even be built without stability. Afghanistan faces a chicken-and-egg problem: no stability, no investment; but investment could help bring stability.
Thailand is moving forward on a controversial and long-pondered water diversion project after the plan drew interest from a major Chinese firm, a move that could give Beijing a new outpost for its sweeping Belt and Road Initiative.

Under the leadership of Thailands powerful Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, the countrys National Environment Board in September approved a crucial environmental impact assessment for the Yuam River water diversion project.

The board had rejected assessments for the project twice before, most recently in December 2019. Septembers about-face came weeks after local news reports that an unnamed Chinese firm was offering to build the project for just over half the estimated $2.1 billion price tag at its own expense and in only four years instead of the projected seven.

The reports of Chinas interest came from Veerakorn Kamprakob, a National Assembly member from the Phalang Pracharat, the party of both Prawit and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha that dominates Thailands ruling coalition.

In an interview with VOA, Veerakorn confirmed that a Chinese firm had sent him the offer. He also identified the company as state-owned Norinco International, a civil engineering subsidiary of Chinese arms maker Norinco Group with listed projects across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The lawmaker said he took Norincos proposal to Prayut about six months ago and that the prime minister liked the companys offer to build the project for only $1.2 billion and pay for all of it.

The prime minister said thats very interesting, because right now Thailand, since we have to cope with COVID-19, we dont have much money to invest on this project, Veerakorn said.

So the prime minister said if there is such an offer from the Chinese company, why not? We consider this seriously, he added. The prime minister already told the Irrigation Department to consider on this offer.

The Irrigation Department and spokesmen for the government and prime minister did not reply to VOAs requests for comment. Nor did Norinco International.

China courting Thailand

A string of Thai governments has been contemplating the megaproject since the 1990s to help meet the growing demand for water from farmers in central Thailand.

In what would be a first for the country, a massive pipeline more than 8 meters in diameter would run 61 kilometers underground, funneling water to the Bhumibol Reservoir from the Yuam River near Thailands border with Myanmar. The plan also calls for a new reservoir with a dam on the Yuam River to feed the pipeline.

Norincos apparent offer to make the project happen would be Beijings latest effort to expand its BRI footprint in Thailand, said Pongphisoot Busbarat, an assistant professor at Thailands Chulalongkorn University who studies Thai-China relations.

It would follow a tie-up between the China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation and the State Railway of Thailand for a high-speed rail line connecting Bangkok to the central province of Nakhon Ratchasima, and another between China Railway Construction Corporation and Thailands CP Group for a high-speed rail network linking a trio of airports serving Bangkok and the beach resort of Pattaya.

So with this kind of overall picture you can see of course the Chinese [are] trying to expand [their] influence and role in infrastructure projects in Thailand under the BRI, Pongphisoot said.

This Yuam water diversion I think somehow can fit well. At least its a good opportunity [for China] to expand these activities in Thailand, he added.

Pongphisoot said Thailands sudden blessing of the Yuam River projects environmental impact assessment may also suggest that the government is starting to relax its typically wary view of Chinas BRI push across Southeast Asia.

I think this shows that the government is happy to let the Chinese come in more and more, he said.

Analysts say Thailand has been a relatively hard sell on big infrastructure ventures for Beijing compared with neighbors Cambodia, Laos and, until a few years ago, Malaysia, which each host a number of BRI projects of their own. They include pieces of Chinas plans for a high-speed rail line one day running seamlessly from Kunming in its landlocked southwest to the bustling seaports of Singapore, winding through Laos, Thailand and Malaysia along the way.

Thailand 'pushing back'

Chinese engineers and work crews are due to finish the Laos stretch of the line by the end of the year, having faced little resistance from its poor, tiny neighbor.

Thailand, by contrast, has thus far approved less than a third of the length of track that would run from Bangkok to the border with Laos, and even that took more than 30 rounds of fraught negotiations with China over many years.

With most of its heavy industry concentrated around Bangkok, Thailand has balked at Beijings calls to commit to the entire line up to Laos and insisted on shopping around for the best loans and equipment instead of tying itself to China for either, said Murray Hiebert, a senior associate with the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S. think tank.

He said stiff resistance from environmentalists and a web of red tape strung up by a conservative, independent civil service corps have also played their parts in killing a number of projects China has tried to push on Thailand over the years.

So its been a tough slog, said Hiebert, author of Under Beijings Shadow: Southeast Asias China Challenge.

The analyst said the same forces, in addition to Chinas own economic woes, are likely to keep the Yuam River project from breaking ground anytime soon.

Yes, generally China would like a bigger role in Thai economic projects, but Thailand has been pushing back. ... But China also has been pulling in its tentacles a little bit under COVID and the economic slowdown in China. So right now we dont really have a good indicator of where China is going with the BRI. Its not like its stopping projects that are already existing in Indonesia or Malaysia, but you dont see a lot of new projects that are actually being announced, signed and being begun since early 2020, he said.

'Adverse impacts'

Rights groups in Thailand are opposing the project already, worried about the villages the new reservoir would displace and the stretches of protected forest the underground pipeline would uproot.

The project will have adverse impacts on Karen indigenous peoples living in the impacted areas but who [have] not been meaningfully consulted. There will be impacts on watershed areas, agricultural lands and access to natural resources, said Pianporn Deetes, Thailand campaign coordinator for International Rivers, which advocates for sustainable water resource management.

She said the assessment the National Environment Board just approved was deeply flawed for misrepresenting and overstating the opening rural communities and nongovernment groups were given to vent their views.

Veerakorn, the National Assembly member, insisted repeatedly that the project would be opened up for international bidding, possibly by years end, and that the best offer would prevail.

Pianporn said the lawmakers lobbying for Norinco was tipping the scales.

It's obvious that this is political, she said. If the project is considered in [a] responsible and accountable manner, it would not have been approved.
Turkey is facing diplomatic pushback after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the expulsion of 10 ambassadors, including U.S. Ambassador David M. Satterfield, after they called for the release of a jailed civil society leader.

The Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway all issued statements saying they remained committed to defending human rights in Turkey, while the United States and Germany said they were seeking clarification. The countries are among 10 whose ambassadors Erdogan Saturday declared persona non grata, a diplomatic term used to expel a person.

The Turkish president condemned the ambassadors for their rare joint statement calling for the release of the Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala, a move Erdogan condemned as interference in Turkey's affairs.

Erdogan said, "They will know and understand Turkey. The day they do not know and understand Turkey, they will leave."

Kavala is one of Turkey's most prominent civil society supporters and a critic of Erdogan. He is accused of seeking to overthrow Erdogan by funding the 2016 coup attempt and 2013 civil unrest. He's been in jail for four years but he has not been convicted and denies all charges against him.

The Turkish president claims he is defending Turkey's independence, a stance some observers say plays well with his nationalist voting base  presidential elections have to be held by 2023. Political columnist Ilhan Uzgel of Duvar News portal says Erdogan could be using tough diplomacy to divert public attention from a plummeting currency and looming economic crisis.



Erdogan is losing his popularity because the economic conditions are terrible. But if Erdogan has problems with the United States, it works for the nationalist voters. He may accuse the opposition they are cooperating with foreign powers and the CIA and Washington to topple him, he said.

None of the 10 ambassadors have so far received formal notification they have been declared persona non grata. Observers say it remains to be seen whether Erdogan is ready to carry out the diplomatic expulsions, a move that could further exacerbate the country's financial woes and isolation from its traditional Western allies.
A bomb blast at a bar has killed at least one person and wounded three others in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. President Yoweri Museveni says the incident appears to be an act of terrorism.

President Museveni made his comments Sunday in a series of tweets, pledging to bring the perpetrators to justice. His remarks come hours after Saturdays explosion ripped through the Digida bar, which was crowded with people eating and drinking.

Nalweyiso Jemima, a waitress at the bar, said, We thought they were gunshots considering the fact that this bar had been talked about in the news. She also said, We were shocked to see all the chairs had burned; beer bottles were broken. I turned to see a colleagues back had been torn to pieces; another had his hand and feet torn off.

Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said their joint task force team also categorized the incident as an act of terrorism.

Three men, disguised as customers, arrived at the eating point at around 8:30 p.m. And, amongst these three, one of them was carrying a polythene bag containing unknown items that he placed under the table where they sat. They disappeared afterwards, abandoning their package at the scene, he said.

Enanga said the explosion covered a radius of five square meters, suggesting an improvised explosive device was used.

Our joint team of bomb experts has established that the explosion was out of a crude device which was assembled using local materials of nails and other metallic fragments, he said.

There has been no claim of responsibility.

Earlier this month, Britain issued an alert in which it warned that terrorists were planning attacks in the African nation, but Ugandan police say at this point there is no link between the Saturday night incident and the warnings.
A U.S. envoy underlined Washington's support for a democratic transition to civilian rule in Sudan on Saturday during talks with the head of its ruling council and the prime minister, the U.S. embassy in Khartoum said.

It tweeted that Jeffrey Feltman, special envoy for the Horn of Africa, had also urged all sides to recommit to working together to implement Sudan's constitutional declaration, signed after a 2018-2019 uprising that resulted in the removal of president Omar al-Bashir.

Feltman met with Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sovereign Council, and his deputy General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

Tensions between the civilian and military leaders who now share power have soared in the wake of an attempted military coup in September, which the army said it had foiled.

As an economic crisis deepens, a coalition of rebel groups and political parties have aligned themselves with the military, which has accused the civilian governing parties of mismanagement and monopolizing power, and are seeking to dissolve the Cabinet.

In response, hundreds of thousands demonstrated in several parts of Khartoum and other cities on Thursday against the prospect of military rule. Several Cabinet ministers took part.

In a statement after the meeting with Feltman, Burhan praised American support for Sudan's transition to democracy and said the military was keen to protect that transition.
The U.S. envoy for North Korea once again urged Pyongyang on Sunday to engage in talks to denuclearize.

Special Representative Sung Kim called Pyongyang's recent ballistic missile test concerning and counterproductive against lasting peace in the Korean Peninsula.

But Pyongyang has so far rejected offers to return to the table, accusing Washington and Seoul of talking diplomacy while escalating tensions with their own military activities.

On Thursday, the North said the United States was overreacting to a submarine-launched ballistic missile test that it called self-defensive.

That launch was one of several in recent weeks, violating U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea.

Kim reiterated that Washington had no hostile intent towards the North.

South Korean nuclear envoy Noh Kyu-duk, said he and the U.S. envoy had what he called a "serious" discussion of Seoul's proposal to formally declare an end to the Korean War.

The 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

South Korean officials see such a declaration as a gesture of goodwill to get talks started.
As recently as last week, the U.S. immigration service was using six officers to process about 14,000 humanitarian requests for Afghans seeking relocation to the United States following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August.

That's what the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services told congressional staff, Congressman Jim Langevin, a Democrat from Rhode Island, said Thursday during a House Homeland Security Committee meeting.

"I want to say that again: 14,000 humanitarian parole applications with just six officers," Langevin said. "That is completely and utterly unacceptable, and I call on USCIS to address the shortcoming immediately."

The number has continued to surge in recent days, with the agency receiving nearly 20,000 such requests as of Friday, more than 10 times the number of humanitarian applications submitted from around the world in a typical year, according to a USCIS official.



Emergency permission

Humanitarian parole is special permission given to foreigners to enter the United States under emergency circumstances. While it does not automatically lead to permanent residence, "parolees" can apply for legal status once they're in the U.S.

The majority of the humanitarian requests have been filed by Afghan Americans on behalf of relatives seeking to flee Taliban rule.

The U.S. led the evacuation of more than 124,000 civilians, mostly vulnerable Afghans, in August, but tens of thousands of others were left behind.

For many at-risk Afghan civilians with no direct ties to the U.S. military or government, humanitarian parole is the only option of finding safety in the United States.

A spokesman for Langevin told VOA that the information about the USCIS humanitarian parole backlog came during an October 12 agency briefing for congressional staff.

Asked about Langevin's criticism of the backlog, the USCIS official said the agency is assigning additional staff to address the workload.

"USCIS issued an agencywide request for volunteers to help process applications for humanitarian and significant public benefit parole and the agency will have significantly more staff assigned to this workload in the coming weeks," the official said.

The deluge of applications has nonetheless overwhelmed the immigration service.

Afghan American lawyer Wogai Mohmand said the number of Afghan humanitarian parole requests could reach as high as 150,000 in a year.

"Their systems are not equipped to deal with that kind of volume," Mohmand said during a recent webinar hosted by several advocacy organizations. "Frankly, they dont have enough staff to look at all those applications."

Assigning more officers to the humanitarian parole cases alone can't help anyone get out of Afghanistan, according to Sunil Varghese, policy director for the International Refugee Assistance Project.

Before parolees are admitted into the U.S., Varghese said, their fingerprints must be taken, identifies verified and travel documents issued by the U.S. embassy.

But the U.S. embassy in Kabul shut down at the end of August and moved to Doha, Qatar. This means that although Afghans can apply for humanitarian parole while still in the country, once they receive pre-approval, they're required to travel to a third country for vetting at a U.S. consulate.

If they do make it through the process, "the Department of State issues a boarding letter for the applicant to take a commercial carrier, at their own expense, to the United States," the official explained.

With foreign visas hard to come by and regular commercial flights yet to resume, traveling to a third country for screening is not an option for most Afghans, according to advocates.

Even in the best of circumstances, the difficulty many Afghans face in reaching a U.S. consulate abroad has had undesirable consequences. Take the case of Fatima Khashee. As security deteriorated in July, the 61-year-old's son, a U.S. permanent resident, filed a humanitarian parole request on her behalf.

In her case, USCIS acted fairly quickly, approving her application within 20 days on August 24, according to her son, who requested that he not be identified by name.

But by then the Taliban had overrun the country. The embassy, having relocated to the Kabul international airport, transferred her case to Turkey. And by the time she made it to Istanbul 30 days later, her parole authorization had expired.

"It wasnt my mothers fault that her parole was expired," the son said in a message to VOA. "She paid triple of regular price to get [the] first flights [that] became available out of Afghanistan. She tried every possible channel to get out sooner, but all land borders and airlines were closed."

One month later, Khashee remains stuck at an Istanbul hotel, waiting for what her son describes as a long overdue, updated parole reauthorization.

"That is unbelievable and very disappointing," he said of the six officers adjudicating 14,000 applications.

It costs $575 to apply for humanitarian parole, a figure that adds up to several thousand dollars for a family of six and that some members of Congress want to see waived.

Despite the cost and uncertainty over their approval, however, humanitarian parole requests for Afghan citizens continue to flood in.

"First, they dont have any other options available," Khashees son said. "Secondly, they are all still hopeful that the USCIS approves their cases considering the situation in Afghanistan. Most of them are not aware how hard it is to be approved for humanitarian parole."

The USCIS official did not respond to questions about whether the agency has approved any Afghan humanitarian parole requests and how long it would take the agency to clear the backlog.
U.S. special envoy for North Korea Sung Kim arrived Saturday in South Korea to reopen stalled denuclearization talks with the North.

U.S.-North Korea negotiations were halted more than two years ago over easing U.S.-led sanctions against the North in exchange for winding down its nuclear weapons program.

Sungs visit comes after North Korea launched a new ballistic missile from a submarine Tuesday off its east coast, the latest in a series missile tests carried out by the North.

Kim told reporters Saturday he anticipated productive talks with South Korean officials during their Sunday meeting.

The North has rejected U.S. appeals to reopen talks, demanding the U.S. end its hostile policy of sanctions and joint military exercises with South Korea.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Ho accused the U.S. Saturday of escalating military tensions with China through its reckless support of Taiwan with weapons and training. He also said the U.S.s increasing military presence in the region is a likely threat to the North.

Paks criticism of the U.S. comes one day after President Joe Biden said during a CNN townhall that the U.S. was committed to defending Taiwan if it is attacked by China.

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press and Reuters.
Uzbekistan votes in a presidential election on Sunday in which incumbent President Shavkat Mirziyoyev faces no genuine opposition and is almost certain to win a second term.

Mirziyoyev's predicted victory will allow him to deepen his largely successful reform campaign and likely lead to Uzbekistan opening up further to foreign trade and investment  while retaining a highly centralized political system.

The 64-year-old leader has rebuilt the resource-rich country's ties with both Russia and the West which had become strained under his predecessor Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan's first post-independence president.

Mirziyoyev has also reined in the powerful security services and oversaw a release of a number of political prisoners who had ended up behind bars due to Karimov's zero-tolerance approach towards dissent.

Still, there are no real opposition parties in the mostly Muslim nation of 34 million and the four candidates running against Mirziyoyev have been nominated by parties which support the president.

Mirziyoyev's has pledged to cut poverty through rapid economic growth and gradually decentralize decision-making by devolving some powers to district councils.

Due to COVID-19 concerns, voters are required to wear masks and observe social distancing at polling stations staffed with medical workers. Polls are set to close at 8pm local time (1500 GMT) and preliminary results are due on Monday.
Very few companies can boast of having their name also used as a verb. Zoom is one of them. The popularity of the videoconferencing platform continues to grow around the world despite continued questions about whether Chinese authorities are monitoring the calls.

Since Zoom became a household word last year during the pandemic, internet users including companies and government agencies have asked whether the apps data centers and staff in China are passing call logs to Chinese authorities.

Some of the more informed know about that, but the vast majority, they dont know about that, or even if they do, they really dont give much thought about it, said Jack Nguyen, partner at the business advisory firm Mazars in Ho Chi Minh City.

He said in Vietnam, for example, many people resent China over territorial spats, but Vietnamese tend to Zoom as willingly as they sign on to rivals such as Microsoft Teams. They like Zooms free 40 minutes per call, said Nguyen.

Whether to use the Silicon Valley-headquartered Zoom, now as before, comes down to a user-by-user calculation of the services benefits versus the possibility that call logs are being viewed in China, analysts say. China hopes to identify and stop internet content that flouts Communist Party interests.

The 10-year-old listed company officially named Zoom Video Communications reported over $1 billion in revenue in the April-June quarter this year, up 54% over the same quarter of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic drove face-to-face meetings online. In the same quarter, the most recent one detailed by the company, Zoom had 504,900 customers of more than 10 employees, up about 36% year on year.

Zoom commanded a 42.8% U.S. market share, leading competitors, as of May 2020, the news website LearnBonds reported. Its U.S. share was up to 55% by March this year, according to ToolTester Network data.

Tech media cite Zooms free 40 minutes and capacity for up to 100 call participants as major reasons for its popularity.

Links to China?

Keys that Zoom uses to encrypt and decrypt meetings may be sent to servers in China, Wired Business Medias website Security Week has reported. Some encryption keys were issued by servers in China, news website WCCF Tech said.

Zoom did not answer VOAs requests this month for comment.

Zoom has acknowledged keeping at least one data center and a staff employee in China, where the communist government requires resident tech firms to provide user data on request. In September 2019, the Chinese government turned off Zoom in China, and in April last year Zoom said international calls were routed in error through a China-based data center.

Odds are high of China getting records of Zoom calls, said Jacob Helberg, a senior adviser at the Stanford University Center on Geopolitics and Technology.

If you have Zoom engineers in China who have access to the actual servers, from an engineering standpoint those engineers can absolutely have access to content of potential communications in China, he said.

Zoom said in a statement in early April 2020 that certain meetings held by its non-Chinese users might have been allowed to connect to systems in China, where they should not have been able to connect, SmarterAnalyst.com reported.

Excitement and caution

Zoom said in 2019 it had put in place strict geo-fencing procedures around our mainland China data center.

No meeting content will ever be routed through our mainland China data center unless the meeting includes a participant from China, it said in a blog post.

Among the bigger users of Zoom is the University of California, a 10-campus system that switched to online learning in early 2020. Zoom was selected following a request for proposals years before the pandemic, a UC-Berkeley spokesperson told VOA on Thursday.

Elsewhere in the United States, NASA has banned employees from using Zoom, and the Senate has urged its members to avoid it because of security concerns. The German Foreign Ministry and Australian Defense Force restrict use as well, while Taiwan barred Zoom for government business last year. China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan, which has caused decades of political hostility.

For Taiwan, theres still some doubt, said Brady Wang, a Taipei analyst with the market intelligence firm Counterpoint Research, referring particularly to Zooms encryption software. And in the final analysis, these kinds of [video app] choices are numerous, so its not like you must rely on Zoom.

LinkedIns withdrawal from China announced this month may spark new scrutiny over Zoom, said Zennon Kapron, founder and director of Kapronasia, a Shanghai financial industry research firm.

I think when you look at the other technology players that are currently in China or that have relations to China such as Zoom, there will be a renewed push probably by consumers, businesses and even regulators in some jurisdictions to really try to understand and pry apart what the roles of Chinese suppliers or development houses are in developing some of these platforms and the potential security risks that go with them, Kapron said.
Some Zimbabweans have criticized the Zanu PF Youth League for proposing the amendment of the countrys constitution to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwas stay in office beyond two five-year presidential terms, saying the country is sliding towards autocratic rule.

According to NewsDay, acting deputy secretary of the Youth League, Tendai Chirau, told journalists in Harare on Friday that unlimited presidential terms would ensure that Mnangagwa is capable of implementing some government programs he has initiated following his election in 2018.

Section 91 of the Zimbabwe Constitution clearly states that a person is disqualified for election as President or Vice-President if he or she has already held office as President under this Constitution for two terms, whether continuous or not, and for the purpose of this subsection three or more years' service is deemed to be a full term.

Government opponents claim that Mnangagwa is clandestinely pushing for a life presidency.

Former freedom fighter, Isaac Mabuka, who is also the chairperson of the opposition Zapu party, said Zanu PF youth are singing for their supper.

How can a person above the age of 70 be given an extended presidential term. Mnangagwa is behaving like (former president) Mugabe. This is ridiculous. These youth should be fighting to be the next leaders and not pushing for a life presidency for such a person. They are crazy.

Opposition Movement for Democratic Alliance presidential spokesperson, Nkululeko Sibanda, said, Zanu PF will always be Zanu PF. They have this kind of backward thinking. We have seen this over the years. We hope that President Nelson Chamisa (of the MDC Alliance) will be elected next president so that we can stop this nonsense. Its sickening to have such proposals but we know that Zanu PF is capable of coming up with such shocking ideas. Its sad.

Independent political commentator, Effie Dlela Ncube, noted that the ruling party has run out of ideas and therefore it is not surprising to such proposals from its Youth League.

These youth are trying to create a life presidency. Its madness. These youth are poor people and are being manipulated because they dont have jobs. This should not be allowed. A person has to be in office for a short time to do his or her best. A country is developed by many people and not one person who occupies a presidential office until death.

But Zanu PF activist, Elifasi Mashaba, praised the Youth League for proposing unlimited presidential terms.

We applaud them for recognizing the good work of the president. Mnangagwa started working in 2018 and has done a lot and the youth have recognized all this. There is significant development in this country. The youth have a right to share their ideas in public. They believe that President Mnangagwa can do his best  We think that this is a good idea even if there are some stumbling blocks life Section 91 of the Constitution which limits the presidential term of office.

If we need to amend the constitution to extend presidential term limits, we can go back to the people and conduct a referendum. All this can be done when people agree on this. When a person is a hard worker one can be allowed to work for a long time in office. I dont think Mnangagwa can personally call for this but if the people of Zimbabwe want him to stay longer in power, so be it.

However, Mthwakazi Republic Party leader, Mqondisi Moyo, said the ruling party has run out of ideas.

These people just want to have an autocratic leader. Its unthinkable that there are some people making such proposals. They are not even ashamed of saying this in public. This is a total disgrace.
Funeral Announcements A daily list of current funeral annoucements as heard on KXRA 1490 AM/100.3 FM

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Breaking News The big news. Sent only as it happens.
Stowe, VT (05672)

Today

Sunshine early then becoming cloudy later in the day. High 42F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy. A shower of rain or wet snow possible. Low 31F. Winds light and variable.
A new trend is 'hat'-ching in Huntsville, and it's making people look pretty stylish.

The man behind it all is Reggie Corbitt. And if you're Reggie Corbitt, work is all about family and fun.

Nathan Mason Hats owner Reggie Corbitt making one of his custom-made creations. Nathan Mason Hats owner Reggie Corbitt making one of his custom-made creations.

"(I come from) a generation of hat-rockers," Corbitt said.

Hat-making sure is a unique job. But it's perfect for Corbitt.

"I couldn't find hats that fit my size," he said. "No idea is too wild."

It all starts with a measurement  cutting out the guesswork. Corbitt says at other places, his customers don't know if the hat they buy will fit them. That's not a problem at Nathan Mason.

"Our hats are hats you can pass down for generations," he said.

Corbitt measures each head that walks through the shop's doors. From there, it's onto design.

Pick your crown, brim style and color. There's 28 colors to choose from, with more on the way.

"This is going to be the biggest hat wall this side of the Mississippi," Corbitt said.

Add on accessories, and you've got yourself a custom hat.

From the start of the measuring process to getting the completed product can take about three to four weeks.

The price may make you go "Whoa," said Corbitt, but he thinks it's worth it. Hats start at $325. They are mostly made of rabbit and beaver furs.

Corbitt said in just a few weeks of being open, Huntsville has already caught on to the trend.

"Getting the traction going, the word gets out," Corbitt said. "People are coming to us and saying this is something that Huntsville has been needing and that we don't have a hat shop right now."

And that makes Nathan Mason Hats a true Alabama Original.

"People are having to travel to Nashville, Birmingham and other places, Atlanta, to get hats," Corbitt said. "So to have one here in Huntsville, it has been well-received."

Nathan Mason Hats is in the Parkway Place Mall.

Customers can also order a custom hat online after a virtual consulting session in which Corbitt will walk them through measuring their head step-by-step.

To see all of WAAY 31's past "Alabama Originals," click HERE. If you have an idea for an "Alabama Original," email Luke at lhajdasz@waaytv.com.
With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanding eligibility for Covid-19 vaccine booster shots, people in Madison County are hoping more will get vaccinated.

For those who got the Pfizer or Moderna shots, the list now includes everyone age 65 and up, plus anyone over the age of 18 who lives in a long-term care setting, has underlying medical conditions or lives or works in high-risk settings.

This is all as long as it's been at least six months since they received their second dose.

WAAY-31 spoke to people who are ready for their booster shot. For many, the reason for getting a booster was to protect loved ones who are immunocompromised, or they were themselves. They want to keep everyone safe.

"If I can get something that'll help me fight it, yeah, I'm going to take it," said one man.

"As soon as we heard that there was the potential that we kind of needed boosters, it was like, how fast can we get these boosters?" Suzanne Enoch said.

Both people we spoke with Saturday told us they are almost impatiently waiting to get their boosters  not only for themselves, but for their family and friends.

For those who received the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson COVID shots, there's a booster recommendation. And now the CDC says those who want to can get a booster that's different from their original vaccine.

Enoch said it's almost a civic duty at this point.

"If we can minimize the fallout from this, even one life saved is worth us all making the effort," she said.

As of Saturday morning, there have been a little more than 8,000 deaths this year from Covid-19 in Alabama. Enoch and others don't want to be added to that list.

"I want to live. I don't want to die because of COVID," said one man.

Health care professionals are urging everyone to roll up their sleeves and get the shot. They say the vaccine has been proven to reduce the risk of suffering severe complications, hospitalization and even death from the disease.

To find out more on the booster shots and what the CDC is recommending, click here.
MONTGOMERY (AP)  The mayors of Alabamas 10 largest cities are holding two days of meetings in the capital to discuss legislative priorities and other issues.

A statement from the city of Montgomery says Mayor Steven Reed will play host for the gathering, which begins Sunday and continues Monday. The mayors of Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Tuscaloosa, Hoover, Auburn, Dothan, Decatur and Madison are expected to attend.

Combined, the cities total population makes up more than 20% of Alabamas population of about 5 million people.

The leaders are expected to discuss issues including a proposal that would provide greater oversight of people accused of violent crimes. They also could talk about topics including the distribution of sales taxes from online purchases.

The group of mayors last met in the summer in Mobile and discussed gun violence.
Decatur, IL (62521)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 34F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 34F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
Decatur, IL (62521)

Today

Mostly clear this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 34F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 34F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
It couldnt even deliver crude to its major Black Sea port of Novorossiysk without pumping it across a corner of Ukraine, while its major Baltic Sea outlet was in Latvia. Gas deliveries to western Europe had to cross one or more of the former Soviet republics of Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. They then had to pass through at least one of the former satellite states of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.
But thats not what the courts majority will do if it overturns Roe. The court would simply declare that the right to abortion cant be found in the Constitution. From that it would follow that states could outlaw abortion  not that they were obligated to do so. In other words, the courts holding would allow states to take away the right to choose as it has existed for almost half a century.
This may come as something of a shock to those who have been paying attention. Marvel is famous for its secrecy. So it was remarkable to have Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, producers, art directors and actors talk candidly about the MCU. Most were old hands at hardly talking at all  or at talking without actually saying anything. The reticence was all a part of the no-spoiler culture. According to Bennett and Terry, some interviewees found the opportunity to talk about their work cathartic.
And for those who want to shop around, comparisons are not easy. The Medicare.gov website provides an overview of health plan costs and benefits and lets seniors compare plans premiums based on what medications the beneficiary uses. But it doesnt offer a comparison of which doctors, dentists or hospitals are in the Medicare Advantage network or provide details about limits on dental, hearing and vision care. For that information, consumers must go to each insurers website and read through a summary of benefits that can be dozens of pages long.
Two reports released in the past month question the use of such technology across the country to track students, warning that it might be used for disciplinary purposes, unintentionally out LGBTQ students or squash student expression. The studies also point out that the behavior of economically disadvantaged students may be tracked more frequently than wealthier students because the school-owned laptop is their only device.
The Roanoke Times had featured Nwogu in an article last year about college seniors having to forgo a traditional graduation because of the coronavirus pandemic. Nwogu told the newspaper that his father, an officer in the Nigerian army, had planned to travel to the United States for the graduation but canceled when the in-person ceremony was called off.
The work of being governor, especially in a pandemic, is too important to just leave to chance, Obama said. With the economy recovering and with schools open again, he said, Weve got a choice. We can go backwards, we can plunge right back into the misguided policies and the divisiveness and the negligence that made this pandemic so much worse than it ever had to be, or we can build an economy that works for everybody, not just a few.
In his 2007 memoir, Biden recalled that when he told his mother he was going to meet the queen of England, she advised him not to bow despite the protocol. When I told her I was going to see the Pope, it was Dont you kiss his ring,  Biden added.  Remember, Joey, shed say, youre a Biden. Nobody is better than you. Youre not better than anybody else, but nobody is any better than you. 
The chalkboard on an interactive Remembrance Wall at Union Station, where survivors and relatives of traffic crash victims post memories of their loved ones. (Bill OLeary/The Post)

The District has recorded as many traffic fatalities by mid-November as occurred in all of 2020.
MARY RUTH WAGLER  The funeral for Mary Ruth Wagler was held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021, at First Mennonite Church, with Chris Raber, Gaylon Sommers and David Lee Stoll officiating. Burial was in the church cemetery.
WA Premier Mark McGowan says the threats to himself and his family following his governments expansion of vaccine mandates to 75 per cent of the workforce are partly the result of conspiracy theorists peddling witchdoctor medical solutions on the internet.

Mr McGowan refused to divulge any details of why he had to rush home after a wedding on Saturday morning due to a reported incident at his Rockingham home, but confirmed a leak of his home address and mobile phone number on social media by anti-vaxxer groups on Wednesday had caused some issues.

WA Premier Mark McGowan was defiant in the face of the vaccine protests. Credit:WAtoday

Look, talking about my personal security is not something Im going to do, he said.

Mr McGowan and his family received death threats to the premiers personal mobile.
Melbournes Royal Childrens Hospital has again been identified as a COVID-19 exposure site.

The level three recovery parent waiting room was listed as a tier-1 or close contact site on Monday, October 18 between 1.51pm and 3.40pm.

A parents waiting room at the hospital has been declared a COVID-19 exposure site. Credit:Chris Hopkins

In recent weeks, the neonatal intensive care ward at the hospital was also declared an exposure site, as was the cancer ward.

Anyone who visited the parents waiting room during that timeframe now has to get tested for COVID-19 and quarantine for seven days if they are fully vaccinated, or 14 days if they are not.

Victorian health authorities also identified a number of other new COVID-19 exposure sites on Sunday evening, including F45 Training and PRD Real Estate at Mildura.

In Bendigo, Evan Shoes at Hargreaves Mall was declared a close contact exposure site, as was Queens Arms Hotel at Quarry Hill.

In Latrobe, the Glengarry Hotel and Pub was declared a tier-1 site, as was Latrobe Leisure Centre Moe Newborough, and a landscape supplies shop and a restaurant in Traralgon.

Life Church at Mooroopna, about 180 kilometres north of Melbourne, was also declared a tier-1 exposure site.
From Monday, when students return full-time to Jamison High School, the power used to charge their laptops and light their classrooms will have been sourced from the solar panels on the schools rooftops.

The western Sydney school is the latest to ramp up its renewable energy systems and use batteries and solar energy to help fuel its operations. Principal Glyn Trethewy said they turned on the system for the first time on Friday.

Its been a great journey, to be making our contribution to sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint, he said. Schools use power for the essential curriculum, but we also have large roof spaces.

Jamison High School principal Glyn Trethewy with some of his students as they launched their new renewable energy system on Friday. Credit:Wolter Peeters

About 1500 of the states 2200 public schools use some level of solar energy and a few, such as Wiley Park Girls High in western Sydney, source substantial amounts of energy from their 100 kilowatt solar panels. Others have smaller systems of about 5 kilowatts, which mainly supplement other power sources.
Queensland has recorded a double-doughnut day with no new COVID-19 cases as more than 100 high schools in the state have begun operating pop-up clinics to get vaccinated.

There were 26 active cases in Queensland. The state reached 74.1 per cent single dose vaccinations and 59.36 per cent of double dose.

Education Minister Grace Grace urged Queenslanders to attend one of 116 high school hubs opened for a Super Saturday.

If you dont want to do it for yourself. Do it for your family, your elderly grandparents, your young siblings, your aunts, your uncles but make sure you get vaccinated, she said.
It is extremely unusual for a Defendant in a civil case to be cautioned in this way and members of the Court had no prior experience of the principal witness in a case (as Mr Valmorbida was) being cautioned, they said. Before closing arguments his [lawyer] conceded ... Mr Valmorbida had indeed made fraudulent misrepresentations. The judges concluded Mr Valmorbida did not own the paintings, but used forged documents to suggest he did, and that he then used the paintings as collateral to get personal loans worth more than $10 million from major international art trading houses including Sothebys. Mr Valmorbida went on to sell the Basquiat and Condo works for $6 million each. The evidence in this case exposed the First Defendant, Mr Valmorbida, as a man who was serially dishonest, the judges said. Mr Valmorbida said in evidence in chief that not only was he a well-renowned art dealer, but that he had an extremely good reputation and a presence in the art world on both sides of the Atlantic.

When he was cross-examined, he was revealed to be dishonest, evasive and accepted that he had both used and created false documents for the purpose of obtaining loans from four lenders on the footing that he owned artwork which, in each case, was largely not owned by him, the court found. Documents published from the civil case  presided over by deputy bailiff Robert MacRae, sitting with jurats Robert Christensen and Elizabeth Dulake  show Mr Valmorbida gave evidence that in flipping paintings, he had invoices altered by $200,000 on two occasions to deceive the buyers that they were paying cost price for works worth more than $1 million each, then pocketed the difference. Mr Valmorbida, the third generation of the migrant family that made a $500 million fortune importing Lavazza coffee, Sirena tuna and La Gina tomatoes to Australia, grew up in Melbourne and attended Xavier and Wesley colleges before moving to New York. Mary-Kate Olsen and Andy Valmorbida at a New York art show in 2009. Credit:Getty Images There, he forged a career as a multimillion-dollar art trader and impresario throwing grand pop-up exhibitions that toured through New York, London and Moscow.

Mr Valmorbida initially focused on early street artists, notably reviving the career of Richard Hambleton, a forgotten contemporary of Basquiat and Keith Haring. Hambleton had fallen into obscurity, with his paintings selling for little more than a couple of thousand dollars before Mr Valmorbida hosted a show of the artists works during New York Fashion Week. Before Hambleton died in 2017 following a long battle with drug addiction, Mr Valmorbida bought the digital copyright for use of his works, some of which now sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld, artists Richard Hambleton and Andy Valmorbida. Credit:Getty Images The 2009 show, in New Yorks meatpacking district, was pulled together by Mr Valmorbida and his business partner, Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, the son of Carine Roitfeld, a former French Vogue editor-in-chief and one of the most influential women in fashion. It was attended by Alicia Keys, Josh Hartnett, Mary J Blige and Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. No stranger to the international party circuit, [Valmorbida] was the prime mover in putting it together and Giorgio Armani took a hand in producing the show, The Daily Beast reported at the time.

A darling of the social pages often photographed with celebrities and art world luminaries, Mr Valmorbida has since hosted dozens of sponsored art events around the world. The New York Times in 2012 described him a young pop-up exhibitionist and cocky Australian-born art entrepreneur. The New York Posts take was Australian playboy. Andrew Valmorbida celebrated his wedding at Englands Blenheim Palace. Credit:Getty Images In 2014 he married socialite Zara Simon, daughter of Peter Simon, the retail tycoon behind 600 million British fashion empire Monsoon. The wedding was celebrated at Blenheim Palace, one of Englands largest houses and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in an occasion The Australian Financial Review described as the wedding of the year. Mr Valmorbida and Mr Hore settled the Jersey civil case privately after days of evidence, however the court chose to publish a judgment on September 30 regardless because it is very much in the public interest for a person with Mr Valmorbidas profile to have his dealings exposed. [He] sold a painting by Basquiat for $6 million contrary to the terms of the agreement with The Fine Art Group and without discussion with the Plaintiff or the Board of Directors of the Second Defendant, which owned the painting. The proceeds were paid into Mr Valmorbidas personal bank account.

Model Gemma Ward and Andrew Valmorbida in New York in 2007. Credit:Getty Images Mr Valmorbida sold a painting by George Condo for $6 million which was owned by the Second Defendant without notice to the Plaintiff or the Second Defendant and had the proceeds paid to his personal bank account. Mr Valmorbida made several representations which he knew to be false to Falcon Fine Art, London, in January 2018 for the purpose of securing a loan in the sum of $6.5 million from them which was to be secured against paintings worth millions of dollars which he said were part of his art collection but in large measure were not. To resolve a debt to Mr Hore as part of an October 2018 settlement, Mr Valmorbida promised to pay in three instalments with money secured by seven artworks valued at $14.8 million. Mr Valmorbida pledged not to sell, assign, transfer, mortgage, charge or deal with the artworks until he had repaid the money by November 2018. In fact, the court found Mr Valmorbida had already knowingly sold two and retained the proceeds for himself and pledged four in favour of Sothebys in order to obtain funds from them, only leaving one unencumbered and unsold painting with a given value of $500,000.

The judges noted their concern that Mr Valmorbida had attempted to disguise his tax residence. Loading Mr Valmorbida appears still to own companies in Jersey and has service providers looking after his interests. It is important that [the companies] know of the findings that the Court has made in this case. There were certainly significant concerns arising from the evidence in relation to Mr Valmorbidas tax status and his attempts, on the evidence of the Plaintiff (which we accepted), to disguise his tax residence. The court transferred the case papers to the Jersey Attorney General in July for his consideration as to whether or not they should be sent to the Director of Public Prosecution.
Leaked text messages reveal Nationals MP were fuming after details of their list of demands for agreeing to a net zero emissions target were canvassed publicly, before they had seen it, with one accusing the Prime Ministers office of leaking it.

A series of messages sent by Senator Matt Canavan to his Nationals colleagues on Thursday night and Friday morning, leaked to The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age by another MP, suggested a media story on Friday about the party wanting a socio-economic safety valve for the regions reads like it has been planted by PMO.

Matt Canavan and his party leader Barnaby Joyce. Mr Canavan opposes the net zero target. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

It doesnt sound like our language - we dont say transition - lets make sure we dont get set up to accept the bare minimum, Senator Canavan wrote.

The leaking of parts of the Nationals net zero demands, and discussion afterwards on the partys private message channel on the encrypted Signal app, comes ahead of a crunch Nationals meeting at 3pm on Sunday and as the Prime Minister prepares to fly to Glasgow on Thursday for the COP26 climate summit.
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Elizabeth Shaw, a second-year environmental science major at Weatherford College, is caring for not one, not two, not even three, but about 20 sapling trees.
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WINDSOR LOCKS, CT (WFSB) - More than seventy Connecticut soldiers are heading to Texas for training.

After that, they will be deployed to Poland for about a year.

For one last time, Joseph Montenegro carries his son.

It's not his first deployment, but the first where he leaves his wife and little boy behind.

"Knowing that I have to leave these two behind is a little rough. At least there are ways to communicate things. That is important, being able to talk to my family while I am there and knowing we will have that ability is nice," Montenegro said.

For the next year, Montenegro, along with more than seventy other soldiers, will head to Poland to assist 'Operation Atlantic Resolve' as part of the 142nd Area Support Medical Company based in Danbury.

This team of medical specialists will support troops around Europe.

"I feel ready. I spent a lot of time preparing. It's time to do it now," Benjamin Farrell stated.

Loved ones hugged, cried, and held hands until next time.

These soldiers won't be home for the holidays, but Corporal Juan Herrera says he knows he's not alone.

"All the people here are my friends. Those are the ones who will keep pushing me up and my family, keep in contact with them and when I come back, I will see them again and make them proud," Col. Herrera noted.

"I am definitely going to miss ski season this year with him. He's an outstanding skier at seven years old. I am hoping that at some point, him and my wife can possibly get over to Europe, get some time together, and maybe hit the slopes there," First Sergeant Daniel Grenier said.

As for the dozens of loved ones that stay behind, it's also about unity.

Montenegro's wife, Emily, says she plans to connect with other families.

National Guard troops prepared for overseas deployment (WFSB) - Families and state officials gave about seventy soldiers from the Connecticut Natio

"Reaching out, we are all in this together, so no one should feel alone at this point," Emily Montenegro added.

This team will be in Texas for several weeks and arrive in Poland by the end of the year.
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Arlis Dittmer is a retired health science librarian and current president of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County. During her years with Blessing Health System, she became interested in medical and nursing history  both topics frequently overlooked in history.

The Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County is preserving the Governor John Wood Mansion, the History Museum on the Square, the 1835 Log Cabin, the Livery, the Lincoln Gallery displays, and a collection of artifacts and documents that tell the story of who we are. This award-winning column is written by members of the Society. For more information visit hsqac.org or email info@hsqac.org.
Quincy, IL (62301)

Today

Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 57F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy during the evening. A few showers developing late. Low 38F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
More activist than politician, Ive never sought office for personal gain, nor taken the fast track, party loyalty pledge. This year, in the middle of a pandemic, I decided to give our American traditions of representation with checks and balances one last try.

City Hall was closed most of 2020 and 2021, yet outside special interest money flowed into the re-election coffers of the mayor, along with fast-tracked zoomed agendas. It was during this period that I decided to bring the Independent Party back to Norwalk and run for an at-large seat on the Common Council. Why? Because outside and outsized special interest agendas would not be possible without the complicity or ignorance of a rubber-stamping Common Council.

Ive assembled a team of 15 courageous residents of all political stripes to run for the Common Council, the Board of Education and other city-wide offices, in order to stand up for Norwalk, stand up for residents and stand up to this administration. Whether I win or lose, my political legacy will be the return of the Independent Party to Norwalk. Let me address the obvious question: Why do we need it?

Representation: More than 43 percent of Norwalks 57,000 registered voters (roughly 25,000) are registered as Unaffiliated or Independent. This statistic doesnt factor in Democrat or Republican voters, who consider themselves moderates within their respective parties, or nonpartisan when it comes to local government.

Check and balance: Unintended consequences occur when opposing views are silenced or power becomes too concentrated or lopsided, leaving residents without any check on their government. Currently, 24/25 of Norwalks major elected offices, including mayor, Common Council and Board of Education are represented by a single party, despite a 45/55 percentage split in votes in 2019.

Nonpartisan: I believe political parties are irrelevant to providing city services and Im not alone. According to the National League of Cities, 22 out of 30 of the most populous cities in the United States have nonpartisan elections. Given Connecticuts election rules, bringing back the Independent Party back was the closest I could get to promoting a nonpartisan, common-sense approach to electing good government representatives on the local ballot.

More accountability, balance and communication.

Accountability. Concentrated power has given way to transparency and accountability issues. Years of private caucus meetings have hindered public discussion and debate over development, population density, personnel issues, school funding and economic policy. Decisions have been made behind closed doors. Exacerbated by the pandemic, special interest agendas have fast-tracked through the Common Council and Board of Education. Personnel and ethics issues plague City Hall, from hiring practices, behavioral issues, to promotions, salaries, retirements and rehires.

Balance. Lopsided power and special interests removed balance from our city. Campaign contributions from developers and legal firms have out-sized influence over ordinary residents voices. City Halls designated enterprise and opportunity development zones are overly generous financially and geographically. These apartments are built under the guise of affordable housing, but thats only 10 percent of the units; 90 percent are priced at or above local market. Tax incentives means revenues needed to operate a more densely populated city wont be realized for years, leaving long-time residents picking up the tab.

Communication. Norwalks government needs to communicate more with residents. They work for us and must be transparent. A decade of back door deals and rubber stamping by the Common Council and more recently, our Board of Education has placed unsustainable pressure on our classrooms, city streets, parks, infrastructure and budget. This must stop.

The current administration, working hand in hand with Hartford has made us the most densely populated city in Western Connecticut, without considering the citys ability to service more people, its impact on quality of life or how Norwalk would pay for it.

We need to do better. We can do better. Those running on the Independent Line will do better and have made the commitment to represent the residents of Norwalk  better.

Lisa Brinton is running for a Common Council at-large seat. She is with the Independents For Norwalk party.
After taking the stage to sustained applause, Bill Maher offered his audience good news and bad news. Californias wildfire season might be ended by rain, he said, but because its California that was likely to lead to more disasters  including flooding and landslides. Continuing in that same mode, Maher went on to cite Hawaii opening back up to vaccinated travelers.

Finally, a governor who is asking the right questions about COVID  like, how will my policies affect Bill Mahers New Years Eve plans? he said  and mentioned that his planned New Years Eve gig there was back on. It wasnt the only holiday he invoked in his opening monologue; Halloween came up as well. This is the time of year when youre really excited about your costume, but it hasnt gotten you canceled yet, Maher said.

Not surprisingly, Maher had a few thoughts on Donald Trumps recently-announced social network. Its called Truth Social; apparently Shit My Dad Says was taken, Maher said. He went on to quickly address Facebooks recent announcement of a name change and the controversy surrounding Dave Chappelles The Closer  and promised more discussion of the latter subject later in the episode.

The first guest this evening was Saru Jayaraman, author of One Fair Wage: Ending Subminimum Pay in America. Jayaraman has made multiple appearances on the show, and Maher connected the Great Resignation to Jayaramans work dealing with workers rights. She noted that the bulk of people who have left their jobs are restaurant workers, many of whom are dealing with being paid a subminimum wage, and whose existing concerns were exacerbated by the pandemic.

Jayaraman went on to debunk the idea that people are leaving jobs due to pandemic relief funds, pointing out that a significant number of those who have left subminimum wage jobs havent necessarily received relief funds  theyve just hit a breaking point.

The two clashed on a few subjects, but by and large were in agreement  and when Jayaraman pointed out that chain restaurants charged the same in states with a minimum wage for restaurant workers as they did in states with a subminimum wage, Maher cited it as an example of de facto corporate welfare. All told, it was one of the most informative one-on-one interviews Mahers had this season  Jayaraman challenged him on a few points, but the areas in which they found common cause were also revealing.

The episodes panel featured a pair of returning guests, Andrew Yang and John McWhorter. Both have new books out: Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy and Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America. Maher kicked things off by raising the subject of supply chain issues and the state of the economy, with Yang making a case that different ways of measuring the economy had different bearings on everyday life  in other words, that just relying on the stock market to see how good things are is an inherently flawed approach.

The debate turned to a variety of subjects from there, including David Shors take on the Democratic Party and New York Citys handling of gifted and talented programs. From there, Maher did a quick bit on the idea of woke horror  which featured a poster for The Invisible Mansplainer.

In the second half of the discussion, the subject turned to Dave Chappelles The Closer and the controversy surrounding it. That said, the debate hit something of a bump in the road early on, as McWhorter made a reference to Immanual Kant that effectively paused the conversation for a while. Maher argued that the word transphobic was frequently used incorrectly  and that, in the case of the debate over The Closer, that its being used in a situation where no hatred is involved.

It led to one of the more surreal moments on the show, when Maher cited the Rotten Tomatoes critic-versus-audience ratings for The Closer and McWhorter pivoted from there to a critique of defund the police rhetoric. (Or its possible that the audience ratings for Chappelles latest special are going to be weighted in favor of existing fans of Chappelles work  making that and the critical ratings a case of apples and oranges.)

Maher did concede that there has been a rise in violence directed at trans people  but stated that he didnt think that Chappelles latest special was the reason why. Largely, the discussion in this half of the panel found Maher and McWhorter debating back and forth, with Yang making an occasional interjection  though Maher did close the segment by asking Yang about his launch of a third party, about which Maher was skeptical. Maher cited his own skepticism of Ralph Naders Green Party runs  including showing a photo of him begging Nader not to run in 2004.

Maher pondered the Delta+ variant in New Rules, Chipotles foray into cosmetics and Kanye Wests face mask. The purpose of a disguise is to make fewer people look at you, Maher quipped regarding West. You dont look Joe Nobody  you look like Trump before he goes into hair and makeup.

The bulk of the segment focused on whether or not the country was headed for a national divorce. This was taken from a Tweet posted earlier this week by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. And while he was skeptical of the source  Maher described Greene as the house you tell your kids to avoid on Halloween  he did note that this has been a subject a lot of thinkers have been exploring lately.

His argument? Less hatred on all sides in contemporary American political discourse. Maher made a good point  that social media can encourage very vituperative language at the drop of a hat, which then normalizes it. He went on to share an anecdote about a Bosnian-born cab driver who told him the situation in the United States reminded him of Bosnia before the civil war. He made the case for de-escalating rhetoric, reminding the audience of the blissful moment not long ago when Facebook was down for several hours. It was an unlikely note of peace to bring the episode to a close.

Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.

The post Bill Maher Defends Dave Chappelle on This Weeks Real Time appeared first on InsideHook.
Winchester, VA (22601)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun in the morning followed by cloudy skies during the afternoon. High 46F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies in the evening, then becoming cloudy overnight. Low 31F. Winds light and variable.
NEW YORK (AP)  With computer-generated imagery, it seems the skys the limit in the magic Hollywood can produce: elaborate dystopian universes. Trips to outer space, for those neither astronauts nor billionaires. Immersive journeys to the future, or back to bygone eras.

FILE - A large crowd of movie industry workers and New Mexico residents attend a candlelight vigil to honor cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in downtown Albuquerque, N.M. Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. Hutchins was killed when Alec Baldwin fired a weapon on a film set that a crew member told him was safe. The tragedy has led to calls for fundamental change in Hollywood: the banning of real guns on sets. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton, file)

NEW YORK (AP)  With computer-generated imagery, it seems the skys the limit in the magic Hollywood can produce: elaborate dystopian universes. Trips to outer space, for those neither astronauts nor billionaires. Immersive journeys to the future, or back to bygone eras.

But as a shocked and saddened industry was reminded this week, many productions still use guns  real guns  when filming. And despite rules and regulations, people can get killed, as happened last week when Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after he was handed a weapon and told it was safe.

The tragedy has led some in Hollywood, along with incredulous observers, to ask: Why are real guns ever used on set, when computers can create gunshots in post-production? Isnt even the smallest risk unacceptable?

For Alexi Hawley, it is. Any risk is too much risk, the executive producer of ABCs police drama The Rookie announced in a staff memo Friday, saying the events in New Mexico had shaken us all.

There will be no more live weapons on the show, he wrote in a note, first reported by The Hollywood Reporter and confirmed by The Associated Press.

Instead, he said, the policy would be to use replica guns, which use pellets and not bullets, with muzzle flashes added in post-production.

The director of the popular Kate Winslet drama Mare of Easttown, Craig Zobel, called for the entire industry to follow suit and said gunshots on that show were added after filming, even though on previous productions he has used live rounds.

Theres no reason to have guns loaded with blanks or anything on set anymore, Zobel wrote on Twitter. Should just be fully outlawed. Theres computers now. The gunshots on Mare of Easttown are all digital. You can probably tell, but who cares? Its an unnecessary risk.

Bill Dill  a cinematographer who taught Hutchins, a rising star in her field, at the American Film Institute  expressed disgust in an interview over the archaic practice of using real guns with blanks in them, when we have readily available and inexpensive computer graphics.

Movie industry worker Hailey Josselyn, wearing a t-shirt of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSA), holds a candle during a vigil to honor cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in Albuquerque, N.M., Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. Hutchins was killed when actor Alec Baldwin fired a weapon on a film set that a crew member told him was safe. The tragedy has led to calls for fundamental change in Hollywood: the banning of real guns on sets. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton, file)

Dill, whose credits include The Five Heartbeats and Dancing in September, said there was added danger from real guns because people are working long hours on films and are exhausted.

Theres no excuse for using live weapons, he said.

A petition was launched over the weekend on change.org for real guns to be banned from production sets.

There is no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century, it said of the tragedy. This isnt the early 90s, when Brandon Lee was killed in the same manner. Change needs to happen before additional talented lives are lost. Lee, the actor son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was killed in 1993 by a makeshift bullet left in a prop gun after a previous scene.

The petition appealed to Baldwin directly to use his power and influence" in the industry and promote Halynas Law, which would ban the use of real firearms on set. As it stands, the U.S. federal workplace safety agency is silent on the issue and most of the preferred states for productions take a largely hands-off approach.

Hutchins, 42, died and director Joel Souza was wounded Thursday on the set of the Western Rust when Baldwin fired a prop gun that a crew member unwittingly told him was cold or not loaded with live rounds, according to court documents made public Friday.

Souza was later released from the hospital.

The tragedy came after some workers had walked off the job to protest safety conditions and other production issues on the film, of which Baldwin is the star and a producer.

In an interview, British cinematographer Steven Hall noted that he worked on a production this year in Madrid that involved lots of firearms."

We were encouraged not to use blanks, but to rely on visual effects in post (production) to create whatever effect we wanted from a particular firearm, with the actor miming the recoil from the gun, and it works very well, he said.

He noted, though, that special effects add costs to a productions budget. So its easier and perhaps more economic to actually discharge your weapon on set using a blank, said Hall, a veteran cinematographer who has worked on films like Fury and Thor: The Dark World. But, he said, "the problem with blanks is, of course  something is emitted from the gun.

Besides financial concerns, why else would real guns be seen as preferable? There are advantages to using blanks on set that some people want to get, said Sam Dormer, a British armorer, or firearms specialist. For instance, you get a (better) reaction from the actor.

Still, Dormer said, the movie industry is likely moving away from real guns, albeit slowly.

The term prop gun can apply to anything from a rubber toy to a real firearm that can fire a projectile. If its used for firing, even blanks, its considered a real gun. A blank is a cartridge that contains gunpowder but no bullet. Still, it can hurt or even kill someone who is close by, according to the Actors Equity Association.

Thats why many are calling to ban blanks as well, and use disabled or replica guns.

Really there is no good reason in this day to have blanks on set, director Liz Garbus wrote on Twitter. CGI can make the gun seem real, and if you dont have the budget for the CGI, then dont shoot the scene.

Broadway actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein wrote that the tragedy certainly made him wonder why Hollywood wasnt leaning more on special effects.

Why, with all of the Hollywood magic available, are they still firing off gun powder? They know that they are going to goose-up the gunshots in post production, he wrote on Facebook. Why chance an accident in the first place?

But he also said the death raised even broader questions.

With all of that Hollywood talent and imagination are we still writing stories about shooting one another? he asked. Do we really have nothing better to spend millions of dollars on than the glamorization of gun battles?

___

Associated Press writers Lindsey Bahr, Lynn Elber in Los Angeles, Hillel Italie in New York, and Lizzie Knight in London contributed to this report.
VICTORIA - Officials don't yet know how many containers burned aboard a cargo ship in a still-smouldering blaze off the coast of Victoria, a spokesman for the Canadian Coast Guard said Sunday.

Smoke is seen on board the container ship Zim Kingston anchored near Victoria in this Saturday, October 23, 2021 handout photo. The Canadian Coast Guard says it received word at about 11 a.m. that a fire had broken out on damaged containers aboard the Zim Kingston, which is anchored in Constance Bank. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Canadian Coast Guard *MANDATORY CREDIT*

VICTORIA - Officials don't yet know how many containers burned aboard a cargo ship in a still-smouldering blaze off the coast of Victoria, a spokesman for the Canadian Coast Guard said Sunday.

The flames initially spread to 10 containers after another 40 fell overboard in choppy waters on Friday, but JJ Brickett said the fire on the MV Zim Kingston was mostly under control by Sunday afternoon.

"Looking at the actual images, it's a pile," Brickett told a virtual news conference. "The containers burned down to basically their shell and then collapsed on top of one another."

Provincial and federal officials are working with all the First Nations on the west coast of Vancouver Island while investigating the fire aboard the ship, he said.

Brickett said the location of some of the containers that landed in the ocean is being monitored by helicopter, but efforts to retrieve them can't start until after a break in a storm that is forecast to worsen until Monday.

Efforts to read labels on the downed containers in order to try and identify their contents have not been fruitful and officials are trying to account for all of them, Brickett said.

"One of the objectives for the response is 100 accountability for all of these containers  where they are, what happened to them, what was in them. And to the extent that we can, how can we recover them."

Ships work to control a fire onboard the MV Zim Kingston about eight kilometres from the shore in Victoria, B.C., on Sunday, October 24, 2021. The container ship caught fire on Saturday and 16 crew members were evacuated and brought to Ogden Point Pier. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

The MV Zim Kingston had experienced some damage as it approached Vancouver and the crew were in contact with the Canadian Coast Guard and Transport Canada, he said, adding the vessel was assessed off the Strait of Juan de Fuca where it was anchored for repairs and to await further contact with the latter agency.

He said Transport Canada inspectors will be aboard the ship after the "emergency phase" of securing the safety of the vessel and those still on it, and that its Greece-based owner is providing assistance.

Earlier Sunday, the coast guard said in a tweet that the hull of the MV Zim Kingston had been cooled overnight by a tugboat spraying it with water. Applying cold water directly to the burning containers was not an option because two of them contained 52,000 kilograms of a hazardous material identified as potassium amylxanthate.

It said the blaze aboard the ship about eight kilometres off the coast of Victoria posed a significant risk to mariners but not people on shore.

The coast guard said it received word late Saturday morning about a fire in 10 damaged containers aboard the vessel, which was anchored in Constance Bank, B.C.

It noted the ship itself was not on fire, but said in a tweet that an emergency zone had been doubled to two nautical miles around the Zim Kingston.

The Joint Rescue and Coordination Centre in Victoria said 16 crew members were safely taken off the ship, while five others, including the captain, remained on board at their own behest.

Canadian Coast Guard spokeswoman Michelle Imbeau said an incident command post led by the agency on behalf of the federal and B.C. governments, as well as First Nations representatives, was co-ordinating a multi-agency response to the fire.

She said the command post was also working with the U.S. Coast Guard to monitor the 40 containers that fell overboard from the Zim Kingston in rough seas on Friday and were floating about 12 nautical miles off the west coast of Vancouver Island, near Bamfield, B.C.

The coast guard said a hazardous materials crew from Vancouver was mobilizing and the owner of the Zim Kingston had contracted the U.S.-based Resolve Marine Group for salvage operations, including firefighting and recovery of the containers.

Resolve Marine had mobilized two vessels that were expected to be on site Sunday.

Peter Lahay, national coordinator of the International Transport Workers Federation, said he contacted Transport Canada on Friday and was told no crew members were hurt and that inspectors would board the ship when it got to Vancouver.

"In my view, after such an extraordinary container spill, marine safety inspectors should have been aboard that ship on arrival. If they had, perhaps we would have known about the fire, or potential fire, sooner," he said.

However, Lahay said he believes the federal agency is woefully underfunded and short-staffed, and as a consequence, too few inspections take place.

"Canada needs to do a better job being resilient and being better able to respond to these things. We kind of wasted a day (Saturday) trying to figure out what to do to mitigate this fire, and we should have been more prepared," he said.

The union has contacted the crew members brought ashore to Victoria to stay in local hotels to see if they need help, Lahay said.

They came ashore without any clothes and well assess what we need to do to assist this crew," he said of the "maritime disaster."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2021.

 By Camille Bains in Vancouver, with files from Michael Tutton in Halifax
TORONTO - If you havent shopped for a credit card in a while, you may see some unfamiliar names in the offerings.

Credit cards are displayed in Montreal, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. If you havent shopped for a credit card in a while, you may see some unfamiliar names in the offerings. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

TORONTO - If you havent shopped for a credit card in a while, you may see some unfamiliar names in the offerings.

Companies like Brim Financial, Float Inc., Caary Capital Ltd., Jeeves Inc., and Neo Financial are part of a growing crop of tech-enabled lenders that are looking to snag a share of the lucrative credit card market from the big banks.

Weve never had more choices, said Mikael Castaldo, general manager of everyday banking at Ratehub.ca.

On the personal credit card side, companies like Brim and Neo are trying to lure customers with promises of more seamless, app-based digital experience, as well as creative rewards programs that partner with specific brands and perks like no foreign transaction fees.

The startups have to be creative with rewards programs because they lack the scale to offer the big sign-up bonuses of the big banks, said Castaldo.

Theyre just getting started, and its actually quite difficult to make that margin equation work sometimes for new credit card providers.

On corporate cards, companies like Jeeves, Float and Caary are aiming mostly at startups and small to medium businesses, offering fast sign-up, numerous digital cards, higher credit limits and no personal guarantee, as well as easier integration into some accounting and spend management software.

Theres a lot of room for improvement, given 90 per cent of this is still with local banks, said Dileep Thazhmon, co-founder and CEO of Jeeves.

He said the company, based in New York but with operations across the Americas, had a soft launch in Canada earlier this year and it has become the company's second biggest market with more than 300 companies signed on.

Jeeves directly monitors a clients bank account and uses machine learning to assess risk, which Thazhmon said allows them to offer the higher credit limit and no personal guarantee.

We trust our underwriting, we trust our risk engine."

The fintech credit card space has gathered steam in recent years, with significant growth in the United States. San Francisco-based Brex Inc. launched its first card in 2018 and was valued at US$7.4 billion in April, and New York-based Ramp Business Co. launched in 2020 and was last valued at US$3.9 billion. Both companies promise a more seamless sign-up experience and continue to add back-end features to help manage expenses.

Toronto startups are also looking to get into the space. Caary raised $4.1 million in June and Float secured a $5 million seed round of funding in July, both based on the model of digital-first corporate cards.

The growth in the fintech credit card space recently is due in part to all of the foundational work done across the digital finance landscape in recent years, said Thazhmon.

A company like Jeeves, you could not build this four years ago. You couldnt build it at this scale, you couldnt build at this speed, because a lot of the hooks we plug into were only built in the last three or four years.

The new competition for the big banks comes as the market is already feeling pressure. Credit card debt fell by $16.6 billion in the first year of the pandemic as people paid down debt, especially those with low credit, who generally pay higher interest. Banks are also seeing more competition from buy-now pay-later models, which some companies like Brim have integrated into their products.

But while the new entrants may have innovative offers, they still have a tough road ahead to break into the market, said Abhishek Sinha, who leads EY Canadas banking technology consulting practice.

Its not that easy breaking into the credit card space because youve got a very mature, established market and it seems the Canadian consumer ... we are a bit more risk averse, we are a bit more OK with status quo than our cousins down south.

The banks also already cover "almost every kind of card imaginable," he said, leaving the new entrants to have to find a significant value proposition to get in.

I dont think its a question of fintechs picking up on a niche thats underserved, I think its more fintechs picking up on niche where they think they can differentiate."

He said banks have also boosted their market research, with more focus groups and joint product developments than even a few years ago.

Banks have already started to integrate buy-now pay-later options and have been investing heavily in their digital apps and offerings.

Castaldo at Ratebub said he sees the banks putting significant resources to keep their dominant position in the market.

Theyre throwing the full weight of their balance sheet and brains behind solving the problem for sure.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2021.
Reconciliation with Indigenous communities, support for seniors and lessons learned from the pandemic were top of mind for members of the Manitoba Liberal party this weekend as the party charted course at its annual general meeting with a slew of policy resolutions.

Reconciliation with Indigenous communities, support for seniors and lessons learned from the pandemic were top of mind for members of the Manitoba Liberal party this weekend as the party charted course at its annual general meeting with a slew of policy resolutions.

The resolutions included support for creating a resource royalty sharing agreement with First Nations and other Indigenous communities, restoring lands impacted by Manitoba Hydro development and introducing legislation to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The party also voted to accept resolutions in favour of a new minimum income supplement for seniors aged 60 to 65, to support those who are unable to work but not yet eligible for their full Canada Pension Plan benefit; adding vision aids to provincial health coverage; and to work to eliminate homelessness.

While resolutions touched on dozens of policy areas, from education to cannabis tax, reconciliation and improving conditions for people living in poverty were among those the party was the most "highly motivated" to pass, party leader and St. Boniface MLA Dougald Lamont said during a break Saturday afternoon.

"These are all areas where the pandemic exposed not just years, but sometimes decades of neglect," he said. "These are all issues where people have been crying out for change for 40 years. Weve been doing everything we can to push for solutions that will actually work."

Among those proposed solutions were the number of resolutions aimed at fulfilling the Truth and Reconciliations 94 calls to action. The party voted to create a reconciliation task force and look at accelerating the process of returning land to First Nations through the Treaty Land Entitlement.

It also approved resolutions to improve equity in provincial services in rural and Northern Manitoba.

The amount of work that has to be done at the provincial level is colossal... Theres so much the province can do to make things better for First Nations.  Liberal Party Leader and St. Boniface MLA Dougald Lamont

"The worst discrimination, often, is in provincial systems: justice, education and health care, especially for people who are non-Treaty," Lamont said. "The amount of work that has to be done at the provincial level is colossal... Theres so much the province can do to make things better for First Nations."

Lessons taken from the pandemic were also a big influence on the partys policy directions, Lamont said, pointing at what he calls the "catastrophe" in senior care that played out during the worst waves of COVID-19. The party pledges to create a strategy to support seniors staying at home for longer should it form government.

The most divisive issue on the agenda was whether the party would resolve to kibosh daylight saving time in Manitoba. In the end, Lamont said, Liberals accepted the resolution, though not without strong feelings on both sides.

Still, he said, the party plans to listen to concerns from Northern folks about the impact of ending DST.

"Ultimately, Manitoba Liberals try to be practical as well," he said.

This was the first Liberal AGM since former Tory premier Brian Pallister stepped down Sept. 1, kicking off the ongoing Tory leadership race. While the shifting Manitoba political landscape may present some open questions, Lamont said Manitoba Liberalss focus is not on the man who used to be on top of the governing party.

"Pallister stepped down, but he didnt act alone," Lamont said. "There was always more to the PC party than Brian Pallister. We looked at what happened during the pandemic, and where things went so terribly wrong. Going back two years, you saw the seeds of the disaster that caused Pallister to resign."

The two-day AGM started Friday and continued through Saturday. It was the second year in a row that the Liberals have had to hold their AGM online. Typically, the party holds its AGMs in April, a schedule that will resume in 2022. Time and COVID-19 conditions will tell if that one will happen in person or virtually.

"I will say that meeting in person is always better," Lamont says. "I am a fan of technology, but like anyone else, theres stuff you can get done (better) together in a room. It has its hurdles. Were looking forward, like everybody else, to getting together."

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Yolk-stained hands up if youre familiar with a whimsical set of Egg Farmers of Canada commercials in which actors portraying characters who are rather odd in their own right opine eating eggs for dinner is weird.

Yolk-stained hands up if youre familiar with a whimsical set of Egg Farmers of Canada commercials in which actors portraying characters who are rather odd in their own right opine eating eggs for dinner is "weird."

Wendy May was met with a similar reaction in the spring of 2016 when she proposed introducing an all-day-breakfast option at the Oakwood Cafe, 660 Osborne St., weeks after she purchased the 56-seat nook. Some of the existing staff informed her that wasnt possible, as the temperature the flat-top grill is set at differs if theyre preparing an omelette versus lunch and dinner selections.

Surely they could find a way around that dilemma, she offered, explaining it was her experience every grill had what she termed a "sweet spot," not too hot, not too cool.

"I grew up eating pancakes or toast and eggs for supper and to me, that was the greatest thing in the world," May says, adding all-day-breakfast, be it huevos rancheros, French toast or (yes, please) chicken chorizo waffles, proved an immediate hit at the Oakwood, which opened as Samanthas in the late 1980s only to be renamed for a neighboring street a few years later.

Of course, it goes both ways. Shift workers who get off at 8 a.m. think nothing of diving into a clubhouse and fries, or a heaping bowl of borscht, first thing in the morning, she points out.

Patrons relax and enjoy the food and casual atmosphere. Some customers are like clockwork: they arrive at the exact same time every day, sit at the same chair at the same table and order the same meal. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

"One of my goals when I took over was to streamline (the menu) a bit, by concentrating on what we do well, which is homestyle breakfast, burgers and sandwiches. Our regulars seem to appreciate the fact they can pop in for their favourite dish, no matter what time of day it is."

If this had been any other year, May would have had a laundry list of reasons to celebrate. In addition to 2021 marking five years since she bought the Oakwood, the married mother of two daughters, ages 18 and 11, turned the big five-O in July and toasted her 25th wedding anniversary the following month. Alas, after everything she had been through owing to COVID-19, she wasnt feeling overly jubilant, she admits.

"Never mind the end of my rope, I was... dangling by a single string around this time last year," she says, seated near a newly painted feature wall boasting oversized, teal-and-white images of some of the restos most popular selections. "Its really too bad because before all of this happened, I was just starting to relax as owner a little bit more, feeling I didnt have to be here every second of the day; that we have an excellent staff that was more than capable of handling things on their own. Then, all of a sudden, the world went topsy-turvy and in a lot of ways, it was back to Square 1."

The Oakwood Cafe, a South Osborne mainstay famous for its borscht. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

May never imagined herself a restaurateur when she was growing up in East Kildonan. Her family rarely ate out and when they did, it was somewhere "posh" like Alycias or Kelekis, she says with a chuckle.

She attended high school at Tec-Voc, where she studied to be a dental assistant. It was a job she neither loved nor hated, she says, but at age 24, she decided a change was in order. Following a weekend soiree where she got, as she candidly puts it, "completely hammered," she boarded a flight to England, having determined that was where she wanted to live after spending three weeks there the previous summer.

She successfully applied for a two-year work visa and about a year into her stay, while toiling as a receptionist at a London hair salon, she met her future husband, Rick, who had popped in for a trim. Picking up on her accent, or lack thereof, during their first date, he inquired what part of the United States she was from. "The Canadian part," she deadpanned.

John Lindenbach, kitchen manager at The Oakwood Cafe, cracks some eggs. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

The couple visited her family in Winnipeg regularly, before and after their daughters were born. Although May had sworn to never dwell here again  "You could have strapped me to a lie detector machine under a hot lamp and my answer still would have been no"  she began to waver somewhat in 2012, following a stay at her brother and sister-in-laws place in St. Vital.

"Their daughter is about 10 months older than our youngest, who was only two at the time, and I started thinking how nice it would be for them to grow up together," she says. "Plus, even though it sounds funny to say, I kind of missed winter after however many years of watching it rain, October through March."

The first thing the Mays did after moving to Winnipeg was go house-hunting. When it was time to secure a mortgage they were recommended to Peter Paley, who in addition to running his own brokerage firm, was also the owner of the Oakwood Cafe, located directly next door in the same, South Osborne strip mall. May and Paley hit it off immediately, to the point he encouraged her to study for her brokers license, too.

A pot of cooked beets which will be made into the cafes famous borscht. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

She did just that, and before she knew it, she wasnt only working for Paley, she was asking, "Uh, what smells so good?" when scents from the Oakwoods kitchen drifted past their desks.

From time to time Paley mentioned his goal was to eventually sell the restaurant to concentrate solely on his mortgage biz. May shrugged him off every time he said she should buy it from him, commenting, what did she know about running a restaurant? As much as he did when he succeeded his aunt there in 2006, hed reply.

Curious, May began pulling the occasional restaurant shift. She also enrolled in a 12-month baking class being taught at Red River College, expressly to determine if that might be something shed enjoy doing professionally. Satisfied it was, she finally took Paley up on his offer in March 2016, when she became the Oakwoods new proprietor.

Lindenbach puts together a chicken salad sandwich. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

Like she said, everything was going along swimmingly before COVID struck in the spring of 2020. May and her family were vacationing in Hawaii when word of the pandemic began to spread but she assured her husband, no worries, it wasnt going to become "a thing" in Canada. Weeks later, closed for in-person dining, she was forced to think on her feet, and fast.

"Pick-up and delivery had never really been a consideration here before, we werent signed up with any of the services... we didnt even have proper take-out packaging," she says. "But we were getting so many emails and messages from regular customers telling us they wanted to support us any way they could that we were like, OK, we have to figure this out."

May credits one of her servers for a "genius" move; that was, to include a postcard in each and every takeout order asking the recipient to personally contact the restaurant directly if there was anything even remotely wrong with their meal, versus posting an anonymous review online. "We wanted to make sure they knew this was all new to us, too, and to let us know what we could improve on the next time," she adds.

Lindenbach adds fries to a chicken salad sandwich plate for a customer. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

Now that capacity is back at 100 per cent, long-time patrons are trickling back in, slowly but surely. That includes a single gent in his 80s named Bob, who, pre-COVID, ate the same thing at the same table every morning, to the point if he was 15 minutes late staff were on the horn, calling to check whether he was OK or not.

May, who spends the majority of her time in the kitchen cooking and baking, mentions the menu is slowly getting back up to speed, as well, pointing out a number of popular items were temporarily dropped during the slowdown. Among those is a nod to her days across the pond: a traditional, full English breakfast, consisting of three eggs, bacon, sausages, sauteed mushrooms, grilled tomato slices, baked beans and fried bread.

"We havent put that one back on yet but if people ask for fried bread, were still happy to make it for them," she says, describing the calorie-rich dish as slices of rye or whole wheat fried in bacon fat.

The proprietor puts out some locally produced honey that she sells along with other local products. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

Checking her phone, May announces oops, she has to run as shes due to pick up her youngest from school in five minutes. Before heading out the door, though, she promises to get around to that birthday or anniversary cake in the not-too-distant future.

"When I first bought the place I wasnt entirely sure it was the right move, and during COVID I was almost convinced that was the case. But now that theres light at the end of the tunnel, I can safely say Im glad I took the risk in the first place, and that after however many jobs Ive had in the past, this might just be the one I was meant to do, in the first place."

David Sanderson writes about Winnipeg-centric restaurants and businesses.

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca
Whether COVID-19 vaccines contain fetal cells or products was extensively discussed in a recent Hint. The quick answer was no. But the use of fetal cell lines (FCL) in medicines research and development and/or production and manufacturing is a much broader subject than you, or I, can imagine. Well take a short look into a few of the associations of FCL.

To recap, the 2 mRNA Pfizer and Moderna vaccines an old FCL (begun in 1973) in testing. It is called HEK-293, derived from human embryonic kidney cells. It is likely the FCL most widely used in research etc. Another labeled PER.C6 from 1985 embryonic retinal cell tissue was used in the production of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. A practicing Catholic physician wrote in an Aug. 18, 2021, article for Nebraska Medicine that these cells were collected generations ago and have been multiplied innumerable times into the current ones, which are thousands of generations removed from the original fetal tissue

Someone cited in another forum a Jan. 28, 2021, article from the online magazine Patheos, for credible and balanced information about religion (its own description) by Fr. Matthew Schneider, LC entitled If Any Drug Tested on HEK-293 Is Immoral, Goodbye Modern Medicine. His discussion showed the pervasiveness of just HEK-293s use in testing medicines, not just vaccines. Here well list the list medicines, not the ethical points.

He says there are 66,000 published studies using HEK-293 and its derivative cell lines. Other drugs may be tested using (an FCL named) PER.C6, WI (Wistar Institute)38 (from 1961), and MRC (Medical Research Council) 5. ... Thanks to Dr. Lisa Gilbert, M.D. for pointing me in this direction and sharing her research on the topic. She says, Every medication Ive researched so far appears to have some connection to HEK.

The writer lists some, not all, common, over-the-counter medicines tested on the HEK cell line (generic name, use/brand):

Acetaminophen/Tylenol;

Ibuprofen/Advil/Motrin;

Naproxen/Aleve;

Pseudoephedrine/Sudafed;

Aspirin;

Diphe

nhydramine/Benadryl;

Loratadine/Claritin;

Dextromethorphan/Robitussin;

Guaifenesin/Mucinex;

Calcium carbonate/Tums;

Maalox;

Docusate/Colace (stool softener);

Senna (laxative);

Pepto-Bismol for upset stomach;

Phenylephrine (decongestant);

Pyrilamine (antihistamine);

Lidocaine (topical anesthetic)/Lidoderm/Recticare.

Here are the writers prescription medicines (listed generic name/brand):

Levothyroxine (for low thyroid)/Synthroid;

Atorvastatin (for cholesterol)/Lipitor;

Amlodipine (for blood pressure)/Norvasc;

Metoprolol (f

or blood pressure)/Lopressor;

Losartan (for blood pressure)/Cozaar;

Omeprazole (antacid)/Prilosec;

Albuterol (for asthma)/Salbutamol;

Sacubitril/Entresto;

Tenapor (for IBS)/Ibsrela;

Etanercept/Enbrel;

Azithromycin, antibiotic/Zithromax;

Hydroxychloroquin (not for COVID)/Plaquenil;

Remdesivir/Veklury;

Dapagliflozin/Jardiance (as seen on TV?);

Ivermectin (not for COVID, antiparasitic)/Stromectal;

Canagliflozin/Invokana;

Metformin (diabetes)/Glucophage;

Cerivastatin (cholesterol)/many brands;

Simvastatin (cholesterol)/Zocor;

Voxelotor (sickle cell disease)/Oxbryta;

Linisopril (for blood pressure)/Zestril.

And that aint all!

The only drug on which Fr. Schneider could not find any testing done using HEK was simethicone, which breaks up bowel gas (brand name Wind-eze  wish I had thought of that name). He also mentions HEK is used in basic drug research to ferret out adverse effects and develop new medicines, and allows safety and efficacy to be established. He said he will take a Tylenol if needed.

In another Nov. 14, 2020, article in an online publication by Stephanie Hauer in Rehumanize International (a nonprofit human rights organization opposing all forms of aggressive violence), she discussed the use of FCL not only in medicine, but also in the food and cosmetic industries. In the food and beverage industry, biotech company Senomyx uses the cell line HEK-293 for research and development of new flavor additives. To be clear, they are not adding fetal cells into food or beverages. The pharmaceutical company Neocutis has used FCL in their skin rejuvenation products. And there is more.

The reasons not to use cells cultured from other species comes from scientific experience. They dont divide as reliably, have to be prepared each time from rodents or monkeys, may carry those species diseases and infect humans with them, etc. For example, a polio vaccine made in monkey cells transmitted the simian virus 40 with the inoculation. It proved not harmful.

The ethical/religious/moral discussions are part of a medical narrative here. But we need to recognize our intimate involvement with FCL medically. My only hope is reading the above material has not left you curled up in the fetal position.

Dr. Bures, a semi-retired dermatologist, since 1978 has worked Winona, La Crosse, Viroqua, and Red Wing. He also plays clarinet in the Winona Municipal Band and a couple dixieland groups. And he does enjoy a good pun.

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Twenty years ago, I was teaching a remedial English course for students who had not passed English in high school. The class met on Monday and Tuesday nights for a three-hour block. Like most teachers, I remember all of the students from those classes, but some more than most. In that first semester, I have a keen memory of a particular student  lets call her Sheila.

I didnt notice Sheila much the first night, but I did the second night when she came to class with her very young baby. She told me her planned child care had fallen through, and this 6-week-old baby would need to come to class with her the rest of the semester. I responded I wasnt sure if children were allowed in class, and suggested maybe she drop the course. What she said next changed my professional life.

Chad, if I drop this class, I am afraid Ill become a statistic, another teen mom who didnt finish school. Sheila didnt know it, but I was the son of a teen mother, and her point landed home with force.

In the meantime, I had checked, and the college I was working at did not allow children in class. However, I chose to ignore that policy, and Sheila brought her daughter with her to class and assured me the baby would mostly sleep. I was the parent of a 1-year-old at the time, and I suspected she was wrong  correctly, as it turned out.

It was a challenging semester. I held the baby on more than one occasion, as did other students in the class. There were nights Sheila fell asleep during working time, and we would monitor her daughter so she could get some much needed rest. But at the end of the term, Sheila was a not a statistic. She passed the class, and was able to move on to what she wanted to pursue next. I havent seen her in 20 years, but she reminded me what the world looked like through her eyes, and changed my approach to education forever.

Like many others, I am an admirer of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When my children were young, I accompanied each of them on safety patrol trips to Washington, DC. Among the many moving and powerful sites we visited was the memorial to Dr. King. It is a remarkable place and contains many statements and quotations that have stuck with me. Dr. King was a powerful speaker, and many people refer to his writing and speaking for inspiration.

For me personally, something he said to his congregation in 1966 changed my life: I choose to identify with the underprivileged, I choose to identify with the poor  In the last two years of his life, Dr. King was focused on the elimination of poverty, an issue that resonates deeply with me.

At Minnesota State College Southeast, our most recent strategic plan referred to having a poverty-informed infrastructure. What does that mean in practice? It means we choose to identify with our students facing the crisis of poverty, and work toward making college possible for them. An open access college is exactly the place people who are struggling economically should be able to come and work to improve their circumstances. That is what we strive to do.

It might be partnering for free transportation, building robust food pantries, or creating emergency funds for unexpected expenses, but it all begins with the choice to identify with our students and see our success as linked to one another. It means understanding that poverty is a context and a situation, not a character flaw. Our poverty-informed college respects the courage it takes to come to college when your life is tenuous, and we work hard to honor students courage with our culture of caring.

The quote I mentioned earlier goes on and ends with these powerful words, I heard a voice saying, Do something for others. My student Sheila was a voice I heard, and I am proud our college chooses to hear the voices of our students and do everything we can for them. Creating a place informed by poverty benefits everyone.

Chad Dull is vice president of academic affairs, Minnesota State College Southeast.

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Columbus Area Historical Society

1971

The Kromer Cap Company announced an open house and tour of its new plant at 302 Industrial Drive. Kromer Cap had been producing headwear for nearly 75 years in Milwaukee, recently moved to Columbus into its new facility.

The Columbus Journal-Republican marked its 115th year serving the Columbus community. Lowell Larson was the publisher of the paper.

1981

The Columbus City Council met as a committee of the whole and voted 4-2 to recommend that the city hire an administrator, instead of a supervisor of public works with the proposal brought to the regular City Council meeting the next day.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Miss Columbus, 1980 Mary Kay Walter was named the first runner-up at the Miss Columbus USA Contest held in Columbus, Ohio.

1991

The City Council discussed a draft proposal that would eliminate the dispatchers and the city 911 emergency number and join the Columbia countywide 911 emergency system that would be located in Portage. The dispatchers union leader David Brugger questioned the costs and level of service if shifted to the county.
Brian Laundrie, who authorities had said could help fill in at least some of the blanks about what Gabby Petito's final days looked like, has been confirmed dead.

Laundrie's remains were found Wednesday in the Florida reserve authorities had been combing through for more than a month. Over the summer, the couple embarked on a cross-country road trip, from which Laundrie returned to their North Port, Florida, home alone on September 1, police say. On September 11, Petito's parents reported her missing. Laundrie, without talking to authorities during Petito's disappearance, left his home September 13 and was not seen again, his parents later told police.

An autopsy of Laundrie's remains came back inconclusive, an attorney for the family said Sunday.

"Brian Laundrie's autopsy has not provided a manner or cause of death and his remains are now being transferred to an anthropologist," attorney Steven Bertolino told CNN.

Bertolino said the family plans to cremate Laundrie's remains and will not have a funeral service.

Petito's remains were recovered in Wyoming on September 19. A coroner ruled she died by strangulation. But little else is known -- at least to the public -- about what led up to her death.

Though authorities have not explicitly connected Laundrie to Petito's death, they have said he was among the last people to see her alive. "Two people went on a trip, and one person returned," North Port Police chief Todd Garrison said in September.

With Laundrie now gone and many questions unanswered, here's what experts say investigators could home in on to help them answer what happened to Petito.

Crime scenes will be critical in investigation

Among the most important components in an investigation like this are the crime scenes, said Paul Belli, a retired lieutenant of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office and president of the International Homicide Investigators Association.

Teton County, Wyoming, Coroner Dr. Brent Blue said Petito died by manual strangulation/throttling, adding that her body had likely been in the wilderness for about three to four weeks before being found.

"Throttling means that someone was strangled by human force. There was no mechanical force involved," Blue told CNN.

There could be clues as to what happened -- and who did it -- that investigators may be able to collect from a crime scene, Belli said, including fingerprints, depending on the condition of the human remains. What's difficult in cases like these is that unlike killings committed by strangers of the victims, when the person of interest is someone the victim was involved with, finding their DNA on a victim's body is to be expected.

"You would expect DNA on either one of them from the other," Belli said. "But I mean, if there's DNA maybe where it shouldn't be, that could be kind of a clue as to what may have occurred."

"So there are ways to absolutely, at least get you to a point where you're like, 'OK, this definitely makes sense, this is the person who did this crime,'" he added.

The type of crime also can help offer hints, said former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani. Killings involving manual strangulation can often indicate "an emotional element," Rahmani said.

Some key items could provide answers

Investigators last week recovered personal items including a backpack and notebook along with Laundrie's remains. A source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN's Randi Kaye the notebook is "possibly salvageable." And experts say that could offer more insight.

Those items will likely be taken to an FBI lab where there are "experts who really spend their careers doing things like drying out paper evidence, trying to recover the writing and the ink marks and potentially fingerprints and all sorts of other potentially relevant pieces of evidence from an article just like this," former FBI Deputy Director and CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Thursday.

The notebook could potentially include information such as Laundrie's motives, his feelings about Petito and other notes he made about events in Wyoming, McCabe added.

Investigators also obtained a search warrant last month for an external hard drive they found in Petito's white van -- the one the couple used during their trip and in which Laundrie returned, alone, to their North Port home. Authorities have not shared details on what they found on the drive.

Finding phones in a case like this could also offer an "incredible amount of information," Belli said. A source close to the Laundrie family told CNN last month Laundrie left home without his wallet and without a cell phone he had purchased earlier in September. Police do not have the phone he had with him during the couple's trip, nor do they have Petito's phone, CNN confirmed earlier in October.

Finally, videos that authorities have collected of Laundrie and Petito could also help put together pieces of the puzzle in the couple's journey -- and perhaps Laundrie's journey back to Florida.

"I don't think people realize the sheer volume of information that we now get on every case," Belli said. "Video, phone records ... if that vehicle had any information that can be gleaned from it with a GPS."

Laundrie was charged with using a debit card and PIN for accounts that did not belong to him after Petito's death, according to an indictment.

"(Authorities) probably collected video from wherever those were used, video for wherever he may have appeared to stop for a period of time. I doubt he drove completely straight through," Belli said. "So, there's a lot of additional work to be done that has been in progress, most likely."

Circumstances may help unravel the mystery

In a case like this, circumstances alone can also help paint a clear picture, Rahmani, the former prosecutor, said.

"It's a very, very strong circumstantial case," he said. "You have a history of violence between the two. You have all evidence that indicates (Laundrie) was the last person to see her alive and the manner of death, that manual strangulation, that tends to be ... most often someone you know."

In August, Utah authorities had an encounter with Laundrie and Petito and described them as having "engaged in some sort of altercation." The two were described as getting into a physical fight following an argument but both reported "they are in love and engaged to be married and desperately didn't wish to see anyone charged with a crime," one officer's report stated. Police body camera footage showed Petito crying uncontrollably as she talked to police.

"We have someone who did not report his fiancee missing when he returned without her, we have someone that fled," Rahmani added.

And in an interview Thursday, Bertolino, the Laundrie family attorney, said Laundrie was "grieving" and appeared upset when he left his family's home in mid-September.

Laundrie's parents knew their son was "grieving, they knew that he was so upset and, you know, they just couldn't control that he was leaving and he left,'" Bertolino told CNN affiliate WABC.

Experts have questioned what the Laundrie family may know about what happened to Petito.

"Did they help him escape? Did they help destroy evidence?" Palm Beach County, Florida, State Attorney Dave Aronberg told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Friday. "What did they know?"

Though with Laundrie deceased it may be harder to find the answers that both investigators and the families were hoping for, there may still be a lot that could be done in the investigation into Petito's killing, Belli said. He said this could remain an open case for some time if authorities are not able to confidently say they know who killed her.

"I mean the closure is really, did he do it or did he not do it. That is going to be the overarching feeling based on my experience," he said.

"The investigators," he added, "I guarantee that they feel a great need to provide the truth, whatever that truth is, to both sides of the family. That's really what we do as investigators is find all the facts and lay out the truth."

The-CNN-Wire

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An assistant director on the film set of "Rust" was the subject of complaints over safety and his behavior on set during two productions in 2019, two people who worked closely with him tell CNN.

The complaints against assistant director Dave Halls include a disregard for safety protocols for weapons and pyrotechnics use, blocked fire lanes and exits, and instances of inappropriately sexual behavior in the workplace.

Halls was identified in court documents as the assistant director who handed actor Alec Baldwin a prop firearm, which when fired struck cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with a live round. Hutchins was later pronounced dead at a New Mexico hospital.

Maggie Goll, an IATSE Local 44 prop maker and licensed pyrotechnician, said in a statement to CNN that while working on Hulu's "Into the Dark" Anthology Series in February and May of 2019, Halls neglected to hold safety meetings and consistently failed to announce the presence of a firearm on set to the crew, as is protocol.

"The only reason the crew was made aware of a weapon's presence was because the assistant prop master demanded Dave acknowledge and announce the situation each day," Goll's statement reads.

She adds that the prop master would "announce each day when a gun would be required on camera, the disposition of that weapon -- whether it was a rubber/plastic replica, a non-firing option, or a 'cold' functional, but unloaded option, allowing anyone to inspect said weapon prior to bringing it to set and presenting it to the talent. (...) The Prop Master frequently admonished Dave for dismissing the talent without returning props, weapon included, or failing to make safety announcements."

Goll's statement also describes an instance where a licensed pyrotechnician had a medical emergency on set and Halls asked her to continue with the shoot.

"I told him they are free to film whatever they want, but that there would be no fire or sparks, etc., until the medic, fire safety officer, and all of my crewmates were safely back on set," Goll details.

Halls did not respond to CNN's request for comment Saturday night about Goll's allegations against him.

A crew member who also worked in the productions but requested to not be named for fear of retaliation corroborated Goll's accounts, saying that when Halls did hold safety meetings, they were short and he was dismissive, saying the guns used would be the same as the production always uses, and questioning why they'd have to hold the meetings in the first place.

The crew member also said Halls complained about having a gun "cleared" (inspected by a licensed professional on set, such as an armorer) for a scene where an actress would aim the gun to her own head and pull the trigger.

Goll and the other crew member told CNN of another instance where Halls insisted on continuing filming on location while a storm hit, where electrical lights were touching mud, wires were exposed to the rain, and crew members feared for their safety.

On the allegations of sexual misconduct, Goll said she did not file a complaint, but says that "on my first day back on the series, another crew member told me to 'watch out' for Dave, saying he was too physically familiar with the crew, despite many rebuffs and complaints about unwanted and unnecessary touches. Nothing too extreme, but crew members of all genders and dispositions were being made uncomfortable by Dave's touches to their backs, waists, shoulders, etc."

Goll said at the time she called a production safety line and complained internally to Blumhouse Productions executive producers in person. She also said she informed the Directors Guild of America (DGA) regarding unsafe persons.

"To my knowledge nothing was done after my complaints," her statement reads.

CNN is reaching out to Blumhouse Productions and the DGA for comment.

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
ILION, N.Y. -- The Marine Corps League Herkimer Detachment #277 honor those in the 1983 Beirut, Lebanon bombings on Saturday.

As names were named, a bell was rung to signify the end of day for those 241 U.S. Marines who gave the ultimate sacrifice 38 years ago.

On October 23rd, 1983, two truck bombs struck buildings in Beirut, Lebanon killing a total of 307 people.

Speeches were given by many distinguished members of the community, a benediction and the playing of Taps to honor those who lost their lives.

An engraved stone was also planted outside the detachment to honor those who have fallen.

It's a reminder of the tragedy that happened on that day. Like I said, terrorism was born on that day as we know it. It was Marines that died but the uniform don't make the man, the man makes the uniform. We had a naval corpsman there and we had army personnel that were affected by it too, says Stan Lewosko who is apart of Herkimer Detachment #277.

The Deputy Mayor of Ilion also gave a proclamation that every year on October 23rd in the town of Ilion, the community will honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice on that day.
UTICA, NY - The November elections are right around the corner, and once again registered voters have the chance to cast their ballots early.

The early voting started Saturday in Oneida County as well as other counties throughout New York and runs through Sunday, October 31st.

Covid-19 safety protocols are in effect and election officials ask that you do wear a mask even if you've been vaccinated.

Frank Mrowka, a poll worker at the MVCC early voting site says the lines might not have been long, but they did see a steady flow of voters.

As for what voters can expect to find on their ballot, he says, Most of the things on the ballots are basically going to be county seats. There are some propositions on the back that people may not know about. They are statewide propositions that have to do with changing redistricting and changing some of the voting laws, the early voting laws. Things like that."

Click here for a list of early voting times and locations.
WHITESBORO, NY - The Whitesboro Village Green was the place to be Saturday evening for some good old-fashioned Halloween family fun.

Little ghosts and goblins, a few superheroes, even a baby shark or two, all enjoyed a nice evening filled with tricks and treats.

Whitesboro first responders and other village employees handed out candy and other goodies at the village's first-ever Halloween family fun night.

There were Halloween-themed games to play, cider, and even some pumpkins for the kids to decorate.

It's just a good family atmosphere and the community has really embraced it, said Whitesboro Mayor Bob Friedlander. We've been real busy nonstop since about 4:30 with kids coming down. The village was able to put this on with the support of our local business people that donated a lot of the products.

The night was also supposed to include an outdoor movie, but due to the possibility of inclement weather, village officials decided to postpone it.

No word yet on when it will be rescheduled.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  The Indianapolis Motor Speedway will add an infield building that is aimed at increasing use of the track area throughout the year.

The new structure near the ovals Turn 3 will be leased by BMW as part of a multiyear agreement to bring a seasonal driving center to the speedways road course, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported.

BMWs M Driving Experience Center will include a showroom, classroom areas, a conference room and direct access to the IMS road course for prospective buyers.

It will have a classroom in it, so they can do pre-track instruction, and it will also have a small service bay area so they can prep the cars they use and service them properly, speedway President Doug Boles said.

Uwe Dreher, vice president of marketing for BMW of North America, said the ability to bring programs to IMS allows the company to formally expand our experiential and instructional classes to a totally new region in the U.S. market.

Boles said the building also will be used for race-day hospitality and other small events throughout the year when its not being used by BMW. The building will be much different in its appeal than the tracks existing 110 suites, which are largely along the straightaways and on the outer rim of Turn 2.

The one-story building will feature a rooftop deck with a view of Turns 3 and 4 and is close to the Snake Pit area where musical acts on Indy 500 race days.

On days where were not hosting races, it could be great space for somebody who wants to host a cocktail reception or have a meeting for their company and then have a dinner in a unique place, Boles said.

Construction is expected to begin this year and be completed by summer 2022, Boles said.
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Vic Morrow, Brandon Lee and Jon-Erik Hexum. There have been multiple cases of deaths of crew members and stunt people at work including Vic Morrow, Brandon Lee and Jon-Erik Hexum.
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Charity looking to harness the power of kindness in Wrexham as it appeals for new volunteers

A charity is hoping to harness the power of kindness shown in Wrexham during the pandemic as it looks to build on the surge of community action and recruit hundreds of new volunteers around the UK.

Kate Griffiths, British Red Cross Director for Wales, who is launching the appeal, has urged people to ask themselves if they could give just a few hours each week to make a big difference in peoples lives.

The Red Cross has been responding to coronavirus since the outbreak began, as its volunteers continued to support the most vulnerable communities through the crisis.

The charity reached over two million people in the UK since March 2020, providing food, medicines, emotional and wellbeing support, transport to and from hospital, as well as a range of education resources online.

At the height of the pandemic, and while people were in prologued periods of lockdown, communities across the UK rallied with people supporting charities, community organisations, friends and neighbours, foodbanks and mutual aid groups.

The charity is now looking for volunteers to aid their Independent Living services in Wrexham.

The British Red Cross has also played a key role in the response to the pandemic in Wales since it started, helping people get their vaccines, supporting those hardest hit by providing practical and emotional support through its dedicated Covid-19 support line, providing cash grants, food and other essential supplies to people in urgent need, and through supporting the Welsh Governments volunteer prescription delivery scheme.

For people leaving hospital, adjusting to life at home can be a difficult time. Helping someone get their essential shopping, pick up their prescription or get the heating turned on can make all the difference for them to feel safe at home.

Amongst other roles, the charity is looking for people who would be able to offer practical and emotional support to people discharged from hospital, whether thats stocking the fridge, feeding the cat or a just cup of tea and chat.

Kate Griffiths, British Red Cross Director for Wales said: The last 18 months have, for all of us, been like no other.

We could not have pulled through without the support of the dedication and kindness of our volunteers. However, as we emerge from the pandemic, we expect a surge in demand for support this winter.

This is where you come in. Volunteering just a few hours each week could make a big difference to people in need. We have roles to suit everyone, no matter how much time you have to give and whatever your experience.

It could also be great for you. From meeting other like-minded and passionate people to learning new skills that could help your career, the British Red Cross is a place where you will be supported and recognised for what you do.

Please, if you can, visit our website and sign-up today.

Volunteers are a crucial way for the British Red Cross to support people in crisis and the charity is encouraging people to sign up. Visit the website to find an opportunity near you.
Help on how to find genuine trader issued as part of Rogue Trader Action Week

Rogue Traders who leaflet residents were the target for Trading Standards and Wrexham Police officers recently as they took to the streets to speak with traders and residents during Rogue Trader Action Week.

Legitimate traders, which use leaflets, have welcomed the move as many rogue traders often from outside the Wrexham area, target areas before cold calling and pressurising people into having unnecessary work done  often of low quality with a high price tag.

A spokesperson for Wrexham Council said: Many of the leaflets have 0800 numbers and offer discounts such as special rates for OAPs or no job too big or small and cooling off periods.

The advice if you receive such leaflets is to put them in the bin  however professional they may look.

Using websites like Bark also can be risky as one local resident found out when they posted a job for a quote but found the trader began the work straight away and without issuing any documents which theyre required to do.

The resident was charged a considerable amount of cash and the work was of poor quality.

A range of advice has been issued:

If you do ask a trader to visit, make sure they give you a detailed quote to carry out the work and take some time to consider it. Be very wary if they are reluctant to put things in writing, a reliable trader should be happy to do this.

The quote should include the fixed price including VAT, and breakdown of the work to be done and materials needed, details of when payment will be due, full contact details for the trader, and your rights to cancel the contract if that is applicable.

Avoid paying large deposits upfront in cash or by bank transfer. Remember that if you hand over money in this way with no contact details for the trader, you may not be able to exercise your consumer rights or get your money back.

Further tips have been given out to help you avoid a rogue trader, and find the trader best suitable and qualified to do the job:

If possible get recommendations from people you know and check examples of work they have had done.

Be wary of online reviews that may not be genuine.

If you use a trader approval scheme, look what checks are carried out before traders are able to join, and whether the scheme provide a redress scheme if there are problems. There are a wide variety of schemes, some with lots of checks, and some that are just advertising directories with no checks carried out on traders on the list. Trading Standards approved schemes such as Buy With Confidence have certain safeguards. Traders have to meet certain standards and are audited by their local Trading Standards before they are allowed to be included in the scheme. You can find details on their website www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk

Interview contractors before you hire, then ask lots of questions, and give a clear and detailed description of exactly what you want done. Make sure you can communicate with them easily as this will help you sort out any problems that may arise.

Dont feel pressured to agree to enter into a contract. Try to compare different traders. If youre not comfortable, dont hire them and find someone else.

Check they have the required approvals for the work they are proposing to carry out e.g. Gas Safe or OFTEC registration, or are a registered electrician for installation work.

Further useful advice can also be found on the website citizensadvice.org.uk

You can also report problems and get consumer advice through the website or by phoning 0808 2231133.
Police ask North Wales veterinary practices to review security measures following thefts in Cheshire

Officers from North Wales Police Rural Crime Team are asking veterinary practices in the region to review security measures following a number of thefts in neighbouring force areas.

Three veterinary surgeries were targeted in Cheshire last Thursday, they were broken into during the evening, in one raid drugs were taken from the premises.

The drugs taken are designed for use in animals and are fatal if taken.

Cheshire Police said, we strongly advise that if you are offered Dolethal, or ketamine called Anesketin, or methadone called Comfortan  do not take it.

These particular drugs are incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands and you will be putting yourself at considerable risk.

PC David Allen from the Rural Crime Team said: Neighbouring Police forces have recently reported burglaries at Veterinary Premises on their respective Force areas.

There have been no occurrences within North Wales but can all such premises please review their security arrangements and ensure key holders contact details are updated with your relevant security monitoring company.

Should you see any suspicious activity around a Vet practice please contact North Wales Police.

Any information and can be passed to North Wales Police via the web live chat http://www.north-wales.police.uk/contact/chat-support.aspx or by phoning 101.

You can also contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Onbe Becomes One of First Corporate Disbursement Platforms to Join U.S. Faster Payments Council
25 years ago: Fighting erupts in Zaire

A United Nations refugee camp in Zaire, 1994

On October 30, 1996, fighting erupted in Zaire after Tutsi rebels and Rwandan army commandos routed Zairian troops near the border in a battle to take the city of Bukavu.

Zairian troops were fighting Tutsis, known as Banyamulenge, who defied government orders to leave the country. Thousands of peoplerefugees from the slaughter in Rwanda barely two years earlierfled camps at the border in an attempt to escape violence and death.

US capitalism bore direct responsibility for the catastrophe in Zaire. Zaires dictator Mobutu Sese Seko was installed through a CIA-backed coup in 1965, four years after Washington organized the assassination of left-wing nationalist leader Patrice Lumumba. For the following three decades, the Mobutu dictatorship functioned as the principal US client regime and an instrument of the Cold War in Africa.

Zaire served as a base of operations for counterrevolutionary interventions and proxy wars that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in Angola, Mozambique and elsewhere. The US poured in hundreds of millions of dollars in military and economic aid, much of which went straight into Mobutus personal bank accounts.

With the end of the Cold War, US imperialism viewed Mobutu as more of a liability than an asset. Washington suddenly discovered that its longtime client was a tyrant and a crook, and used this as a pretext for cutting off aid to Zaire.

Despite rich reserves of diamonds, copper, and cobalt, the country was one of the poorest nations on the planet with an annual per capita income of just $117. The rivalry between major imperialist powers over who would dominate Africa revived after the Cold War. Rwanda accused France of rearming Hutu militias in exile and seeking a military intervention to defend the Mobutu regime in Zaire. Mobutu charged the US with backing Rwanda and arming Tutsi rebels in Zaire.

50 years ago: Peoples Republic of China admitted into the United Nations

Kissinger with Mao, right, as Zhou Enlai looks on

On October 25, 1971, the United Nations General Assembly approved the Peoples Republic of China membership in the organization. Resolution 2758 approving Chinas membership was passed with the needed two-thirds majority vote, with 76 nations voting in favor, 35 opposed and 17 abstentions. Among the opposing votes were the United States, Japan, Australia, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.

The admission of the Peoples Republic of China, the Stalinist government headed by Mao Zedong, into the United Nations was significant for several reasons, but perhaps most important because for China to be admitted Taiwan needed to be expelled, making it the only country to every be voted out of the UN.

Previously, Taiwan had been recognized as the representative of all of China after the Nationalist forces led by Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island in 1949 in the wake of their defeat in the Chinese Revolution. The acceptance of China, and the removal of Taiwan, was a significant admission by the UN of the plain fact that the Chinese Communist Party was indeed the ruling power on the Chinese mainland.

After the vote, Taiwans Foreign Minister Chow Shu-kai and his delegation stormed out of the UN, declaring, Once [the PRC] has been seated both in the General Assembly and in the Security Council it will surely transform the United Nations into a Maoist front and a battlefield for international subversion.

Contrary to Chows claim, Chinas entry into the UN was a significant milestone toward the countrys integration into the international capitalist state system. Already the Nixon administration had quietly opened discussions for a normalization of relations that would enlist China as a counterweight against the Soviet Union and eventually open the worlds most populous country for labor exploitation.

While the Maoist leadership in China had long denounced the UN as the running dog of imperialism it welcomed the vote with open arms and eagerly took its seat in what Lenin had previously describedreferring to its predecessor, the League of Nationas a thieves kitchen. Zhou Enlai, Chinas premier, called the vote a victory of the people of the whole world.

75 years ago: Nazi doctors indicted for war crimes

Romani victim of Nazi medical experiment at Dachau

On October 25, 1946, a group of 20 German physicians, two former state administrators and an attorney were indicted for crimes against humanity and other violations of international law for their participation in the horrific quasi-medical experiments of the Nazis. The charges were filed by an international tribunal involving the Allied powers, led by the US, after trials of the political and military leaders of the Third Reich concluded the month before.

The October indictments would lead to the doctors trials later in 1946, at which the torturous practices of the physicians would be detailed. The charges in their indictment included conspiracy to commit war crimes against humanity, the ordering, planning and organization of the war crimes and crimes against humanity and membership in a criminal organization. The conspiracy counts pointed to the premeditation and coordination involved in the actions of the doctors, who were also charged separately with war crimes and crimes against humanity themselves.

Evidence for the charges documented a series of sadistic experiments and procedures, many of which were conducted in close collaboration with the Nazi SS, police departments and military units.

Among them were experiments on Jewish prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp, overseen by the German air force. These involved placing people in pressure chambers to investigate the impacts of high-altitude flying. Other experiments involved subjecting prisoners of the camps to freezing temperatures, deliberately infecting them with a host of diseases, including malaria, tuberculosis, jaundice and typhus, to examine the effects and potential treatments for each condition. In other cases, physicians were charged with overseeing the deliberate infliction of incendiary burns on inmates at the Buchenwald camp.

The connection between the infamous actions of the doctors and the homicidal program of the fascist regime was epitomized by a sterilization program, explicitly aimed at preparing the grounds for the eventual extermination of non-Aryan populations, and a campaign of murder, disguised as euthanasia, targeting the old, the sick and the disabled among those rounded up by the Nazis.

100 years ago: Soviet republic agrees to pay Tsarist debts

Georgy Chicherin

On October 28, 1921, Georgy Chicherin, the Soviet republics Peoples Commissar for Foreign Affairs, sent a diplomatic note to the American, British, French, Italian and Japanese governments saying that it would honor debts made before the beginning of World War I in 1914 incurred by the Tsarist government that the October 1917 revolution had overthrown. In return, the Soviet Republic sought peace agreements with the imperialist powers.

The note was a response to the news that the imperialist powers would only agree to provide aid to Russia, which was undergoing a famine, under those conditions. The pre-war debts by the Tsarist regime amounted to over $136 billion in 2021 dollars.

Chicherin said in the note, The Russian government, in the face of the starving masses, does not wish to consider the intricacies of diplomatic etiquette and considers that it is its straight duty to proclaim its attitude toward the Brussels conference, that is, to the conditions under which the imperialist powers would provide aid.

Earlier in 1921 the Soviet government had put into motion the New Economic Policy, which gave some leeway to capitalist production and trade in the country. The Red Army and Soviet state had defeated the counterrevolutionary armies and the bitter and destructive Civil War was at an end, and the foreign armies sent by the imperialist powers had been withdrawn, except for Japanese troops in Siberia, who would leave in the next year.

But industry was in a state of collapse and starvation ranged over the whole country. The Bolsheviks had put down several peasant revolts and now sought to rebuild the economy while they held out for the development of revolutionary socialist regimes in Europe and Asia. In this context of extreme economic dislocation, the proposal by Chicherin was a tactical retreat by the first workers state to end the famine and the threat of renewed invasion by the imperialist powers.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a NATO Defense Ministers meeting in Brussels, October 21, 2021. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

While in Europe this month, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made clear that Ukraine and Georgia may still join NATO.

Ukraine and Georgia have much in common with other NATO members - including a rivalry with their neighbor, Russia.

But offering them membership is a dangerous and counterproductive policy that doesn't serve US national interests.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is visiting Europe this week having said Ukraine and Georgia have an "open door to NATO" and that "no third country has a veto over NATO's membership decisions."

Because both countries have been on the receiving end of Russian aggression, it is natural to feel sympathy for Ukraine and Georgia - but offering them NATO membership is an extremely dangerous and counterproductive policy that does not serve the US national interest.

Rather than bolster the security of the American people, as one would expect US defense policy to do, expanding NATO increases the risk of the United States being drawn into a war with Russia. Moving forward in the process of offering NATO membership to Ukraine or Georgia risks igniting a major NATO-Russia conflict.

Should an attack follow Ukraine or Georgia's formal acceptance into the alliance, NATO's Article 5 would legally require the United States to militarily intervene. Such a scenario could quickly escalate to the nuclear level, making it imperative that the conceivably devastating consequences of NATO enlargement are honestly assessed.

Unfortunately, Austin's comments are just the latest example of US policy makers failing to accept the geopolitical reality of eastern Europe.

Russian troops at a checkpoint in a village near the region of South Ossetia, roughly 62 miles from Tbilisi, Georgia, August 5, 2008 Irakli Gedenidze/Reuters

The 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit was a significant turning point for European security. There, it was formally announced that Ukraine and Georgia would eventually become members of the alliance.

In response, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters "We will do all we can to prevent Ukraine's and Georgia's accession into NATO and to avoid an inevitable serious exacerbation of our relations with both the alliance and our neighbors."

Story continues

Other top officials went further, with one Russian general saying, "Russia will take unambiguous action toward ensuring its interests along its borders. These will not only be military steps, but also steps of a different character." In other words, Moscow made it clear that either country's entry into the alliance would cross a red line and Russia would be prepared to use all facets of power, including military intervention, to enforce that red line.

Russia made good on its promise. In 2008 it fought a five-day war with Georgia and established de facto control of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and provided military support to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow effectively created buffer zones in both countries that separate Russia's borders from Western-backed governments. It has also cunningly ensured that both conflicts remain frozen, using the threat of further escalation as a potential hedge to prevent NATO accession.

Ukrainian soldiers conduct a drill with tanks in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, April 24, 2021. Armed Forces of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Americans need only look at our own history to understand why Russia has acted in this manner. The United States established the Monroe Doctrine in the early 1800s, claiming that any intervention by European powers in the western hemisphere would be viewed as an act hostile to the United States.

By the end of the 19th century, the United States had successfully driven out all other great powers and established itself as the regional hegemon of the New World. When the Soviet Union challenged the US position in 1962 by deploying military assets 90 miles off the coast of Florida, the world was brought to the brink of nuclear Armageddon.

If the United States does not tolerate such behavior, why does the Biden administration believe that expanding NATO - and therefore the presence of US troops - on Russia's borders will be viewed by Moscow as benign?

Providing hope to Kyiv and Tbilisi that NATO will come to its defense also creates a moral hazard problem. Rather than making the difficult political accommodations necessary to end their respective conflicts, Ukrainian and Georgian leaders are incentivized to shift their security burden on the United States by taking a hardline stance against Moscow.

This escalates US-Russia tensions and is not particularly kind to average Ukrainians and Georgians, who would likely bear the brunt of any renewed conflict.

The reality is that Moscow views the prevention of Ukraine and Georgia from joining NATO as a core strategic interest. As such, Russia will go to great lengths to achieve this objective. The Biden administration should conclude that it is not worth risking World War III over two countries with little geopolitical significance.

As the United States shifts its focus to the larger strategic threat of China, US policymakers would be wise to seek detente with Russia. Such an effort would start by taking Ukrainian and Georgian NATO membership off the table.

Sascha Glaeser is a research associate at Defense Priorities. He focuses on US grand strategy, international security, and transatlantic relations. He holds a master of international public affairs and a bachelor's in international studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Read the original article on Business Insider
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Ohio National

Highlights: Ohio National has reliable policy illustrations and good historical performance of the invested assets underlying cash value. Compared to other whole life insurance companies, the dividend interest credited rates performed better over the past 20 years.

Potential drawbacks: Overall cost competitiveness can be inconsistent, depending on your age, gender, health risk class, tobacco use and your policys face amount, so its worth comparing options from other insurers.

What Is Whole Life Insurance?

Whole life insurance can provide lifelong coverage. It can be an attractive life insurance option because it contains a variety of guarantees:

A guaranteed minimum rate of return on the cash value

The promise that your premium payments wont go up

A guaranteed death benefit that wont go down

You can access the cash value within your whole life insurance policy through a policy loan or withdrawal. But the typical downside is that the guarantees of whole life insurance come at a price: Its one of the more expensive ways to buy life insurance. Depending on your financial goals, universal life insurance may be a more cost-effective option.

Like whole life insurance policies, universal life insurance can provide a cash value account and lifelong coverage. One major difference is that universal life insurance policies may allow you to adjust your premium payments, within certain limits. And there are types of universal life insurance that have the potential to grow cash value at a higher rate than whole life policies, albeit with more risk involved. Cash value growth is tied to stock market indices or investment funds in certain types of universal life policies.

Maybe you only need life insurance only for a specific time period, such as the years until you retire. Term life insurance might be a better choice for you, although term life does not offer cash value within the policy. But if youre looking only for life insurance coverage, without cash value, term life is commonly available in lengths of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 years, and even 35 and 40 years from a few companies.

Related: Best Term Life Insurance Companies of 2021

Who Needs Whole Life Insurance?

Whole life insurance might be suitable for you if:

You have someone who will always be financially dependent on others, such as a child with special needs.

You want to ensure your funeral expenses are covered, regardless of when you die. If your policy is in force when you pass away, your beneficiaries will receive a death benefit. This payout can be used for funeral costs, a familys loss of income, mortgage payments, college tuition or any other needs.

You want life insurance that accumulates cash value that you can tap into through a policy loan or cash withdrawal.

You are risk averse and want a policy with full guarantees.

Tips for Buying Whole Life Insurance

Just as you would with any other type of insurance, you should carefully weigh your needs and budget when shopping for whole life insurance. Here are tips for buying whole life insurance:

Understand the cost. The premium doesnt represent the true cost of a whole life insurance policy. Rather, you want to take into account that the policys true cost is also whats subtracted from the premium for various expenses. These costs typically are deducted once a month. Examine the policy illustration to see how much your cash value will grow over time.

Look at the dividend history and dividend options of any whole life insurance policy that youre considering.

Review the financial strength of the insurer. When youre buying life insurance, you want the company to stay in business for many decades and be able to pay claims far down the road. Companies such as A.M. Best provide financial strength ratings.

Get quotes from multiple insurers. Rates among companies will vary and be based on age, gender, medical history and coverage amount, among other factors. Each life insurer has its own way to price each applicants risk, so it can pay off to shop around.

Methodology

We rated life insurance companies that sell whole life insurance using data provided by Veralytic, an independent publisher specializing in performance and pricing research of cash value life insurance products.

These five measurements were used:

Financial strength and claims paying ability: This encompasses the insurance companys financial strength ratings from four major ratings agencies.

Historical performance: How good are the investments that fuel cash value gains? This measures the historical performance of the companys investments compared to similar products.

Cost competitiveness: This measures a products internal charges, including the cost of insurance, fixed administration expenses, cash-value-based wrap-fees and premium loads.

Pricing stability: Does the products pricing appear to be adequate and reasonable, based on the insurers historical experience? This measure looks at the cost of insurance, policy expenses and the expected/illustrated earnings rate on cash value.

Relative policy value: How good is access to cash value? The more liquidity the product has, particularly in early policy years, the better. Some insurers charge more for greater liquidity, so beware of a tradeoff.

John Egan is a freelance writer, editor and content marketing strategist in Austin, Texas. His work has been published by Experian, Bankrate, National Real Estate Investor, U.S. News & World Report, Urban Land magazine and other outlets.

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It's official! Tarek El Moussa and Heather Rae Young tied the knot over the weekend in front of close family and friends, during a whimsical ceremony in Santa Barbara, California. According to People, the wedding was reminiscent of old Hollywood, with Young in a fitted corset dress with French lace and El Moussa decked out in a luxe, black velvet tux with a skull-and-crossbone print lining. The decor was equally glam, with plenty of black, white, champagnes and golds.

Speaking with People, the newlywed couple doted heavily on one another and also expressed their excitement for the next chapter in their lives.

"We're best friends, we're true soulmates, and our love is so rare and so special," said Young. "It's the love I've always dreamed of my whole life."

"I'm just excited to live this life with her," El Moussa added. "We've got the two babies, we have a family, and we have a very bright future."

The pair will reportedly stay in California for a few days, before jetting off for a luxurious honeymoon in the Maldives and Dubai.

Saturday's (October 23) wedding marks over a year since El Moussa proposed to Young as they celebrated their one-year anniversary on Catalina Island in July of last year.

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The morning after the 2020 presidential election, the mother-daughter duo of Amy and Kylie Jane Kremer formed a viral Facebook group urging "boots on the ground" to thwart an alleged effort to steal the election from Donald Trump.

The "Stop the Steal" group's membership ballooned to more than 350,000 before Facebook shut it down, citing a risk of violence.

Undaunted, the two Trump loyalists rebranded an existing Facebook group, calling it March for Trump, and organized a bus tour. The effort culminated in Washington on Jan. 6 when the Kremers Women for America First Save America rally became a prelude for the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Now, the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack has subpoenaed the Kremers to give sworn testimony in depositions on Friday. What they say could help Congress understand how much organizers knew about impending violence and who funded the group's postelection events that helped to amplify Trump's false claims of election fraud.

Vowing loyalty to Trump: 'America First' groups try to bring nativism into the mainstream

Story of Carol and Karen: Two experimental Facebook accounts show how the company helped divide America

The Kremers disavowed violence in the aftermath of the attack but have continued to promote the lie that the election was stolen. They have not been charged with any crimes connected to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

In conversations with five members of the House Select committee, lawmakers said they want to know about any premeditated plans for violence at the Capitol and how dark money flowed to pay for the rally and to encourage people to show up in Washington. The lawmakers declined to give specifics on what questions they planned to ask the Kremers.

It's pretty evident that some of that was used to entice people to come to DC to promote the events and so understanding who was behind that who organized it is really critical and understanding the events that led up to that day, said Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va.

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Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., noted that the committee has a "very broad investigative portfolio.

"We have to get to the bottom of the organizing, the funding, the coordination of the violent elements with the inside political coup, and then all of the cover-up operations that took place, Raskin told USA TODAY.

"There are people out there who clearly view January 6 as a dress rehearsal for future political violence to destabilize or overthrow American democracy," Raskin said, adding that finding the facts and holding people accountable is as much about the future as it is about the past.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Amy Kremer, chairwoman of Women for America First, speaks in Washington, at a rally in support of President Donald Trump.

USA TODAY left messages with Amy Kremer, Kylie Jane Kremer, and Women for America First that were not returned. In written statements, Amy Kremer has denounced Republican Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois for participating in what she called a sham committee.

In a July statement, she said she would gladly testify before any commission.

Birtherism, Tea Party activism

Amy Kremer describes herself as one of the founding mothers of the Tea Party movement a decade ago. She blogged for years calling herself a Southern belle and spreading the birther lie that claimed President Barack Obama was foreign-born.

She wrote in 2009, in a post first unearthed by Mother Jones, that she was disillusioned after Congress certified the election of President Barack Obama. As a matter of fact, I never even heard Vice President Cheney ask if there were any objections, she wrote.

Kylie Jane Kremer, who worked as an intern for one of her mothers Tea Party groups in 2009, became an integral part of the Kremer political machine. In 2011, an Internet radio host gushed about her work as the Twitter point person for Tea Party Express bus tours, where she kept her mom company and helped wherever she could.

I kind of got my start in politics right along with her, Kylie Jane Kremer told C-SPAN. At first I thought she was a little crazy, and I wanted no part of it, but as I've gotten older I've really grown to love and respect everything that shes done, and I have an incredible role model as a mother.

Tea Party Express Chairwoman Amy Kremer watches election results at a Tea Party Express election night party at the Aria Resort & Casino at CityCenter November 2, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The younger Kremer  whose tagline on Pinterest is Somewhere between raising hell & amazing grace  became so involved with her mothers advocacy that she left Georgia Southern University after three years and worked on her degree remotely to spend more time with Tea Party Express, she told a Twitter follower in 2012.

In 2014, Amy Kremer was a founding director of a group in Texas called Blitz the Vote. The group said on Twitter that Obamas dream for America was turning our country into a land of entitlements. In 2015, Kylie Jane Kremer posted an appeal for new leadership in the House of Representatives after then-Speaker John Boehner passed a spending bill to avert a government shutdown.

When Trump ran for president in 2016, Amy Kremer started a political action committee called Women Vote Trump that the Federal Election Commission would later ding for illegally using a candidates name, Mother Jones first reported. She changed the name to Women Vote Smart.

The pair became avid Trump acolytes, posting on social media when they visited the White House, Kylie featuring a picture with Ivanka Trump and Amy Kremer a photo with Trump himself in the Oval Office before his 2020 State of the Union address. She said she was proud to support him since day one and looked forward to another five years.

'Worrying calls for violence'

In February 2020, the IRS approved the pairs dark money group called Women for America First that can raise money without disclosing donors and spend almost half of it on political activity. Filings indicating how much the group has raised and spent are not yet available on the IRS website.

The Kremers started their Stop the Steal Facebook group on Nov. 4, when results were still pouring in from states with close races. More than 350,000 people joined in less than a day, producing more than 7,000 posts, all based around the election lie.

Facebook shut down "Stop the Steal" within 24 hours. We saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group, the company said in a statement. The group was also organized around the delegitimization of the election, the statement said.

Devin Burghart, executive director of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights who has studied the Tea Party movement for over a decade, said Tea Party activists saw Trump as one of their own who ushered in sweeping policy changes.

The potential loss of that with November election results put terror into the hearts of many and they were panicked, Burghart said. And so as a result of that, rather than organizing in opposition to win the next election they decided to try to overturn the previous one."

On Nov. 29, the Kremers started their bus tour in Doral, Florida, ultimately visiting more than 20 different cities. They urged supporters to bring their flags as we continue to fight for President Trump against the socialist attack to steal the election.

Giving them an assist, Trump flew in his Marine One helicopter over the groups Dec. 12 rally in Washington, D.C. as Kylie Jane Kremer delivered an opening speech. Other speakers included Trump campaign aides, and Mike Lindell from MyPillow.

Who paid for the Jan. 6 rally?

The Save America March on Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C. had higher stakes: It was the closest rally the group had ever held to the White House, and organizers set up the riser to use the White House as a stage backdrop.

Kylie Jane Kremer named herself the person in charge on her permit with the federal government. She took the stage first, before turning the rally over to a series of speakers and anonymous voiceovers who falsely claimed a stolen election.

One voice ominously told the crowd there had been suitcases of ballots added in secret in Georgia. Another voiceover said Trump had been on track for a landslide victory until some ballots disappeared and Biden ballots were added in the middle of the night. The rally offered no evidence for these statements.

Amy Kremer took the stage an hour after her daughter, leading the crowd in a Stop the Steal chant as a row of men in Oath Keepers shirts looked on about 30 feet from the stage. She said without evidence that suitcases were also sold out in Georgia the night before, when two Democratic candidates won U.S. Senate seats in the historically Republican state.

After the Capitol riot, Women for America First issued a statement from Amy Kremer condemning the violence, saying a "handful of bad actors" had instigated it.

Ten days later, House Democrats held their impeachment trial accusing Trump of inciting an insurrection. During the trial, Congressman Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., read one of Kylie Jane Kremers tweets from December. "The calvary is coming, Mr. President! an apparent misspelling of cavalry. JANUARY 6th"

Now, she and her mother are asking supporters on the Christian crowdfunding website Give Send Go to chip in $200,000 to pay lawyers as part of the Select Committees inquiry. Their page says their group has been supporting free speech. Today it is us, but tomorrow it could be you, the appeal says.

The group announced public events for the weekend of Nov. 3, the anniversary of the 2020 election, and borrowed a phrase often used to reference a night in 1605 when a group of rebels sought to blow up British Parliament.

Remember, remember the 3rd of November, their Instagram post says.

On Jan. 6, 2021, President Donald Trump's face appears on large screens as supporters participate in a rally in Washington. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, with its latest round of subpoenas in September 2021, may uncover the degree to which Trump, his campaign and White House were involved in planning the rally that preceded the riot, which was billed as a grassroots demonstration.

Meanwhile, Raskin said the committee wants to find out more about the dark money trail behind the Jan. 6 rally and that the Kremers are key people to talk to.

"The committee is deeply interested in how the insurrection was paid for  that none of this happened by accident and none of it happened spontaneously," he said.

Theda Skocpol, Harvard sociology professor, political scientist and coauthor of The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism, said holding accountable the elite political operatives who pulled strings behind the scenes is important.

Unless that happens, you're just sending the people who sat home and watched Fox TV and believe all this to do short stints in prison or pay a fine, and that isnt going to have any effect on this, Skocpol said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jan. 6 committee wants to hear from mom-daughter duo who planned event
ISLAMABAD (AP)  United Nations human rights experts urged Pakistan on Thursday to release a Christian man who was detained two years ago for insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad and is believed to be mentally ill.

Stephen Masih, who was arrested in March 2019, has yet to face trial, the experts said. He is a Pakistani jailed in Sialkot, a city in the eastern Punjab province where he lived. Masih's family has denied the blasphemy charge and said he was mentally ill.

The U.N. experts also said they were concerned about the lack of medical care he has received. They said medical reviews to assess Masih's mental health and fitness to stand trial have been repeatedly delayed, and that Masih was being kept with Muslim prisoners in a jail cell, putting him in danger.

In Thursday's statement, the U.N. experts said they were seriously concerned by the persecution and ongoing detention of Mr. Masih on blasphemy grounds, and by his treatment at the hands of the judicial and prison authorities who are aware of his psychosocial disability and health condition."

Pakistan has been under pressure over the countrys blasphemy laws. Rights groups say that blasphemy allegations have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal scores.

Thursday's demand comes as thousands of Islamists are rallying in the eastern city of Lahore in another case, demanding the release of Saad Rizvi, the leader of a radical Islamist political party who was arrested in April amid protest against France over depictions of Islams Prophet Muhammad. Police in Lahore were preparing for a crackdown Thursday night to disperse Rizvi's supporters, who had warned that they will march toward Islamabad on Friday if Rizvi is not freed under a recent court order.

Authorities say they already challenged the court order about Rizvi's release and Rizvi's supporters should wait for a final court order. Rizvi's party in recent years has held violent rallies in support of blasphemy laws.

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In Masih's case, the U.N. experts urged Pakistan to drop charges against him and ensure protection for the man and his family. They said Masih was arrested following an argument with one of his neighbors in Sialkot where he was attacked by a group of Muslims who accused him of committing blasphemy.

Masih's family home was also set on fire.

A court rejected Masih's request for the bail in August. Another court will hear Masih's bail application on Friday.

The U.N. experts urged Pakistan to comply with its international human rights obligations, to repeal its anti-blasphemy laws and to "take measures to combat the advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination and violence.

A Punjab governor in Islamabad was shot and killed by his own guard in 2011, after he defended a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, who was accused of blasphemy. She was acquitted after spending eight years on death row and left Pakistan for Canada to join her family after receiving threats.
A retired Army colonel who was an expert in psychological operations was part of a chilling Donald Trump team command center determined to overturn the legitimate presidential election victory of Joe Biden, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

Riveting new details about the plots at the Willard Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., uncovered by the Post reveal the military-like operation aimed at seizing control from American voters over who should occupy the White House.

Some of President Donald Trumps most loyal lieutenants were working day and night with one goal in mind: overturning the results of the 2020 election, the Post noted.

Key figures included Trumps then-personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, former White House strategist Steve Bannon, former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, and law professor John Eastman, who outlined scenarios for denying Biden the presidency and subvert[ing] the will of the voters in an Oval Office meeting on Jan. 4 with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, the Post reported.

We had a war room at the Willard . . . coordinating all of the communications, Eastman told talk show host Peter Boyles, which was first reported in the newsletter Proof.

I believed until Inauguration Day that something could be done  thats why the fight was still going on, Kerik told The Post.

Phil Waldron, a retired Army colonel who specialized in psychological operations, led a team who provided Kerik with analyses of state data, which purported to show fraudulent voting, people familiar with activities at the Willard told The Post.

Waldron was also working closely with Russell Ramsland, a Texas Republican who had been spreading election-fraud conspiracy theories for months before the election, according to the Post.

Neither man responded to requests from the Post for comment.

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On Jan. 2, Trump, Giuliani and Eastman spoke to 300 state legislators on a conference call, urging them to take action to decertify their election results. You are the real power, Trump told the state lawmakers, The Washington Examiner reported.

The day of the Jan. 6 insurrection, Trump tweeted to his followers breaching the Capitol: We love you, youre very special.

Check out the entire Washington Post report here.

Also on HuffPost

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
The issue of safety on the sets of Hollywood films was launched into the national conversation this week after Alec Baldwin pulled the trigger on a prop gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins while filming an indie Western, Rust, at a New Mexico movie ranch.

The films director, Joel Souza, was also hit during the incident but is recovering in a Santa Fe hospital. He said he was gutted by the loss of Hutchins in a statement issued to Deadline on Saturday.

She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch, and always pushed me to be better, the director said.

Baldwin also expressed shock, saying Friday that his heart is broken for Hutchins loved ones. He was photographed Saturday leaving a Santa Fe hotel with her husband, Matt Hutchins, and their young son, whom the actor hugged before parting ways.

Heres what we know about what happened, how it happened, and what is being done to prevent future tragedies like it.

A distraught Alec Baldwin in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office after questioning. (Photo: via Associated Press)

How did a prop gun turn deadly?

Baldwin was acting out a gunfight at the time, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing production notes that said Baldwin was supposed to back out of a church and withdraw a gun from a holster. While the film crew would normally watch the scene from a distance, the L.A. Times said, Hutchins was still lining up her next camera shot with Souza and one other person. Baldwin reportedly pulled the gun out of its holster once without incident, but the second time, it discharged.

Hutchins was hit in the chest and Souza in the shoulder. The cinematographer was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital, but died of the injury.

Many elements of the incident remain unclear, including what type of gun was used, what type of projectile hit the crew, how many projectiles there were, who had prepared the gun for use on set and whether or not that person followed safety protocols.

Weapons on movie sets are supposed to be managed by an armorer  someone with experience handling guns who knows the difference between live ammo and blanks. Both consist of a cartridge filled with gunpowder, but a live round has a projectile on the tip, whereas a blank does not. But even blanks can be deadly if fired at close range.

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One experienced prop master told CNBC that usually, for shots where an actor aims a gun directly at the camera, ballistics shields are set up between the gun and the crew, just in case.

Why were crew members unhappy on the set of Rust?

Unionized Hollywood workers are broadly frustrated with the state of their industry. Nearly 60,000 people affiliated with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts  or IATSE  threatened to walk off the job earlier this week if their demands concerning their schedules, health and safety were not addressed. Their union managed to avert a strike for now, but frustrations still remain.

Several outlets have reported that at least six unionized crew members walked off the set of the film just hours before the deadly shooting in protest of working conditions. The camera crew was upset about the long commute  having believed they would be provided hotel rooms near the set  and about having to wait weeks for their paychecks.

The film has a very modest budget of $7 million.

Crucially, the workers had also reportedly voiced concerns that safety protocols were not being followed on set, according to the Los Angeles Timesand The Associated Press. They were particularly alarmed because someone had allegedly fired two rounds by accident in the days leading up to Thursdays tragedy. A third accidental discharge had taken place even earlier, according to the L.A. Times.

There were no safety meetings. There was no assurance that it wouldnt happen again. All they wanted to do was rush, rush, rush, one crew member told the newspaper. A text message from a crew member before Hutchins death reportedly complained of the conditions: This is super unsafe.

A source told The Daily Beast that the armorer who was allegedly on set at the time, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was only 24 and lacked experience to maintain a safe environment.

Who is responsible for the incident?

Police are still investigating, and no charges have been brought.

IATSE Local 44, which covers prop masters, sent an email to members saying the Rust prop master was not a Local 44 member, IndieWire reported. It is not clear what kind of background the prop master had.

Baldwin did not know the prop gun contained a live round, according to records from the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office obtained by news outlets including The Washington Post.

An assistant director, Dave Halls, took the gun off a cart, handed it to Baldwin and yelled, cold gun, according to the AP. (Cold means that the weapon did not have live ammunition and was therefore safe.)

A record of script supervisor Mamie Mitchells subsequent 911 call illustrates the panic that ensued: We had two people accidentally shot on a move set by a prop gun, we need help immediately, she told the dispatcher. We were rehearsing and it went off, and I ran out, we all ran out.

Asked whether the gun fired a real bullet, Mitchell said, I cannot tell you. We have two injuries. And this [expletive] AD [assistant director] that yelled at me at lunch, asking about revisions ... Hes supposed to check the guns. Hes responsible for what happens on the set.

An affidavit stated that the assistant director did not know the prop gun was loaded with live rounds, The New York Times reported.

The Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office told the Times it hopes to have more information to share early next week.

Who was Halyna Hutchins?

Hutchins, 42, was born in Ukraine and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle, where she was surrounded by reindeer and nuclear submarines, according to her website. She was just starting to make a name for herself in the industry, having worked on independent films including The Mad Hatter, created by Armando Gutierrez, and Archenemy, featuring Joe Manganiello.

In 2019, she was selected as one of American Cinematographers rising stars.

Mitchell, the 911 caller, told the AP in an interview, This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman.

Matt Hutchins, her husband, reflected on her life over social media.

Our loss is enormous, he wrote Saturday.

Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words. Our loss is enormous, and we ask that the media please respect my familys privacy as we process our grief. We thank everyone for sharing images and stories of her life. pic.twitter.com/LgEp4XVkja  Matt Hutchins (@mhutchins) October 23, 2021

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
Yakima County is proposing the new district boundaries outlined in a voting rights settlement be contingent on who wins this year's commissioner race, according to court records. The county wants to change the map if Autumn Torres is elected to keep her in District 3, according to a court motion submitted by plaintiffs.
Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business.
Hungarian car manufacturing has arrived at a new milestone with the mass production of the first fully electric cars manufactured in Hungary, Peter Szijjarto, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Friday.

Speaking at the launching event of the mass production of Mercedess electric EQB SUV in Kecskemet, Szijjarto said the 50 billion forint (EUR 1.4bn) investment, supported by a 15 billion government grant, marked the first step in revolutionary reforms in Hungarian car-making.



The plant will preserve 4,400 new jobs and create hundreds of new ones, he said. Countries that win the competition for investments in electromobility win the future, Szijjarto said.



EQB models will be exported exclusively from Hungary to markets worldwide, excluding China, Mercedes said in a statement. With the launch, the Kecskemet plant will be producing all types of motors, the statement said.



Production will become carbon neutral by 2022, making the plant an important pillar of the production network on the long run, Mercedes said.





MTI Photo: Sandor Ujvari
If mapmakers explicitly try to weaken voters' power based on race, they may violate the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. But the Voting Rights Act requires them to consider race if the state has racially polarized voting, in which white people consistently vote against candidates backed by a minority racial or ethnic group. The mapmakers must then create a district in which that minority comprises a plurality or majority of voters so they can elect their preferred candidates.

Republicans complain they cannot win.

Its truly a conundrum and has been for the last decade for the GOP, because when we look at race, we were told we shouldnt have, and those maps were struck down, said North Carolina state Sen. Paul Newton, who co-chairs that state's redistricting committee. "Now that were not looking at race, the Democrat Party is telling us, Oh, you should be looking at race.

North Carolina's redistricting legal fight is part of why the new race-blind approach caught on.
YORK  Nebraska State Troopers, with the assistance of York County Sheriffs Deputies, have arrested a man following a pursuit on Interstate 80 Friday morning.

At approximately 8:10 a.m., law enforcement received a report of a theft at Bomgaars in Central City. The information given also matched the description of a Honda Accord that had been reported stolen out of Lincoln earlier this week. The same vehicle was then reported to have been involved in a fuel theft from a gas station in Hordville, in Hamilton County.

At approximately 8:40 a.m., a York County deputy located the vehicle as it was traveling near Highway 66 and Highway 81. The deputy began pursuit of the vehicle which fled southbound on Highway 81.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

As the Accord entered Interstate 80 traveling eastbound, troopers took over as primary in the pursuit. The vehicle continued driving erratically, with speeds in excess of 120 miles per hour. The NSP Aviation Support Division deployed in the NSP helicopter to provide aerial support.
Patna: RJD president Lalu Prasad on Sunday returned to his home turf of Bihar after three years, six months following the end of his prison term in fodder scam cases. He was incarcerated in December 2017, in April he fell sick and was recuperating at Delhis AIIMS Hospital.

Prasad arrived at Patna accompanied by wife Rabri Devi and eldest daughter Misa Bharti, at whose Delhi residence he had been putting up in Delhi after being released from jail a few months ago. A huge crowd of supporters had gathered outside Rabri Devi's residence for a glance of the RJD chief.

At the airport, Tej Pratap and his younger brother Tejashwi were present to receive their father. The former Bihar Chief Minister drove straight to his wife's 10, Circular Road bungalow, much to the disappointment of reporters.

However, Tej Pratap was upset as he had requested his father to visit his house first but Lalu Prasad was stopped from doing so by state RJD chief Jagadanand Singh and MLC Sunil Singh, Tej pratap alleged.

Lalu looked keen to return to active politics and made his intentions clear to take part in the campaign for October 30 by-polls to Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan assembly seats.

The RJD has the largest number of MLAs in the 243-strong assembly and it has been claiming that it will wrest the two seats from the ruling NDA and trigger an upheaval in the state's politics.

Live TV
Ghaziabad: Ghaziabad Police on Friday arrested five persons for allegedly running a sextortion racket and looting crores of rupees from innocent people.

The accused have been identified as Yogesh, Sapna, Nikita, Nidhi and Priya. As per the information shared by the police, the accused used to communicate with people on an application called `Stripchat` and earned profits.

Later, they created morphed sexual videos of their victims while chatting with them. A huge sum of money was extorted from the victims by threatening to release the videos on social media.

Nipun Agarwal, Superintendent of Police, City said, "We got information from Rajkot Police in Gujarat that Rs 80 lakh was extorted from a victim via sextortion. After receiving the information, we formed our teams consisting of the cyber cell and Nandgram Police Station force. We have arrested five people. Eight bank accounts have been seized. Transactions worth Rs 3,80,00,000 took place from four of these bank accounts, police will soon gain information of other bank accounts and the money trail of all accounts."

The accused used to destroy their SIM cards after extorting people. Police have recovered some sex toys, jewellery, four mobile phones, a cheque, three chequebooks, two passports, three Aadhar cards, PAN and ATM cards each, six web cameras and laptops and Rs 8,000 worth of cash.
Kochi: To commemorate the 75th year of the country's independence, an ocean-sailing race from Kochi to Goa was flagged off on Sunday (October 24) by Chief of Southern Naval Command Vice-Admiral A K Chawla.

Six Indian Naval Sailing Vessels (INSVs) -- Mhadei, Tarini, Bulbul, Neelkanth, Kadalpura and Hariyal -- are participating in the regatta which is for a tentative duration of five days and would cover an approximate distance of 360 nautical miles between the starting point at the Naval Base in Kochi and the finishing point in Goa.

Chawla, who spoke to reporters after flagging off the race, said, "Sailing is an all-round skill requiring a lot of mental strength, physical stamina and team spirit."

"Ocean-sailing is a very tough and demanding sport because you are in the high seas and you are subject to the vagaries of weather. You have to be able to handle the boat in all sorts of weather, be it rough seas or sometimes still-calm seas when it's very hot and the boat is not moving. You will have to navigate the boat in the open seas. There is also some machinery onboard the ship which may have to be repaired at times," he said.

The sailors have been undergoing rigorous training for the event over the last one month. Each of the six INSVs - four 40-footers and two 56-footers, are being manned by six naval personnel drawn from three Commands of Navy, the ANC and IHQ MoD (Navy).

In addition, Ocean Yachts from Yachting Association of India (YAI)-affiliated civilian clubs are also participating in the event. Chawla said it's the thrill and adventure of going to the sea which draws the people to the sport.

"This is also what people used to do in ancient times using only sails to go by as there were no engines. This helps us understand the sea better and makes good seamen," he added.

The two 56-footers participating in the regatta have already made history in the Indian Navy by participating in circumnavigation, a press release by the Navy said. The Navy said the crew was selected from volunteers with adequate sea-sailing experience.

Live TV
New Delhi: In an embarrassing incident for Congress, the leaders and workers entered into a brawl at an event in Chhatisgarhs Jashpur after the partys former district president of Pawan Agarwal was pushed away from the microphone on stage as he was addressing a gathering.

The ruckus was caught on camera which showed dozens of Congress workers climb up the stage. The chaos erupted after Agarwal started speaking on minister TS Singh Deo.

Check out the video here:

#WATCH | Chhattisgarh: Local Congress leaders & workers enter into a brawl at party workers conference in Jashpur after party's ex-dist pres Pawan Agarwal was pushed away from podium & stopped from speaking. He had started speaking on Min TS Singh Deo when the incident took place pic.twitter.com/7joKTUlYgE  ANI (@ANI) October 24, 2021

Later, Agarwal said the Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel must vacate the post and make way for Deo.

TS Singh Deo waited for 2.5 yrs (to become CM) and now Bhupesh Baghel must vacate his seat. When there was no Congress government here, Deo and Baghel worked together. It's due to them that Congress government came to power. When I was saying this, people of Kunkuri MLA attacked me, said Agarwal.

Lately, there have been a lot of speculations of a possible crisis in the state owing to the tussle between Baghel and Deo for the CM post.

Several Congress MLAs had recently visited Delhi to meet Rahul Gandhi as a show of support to Baghel. They, however, returned after the meeting did not realize.

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New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit Uttar Pradeshs Ayodhya on October 26. The AAP supremo will offer prayers at the birthplace of Lord Ram ahead of Diwali.

Kejriwals visit to poll-bound Uttar Pradesh comes in the wake of AAP deciding to contest all 403 seats in the assembly elections early next year. The Delhi CM will visit Ayodhya for Ram Lalla darshan, Chief Minister`s Office (CMO) informed on Saturday (October 23).

A grand temple is being built at the site believed to be the birthplace of Lord Ram in Ayodhya. Currently, there is a makeshift structure enclosing Ram's idol.

Kejriwal will be a one-day trip to UP and the AAP convener will return to Delhi on October 27, IANS reported.

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on his visit to Lucknow had announced that if AAP forms government in UP, they will ensure that people of the state will be relieved from 'costly electricity bills'. He also promised 300 units of free electricity within 24 hours of AAP coming to power.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath changed Faizabad Railway Junction's name to Ayodhya Cantt on Saturday.

(With agency inputs)

Live TV
Kanpur: Uttar Pradesh reported its first case of Zika Virus from Kanpur, informed Dr Nepal Singh, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Kanpur on Sunday.

While speaking to ANI, Dr Nepal Singh said, "Yesterday, one person infected with Zika virus, was found in Kanpur. He is an Indian Air Force personnel. We have formed teams as soon as we received the information. With the help of 10 teams, we started taking precautionary action in his residential area and the workplace."

He added, "House to house survey, line listing, fogging, cleaning was undertaken with the help of municipality. 22 samples of his close contacts, who were symptomatic, were sent to King George`s Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow for testing."

Caused by a virus transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitoes, which bite during the day, symptoms of this disease are mild fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or a headache.

Live TV
Alaska: Indian and US troops carried out joint yoga session at Buckner Physical Training centre at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. The Indian yoga instructors taught a total of 17 `asanas` including Surya Namaskar to the troops.

This comes amid the 17th Edition of India-US joint training exercise "Ex Yudh Abhyas 21" that commenced at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Alaska (US).

The 14 days exercise includes joint training for operations under the United Nations mandate, said the Indian Army. According to the ministry, 300 US Army soldiers belonging to First Squadron (Airborne) of the 40th Cavalry Regiment and 350 soldiers of 7 Madras Infantry Battalion Group of Indian Army are participating in the exercise.

#WATCH Indian and US troops carried out joint yoga session at Buckner Physical Training centre at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. The Indian yoga instructors taught a total of 17 'asanas' including Surya Namaskar pic.twitter.com/KN6O3TYLE4  ANI (@ANI) October 24, 2021

The 14 days training schedule includes activities on joint training in a Counter Insurgency/Counter Terrorism environment under the United Nations mandate.

#WATCH Indian Army & US Army troops carry out joint training during the ongoing joint military exercise 'Yudh Abhyas' in Alaska (Video source: Indian Army) pic.twitter.com/8kFVqJm88E  ANI (@ANI) October 22, 2021

The joint training exercise was commenced with an opening ceremony that saw the unfurling of the National Flags of both countries amidst playing of the National anthems, "Jana Gana Mana" and "The Star-Spangled Banner".

Live TV
Srinagar: A civilian was killed in a firing incident in the Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, officials said. The incident took place in the Zainapora area of Shopian in south Kashmir and the civilian has been identified as Shahid Ahmad.

The circumstances of the incident are being probed, the officials said, adding further details are awaited

Earlier in the day, three security personnel and an arrested Pakistani terrorist were injured when terrorists opened fire on a joint search party of the Army and police inside a forest in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.

ALSO READ | Afghanistan situation overflow can happen in Jammu and Kashmir: CDS Bipin Rawat

Heavy firing and explosions were reported from the Bhatta Durrian forest of Mendhar which along with nearby forest areas adjoining Surankote (Poonch) and Thanamandi in Rajouri district is witnessing a massive search operation, the officials said.

The operation, which saw nine Army personnel losing their lives in separate ambushes in Surankote and Mendhar on October 11 and 14, entered the 14th day on Sunday.

A police spokesperson said two policemen and an Army jawan along with a prisoner Zia Mustafa, a Pakistani terrorist affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were injured in fresh firing by terrorists in Bhatta Durrian forest this morning.

"Detenue Mustafa was taken to Bhatadurian for identification of terrorist hideout during the ongoing operation in which three Army jawans and a JCO were martyred (on October 14).

"During the search when the team approached the hideout, terrorists again opened fire on the joint team of police and Army personnel in which two policemen and an Army jawan sustained injuries," the spokesperson said.

The police said Mustafa also sustained injuries and he could not be taken out from the site due to heavy fire.

"Injured personnel are under treatment at the nearby health facility. A fresh attempt will be made with reinforcements (to neutralise terrorists and retrieve the injured Mustafa," the spokesperson said, adding that an operation at the site is still going on.

Officials said Mustafa, a resident of Rawalakot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, was lodged in Kot Bhalwal jail for the last 14 years and was shifted to Mendhar on police remand after investigation revealed his link with the hiding terrorists.

Mustafa had sneaked into this side from the same route before he was arrested from south Kashmir, the officials said.

The operation in the forest areas in the twin border districts commenced on October 11 when terrorists ambushed a search party killing five soldiers including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Surankote forest of Poonch before another gunfight in nearby Thanamandi on the same day.

On October 14, the terrorists struck again and killed four soldiers including a JCO in Nar Khas forest in Mendhar as the security forces extended the cordon and search operation to neutralise the fleeing terrorists.

Drones and helicopters were pressed into service to assist the marching troops, which included para-commandos, in the jungle at a distance of four km from the Line of Control (LoC), the officials said.

Ten persons, including two women, were detained for questioning after it came to light that they allegedly provided logistic support including food and shelter to the terrorists, the officials said.

ALSO READ | Pakistan's ISI's conspiracy against J&K exposed, 'blueprint' reveals major plot

An Army official said on Saturday that a major part of the forest was cleared and now the search area is restricted to a location housing a number of natural caves.

"There was no contact with the terrorist after the initial gunfights on October 11 and October 14. The search area was expanded in search of the terrorists," the official had said, hoping to conclude the operation with the clearance of the natural caves within a day or two depending on the weather conditions.

Traffic between Mendhar and Thanamandi along the Jammu-Rajouri highway remained suspended as a precautionary measure for the ninth day on Sunday 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.

Live TV
New Delhi: Ashish Mishra, son of union minister Ajay Mishra Teni and the main accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, is reportedly suffering from dengue and has been hospitalised.

According to sources, Ashish`s health deteriorated and he had to be admitted to the jail hospital.

Ashish who was taken on police remand on Friday, had complained of fever and his blood reports on Saturday confirmed that he was suffering from dengue.

He was admitted to the jail hospital at 10 pm on Saturday after his condition deteriorated.

Ashish Mishra was arrested in connection with the violence that was triggered after he allegedly ran his car over protesting farmers in Tikunia in Lakhimpur Kheri.

Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in Lakhimpur Kheri when a group agitating against the Centre`s three new farm laws was staging a demonstration against the visit of UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on October 3.

Two BJP workers, a driver and a journalist were killed in the violence that followed.

Meanwhile, three more persons were arrested on Saturday in connection with the case, taking the total number of arrests to 13.

Live TV
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday (October 23) arrested a terror operative with links to ISIS, ISIL and Daesh.

The 33-year-old accused, Muhammad Tauqir Mahmood, allegedly radicalised and recruited Muslim youth to be sent to Syria to join ISIS.

He did this with the help of two of his associates Ahamed Abdul Cader and Irfan Nasir who were earlier arrested by NIA.

NIA had registered a case against Muhammad Tauqir Mahmood for having affiliation with the banned terrorist organisations ISIS/ISIL/Daesh, said the agency in a statement.

Investigation has revealed that accused Muhammad Tauqir Mahmood in association with co-accused persons had raised funds, radicalized and recruited gullible Muslim youth of a Quran Circle group and illegally sent them to Syria to join ISIS, added NIA.

The agency further said that in 2013, Mahmood along with his associate had visited Syria illegally to liaise with Daesh leadership and had offered support from Indian Muslims.

Live TV
Chandigarh: Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu's wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu attacked former chief minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday over his friendship with Pakistani journalist Aroosa Alam, alleging that not a single posting of any official took place in the state without "money or gifts" to her.

Sidhu's principal strategic advisor Mohammad Mustafa also took a dig at Singh, prompting the former chief minister to hit back at him.

The accusation by Sidhu's wife came a day after Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said a probe would be carried out to ascertain whether the Pakistani journalist, who had been visiting Singh for several years, has links with Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

"Not a single posting in Punjab took place without money or gifts to Aroosa Alam," former MLA Navjot Kaur Sidhu told reporters in Amritsar.

She alleged that even in the police department, no posting took place without Alam's consent and the Pakistani journalist "ran away" with all the money.

To a question on Alam's picture with Congress president Sonia Gandhi shared by Singh's media advisor Raveen Thukral on Twitter on Friday, Navjot Kaur Sidhu said it was an old picture.

Singh hit back at Mustafa after the latter shared a picture of Alam with the former Punjab chief secretary and former director-general of police.

"Still grappling to grasp the 'designs' behind twitting CP-Aroosa pic @capt_amarinder! Please do understand, grant of visa by UPA or NDA doesn't include 'licence 2 domesticate & outsource' governance apparatus to 'videshi mehman'," Mustafa said in a tweet.

Reacting to it, Thukral also shared two pictures on his Twitter handle.

"And how about you explaining this @MohdMustafaips. Isn't that your wife & daughter-in-law with the same lady? How low can you get? Mixing politics with friendship! #AroosaAlam personally cherishes these & many more such memories with your family," Thukral quoted Singh as saying.

And how about you explaining this @MohdMustafaips. Isn't that your wife & daughter-in-law with the same lady? How low can you get? Mixing politics with friendship! #AroosaAlam

personally cherishes these & many more such memories with your family: @capt_amarinder pic.twitter.com/rvC3u6laJb  Raveen Thukral (@RT_Media_Capt) October 23, 2021

In response, Mutsafa wrote: "My time too precious to engage proxies @rt_media_capt. The depth & dimensions of our relationships with CAS (Singh) are beyond everyone's comprehension, miles above pure commerce. Even during bitter fights we draw a line, Raveen bhai, no slf apointd surrogate wud ever understand that (sic)."

Live TV
New Delhi: Around 43 per cent of teachers said they were not satisfied with online teaching during the pandemic while nine per cent of them expressed complete dissatisfaction with the mode of education, according to a survey.

A total of 220 school teachers participated while 20 people, including eight teachers, were interviewed for an online survey published in the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights' (DCPCR) first journal -- Children First: Journal on Children's Lives.

A majority of teachers (43%) expressed that they were not satisfied with teaching online and nine per cent of the participants were not at all happy with it, the survey said.

The key issues that the teachers identified as the teaching went online due to the pandemic were absenteeism (14%), children with special needs not being considered (21%), low attention span of students (28%), emotional issues expressed by the students (19%), and no assessment or assignment completion by the students (10%).

The participating teachers and students also stated that online emotional support and group engagements by the counsellors and social workers helped children to be more expressive and participatory in online education.

The teachers stressed that the involvement of parents became necessary in school education because only they have regular access to children and can directly engage with them during this period.

The students who participated in the study expressed that they missed many school activities, including meeting friends, interacting with people, celebrations, and friendships. Some of the participants also expressed that they are overloaded with academic exercises, according to the survey.

Teachers also shared their challenges of keeping up with online teaching schedules and fulfilling their responsibilities at home.

The survey concluded that for a successful transition to the online mode, some things are necessary -- accessibility and affordability of digital platforms, need-based curriculum and pedagogy, and sufficient capacity building of the learning community.

"The pandemic shifting of those necessities still poses a major challenge to online learning," it said.

Live TV
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address the nation on the 82nd edition of his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat on Sunday (October 24, 2021).

The programme will be aired on All India Radio and Doordarshan. The radio programme will be streamed live on PM Narendra Modi's official YouTube channel along with PMO.

"Mann ki Baat" is the Prime Minister`s monthly radio address, which is broadcast on the last Sunday of every month however, this time the programme will be broadcast on the second last Sunday of the month.

"This month, the #MannKiBaat programme will take place on the 24th. I invite you all to share your ideas for this month`s episode. Write on the NaMo App, @mygovindia or dial 1800-11-7800 to record your message," tweeted PM Modi.

This month's #MannKiBaat programme will take place on the 24th. PM Shri @narendramodi invites you all to share your ideas for this months episode. Write on the NaMo App, @mygovindia forum or dial 1800-11-7800 to record your message. pic.twitter.com/ybTKDerm4K  Mann Ki Baat Updates     (@mannkibaat) October 16, 2021

The Prime Ministers monthly radio address is coming days after he hailed the collective spirit of the 130-crore-strong New India for achieving an incredible one billion-vaccines milestone. PM Modi is expected to speak about India's fight against the COVID-19 and the upcoming festivals in his Sunday's address.

In his last Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi had called for collective efforts to keep rivers pollution-free, on the occasion of World Rivers Day. "We mark so many days, but there is one more day we should celebrate. It is `World River Day`. This day is such which is very consistent with the traditions of India," the PM had said.

PM Modi, while underlining the importance of rainwater harvesting in Indian culture, had compared the traditional festivals of Jal-Jeelani Ekadashi and Chhatt with the National Water Mission`s (NWM) campaign "Catch The Rain".

Live TV
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday (October 24, 2021) will inaugurate two phases of a multi-disciplinary research centre and lay the foundation stone of the third phase of the centre at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Jammu.

Today will be the second day of Shahs three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. This is Union Home Minister's first visit to the Valley since the abrogation of Article 370.

Additionally, the Union Minister of Education, Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday visited IIT, Jammu to review the inauguration preparations.

"Reviewed preparations at IIT Jammu. Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah will dedicate a multi-disciplinary research centre, Phase 1A and 1B of the campus and also lay the foundation stone for Phase 1C of the campus tomorrow," tweeted Pradhan.

The inauguration ceremony of IIT, Jammu will also be attended by the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha and Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh.

Earlier on Saturday, on the first day of his visit, the Union Home Minister met families of soldiers and civilians killed this month in a spate of terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

Shah also held a security review meeting in Srinagar, followed by an interactive session with the members of Jammu and Kashmir`s youth club where he said that the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir will be restored after delimitation of constituencies and assembly elections.

Later in the evening, Shah flagged off the first international flight services from Srinagar to Sharjah from the Sheikh ul-Alam International Airport. The flight took off from Srinagar to Sharjah.

(With ANI inputs)

Live TV
New Delhi: Ahead of the high-profile Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections next year, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday (October 23) said that the government will distribute laptops and tablets from the last week of November.

Speaking at the foundation-laying ceremony of a government medical college in Sultanpur, the UP CM said, "In order to equip the youth of Uttar Pradesh with the latest technology so that they can benefit from online studies, we will start distributing tablets and laptops from the last week of November.

Further, he said his government is striving to employ the youth. "In 4.5 years, 4.5 lakh youth were given government jobs," ANI quoted Adityanath as saying.

In order to equip the youth of UP with the latest technology so that they can benefit from online studies, we will start distributing tablets and laptops from the last week of Nov: CM Yogi at the foundation-laying ceremony of a government medical college in Sultanpur pic.twitter.com/9YlCHc8Vap  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 23, 2021

As per the UP government release, the CM also launched 126 development projects worth Rs 46.33 crore in Sultanpur and 99 projects worth Rs 334.24 crores in Ambedkar Nagar.

Dedicating hospital beds for the government medical college, the UP CM said it will be equipped with 500 beds. "Now the people of the district will not have to go to Lucknow, Delhi, Mumbai and other cities of the country for treatment," he added.

The BJP CM also hit out at those who try to divide society for their 'selfish political motives', adding they will never be accepted and respected.

Slamming the opposition for politics over coronavirus vaccine and the Ram temple, the UP CM said if Congress, SP or BSP had been in power, Ram temple would not have been constructed. "Over 12.32 crore vaccines have been administered in Uttar Pradesh. One has to remain alert from those who mislead people. They are such people, who change colour and can even make a chameleon feel ashamed. Had there been the governments of the Congress, SP, or BSP, would the Ram temple been built? They used to say that Ram is imaginary. Now, these people say that 'Ram sabke hain' (Ram belongs to everyone), PTI quoted Adityanath as saying.

Meanwhile, Yogi Adityanath changed Faizabad Railway Junction's name to Ayodhya Cantt on Saturday.

(With agency inputs)

Live TV
Gosaba: TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday claimed that voting for the Congress and Left Front would be in no way different from opting for the NOTA button as he sought to woo the electorate ahead of the October 30 bypoll to four assembly seats.

Mamata Banerjee's nephew also stated that casting ballots for the two parties, if nothing, might "strengthen the hands of BJP".

Banerjee slammed the saffron party for "thrusting by-election" on two of the four seats that will go to the polls next week.

Addressing back-to-back rallies, he pointed out that bypoll was necessitated in Gosaba and in Khardah following the death of two TMC candidates, but the circumstances under which elections are being held in Shantipur and Dinhata are different.

"Winning BJP candidates Jagannath Sarkar (Shantipur) and Nisith Pramanik (Dinhata) resigned as MLAs even after being elected by people. They dishonoured the verdict of people to retain parliamentary berths. The BJP is seeking votes again in those two seats. They will be rejected by people," he claimed.

The senior TMC leader also asserted that his party will make a "4-0 sweep" in the by-elections.

"The entire country is eagerly waiting for the results of bypolls in these four constituencies. People of the country want a leader like Mamata. That is why they raised slogans such as 'Desh ki netri kaisi ho, Mamata didi jaisi ho'," he said during his campaign in Khardah.

Hitting out at the Congress and Left, he said that the two parties had firmed up alliances with the aim to stop Mamata Banerjee from winning elections, and ended up as "losers".

"Over the past seven years, the Congress had only conceded defeat to the BJP all over the country, while Mamata Banerjee thwarted all challenges posed by communal and undemocratic BJP," he said.

"The Left and the Congress had even tied up with the ISF but the electorate of Bengal chose Mamata Banerjee over any other party. Voting for them is the same as pressing the NOTA button. If anything, it will strengthen BJP's hands," the TMC's number two leader underlined.

Banerjee further contended that the BJP was trying to win the elections in Shantipur and gain political mileage, riding on the recent communal violence in Bangladesh.

"The BJP state president (Sukanta Majumdar) has said that his party will win by-elections in Shantipur because of the violence in Bangladesh. Isn't he ashamed? You (Majumdar) are trying to gain political mileage out of communal violence in Bangladesh where Hindus were tortured," he alleged.

The TMC supremo is emerging as the "undisputed leader" from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, the spearhead to fight and defeat the Modi-Shah regime in the next general election, Banerjee insisted.

"Our party is making its presence felt all over the country. It has established its place among the top four to five national parties. We will win the assembly polls in Goa in a few months from now; we will dislodge the Biplab Deb government in Tripura 2023," he contended.

Alleging that the BJP has 'trampled democracy' in states where it is in power, Banerjee, during his address in Gosaba, said, "Wherever the BJP has crushed opposition views, the TMC will go and fight them."

Holding the Biplab Deb government in Tripura responsible for assault on his party members, Banerjee noted that Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev was 'attacked in the state' by the BJP on Friday.

"Should that happen in a democracy? We will not cower down before them. We will drive out the BJP from Tripura, carrying a picture of Mamata Banerjee," he said.

Banerjee claimed that the BJP "harasses" anyone who airs views against them, with help from central agencies, but they 'cannot silence the TMC'.

"They had summoned me several, times, interrogated me for nine hours. You can interrogate me for hours and hours but that will not stop me from speaking against you (BJP leaders). If you slit my throat, I will still shout 'Jai Hind', 'Jai Bangla'. Truth is on my side," he maintained.

Taking a dig at Amit Shah, he said, "The former BJP national president and current home minister had promised to dole out Rs 2 lakh crore for the development of Sunderbans and carve out a separate district, during his campaigns for assembly polls some months ago.

"They are still at the helm in Delhi but you won't hear about any follow-up initiatives from them."

The Diamond Harbour MP further noted that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in contrast, "kept her promises and rolled out schemes such as Lakshmir Bhandar".

"Here lies the difference between the BJP and the TMC. No one got Rs 15 lakh in their bank account, as promised by Narendra Modi in 2014. But all our social welfare projects -- Krishakbandhu, Swastha Sathi, Kanyashree and Lakshmir Bhandar -- are benefitting crores of people already," he said.

Banerjee, who is also the nephew of the CM, continued its tirade against the Centre, stating that the Narendra Modi government did not release funds required for relief operations after cyclones ravaged Bengal.

"Don't worry, Mamata Banerjee will be on your side with all her might and resources," he said.

Hitting out at the Centre over its 100-crore vaccination feat, he quipped that the BJP-led NDA government "hit double centuries", the first one with the hike in prices of petrol and diesel

In an apparent overture to Hindus, the TMC general said, "Our CM has given Rs 50,000 to every Durga Puja committee. She is the one who made sure people get to celebrate Durga Puja, despite economic stress.

"She wants people to celebrate all festivals -- from Durga puja to Kali Puja and Chhat, from Eid to Christmas. She believes in universal brotherhood," he added.

Live TV
Jammu: An arrested Pakistani terrorist was killed, while three security personnel were injured on Sunday when militants opened fire on a joint search party of the Army and police inside a forest in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

Heavy firing and explosions were reported from Bhatta Durrian forest of Mendhar which along with nearby forest areas adjoining Surankote (Poonch) and Thanamandi in Rajouri district is witnessing a massive search operation, the officials said.

The operation, which saw nine Army personnel losing their lives in separate ambushes in Surankote and Mendhar on October 11 and 14, entered the 14th day on Sunday.

A police spokesperson said two policemen and an Army jawan along with a prisoner Zia Mustafa, a Pakistani terrorist affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) were injured in firing by terrorists in Bhatta Durrian forest this morning.

"Detenue Mustafa was taken to Bhatadurian for identification of terrorist hideout during the ongoing operation in which three Army jawans and a JCO were martyred (on October 14).

"'During the search when the team approached the hideout, terrorists again opened fire on the joint team of police and Army personnel in which two policemen and an Army jawan sustained injuries," the spokesperson said.

The police said Mustafa also sustained injuries and he could not be taken out from the site due to heavy fire.

"During the subsequent operation additional reinforcements were sent and the body of Mustafa has been retrieved from the encounter site," the spokesperson said, adding the operation (to neutralise the hiding terrorists) is in progress and legal process has been initiated in connection with the killing of the Pakistani terrorist.

Officials said Mustafa, a resident of Rawalakot in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, was lodged in Kot Bhalwal jail for the last 14 years and was shifted to Mendhar on police remand after investigation revealed his link with the hiding terrorists.

Mustafa had sneaked into this side from the same route before he was arrested from south Kashmir, the officials said.

The operation in the forest areas in the twin border districts commenced on October 11 when terrorists ambushed a search party killing five soldiers including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in Surankote forest of Poonch before another gunfight in nearby Thanamandi on the same day.

On October 14, the terrorists struck again and killed four soldiers including a JCO in Nar Khas forest in Mendhar as the security forces extended the cordon and search operation to neutralise the fleeing terrorists.

Drones and helicopters were pressed into service to assist the marching troops, which included para-commandos, in the jungle at a distance of four km from the Line of Control (LoC), the officials said.

Ten persons, including two women, were detained for questioning after it came to light that they allegedly provided logistic support including food and shelter to the terrorists, the officials said.

An Army official said on Saturday that a major part of the forest was cleared and now the search area is restricted to a location housing a number of natural caves.

"There was no contact with the terrorist after the initial gunfights on October 11 and October 14. The search area was expanded in search of the terrorists," the official had said, hoping to conclude the operation with the clearance of the natural caves within a day or two depending on the weather conditions.

Traffic between Mendhar and Thanamandi along the Jammu-Rajouri highway remained suspended as a precautionary measure for the ninth day on Sunday 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.

Live TV
New Delhi: On the occasion of Malaika Aroras 48th birthday, the beautiful diva celebrated her day with her special ones. Malla was spotted with her BFFs Kareena Kapoor and Karisma Kapoor at her moms house for dinner. For the occasion, Malaika boyfriend Arjun Kapoor also arrived at her moms residence for some home-cooked dishes.

For her special day, Malla wore an oversized shirt dress along with matching boots. Her friends and actresses were spotted in comfy athleisure while Arjun opted for a casual look.

The pictures of their meeting have been shared by celebrity paparazzo Viral Bhayani on his Instagram handle and has been loving by the fans.

Earlier in the day, Arjun wished his ladylove with a heart-warming post on Instagram and also wished for her happiness.

He wrote, On this day or any other all I want is to make you smile...

May this year you smile the mostest...

In the picture, Arjun and Malla can be seen enjoying a dinner date at a romantic place with beautiful decor full of flowers, candles, and red roses. The duo can be seen madly in love with each other with Malaika planting a kiss on his cheek.

Not only that, Malaika celebrated her special day at beau Arjun Kapoor's house last night as she was spotted in short white dress while returning from his place.

Arjun and Malaika have been in a relationship for a long time now. However, they made their relationship Instagram official on Arjun's 34th birthday in 2019. Malaika and Arjun look adorable together. Their social media PDA often grabs attention.

On the work front, Malaika is these days seen judging dance reality show - India's Best Dancers with Terence Lewis and Geeta Kapur.
New Delhi: Ananya Pandays rumoured boyfriend Ishaan Khatter visited the actress on Saturday (October 23) with a bouquet of flowers at her residence. Ananya Panday has recently been going through a tough time as the Narcotics Control Bureau is questioning her in Aryan Khans drugs case. The actress was summoned by the investigation agency on Friday and Saturday and was asked to appear again for questioning on Monday (October 25).

Ananya, who appeared at the NCB office along with her father Chunkey Panday was grilled for 4 hours on Saturday. The actress was probed on her WhatsApp chats with Aryan Khan in which she allegedly arranged ganga (weed) for the latter.

The chats recovered from Aryan Khan's mobile phone reveal that in 2018-19, she helped supply drugs to Aryan thrice by providing him the numbers of drug dealers," NCB sources told ANI. The actress has however denied all allegations of consuming and arranging drugs.

Rumoured beau Ishaan, who worked with Ananya in the film Khaali Peeli, bought a huge bouquet of white, red and pink flowers, before paying a visit to Ananyas home. The two were earlier rumoured to have vacationed together in the Maldives. They have however stayed tight-lipped about the status of their relationship.

On the work front, Ananya will next be seen in Liger opposite Vijay Deverakonda, Zoya Akhtars Kho Gaye Hum Kahan with Adarsh Gourav and Siddhant Chaturvedi and Shakun Batra's untitled next with Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi.

Ishaan, on the other hand, will be seen in Phone Bhoot along with Katrina Kaif and Siddhant Chaturvedi and in Pippa opposite Mrunal Thakur.
New Delhi: Kangana Ranaut who is an avid social media user, shared how the auspicious occasion of Karwa Chauth is celebrated in her hometown Himachal Pradesh.

She also asked the non-believers of the festival not to ridicule the religious sentiments of the ones who follow it whole heartedly.

Sharing it in her Instagram story, she wrote, Growing up, I saw my dadi, mother and chachi almost every woman around me fast on Karwa Chauth... they applied Mehandi, painted their nails, sang songs and dressed like brides ... whole ambience of the house changed men joked about being their Gods yet get no food on that day because women didn't enter the kitchen.... Subtle romantic glances were also exchanged between them even residual friction or grudges seem to disappear with jokes about food and moon not showing up... I remember those days fondly... wishing everyone who is fasting A Happy karwa chauth and thosoe who don't please don't ridicule believers ...

She also shared the reasons why she liked this festival. Sharing pointers she wrote, there is so much to admire about karwa chauth, here are few things that I like.. 1) no matter what is your age as a woman you get a chance to relive your most special day when you became a bride.... It breaks the monotony of daily chores and reminds you all tender and gentle emotions you had as a young girl when you started this beautiful journey ... 2) No matter how many fights you have through the year a reminder if he is really no more what are the consequences these thoughts are prevalent when you pray for someone's life 3) women don't work that day men struggle with everything they provide them they understand their place and value what they do on daily basis ..

She continued by saying, 4) When moon tests women most men start to get anxious... saw men in my house feel stressed and also apologetic for moon's audacity they ran up and down the terrace showing love care and concern, most women love it, living together people grow friction over petty matters, these small festivals are curated to evoke love and compassion for each other ... 5) last but not the least we got a school holiday... put lipstick and nail polish and also enjoyed papa's cooking... he made elaborate meals for ladies that day also no one cared about our home work... this day is filled with nostalgia."

On the work front, Kangana has Tejas, Manikarnika sequel and Dhaakad in her kitty.
New Delhi: Director Joel Souza, who was injured during the shooting of his upcoming directorial 'Rust', recently opened up about the demise of his co-worker and cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The 42-year-old cinematographer died after actor and co-producer Alec Baldwin accidentally misfired a prop gun on the set of Souza's film on a New Mexico ranch on Thursday. Souza was treated at a hospital for his injuries before being released, reported E! News.

"I am gutted by the loss of my friend and colleague, Halyna," the director said in a statement to NBC News on Saturday, in what marked his first public comments about the shooting.

Rust director Joel Souza, who was injured and hospitalized from a gunshot wound on the set of the Alec Baldwin Western, has issued a statement to Deadline in the wake of the tragic event which took the life of Halyna Hutchins, the films cinematographer https://t.co/3w7YpdxXRl pic.twitter.com/vQnyIcGglA  Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) October 23, 2021

"She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch and always pushed me to be better. My thoughts are with her family at this most difficult time," Souza added.

The director also spoke about the outpouring of support he has received following news of his hospitalisation after being wounded on Thursday.

"I am humbled and grateful by the outpouring of affection we have received from our filmmaking community, the people of Santa Fe, and the hundreds of strangers who have reached out. It will surely aid in my recovery," he said.

A day after the cinematographer's death, Baldwin tweeted, "There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna."

Hutchins' husband Matthew Hutchins, later confirmed he had spoken to the actor, who he said "being very supportive."

According to an affidavit filed by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, Baldwin was told the prop firearm was safe when it was handed to him by an assistant director, who didn't know there were live rounds in the weapon, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

When Baldwin pulled the trigger, the live projectile struck and killed Hutchins and injured Souza, the sheriff's office said in the filing. No charges have been filed and the investigation is still ongoing.

On Saturday evening in New Mexico, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), of which Hutchins was a member, held a candlelight vigil at Albuquerque Civic Plaza in her memory.
New Delhi: After bail to her husband Raj Kundra in the porn video racket case, actor Shilpa Shetty is all set to celebrate the auspicious festival of Karva Chauth.

The 'Dhadkan' star took to her Instagram handle and shared a stunning picture of herself in which she could be seen decked in an exquisite red coloured suit.

Shilpa looked drop-dead gorgeous as she sported her red ensemble with her signature red bridal bangles (choora), her mangalsutra, diamond earrings, sindoor, and a tiny bindi.

The actor kept her wavy hair open and finished off her look with light makeup.

Shilpa could also be seen wearing her diamond wedding ring on her ring finger.

Sharing the alluring picture, she wrote, "Wishing you all a happy Karvachauth and happy fasting ladies.. May you and yours be blessed with health, protection, and abundance always."

Karva Chauth is a special occasion dedicated to married women. It is considered to be one of the most sacred traditions for married Hindu women, who observe a fast from sunrise to moonrise for the long life, prosperity, and well-being of their spouse.

This is Shilpa's first Karva Chauth after her husband Raj Kundra was granted bail in the porn video racket case.

The couple ceremoniously tied the knot on November 22, 2009, following a big fat wedding function in Khandala. Shilpa and Raj are parents to two children, eight-year-old Viaan Raj Kundra and one-year-old daughter Samisha Shetty Kundra.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Shilpa is busy judging the reality show 'Super Dancer 4', alongside Geeta Kapur and Anurag Basu.
New Delhi: Change Mobile Number in Aadhaar: Aadhaar card is one of the most important documents required for availing of most of the financial services offered by state and private agencies. However, for availing services such as opening bank accounts, Demat accounts, and various other financial services remotely, cardholders need to verify their details with Aadhaar OTP verification.

However, if you dont have access to the Aadhaar linked mobile number, you wont be able to able to receive it. But the good news is that you change the number linked to your mobile number easily.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which manages the Aadhaar Card, provides an option for cardholders to change their mobile number easily. All they need to follow basic steps.

However, for changing the mobile number, cardholders need to visit their nearby Aadhaar enrolment centre. Here are the steps that you need to follow:

First, you need to visit the nearby Aadhaar Enrolment Center or Permanent Enrolment Centre to change the mobile number. After that, you need to need to contact the official responsible for updating details in the Aadhaar card.

The official will then ask you to pay the phone number changing fees, post which you will be subjected to biometric verification of the Aadhaar. Youll be then asked to update the office with the new phone number. Also Read: LIC Plan: Get benefits worth Rs 1 crore by investing in Jeevan Shiromani Scheme, check details

Once youre done with the complete process, your phone number will be updated in the Aadhaar database soon. Post the updation, you will be able to use the number for all OTP verifications based on the Aadhaar card. Also Read: Google, Facebook team up to take on Apple's consumer privacy agenda

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New Delhi: Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) offers a slew of various investment options to investors seeking safe instruments providing bumper returns. In one such scheme named LIC Jeevan Shiromani Plan, investors get the option of receiving a minimum basic sum assured of Rs 1 crore.

LIC's Jeevan Shiromani Plan Benefits is a non-linked plan that offers a guaranteed return of Rs 1 crore at the time of death of the investor. The scheme which was started by LIC on December 19, 2017, is a market-linked benefit scheme.

Besides guaranteed returns, investors also get cover for critical illnesses. Investors can choose from three options that are available under the LIC Jeevan Shiromani Plan depending on their preference.

Jeevan Shiromani plan also provides financial support to the policyholder's family in case of the death of the investor during the policy term. Investors also get the facility of getting a lump sum amount at the time of maturity.

LIC's Jeevan Shiromani Plan details:

- Investors can pay premiums on a yearly, half-yearly, quarterly, or monthly basis via NACH or salary deductions.

- Investors can start investing in the scheme from the minimum age of 18 years while the maximum age of entry in the plan is 55 years. The maximum tenure for the policy is 14 years if the investor starts investing at the age of 55 while an investor can invest in the policy for 45 years if he or she starts investing from 20 years of age. Also Read: Own a Rs 5, Rs 10 Mata Vaishno Devi coin? Get up to Rs 10 lakh by selling it online, check how

Sum Assured benefits worth Rs 1 crore

In case of the death of the investor, the nominee receives the Sum Assured on Death during the first five years of investment along with accrued Guaranteed Additions. After five years of investment, the nominee gets Sum Assured on Death along with accrued Guaranteed Additions and Loyalty Addition, if applicable, according to a report by Zee Business. Also Read: IRCTC POD Stays: Indian Railways to soon offer compact rooms at Mumbai station

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New Delhi: Google has teamed up with Facebook to work around Apple`s privacy tools in Safari to continue tracking end-users, an update to an antitrust lawsuit claims, with the search engine also doing what it could to slow down other regulatory initiatives surrounding privacy.

A lawsuit was filed against Google in December 2020 by a group of attorneys general, accusing the search engine of "engaging in market collusion to rig auctions," reports AppleInsider.

While the lawsuit largely focuses on a deal between Google and Facebook to cooperate in the online advertising business instead of competing, an update accuses the two tech giants of trying to work against initiatives by Apple to help protect the privacy of its users.

The amended complaint filed on October 22 and first reported by The Register, expands on the original claim in some directions, revealing more ways that Google may have tried to subvert user privacy.

As part of the complaint, it is alleged Google and Facebook "have been working together to improve Facebook`s ability to recognise users using browsers with blocked cookies on Apple devices, and on Apple`s Safari browser, thereby circumventing one Big Tech company`s efforts to compete by offering users better privacy.

This was apparently prompted by the two companies working closely and in integrating their SDKs "so Google can pass Facebook data for user ID cookie matching," the complaint reads.

"They also coordinated with each other to harm publishers through the adoption of Unified Pricing rules," it added.

Apple has implemented many privacy protection measures into its products, including Safari, such as 2018`s Intelligent Tracking Protection 2.0.

The system required websites to request tracking privileges from users on an opt-in basis with a culling of cookies 30 days after the user stops visiting relevant sites along with independent tracking of widgets and embeds. Also Read: IRCTC POD Stays: Indian Railways to soon offer compact rooms at Mumbai station

A privacy report in Safari for macOS Big Sur offered users` data on what trackers a website includes, as well as advising on how many trackers were prevented from profiling the user over 30 days. Also Read: LIC Plan: Get benefits worth Rs 1 crore by investing in Jeevan Shiromani Scheme, check details
New Delhi: For hundreds of millions of Indians, going online to buy things or just send money to family and friends has been a boon. However, there has been a negative impact that has resulted in many people losing money. Many people have switched to internet banking or net banking, but because they are unfamiliar with the medium, fraudsters might use phishing attempts to trick them into doing the incorrect thing.

Mistakes are made, and there is a cost associated with them. Honest mistakes can be corrected, but cybercriminals are continuously hunting for fresh victims from whom they can steal money. Those who are unfamiliar with their operating procedures or who place their faith in strangers pay the repercussions. The phishing tactic is used by these con artists to take money from consumers who bank online. There are almost no dangers involved. Trickery and deception are key to the crime. To pull off the crime successfully, it mostly comes down to making huge promises and appealing to the greed motive. Also Read: PPF Update: Heres how to open PPF account; check eligibility, interest and more

Phishing attacks, on the other hand, can be avoided by individuals who are cautious. They should be able to see through these con artists' schemes and avoid being robbed by them. We've put up a list of tips to guarantee you don't fall victim to a phishing assault. Examine these points thoroughly; they may save you from a major loss in the future. Also Read: WhatsApp Update: WhatsApp to bring new Undo button for status changes

How do cybercriminals operate?

1. The goal of cybercriminals is to obtain the private data (usernames/passwords/OTP) of bank account holders.

2. The standard operating procedure is to send an email. This can be done using Gmail/Outlook, for example.

3. This 'Spam' email will appear to be identical to one sent by your bank. It is, however, a forged email.

4. The crooks want the recipient to click on the email's link.

5. They then instruct the recipient of the email to enter their user ID and password on the website that appears.

6. Users are instructed to click on these links in order to receive a large reward or freebie.

7. Account suspension fear is sometimes induced in order to obtain the user's private account details.

How to protect yourself from phishing attack

1. First, double-check the website's url (URL) in your email. It will resemble your bank but will not be identical.

2. You should also double-check the URL for the's' in https://. This is an acronym for safe.

3. It will not be accepted by fictitious banks or businesses. This http:// will be the most common.

4. If you receive such phishing emails, do not click on any of the links contained in them.

5. Never give up your username or password on any dubious websites.

6. No genuine bank or firm will ever request your login or password, and those who do are attempting to defraud you.

Finally, your Internet banking or phone banking usernames and passwords are strictly confidential and should not be shared with anybody, including family members. In fact, if you receive a phone call from someone pretending to be from your bank and asking for your username/password or even an OTP, be wary. Simply follow these guidelines, and you'll be well on your way to avoiding significant losses and disgrace!

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New Delhi: Samsung Galaxy users are getting pop-up notifications to migrate their photos from Samsung Online, the company's cloud storage. In addition, the corporation has issued a statement requesting that users delete their photographs from the cloud storage. If the user does not comply, the photographs will be destroyed after a certain period of time.

The company had earlier released a statement saying, Beginning on September 30, 2021, Gallery Sync and Drive storage for My Files will no longer be supported by Samsung Cloud and your data will be deleted, as explained further below. In addition. If you have a premium storage subscription plan, this will automatically be canceled beginning August 1, 2021 and a refund may be issued to you."

Contacts, calendars, and photos are all backed up to Samsung's cloud storage. The company has chosen to stop supplying image cloud storage and has asked its consumers to download any photographs saved in the cloud before it is deleted. Users can, however, continue to back up and sync their data, as well as restore Contacts, Calendars, and Notes.

Users are being prompted to either migrate their photographs to Microsoft OneDrive or download them all to their local smartphone, laptop, or desktop. Even before the deadline, downloading the data could result in the Samsung Cloud storage expiring. Gallery Sync, Drive, and Premium Storage subscription are among the features that will be discontinued.

How to keep your data safe

1. Integrate with OneDrive

Starting September 30, 2021, the user can link OneDrive with the device's gallery without automatic data transfer support to Samsung Cloud via OneDrive.

However, depending on the country, carrier, and model, OneDrive Integration may not be available. As a result, users are left with only the second option.

2. Download Samsung Cloud images

Users will be able to download their gallery as well as data stored in Samsung Cloud to their personal storage. The OneDrive integration will not be available if you choose this option. Additionally, the option to download to local storage will only be accessible until September 30.

How to download:

The 'Download my data' menu allows you to download cloud data. You can begin the download by going to the following link:

Samsung Cloud: Download my data

Gallery: More > Settings > Download content from cloud

The download begins when you click the download button after picking Gallery data or drive data. The notification bar can be used to monitor the download process. In the event of a cancellation, the full reservation is cancelled.

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New Delhi: During the second part of Bigg Boss 15 Weekend Ka Vaar, Salman Khan has a talk with the housemates on their relationships in their house. He asks them why they chose to evict Vidhi Pandya despite her having a good relationship with most contestants in the house.

The actor goes on to question their loyalties by pointing this out. He crowns Karan Kundrra as the mastermind behind all of this planning and calls him 100% fake.

Then, he moves on to Vishal Kotian and asks him why he didn't object to Karan's strategy but talked trash about it in secret to Shamita Shetty.

Umar Riaz and Ieshaan Sehgaal get labelled as Karan Kundrra's followers

Salman Khan takes aim at Umar Riaz and Ieshaan Sehgaal asking them why they always run to Karan Kundrra for advice for the simplest things. He mocks them by saying that Ieshaan and Umar probably ask Karan before brushing their teeth or flushing the toilet as well!

The two men deny following Karan's instructions blindly and Ieshaan says that he only takes useful advice from Karan when he is confused about a situation.

However, Salman Khan is still not convinced.

Karan gets emotional while apologising to Pratik

Finally, the spotlight shines on Pratik Sehajpal where he is asked why he did not react strongly after Karan Kundrra pinned him to the ground. Pratik opened up and said that he was emotionally hurt by Karan's actions as he considered the latter to be his mentor.

Karan, on hearing Pratik's feelings, gets emotional and apologises to him again. While talking about his bond with Pratik, he breaks down into tears and says that he is working on his relationship with Pratik.

Jay Bhanushali receives praise from Salman Khan

Salman praises Jay for not condoning Karan's violent behaviour despite having a friendship with him. However, Tejasswi was reprimanded for supporting Karan when he was evidently wrong.

Umar Riaz vs Simba Nagpal

Umar Riaz and Simba Nagpal compete in a verbal and physical dangal and both the rounds are won by Simba. Most of the housemates were more supportive towards him as well.

Later, the contestants clear each other's misunderstandings in a balloon game. Miesha Iyer tells Vishal that he is selfish and extends a friendly hand to Pratik, rekindling their old friendship.

Coming to eliminations, luckily, none of the housemates were evicted from the Bigg Boss house after the shocking double eviction of Donal Bisht and Vidhi Pandya.
New Delhi: A fresh wave of novel coronavirus infections have been reported from China, health officials fear that the COVID-19 infections will increase in the coming days and the areas affected by the epidemic may continue to expand.

The commission urged areas that have been affected by the pandemic to adopt an emergency mode. The official also urged the public to take the booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccines to reduce the risks of the resurgence of the cases.

The current outbreak in China has been caused by the Delta variant from overseas, Wu Liangyou, an official at the National Health Commission, said at a briefing in Beijing Sunday, Bloomberg reported.

While, the Global Times on Sunday cited the Health Commission presser - that the latest surge in the cases has been triggered by the new Delta variant. Most of the infections that spread in nearly 11 provinces since October 17 have been found to be due to cross-region tourism activities.

Deputy Director of the NHC, Wu Liangyou said that the epidemiological investigations of the infections, discovered 106 out of 133 infections to be from tourism-related activities.

China has cancelled hundreds of flights, closed schools to stamp out the new COVID-19 outbreak. The Chinese capital are ramping up measures like testing and restricting hotel bookings, according to the National Health Commission.

Meanwhile, Gansu, China`s Northwest province, has announced the suspension of all tourism activities after a surge in the COVID-19 cases in the region, local media reported. Gansu has registered a total of 41 confirmed cases since October 18 till Saturday night.

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Beijing: In an attempt to tighten the grip on all sectors of the media, Chinese authorities have introduced a proposal to ban private investment in news outlets.

As per the draft guidelines, privately owned firms would be prohibited from involvement in media companies, including setting up or running news operations or republishing news produced by foreign outlets, American broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) reported.

Experts in the field say the proposals show Beijing`s ongoing efforts to silence opposition voices.

"The Communist Party is trying to put all news and commentary shows under its own control. All different voices have been eliminated," Wu Zuolai, a Chinese political commentator, told VOA.

"Limiting the role of the media will distort public opinions, and local governments might enforce the rule with extremely strict measures," one poster on Zhihu said.

This latest proposal to ban private investment in Chinese news outlets has sparked discussion on Chinese online and many experts believe the regulation would lead to a further decline of media freedom.

Traditionally, media such as newspapers are funded largely through the public sector while other online news relies more on private or foreign investment.

Cheng Yizhong, who runs a news website for the Chinese diaspora in the US, said government funding has been the main source of income for media outlets in China since the 1990s.

China continues to take internet censorship, surveillance, and propaganda to unprecedented levels making it one of the world`s worst countries for journalists and the `biggest jailer` of scribes, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

The report published in March this year also noted that President Xi Jinping has taken online censorship, surveillance, and propaganda to unprecedented levels since he became China`s leader in 2013.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), an agency personally supervised by Xi, has deployed a wide range of measures aimed at controlling the information accessible to China`s 989 million Internet users.

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Seoul: North Koreas recent ballistic missile tests "concerning and counterproductive" for efforts to reduce tensions, and Pyongyang should instead engage in talks, the U.S. envoy for North Korea said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul, Special Representative Sung Kim said the United States is committed to exploring "sustained and substantive diplomacy" with North Korea.

"Our goal remains the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," Kim said. "Thats why Pyongyangs recent ballistic missile test, one of several in the past six weeks, is concerning and counterproductive to making progress toward a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula."

Pyongyang so far has rejected U.S. overtures, accusing Washington and Seoul of talking diplomacy while ratcheting up tensions with their own military activities.

On Thursday, the North said the United States was overreacting to a submarine-launched ballistic missile test that it called self-defensive, and questioned the sincerity of Washington`s offers of talks, warning of consequences.

That launch violated multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions and poses a threat to North Korea`s neighbours and the international community, Kim said.

"We call on the DPRK to cease these provocations and other destabilising activities and instead engage in dialogue," he said, using the initials of North Korea`s official name. "We remain ready to meet with DPRK without preconditions and we have made clear that the United States harbours no hostile intent toward DPRK."

South Korean nuclear envoy Noh Kyu-duk said Sunday`s talks with Kim had included "serious" discussion of Seoul`s proposal to formally declare an end to the state of war that has technically existed since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

South Korean officials see such a declaration as a gesture of goodwill to get talks started.

Kim said Washington was discussing ways to make progress with North Korea, including the South`s end-of-war proposal and possible humanitarian aid projects.

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